Month: February 2017 | Spiritual Abuse Blogs

United Pentecostal Church Manual Part 6

Please note that there have been many edits made to this article since it was originally published in 2017 as I wanted to bring it up to date. Because of this, the article is somewhat messy. The edits in bold show the 2023 costs.

In my last post in this series, I covered the basic cost of being licensed in the United Pentecostal Church. We discovered that besides the yearly national fees of $374.00, $386.00 or $398.00, each minister must also pay money to the district in which they live. Using Indiana as an example for 2023, if one held local license it would cost them a minimum of an additional $660.00, making the total cost per year of their license $1,034.00 and it could rise to $1,454.00 depending on their age. Using South Carolina as an example, if one held local license it would cost them an additional $960.00, making the total cost per year of their license $1,334.00.

In addition to the above, the UPCI approved a change in processing payments of membership fees at the 2014 General Conference as mentioned by David Bernard in the October-December 2014 Forward magazine. This started to be implemented in December 2015 for the first quarter of 2016. If a minister does not pay annually, but pays quarterly or monthly, a small fee is now added to each payment. This will cost some ministers additional money, though it isn’t significant. This was also explained in the same issue of the Forward as seen in this screenshot.

We will now look at the expense of purchasing books and videos in order to obtain an initial license or to move up to the next level. (There are three levels: local, general and ordained.) Note that in addition to the prices listed below, there is also a $25.00 application fee for each level of licensing.

As of January 2017, a new reading list was released as well as implementing video requirements. Each video course costs $35.00 and ten are required per each ministerial level, thus increasing the initial licensing cost to at least $350.00. (You will find the cost and list here. A prior updated edition with all but one book price is here.) Not only does this increase the initial licensing cost, but since it also applies to each level, if an already licensed minister wishes to move up to a general or ordained license, it will cost them at least $350.00. It should be noted that these are not yearly costs, but one-time charges. [2023 Edit: Starting at some point after March 2023, the cost for each video course rose to $40.00, thus increasing the initial licensing cost to at least $400.00.]

The reading requirements are nothing new, though they periodically changed the list. In their earlier days, book reading was not always required as is evidenced in the 1969 UPCI Manual where nothing was listed, not even reading through the Bible. However, for those seeking ordination, they were required to read the Bible, “at least one church history book and at least one grammar book.” This was waived if they had completed three years in a UPCI Bible school. By 1975, a very limited reading list was mandated: The Pentecostal Home Bible Study Course, Magnifying The Ministry, United We Stand and For Preacher’s Only.

By at least 1981, reading the Bible in at least year was required, as well as at least one year in a UPCI endorsed Bible College. If the candidate did not attend a Bible college, then they had to read the same books as mentioned in 1975. The same held true through 1989. Starting in 1989 they stated that the UPCI Manual must be read. Regardless of whether a person had attended a UPCI endorsed Bible college, they had to read through the Bible and the Manual at each level of licensing.

On January 1, 1990, a new reading list was made where the specific books were no longer listed in each Manual. From here they periodically changed.

In February 2010, a new list of reading requirements was in force. You may view that here.

You may compare the current reading requirement with what was required starting in 2012. Without considering the cost of the Manual, it was $157.41 for a local license, $143.94 for general and $112.44 for ordination. So with this new change in 2017, the UPCI more than doubled the cost for each level.

One thing that has now changed is that all the reading material is produced by the UPCI and their authors, whereas years back they would include something written by those outside their group and even by non-Apostolics. The Words and Works of Jesus Christ by J. Dwight Pentecost used to be one of them. For years they also let you choose one book out of several in a category (see the 2010 requirements). With them requiring only their books and videos, one gets fully indoctrinated by the UPCI. Consider that for a local license, four of the ten courses are all the thoughts of David Bernard, the current UPCI General Superintendent. The organization also makes more money by keeping everything in house.

Each video course comes with an ebook. If someone cannot or does not wish to read books in digital format, it would cost $157.90 to purchase all the books for a local license. For a general license it is $161.90 and for ordination it would be more than $155.91 (after more than a year, one book price was still pending). [2023 Edit: You will see that they no longer show the paperback editions prices in their list of required reading. As of November 1, 2023, if you did not purchase any book on sale, it would cost $180.90 to purchase the books for a local license. For a general license it is $182.90 and for ordination it would be $200.90.]

If the individual wanted to purchase physical copies of the books, the total initial cost to attempt to receive a license would be $507.90 for a local, $511.90 for a general and more than $505.91 for ordination. Otherwise each level would be $350.00. These figures are in addition to the yearly national and district fees should the individual be granted license. They also do not include the cost of the United Pentecostal Church Manual, which must be read at the cost of $10.00 [2018 paperback price]. In addition, applicants must read the Bible through once for each level of license. [2023 Edit: If the individual wanted to purchase physical copies of the books in 2023, the total initial cost to attempt to receive a license would be $580.90 for a local, $582.90 for a general and $600.90 for ordination. There could be an additional charge for a printed copy of the Manual. If one is fine with digital copies, each level would be $400.00. In addition at each level there is the $25.00 application fee.)

