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About ISOB

About International School of the Bible - ISOB

This is to summarize what God is doing through International School of The Bible (ISOB) around the world.  All the Glory goes to God as we watch what He is doing!

Carol Chkoreff and Larry Chkoreff never intended to start a ministry like ISOB.  We were teaching 8th grade Sunday School at Mt. Paran Central and North Church of God since 1983. At the same time we were overcoming very challenging circumstances in our lives.  I ended up writing about our overcoming through God's direction and path for these 8th graders.   I am not especially qualified in education as a writer. I have had no previous experience.  Therefore, any fruit from anything that we have written is totally to the glory of God and from His grace and anointing.  My writing style is not professional; it is rather conversational, geared towards the simple. 

Beginnings.

As we were ministering at Mount Paran Safehouse (downtown Atlanta) in 1994-1996, we were asked to develop discipleship lessons for the homeless people.  As we did that, the Lord spoke an unexpected promise to us through Psalms 68:11.  "The Lord gave the word, great was the host (army) of those that published it."  We had no idea what that meant. But now we do.  Writers write, printers print, but publishers distribute.  The great host of publishers that we see publishing our books, freely of course, "blows our minds!"   These "publishers" are mostly simple pastors in Third World and persecuted nations.

Psalm 68: 12 says, "Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil."  Carol and I have tarried at home, but we have seen the "spoil."  The Mount Paran Central missionary to Ghana, Kingspride Hammond, who also worked at Safehouse while we were there, spoke a prophetic word to me.  He said that our discipleship school for the homeless would someday be called International School of The Bible.  I laughed, sort of like Old Testament Sarah did!

In 1998 Benjamin Tomah, then a refugee in Ivory Coast, got a hold of our Grow or Die lessons.  This is before we even had a book.  He said that he preferred them for discipleship over ever other resource he could find.  I was shocked, and thought that perhaps that was a one-time event.   Benjamin will tell you that this discipleship process has led to more than 12 church plants between Ivory Coast and Liberia.  Another brother in Haiti got a hold of the same lessons.  We assembled them into our first book and took it to Haiti personally in 1999 (two trips).  This has happened in many other nations as well.

Vision/Mission- Publish and aid

“The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it” (Psalms 68:11). Romans 1:5 (Amplified) "It is through Him that we have received grace (God's unmerited favor) and [our] apostleship to promote obedience to the faith and make disciples for His name's sake among all the nations." The Nations and Israel Isaiah 49:6

We publish the Word of the Kingdom in a simple easy to understand, easy to apply format primarily for people in the third world and others who are oppressed.

The goal is “spiritual agriculture,” teaching the poor and oppressed, and otherwise desperate, how to live in reliance on the Word of God for all of their needs.

Our materials are an organized group of seeds designed to bear fruit.

Fruit of character - Fruit of the Spirit

Fruit for needs - Provisions

Fruit for the Kingdom of God - Ministry

Fruit for ministry leads to our ultimate goal which is…..

That nationals in the third world would make disciples and plant churches.  The goal is to make these churches self-sustaining and reproducing (multiplying like a human body cell).  If these churches are healthy, they will reach souls in their own area, and move to the next culture in its realm of influence to plant churches there.  (Happening in 2007 in Liberia.)

Statement of Faith

What we believe.

Here is a brief outline:

1 The Bible is the Inspired Word of God

Both the OT and NT are inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct (1 Thess 2:13; 2 Tim 3:15-17; 2 Pet 1:21)

2 The Triune God

The one true God has revealed himself as the eternally self-existent "I am," the Creator of heaven and earth and the Redeemer of mankind. He has further revealed himself as embodying the principles of relationship and association as Father, Son and Holy Ghost (Deut. 6:4; Is. 43:10-11; Mt. 28:19; Lk. 3:22)

However, Jesus Himself verified that there is only one God, not three:

Mark 12;29 says, "Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our GOD, the LORD is one.'"

3 The Deity of Jesus Christ

The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God & is God. The Scriptures declare:

  1. His virgin birth (Mt. 1:23; Lk. 1:31, 35)
  2. His sinless life (Heb. 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22)
  3. His miracles (Acts 2:22, 10:38)
  4. His substitutionary work on the cross (1 Cor. 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:21)
  5. His bodily resurrection from the dead (Mt. 28:6; Lk. 24:39; 1 Cor. 15:4)
  6. His exaltation to the right hand of God (Acts 1:9, 11, 2:33; Phil. 2:9-11; Heb. 1:3)

4 The Fall of Mankind

Man was created good and upright; for God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." However, mankind by willful choice ignored God's instruction … choosing to engage in what they knew was wrong and evil. As a result, mankind fell from innocence and goodness and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:17; 3:6; Romans 5:12-19)

5 The Salvation of Man

Man's only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

  1. Conditions to Salvation:

Salvation is received through repentance and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

By the work of the Holy Ghost, being justified by grace through faith, man becomes an heir of God with eternal life (John 3:3; Rom. 10:13-15; Eph. 2:8; Tit. 2:11, 3:5-7).

  1. The Evidences of Salvation:

The inward evidence of salvation is the direct witness of the Spirit (Rom. 8:16). The outward evidence to all men is seen in both water baptism and living a holy life (Eph. 4:24; Tit. 2:12)

6  Sacraments of the Church

  1. Baptism in Water:

Water baptism by immersion is commanded in the Bible. All who repent and believe on Christ as Savior and Lord are to be baptized. Thus they declare to the world that they have died with Christ and that they also have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life (Mt. 28:19; Mk. 16:16; Acts 10:47-48; Rom. 6:4). Water baptism is an outward sign of the inward transformation from salvation.

  1. Holy Communion: The Lord's Supper, consisting of the elements, the bread and the fruit of the vine; is the symbol expressing our sharing the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:4); a memorial of His suffering and death (1 Cor. 11:26); and a prophecy of His second coming (1 Cor. 11:26); and is directed to all believers "till He comes!"

7  The Baptism of the Holy Ghost

All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian church. With it comes the giving of power for life and service, the giving of power for their uses in the work of ministry (Lk. 24:49; Acts 1:4, 8; 1 Cor. 12:1-13). This experience is distinct from and subsequent to the experience of the new birth (Acts 8:12-17, 10:44-46, 11:14-16, 15:7-9). With the baptism in the Holy Ghost come such experiences as an overflowing fullness of the spirit (John 7:37-39; Acts 4:8), a deepened reverence for God (Acts 2:43; Heb. 12:28), an intensified consecration to God and dedication to His Word (Acts 2:42), and a more active love for Christ, for His Word and for the lost (Mk. 16:20). 

8  Sanctification

Sanctification is an act of separation from evil, and of dedication to God (Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 13:12). Scriptures teach a life of "holiness without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14). By the power of the Holy Ghost we are able to obey the command: "Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Pet. 1:15-16). Sanctification is realized in the believer by recognizing his or her identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, and by faith depending daily upon the fact of that union, and by continually offering every faculty to the authority of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 6:1-11, 13, 8:1-2, 13; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 2:12-13; 1 Pet. 1:5).

 

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