Dr. Barry M. Foster
My Spiritual Experience and
the Ministry of Teaching
I am first and most importantly, a follower of Jesus Christ. Beyond that, I am a father and a husband before anything else. But I have learned that I am also, by the grace of God, a teacher. It is who I am. My spiritual experience then, revolves around those things.
I cannot pinpoint the exact time of my initial coming to faith in Christ. There are several moments during my childhood in which I expressed, in a capacity generally fitting to my age, some kind of commitment of my life to Christ. But I cannot say which one of these moments was the one that moved me from unbelieving to believing. In the Presbyterian church in which I grew up, it was more a matter of increasingly greater understanding of and commitment to following Jesus Christ than having a crisis conversion experience. I was deeply active in my church, and growing in faith to some degree. Yet as a high school student I became increasingly uncomfortable with my own spiritually dualistic and compromised life–I was intently interested in serving God on Sundays and intently interested in living for myself the rest of the week. Although I was not involved in any of the typical “bad” sins of youth (drugs, alcohol, sexual promiscuity), I was aware that I was not walking with the Lord. Following a musical presentation by a local Christian group at our high school, I recommitted my life to Christ and began a turn-around.
Shortly thereafter I became involved with an independent charismatic church, where I had a life-transforming, but rather unemotional, experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Since that time, over forty-five years ago, I have mostly fellowshiped in charismatic churches. My first years in college were spent with a loosely-organized group which later became a church. It was during these years that I was discipled and learned many of the foundational gospel truths and Kingdom life teachings that formed who I am. Later I was able to begin a more systematic exploration of the Scriptures and theology through my educational pursuits. Those studies, from the simplest courses at a church-based Bible institute to the most challenging seminars at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, have been some of the most important influences on my spiritual growth since the days of listening to Bob Mendelsohn teach Bible studies in the living room of the Mustard Seed in Lawrence, Kansas. Throughout my history, I attribute most of my spiritual growth to the fact that I have had some of the finest pastors and teachers it is possible to have, from whom I have gleaned a rich repository of truth.
Personal Statement of Faith
In making this personal statement of faith, I have been greatly helped by and am indebted to the numerous Christian writers, theologians, scholars, and church bodies who have gone before me, who have written creeds, denominational statements of faith, position papers, and theologies. I have borrowed liberally from a great host of others, including at times the precise wording of phrases. I do so because I believe that these core beliefs are the common property of the church; my borrowing reflects my commitment to the historic understanding of Christian teaching and my acknowledgment of the insight of others in the body of Christ. I do so also with the knowledge that my statement may need to be corrected in the light of greater understanding of the biblical teaching, adjusted where it is unclear or misleading, or augmented where important points are lacking.
I believe that God has spoken and revealed himself to humanity in the words of human authors whom he uniquely inspired by his Holy Spirit. Their words, which have been recorded in the Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, constitute the only written word of God, fully and verbally inspired, without error in the original manuscripts, and the uniquely infallible and authoritative source for Christian belief and life. It is the standard of truth by which all human ideas, opinions, and knowledge must be measured and every person’s actions, thoughts, choices, and motives will be judged. Through his word, he has revealed all that we need to know for salvation and to live rightly as his people. The Bible is therefore to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises. Because God has revealed himself to us through the medium of human language, the truth of his word can be communicated through any version of the Bible that adequately and accurately translates the language of the original writings. To the extent that any translation of his word accurately represents the meaning of the original authors, that version may be said to be the inspired and authoritative word of God.
I deny that the inspiration of the Bible was the product of mechanical dictation. I deny that there is only one translation or version of the Bible that is alone inspired. I reject the unfounded notion that modern English translations of the Bible are corrupted or are the product of a conspiratorial cabal whose intended end was to remove from Scripture support for the deity of Christ and for the need of his atoning death for salvation. I deny that the inspiration of the Scripture removes all difficulties in understanding, eliminates the need for study in order to comprehend its meaning, or makes it impossible for true believers to misunderstand its teaching.