What does this all mean? The applicant from Indiana going for a local license, would expect to pay $1,204.00 or $1,361.90 (if paperback books are purchased) for their first year and to satisfy the reading requirements. Ouch. [2023 Edit: The applicant from Indiana going for a local license, would expect to pay at least $1434.00 or $1614.90 (if paperback books are purchased) for their first year and to satisfy the reading requirements. South Carolina would be higher. Prices do not include the application fee.]

There is good news for the applicant who has completed at least one year of a UPCI endorsed Bible college (they only endorse their own). They do not need to complete the reading requirements, according to the 2017 UPCI Manual (Article VII, Section 2, #9). They would have already spent well over $350.00 at the college. For instance, at Indiana Bible College, tuition and activity fees for one year (without room and board) cost more than $4,000.00. [2023 Edit: The 2019 Manual removed this mention of a UPCI endorsed Bible college and it now states, “All applicants must have completed the required reading and training program established by the General Board. The reading and training requirements may be obtained from the District Board or from the office of the General Secretary-Treasurer. At each level of credentialing, all applicants must read the Bible through and must read the current Manual of the UPCI.”]

All of this can become a little more complex as each district is at liberty to impose additional requirements of any kind in order to be considered for licensing.

While the requirements and fees have changed for those whose language is English, they did not change in 2017 for those seeking a Spanish license. The reading requirements are fewer and are considerably cheaper for those who speak Spanish, plus they do not have to view videos and take the accompanying tests. The present costs are $76.01 for local, $37.53 for general and $24.30 for ordination. Compare those with it costing at least $350.00 for those whose language is English. That is not very balanced. [2023 Edit: On January 1, 2019 this changed and they now have reading and video requirements, with some differences in the material. The speakers are different since the lessons are in Spanish. See here.]

Should a minister fall behind in payment of either national or district fees, their license will be suspended or revoked and they may need to reapply and meet with the District Board to get it back.

Please note that in all of the requirements, there appears to be no mandated training on the issue of sexual abuse. This is troubling since the organization has had problems with their ministers failing to report these cases, as well as ministers and members being arrested, charged and convicted of various types of sexual crimes. [2023 Edit: There is currently available a series of ten videos that address various aspects of abuse and sexual abuse. They are listed on Ministry Central under SafeChurch. However, these are not mandated for licensing. Anyone may sign up to watch these at no charge.] Some may want to read our ongoing series of articles on sexual abuse in the United Pentecostal Church.

United Pentecostal Church Manual Part 5
United Pentecostal Church Manual Part 4
United Pentecostal Church Manual Part 3
United Pentecostal Church Manual Part 2
United Pentecostal Church Manual Part 1

Is Your Pastor Ruinous To Your Spiritual Life?

…it was not just the Pharisees’ false authority that made them dangerous but also their false teaching. They taught a false view of God and a false way of serving him. They pictured God as a legalistic judge, favoring those who kept his religious rules and despising those who did not. Modern preachers who make God’s acceptance contingent upon religious performance are the Pharisees of today. Jesus says, in effect, that high-sounding religious lies spoken by respected leaders are ruinous to spiritual life.

The quote is from Ken Blue in his book, Healing Spiritual Abuse. It is a good book on spiritual abuse and this ministry has given away many copies over the years.

I have been posting quotes on the Facebook Page that are from books on spiritual abuse. This one stood out due to the last sentence. Some people do not take spiritual abuse seriously. They have this misguided thought that people are just crying about things that do not really matter and that they should be able to easily set aside. Some believe people only have hurt feelings and need to develop some thick skin and just get over whatever it was that happened. And, of course, others think we were foolish for remaining as long as we did. We weren’t held captive in our former churches.

What these uninformed people do not realize is that while there are more minor cases of spiritual abuse, where some people escape mostly unscathed, there are thousands and thousands of other cases where people have been severely harmed, some irreparably. There are people who can no longer read their Bibles. There are people who cannot attend a church. There are people who cringe and have panic attacks when certain things happen which remind them of their former churches. Some are scared to death of taking communion.

There are people who are confused, who do not yet know what to believe. Many have developed trust issues. There are people who suffer in silence because previous attempts to share how they were sexually abused were not believed or they were told to keep their mouth shut for the good of the church. There are families who have been torn apart due to interference from church leadership and doctrines that teach shunning. There are people who developed PTSD and CPTSD. There are those who can no longer pray. There are others who believe they will be cast into hell because they left ‘the truth’ and cannot live up to the expectations of their former group. Yet others cannot get past the warped view of God they developed due to their former church involvement. There are so many things that can be added to this list.

