VBDRS Doctrinal Statement
We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error, for its matter; that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us; and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. Inspiration is verbal, plenary and the Bible is infallible and inerrant in its entire 66 books.
We believe in accepting the literal teaching of the Word. “When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense.” Therefore, every declaration is to be taken in its primary, ordinary, literal, and its most obvious meaning unless the facts of the context and the well-defined laws of language clearly indicate the terms either to be symbolic or figurative and not literal. Whatever is not literal must be explained in the light of other passages which are literal.
We believe, according to the teachings of Scripture, that man was created a moral being in the image of God after his likeness, but man by voluntary transgression fell from his original sinless state. In consequence, the whole human race was involved in guilt, making all mankind now sinners, depraved in nature, spiritually dead, subject to the powers of evil, void of holiness, positively inclined to evil, and hopeless apart from divine grace.
We believe that salvation, according to the Scriptures, is wholly by grace through faith plus nothing. This salvation of the ill-deserving sinner is based upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who became the sinner’s substitute before God and died a provisionary sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Since the natural man is dead in trespasses and sins, at enmity against God, and blinded by sin and Satan to his own condition, it is only through the operation of the Holy Spirit using the Word that man is brought to repentance and faith. No degree of reformation, however great; no attainment in morality, however refined; no culture, however attractive; no ordinance or ceremony, however ancient and sacred; no feeling, however satisfying; no sincerity, however approved; no church membership, however authenticated, can in the least degree add to the value of the precious blood or to the merits of that finished work wrought for us by the Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe in the reality of the person of Satan, “that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.”
The Bible is our Textbook
In all matters of faith, practice, and the unseen spirit realm, the supremacy of an external absolute is not only paramount but graciously provided. Scripture is the absolute by which all else is measured. In the post-modern church, there has been a shift in emphasis from the supremacy of Scripture to that of experience. Experience is inconstant and therefore unreliable. In seeking truth, subjectivity is trumping objectivity.
Anyone who has taken an introductory course in logic has studied epistemology - the study of the theory of knowledge. Epistemology asks the question: "Do we know an independent reality or merely that of our experience?" The answer reveals two kinds of theories of knowledge, which may be grouped with regard to their degree of emphasis on the subjectivity or objectivity of knowledge.
Subjectivistic theories of knowledge answers the question of epistemology "No, we do not know an independent world or reality as the cause of our ideas. In other words "We cannot get beyond our experience or ideas." Objectivistic theories of knowledge answers this question: "Yes, we do know an independent world of material objects or of transcendent ideas." This, then, leads us to two kinds of knowledge: (1) knowledge by acquaintance, and (2) knowledge by description. The former is the direct apprehension of (1) sense data, (2) objects of memory, (3) internal states, and (4) ourselves. The latter is the mediated or thought out knowledge of (1) other selves, and (2) physical objects (as constructs and not sense data). We seek the latter here at VBDRS.
Contemporary deliverance workers claim "deliverance" knowledge by subjective means, and, therefore, are confined to ideas within their minds. Such knowledge is antithetical to an objective or material reality separate from and independent of themselves. What we have with such persons is what is known as epistemological monism (perceptions and things known are one). We hold fast to objectivism meaning objects are independent of the mind and presents their properties directly to the knower through sense data. This is known as epistemological realism (things known and sense data are one).
No one can claim to be above deception. Counterfeit experiences are designed to deceive. Some feel, overall, that argument cannot be made regarding experience; however, argument can always be made with its relationship to other experiences and that of God’s Word with the latter being indisputable. As for God’s Word we can do one of three things: (1) believe it, (2) pervert it, or (3) deny it. Scripture is the final authority in all matters and to any question arising within the realms of demonology or deliverance, we must answer such questions with another: "What saith the Scriptures." A theology based on experience or sentiment is a hollow one at best. Only "Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine" (II Timothy 3:16). Without knowledge of the Scriptures, we have no discernment.
