The Pentecostal Church
The Pentecostal Church began in Topeka, Kansas on New Years Eve, 1900. The United Pentecostal Church manual quotes the following in its forward. "During the last 21 days of the 19th century, a band of earnest, hungry-hearted ministers and Christian workers in Bethel Bible College, Topeka, Kansas, called a fast, praying earnestly for a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which, to their joyful surprise, came upon them in the early hours of the morning on January 1, 1901. The people were heard speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance, just as it had happened on the day of Pentecost in the year 30 AD. A great revival immediately broke forth, which soon reached to the State of Texas, and thence west to Los Angeles, where in the year 1906 it centered in an old building on Azusa Street." Charles Fox Parham, a teacher at Bethel Bible College, was a significant participant in its origin.
In the year 1914, the General Council of the Assemblies of God was formed in Hot Springs, Arkansas. This conference produced "a new revelation of doctrine" and divisions occurred. The Pentecostal manual states: "...the word of the Lord became a new book. Truths which had been hidden for many years were made clear. In the year 1914 came the revelation on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The pivotal doctrines of the absolute deity of Jesus Christ and the baptism in Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ, Inc. and the Pentecostal church, Inc. In 1944 steps were taken to unite these two bodies into the United Pentecostal Church.
One of their popular doctrines had its origin in a 1913 camp meeting just outside Los Angeles, California. RE McAllister, a Canadian evangelist, spoke on the subject of water baptism. He set forth the concept that the apostles always baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and not in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One of McAllister's students John G Sheppe, awoke early the next day and ran throughout the camp shouting that God had revealed the truth concerning Jesus' baptism. Thus was the beignning of the "Jesus Only" or "Oneness" doctrine. This doctrine basically taught that Jesus is the one God who manifested himself as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The separate and distinct personalities of God were repudiated as unbiblical.
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Words of Men |
Word of God |
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"We do not believe in three separate personalities in the godhead, but we believe in three offices which are filled by one person." Nathaniel A. Urshan, booklet Consider him |
If Jesus alone is God, and merely "manifests" the Father, Son or Holy Spirit then many Scriptures are meaningless and even deceptive.
Matthew 3:16, 17 (Jesus, the Son is baptized, the Spirit descends as a dove, and the Father speaks -- all three present)
Matthew 17:5 (Jesus the Son transfigured, Father speaks)
John 16:7-8, 13-14 (Jesus the Son glorified by Spirit)
John 14:16,26 ("I" Son, Father will send Spirit to Comfort) |
The Holy Spirit is the instrumental in healing incurable diseases today, as well as notable miracles. The Gospel of Healing, AB Simpson, p. 25
Divine Healing, EE Bynum, p. 36 |
Jesus advised the sick to call for a physician. Matthew 9;12
Jesus raised the dea, restored withered limbs. John 11:43,44; Matthew 12;10
Jesus' apostles drank deadly poisons, took up serpent and raised the dead. Mark 16:17-20
Bible miracles confirmed God's Word, they did not produce faith. Hebrews 2:3,4; Romans 10:17
Miracles have ceased. 1 Corinthians 13:8-12) |
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A person may speak in tongues today -- under the influence of the Holy Spirit. |
Tongues have ceased. 1 Corinthians 13:8-12
That which is perfect (the law of liberty) has come. James 1:25
The completed revelation of Jesus Christ. Jude 3; 1 Timothy 3:16, 17 |
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Women commonly participate in leading public prayer, teaching and preaching. |
"Let a woman learn quietness with all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness." 1 Timothy 2:8-15
"Let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection..." 1 Corinthians 14:34
*(The woman may teach younger women Titus 2:4 -- They may teach a man in private Acts 18:25) |
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Holy Spirit Baptism is for today. |
Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to the apostles. Acts 1:8 This was fulfilled Acts 2:1-4
Only one other recorded case of Holy Spirit "baptism" like Pentecost. Acts 10:11, 15
Only ONLY baptism. Ephesians 4:5
Jesus commanded baptism in water (Holy Spirit baptism never commanded promised)
Mark 16:15,16; Matthew 28:18-20; John 3:5; 1 Peter 3:21; Acts 2:38; 8:36-39; 22:16 |
"SABELLIANISM"
In the 3rd century Sabellius, a Latin theologian, introduced a dangerous doctrine that continues to this day. Men referred to it as "Sabellianism". Sabellius taught that God was one person, not three, and He appeared in "modes" or "manifestations" -- as the Father, Son or Holy Spirit. Sabellius taught the Father alone was the true God. The Pentecostal denomination teaches a new form of "Sabellianism" or "modalism" making Jesus the one true God.
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Source: Traditions of Men Versus the Word of God by Alvin Jennings
Daniel S. Dow
Huntington Church of Christ
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