Bible

We believe the Bible consisting of 66 books is the inspired Word of God. We believe that every word and every part is fully and equally inspired and was produced under the control of the Holy Spirit. We believe that the Scriptures in their entirety are inerrant and infallible in their original writings. We believe that these writings have been accurately preserved throughout the centuries. We believe that the Bible is the final authority in all matters of doctrine and practice.

God

We believe there is only one living and true God who is an infinite all-knowing Spirit. He is one in essence eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that God is absolutely sovereign in all things. We believe that God created the heavens and the earth including all life in six literal days as described in Genesis.

Christ

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ is absolute deity, the eternal Son of God who became man without ceasing to be God. In the incarnation, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We believe that He was totally holy by the virtue of His miraculous birth and sinless life. We believe that Jesus Christ voluntarily and actively laid down His life, the Just dying for the unjust, making it possible for man to be saved. We believe that He rose bodily from the dead on the third day and that He ascended into Heaven to the right hand of the Father. We believe that Jesus Christ is the believer’s Intercessor and Advocate, the only true Mediator between God and man.

Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is deity, the third person of the Godhead, coequal and coexistent with the Father and the Son. We believe the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to every believer at the moment he is regenerated and that these gifts are to be used for the edification and perfecting of believers in the Church. We believe the miraculous and sign gifts were given for the unique purpose of authenticating new revelation to the first-century Church and have since ceased with the completion of Scripture. We believe the Holy Spirit glorifies neither Himself nor His gifts. He does glorify Christ by implementing His work of redeeming the lost and building up the believer.

Man

We believe God created man directly and instantaneously from the dust of the ground in accord with the literal Genesis account. Mankind was created in the image of God and is able to have intimate fellowship with God. God created them male and female. We believe all humanity fell away from God when Adam first sinned in the Garden of Eden. Therefore the image and likeness of God in which man was initially created was marred. The fall resulted in separation from God and both physical and spiritual death for man. In this fallen condition man was left totally depraved and unable to remedy his own situation.

Sin

We believe sin is anything that does not conform to the character or command of God. We believe all mankind sinned in Adam, the head of the human race, that every human being has a sin nature. As a result of this sin nature, men commit personal sin.

Salvation

We believe Salvation is the act of God whereby man is brought into proper relationship with Him. It is that act whereby a spiritually dead man is born again or born anew and made spiritually alive in Christ. We believe in God’s sovereign and unconditional choice of those whom He would graciously regenerate, save, and sanctify. We believe that this is accomplished by the grace of God through man’s faith in the death, burial, and bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe there are three aspects of salvation for the believer: deliverance from the penalty of sin at the moment of regeneration; victory over the power of sin during the Christian life as he yields to the indwelling Holy Spirit; and deliverance from the presence of sin at Christ’s second coming. We believe all believers are kept by God’s power and thus are secure in Christ forever.

Eternal State

We believe in a literal Heaven and Hell. We believe that all of mankind will spend eternity in a resurrected body either in Heaven with God in eternal bliss or in Hell damned to a life of misery separated from God for all eternity. We believe that faith alone in the finished work of Jesus Christ or lack thereof is the deciding factor as to where and how one will live out their eternal life. We believe that this decision to embrace Jesus Christ by faith must take place while one is still physically alive and can exercise genuine repentant faith.

Satan and Angels

We believe in the existence and personality of Satan, the great deceiver of nations and men, saved and unsaved alike. He was created by God as the greatest of heavenly beings but later rebelled against God. After he fell, he organized his own kingdom, which consists of both evil angels and unregenerate men. Satan, as the ruler-god of this age, seeks to overthrow the one true God. We believe that both Satan and his evil angels will be consigned to the eternal lake of fire after the Millennium. We believe that there is an innumerable host of angels who remained faithful and true to God. They are ministering spirits to those who are heirs of salvation and servants to the Most High God.

Church

We believe the true Church is a universal, invisible, living organism, and that it is the “Body of Christ”; that He himself is the Head of the Body. The universal Church is made up of those who have been saved through faith in Christ. We believe the Church began on the day of Pentecost; that every believer is indwelt/baptized by the Holy Spirit into one Body of Christ and that the Body of Christ is the universal Church. We believe the Scriptures teach that there are to be local churches. These churches are to be the visible representation of the Body of Christ in the local community, observing the ordinances of Christ, and teaching the Word of God. We believe the local church should be totally committed to the edifying of the believers and also should have an active outreach in local evangelism and world missions. We believe it is the duty of Christians to regularly attend a local Bible-believing church as portrayed in the New Testament.

Last Things

We believe in the literal, physical, pre-millennial return of Jesus Christ to the earth to initiate and rule over an earthly kingdom for one thousand years. This physical kingdom will be established following the seventieth week of the Book of Daniel. We believe the Church will be raptured immediately prior to the pouring out of God’s wrath since the Church is not appointed unto wrath. We believe God’s wrath, or “the Day of the Lord” judgment, will commence with the opening of the seventh seal of the Book of Revelation. In practical terms, this means the Church will enter the seventieth week of Daniel to confront the Antichrist and demonstrate her love and faithfulness to the true Christ before the Rapture, which occurs immediately prior to the Day of the Lord.

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and unjust; the everlasting conscious blessedness of the saved; and the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost.

*Zion’s Hope understands that believers hold various views regarding the sequence of End-Time events and the timing of Christ’s Second Coming. Although we passionately teach the Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church, we believe that holding a different view on this issue should not preclude believers from fellowshipping or ministering together in service to the Lord.

Israel

We believe God has sovereignly chosen the Jewish people as the nation through which to reveal Himself, His glory, and His salvation. Although Israel has sinned by rejecting the Messiah and is presently under national blindness, God has a remnant according to His grace. We believe the Jewish people are in need of salvation and are saved only by faith in Jesus Christ just as the Gentiles. We believe Israel is distinct from the Church and that promise to Israel of future blessing will be fulfilled at the Messiah’s second coming.

Marriage and Sexuality

We believe the only legitimate marriage sanctioned by God is the joining of one naturally born man and one naturally born woman in a single exclusive union as delineated in Scripture. We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to only occur between a man and a woman who are married to each other and has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe any form of sexual immorality such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, pornography, or any attempt to change one’s gender or disagreement with one’s biological gender is sinful and offensive to God.

Sanctity of Life

We believe all human life is sacred and begins at conception (defined as the moment of fertilization) and the unborn child is a living human being created in the image of God and must be respected and protected both before and after birth. We believe all life is precious in the eyes of the Lord. Therefore the taking of human life through euthanasia or abortion constitutes a violation of the sanctity of human life and is a crime against God and man.