I hope the following will give you a good feel for what I believe about other things and in a way that will be of a help to you in your own understandings of what the Bible teaches:

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I BELIEVE that "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (II Tim. 3:16) and is infallible and inerrant.  Whereas what we have in our English Bibles are translations that have arisen from copies of the original autographs, God has not ceased to "keep" and "preserve" His words (Psa. 12:6-7).  Though I have been helped by other translations and do much comparing, I regard the King James Version above all the rest.  God's hand has been upon this translation as no other, and it has most certainly stood the test of time.

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I BELIEVE that the world was created by Almighty God in accord with the Genesis account, interpreted literally.  For example, the most basic and simple understanding of "the evening and the morning" of Genesis chapter one (e.g., vss. 5, 8, 13, etc.) entirely suffices for me.  I am without reservation in the category of a young-Earth creationist.

     I believe accordingly concerning the flood of Noah's day.  It remains a curious thing to me that the unbelieving sector of the scientific community allows that every place upon the face of the earth has been covered by water at sometime or another, just not at the same time.  Surely, if the Bible showed that the global mass destruction that once occurred was caused by the impact of a giant asteroid, the aforementioned community would be arguing that it was caused by a global flood instead.  And so it goes, in my thinking, to Satan's delight.

     I see the "theory of evolution" as representing the best explanation (howbeit, a poor one) that unbelievers can come up with to support their position that there is no God.  As a country boy, "that dog won't hunt for me."  I'm not able to buy that "anything can happen, given enough time."  Can one throw a scenery puzzle up into the air and expect it to ever land assembled?  Can a tennis shoe be tumbled in a clothes dryer with its shoe lace and be expected to ever lace itself correctly?  It's not going to happen.  Moreover, these things are nothing in comparison to the faculties one has by which he or she is enabled to even read this---and there is the rest of the world besides.

     On the question of what we have come to call "dinosaurs" and how some of these could have been gotten into the ark, I'm sure that Noah would have directed his boys to seek the younger of something like a "T-Rex" pair instead of trying for the grownups.  Concerning the actual mention of such large-sized animals in the Bible, consider the "behemoth" of Job 40:15-24.  While some suggest this to be a hippopotamus, I've yet to see one of these that "moveth his tail like a cedar" (vs. 17).  So far, the only tail I've ever seen on a hippo reminds me of a dust swiffer.  Similar logic can be applied to the "leviathan" of Job 41 concerning whether this is in reference to a crocodile, as some suggest.

     Relating to the animals that the fossil record bears testimony to that are no longer in existence, all that were on the ark would have easily been in the category of "endangered" right after the flood.  Early on, the death of either one of a pair would have spelled extinction for that pair.  For years, things would have been precarious for much of the animal population.  Those that remain today are simply those that have made it, and even in our generation, there are extinctions and those that are endangered.

     Of course, so much more can be said.  For now, for here, I would offer this advice to the reader, especially if a school or college student:  When you are being taught evolutionary theory, always be careful to think a little more for yourself than you allow others to think for you.

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I BELIEVE that Jesus Christ, when He walked upon this earth, was (and still is!) God, robed in human flesh.  Though I grew up with plenty of exposure to the teaching of the Trinity and fully believing that Jesus was the Divine Son of God, I did not realize that He was so much more until the first time I read my Bible through at the age of 25.  Prior to this time, no thought of Jesus actually being God had ever captured my thinking---flesh and blood had not revealed this to me.  Neither did I see this the first time I read past Isaiah 9:6 or Matthew 1:23 or even John 1:1-14.  It was at John 14:8-9 that God revealed this to me---and it has remained my favorite, and by far, most meaningful Bible doctrine.

     I have never got over the fact that my Creator put on a robe of flesh and did what He did on the cross at Calvary for the world and for me.  When I try to help others understand this great truth, I often ask the question, "If God desired to become a man, could He?"  People normally respond affirmatively, whereupon I reply, "Well, He did, in the person of Jesus Christ!"  To me, a help is to think of Jesus as the flesh of God, in accord with Paul's words in Colossians 2:9 and I Timothy 3:16.

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I BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit is God's Spirit---Christ's Spirit---and that by His Holy Spirit, God dwells within His children.  On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus spoke these words to His disciples:  "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever;  Even the Spirit of Truth;  whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him:  but ye know Him;  for He dwelleth with you, AND SHALL BE IN YOU.  I will not leave you comfortless:  I WILL COME TO YOU" (Jn. 14:16-18).

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I BELIEVE that salvation comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross at Calvary.  Though I have tried to live right and do right for the last 41 years of my life (I am now 66), this does not better my chances of going to Heaven---at all.  My only hope for Heaven is what God did for me through Jesus Christ and His shed blood through Jesus on the cross.  I like to express it this way:  There is nothing that can be added to grace and it still be grace, except it be gratitude.

