The Scriptures

We believe God inspired all the words the Prophets and Apostles wrote in both the Old and New Testaments (Luke 11:49-51, Luke 24:44) to give mankind His literal, inerrant, authoritative message (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20–21). As such, the Apocrypha, Gnostic writings, Church Tradition, and any other record which falls outside the aforementioned Prophetic and Apostolic standard applied to God's Word is to be considered human and not divine in origin. God's Word, the Bible, is the final authority in all things: from the literal 6-day creation account to the prophetic accounts of the end of this earth.

God

We believe in God (Genesis 1:1a), the Creator of all (Genesis 1:1, John 1:3, Colossians 1:16) — from the first human, Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), to the smallest drop of dew (Job 38:28). He is the personal, transcendent (Romans 11:33–36), eternal (Isaiah 57:15), sovereign (Psalm 115:3) Creator (Genesis 1:1, 31) of all things. We believe He alone is God (Isaiah 43:10) and all others amount to, at most, nothing more than demonic counterfeits (Deuteronomy 32:17; 1 Corinthians 10:20). He created all that exists as described in the book of Genesis and will conclude all of human history as primarily described by the Prophetic and Apocalyptic books of the Bible, being the only One worth praying to.

The Trinity

We believe in one God (Deuteronomy 6:4) Who is eternally self existent (Exodus 3:14) and has revealed Himself as a Tri-unity of three Persons (Matthew 28:19; Genesis 18:1-2, 19:24): Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Godhead while yet being one Being: Lord God Almighty. Each Person of the Godhead is in no way inferior in nature: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all equally God (Colossians 2:9; Mark 3:29; Hebrews 3:7-11), and yet the Godhead remains one in Being, indivisible in composition, and monotheistic in nature (Deuteronomy 6:4). This doctrine can be summed up in the Athanasian Creed insofar as it speaks of the Trinity.

Jesus

We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16), He Himself is God (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; John 1:1, 14; Colossians 2:9) incarnate (1 Timothy 3:16; John 1:14) and in Him the fullness of the God's "deity dwells in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9). Therefore, He is appropriately called God the Son — not due to inferiority in nature but rather His role of submission to the Father while on earth (Philippians 2:5–11).

We believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh as both God and man. He never ceased being God and yet in His humanity was fully man, thereby being both fully man and fully God (Philippians 2:5–11). While on earth, He was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23), lived a sinless life (1 Peter 2:21–22; Hebrews 7:26–27), worked miracles (Acts 2:22), provided for the atonement of our sins and rendered Satan powerless by His purifying, substitutionary death on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:20–21, Colossians 2:13-15, Hebrews 2:14) where He was sacrificed once for all time (Hebrews 10:12; Romans 6:9), before securing victory over death by being physically raised from the dead (Luke 24:38-40, Revelation 1:18) through the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) after three days and three nights in the grave, ministered to and commissioned His disciples (Acts 1:2-11; Matthew 28:18-20), ascended bodily back to the right hand of the Father (Romans 8:34), and ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).

We believe that Jesus Christ is the only Savior and that all who wish to come to God must come through Him (John 14:6). Therefore, any and all who reject Jesus as both Lord and Christ have no possibility of acceptance by God the Father (1 John 2:22–23) — be they Muslim, Agnostic, Atheist, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, or any other belief system. Salvation is found in Christ alone (John 14:6).

The Holy Spirit

We believe that after Jesus bodily ascended to Heaven, He poured out His Holy Spirit upon the believers — His Church — at which time they were empowered to live a godly life and fulfill His command to preach the Gospel to the entire world (Acts 1:8-2:4), a privilege shared and demanded of all believers today as the Holy Spirit continues to work (John 16:7-8): regenerating the believer (Titus 3:5), sealing unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13–14), teaching (John 14:26; 1 John 2:27), empowering (Acts 1:8), and guiding the believer into maturity and fruitfulness (Galatians 5:22-25) with full sanctification only achieved after death (1 John 1:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:23) — while the process of sanctification remains evident in the believer's life as evidenced by the fruits of the Spirit being present therein (Galatians 5:22-23). We therefore look to the Holy Spirit as our Helper (John 14:1), rejecting the need for the Catholic Church, the Watchtower, the General Authorities of the LDS, and any other belief system which sets anyone else up as God's representative on earth to guide us into truth. Rather, we believe Christ left for us, His Church, the Holy Spirit to guide us "into all the truth" (John 16:13) — not another man, organization, or body (John 14:26, John 16:13).

