Living Word Ministries is a non-profit corporation
designed to share the gospel of Jesus Christ through Bible Studies, conferences, tours, classes, and radio/tv ministries and to encourage people in their spiritual growth and walk.

Living Word Ministries leads tours to the Holy Lands for the purpose of drawing people to Jesus and His Word.

Living Word Ministries works with other ministries
and non-profit organizations to provide financial, leadership,
and adminstrative direction.

Article I          The Scriptures

      We believe …that all Scripture, consisting of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, is the verbally and plenary inspired work of God.  By that, I mean that the Holy Spirit supernaturally influenced the holy men of God, using their own personalities, to produce every word in every part of the Scripture as God intended (2 Timothy 3:16;&  2 Peter 1:21);

            …That the revelation of Scripture is progressive, in that later Biblical revelation builds upon earlier revelation and is complementary and supplementary to it (Matthew 5: 27-28, 33-34, 38-39, 43-44);

            …That the Scriptures in the original languages are inerrant, which means they are without error and fully truthful in all the teachings (John 10:35);

…That the Scriptures are infallible, which means they are trustworthy and the only authoritative governance for the Christian life, the Holy Spirit illumining the understanding of the hearer (John 17:17;& I Thessalonians 2:13);

…That the Scriptures have been collected and preserved intact through the years by God’s direction of the development of the canon of Scripture, that they are self-authenticating as to the reliability of their content (Joshua 1:7;& Zechariah 1:6;& Hebrews 1:1-2), and that Jesus confirmed their reliability (Matthew 23:35;& Luke 24:44);

        …That the Scriptures are complete and final, requiring no new revelation today (Jude 3; & Revelation 22:18-19), and that they are sufficient for faith and practices through the illumination of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13; & I Corinthians 2:10-12);

…That the Scriptures are to be understood through the dispensational approach.  By that I mean that the Abrahamic, Davidic, Palestinian, and New Covenants are to be taken literally and unconditionally, thus maintaining a clear distinction between God’s programs for Israel and the church, and that Biblical prophecy is to be understood through a consistently literal approach (Genesis 12:1-3; & 2 Samuel 7:12-16; & Deuteronomy 30:1-10; & Jeremiah 31:31-34).

Article II         God

      We believe…that there is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), Who eternally exists (I Timothy 1:17), Who manifests Himself in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - Who has three different roles (Genesis 1:1, 26; & Matthew 3:16 – 17; & Matthew 28:19; & 2 Corinthians 13:14), and Who is worthy of equal honor, obedience, and worship (John 5:23; & Acts 5:3-4; & Philippians 2:9-11);

            …That God is spirit (John 4:24), not limited by a human body, and as such is immanent within His creation and transcendent to it.  By that I mean that God is present, active, and working through natural means within His creation, while at the same time being separate and above it, working through miracles  (Jeremiah 23:23-24;& Isaiah 6:1-5);

            …That God’s natural attributes, which distinguish Him from all others, include: He is alive (Exodus 3:14;& Hebrews 11:6) and shows His personality through His names and His relationships with man (Genesis 22:14; & Jeremiah 30:22); He is infinite, limitless in space and time (Acts 17:24-25; & Revelation 1:8); He is omniscient, knowing and understanding all things (Romans 11:13); He is omnipotent, being all-powerful (Jeremiah 32:27); He is immutable, unchanging (Malachi 3:6); He is sovereign, the supreme ruler (Ephesians 1:3-21); He is the creator of the universe and all things and humans in it (Genesis 1:1-31);                

…That God disclosed Himself to man through general and special revelation.  By that, I mean that God reveals Himself to all persons at all times through nature (Psalm 19:1-6; & Romans 1:20), history (Acts 14:16), and human personality (Psalm 139:14; & Romans 2:14-16), as well as revealing Himself personally through historical events (Genesis 7-8; & John 20:30), divine speech (Hebrews 1:1-2), inspiration of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16), and the incarnation of Jesus (John 1:1, 14; & I John 1:1);

…That God the Father, the First Person of the Triune God (John 6:27,& Ephesians 4:6), is Father of Jesus Christ (Matthew 3:17; & Mark 14:36), Israel (Exodus 4:22), and all those who put their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior (Galatians 3:26; & Ephesians 1:5).

