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Just under 60 minutes, this is an interview with Bob Ross and Mark McNeil about the United Pentecostal Church. Mark was a UPCer, graduated from Texas Bible College, and was the valedictorian. This again addresses the subject of the Godhead (Oneness vs. Trinity). It also touches on David Bernard’s The Oneness of God book.
As we approach a new year, and knowing I have more behind me than ahead of me, it becomes ever more important to own who I am. I am a child of God saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ my Lord. Much of my life found me chained to a legalistic doctrine that sapped my faith, hope and love and encouraged doubt, discouragement, fear and judgment.
Once I escaped (and it was a true and traumatic escape) I found a God of love and peace that I left behind many years ago in my quest to perform my way into salvation. There is NOTHING I could ever do to earn a place with God. Jesus already did it all and proclaimed it finished! Like Paul, I do not see this as a license to sin (realizing also that what I wear, my hair style, and where I go are not sin unless they are sinful) rather a knowledge that we are saved by faith in Christ alone, not by works, lest any should boast. The bottom line is and has always been God is Love and to be His disciple is to have love for Him and for one another—that is a bottom line where we find REAL peace. May God richly bless each one as we walk by faith into a new year with Him.
Just under 30 minutes, this is a video on the United Pentecostal Church from Christian Answers, featuring Steve Morrison and Larry Wessels. It covers the Godhead issue and some on David Bernard’s book, The Oneness of God. They touch on what they believe to be false assumptions and false facts given by Bernard.
About a month ago I trimmed my hair, about 1/8″ off, a few split ends, one strand at a time. But still against what I had been taught. About a week ago I wore my hair in a braid, down, for the first time in public in years. In a church that allows no physical contact between unmarried men and women, I have begun to feel more comfortable with a nonsexual embrace or tap on the shoulder, and even went out to eat with a virtual stranger in a public restaurant this morning with few qualms, although he apparently recognized that I was a bit tense.
There is nothing wrong with these things. The hair trimming may have been done in the wrong spirit (I wanted to break with the traditional teaching, and that was a lot less obvious than pants) but still, there was nothing wrong with it in and of itself. I don’t think that God would send me to hell for what I did, anymore than I can imagine him not loving me simply because I might not go to that church.
Why is God so limited in so many people’s lives? God is infinite, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent… and yet it’s as though we expect him to fit in a tiny jewelry box and sit in our pocket. A genie in a lamp rather than a loving Father.
When my chaplain friend prayed with me, I saw through that prayer a love, faith, and trust that was almost completely foreign to me, and I realized I had been robbed- robbed of my identity in Christ. When a statement was made on a support group board about being a “precious child of God” the thought was reinforced. Knowing this, am I breaking away from something or bridging to something better?
I’ve been told for so long that listening to ideas that are not Apostolic like “we” are is to let the ideas of the devil in. But the devil wouldn’t remind me of the grace and mercy of a loving Father, wouldn’t remind me that I’m a child of God. The devil wants us condemned… and condemnation is exactly what I now feel free of. I don’t have to look over my shoulder or consider what others might think about every word I say, how they might twist it or who they might repeat (or misrepeat) it to. I still wonder how I ever thought that I was right in living for people that way. I don’t want to live for people, I want to live for God. That, in the end, is really the only way to really live.
Tomorrow I go to chapel. A safe place, for me. Tomorrow night I go to a living nativity. For the first time in years, I am really getting the opportunity to celebrate the birth of the One that saved me. How odd it is that I was not allowed to really celebrate His birth. Shouldn’t Christians, of all people, be most apt to celebrate His birth, His death, and His resurrection? What better way to celebrate our life in Him?
We have given away books for years as part of the spiritualabuse.org ministry and this will be our tenth one via this new blog area. This is your chance to receive a new copy of In Jesus’ Name: The History and Beliefs of Oneness Pentecostals by David A. Reed. (Don’t let the current prices on Amazon startle you- a new copy sells for around $35, not almost $500.) The link will take you to Amazon where you may read more information about it.
This is only open to those with a USA mailing address. (Unfortunately, it is cost prohibitive to mail books outside of the USA. Canadians with a USA mailing address are welcome to enter.) This one is a little different as it is a drawing and not a first come, first served giveaway. To enter, just leave a comment on this post to show you wish to be included. The drawing will close on December 17 at noon (eastern time), after which I will draw one winner. You will then need to email me your mailing address. There is absolutely no cost to enter.
Don’t be alarmed if your comment does not immediately show as comments require approval when you are commenting for the first time.
Watch for a future multi-book giveaway that will be on a first come, first served basis and not a drawing.
