Doctrinal Amplification

Divine Healing

We believe that provision was made in the atonement for the healing of our bodies as set forth in the following Scriptures: Isaiah 53:4, 5; Matthew 8:16, 17; Mark 16:15-18; James 5:14-16; Exodus 15:26; to which we would also add Romans 8:26-28. And, while we do not condemn the use of medical means in the treatment of physical disease, we do believe in, practice and commend to our people the laying on of hands by the elders or leaders of the church, the anointing with oil in the name of the Lord, and the offering of prayers for the healing of the sick.

Second Coming

We believe in the imminent, personal, premillennial, second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The word imminent means that the second coming of Christ is near, that it is impending, likely to occur at any moment (Matthew 25:29-44; Mark 13:32-37; Titus 2:13). The word personal means that "the Lord himself" shall return (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18); that the "same Jesus" who was "taken up into heaven shall so come in like manner" as He was seen to "go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). The word premillennial means that He will come before the millennium during which the "blessed and holy" of the "first resurrection" will live and reign with Christ "a thousand years" (Revelation 20:4-6). There will be two stages of the second coming of Christ; the first for the purpose of catching away His saints who are prepared for the Rapture before the Great Tribulation period (Matthew 24:40-44; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 3:10, 11; 4:1, 2); and the second at the end of the Great Tribulation, when He shall come back with His saints to destroy the armies of the Antichrist, to judge the nations of the world, and to inaugurate the millennial reign (Matthew 25:31-33; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 19:11-21; 20:1-6). The proper attitude of Christians toward the coming of Christ should be to love His appearing (2 Timothy 4:8), watch and pray always to be accounted worthy to escape the things which will come upon the earth during the Great Tribulation (Luke 21:36), pray for His coming (Matthew 6:10; Revelation 22:20), and faithfully to "occupy" until He comes (Luke 19:13). Many signs point to the soon coming of Jesus. We give a few Scriptures which set forth several of them: Ezekiel 36 (the return of Israel to her land, etc.); Daniel 12:4; Nahum 2:3, 4; Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21:25-36; 1 Timothy 4:1-5; 2 Timothy 3:1-8, 13; 4:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; 2 Peter 2 and 3; and the Epistle of Jude.

Great Commission

The first thirteen of our Articles of Faith state what we believe as a church. Article 14 defines for us "what we are to do about it." Our Lord's last command on earth was to charge every believer with the responsibility of taking the gospel to all nations. We can never be content just experiencing God in Christ for ourselves. We must also be actively involved in spreading the gospel to others-to the ends of the earth. Written by Bishop Joseph A. Synan (1961)

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