Article III       Christ:  His Person and Work

     We believe…That the Lord Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune God (Matthew 28:19), is fully and totally God (John 1:1; & John 10:30; & Hebrews 1:3) and, as such, is omnipotent (Matthew 28:18), omniscient, all-knowing (John 1:48), omnipresent (Matthew 18:20), eternal (John 8:58), and unchanging (Hebrews 13:8); He created the world (Colossians 1:16), forgives sin (Mark 2:5), judges (John 5:22, 27), and sends the Holy Spirit (John 15:26);

            …That Jesus Christ is one Person with two natures (John 17:21-22; & Galatians 4:4, & I Timothy 3:16).  By that, I mean that He eternally exists as God and He is also fully man (Colossians 2:9; & Hebrews 2:14).  He was conceived by the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18, & Luke 1:35) and born of Mary, who was a virgin at the time and remained so until after Jesus’ birth (Matthew 1:23, 25).  He had a physical human nature, including a human body (John 1:14), physical needs like hunger and fatigue (Matthew 4:2; & John 4:6), and personal suffering (John 19:34).  He had a psychological nature displayed through emotions (John 11:35; & John 13:22), intelligence (Luke 9:47), and prayer life (Luke 6:12).  He was tempted in all things but did not sin (Hebrews 4:15; & I Peter 2:22; & I John 3:5; &  2 Corinthians 5:21);

            …That Jesus gave Himself in death upon the cross for our sins (Philippians 2:8; & I Peter 2:24), as foretold in Scripture (Genesis 3:15), as the sacrifice to pay the price of the penalty for sin (Hebrews 9:6-15), as the propitiation or satisfaction of God with the death of Jesus for sin (I John 2:2), as the substitution, dying in the place of the sinner (2 Corinthians 5:21), as the reconciliation between God and man so man can be saved (2 Corinthians 5:18, 19);

            …That Jesus rose from the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4) in the transformed body which was laid in the tomb (John 20:25-29), ascended to heaven (Acts 1:9), is our High Priest (Hebrews 5:10) Who lives to make intercession for us before the Father (Hebrews 7:25; 9:24), and will come again (Acts 1:11) to receive His followers unto Himself at the rapture (John 14:3) and to visibly return to earth at the end of the tribulation to establish His kingdom on earth (Revelation 19:11-16; 20:4).

Article IV       The Holy Spirit

            We believe…That the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Triune God (Matthew 28:19), is completely God (Acts 5:3-4), was active in creation (Genesis 1:2), is omniscient  (I Corinthian 2:10-11; & John 16:13), omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-10), omnipotent (Genesis 1:2), and eternal (Hebrews 9:14);

            …That the Holy Spirit permanently indwelt the followers of Jesus Christ on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4; & John 14:16) and continues to indwell those who believe (I Corinthians 6:19).  He does this through the baptizing of the Holy Spirit that is a one-time occurrence which brings people into the body of Christ at conversion (I Corinthians 12:13);

            …That the Holy Spirit convicts people of their sin, showing the truth of the gospel so people acknowledge it, and also convicts them of righteousness and judgment (John 16:8-11).  He regenerates or transforms the believer (Titus 3:5), He seals the believer with the certainty of being possessed by God until the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30), He teaches the truth (John 16:12-15), He intercedes for the saints to the Father (Romans 8:26-27), and He sanctifies believers, which is the process of making the person holy (2 Thessalonians 2:13);

            …That the Holy Spirit bestows gifts to believers at the moment of salvation (I Corinthians 12:7; & I Peter 4:10) for the purpose of empowering the church to preach the gospel (Acts 1:8), for edification or building up of the church (I Corinthians 14:12), for equipping the saints for service, and for building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12);

…That no one gift is bestowed on every believer (I Corinthians 12:28-30), gifts are to be used properly, in accordance with Scripture (I Corinthians 14:40), and all the gifts, including the miraculous gifts, are endowed by the Holy Spirit as He wills (I Corinthians 12:11) and will be used by the Holy Spirit for His purposes “in the last days” (Acts 2:14-18). 

