Beliefs

What we believe:

Our Statement of Trust
Todd and Renée Ellison of Homeschool How-Tos

Four guiding principles: in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity; when good men differ, walk softly. If we define essentials as that which is necessary for salvation, it is the half-dozen gospel truths the Apostle Paul summarized in 1 Corinthians 15, we believe “…that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” (vss. 3b-5, ESV) Everything else is non-essentials, in terms of a person being saved from our deserved destination of torment in hell.

  1. We believe that the Holy Scriptures are comprised of the 66 books of the Hebrew and Greek writings [the TaNaK (older covenant books: Torah / first five books, Neviim / prophets, and Ketuvim / all other writings there, such as Psalms and Proverbs) and the B’rit Chadeshah (new covenant books]. We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the only inspired, infallible and authoritative Word of God, without error in their original manuscripts, the complete revelation of God's will for salvation, “valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correction of faults, and training in right living” (2 Timothy 3:16). The Holy Scriptures are the final authority for all matters, spiritual, and personal. We “find its cardinal doctrine to be, atonement by the blood, and sanctification by the Spirit of a divine Savior.” (William Buell Sprague, Letters on Practical Subjects, to a Daughter (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 11th American ed., rev. and enl., 1987, page 171). On this topic, we heartily recommend reading (and studying) the "Ten Reasons Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God" (by early 20th Century evangelist Reuben Archer Torrey).
  2. We believe in one God, as He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One." He is the creator and sustainer of all things. He is infinite, perfect, eternal, sovereign, provident, unchanging and without equal. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-present, and is existent in the divine tri-unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: three persons, personally distinct yet essentially one (Genesis 1:1; Deuteronomy 6:4; John 1:1-8 and 3:16-18; Romans 8:1-17; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 13:14, Ephesians 1:3-14 and 4:4-6; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17; 1 Peter 1:2,). We believe that God is holy and requires His people to be holy and to separate themselves to Him.
  3. We believe that Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus) is the Savior of all mankind and is the only Son of God the Father (John 1:14; Hebrews 1:1 through 3:6). Apart from Him we could not know about salvation (John 5:37-47; Romans 3:21-26) or resurrection or the life everlasting, much less have confidence in entering into any of those three. We believe in His total deity and His humanity. He is the Eternal One in whom all the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form, and who is the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us, and whose glory we beheld, the glory of the uniquely begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth. We believe in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, and in His miracles. We believe that He came to earth to submit Himself perfectly to the will of His Father in heaven and to shed His blood to make propitiation by becoming “the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). We believe that He died, descended into Sheol, bodily rose in victory on the third day, ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God as our priest and advocate (John 16:10 and 20:1-18; Acts 2:24 and 33ff; Romans 1:4 and 8:34; 1 Corinthians 15:1-28; Ephesians 1:20ff, Hebrews 1:3 and 13, 10:12ff and 12:2), and that He will be the judge of the living and the dead and will return to establish His Kingdom forever and to rule and reign upon the throne of David in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14; Matthew 25:14-46; John 5:25-29; Romans 8:18-24; Ephesians 5:27; 2 Peter 3:10-13; Revelation 19 and 20:11 through 21:4). He is our King and Savior and worthy of all praise and honor (John 1:1-14; Colossians 2:9).
  4. We believe in the Holy Spirit, and that He is at work in our present day. We believe that His ministry is to glorify Yeshua and lead people to the Savior. He convicts us of sin, which leads us to repentance (John 16:8-13). We believe that the Spirit indwells all believers and gives instruction and enabling for godly living and service. We believe in the work and presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of every believer and we believe that God manifests the gifts, power, and authority of His Holy Spirit in the life of each believer in a diverse way (Acts 9:31; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1 John 2:27). We believe that the Spirit has gifts for the edification of all believers and uses them as He wills (John 14:15-31, Acts 2:4 and 11 and 10:46; 1 Corinthians 12:4).
  5. We believe that man was created in the image of God; but because of Adam's disobedience fell into sin and likewise all mankind. We believe in the total depravity of man, that unless man is redeemed by Yeshua as his Savior, he is condemned to eternal damnation. “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We believe Yeshua’s death and resurrection accomplished the atonement for all who place their faith in Him. Whoever trusts in Yeshua (Jesus), in His work alone, is made a new creation in Him, indwelt by the Spirit of God, and is transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His own Son (Romans 5 and 6; Ephesians 2:8-9). We believe that following salvation, which is defined as justification by faith through the grace of God alone and not by human efforts, we should then uphold and obey the commandments of God as we strive to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30; John 14:15; Romans 3:31, 7:22 and 8:29-39; Galatians 3:21-22; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1 John 5:1-3) and we should teach others to do so (Matthew 5:17-19; Revelation 22:13-14).
  6. We believe that the seventh-day Sabbath and the Biblical Feasts are God's holy days for us to observe, and that they are a shadow (picture) of things to come, revealing the redemptive plan of God through Yeshua as Messiah (Leviticus 23:2-4; Colossians 2:16-17).
  7. We believe in water immersion in the presence of witnesses, as performed by John and continued into the second century, as a personal witness of one's rebirth in Yeshua our Messiah.
  8. We believe in the resurrection of the saved and their eternal life with God. We also believe in the resurrection of the lost and their eternal separation from God. We believe in the personal second coming of Yeshua for His body of believers, past and present (Isaiah 26:20, 21).
  9. We believe that there is a universal body of believers, consisting of all people, past, present, and future, who believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as Savior. We believe that He is the head of the body and that the members of the body find places of service and worship within local congregations. We believe in the spiritual unity and equality of all believers in Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach). We believe that the "middle wall of partition" has been broken down and now Jew and Gentile worship the God of Israel together (1 Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 2:11-22). We believe that all non-Jewish people who trust in Yeshua (Jesus) are grafted into Israel. While this does not make them Jewish, they are full and equal participants in the covenants of promise (Jeremiah 31:33; Romans 11:11-24; Ephesians 2:12). 
  10. We believe that the Good News about Yeshua must be shared with all who have not yet believed on Him alone for their salvation (Matthew 28:19-20). We believe that both Jews and Gentiles need His work of redemption to be delivered from death to eternal life.
  11. We believe that God's desired pattern for corporate worship and for leadership of the local assembly includes the plurality of leaders (elders), and that the Scriptures can guide us regarding the roles for all people in the assembly. We believe that there is a difference in the roles of men and women that is expressed in corporate worship, and that men are to carry the spiritual leadership role (1 Corinthians 14:26-36; 1 Timothy 2:8-15; 1 Peter 3:1-7).

Not sure where your soul will go when you die?   Are you good enough?

People sometimes ask what Bible translation we recommend. Two versions that we think are among the most accurate translations are the English Standard Version and the New American Standard Bible. Both seem to have avoided the (mostly minor) errors that we and others have observed in other English translations including both the New International Version (especially) and (less so) the King James Version.