United
Pentecostal Church
Founder: Unknown
Overview
Within the Pentecostal movement, the United Pentecostal Church is quite
unusual. It holds some non-traditional beliefs that separates it from being
called Christian. It is important to understand that the
body of Christ can afford to
differ on nonessential issues, but not when it comes to the essentials of the
Christian doctrine. It is therefore important to remember that a
cult according to the Word of God is any group of people that worship anything
or anyone other than Jesus Christ, and
believe anything contrary to His Word
as found in the Bible. The Bible is truth, but should never be twisted and
wrangled so that it will fit a particular belief as the UPC has done.
Cult Beliefs:
-
They believe that the ability to speak in
tongues is a necessary indication of a valid religious conversion. They
deny the legitimacy of the conversion of "born again" Christians
from other denominations where tongues are rarely, if ever, spoken. "No
tongues means no salvation." So, for example, they would regard
essentially all Southern Baptists as unsaved, even though most had repented
of their sins and trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The Bible
never says that speaking in tongues is a sign of salvation; in the New
Testament, it is recorded that some people began speaking in tongues, but
others did not. For example, how about the disciples/apostles? Did they speak
in tongues when they were saved? They spoke in tongues on the day of
Pentecost, but they were already saved long before that event.
-
They share with other "Oneness
Pentecostals" the practice of baptizing in the name of Jesus
Christ only. (See Acts 2:38)
Jesus Christ gave instructions on baptism in
Matthew 28:19. He specifically
said to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; any deviation
from this commandment is unacceptable.
-
They believe that anyone who is not
baptized in the name of Jesus only will not be accepted into heaven when they
die. This is nonsense and not found anywhere in the Bible.
-
 They reject
the traditional concept of the Trinity. They do not believe that the Godhead
is composed of three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They believe that
God is a unity, a Spirit, who has manifested himself in three roles to humanity." An analogy would be a single man who
plays three different roles: that of father, son, and husband -- either
sequentially or at the same time. They interpret the Bible incorrectly.
It is true that the Godhead is one (I
John 5:7), but God exists in three separate and distinct personalities at the same time.
Evidence of this is found when Jesus was
baptized, the Holy Ghost came upon Him and the Father declared that this was
his Son in whom he was well pleased.
Matthew 3:16-17, Mark 1:9-11,
Luke 3:21-22
-
They believe there is no salvation outside of the
United Pentecostal church. The Bible says there no salvation outside of
Jesus Christ, not a church. John 1:12;
3:1-8,
Romans 10:8-13
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Cults
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