Church of God Big Sandy

Statement of Beliefs

Revised August 13, 1999

1. We believe in God the Father, eternally existing, who is a Spirit Being of supremeintelligence, knowledge, love, justice, power, majesty and authority. He, through His Word, is the Creator of all things in heaven and on earth. He is a loving, kind, merciful Being who wants to share His spiritual existence and vast creation with human beings who will be born again by the resurrection from death into the family of God.
2. We believe in one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. We believe that salvation comes through the sacrifice and life of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was the Word madeflesh, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary; who lived asinless life and demonstrated His love by suffering and dying for the sins of the world.We believe the Father resurrected Jesus after He lay dead in the tomb three days andthree nights and that He thereafter ascended to heaven to be at the right hand of Godthe Father to be our King, Apostle and High Priest.
3. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the power of God given through Jesus Christ. Webelieve that when a person is called, is led to repentance by God, places his faith in God,repents of sin, is baptized (immersed) and has hands laid on him, he receives the HolySpirit as an earnest of eternal life. A person in whom God’s Spirit dwells can lookforward to either his change or resurrection at Christ’s second coming.
4. We believe that Jesus Christ will return to earth to rule all nations as King of kings andto establish the everlasting, spiritual Kingdom of God. We believe that the ultimatepurpose of men and women, accomplished at their resurrection to immortal life, is toreign forever with Christ as sons and daughters of God (spirit beings) in the Kingdom(or family) of God.
5. We believe that the Church of God is a spiritual organism—the ekklesía—composed ofthose people, Christians or saints of God, called by the Father and led by, and in whomdwells, the Spirit of God.
6. We believe in God’s eternal law, which is spiritual, holy, just and good, as embodied in:the law of love as revealed by Jesus, the Ten Commandments, and all Scripture (Old andNew Testaments). We believe the law includes the command to remember the seventhdaySabbath and is being written in the hearts of God’s spirit-begotten children.
7. We believe that God created spirit beings—angels—whom He uses as His agents andmessengers. We believe that Satan and the demons (fallen angels) are adversaries of Godand of the children of God.
8. We believe that the use of tithes and offerings to further the cause of true religion is anact of worship and therefore a private matter between a Christian and God.
9. We believe that Jesus and the apostles set us an example, as recorded in the Bible, thatincludes, among many other practices, obedience to God’s law, the observance of theseventh-day Sabbath and the feasts of the LORD (including footwashing and thepartaking of symbols of the New Covenant in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice), thepractice of “pure and undefiled religion before God” and the avoidance of unclean meats.
10. We believe that the saints of God are forbidden by the commandments of God from taking human life and that bearing arms in a military organization is prohibited. Therefore we believe Christians should not voluntarily become engaged in military service or war. If they are involuntarily so engaged, we believe that they should conscientiously refuse to bear arms and, to the extent possible, refuse to come under military authority.