Yes, a pastor can be ruinous to your spiritual life. Some do not speak words of life, but of death. Some are building their own kingdoms instead of following God. Some only care about themselves and will do whatever they have to in order to keep everyone doing what they demand. They do not serve, but wish to sit in the honored places and be served. They have not the heart of a servant, but rather are harsh taskmasters and lords over people. They can leave your spiritual life in shambles, creating in your mind a distorted view of God and his love for you.

Baptism and Re-Baptism Part 4

Continued from Part 3

I’m happy. I was concerned that I would have nightmares, that I would be so nervous I’d make myself sick, that I’d have last minute doubts… that I’d get food poisoning and wouldn’t be able to go. LOL

None of that happened. For me, getting re-baptized was the best thing I could have done at this point. I wanted it to be a faith thing, and it very much was. I didn’t want it to be a denial of anything I’d already experienced. There was only one person who didn’t understand who said anything. I didn’t try to correct her–I met her in a Bible study a few weeks ago and knew she had very little understanding of a whole lot of things. My decision would have confused her, so I stayed quiet.

Baptism was a very important thing to me. I stayed in Oneness churches, miserable, for nearly ten years simply because they baptized in Jesus’ name and no one else did. Standards played a very small roll, and worship styles and “moves of the Holy Ghost” played probably an even smaller one for most of those years. But baptism to me was huge.

I do have to say that the pastor was great today. I’m not sure how I would have reacted if he hadn’t said some of the things he did last week and this. He was careful both last Sunday when I joined and this Sunday when I was baptized to explain that I had been a Christian for “awhile.” Today he mentioned (without letting anyone know who had asked) that he’d been asked several questions about baptism recently. He then restated the answers he’d given to those (my) questions. Remembering those questions and answers at that moment was encouraging and reassuring to me. He also restated the meaning of baptism as signifying the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, which holds a whole lot of meaning for me. Though those may all be common practice for him, the significance for me was very meaningful.

Also, the words he said as he baptized us–and maybe he always does, I don’t know–was something like, “by the authority of Jesus Christ, upon your confession of faith and trust in Him, I now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.” That was really terrific. Any last minute concerns I might have had were gone after the first person he baptized that way. (hee hee I’d wondered if I might get there and in my mind be saying “in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus” but I didn’t!)

For me, it feels like things have come full circle. When I joined the United Pentecostal Church, I was told that I hadn’t really been a Christian before. But I was, and I couldn’t deny that. It put me on shaky ground. They told me one thing, I believed another, yet I believed what they preached about baptism and the Holy Ghost–the same things they used to say that I hadn’t been a Christian before I started attending their church. Things just felt out of kilter.

Over the last year and a half, there have been several times that it seemed like another piece fell into place and I regained a bit more balance. A few months after leaving, for instance, during an invitational at the church I then attended, they led “whosoever will” in a “sinner’s prayer.” At my pew that day, I modified that prayer to a re-commitment to Jesus, asking His forgiveness for my lack of understanding (through the years of trying to follow a church, organization or man, and trying to please people rather than Him), and asking His direction from that point. That was a wonderful day. It felt like the pieces reconnected somehow, that I could finally accept what had made a huge impact in my life as a child–accepting Jesus as my Savior. (Something strongly taught against in the Oneness churches I’ve been in.)

There have been several other times that it seemed like a piece would fall into place–talking to a pastor and questioning him without being rebuked, leaving one church for another and still being accepted at both, learning what others truly believe and finding out that I agree… and etc.

That really has little to do with baptism in itself. Someone else will find that balance and that feeling of fitting or of all the pieces falling in place another way. No matter where or how that balance is found, I hope we all find it. But for me, there was huge significance in that simple act today.

For me it was just a very, very good experience.

Baptism and Re-Baptism Part 1
Baptism and Re-Baptism Part 2

Baptism and Re-Baptism Part 3

Continued from Part 2

Would being re-baptized help further the gospel in any way?

Probably not in the short term, at least. There are plenty of churches I could join and be a part of without being re-baptized.

Would it be meaningful to me personally? (if so, how?)
What are my reasons and motives? Would this be a reaction against the church I left, or a response to God?

Yes. I’m not sure all are good reasons to be re-baptized, but there are many ways it would be meaningful to me. I won’t go into the reasons here right now, though I thought about it. Everyone is different in this area though, and would have to honestly answer for themselves based on prayerful consideration, not anything I’d write.

Would it be a positive experience for me, or would I have doubts/would being re-baptized go against conscience?