I believe in one God, the all-powerful and transcendent creator of all things, who exists eternally in a loving and indissoluble unity of three equally divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who together are worthy of worship and adoration, and to whom praise and prayers may be addressed. He is infinitely perfect, perfectly holy, and wholly good. His knowledge and wisdom are infinite and his love is immeasurable. He sustains the universe by his powerful word, and is personally immanent within the creation, responding to the choices and actions of the creatures he made and actively directing the course of creation’s history. He is sovereign over all things, having determined the nature of what he has made and the way in which he would relate to his creation. He is perfectly righteous, the Judge of all, to whom all will answer for their lives, whose judgments are both perfect and wholly just. His wrath against sinners is justified, and his condemnation of those who have transgressed his laws and his ways is right. He is also the Redeemer, who from all eternity has purposed to have a people with whom he would live in loving and covenantal relationship, and who has provided for their redemption and glorification. God is a spirit, neither male nor female, and incapable of being represented by any image; nevertheless, in his self-revelation as Father as recorded in the Scriptures, God consistently uses masculine pronouns to refer to himself, thereby indicating that it is right for us to do the same.
I deny that the Trinity is an unbiblical doctrine. Though the word “trinity” is not used in Scripture, the concept of Trinity is a necessary conclusion from the biblical data, the inescapable conclusion from the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, and the proper understanding of the apostolic teaching.
I deny that God’s sovereignty over the creation requires that he has determined everything that has happened, can happen, or will happen in the history of creation, or that all that exists reflects what God desires to be the case, except insofar as the current state of the creation reflects his will in creating a universe in which genuine contingency exists as a necessary aspect of having a real universe.
I deny that it is sexist, demeaning to women, naively reflective of a patriarchal culture, or otherwise improper to refer to God with masculine pronouns. Further, I deny that it is appropriate to address or refer to God with feminine (or neuter) pronouns.
I believe that God created out of nothing the present universe and all it contains, including angelic beings and the heavenly realm, by means of his word. Out of the overflow of his love, God created human beings in his image, the apex of his creative work and the crown of all he made, in order that they might enjoy living in a relationship of love with him and with one another. From all eternity he has purposed a glorious end for his creation and has continually worked to bring it to that end. That end, which fulfills the purpose for which all was created, is the union of humanity with himself in the new heavens and the new earth that will come at the consummation of human history. To that end, God gave to his creation the property of genuine contingency, while determining the limits to which he would allow all things to develop, and continually involving himself in the ongoing history of the universe he had made. Consistent with his choice to allow other self-aware beings to exist, he entrusted all sentient beings, both angelic and human, with the capacity of actual freedom to choose, allowing the consequences of those choices to stand. That capacity to freely determine one’s choices (“free will”) is inherent in the created order and was not lost through sin.
God has revealed himself to us in the creation, so that we can perceive, though imperfectly and incompletely, truths about himself, about ourselves, and about the world in which we live. Whatever he has revealed in the creation is consistent with what he has revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ, and in his written word.
I deny that the history of the universe, and all of the actions, decisions, and thoughts of its inhabitants were predetermined by God.
I deny that undirected natural processes are responsible for the origin of life and the development of living organisms. I remain unpersuaded by the view that God used the mechanism of evolution through natural selection to bring about the variety of living species evident throughout earth’s history.
I deny that a right understanding of Genesis 1-2 requires belief in a creation event lasting six twenty-four hour days and in a universe that is less than ten thousand years old.
I believe that God personally created the human race by the direct action of creating two human beings, Adam and Eve, who alone of all that God created were made in the image and likeness of God and given authority to rule over the earth and its creatures as God’s representatives. As their descendants, therefore, all people carry God’s image equally: bearing the image of God is an intrinsic function of being human, not a function of any other qualitative or quantitative measure (e.g., abilities, intellectual capacity, physical condition, wealth, social class, race, gender, ethnicity, or age). The image of God includes: rationality (the capacity to reason and imagine); responsibility (the ability to respond to God, to choose one’s actions, and the moral duty to obey him); relationship (the capacity to form meaningful, loving relationships with others, especially God); rulership (the authority and capacity to govern oneself, and any others for whom one is responsible); creativity (the capacity to reproduce biologically, and the ability to create meaningful, significant products, ideas, and artistic works, which improve or benefit the world and reflect both God’s person and nature and one’s own person and nature); communication (the ability to communicate with God and others, to understand him and them and make oneself understood); personhood (the knowledge of oneself as distinct from others; self-awareness).
Because all people carry God’s image, all people have intrinsically equal value and dignity, and are to be accorded that worth apart from and without regard to their ability to produce anything or contribute to the societies in which they live. Both genders share equally in the dominion granted to humans over the rest of creation, and thus share equally in the responsibility for carrying out the mandates given them by God.
I believe that marriage is God’s design, a covenantal relationship between one man and one woman, intended to be lifelong, and the exclusive arena for sexual expression and activity. Marriage is inherently good, and sexual relations between a husband and a wife are neither sinful nor unspiritual but holy, good, and normal. I believe that the nuclear family–husband/father, wife/mother, and their natural and adopted children–is the first and most important of all human institutions. I believe that marriage is the norm for most people; virginity or celibacy is neither a superior spiritual state to marriage nor an inferior state to marriage. Rather, singleness represents an opportunity to serve God with fewer limitations. Single persons are neither incomplete nor deficient human beings because they are unmarried.
I deny that God created more than two genders–male and female–or that claims of transgender confusion are due to God’s creative action (i.e., that God created a person who was “truly female” but was born with a male body, or vice-versa). I deny that some persons are homosexual in their sexual orientation because they were created by God to be so; that homosexual relations are good and normal; that homosexual unions constitute a genuine marriage. I deny that living together constitutes a genuine marriage; that pre-marital or extra-marital sexual relations are acceptable or good; that God approves of polygamous relations or designed marriage to be polygamous, or accepts as genuine marriage a relationship among three or more persons.
I deny that animals have the same status or worth as humans, or that they should be accorded such status in the form of “rights” recognized by human governments.
I believe that the source of sin and evil is a mystery, but the reality of sin and evil is obvious. The Bible indicates that angelic sin preceded human sin; that Satan was an archangel who rebelled against God and led astray approximately one-third of the angelic host who followed him and were cast out of God’s presence as a result and condemned to eternal judgment.
The first humans, Adam and Eve, freely chose to disobey God, thereby rendering themselves guilty for violating his command and incurring his judgment upon themselves and all of their progeny. Sin thus severed the relationship between God and humans, so that all people were cut off from the source of spiritual life from birth. Because Adam was the progenitor of all humanity and the federal head of the race, his sin (“original” or “Adamic” sin) introduced physical and spiritual death (separation from God) into the human race. Sin spread to all humans, who repeated the sin of Adam and Eve with their own disobedience, making all people subject to physical and spiritual death. Sinfulness thus marks everyone from birth; it forms our basic constitution apart from redemption in Christ.
Universal sinfulness (“universal depravity”) means that all people have inherited a condition in which they are born (sometimes termed a “sinful nature”), an inner tendency to resist God and rebel against him that results in the outward expression of sinful actions and patterns. All people have also inherited a situation–we are estranged from God from birth, and are in a condition of being at war with him because of our relation to Adam and because of our own sinful acts. In this state of estrangement, which we are unable to overcome on our own, we stand condemned, deserving of God’s wrath and facing the prospect of eternal separation from God, the unending continuation of existence apart from the source of real life, which the Bible terms “the second death.” Sin affects every aspect of the person: there is no part of any person that is untouched by sin or is unaffected by sin’s power; the entire spiritual and moral nature of the person is corrupted (“total depravity”), resulting in a captivity to sin which we are powerless to break. Sin mars the image of God in a person, but does not eradicate it entirely.
Evil thus consists of thoughts, actions, or states of being that are contrary to God’s nature and ways. It resides in the hearts of individual angels and humans, in humanity as a whole, and in creation as a result of angelic and human sin. It finds expression in action and inaction, by individuals, groups, corporate institutions, systems, and cultures.
I deny that God intended or predetermined that Adam or any person would sin. Rather, the possibility of sin exists as a concomitant of having a real world in which genuine freedom exists as determined by God the Creator.
I deny that total depravity renders a person incapable of responding to God sincerely or wholeheartedly, and unable to do anything that is good. Rather, because of God’s grace, the capacity to respond to God with repentance and faith remains in every person.
I believe that the eternal Son of God, the personal Word of God, through whom the Father made all things, became incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Through his incarnation, Jesus fully and perfectly revealed the Father to us. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary and entered this world by means of a normal human birth. From his conception, he was both fully divine and fully human, incorporating in his single person the natures of perfect deity and perfect humanity, which he retains forever. He lived a sinless life, performed numerous miracles, was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, crucified at the orders of Pontius Pilate, died, and was buried. On the third day, he was raised from death by the Father. He then revealed himself to his followers, appearing to them over the course of about forty days before ascending bodily to the right hand of the Father, where he now intercedes for his people and awaits the Father’s command to return and consummate his reign as Lord over all. He is Israel’s Messiah, to whom all of the Old Testament scriptures point, and in whom they all find fulfillment. By his sacrificial death on the cross and his victorious resurrection, Jesus, as both our representative and our substitute, atoned for the sins of all humanity, reconciling us to the Father and securing our salvation. He is the head of his body, the Church, the rightful king of Israel and of all the nations, and the Lord of all creation, the heir for whom God created all things.
I agree with the intention of the authors of the Chalcedonian definition (Council of Chalcedon, 451) regarding the question of the union of the divine and human natures in the person of Christ. Their desire was to craft a theological statement that would protect the integrity of the personhood of Jesus while also maintaining the fullness and integrity of both his divine and human natures. They rightly insisted that Jesus was simultaneously completely divine and completely human, that both natures existed fully and undiminished in his person. But I have reservations about their conclusion (the doctrine of the “hypostatic union”) and the wording of their declaration. I affirm, rather, a position closer to the view known as miaphysitism that was championed by Cyril of Alexandria and has been held by Oriental Orthodox churches since the fifth century. I believe that in his incarnation, Jesus possessed one nature encompassing both the divine and the human, such that neither his deity nor his humanity was diminished in any way, both natures united into a single whole, without confusion, without separation, and without change, so that he is rightly termed the unique “God-man.”
I believe that salvation is the free and gracious gift of God (sola gratia), born of his love for humanity, and available to all people groups and every person. The basis for salvation is the atoning death of Jesus on the cross. The means by which salvation is received is repentance (turning away from a life of sinfulness and selfishness to a life of following after God) and faith (sola fide–consisting of the belief that Christ’s sacrificial death was the atonement for my sins, and a personal commitment of entrusting my life to him). Although Christ’s death is sufficient for the salvation of all people, it is only effective for those who believe. Faith is a personal, conscious, and deliberate response to the message of the gospel rather than something implicit in a person.
Salvation is a multi-faceted gift. The problem of guilt is answered by the provision of forgiveness–the wiping away of our guilt and subsequent pardon from the verdict of condemnation for our sins. Thus we are released from the penalty of sin, the incurring of God’s wrath. We are also reconciled to God, no longer estranged, but accepted and now rightly related to God, declared righteous–justified–because of Christ’s death. Furthermore, we are also freed from captivity to sin, redeemed and delivered from our old ways of life and given new life in Christ. The Spirit of God himself indwells believers, so that we are spiritually reborn, and promised eternal life in the presence of God.
