What I have always believed about certain important stuff

I was raised Baptist conservative. Our church was part of what was then called the Conservative Baptist Association of Michigan. Or the CBA for short. It later was part of what was called IFBAM or the Independent Fundamental Baptist Association of Michigan. These titles came with certain believed doctrines as part of their "Statements of Faith". Our church wanted it known that we stood for the Fundamentals of the Faith as once declared by the saints of old. Those fundamentals included:

• The inerrancy and authority of the Scriptures (Bible) over every aspect of life. 
• The six, literal 24 hour days of Creation. 
• The Three Omni's of God, His 
• omnipresence, everywhere present
• omniscience, all knowing  
• omnipotence. all powerful
• The person of Jesus Christ as God the Son
• The Virgin Birth of the Christ
• The Atoning act of Jesus on the cross
• The bodily resurrection of Christ
• Jesus eventual return
• The personality of the Holy Spirit, His gifts and work in salvation
• The total depravity of man - sin has permeated every part of our being
• Hell as the abode of all who reject Christ
• Heaven as the eternal abode of those who accept Christ

There are many more doctrines but these are foundational. I was also taught:

• that I needed to accept Jesus as "my personal Savior" to be a part of God's family.
• that Jesus return for his "saints" (those who had "placed their faith in Him as Savior"), called the Rapture, was eminent. Meaning that it could happen at any moment. 
• that after the Rapture his saints would then return to heaven with him where they would participate in the "Marriage supper of the Lamb" for seven years. While the Great Tribulation was happening on the earth. 
• that after the seven years Jesus and his saints would return to earth where they would be part of the battle of Armageddon, which would be a quick affair with Jesus doing all of the work by killing all with His word. 
• that Jesus would begin His Millennial reign for a period of 1000 years (Rev 20). After which Satan would be loosed for a final rebellion, and then would come the eternal state. 
• that we were dispensationalists - pre-tribulation rapture.

Stuff that was seldom explained or taught were the following:

• Calvinism and Arminianism 
• Election and predestination, freewill
• the different views of eschatology - the study of endtime events
• dispensational
• postmillennial
• amillennial
• Covenant theology

Granted, some of these items are difficult to explain and thus I can see why they might have been avoided. However, I think that it is good for us to explore these doctrines to either be able to better define our own thoughts on each position. Or to be able to better understand what God is teaching us in each of these, what some might call, the "hidden things". 

Though I believe that the "Hidden things" might become a catch-all drawer for anything that we don't completely understand or want to study. For me, "math" or "spelling" might be considered hidden things.

So, with this background in mind I would like to explore each of the hidden things in the next few blog posts. This study is not for the theologian but for normal people like you and me. Well, you anyway.