Man

We believe God created man entirely innocent and without sin in the literal Garden of Eden (Genesis 1:31), but that through Adam's sin as the first man, all humanity came under the bondage of sin (Romans 5:12-14) and experiences the curse of death (Romans 6:16-23). It is only through the Gospel that man can be saved from this inherited condition (Romans 6:3-10) of our sin nature within us (Ephesians 2:3). One day, the consequences of the Fall in Eden shall be fully and utterly defeated by Christ (Revelation 21:1-4), Whose victory was assured on the cross and will be consummated at His return (1 Corinthians 15:51-57).

Salvation

We believe the salvific work of the Gospel can be adequately expressed in 1 Corinthians 15. Anyone who adds to this definition for salvation — be it the necessity of works, an organization, or a coming Kingdom — are to be considered anathema and in need of salvation (Galatians 1:8). Likewise, anyone who removes anything from this definition for salvation is also to be considered anathema and in need of salvation (Galatians 1:8). All that is necessary to be saved by Jesus Christ is to "repent and believe the Gospel" (Mark 1:15), committing to live your life accordingly (Matthew 3:8). As such, all believers are saved by grace through faith alone (Romans 3:28) — which is not a work, leaving no room for boasting (Ephesians 2:8-9). Baptism and the Eucharist, while signs of a true believer, lack any and all salvific power — along with any and all other Sacraments and good works. As such, salvation unto eternal life (Romans 6:23) through the Gospel alone positionally sanctifies the believer without making them perfect prior to death or Jesus' return — while being evidenced by progressive sanctification in their Christian life prior to death or Jesus' return (Matthew 7:16-20; Romans 6:1-2; James 2:17).

Sanctification

We believe that any and all truly saved Christians are transformed by the Spirit Who now dwells within them without achieving perfection in this life. To quote our Saviour, "every good tree bears good fruit... you will know them by their fruits." (Matthew 7:17, 20). This entails a life patterned by "fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matthew 3:8) and living for God (2 Corinthians 5:15) — placing Him above the approval of men (Acts 5:29), the attainment of wealth (Matthew 6:24), and the idolatrous exultation of any other desire (Exodus 20:17). This is not to claim that perfection is possible before being united with Christ (1 John 1:8, James 3:8) or that the salvation Christ procured for us on the cross is determined by our deeds rather than His (Ephesians 2:8-9). Rather, it is to say that the proof of a Christian's salvation is shown by how it transforms their life (Matthew 7:16-21, James 2:26) — for those who Christ saved have been made new through His blood (2 Corinthians 5:17). He died for us, so we live for Him (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 1 Peter 2:21-25). As such, those who claim the Name of Christ but, as a pattern, actively refuse to live accordingly with no apparent elements of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), are not truly followers of Him — for "if you love Me you will obey My commandments." (John 14:15).

The Future

We are in general agreement with accepted early church doctrine on the last days. Therefore, we believe in the resurrection of the body (1 Corinthians 15:42), a day of judgement for each human being (Jude 1:14-15), the everlasting life of the saved with Christ (Revelation 21:3-6), and the everlasting death of the damned in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10, 15, 21:8) along with the disobedient, fallen Heavenly beings (Psalm 82:6-7; Revelation 20:10).

The official stance For Zion Ministries takes regarding the timeline of future events can be described as both Chiliastic (the prevailing end times doctrine of the early church) and Premillenial. As such, For Zion Ministries affirms a future rising antiChrist figure (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4) amidst a seven year, worldwide Tribulation (Daniel 9:27, Revelation 3:10). At the end of this Tribulation period, Christ will return (Matthew 24:29-31) to physically rule and reign over earth from Jerusalem (Zechariah 8:3, Revelation 21:1-5, Revelation 22:3) for a literal 1000 year Millenium (Revelation 20:1-7). During this time, the resurrected saints will reign with Him (Daniel 7:22, Revelation 20:4).

For a more detailed breakdown of our eschatology as it relates to Israel, please see our Doctrinal Distinctives page.

The Church

We believe the Church is the body and bride of Christ, comprised of all true believers in Him, of which Jesus Christ is the Head (Ephesians 5:25-27). We believe it is vital for all Christians to both belong to and attend a local church assembly regularly for the purposes of worship, fellowship, edification, and submission to spiritual authority (Hebrews 10:25). Local churches are responsible to submit to God and His Word, the Bible, as their ultimate authorities — while being guided by the Holy Spirit Who dwells within them (1 Peter 5:1-5). As such, we believe the local church is Biblically bound to participate in the fulfillment of the Great Commission in accordance with the standards laid forth in Scripture (Matthew 28:19-20). As a parachurch ministry, we believe God has called us to assist the local church — providing no reason to de-emphasize her essential role in a Christian's life. As such, we strive to come alongside the local church as we embrace her unique, God-given authority.

Specific Issues

Holding the Line in a Culture Gone Mad