I believe that the New Testament references to the election of believers indicate that election is corporate rather than individual. Election is prefigured in the choosing of Israel as the people of God and fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ, the chosen Son of God, in whom all those who place their faith find that they are elect.
I affirm that God’s grace is sufficient for every person to be saved. However, God’s grace is not irresistible, and God does not impel people to believe, to be saved, or to continue in faith against their will. Therefore I affirm that it is possible for a person to apostatize from following Jesus, to willfully and consciously repudiate the faith he or she once confessed, denying Christ and his sacrifice, abandoning the covenant which Jesus inaugurated with his death, and thereby rejecting the salvation which he or she once received. However, I believe that we cannot know if someone has reached the point where it is impossible for them to return to the faith. We must therefore always assume that repentance is possible for anyone who has defected from Christ. Further, I believe that God’s love will certainly lead him to pursue every person and give him or her every opportunity to respond with repentance and faith.
I believe that salvation also includes healing by divine means. Jesus’ salvific death on the cross provided for healing of every type, including physical, spiritual, emotional, mental, and relational healing, and is often effectuated through faith and the laying on of hands. I deny that divine healing is automatic, that God is obligated to heal in answer to our prayers, that failure to receive healing is a sign of lack of faith, or that those who have sufficient faith will never be sick, suffer, or die.
I deny that salvation is a monergistic action whereby God regenerates sinful persons solely in virtue of his own will apart from any response of their own, thereby enabling them to repent and believe. Rather, I affirm that all humans have genuinely free (libertarian) will and the capacity to respond to God’s grace, which is extended to all persons indiscriminately, fully, and without exception. I deny, further, that God predetermined a select number of specific individuals to receive his grace and be saved.
I deny that the Scriptures teach that all who confess faith in Jesus and are genuinely born again will certainly persevere in faith to the end (often caricatured as “once saved, always saved”). I also deny that Christ’s sacrificial death has effectually procured salvation for every human being (universalism).
I believe that the Holy Spirit spoke through holy prophets, as recorded in the Scriptures, that he speaks through the Scriptures which he inspired, that he speaks personally to individuals, and that he speaks today through members of the Church, whom he empowers. He convicts people of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. He reveals the truth, illuminates the Scriptures to reveal their meaning for us, recalls his Word to the minds of believers, and glorifies Jesus in all that he does. He indwells individual believers, manifesting the presence and power of Christ and enabling them to live godly lives; and he indwells the corporate Church, manifesting the presence and power of Christ to the assembly and enabling Christ’s body to represent him to the world. He empowers the church to fulfill God’s mission and to minister his love, truth, power, and presence to the world, distributing spiritual gifts to believers as he chooses.
I believe that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is “the promise of the Father,” whereby Jesus pours out his Spirit on believers, filling them with the Spirit, and empowering them to be his witnesses. The experience of being baptized in the Spirit is logically distinct from conversion and regeneration, but may occur at the same time or on the same occasion as conversion/regeneration, or it may be separated temporally from conversion/regeneration. As a result of being baptized in the Spirit, believers are empowered to speak or pray in tongues, to prophesy, or to manifest other supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit.
I deny that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is identical with conversion or regeneration, or occurs automatically for everyone who calls on the Lord for salvation. I deny that speaking in tongues is the only biblical evidence that one has been baptized in the Spirit or is necessary for salvation. I deny that receiving the baptism in the Spirit or speaking in tongues is an indication of spiritual status, spiritual maturity, or spiritual superiority.
I deny that the supernatural gifts or manifestations of the Holy Spirit ceased with the deaths of the apostles in the first century. I deny that the Spirit no longer reveals God’s truth or speaks today. However I also deny that prophetic words, given by the inspiration of the Spirit, are normative for the Church, or are equal with Scripture in authority or universal applicability.
I believe that the Christian life is founded in grace and enabled by grace. It is by God’s grace that we have the capacity to respond to his gracious calling through which he invited us to repent, believe, and follow Jesus. It is by God’s grace that the Holy Spirit regenerates us, effects the necessary changes in us that bring us into conformity with God’s ways, and empowers us to do what God has called us to do.
