SeekGod.ca Discussion Forum

Thank you!! I am feeling much more lifted up than I was this morning. God is so good! I am so thankful that He has given me a place to share and be encouraged. Thanks again!

God bless!

Mark

(02-19-2009 04:57 PM)Vic Wrote: [ -> ]Oneness Pentecostals ....Basic beliefs include:
* Believe that no one but Oneness Pentecostals are saved.

Greetings. I was a member of a oneness pentecostal church for almost 15 years. For 10 years, I was one of the chosen ones who was there for every service, 4 to 7 times a week, and my life revolved around the church. Just a little history to explain my perspectives below.

As a member of a very strict oneness pentecostal church, they believe that only a subset of the oneness pentecostals would be actually saved. My pastor used to preach there was only one church in a metro area of over 1 million that one could attend and hear the unadulterated truth of God, and this church was it.

The fact that I left that church (I still have family members there) caused my friendships of 15 years to suddenly disappear, as I was essentially excommunicated. There is no fellowship with those outside the true faith. The pastor sent me a letter stating that he washed his hands of my soul.

The oneness pentecostal movement is actually split into many factions, each with their own branding of the faith. To insiders, these differences were real, and huge issues. From the outside, it was squabbling similiar to what colors to paint the house. Inside, there was a tremendous amount of competition between churches.

>* Dress code and behavior are regimented and vary slightly by church

The church I went to used a Bible and a copy of the 1959 Sears catalogue as the standard. The 1959 Sears catalogue was kept as a reminder of modest dress standards, and one should not conform to this world. A pastor from a large church visited, and decided to "raise the standard". As a result, wrist watches were banned, as jewelry items. (actually, I still don't wear a wrist watch, that is what God made cell phones for....)

I have heard a pastor "test a microphone" before a large assembly meeting was about to begin, and say "There is no one saved but me, and everyone just like me....and there is no one just like me..." While the comment was made in lightheartedness, there was an underlying belief to what he was saying.

The pastors retained the right to enforce any standard (extra-biblical) they believed would help their congregation to achieve salvation.

(02-19-2009 04:57 PM)Vic Wrote: [ -> ]Oneness Pentecostals ....Basic beliefs include:

* Believe that those who believe in the trinity concept are worshipping three separate gods, and consequently don't believe that Jesus Christ was Himself the Lord God Almighty. Oneness believers, along with groups like Jehovah's Witnesses, The Way International, and The Church of God International, completely reject the doctrine of the Trinity and claim that it is pagan in origin.

This doctrine was the key to splitting with the other pentecostal movements in the early 1900's. Oneness advocates believe that Trinity advocates promote 3 Gods. Trinity advocates believe that Oneness advocates promote a strange religion.

This is something I still am coming to terms with. I believe there are errors of interpretation on both sides. It is true that the concept of a trinity was not even introduced into Jewish thinking at all, the foundation of our faith. The term "Trinity" came about in an effort to interpret and understand how God came down and became our saviour. What is often preached, particularly in catholic environments, is a coalition of three independent beings that are united in purpose. This is interpreted by oneness pentecostals as paganism.

The besst example explaining oneness doctrine that I am aware of is as follows: God is a spirit, and this Spirit is our Father. He came down and wrapped himself in human flesh, and became Christ. After being raised from the dead, his Holy Spirit now lives in us.

Another way of understanding Oneness is that a single person can be a Father, a Son, and have a spirit of their own. Still only one person, not three persons.

(02-19-2009 04:57 PM)Vic Wrote: [ -> ]Oneness Pentecostals ....Basic beliefs include:
*Believe that tongues are the necesary sign of salvation which is like the beliefs of other pentecostal and charismatic groups.

In the church I attended, I underwent a number of dedicated prayer sessions at the center of a group of prayer warriors, kneeling, praying, running, hands laid upon me, etc., in my quest for tongues.

Tongues was a sign that God accepted your repentance as genuine, otherwise, there were official doubts as to your conversion.

After many services where someone comes down to the front of the church to confess, there were often looong sessions extending into the morning helping the person speak in tongues to seal their salvation.

(02-19-2009 04:57 PM)Vic Wrote: [ -> ]Oneness Pentecostals ....Basic beliefs include:
*Believe adherents must tithe to the pastor/church regardless, and to not do so, violates the Scriptures.

If I took a step back and re-evaluated all the sermons I had ever heard, I would say that it was the "Church of Money", not the "Church of God". More sermons on money, tithes, faith offerings, etc, than what I have generally found in non-pentecostal churches.

The church I attended (don't want to generalize to all pentecostal churches, because they could be different) taught that all the tithes went to the pastor alone. For the pastor's family needs (such as sending his son to college, additional offerings were required. For honouring the pastor's family and his sacrifices, additional offerings were required.

For the visiting evangelists, apostles, healers, teachers, etc., additional offerings were required. For church building maintenance, additional offerings were required. For missionary work, additional offerings were required.

Ahhh....missionaries....the christians in the church were not encouraged to give to anything that was not advocated by the pastor, who had the spiritual insight as to who should be receiving our financial blessings.

The following is not an exaggeration. In the last few years I was in the church, it even posted the amount of offerings by dollar amount of each member of the congregation in the vestibule. While I never quite made it to the 20% level, some were giving at that level or beyond.


One additional point that was not mentioned in the thread. Divorce was something that was utterly forbidden. Under no circumstances was it to be supported. The pastor's own sister went through a divorce, and was shunned completely. Talk about 1984 type rewriting of history within the church itself, and her contributions were eliminated.

Another thing is that the church, in general, abdicates their responsibility for studying the bible to the pastor. After all, the pastor has the true revelation of what God wants, and God forbid you come up with a different interpretation than what the pastor says.

I remember a friend of mine who had a desire to do something outside of the church that was not harmful, and the pastor sat him down and shamed him in front of the congregation. After a month of being depressed, he became "happy" again. I asked him why the change of heart, and he said that he had to come to terms that the pastor is always right, and that took a burden off of him.

I was strictly lectured once because I was trying to inform the pastor's son about some computer related issues, and was strictly informed that I could not do that. That pastor (and his family) were always right, regardless.

At the time I joined, I was disillusioned by many things I had seen, and the church offered a sanctuary from the world. In this sense, it was good. It was also very controlling. Jim Jones came from a similar movement, going off the very deep end. In retrospect, it could have happened many times over. At one point if the pastor would have said we were moving to Idaho or South America or anywhere, I would have seriously considered it. That is cult personality power.

My problem with the oneness pentecostal movement is not one any particular doctrine, but with the cultish power control over one's life, that any thinking outside of what a pastor believes was wrong. To me, this is the far greater danger.