Article V         Creation, Man, and Sin

             We believe…That God created the whole universe and everything in it in six literal twenty-four days, and that He created it “ex nihilo”.  By that I mean that He created it without assistance from anyone, without requiring preexisting matter, without effort, and through the power of the spoken word (Genesis 1; & Psalm 33:6, 9; & Hebrews 11:3);

            …That God created man with spirit, soul, and body (Genesis 2:7; & I Thessalonians 5:23) and made him in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27).  Being made in the image of God should be thought of as substantive, referring to something we are, such as a spiritual or psychological quality, rather than something we have or do.  After the fall, man still retained the vestiges of being made in the likeness of God (James 3:9; & I Corinthians 11:7).  This makes man separate and distinct from animals, which are made after their own kind (Genesis 1:24-25);

            …That Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan (Genesis 3:1-5), they willfully disobeyed God’s word (Genesis 2:17; 3:11), through Adam, sin entered the world and physical and spiritual death was imputed for all men (Romans 5:12, 19), sin brings about disfavor with God’s punishment (Romans 1:18; & Hebrews 10:30), all men are sinners by nature (Romans 3:23), spiritual death brought about the total depravity of human nature and separation from God (Jeremiah 17:9);

            …That sin is any thought, word, or deed contrary to the character of God.  Sin means to miss the mark from God’s holiness and to fall short of God’s righteous standards (Romans 3:23).  It is a personal disposition inclining us toward wrongful thoughts and actions, which puts something else in God’s place (Exodus 20:3); 

            …That believers are to die to sin (Galatians 5:24), repent from sin (Romans 12:2), confess sin (I John 1:9), keep the faith to overcome the world (I John 5:4-5), receive God’s imputed righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Article VI       Salvation

            We believe…That God has provided the free gift of salvation from our sins by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23; & Ephesians 2:8-9).  It is faith in Jesus Christ alone (John 14:6), apart from works or merits, by which we must be saved (Ephesians 2:9; & Acts 16:31);

…That those who believe in Jesus are saved from their sins on the grounds of His shed blood (Hebrews 9:22), are born again by the Holy Spirit (John 3:5-8; & I Peter 1:23), become children of God (John 1:12), enjoy an abundant life on earth with resources necessary for life and godliness (John 10:10; & 2 Peter 1:3), and receive eternal life with Jesus (John 14:3).  By being born again, I mean that God regenerates or transforms individuals, bringing them to spiritual restoration;

…That salvation is wrought through a threefold aspect: God justifies believers at the time of salvation by His restoration in their lives from guilt and the penalty of sin to righteousness (Romans 8:33-34; & 2 Corinthians 5:21); God sanctifies believers continuously from the power of sin by supernaturally working in their lives, bringing about holiness (Philippians 2:12-13; & I Thessalonians 5:23 ); and God glorifies believers from the presence of sin to a spiritual perfection of body, soul, and spirit when believers see Him face to face (I Corinthians 13:12; & I John 3:2);  

…That God provides for the eternal security of believers through His word (John 5:24), His promise that we cannot be taken away from Him (John 10:28-29), His love (John 3:16), Christ’s intercession and advocacy in heaven (Hebrews 7:25), the indwelling and sealing presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers (Ephesians 1:13-14; & John 14:16), and the Holy Spirit placing us in the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:13).

