Any Apostolic Pentecostals Here?

[Brother Notlad]

Apostolic Pentecostals (sometimes called Oneness Pentecostals or Jesus' Name Pentecostals) are Christians who adhere to the Apostles' doctrine as outlined in the New Testament. The believe in that God is undeniably one and that His name is Jesus, that Acts 2:38 is the only Biblical plan for salvation, that the infilling of the Holy Ghost, evidenced by speaking in other tongues, is a necessity to lead a Spirit-filled life, and that lifestyle of inward and outward holiness is commanded by scripture and expected by Jesus. 

Apostolic Pentecostals are commonly known for the enthusiastic and Spirit-filled worship and their so-called "holiness standards" of dress and personal behavior and conduct. While millions of Apostolic Pentecostals are self-operating and exist with organizational oversight, there are also many organizations existing within the community. The more common ones are the United Pentecostal Church, the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, and the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are more, certainly, but these are the three for which I'm the most familiar. 

Are there any Apostolic Pentecostals here on Worthy Christian Forums? 

I also want to apologize in advance if this topic is already existing here. I tried searching to see if it already was, but I didn't find any results. Either way, I'm curious to see if there are any other Christians here of like-minded faith.   

[NotAllThere]

Possibly. I am from an agnostic background, but first came to faith via AOG pentacostalism. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is, I believe, evidenced by speaking in tongues.

I reject the idea of outward conformity. That's just being a whitewashed sepulcher.

[R. Hartono]

9 hours ago, Brother Notlad said:

Apostolic Pentecostals (sometimes called Oneness Pentecostals or Jesus' Name Pentecostals) are Christians who adhere to the Apostles' doctrine as outlined in the New Testament. The believe in that God is undeniably one and that His name is Jesus, that Acts 2:38 is the only Biblical plan for salvation, that the infilling of the Holy Ghost, evidenced by speaking in other tongues, is a necessity to lead a Spirit-filled life, and that lifestyle of inward and outward holiness is commanded by scripture and expected by Jesus.

Im in Jakarta, we hv the same experience with different name. Holy Spirit manifest at our house gathering with Xenolalia n visions given to rebuke n built up each member as nobody is perfect yet. When a stranger come n he is carrying or using magical amulet or installment he will b rebuked n revealed so he may see that God loves him.

[Brother Notlad]

On 11/19/2020 at 1:36 PM, NotAllThere said:

Possibly. I am from an agnostic background, but first came to faith via AOG pentacostalism. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is, I believe, evidenced by speaking in tongues.

I reject the idea of outward conformity. That's just being a whitewashed sepulcher.

You reject Biblical modesty and behavior? 

[Brother Notlad]

On 11/19/2020 at 1:36 PM, NotAllThere said:

Possibly. I am from an agnostic background, but first came to faith via AOG pentacostalism. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is, I believe, evidenced by speaking in tongues.

I reject the idea of outward conformity. That's just being a whitewashed sepulcher.

Well, the Assemblies of God denomination is generally viewed as the largest Trinitarian Pentecostal body. From my understanding, many churches within in the denomination have apparently "voted out" speaking in tongues out of fear of offending their more "traditional" and non-Pentecostal converts. 

Some AG congregations are straitlaced; they are strong on the Pentecostal experience, moving in the spiritual gifts, and outward holiness, while others are apparently more evangelical and charismatic, being more liberal-minded on separation and holiness and treat the Holy Ghost as an additive and not a necessity. 

[JohnD]

Be advised, the Trinity doctrine is biblical and is therefore enforced in these forums (as per the rules for posting here). 

[NotAllThere]

11 hours ago, Brother Notlad said:

You reject Biblical modesty and behavior? 

Your response is a non-sequitur to my comment. 

External conformity to other people's ideas of decency is a world away from the inward transformation by the Holy Spirit, which becomes evidenced by modesty and behaviour.

I understand some Apostolic Pentacostals believe that alcohol and tobacco should have no part in a Christian's life. That reminds me of a story:

When the Dutch Christians found out their French brethren drank wine, they almost choked on their cigars.

Edited November 21, 2020 by NotAllThere

[NotAllThere]

3 hours ago, JohnD said:

Be advised, the Trinity doctrine is biblical and is therefore enforced in these forums (as per the rules for posting here). 

Ah yes. I missed the ol' Oneness doctrine. 

[GandalfTheWise]

To fill in a bit of historical background (at least how it was related to me).  I once had a talk with an old AOG minister at a campus ministry retreat back in the 80s.  He'd grown up pentecostal so was acquainted with the first generations of them.  Take this as my recollection of firsthand and secondhand comments from someone who saw some of this occur.  This is an oversimplification, but I'm trying to hit the high points.

The topic of water baptism in the name of Jesus versus Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was a serious matter among some early pentecostals.   Basically, pentecostals split ways over this argument.   Some saw using Jesus' name in prayers and everything else as a necessity for Christians and that using the formula Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for prayers and everything like many mainline churches did was an excuse to keep the name of Jesus out of churches.  They saw water baptism in Jesus' name as being a defining mark of being a Christian.   Over time, the two camps went their separate ways.  He (like many) used the term "Jesus-only" to describe them.  His view was that the Jesus-only camp became very rigid on this with some not accepting Christians who were water baptized via the Trinitarian formula in contrast to in the name of Jesus explicitly. 

As far as I can tell, most oneness Pentecostals are not that far removed from standard Trinitarian belief.  The big thing for me is that they believe Jesus was both God and man and that salvation is through Him alone.  This is in contrast to most non-Trinitarians who either explicitly deny the deity of Jesus or explicitly deny the humanity of Christ.  The oneness Pentecostals proclaim Jesus as God and man.   As are as I can tell, they reject the term Trinity (the few I knew seeing it as an RCC invention meant to keep the name of Jesus suppressed) but seem to use descriptions and explanations that are not far off those used by most Trinitarians.  It's been years ago since I looked at this in detail, but back when I did, I was satisfied at the time that most of the differences were more based in word choices and definitions than actual differences in beliefs. 

I'd emphasize this is a post based on anecdotes rather than exhaustive research.

[Wynona]

My husband and I went to an Apostolic Church. I spoke in tongues and was baptized there. Was married there as well.

 

We don't have an official denomination now but the teachings still influence us to a certain degree.