Section 1. We believe the Holy Bible, the Old and New Testaments, with its sixty-six canonical books in the original languages is the verbal, plenary, inerrant and infallible Word of God, entirely without error of contradiction in all matters of which it speaks, We additionally believe that God by His singular care and providence has preserved His Holy Scriptures, and that the King James Bible is the best example in English of His preserved Word; and that the Holy Bible is, therefore, the only sufficient, final and supreme rule and authority of faith and practice. We, too, believe that the only proper method of interpreting the Bible is by the literal, grammatical, historical and contextual method. Psalm 12:6-7; 119:89, 105, 152, 160; Matthew 5:18, 24-25; Luke 16:17; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12; 1 Peter 1:24-25; 2 Peter 1:21; Revelation 22:18-19.

Section 2. We believe that God is Triune; that there are three eternal, coequal, Divine Persons in the Godhead, and these three are one God. Matthew 28:19; 1 John 5:7.

Section 3. We believe in the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ; that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Matthew 1; Luke 1; John 1.

Section 4. We believe that the only way to be saved is by faith in the blood sacrifice, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that to those who thus become His sheep He says, "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." John 10:28; Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 3:25.

Section 5. We believe that "all men everywhere [need] to repent." Repentance is not salvation but is essential to salvation. Repentance is not a work of man but of God. Repentance is a heart attitude that comes as a result of the Holy Spirit's work of convicting a sinner of his sin. A sinner when convicted will either in faith turn to God or in unbelief turn from God. We also believe that following salvation a sinner turns to God from sin and the fruit produced is what the Bible calls "works meet for repentance." Acts 17: 30; Mark 1:15; Matthew 3:8; 7:20; Acts 26:20; 2 Corinthians 7:10; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 2 Peter 3:9.

Section 6. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven, and is now seated at the right hand of God, the Father; that He ever liveth to make intercession for all that come to God by Him. Acts 1:9-11; Hebrews 4:14; Ephesians 1:20-21.

Section 7. We believe in the Biblical account of the six day creation of the physical universe, including the creation of the angels, and Adam and Eve; that this is neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct creative acts of God without any evolutionary process; that man was created by a direct work of God and not from previously existing life forms and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race. Genesis 1, 2; Colossians 1:16-17; John 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:39; Matthew 19:4-5.

Section 8. We believe that the Church, which is the body of Christ, received power after the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; and that each one who receives the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior is a member of the Body of Christ, and is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:12-26; 6:19-20.

Section 9. We believe that the great commission is for the Church; that the Lord's Supper and water baptism by immersion for believers only are divine institutions; and that Christ desires us to practice them in this age. Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34.

Section 10. We believe that Christ may at any moment return in the air to rapture the saints, and that a tribulation period of approximately seven years shall follow, after which He will come to earth with His saints, and rule for a thousand years. After this the wicked will be judged and cast into the lake of fire. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15-21, 24-27, 25:46; Revelation 19:11; 20:10-15.

Section 11. We believe that Satan is a person, the author of the Fall, and that he shall be eternally punished. Job 1:7; Genesis 3:1-10; Revelation 20:10.

Section 12. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead both the just and the unjust; and the eternal conscious punishment of the lost and the eternal joy of the saved. Luke 16:19-31; Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28; Revelation 14:11; 19:20; 20:11-15; 22:12-14; 1 Corinthians 15:1-58.

Section 13. We believe it is the duty and privilege of all believers to witness by deed and word to those truths set forth in the Holy Scriptures. Romans 12:1-2; 1 Peter 3:14-17.

Section 14. We believe that personal sanctification involves the separation of the believer unto God from ungodly living, teaching, and associations. 1 John 2:15; Romans 6:17.

Section 15. This Doctrinal Statement can only be amended by a unanimous vote of the voting members present at an officially called business meeting.

Biblical Distinctives -

The Hendrickson Avenue Bible Church is not Charismatic in belief or practice, nor are we Pentecostal in interpretation. We do not hold to Covenant Theology, Liberalism, Neo-Orthodoxy, or Neo-Evangelicalism. We are Biblically literal in our approach to interpretation; dispensational in our theology; pre-millennial and pre-tribulational in our eschatology; evangelistic and missions oriented in our outreach while retaining the knowledge that it is God that does the saving; separated in our personal lives and ecclesiastical associations, baptistic with regard to the mode and subjects of baptism, and using the Authorized (King James) Version of the Holy Bible only.

Separation -

We believe it is imperative to the testimony of the Lord and our Church to stand firmly and boldly against all ungodliness, apostasy, false teaching and fanatical cults. We, therefore, shall not knowingly cooperate with nor encourage organizations or individuals that do not hold to the fundamentals of the faith as set forth in the Word of God, or that refuse to separate from organizations that harbor religious liberalism, Neo-Evangelicalism, Emerging Church tendencies, or support the Long Island Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, the National Association of Evangelicals, the National Association of Religious Broadcasters or other such organizations. We also reject and prohibit the use of all forms of Ragtime, Blues, Jazz, Swing, Country, Southern Gospel, Rap, Rock, modern Praise Music and Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) in the church, the body of Christ.