What We Believe
About the Bible: The Bible is the infallible Word of God and the authority for salvation and Christian living. ( II Timothy 3:16)
About God: There is one God, who has revealed Himself as our Father, in His Son Jesus Christ, and as the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is God manifested in flesh. He is both God and man. (Deuteronomy 6:4; Ephesians 4:4-6; Colossians 2:9; I Timothy 3:16)
About Sin and Salvation: Everyone has sinned and needs salvation. Salvation comes by grace through faith based on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Our basic and fundamental doctrine shall be the Bible standard of full salvation, which is repentance, baptism in water by immersion in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the initial sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. (Romans 3:23-25; 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 3:3-5; Acts 2:38; I Peter 3:20,21; Mark 16:16; Titus 3:5)
About the Gospel: The saving gospel is the good news that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. We obey the gospel by repentance (death to sin), water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ (burial), and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (resurrection). ( I Corinthians 15:1-4; Acts 2:4, 37-39; Romans 6:3-4)
About Christian Living: As Christians we are to love God and others. We should live a holy life inwardly and outwardly, and worship God joyfully. The supernatural gifts of the Spirit, including healing, are for the church today. (Mark 12:28-31; II Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 12:14; I Corinthians 12:8-10)
About the Future: Jesus Christ is coming again to catch away His church. In the end will be the final resurrection and the final judgment. The righteous will inherit eternal life, and the unrighteous eternal death. (I Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 20:11-15.)
The doctrinal views of the Harvest Time Church, with the exception of the 'Second work of grace' embraces the Pentecostal view that speaking in tongues is the initial sign of receiving the Holy Spirit.
HTC holds a fundamental view of the Bible. HTC rejects all extrabiblical revelations and writings, and views church creeds and articles of faith only as the thinking of men.
HTC holds that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works. Faith in Jesus is the means by which a person is justified. At the same time, a sinner must believe the gospel; he is commanded to repent of his sinful life, to be baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ, and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.Thus the various aspects of faith and obedience work together in God's grace to reconcile us to God.
In distinction to the doctrine of the Trinity, HTC holds to a oneness view of God. It views the Trinitarian concept of God as inadequate and a departure from the consistent and emphatic biblical revelation of God being one.
HTC teaches that the one God who revealed Himself in the Old Testament as Jehovah revealed himself in His Son, Jesus Christ. Thus Jesus Christ was and is God. In other words, Jesus is the one true God manifested in flesh, for in Him dwells all the fullness of the God-head bodily.
While fully God, Jesus was also fully man, possessing a full and true humanity. He was both God and man. Moreover, the Holy Spirit is God with us and in us. Thus God is manifested as Father in creation and as the Father of the Son, in the Son for our redemption, and as the Holy Spirit in our regeneration.
Christian water baptism is an ordinance instituted by Jesus Christ. If it is not important in the plan of God, why did Jesus command it in Matthew 28:19? And why did Peter follow up by saying, "Be baptized every one of you," and by commanding the Gentiles to be baptized.
We must remember two points about the importance of water baptism. First, whatever Christ definitely established and ordained cannot be unimportant, whether we understand its significance or not. Second, Christ and the apostles showed the importance of this ordinance by observing it. Jesus walked many miles to be baptized, though He was without sin, saying, "For thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness"
It is true that water itself does not contain any saving virtue, but God has chosen to include it in His plan of salvation. Peter explained, "Baptism doth also now save us". According to Luke 7:30, "the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized."
The Mode of Baptism
According to the Scriptures, the proper mode of baptism is immersion. A corpse is not buried by placing it on top of the ground and sprinkling a little soil on it, but by covering it completely.
According to the World Book Encyclopedia immersion was not convenient after the Catholic church instituted infant baptism; thus the mode was changed to sprinkling.
Repentance identifies us with the death of Christ, and baptism identifies us with His burial. Coming forth from the watery grave of baptism and receiving new life in the Holy Spirit identifies us with His resurrection.