The Christian life is a life of identifying with and actively following Jesus as a disciple, following his teaching and his example, allowing his Spirit to change us progressively into his image. As we grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus, our minds are renewed so that our lives are conformed to his word and we become like our teacher.
As disciples, we have abandoned the pursuit of our own lives in order to assume the pursuit of God and his kingdom. We are to be engaged in Jesus’ mission of redeeming the world, ministering as he did in the power of the Holy Spirit, to accomplish his purposes for humanity and creation. Above all else, we are called to love–to love fellow believers, the lost, and our enemies with the love that God has given to us in Christ.
I believe that a healthy, growing Christian will practice the spiritual disciplines of worship, prayer, Bible study, fasting, evangelism, service, and fellowship. These disciplines will increasingly characterize a disciple’s life and be used by God to develop godliness and spiritual fruit in a believer.
I believe that Christian ethics are based upon two fundamental and essential measures of truth–the written word of God and the person of Jesus Christ. The Bible presents to us truths about God, his nature and ways, his commands for us, what constitutes good and evil, right and wrong, truth and falsehood, honorable and dishonorable. The teaching of the Bible (properly understood) therefore sets forth a body of truths that can be organized into a system of beliefs which then orders our understanding of God, ourselves, the world, life, and how we are to think, speak, act, and live. Christian faith, however, is not about following a system but a person. As a disciple of Jesus, indwelt by his Spirit, I must always depend upon his personal direction and leading in every situation. My ethical decisions in real life situations are therefore based not simply upon the teaching of the Bible, but on the Spirit’s instructions about how to apply the teaching of the Bible as I follow Jesus.
I deny that the term “disciple” marks a different status than “believer” or a different stage in the development of a Christian beyond salvation. Rather, as the New Testament teaches, all Christians are disciples: a genuine Christian faith will result in a life of discipleship.
I believe that the Church consists of all persons who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. They are the exclusive people of God, his covenant people, joined to him by the new covenant inaugurated by Jesus Christ, and indwelt by his Holy Spirit. Drawn from every people, culture, language, and family, including both Jews and Gentiles, they are united in Christ as a universal people, the bride of Christ, his Church.
This universal Church is invisible, in that it is known only to God, since he alone knows the hearts of people, and alone knows who are genuinely his own. The visible Church, however, exists within history and within human society. It consists of all those persons, congregations, associations of persons and congregations, and affiliated institutions or ministry organizations that acknowledge Jesus as Lord, and confess the historic faith of the Church as expressed in the universally acknowledged statements of the Church’s doctrine, such as the creedal statements of the ecumenical councils. The invisible Church includes the Church triumphant–those believers who have died and are in the presence of the Lord. On earth, the invisible Church exists in perfect spiritual unity, undivided, across time and space, its members distributed throughout the world, in various cultures and identified with various human structures. But the visible Church may be distinguished by its various forms and structures, its differing patterns of worship and congregational life, and its distinctive doctrinal beliefs and practices. The visible Church represents Jesus to the world; nevertheless, it does so imperfectly. To the extent that its members live in accordance with the teachings of Scripture and in conformity with the ways of Jesus, and accurately teach what Jesus and the apostles taught, the Church then rightly represents Jesus.
The Church, and each individual congregation (church) has four purposes: (a) evangelism–sharing the gospel with those who do not believe; (b) nurture–developing faithful disciples of Jesus and caring for those who are his followers, (c) worship–both individual and corporate; and (d) service–meeting the needs of the Church and the world.
I believe that the Holy Spirit gives gifts to the Church for the advancement of the gospel and the edification of the body of Christ. Some of those gifts are people, whose leadership and service are essential for the growth and development of the Church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
I believe that Jesus is the head of the Church, that he leads his church through the Holy Spirit’s ministry, and that those responsible for the governing and leading of the church congregation (or an association of congregations) are the elders/pastors, who must determine what the Holy Spirit is saying in order to understand how Jesus wants to lead his Church.
