United
Pentecostal Church
Founder: Unknown
Overview
Within the Pentecostal movement, the United Pentecostal Church is quite
unusual. It holds some extra-biblical 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. There are many biblical things to which the
UPC holds but the Bible should never be twisted and wrangled to fit a particular
set of beliefs.
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 essentially
regard all Southern Baptists as unsaved, even though they have 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. Did
the disciples/apostles speak in tongues when they were saved? They spoke in
tongues on the day of Pentecost, but they were already saved through faith
long before that event.
-
They share with other "Oneness
Pentecostals" the practice of baptizing in the name of Jesus
Christ only. Jesus Christ specifically said to baptize in the name of
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19); any deviation from this
commandment is unacceptable. But the UPC will point to Acts 2:38 and many
other passages to give validity to their argument. So who has more authority,
Jesus or the apostles?
-
They believe that water
baptism is essential to salvation. But Jesus did not say so in His
conversation with Nicodemus. (John 3:3-8)
-
 They reject
the traditional concept of the Godhead and 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 of father, son, and husband -- either
sequentially or at the same time. In doing so, they interpret the Bible incorrectly. It is true that the Godhead is one (1
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 from heaven that this was
his Son in whom he was well pleased. (Matthew 3:16-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22)
-
Have stated the aforementioned
points, it is also necessary for them to 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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