Liberty Baptist Church of Whatcom County is most desirous of maintaining a ministry in our community that is loyal to the Bible as the Word of God. We are vigilant to maintain purity in our leadership and teaching, standing firm on the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith.
Liberty Baptist Church believes that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, deserves the very best in love and loyalty from each of its members. We believe that any action, attitude, or association which hinders spiritual growth and intimacy with Jesus Christ should be laid aside.
We further believe that there is victory for each believer within this fellowship. Through the enabling of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we have the power to live free from those things which grieve the heart of our Savior.
Our desire is that this church be known throughout our county as one that is different—unwilling to compromise on worldliness—and that our members be known as those who seek to live separated lives unto the Lord.
We believe that the Holy Bible as originally written was verbally and plenarily inspired (directly God-breathed) and the product of Spirit-directed men; and therefore, is the truth without any mixture of error. Further, we believe that God’s Word is infallible (without any error whatsoever) and inerrant (incapable of error) in its original transmission from God to man, and thus it is the sole standard by which all human conduct, creeds and opinions shall be governed and tried.
The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament are the complete and divine revelation of God to Man. The Scriptures shall be interpreted according to their normal grammatical-historical meaning, and all issues of interpretation and meaning shall be determined by the pastor and the Deacon board.
The Bible is absolutely true in everything it affirms, whether it be doctrine, history, science, geography, prophecy or Christian living. Because the original autographs/manuscripts do not exist today, accurate translations of the originals can be said to be inspired only in a derivative sense, in as much as they reflect the original.
God has providentially preserved His Word through the totality of the existing Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek manuscripts.
We further believe that Scripture is to be approached from a Dispensational rather than from a Covenantal perspective, based on the progressive unfolding of the revelation of God, in which He worked at different times, in different ways, with different people to execute His plan for the human race. Such an approach recognizes the fundamental distinction between God’s Old Testament people, Israel, and His New Testament people, the Church.
We believe that the Scriptures interpreted in their natural, literal sense reveal seven divinely determined dispensations or rules of life which define man’s responsibilities in successive ages. These dispensations are no ways of salvation, but rather are divinely ordered stewardships by which God directs man according to His purpose. Three of these dispensations—the law, the church, and the kingdom—are the subjects of detailed revelation in Scripture.
In addition, we insist on the literal, historical, grammatical and contextual interpretation of Scripture as the norm for understanding God’s Word. We believe that when consistently applied, such an interpretation will lead to dispensational conclusions.
(Gen. 1:28; I Cor. 9:17; II Cor. 3:9-18; Gal. 3:13-25; Eph. 1:10; 3:2-10; Col. 1:24-25, 27; Rev. 20:2-6)
(II Tim. 2:15; 3:16; II Peter 1:19-21)
We believe there is one and only one living and true God, an infinite Spirit, the Maker and supreme Ruler of heaven and earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and worthy of all honor, worship, confidence and love; that in the trinity of the Godhead there are three Persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, co-equal, co-existent, and co-eternal, and in every way perfect and sinless, yet distinct in their Persons.
They execute distinct but harmonious offices in the great unfolding of the plan and purpose of the ages. God has revealed Himself not only through His Word, and through His creative acts as the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe, but also through the manifestation of His divine attributes and character.
(Ex. 20:2, 3; Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19, 20; I Cor. 8:6; Eph. 2:18; Rev. 4:11)
We affirm our belief in the person of God the Father, Who in the economic relationship within the Trinity functions as the Head, with the Son and the Holy Spirit in submission to Him. As the Father, He planned creation and salvation for His good pleasure and glory.
(Gen. 1:1ff; Eph. 4:6; I Tim. 1:17)
We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit in a miraculous conception, as no other person has ever been conceived or can be conceived; born of Mary, a virgin, and that He is both the Son of God and God the Son, fully God in the flesh—the God/Man. As such, He was and is totally incapable of sin both in character and conduct.
As the second Person of the Triune Godhead, He has always existed, without beginning or ending, eternal, the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
Because of man’s sin, God purposed to save individuals from their sin through the act of redemption, accomplished through the sacrificial death by the shedding of the blood of His own Son, Jesus Christ. On the cross, He freely suffered and bore the sins of all mankind in order to satisfy God’s righteousness and appease His wrath against sinners. This death was unlimited in its scope, affective for the entire world, but only applicable to those who will receive Jesus Christ as Savior through repentant faith.
Three days following His death, Jesus Christ rose victoriously over sin and death, and bodily from the dead in a glorified state, but in the same body in which He had lived on earth. This resurrection was literal and permanent. Jesus Christ is alive today, seated beside His heavenly Father on His throne.
(Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; I Cor. 15:1-4; Gal. 4:4-5; John 1:1-4; Heb. 2:10-17; 4:15)
We believe that the Holy Spirit is one of the divine Persons of the Trinity, co-equal, co-existent and co-eternal with God the Father and God the Son, and of the same nature, and that He possesses all of the characteristics and attributes of God; that He was active in creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled; that He convinces the world of the sin of unbelief, of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and of the judgment of the Wicked One-Satan; that He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and witnessing; that He is the Agent in both creation as well as the New Birth; that He indwells, seals, empowers, fills/controls, leads, teaches, sanctifies and helps the believer.
Further, the Holy Spirit sovereignly distributes a spiritual gift to each believer so that each Christian can be spiritually equipped to serve God within the ministry of the local church. God uniquely uses evangelists, pastor-teachers, and teachers to equip believers in the assembly in order that they can do the work of the ministry.
We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as prophecy, speaking in tongues and the gift of healing, were temporary. Speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit, and that ultimate deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in the resurrection, though God frequently chooses to answer the prayers of believer for physical healing.
(Gen. 1:1-3; Mark 1:8; John 3:5-6; 14:16, 17, 26; 16:8-11; Rom. 8:14, 16, 26, 27; 12:3-8; I Cor. 1:22; 12:4-11, 28; 13:8; 14:21-22; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:7-12)
God created an innumerable company of angelic beings prior to His creating of the earth. These angelic hosts are divided into various rankings, from Seraphim to angels. In the broadest sense, angels fall into two categories, evil and elect. The elect or good angels are fully submissive to God’s bidding, while the evil ones are loyal to Satan. Though it is possible for unbelievers to be demon possessed, no true Christian can ever be indwelt by demons, though they can be attacked by them from without. Those who followed Satan in his rebellion against God are known as demons, and they shall share Satan’s fate eternally in the Lake of Fire.
We believe in the existence and personality of Satan. He was originally created by God as the perfect cherub Lucifer, but became lifted up with pride and sought to dethrone God and replace Him with himself. He is the author of sin, the father of lies, and the cause of the Fall of man. As a result of his sin, he fell and is now the unholy god of this age, and the author of all the powers of darkness. He is destined to the judgment of the eternal justice of God in the Lake of Fire.
(Job 38:6, 7: Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28; Matt. 4:1-11; 25:31; II Cor. 4:4; II Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; Rev. 20:10-15)
We accept without question, compromise or reservation the literal Genesis account of creation and believe that man came into existence by the direct creation of God with no evolutionary process whatsoever. We reject all forms of evolution, including Theistic Evolution, the Framework Hypothesis, and the Day-Age theory as unbiblical theories of origin. Further, we affirm that all three persons of the Godhead actively participated in the planning, origin and creation of the universe.
(Gen. 1 and 2; Col. 1:16-17; John 1:3)
We believe that man was created in innocence by God in the very image and likeness of God. He was subject to the laws of his Creator, but by voluntary and willful disobedience fell from his innocent and blessed state, with the result that every person born into the human race is a sinner by nature (having inherited a sinful nature) and choice, and every person is conceived in sin and born completely estranged and alienated from God in relationship and fellowship, being spiritually dead and totally depraved; and herefore is under just condemnation without defense or excuse. In this state, man is utterly unable to remedy his lost and hopeless condition. His only hope is through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. We further attest to the fact that man is a tri-part being, consisting of a body, soul and spirit.
(Gen. 1 and 2; 3:1-6, 24; Rom. 1:18, 32; 5:10-19; Eph. 2:1-3; 4:17-19; I Thess. 5:23)
It is our belief that sin is any failure to conform to the moral law and character of God by manifesting any act of disobedience to Him. Sin entered the human race by the willful act of Adam in disobeying God in the Garden of Eden. His sin was imparted to every human being (except Jesus Christ) directly in the form of sin guilt; and imputed to every human being indirectly from parent to child in the form of the sinful nature. The result is that every person is totally depraved in the totality of their being. All people, apart from salvation, are sinners in every sense of the word, and unregenerate in their natural state with no possible means of salvation or recovery apart from the grace of God.
As a consequence of sin, all people will experience one of two eternal destinies: believers in Jesus Christ will spend eternity in Heaven while unbelievers will spend eternity in the literal fire and torment of Hell.
(Rom. 3; 5:12-19; Psa. 51:5; Jer. 17:9; Eph. 2:1-10)
We are convinced from the Word of God that all of mankind outside of Christ is spiritually dead and stands condemned before God. Man is lost, blind and hell-bound. But God, in His infinite mercy, has made provision whereby any person can know the forgiveness of all his or her sins.
We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace, through the voluntary sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross, Who by the appointment of the Father freely took upon Him our human nature, yet completely without sin, honored the Father by His perfect obedience, and by His death made a full and substitutionary provision for our sins, the Just dying for the unjust as He bore our sins in His own body on the tree; that having risen bodily from the dead as the Scriptures said He would, He is now enthroned in Heaven where He as the all-sufficient Savior makes provision for the salvation of all those who call upon Him in faith and repentance.
(John 3:16; Acts 4:12; Rom. 3:25; 10:9-13; I Cor. 15:1-4; II Cor. 5:21; Eph. 1:7; 2:8-10; I Pet. 1:18-19)
We believe that in order for sinners to be saved from the consequences of their sin, they must be born again; that the new birth is an instantaneous work of the Holy Spirit and not a process; that in the new birth the one dead in sin is made partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life--the free gift of God. The means of obtaining this salvation is strictly by repentance and faith. We reject the doctrine commonly known as Calvinism, which teaches that God has chosen a limited number of people to be saved and that they alone can and will be saved. Our understanding of the doctrine of election is based on the notion that once God places us in Christ at the moment of salvation, He chooses us for a life of service and predestinates us to a life of sanctification.
Similarly, we repudiate the doctrine known as Arminianism, which places undo emphasis on man’s part in salvation, and holds that once a person is saved, he or she can lose their salvation. Arminianism’s works-oriented teaching finds no support in Scripture.
At the moment of salvation, each of the Persons of the Godhead takes up residency in the believer to empower him for a life of sanctification and service for God’s glory; that the new birth is wrought solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the truth of the Gospel: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose the third day; that from the moment of salvation, the believer is eternally secured and kept by the power of God and cannot lose his salvation; that at the moment of salvation, the new believer is permanently baptized into the Body of Christ; and that the proper evidence of salvation manifests itself in the holy fruits of repentance, faith, and newness of life.
(John 3:6, 7, 16; Acts 16: 30-33; Ephesians 1:1-5; 2:1, 8-9; 2 Peter 1:4)
We believe that the great Gospel blessings which Christ secures to all those who believe in Him flows through Justification; that justification includes the forgiveness of sin, the gift of eternal life, and the principles of positional and practical righteousness; that it is bestowed not in consideration of any supposed works of righteousness which we have done, but that solely through faith in the blood of the Redeemer is His righteousness imputed to us.
(Romans 3:23-31; 5:1, 9; 8:1)
We believe that all born again believers saved from the Day of Pentecost to the Rapture are members of the Universal Body of Christ. We believe that the Universal church, which is the body and the espoused Bride of Christ, is solely made up of born-again persons.
We believe that a local church is a congregation of immersed believers, associated by faith and fellowship in the truth, that we are to observe the ordinances of Christ; that we are to be governed by His commandments; that we are to exercise spiritual gifts for the edifying and unity of the body; that we are to observe the rights and privileges invested in us by His Word; that its officers are one pastor and deacons, whose qualifications and duties are clearly defined in Scripture.
We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. In addition, we believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control.
We believe that the true mission of the church is the faithful worship of its members, witnessing of Jesus Christ to all men as the Holy Spirit leads us to do so. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government free from governmental or denominational interference whatsoever; and that the one and only Head of the church is Jesus Christ; that it is Scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel, as long as Biblical principles are not violated; that each church is the sole judge of the measure and method of such cooperation. On all matters of membership, polity, government, discipline, and benevolence, the will of the local church is final.
In light of the doctrine of God’s holiness, the local church must be militant in its responsibility to expose, refute and separate from false teachers and false teaching. In addition, the local church must not associate with any denomination, organization, agency or association that links itself to compromising endeavors or activities.
At times, this may require us to disassociate ourselves both ecclesiastically and individually with those who deny the faith or those who are content to walk with those who compromise the doctrines and practices of Scripture. God commands His people to separate from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices, and associations.
We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord. The church is to be separate from the world by refusing to love its philosophies, pleasures, practices and principles, regardless of what forms they take. The church must maintain a Biblical balance between being in the world while not being a part of the world. This way, the church is able to guard and maintain its purity and testimony.
(Matt. 28:19, 20; Acts 2:41, 42; 20:17-28; 15:19-31; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; 12:13; 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1; 11:2; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27; 4:11; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Timothy 3:1-8; 1 John 2:15-17)
We believe that we should demonstrate love for others, not only toward fellow believers, but also toward both those who are not believers and those who oppose us. We are to deal with those who oppose us graciously, gently, patiently, and humbly. God forbids the stirring up of strife, the taking of revenge, or the threat or the use of violence as a means of resolving personal conflict or obtaining personal justice. Although God commands us to abhor sinful actions, we are to love and pray for any person who engages in such sinful actions.
(Lev. 19:18; Matt. 5:44-48; Luke 6:31; John 13:34-35; Rom. 12:9-10; 17-21; 13:8-10; Phil. 2:2-4; 2 Tim. 2:24-26; Titus 3:2; 1 John 3:17-18)
We believe that Christian baptism is to be exclusively by the immersion of a believer completely in water and is the only acceptable mode of Scriptural baptism. Through baptism the believer identifies with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection and demonstrates his desire to be dead to sin and to walk in newness of life. Baptism shows forth in a solemn and beautiful way our faith in the crucified, buried and risen Savior and pictures our placement into the body of Christ which took place at the moment of salvation by the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Water baptism is a prerequisite for church membership.
We emphatically reject the damnable heresy commonly known as "infant baptism" as having some sacramental value or part in one's salvation. There is no biblical foundation for such a doctrine. We are not saved by baptism but by faith in Jesus Christ. His blood cleanses us from all sin.
Baptism is the outward symbol of what has already transpired in the one who has trusted Christ for full salvation.
We also believe that the Lord’s Supper is a memorial that celebrates the death of Christ until He comes and should be partaken of only after solemn and close self-examination. It pictures the relationship and fellowship between believers who are living in unity and love with one another in the local church; and the relationship and fellowship between each believer and the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Romans 6:3-5; Col. 2:12; 1 Cor. 11:23-31)
We believe that men and women are spiritually equal in position before God but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions for men and women in the home and the church.
The husband is to be the leader of the home, and men are to be the leaders (pastors and deacons) of the church. Accordingly, only men are eligible for licensure and ordination by the church.
We believe that God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. The husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church. The wife is to submit herself to the scriptural leadership of her husband as the church submits to the headship of Christ. Children are an heritage from the Lord. Parents are responsible for teaching their children spiritual and moral values and leading them, through consistent
lifestyle example and appropriate discipline, including scriptural corporal correction.
(Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:18; 1 Tim. 2:8-15; 3:4-5, 12)
This church believes that marriage is a sacred and divinely instituted relationship and is to be entered into solemnly. We believe that God intends marriage to last until one spouse dies. It is reserved exclusively as a relationship between one man and one woman, who are brought together by God and joined together for life. We reject all counterfeit relationships, including domestic partnerships and so-called same-sex “marriage.”
God disapproves of and forbids divorce. We believe that divorce is always a sin, and never sanctioned, encouraged or endorsed by God. However, it is a sin that can be forgiven when properly repented of and confessed, and those who are divorced should not be treated as second class people, though they may bear the consequences of their sin. Although divorced and remarried persons or divorced persons may hold positions of service in the church (upon confession and repentance) and be greatly used of God for Christian service, they may not be considered for the
offices of pastor or deacon. We further believe that while divorce is never sanctioned by God, He has, in His mercy, provided a means of temporary separation so that the parties involved may work on rebuilding their relationship and seeking to regain their marital union in wholeness. Such separation should be entered into only as a last resort after all other Biblical measures have failed.
In addition, we affirm the teaching of Scripture that no divorced person is free to remarry, and that any marriage to a divorced person is expressly forbidden by God.
(Genesis 2:24, 25; Malachi 2:14-17; Matthew 19:1-12; Mark 10:1-12; Rom. 7:1-3; Ephesians 5:22-33; 1 Cor. 7; 1 Tim. 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6)
We believe that God has commanded that no inappropriate intimacy—sexual or otherwise— be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance. We believe that the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman.
(Gen. 2:24; Gen. 19:5, 13; Gen. 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1: 26-29; Rom. 7:2; 1 Cor. 5:1; 6:9; 1 Cor. 7:10; Eph. 5:22-23; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4)
We believe that human life begins at conception, and that the unborn child is a living human being, and that God highly values children and encourages married couples to have a quiver full of them, as He empowers them to do so. Treating children as either unnecessary or secondary is not what God prefers from married couples. 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 are acceptable. Adoption is always the best alternative to abortion.
(Job 3:16; Ps. 51:5; 139:14-16; Isa. 44:24; 49:1, 5; Jer. 1:5; 20:15-18; Luke 1:44)
We believe that God has given the church the Great Commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who have a saving knowledge of and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. As ambassadors of Christ we must use all available means to go to the foreign nations and not wait for them to come to us.
(Matt. 28:19-20; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:20)
We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially. We believe that every Christian who is walking in fellowship with the Lord should give offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel. We believe that a Christian relinquishes all rights to direct the use of the offering once the gift has been made.
(1 Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor. 8:1-5; 9:6-7; Gal. 6:6; Eph. 4:28; 1 Tim. 5:17-18; 1 John 3:17)
We believe that all who are truly born again are kept by the power of God for the Lord Jesus Christ and thus cannot lose their salvation. Since they could do nothing to earn or work for their salvation, neither can they do anything to lose it. Rather than being a license to live as we please, we believe that such a doctrine is a great incentive to live for the glory of God, and in no way encourages a life of sin or rebellion against God. We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word.
(John 10:28, 29; Romans 8:35-39; Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:13; Phil. 1:6; Titus 2:11-15; Jude v. 1)
We believe that God has ordained and created all authority consisting of three basic institutions:
Every person is subject to these authorities, but all (including the authorities themselves) are answerable to God and governed by His Word. God has given each institution specific Biblical responsibilities and balanced those responsibilities with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe upon the other. The home, the church, and the state are equal and sovereign in their respective Biblically assigned spheres of
responsibility under God.
Thus, we believe that civil government is ordained of God for the interests and good order of human society; that governmental officials are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed, except when government puts the Christian or the Church in jeopardy to the will of God, Who is the only Lord of the conscience and of His Church. In such cases, any civil disobedience must be prayerfully and seriously considered before taking such action, and only after all other remedies have been fully exhausted.
(Daniel 3:17, 18; 6:1-28; Acts 5:17-29; Romans 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-14)
We believe that the following events, as predicted in Scripture will be fulfilled completely:
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. Specifically, concerning the church, we believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection at the Rapture, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord.
We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious punishment and torment until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited, they shall appear before the Lord Jesus Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire,
not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment and torment.
The existing heavens and earth will be destroyed, and a new heaven and a new earth will be made to be inhabited by the redeemed of all ages, who will dwell with the triune God forever.
(Matt. 25:41-46; Luke 16:19-26; John 5:28, 29; 11:25-26; 1 Cor. 15; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 3:21; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 5:1-11; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Revelation 20)