United Pentecostal Church - articles on this movement

Sosthenes · Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Posts: 60

PLACING FAITH IN THE BAPTIZER, NOT THE BAPTISM
One Man's Exodus from The United Pentecostal Church
- by David Vivas, Jr.

"Am I your brother in Christ, yes or no?" asked Dr. Walter
Martin in a debate with United Pentecostal Church representatives
Nathaniel Urshan and Robert Sabin, which took place on the "John
Ankerberg Show" in 1985. As I sat and observed Brother Urshan's
reluctance to give a direct response to the question, my mind
pondered in dismay over the fact that my own General
Superintendent would not answer, "No, you are not my brother in
Christ." This would have been a common response coming from a
Oneness adherent to a Trinitarian believer.

I would like to share with you my experience in the United
Pentecostal Church. The intentions of this article are not to
bash Oneness believers, but rather to help inform the Christian
Church of the dangers that exist in legalistic movements of our
day.

I was raised in the Assemblies of God. My mother, who was
Catholic, had intentions of sending me to the Catholic Church.
My father, who was Protestant, would not allow my mother to send me
to the Catholic Church. Instead, he sent me every Sunday with his
parents to Sunday School at the Assemblies of God. My mother and
father were saved several years later, and we attended a
Pentecostal Church in a nearby city. I was involved in the
church and saw 15 of my high school friends saved. By this time I
was 15 years old. At school I began encountering classmates who
attended the United Pentecostal Church in our city. I had
countless discussions with them on the subjects of the godhead
and water baptism. After several vigorous attempts to respond to
their Oneness claims and the many scriptures on water baptism, I
became persuaded of their theology, and even went as far as to
doubt my salvation.

I became very angry and bitter with my parents, pastor, and
Sunday school teachers whom I thought had led me in error since I
was a child. I was told by the UPC that the doctrine of the
Trinity was in actuality a belief in "three Gods." They also
told me that I had been baptized the wrong way. They insisted
that the name Jesus Christ must be spoken over an individual when
being baptized and that those who have been baptized in the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had been erroneously
baptized. They asked me to show them in the Bible where anyone
was baptized in the Triune formula and insisted that every
instance of biblical baptism occurred "in the name of Jesus
Christ," (that is, with the name pronounced over them).

I soon told my parents of my decision to attend the United
Pentecostal Church. They opposed my decision. By this time I
had attended the UPC on several different occasions without the
consent of my parents. After becoming aware of my excursions
they grew concerned. After my first few visits, I was determined
to be baptized "the right way" so that I could surely be saved.

Since my attending the UPC went against my father's will, I
moved out of my parents' home at age 16. As a result, I found
myself living with different members of the church. Three months
later, I was set up on the platform for preaching purposes.

I became heavily indoctrinated with various books and materials
published by the UPC. I devoted my time to the listening of
debate tapes between Oneness preachers and Trinitarians. I
learned all the Oneness responses to Trinitarian theology, and
became dogmatically opposed to Trinitarians. In August 1989,
after being a part of the ministerial staff of the local UPC
church, I became licensed with the organization. I started a
prison ministry in which about 75 inmates were baptized in two
years. I was very zealous with church activities.

I was familiar with Dr. Walter Martin and had obtained a number
of his writings and tapes. Although I didn't believe he was
saved at the time, I admired his knowledge in the area of
comparative religions. Upon hearing of Dr. Martin's passing in
June of 1989, I attended his Memorial service in Southern
California. During the Memorial Service, I was moved by the
comments made by different individuals concerning him, and was
battling in my mind how I was to consider this man lost and in
error, when his very life and ministry had helped so many
thousands through the years. Yet, I could not compromise with
what I thought was the "Truth."

I was loaned a video of the debate mentioned above which took
place on "The John Ankerberg Show" ("The Trinity or 'Jesus Only':
What Do The Scriptures Teach?"). My first impressions of the
debate left me disappointed. Dr. Martin and Cal Beisner were
very thorough in their presentation and defense of Orthodox
Christianity, while in my prideful opinion, the opposition
delivered a poor defense of Oneness theology. So to more
effectively present and defend Oneness doctrines, I began
investing in scholarly works in the areas of Church History and
Word Studies in Hebrew and Greek. To my astonishment, I
discovered several faulty interpretations of church history as
taught by the UPC. There were also a number of grammatical
discrepancies of certain key passages that had gone by unnoticed
and are in fact used to distort the meaning within the context of
the passage.

During the last year of my involvement with the UPC, I analyzed
the teachings of my local church. We were taught by our local
pastor that he was going to answer for us on Judgment Day
concerning our lives and personal experiences with God. We were
taught that if we missed a church service, we would have to give
an account to God as to why we missed. We were discouraged from
attending family outings on a church night. When wanting to do
so, members young and old alike, had to ask permission from the
pastor. More often than not, the answer was "no." "Where are
your priorities," he would ask, "to God or your family?" This
would engender a sense of guilt among the members of the church.
Scriptures were manipulated and effectively used to intimidate
members who consequently had no rights or say-so. The pastor was
always right, because he proclaimed himself "the man of God" who
was not to be questioned.

In my experience I wanted to attend a Memorial Service of a
relative. I was asked by the pastor if it was really necessary
for me to attend since it was on a church night. He answered
"Let the dead bury the dead." Needless to say I was in church
that night. I found that not only did he manipulate scripture and
coerce the people but was in fact acting as a dictator.

