Ballew Family Statement Of Faith

This Statement of Faith serves as the Biblical foundation for the faith and practice of the Ballew Family to Idaho. 

1. We believe in the plenary, verbal, Divine inspiration of Scriptures, consisting only of the 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament Books, in the original language, their consequent inerrancy and infallibility, and as the Word of God, the supreme and final authority in faith and practice. We believe that the Word of God has been divinely preserved in the Authorized King James Version for the English-speaking people. (Psalm 12:6; John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21)

2. We believe in the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Sovereign Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of the universe. (Matthew 28:19; John 14:16; 15:26; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 4:2) 

3. We believe in the essential, absolute eternal Deity; and the real and proper, and sinless, humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. (John 1:1- 3,14; 20:30-31; 1 Peter 2:21-24)

a. His birth of the Virgin Mary. (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:30-35) 

b. His substitutionary, expiatory, all-sufficient death for all mankind. (Isaiah 53:6; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Hebrews 2:9; 9:12; 1 Peter 2:21-24; 3:18; 2 Peter 3:9)

c. His resurrection from among the dead in the same body in which He was crucified, and the bodily return of this same Jesus to the earth in power and great glory to judge the earth and establish His Millennial Kingdom. (Acts 1:10-11; Matthew 28:5-7; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; 2 Timothy 4:1)

4. We believe that the "blessed hope" of the Christian is the personal, premillennial, 

pre-tribulational, and imminent coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to gather the church, "which is His body" unto Himself. (John 14:1-3; Titus 2:11-13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-

18; 5:9; Revelation 3:10)

5. We believe that the Holy Spirit enters, seals, and baptizes one the moment he is born into the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ and that He endues, guides, teaches, sanctifies, empowers, and keeps the believer eternally secure. (John 14:16-17; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; John 16:7-13; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Jude 24-25)

6. We believe that Salvation, the effect of regeneration by the Spirit and the Word, is not by works but by the grace of God through faith in the shed blood of Christ and that the requisites to regeneration are repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Luke 13:3-5; John 3:16-18; Acts 20:21; Romans 5:1,6,8-9; 6:23; 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-9)

7. We believe in the everlasting bliss of the saved in Heaven and the everlasting suffering of the lost in the lake of fire. (1 John 3:2; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:2-8; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10)

8. We believe in the real spiritual unity in Christ of all who are redeemed by His precious blood. (1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 4:1-6)

9. We believe in the necessity of maintaining, according to the Word of God, the purity of the church in doctrine and life. (1 John 3:1-3; 1 Corinthians 6:15-20; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 7:1; 1 Peter 4:1-3)

10. We believe the ordinances of the local church are believer's baptism by immersion only and the Lord's Supper. (Matthew 26:26 9-29; 28:19; Acts 8:12; Romans 6:3; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

11. We believe in the obligation of obedience to the command of Christ to evangelize the world and to establish local churches. (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8)

12. We believe that God instituted marriage and the home and that marriage is between one man and one woman. We are firmly committed to a literal interpretation of the Bible and reject any attempt to "reinterpret" Scripture in light of "modern" moral or psychological theories. In the Biblical account of creation, the family was the first societal institution ordained by God. (Genesis 1:27)

a. Furthermore, Scripture plainly declares that the first two humans created by God were a man and a woman. God joined the man and the woman in the holy rite of matrimony and commanded them to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. Therefore, the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman. (Genesis 1:28; 2:18-24; Romans 7:2; 1 Corinthians 7:10; Ephesians 5:22-23)

b. In both the Old and New Testaments, God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should occur outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. Accordingly, all forms

of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God's gift of sex. (Genesis 2:24; Leviticus 18:6-30; 

1 Corinthians 5:1; 6:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6; Hebrews 13:4)

13. We believe in the Genesis account of creation and that the Biblical reference of "the evening and the morning" was a literal 24-hour period. (Genesis 1, 2) 

14. We believe that Satan is a fallen angel, the archenemy of God and man, the unholy god of this world and that his destiny is the eternal lake of fire. (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Matthew 25:41; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 6:10-17; Revelation 20:10)

15. We believe that the sign gifts were done away with when the Bible was completed. Faith, Hope, and Charity are the vital abiding Spiritual Gifts. (1 Corinthians 12-14)

16. We believe that man was created in the image of God and lived in innocence until he fell by voluntary transgression from his sinless state, the result being that all mankind are sinners. (Genesis 1:26; Genesis 3:6-24; Romans 5:12, 19)

17. We believe that God deals with believers as His children, that He chastises the disobedient, and that He rewards the obedient. (Matthew 16:27; 25:14-23; John 1:12; Hebrews 12:5-11; 2 John 1:8; Revelation 22:12)

18. We believe that the Local Church (that visible assembly of Scripturally baptized believers in covenant relationship) is the institution and means by which Christ has ordained to carry out His Great Commission to reach the world with the Gospel; that Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission to the New Testament Churches only and that He promised the perpetuity of His Church; that each church is an independent, self-governing body and no other ecclesiastical body may exercise authority over it. (Matthew 4:18-22; 16:18; 28:19-20; Mark 1:14-20; John 1:35-51; Ephesians 3:21)

19. We believe in complete separation of Church and State and affirm our belief in civil obedience unless the laws and regulations of civil government run contrary to the Holy Scriptures. (Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-15)

20. Abortion: We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life. Abortion is murder. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the physical or mental well-being of the mother are acceptable. (Psalm 51:5; 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24; 49:1,5; Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 1:44)

21. This Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of the faith of the Ballew Family. The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe.