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What We Believe and Teach
Recognizing that the Bible is the very Word of the Living God to man, and understanding the priority of knowing and obeying its truths, Wisdom International is committed to teaching Scripture with diligence and authority.
Thus, the central ministry of Wisdom International is to make disciples of the nations and edify followers of Jesus Christ. We do that through the continuous imparting of biblical truth so that people can know God, think Biblically and live wisely.
What follows presents our convictions regarding the theological truths of the Bible, built on years of study and teaching. They are the primary doctrines of the Christian faith, and they reflect the heart of the teaching of Wisdom International.
THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that all the words and all the parts of the Bible are the only inspired Word of God. The Bible was written by men controlled by the Holy Spirit. In the original manuscripts it is truth without any mixture of error. God, in His providential care, has kept these Scriptures authentic and trustworthy from the time of their writing until the present. The Bible is the center of true Christian unity and the supreme standard by which all human life and conduct will be evaluated and judged. (2 Timothy 3:15–17; 2 Peter 1:19–21).
GOD
We believe that there is one and only one living and true God, the Creator and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth. God is inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption. (Exodus 20:2–3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Revelation 4:11)
God the Father
We believe that God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity, orders and accomplishes all things according to His own purpose and grace (Psalm 145:8–9; 1 Corinthians 8:6). As the only absolute and omnipotent Ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption (Psalm 103:19; Romans 11:36). His fatherhood involves both His designation within the Trinity and His relationship with mankind. As Creator He is Father to all humanity (Ephesians 4:6), but He is spiritual Father only to believers (Romans 8:14; 2 Corinthians 6:18). He has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass (Ephesians 1:11). He continually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and events (1 Chronicles 29:11). He has graciously chosen from eternity past those whom He would have as His own (Ephesians 1:4–6). He saves from sin all who come to Him through Jesus Christ. He adopts as His own all those who come to Him, and He becomes, through adoption, Father to His own (John 1:12; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5; Hebrews 12:5–9).
God the Son
We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He was not created, but is the Second Person of the Trinity. He came into this world as foretold in the Scriptures to manifest God to mankind and to be the Redeemer of the sinful world. Jesus took upon Himself human flesh and a sinless human nature through the supernatural conception by the Holy Spirit in a virgin, Mary. Jesus was both fully God and fully man, and His earthly life sometimes functioned in the realm of the humanly and at other times in the realm of the divine. He came to die for the sin of the world—the just for the unjust. Jesus Christ alone is the full and complete propitiation for sin—the full satisfaction of the Father’s justice regarding sin. He rose from the dead, according to the Scriptures, retaining the same body, though glorified. His bodily resurrection and ascension into heaven, where He now serves as the High Priest for the redeemed of God and head over the Church, gives proof to the fact that His sacrificial death was fully acceptable to the Father for sin. (Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; 53:1ff; Micah 5:2; Luke 1:30–35; 24:34–39; John 1:1–2; 20:20; Acts 2:22–6; Romans 3:25–26; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:3; 2:17; 4:14–15; 7:25; 10:1–14)
God the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature. He was active in the creation. He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled. He convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony, and He is the agent in the new birth. He seals, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the believer (Genesis 1:1–3; Matthew 28:19; John 14:16–17, 26; 16:8–11; Hebrews 9:14).
CREATION
We believe that the creation of the universe from nothing is neither allegory nor myth but a literal, historical event. The existence of all things is the result of the direct, immediate, creative acts of the triune God over six literal days (Genesis 1). Humanity—body and soul/spirit—was created by a direct work of God. Humans did not evolve from previously existing forms of life. The entire human race descended from the historical Adam and Eve, the first parents of the entire human race. (Genesis 1–2; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16–17).
SPIRIT BEINGS
Angels
We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless spirit beings. Although they are a higher order of creation than humanity, they were created to serve God and to worship Him. (Luke 2:9– 14; Hebrews 1:6–7, 14; 2:6–7; Revelation 5:11–14; 19:10; 22:9)
Fallen Angels and Satan
We believe that Satan is a created angel and the author of sin. He incurred the judgment of God by rebelling against his Creator, by taking numerous angels with him in his fall, and by introducing sin into the human race by his temptation of Eve. He is the open and declared enemy of God and mankind. He is the prince of this world, who was defeated through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he will be eternally punished in the lake of fire. (Genesis 3:1–15; Isaiah 14:12–17; Ezekiel 28:11–19; Matthew 4:1–11; 25:41; 2 Corinthians 4:3–4; Revelation 12:1–14; 20:10)
MANKIND
We believe that Adam and Eve were created in innocence under the laws of their Maker, but by voluntary transgression, Adam fell from his sinless and happy estate. Adam represented all humanity and all humanity sinned in Adam. As a result, all men and women are totally depraved, are partakers of Adam’s fallen nature, and are sinners by nature and by conduct and, therefore, are under just condemnation without defense or excuse. (Genesis 3:1–6, 24; Romans 1:18–32; 3:10–19; 5:12, 19)
SALVATION
We believe that, in order to be saved, sinners must be born again. The new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus. Salvation is instantaneous and not a process. In the new birth, someone who is dead in trespasses and sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life. Salvation is the free gift of God’s grace, based entirely on the merit of Christ’s shed blood, and not on the basis of human merit or works. Faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is the only condition for salvation. (John 1:12; 3:3–7; Acts 16:30–33; Romans 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:7; 2:1, 5, 8–10; 1 Peter 1:18–19; 2 Peter 1:4; 1 John 5:1)
LAST THINGS
The Rapture and Tribulation
We believe in the imminent, pretribulational, premillennial return of Christ for His Church. At that moment the dead in Christ shall be raised in glorified bodies, and the living in Christ shall be given glorified bodies without tasting death. All believers shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the tribulation, the seventieth week of Daniel. (Daniel 9:25–27; Matthew 24:29–31; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; Revelation 20:1–4, 6)
The Millennial Kingdom and Subsequent Events
We believe at the end of the tribulation Christ will return physically to earth to render judgment and inaugurate the one thousand yearmillennial kingdom. Christ will establish Himself as King, sitting on the throne of David, as the nation of Israel is saved and restored to their land. The millennium will be a time of peace, joy, righteousness, obedience, holiness, truth and fullness of the Holy Spirit. Satan will be bound during this time but released at the end when he leads a rebellion against Christ, only to be defeated and judged. As the millennium concludes, the unsaved dead of all ages are resurrected and judged at the great white throne. Following this, God will create new heavens and a new earth. (Psalms 24; Isaiah 9:3-7; 11:1-10; 32; 35; 61:7-10; 65; 66; Daniel 12:2-3; Joel 2:28-29; Micah 4:1-4; Zechariah 12:10-14; 14:4-21; Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 1:32-33; Romans 11:25-27; 1 Corinthians 15:22-28; Revelation 19:11-21; 20-22)
The Saved and the Lost
We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between those who are saved and those who are lost. Only those who are justified by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and sanctified by the Spirit of our God are saved in God’s sight. All who continue in unrepentant sin and unbelief are lost in God’s sight and under His abiding curse. This distinction will remain eternally: in the everlasting joy in heaven for the saved and in the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost in the lake of fire. (Genesis 18:23; Malachi 3:18; Matthew 25:46; John 8:21; Romans 6:17–18, 23; 7:6; 1 John 5:19)