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I BELIEVE that the gift of salvation can only be received when God is making the personal offer of it to the individual.  It is only at this time that an individual can repent of his corrupted fallen condition (i.e., his sinfulness) and receive Jesus Christ as his or her Savior.  To not receive God's offer of salvation is to reject it (and Him), and He makes no promise that He will continue to offer His gift to the individual.  While I am persuaded that God makes repeated offers of His gift to those who ultimately reject Him, it should be realized that none can be saved on their own timetable or at their own convenience.  Those who reject God's offer of salvation with thoughts of getting saved at some later time have no promise that this will be a possibility, for as Jesus said, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him..." (Jn. 6:44).

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I BELIEVE that salvation is much more than the thing of being saved from the sins we commit.  It is being saved from the entirety of our corrupted fallen condition.  The sins we commit are merely the evidences against us that we are indeed corrupted fallen creatures.  Every one of us stands in as great of a need of salvation as every other, no matter the number or nature of the sins we have committed.  Like glasses of water that have been equally muddied, whether we have sloshed forth a lot of what is in us or just a little, we stand equally in need of being made pure.

     At salvation, we are born-again, inwardly, spiritually, the millisecond that Christ comes into our heart or soul.  At this time, though we have been "saved" and have become a child of God, God is hardly finished with us.  As has been often expressed, at the moment of salvation, we are JUSTIFIED.  Then begins the work of God in our life whereby we are SANCTIFIED.  And ultimately, by God's power, we will be GLORIFIED.  As has been said another way, as a child of God, we have been saved from the PENALTY of sin, we are being saved from the POWER of sin, and we will be saved from the PRESENCE of sin.

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I BELIEVE in the security of the born-again believer.  I understand why some believe that one can lose his or her salvation, as some even believe that they have lost their own salvation.  While there are many scriptures that can be appealed to to argue the case either way, one way is ultimately right and one way is ultimately wrong.  My experience with the scriptures is that every Scripture on which a belief might turn can be interpreted at least two ways:  one right, one wrong.  Satan will see to that.  We must seek an understanding that will align with all of Scripture, and for me, this is possible with the doctrine of security, but not otherwise.

     Aside from the many scriptures that can be appealed to on this question, consider:  If Satan was able to engineer the loss of one's salvation, on the basis of what criteria would our Heavenly Father allow this success with one of His children, but not another?  Rather, Satan's PLAN A for every individual is that he or she dies LOST.  At salvation, he is forever foiled on this plan.  But, his PLAN B is similar---that the child of God die A LOSER.  As someone has rightly said, "It is possible to have a saved soul, but a lost life."  Further, my observation (and experience) has been that the most miserable person on the face of the earth is not the lost person, but the child of God who is out of the Father's will.  For that child of God who can relate to this, God can certainly turn things around!  He did for me.

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I BELIEVE that at salvation, when one is born-again, he or she begins as a spiritual babe in Christ, with a special purpose and all kinds of potential for his or her future.  As in the physical realm, the stages of one's growth as a child of God can be likened to the delivery room stage, the crib stage, the crawling stage, the toddler stage, the various school age stages, and the graduation stage. The graduation stage would be that time in our life when we more fully recognize God's purpose for our life and embark on the fulfilling of this for His Kingdom purposes.

     It is helpful to realize that everyone in one's local church family is in a different stage of spiritual growth and maturity.  This being the case, it should be realized that many mistakes will be made, and some hurtful, but one is still much better off being a part of the body (a local church), than not.  It is tragic when a body is missing a part, but it is more tragic when a part is missing a body, for that part will surely wither.  While God sometimes performs transplants, it is important to remain united with the body that He puts us with, for then we experience the best growth.  And, even through hurts, we can better learn love, patience, forgiveness, care, healing, and a multitude of other things that our Heavenly Father desires for us to learn.

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I BELIEVE in being a faithful part of the local church, one's immediate Church family.  Each local church is unique, like an individual, and there is a local church for every Christian where he or she belongs and can feel a part.  Whether in number two or three, twenty or thirty, two or three hundred, or two or three thousand (or more), the important thing is to be where you feel that God would have you to be, in accord with what I consider my life Scripture, from Proverbs 3:

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  5   Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;  and lean not unto thine own understanding.

  6   In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.

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     Concerning the purpose of the local church, I see it as being at least four-fold, that being corporate worship, corporate evangelism, corporate discipleship, and communion of the saints (i.e., Christian fellowship).  Further, the ordinances of the Church are baptism (by immersion) and the Lord's Supper.

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I BELIEVE we are living in the last of the last days, days of which Paul's words to Timothy have never been more true.  Consider, from II Timothy 3:

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  1   This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  

  2   For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

  3   Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

  4   Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God:

  5   Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof...

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     Because of this, there has never been a time when God's children have needed to be more serious about their walk, to unceasingly endeavor to be salt and light in a world full of corruption and darkness.  For me, this is best accomplished when we walk with the Lord daily in the fellowship and strength of His presence as disciples of His.

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I BELIEVE that when Christ comes again, He will rule and reign upon this earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords for a literal thousand years (Rev. 20:1-6).  During this time, God will fulfill His covenant promises to the Israelite nation, and Christians will experience the rewards of their faithfulness to Christ.

     The estate of God's children in Heaven is a gift of God, and will be equal for all, for all of eternity, as reflected in Revelation chapters 21-22.  But, the estate of God's children during Christ's Millennial Reign will vary greatly, for it is a reward, based upon what we have done for God's Kingdom purposes in this life, as reflected in Jesus' parables of the talents (Matt. 25:14-23ff), the pounds (Lk. 19:11-19ff), and Paul's words concerning rewards (I Cor. 3:12-15).

     In my concept of what Scripture teaches, all of God's children during Christ's Reign will have it far better than anyone in this present experience of life---but there is a concern.  Consider:  We who have been born-again have presently been made "new creatures" inwardly, in our souls.  Then, during Christ's Reign, we will be in our new, glorified bodies.  This means that during Christ's Reign, we will be in a glorified state, both inwardly and outwardly.  But, we will still have our memories.  We will have our memories until that time that God "wipes away" all tears from our eyes and anything in our minds that would cause us sorrow in our eternity (Rev. 21:4-5).  This, however, will not happen until after Christ's Reign and the judgment of the lost at the Last Judgment (Rev. 20).  While our estate during Christ's Reign will be as royalty (Rev. 20:6), a thousand years is a long time for one to wish he or she had been more faithful or obedient in this present time.  This is something to seriously think about that most of God's children have thought nothing about.

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I BELIEVE that God's grand and ultimate design for this present world revolves around His desire to love and to be loved by an entity made in His likeness and image.  That entity is humanity.  For God's plan to become a reality on the level of His desire involved our being free moral agents.  Satan, the realm of evil, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil are all integral to this plan of God's.  Though our first parents exercised their will in disobedience to God and corruption entered into the world, God, in His infinite wisdom, demonstrated His unfathomable love by giving Himself in the person of Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for our sin.  By this sacrifice, He satisfied His own requirements for a plan by which we can be saved.  Before He created this world, He determined that He would do this.

     There is coming a day, when God's plan for this world will be fully accomplished, and time, as we know it, will give way to eternity, when all who love God will dwell with Him in His Heaven, happily ever after.  Suffice it to say, for those who reject God's love and offer of salvation, their future is made clear in Revelation 20:11-15.  The "works" spoken of in this passage are not on a balance scale to determine if one's good has outweighed his or her bad.  Rather, these works will merely reveal that one is indeed a corrupted fallen creature, in need of salvation, but never saved (Jn. 6:28-29).  With this thought, I would like to call attention to the words of the last invitation given in the Bible, from Revelation 22:

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 17  And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come.  And let him that heareth say, Come.  And let him that is athirst come.  AND WHOSOEVER WILL, let him take the Water of Life FREELY.

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I BELIEVE in the importance of living a separated life.  Long before I became a minister, I felt that I should endeavor to live a life of the highest standards, even those required of ministers (e.g., I Tim. 3:1-7;  Tit. 1:5-9).  For me, this mindset came when I was at my bottom and experienced inspiration of God to give Him "the same chance I had given the world" (note from my testimony).  I now see this as what should be the mindset of all who are saved, as we endeavor to live wholly unto Christ as disciples of His to the glory of our Creator (e.g., Col. 2:6-12;  I Cor. 10:31-33;  I Jn. 2:6).

     I am presently some 40 years removed from the lifestyle of my teens and early twenties, which was characterized by rebellion, immorality, the use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, pills, foul language, and the like.  I have never regretted making Christ the Lord of my life and the distancing of myself from that which Satan effectively used to nearly bring about my ruin.  On anything that I have had a question concerning, my litmus test has been consideration of how my witness and/or the cause of Christ and His Kingdom purposes might be adversely thereby affected.

     Relating to the foregoing, it seems rather easy for me to be nonjudgmental concerning those who may see some things differently than I.  I believe this stems from the memories I have of my own struggles when younger, even as a saved person.  In those days, even while trying the best I knew how, I had some slips relating to things that I now have strong convictions against.  If some had judged me in those days as not being really sincere or serious about God, they would have judged me wrongly.  But, it would not have been wrong for them to wonder.  This realization, together with the particular ills and vices of our present day, has resulted in my having some convictions that may seem overly stringent to those who see themselves as equally sincere and serious.  Concerning these things, I remain mindful of what Paul was inspired of God to write in Romans 14...

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 22  Hast thou faith?  have it to thyself before God.  Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

 23  And he that doubteth is damned (Gk. "to judge against") if he eat, because he eateth not of faith:  for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

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