I believe that men and women have equal value before God, that both men and women inherently and fully carry the image of God, and share equally in the responsibility for fulfilling God’s intention for humanity to govern the earth and human society and cause them to be fruitful. I believe that both men and women may be called of God for ministry in the Church, and may serve in any capacity or role including pastoral leadership.
The Church celebrates and acknowledges its faith by preaching the gospel and teaching what Jesus taught, by baptizing converts in water upon their repentance and confession of faith, and by taking communion together. These are visible signs of the spiritual reality of Christ’s presence among his people.
I deny that water baptism is necessary to be genuinely or fully saved. I deny that partaking of the elements of communion per se without genuine faith results in salvation for the participant. I deny that the elements of communion–the cup and the bread–are transformed into the physical body and blood of Jesus in the taking of communion. I acknowledge, however, that there is a special presence of Jesus that is manifest when believers take communion together as a corporate expression of their faith.
I affirm the ongoing offices of apostle and prophet. I deny that apostles today are apostles in the same sense as were the Twelve or Paul; I deny that their authority extends to all the churches and that their words carry the same authority as Scripture. Rather, they are “sent ones,” commissioned with a specific ministry of leadership that may extend beyond a single congregation. Further, I deny that prophets today are infallible when they speak prophetically, that they speak with universal authority, and that their prophecies carry the same level of inspiration and authority as the Scripture. Rather, prophets are gifted individuals who communicate to others what the Holy Spirit has shown or told them, or what they have discerned from his speaking to them or revealing things to them. Such messages must be evaluated by comparison with the Scripture and with the consensus of godly leaders in the church.
Though I acknowledge the reality of the spiritual connection of the earthly Church with those believers who have died and are in the presence of the Lord (the Church triumphant), I deny that it is a biblically approved practice or appropriate to invoke the prayers of deceased saints for the needs of the Church or the world.
I deny that individual Jews or the Jewish people as a whole retain their status as God’s covenant people by virtue of their descent from Abraham, that obedience to the Mosaic covenant or inclusion among the Jewish people is sufficient for their salvation, and that Jews have a unique relationship to God which allows them to know God rightly and be saved apart from expressing faith in Christ or being included within the Church.
I believe that the kingdom of God was made manifest in Jesus’ earthly ministry; that Jesus’ death and resurrection ushered in the “last days,” and that we are now living in the time in which the kingdom of God is really present, but not yet in its fullness.
I believe that Jesus Christ will return to the earth in bodily form to consummate his kingdom and rule over the earth and all of humanity. Prior to his return, the world will experience a time of great suffering, including natural disasters, plagues, and demonic attacks (the “Tribulation”). This time will also see the persecution of the Church at the hands of antichrist. Believers who are alive at Christ’s return will be raptured to join and welcome him in his return. He will destroy his enemies, including antichrist and his followers, and will inaugurate a time of universal peace on earth (the “Millennium”), during which time Satan will be prevented from influencing people or human societies. After this period (a lengthy time, but of unknown duration), Satan will be released to tempt the world. Those who follow him will rebel against Christ, but will be destroyed in their vain attempt to overthrow him. Satan will be cast into the “lake of fire,” the place of eternal condemnation and separation from God.
Following the final battle against his enemies, Jesus will judge the living and the dead. Those who belong to Christ will enter his eternal kingdom, enjoying eternal life in God’s presence in glorified, resurrected bodies in the new heavens and new earth. Those who do not belong to Christ will be condemned to eternal damnation, separated from God’s presence.
I believe that all believers who die prior to the return of Christ enter immediately into the presence of God. They receive their resurrected and glorified bodies at the end of time, prior to the creation of the new heavens and new earth.
I deny that either of the biblical descriptions of the length of “the Tribulation” or “the Millennium” must be interpreted literally (seven years, or one thousand years, respectively).