Article VII      The Church

             We believe…That the Church is a mystical body consisting of all believers, of which Jesus Christ is the head (Ephesians 5:23; & Colossians 1:18), was founded on the truth that Jesus Christ is the Messiah (Matthew 16:16-18), began on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:43-47), and will culminate with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (I Thessalonians 4:16-17);

…That the church is recognized in two ways:  the universal body of believers in Jesus Christ at all times and places (Matthew 16:18), and the group of believers meeting in a given geographical locale (I Corinthians1:2).  These believers have been baptized into this body of Christ by the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 12:12-13) and have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 3:16-17);

            …That the Church and Israel have different roles in God’s program.  God made an unconditional covenant with Abraham, and confirmed it with his sons, Isaac and Jacob, which included a blessing, a great nation, many descendants, land, and a seed – Jesus Christ (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:5-21; & Psalm 105:10; & Galatians 3:16).  This covenant, which remains unfulfilled, was given to the people of Israel, and was never transferred to the Church.  The Church has a destiny quite different, a New Covenant, found in the relationship with Jesus Christ (Luke 22:20; & Hebrews 9:15);

            …That the Church has established two ordinances, baptism and communion, which are both to be observed by all who have faith in Jesus Christ.  Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water as an act of obedience, symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Jesus (Romans 6:3-5; & Colossians 2:12; & Acts 8:35-38).  Communion is the continuing rite of recommitment by partaking in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper as a commemoration of His sacrifice and His death (Matthew 26:26-30).  This must be observed by careful examination of a believer’s spiritual condition (I Corinthians 11:27-28);

            …That the Church is characterized by genuine fellowship and caring for one another (I Corinthians 12:26), unity of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:3), love from a pure heart (I Peter 1:22), and removal of divisiveness (I Corinthians 1:11-13). 

…That the functions of the Church include:  evangelism (Matthew 28:19), edification of all believers (Ephesians 4:12), worship (Acts 2:42), and ministry to those in need (John 14:12);

            …That both male and female were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27), are all given spiritual gifts to use in service (I Peter 5:10), and are all one in Christ (Galatians 3:28), but that God has ordained a functional difference in authority between the man and the woman in the home (Genesis 3:16; & Ephesians 5:22) and in the Church (I Timothy 2:8-15; & I Corinthians 11:3; & I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:6-9).

Article VIII    Spirit Beings

               We believe…That God created sinless, spirit beings called angels prior to the creation of the earth, who have superhuman but limited powers (Psalm 148:2-5; & Colossians 1:16; & Job 38:7; & 2 Peter 2:11);

            …That Satan, an anointed cherub before the Lord, was filled with violence, pride, and unrighteousness, rebelled against God, was cast down to the earth, and took with him one-third of the angels  (Ezekiel 28:11-19; & Isaiah 14:12-19; & Revelation 12:4, 9).  His deception led to the fall of man (Genesis 3:1-7) through which he became the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4).  His power is limited to that which God allows (Job 1:6-12).  While he was judged at the cross (Colossians 2:15), his delayed punishment will be torment day and night forever in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10).  Satan is an adversary to God and His people (I Peter 5:8), a deceiver (2 Corinthians 11:14-15), the tempter (Matthew 4:3), the father of lies and a murderer (John 8:44), and a sinner (I John 3:8); 

            …That holy angels are ministering spirits who serve those who will be saved (Hebrews 1:14), who serve the Lord before His throne (Revelation 5:11), who reveal and communicate God’s message to man (Luke 1:13-20), who execute judgment on the enemies of God (2 Kings 19:35), and who will accompany Jesus at His Second Coming, being agents of His final judgment  (Matthew 25:31; 13:39-42);

            …That demons are fallen angels who followed Satan (Revelation 12:4, 9) and carry out his work in the world through disease (Mark 9:17; & Acts 8:7), demon possession (Luke 8:27), false doctrine (I Timothy 4:1), and opposition to spiritual progress of God’s people (Ephesians 6:12).