There were also the extremes of legalism which exist in most
United Pentecostal congregations. Men were not permitted to wear
mustaches, women were not allowed to wear pants or slacks, make
up, jewelry or cut their hair. And neither could wear sleeves
above the elbows. These were all considered "Holiness Standards."
Television was disapproved of since it was considered "a pipeline
from hell into the home." To violate any of these standards, a
member was considered to be rebellious and disobedient to the
Word of God, not to mention their pastor. It became a salvation
of works rather than grace. If a person did not follow these
standards, they could not possibly be saved. The church was
governed by modern-day Phariseeism.

Looking back now, I can see the bondage of the people caused by
presumed self-righteousness -- which they flaunted by their
"holy" attire. It became, as the Apostle Paul said, "...a form
of godliness" (II Timothy 3:5).

Another incident happened that further disturbed me. Different
people from our local church left to attend another United
Pentecostal Church and were informally disfellowshipped because
they did so. We were taught that we must attend the church
wherein we were "saved." If one left the local assembly to
attend another Oneness Church, they were considered rebels and
lost, thus the disfellowshiping.

I knew that this teaching was not even remotely Biblical. I
then began to thoroughly re-examine the teachings of the church.
These and other situations prompted me to analyze the teachings
of the organization as a whole. I asked a friend of mine (who was
a disfellowshipped member attending a nearby United Pentecostal
Church) to once again review with me the Ankerberg debate, this
time, with open hearts, open minds, and unbiased intentions.

All of the evidences given by Martin and Beisner were
irrefutable. We checked out many of the references and found
them to be accurate and correct. Martin explained many of the
passages the UPC representatives quoted. For example in John
10:30 Jesus said, "I and my Father are one." Oneness adherents
maintain that this proves Jesus and the Father are one person.
Yet Martin brought out that the Greek in this passage reads:
"...we are in union." (See further a Greek Interlinear Bible in
this passage for the Greek word "esmen." It translates "we
are.") Deuteronomy 6:4 was also quoted. Again, Martin and
Beisner explained that the Hebrew word for "one" in this passage
is "echad" -- meaning a compound unity.

Finally, at the end of the program Martin asked Nathaniel
Urshan if all those who had been baptized in the "Triune formula"
were lost and going to hell. Urshan expressed his uncertainty
with a hesitant response. My stomach turned because the answer
should have been an emphatic: "Yes! They are lost and going to
hell." The UPC emphatically teaches that one must be baptized
with the name Jesus Christ pronounced over them. Further, one
must speak in tongues as the essential evidence of being filled
with the Holy Spirit. One could not be saved otherwise. In
addition, members must follow the legalism taught in their
church, be it shaving off one's mustache or wearing sleeves below
the elbow, or for women refraining from wearing pants, cosmetics
jewelry, and so forth. Therefore it then becomes a salvation by
works, and not by grace.

What I never understood was how one who believed in the
Trinity, and yet was filled with the Holy Spirit, could be lost.
"How could the Holy Spirit dwell in an unclean temple?", I
thought. Sins were washed away only after being immersed in
water. The Scriptures did not teach baptismal regeneration as I
was taught to believe. This doctrine was contrary to the
biblical concept of salvation by grace.

I was deliberating at this time whether to continue with the
UPC or withdraw membership. I finally decided one month later to
turn in my ministerial license with the UPC. At first I
questioned my decision. I felt as though my very soul was in
jeopardy. But I just could not deny the evidence of Scripture.
What was I to listen to? My pastor? The UPC? No! The Word of
God! The Bible was clear in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are
ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the
gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast."

I could not deny the fruit of the Spirit I saw in other
Christians who were not United Pentecostal. This began to bear
witness with my spirit and consequently appeased my unsettled
conscience. I learned a very valuable lesson when I realized
God's love was unconditional! The local UPC pastor taught
members to have nothing to do with those who left the church.
Upon leaving the church, I was marked "off-limits" to the general
membership and considered to have reached a reprobate state. I
deduced by this their love for me and former members was purely
and unmistakably conditional.

The Bible encourages us to: "Prove all things, hold fast to
that which is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Even the Apostle
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:15 "...judge for yourselves what I
say." 1 John 4:1 exclaims, "Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false
prophets are gone out into the world." Finally, we are to be
like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 "...they searched the scriptures
daily, whether those things were so."

If you are in the United Pentecostal Church or some other form
of legalistic movement, and are disturbed by what goes on, do not
be afraid to stand up for truth.

The members of the local UPC church I attended looked to the
Pastor as the authority figure. Members would not question his
stand on any particular issue, for fear of being marked. Members
could not go on a vacation or miss a church service without the
pastor's permission. He became their dictator and ruled over
them with unchallenged authority. The Bible does not support
this. (See further, Matthew 20:25-27; 1 Peter 5:3.) If this is
the situation you find yourself in, and want out, there is hope
for you. I began to see that the general attitude of the UPC as a
whole, likened itself to that of the Pharisees of the New
Testament. They appeared outwardly to men as being holy, but
their insides were corrupt and rotten. (See further, Matthew 23.)

Now that I am out of the UPC, I have found out what true
liberty in Christ is. My identity is now with The Baptizer, and
not with "a baptism." My sincere prayer for those who are
trapped inside of a legalistic movement, such as the UPC, is for
them to come out and experience what true freedom in Christ is,
and that in their search for truth, they will come to know Him
who is Truth.

Should you have any questions concerning my experiences before
and after my decision to leave the UPC, please don't hesitate to
call me at: (805) 721-1914.

Personal Freedom Outreach, P.O. Box 26062, Saint Louis, Missouri
63136.

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