Perseverance of the Saints

The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, simply stated, says that all those whom God has chosen and for whom Christ died will persevere in their Christian walk until "the end", or until their earthly sojourn is over.
Every true believer will persevere, and that by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, preserving him by the inward workings on the heart and mind of the believer. It is inconceivable that God would elect a man, Christ would die for that same man, and yet we would finally fall away by returning to his unbelief.
It is not inconceivable, however, that a man might make a false profession, give some temporary evidence of conversion and finally return to his unbelieving condition. American, evangelical churches are full of such "Christians", and an unbiblical, unsound and largely unspoken belief system has developed among Amercian protestant churches to accomodate the presence of these "worldly Christians." Church policies and practices have been compromised to attract these "lukewarm" believers and the fruit of their position is usually the fact that they do not persevere, and sooner or later they abandon their faith altogether or become totally indifferent to any real Christian commitment.

Irresistable Grace

The phrase "irresistable grace" simply tells us that the grace of God, when applied to the heart of a sinner, is irresistable; that is to say God draws the elect sinner to Himself without fail. "God is able" to quote the Saviour, "to turn stones into children of Abraham." (Luke 3:8) This He does with lovingkindness through conviction of sin, leading to regeneration, so that the sinner comes willingly and happily to the foot of the cross. As the old hymn says - "He does not compel them to go 'gainst their will, but He just makes them willing to go."


So God, through regeneration, lovingly draws men to the Saviour by the loving administration of the Holy Spirit through the application of the Holy Scriptures to the soul of poor helpless sinners, resulting in their inevitable conversion to Christ. God, who cannot fail in anything He determines to do, draws those whom He has chosen, to the foot of the cross.

Limited Atonement

We believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of His elect people. It was for them He came and for them He died.



Matthew 1:21 "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins."

John 17:6-9 "I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee. For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine."

John 16:13-14 "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you."



Now, no one is imagining that the value or worth of Christ's atonement is in any way limited. His death is sufficient to atone for all the sinners in 10,000 worlds. It is the intent of the atonement in the mind and purpose of the triune God that limits it. If Christ bore the sins of every man, then all men are free of their guilt. God will not require a second death, i.e. the sinner's death, to atone for a sin that is paid for by the death of the eternal Son of God. It is finished! What gross injustice to lay the sins of all mankind on the head of the Savior and then punish the sinner for sins that were already borne on Calvary!

In Romans 9:22, Scripture argues that "God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:" Apparently, God's justice is an important part of His divine nature and He is willing to display it on "vessels of wrath." God is altogether unlike the contemporary concept which elevates man and diminishes the very nature of God.


Some in our day quote 2 Peter 3:9 which says, ..."not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Their intent, of course, is to prove that God is not willing that any single person should perish, but that every person should come to repentance. Such an interpretation, however, does violence to both Scripture and to the nature of God. A close look at the context will tell you that Peter is talking to the elect, whom he calls "beloved" in verse 8. Again in verse 9, he says that God is longsuffering to us-ward, meaning to Peter and his fellow believers.

Equally damaging is the idea that God wants to save every one (universalism), but he is unable to for some imagined problem of violating the all-mighty human "free-will".

Unconditional Election

Although the words "elect" and/or "election" are found no less than 27 times in the Scriptures, the doctrine of Unconditional Election is denied, ignored or explained away by the vast majority of evangelical leaders in today's doctrinally bankrupt congregations. Simply stated, this doctrine says that God has chosen, or elected, a people for His own possession. (The word "chosen" is also abundant throughout the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament.)

The Scriptures also teach that these "elect" persons are chosen unconditionally - that is to say, they have done nothing, nor could they do anything to merit this election. God has chosen those whom He chooses for reasons which are hidden in the will and purposes of God. But this much we know - God set His love on a particular people before the world began and predestinated them to be His adopted children through Jesus Christ for his own glory. This is our only hope for our evangelism, our preaching, and our praying.

Ephesians 1:3-7 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;"

Total Depravity

An examination of the doctrines we believe begins of necessity with the doctrine of "total depravity".

This doctrine of total depravity declares that men are dead in sin* and by inference means that mean can do nothing to please God, just as a dead corpse can do nothing or in any way cooperate with its surroundings.

The "total" aspect of the doctrine means simply that the depravity extends to every part of man's nature: his intellect, his emotions, and his will.

This does not mean that all men are equally bad, not that any man is as bad as he could be, not that any one is entirely without some virtue.

What it does mean is that since the fall, all mankind is under the curse of sin, and that they are wholly unable to love God or do anything to deserve salvation.


* Ephesians 2:1-3 "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."

John 3:19 "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

Romans 8:7,8 "Because the carnal [natural] mind is enmity [at war] against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."