Article IX       Last Things

            We believe…In the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and that it will occur in two stages:  the coming for the saints at the rapture ('catching up') of the Church to meet the Lord in the air prior to the tribulation period (I Thessalonians 4:16-17; & John 14:1-3), and the coming with the saints to the Mount of Olives to establish His kingdom on earth after the tribulation period (Zechariah 14:4; & Revelation 19:11-16);

            …That the Second Coming is the next great prophetic event, it is imminent, meaning it can occur at any moment, and it is the blessed hope for the Church (Titus 2:13);

            …That at the rapture of the Church, the dead in Christ and those who are alive in Christ will meet the Lord in the air and receive new immortal bodies (I Corinthians 15:51-54), will be taken to heaven with Jesus (John 14:1-3), will be judged for their works for the purpose of rewards or loss of rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10; & I Corinthians 3:11-15; & Romans 14:10), will prepare for the marriage of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-8), and will return with Jesus to the earth after the tribulation (Revelation 19:14);

            …That after the rapture, God will usher in a seven-year period of tribulation on the earth (Daniel 9:24-27; & Matthew 24:21), which will be headed by the Anti-christ who is empowered by Satan (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; & I John 2:18; & Revelation 13:2) and will bring forth God’s righteous judgment upon the world (Revelation 6-18);

            …That at the end of the tribulation period, Jesus Christ will personally, gloriously, and victoriously return to earth (Revelation 19:11-16) with the Church (Jude 14) and His holy angels (2 Thessalonians 1:7) to war with the nations at the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16; 19:19), to seize the Anti-christ and false prophet and throw them into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20), to bind Satan in the abyss for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3), to judge the nations (Matthew 25:31-46), to establish Israel to her land (Ezekiel 37:21), to establish His literal and glorious kingdom on earth for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4-6), and to bring the whole world to the knowledge of the glory of the Lord (Habakkuk 2:14);

            …That the millennial kingdom will be a thousand year reign of Christ on earth in fulfillment of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and new covenants (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:5-21; & 2 Samuel 7:12-16; & Jeremiah 31:31-34), with Jerusalem as its capitol (Isaiah 2:3).  It will be inhabited by the holy ones who returned to earth with Christ (Zechariah 14:5), the believing nations who came through the tribulation alive (Matthew 25:31-46), and the Jewish faithful (Zechariah 13:8-9).  It will be a time of peace, justice, prosperity, righteousness, and glory  (Isaiah 11:2-10) until Satan is released for a short time at the end of the thousand years to deceive the nations (Revelation 20:7-9);

            …That God will raise the unsaved dead, judge them for their deeds at the Great White Throne judgment, and throw them into the eternal Lake of Fire because their names were not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 20:11-15);

            …That Jesus will deliver up His Messianic kingdom to God the Father so the heavens and earth and all its works might be destroyed by intense fire (2 Peter 2:10) to prepare the way for the eternal New Heaven, New Earth, and New Jerusalem in which the Father and the Son will reign (Revelation 21:1-2; 22:3);

            …That the spirits of the saved at death go immediately to be with Christ in heaven (Philippians 1:23; & I Corinthians 5:8) where they will remain in conscious (Luke 16:22-24) fellowship with Christ until He returns for the Church at the rapture (I Thessalonians 4:16-17), when the spirits will be united with their bodies to receive glorified bodies (I Corinthians 15: 25-58) and will remain in that state and reign with Christ on earth (Revelation 20:5) and for eternity (Revelation 22:5);

            …That the spirits of the unsaved at death go immediately to Hades, where they remain in conscious torment (Luke 16:19-31) until after the millennium, when Hades gives up the dead, their bodies are raised (Revelation 20:5), they are judged by God at the Great White Throne judgment, and thrown into the eternal Lake of Fire, eternally separated from God

(Revelation 20:11-15; & 2 Thessalonians 1:9).

"Sharing truths from the Word of God
designed to bring about life change".
--Debbie Blank

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