The following is part three of a three part guest series from Jerry Moon, a former United Pentecostal Church member. See Part 1 & Part 2.
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The pastor of the local United Pentecostal church had resigned the church and moved to another state. Over half the church had quit their jobs and moved out of state with him. Others that had left their church and followed him to Borger moved back to where they had come from. Maybe things would get better.
I had been reading and studying on bitterness. Bitterness can eat you up. I’d learned that asking for forgiveness was more for the person asking for forgiveness than the person being asked for forgiveness. I wrote a letter to the remaining members, asking them for forgiveness if I’d hurt them.
I got one reply to my letter. I was excited. What did it say? Excitedly, I opened the letter to find a typewritten letter. It said, “Jerry, I’ll never forgive you and you’ll never be welcome at our church.” I filed the letter next to another typewritten letter that was supposed to be a warning from God that I’d received a few months earlier.
I later was voted in as the secretary of the Apostolic Brotherhood International (ABI). As time went on, Bro. James Stephenson got Alzheimers. He and Dr. Marvin Arnold were so awesome. They made him honorary chairman to keep from hurting him. A new man took over.
I now had several differences with the ABI on the book of Revelation. I had explained these to Bro. Stephenson and we never had a problem with it. But after a change in command, I was confronted on these issues. Nothing was done about it. I could see the handwriting on the wall though. After camp I sent in my letter of resignation and stopped paying my dues.
I thought things would get better after the pastor left and took those saints to the other state. Thirty years later there are saints in the local UPC moving to that state to follow that church.
The next pastor was one that had been in Borger before, the one that had sent his wife’s son to her parents so that he wouldn’t hurt his ministry. Neither of them ever spoke to this child again. I invited him and his youth to come to our skating party. His reply was no thanks. Every time I’ve ever been skating I was drinking? My thought was, you can treat a child like that and then try to be holier than me? While he wouldn’t have anything to do with us while he was pastor, when he left, he asked if he could preach for us. I let him.
It seemed like the local UPC church had a new pastor every two years. The next pastor I didn’t know, but I tried to get to know him. I was never invited to their events. But once I got him to come to one of ours. After church he talked to several of our people, trying to convince them to leave us. Later he wanted to visit with me. I’m not sure why. He thought we were renting our storefront. When he found out it was paid in full, his meeting was over.
One pastor was into marshal arts. The very first thing he did was threaten me. Later he contacted me and told me God had impressed upon him one of us was out of the will of God. He wanted me to pray and fast that God would remove one of us. A couple weeks later I contacted him and told him my God wouldn’t let me pray that way. I’d been praying God would bless both of us. I’m the one still in Borger.
From my journey I feel I’ve learned and grown throughout my life. I’ve seen a lot.
My dad was sitting behind two brand new visitors to church once. One said to the other, “That’s the woman that was cheating with my husband. But she had uncut hair and wore dresses so she was able to hide her sin.”
I can show you ministers that have slept with other men’s wives, but yet hold license. Child molesters. Men who have been falsely accused and men that have been accused. Men that have turned away children. And a bunch of men that have forgotten how to love.
Yes, you may find all this in every organization. But this is the organization that gripped me. They think they have made the outside of the cup clean, but they have forgotten the inside of the cup. Thirty two years later nothing has changed but me. I’m not the man I used to be. I’ve grown more compassionate. My focus is the inside of the cup.
For years growing up in the UPC church I’ve heard, “You can leave anytime you want, but there is no other church in town you can go to and be saved.” And people believed it.
A few years ago, the guest speaker at an ABI camp told everyone his background was from the Catholic Church. He spoke of the walk with God that he had while in the Catholic Church, but over the years his walk with God has grown. That’s the way it should be. We all like to think that our church offers the biggest walk with God of any church out there.
Some like to think their church offers the only walk with God. But the truth is our walk with God is not the building or the organization. It’s not because your rules are better than someone else’s. If God doesn’t dwell in unclean temples, he wouldn’t be living in any of us.
While in the UPC, I sat under a pastor that claimed to be one of the prophets that Revelation says would die in the streets of Jerusalem. That pastor has passed away. It’s amazing that the UPC doesn’t do a thing to pastors that preach what is clearly false doctrine.
Many times while I was in the UPC I’ve seen different things that the pastor required the saints to sign. The papers would be on various things. Sometimes it was financial obligations. But most of the time it was on what they determined was a Biblical dress code. What they called holiness. Of course these holiness standards were always changing. Sometimes because of the trends in Hollywood, which was amazing because when I was in the UPC we were not allowed to have a TV. Other times they would change just because we got a new pastor.
One of the wildest that I saw was a paper that was supposed to be signed on what you were to wear to bed. I don’t know, maybe the pastor felt like there were too many babies in the church.
I never saw anyone’s feet being held to the fire because they signed such a paper, but I suppose that a person really should be careful when signing such a document. Looking back I have to wonder, did the disciples have to sign any papers to follow Jesus?
Twenty five years out on my journey out of the UPC, I thought I had endured all that the UPC could throw at me. People that attend the UPC see their denomination as a loving group. When reading a story like mine it’s hard for them to believe. But mine is not the only story out there.
I was wrong. A person in the UPC became my boss. I didn’t get involved when the guys I worked with laughed as he tried to teach them things like why he didn’t have a TV, why his wife didn’t cut her hair and why she only wore dresses. Out of sight, out of mind, was my motto.
I guess I wasn’t out of sight as much as I thought. My new UPC boss cost me my job. I was devastated. Over the years they have taught me one thing. True holiness comes from the inside, not the outside. A dear friend once told me, “Jerry, you’ve never been taught what to do as a pastor. You’ve only been taught what not to do.”
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