Yes, it would be a positive experience for me, I’m fairly certain. No, being re-baptized wouldn’t go against my conscience.

I will be re-baptized this coming Sunday. I was concerned I might be nervous or doubtful, that I might even have nightmares about it. That hasn’t been the case. Most of that, I suspect, is because the pastor of my new church has handled the situation well. He did not simply announce that I would be getting baptized, but explained, very simply, that I’d been a Christian for quite awhile but had requested to be baptized [at this church]. He didn’t in any way deny what God has already done or make it sound like I was trying to “start over.” He also left the decision completely to me.

Also, I’ve come to view baptism very differently than I was brought up to view it or as I saw it in Pentecost. I no longer think baptism is saving in itself, and one off-shoot of a new understanding of baptism was the realization that if baptism itself doesn’t save me, neither will being re-baptized UNsave me.

Above that, I can’t view God as being displeased with either choice, as long as my decision is based in faith rather than fear and is done in good conscience.

I haven’t been nervous all week–except about what to wear since they don’t have baptismal robes. Not one nightmare… which surprised me. It kind of hit me harder today how final this is, at least in the view of my former church. According to them if someone leaves and gets re-baptized in the titles, they probably can’t be saved. IF (huge if) they would have ever accepted me back, they more than likely wouldn’t after Sunday. It’s not something that bothers me, but it has given this a significance I’d prefer in a way it didn’t have. I’m not doing this to deny anything that God’s done, but rather to testify to what He’s been doing and to reaffirm and attest to my faith in Jesus. Words wouldn’t have carried the same weight as this act, and there would have remained doubt in my mind about the whole issue. So this is very much a statement and act of faith.

I’m a little excited, but at peace enough that I’ll actually be turning off the computer before midnight!

Baptism and Re-Baptism Part 1

Do Works, Work?

Do works, work? Like Johnny Cash singing that old song naming all the places he has gone “I’ve been everywhere man, I’ve been everywhere man…” When it comes to works – I’ve been there and done that man. The list goes on and on -bus ministry, visitation, door knocking, cooking meals to raise funds, newsletter, youth ministry and all that entails, and last but not least Sunday school teacher.

I put the most effort into being a Sunday school teacher. I loved the little children and I felt I could make a difference in their lives. There was one problem though – our Sunday school rooms were open concept and had huge walls with high ceilings. We were expected to decorate the walls with various depictions of study material, seasonal items, and such. As the new kid, I was always trying to “prove” myself to the “old guard.” I would work endlessly trying to fill (and I mean fill) these walls with eye catching, hand painted décor. I remember staying up all-night long, painting away at these larger than life creations to hang on the walls. I admit, I wanted recognition for my efforts but it wasn’t to be. Anytime Sunday school was mentioned, all the praise and glory went to the “Old Guard.”

Of course, these weren’t the “works” that were preached by my United Pentecostal Church that were necessary for purchasing our ever ready to flee salvation, that is a whole other list of all fleshly actions. The message was clear: if you were a spiritual Christian, you would be a human doing, not a human being.

What is wrong with all this working? Faith without works is dead, right? The problem with works based religion is that it doesn’t work. It only breeds competition, comparing ourselves to one another, conceit, envy, or in my case foolish pride that summed up my motivation for working to the point of burn out. Paul’s words to the Galatian church, who had left grace to be justified by the works of the law, told them they must be careful not to bite and devour each other or they might consume one another! On top of all this, it’s not why Jesus came! He came to set us free from the Law of Moses that was unable to save. (Romans 8:2-4) The idea of obtaining salvation based upon something that concerns a fleshly element – ability to dunk under water, your tongue, or someone else’s ability to say exact words over you takes all the power and glory away from God! He willingly sent His Son to die on the cross for our salvation and asks that we simply trust that it was enough to save us. (Romans 1:16) Anytime you add some kind of fleshly act (works) to this Gospel that has the power to save, you have turned it into another gospel. But wait, Paul says there is not another! (Galatians 1:6-8)

This is the big lie of the UPC or any other Bible/works based religion – think Jesus is swell, but not enough to save, add a list of do’s and don’ts, and throw a little Bible in there, yeah, just enough to prove your perverted gospel. To me, it is the greatest form of spiritual abuse. Keep them ignorant, exclusive, and judgmental. Make them believe, if they don’t keep our list, they’ll be lost.

Oh, and what about works? Where do works that genuinely prove our Faith in Christ alone come in? The apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:13 puts it like this “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” When we put our faith in Jesus Christ alone apart from works, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. God gives us new life on the inside, the Holy Spirit. As the seed of God’s word is planted in our heart, fruit begins to grow. This fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, the chief one being love begins to flow out of our heart to do the work that God prepared beforehand for us to do. A life motivated by love and controlled by truth works!

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV