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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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The following is part two of a three part guest series from Jerry Moon, a former United Pentecostal Church member. See Part 1.

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Within weeks we started noticing a quite visible change in what we thought were our church friends. I had grown up in the United Pentecostal Church. Mother was raised UPC. My grandmother was UPC. All my friends were UPC. UPC was my life.

We began to notice when we went to the store, our friends would walk the other way to avoid us. Once I honked and waved at a older couple from our now former church and in unison they both turned their heads to look the other way.

I did have a couple of aunts that were UPC that were proud of me, but much of the family in the UPC treated me like my UPC friends did.

About three months after starting the church, my dad called me up. He wanted to know if we had room for another Moon in the church. He shared they were tired of hearing their boys being the sermon topic every service.

I now knew why everyone had been shunning us. Like the lies he had told when his son got a divorce, he was now telling them on us, to turn our friends against us. If possible he would have turned our own parents against us.

This is a tactic practiced by cults. The other members never want to leave because they don’t want to go through the same thing.

I’ve been told that the UPC would rather see people when they leave waste their life on a bar stool. They make good examples to the rest, of what happens to those that leave. It will happen to them if they leave. But what to do with those that don’t quit living for God?

I’ll remind you, at this point my life and preaching was still very much UPC. We just didn’t have UPC on our door. The only problem I had at that time was why the UPC was looking for the second coming of Christ when he was clearly living in us.

I had even subscribed to Irvin Baxter’s End Time Bible Studies so I could teach the book of Revelation correctly. But when I tried to teach his lessons, I always hoped no one would ask questions.

Dr. Marvin Arnold preached our first anniversary service. When I joined the Biblical Apostolic Organization (BAO), I explained my only problem with the doctrine. He had no problem with it. He has went on to be with the Lord since then, but his books are still on the internet.

When I shared this on my Facebook profile, there were comments that not all UPC churches are this way. They are right. There were two churches in the Texaco District that didn’t treat us this way.

One was a pastor that I later found out had big problems of his own. But despite it all, I’m grateful for the kindness he showed. And I’m grateful for the renewed friendship of late. Because of that, this is where I leave this.

The other was my wife’s pastor. He never turned his back on us to the day he went to be with Jesus. These two men were a encouragement to me.

I had various UPC ministries from around the States that preached for us and encouraged us. No, they are not all like this.

My wife’s pastor eventually left the UPC. He joined a little organization called the Apostolic Brotherhood International. He asked me to join as well and for a while I was a part of both the ABI and the BAO. These two groups then talked about merging, but never did.

Shortly after starting the church we were getting quite a group of young people. Growing up, church camp was a big part of my life. I wanted the best for our youth.

I went to Amarillo and met with a board member and talked to them about letting our youth come to the UPC Church Camp. I was saddened to hear that our youth were not welcome at their youth camp. It was quite shocking to me. I had always assumed everyone was welcome to go to heaven. But obviously this wasn’t the case. We later found a place for them to go to camp with another group.

When I went to the very first ABI camp meeting, I met an interesting preacher. He came up to me and introduced himself. After introducing himself and where he lived, he looked at me and said, “You may have known my dad. He used to pastor in Borger, Texas.”

My mind begin to whirl and I could tell by the way he was looking at me something was up. I finally told him I didn’t know a pastor in Borger by his last name, thinking that maybe his dad pastored a Baptist Church or some other denomination.

When he told me his dad’s name I was shocked. He at one time had been my pastor. One of those hard core, by the book kinda pastors. The kind you were scared to breath around types.

He begin to tell me a story. His mom had him out of wedlock. When his dad and her got married, his dad thought it best that her grandparents raise him and he carried his mothers maiden name. They then had nothing to do with him because his father was afraid that he would hurt his ministry.

I was floored. It was at this point that I begin to think, “Maybe I’m too good for that organization.” My journey began to get easier.

I’m not sure why, but it was just me and my dad who went to the local UPC church to a fellowship meeting. They had invited a preacher that had written a Bible Study and he was supposed to teach how to get and give these Bible studies.

Problem was he had just seen a great revelation. He kept getting off the subject and talking about red heifers and such. You could tell the ministry didn’t like it. They were squirming in their seats. He finally told them, “I know what I was called here to teach. But this is what God has given me. You don’t even have to pay me if you don’t want.” What a sermon.

A few months went by and I decided I needed to understand Revelation if I was going to continue pastoring. I had already tried pastor Baxter of Endtime. While I thought it was great stuff, it didn’t make any sense. I’ll try this new guy and if that don’t work, I’ll go back to Baxter.

I invited him back to Borger, promised him I would treat him better than his last experience and when he was through preaching the weekend, he hadn’t said a word about Revelation. I was upset.

Before I took him back to the airport I mentioned this to him. He said, “Brother Moon, get a book called Matthew 24 Fulfilled by John Bray.” The rest was history. I begin to climb out of a doctrine that I had believed was true all my life. My experience with God had just begun.

The next year after reading Matthew 24 Fulfilled was one of most amazing years of my life. I was blessed to have my dad share this experience with me. He had always been such a great teacher.

For the next year I felt like I was on a high. I couldn’t sleep at night. I’d wake up in the middle of the night with a scripture on my mind, thinking that’s what that scripture means.

I don’t know how many sermons I had to re-preach. After preaching something, I’d later realize that wasn’t what it meant at all. My new way of viewing Revelation was affecting my whole Bible.

Sometimes dad would push me along, other times I would push dad along. During the middle of a sermon I’ll never forget dad looking at me funny. I knew I missed the boat. I’d stop and reexamine the verse. Sure enough, I was off base.

After that first year I gave up my old UPC phrase I’d learned. I used to say while preaching, “We’ve got the truth.” My revelation had changed so much in the last year, I finally told our church that I can no longer preach we have the truth. I can only claim, we are trying to walk in the truth.

Not everyone shared my newfound joy for the word. Dr. Marvin Arnold was in bad health. He turned the reigns over to a newcomer into the BAO. He had been told of my new ideas.

I got a call one day and was told I was no longer in the BAO. I was also told to change the name of our church. I stopped sending my dues that day, but I wasn’t changing our name without a battle. I contacted a lawyer. We are still Biblical Apostolic Church.

The last I heard the BAO is no longer a organization. If you expect everyone to just believe like you, it will eventually just be you.

See Part 3.

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The following is part one of a three part guest series from Jerry Moon, a former United Pentecostal Church member.

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While I was thirty two years old when I actually left the United Pentecostal Church, I would have left sooner had some other circumstances not come up. Looking back, maybe I should have taken advantage of the situation, but I was trying to do things right. I didn’t realize that any way I did it was going to be considered wrong. I didn’t even tell my wife or family what I was going to do.

A year or two before I left, the pastor’s son got a divorce. In a effort to make his son look good in his divorce, the pastor started preaching about it. How it wasn’t his son’s fault and how she was at fault. The problem was, that about thirty members of the church was kin to the little gal. They all packed up and left. I waited for things to settle down so I wouldn’t get the blame for a church split. But all is fair in love and war. I was blamed anyway for those leaving, even though I waited.

I had been praying hard about what I was going to do. I had put a list of what I thought was an impossible task before God. He not only fulfilled these tasks, but went above and beyond what I asked of him.

One of the items on my list was I felt I needed a license. I’ve since learned that in Texas one is not necessary. I had told God in my prayers that if I could get one with the UPC, I would throw it all out and just submit to what I was in. After all, at this point, despite what I had been through growing up, I still had a UPC mindset. I never got over the hurdles to ever even apply for a license with the UPC, but I did get hold of a small organization called the Biblical Apostolic Organization. Dr. Marvin Arnold was over it. A very kind ex-UPC minister that had been kicked out of the UPC for writing a book Pentecost Before Azusa. I thank him for the kindness he showed.

In the period between getting license with the Biblical Apostolic Organization and leaving the UPC, I got a phone call. A pastor in another town wanted to have lunch with me. I went, not knowing what he wanted.

He began to explain that he wanted me to come to his church and be the music minister. He explained that he couldn’t afford to pay me, but promised that any tithe that I paid in would be given back to me as salary. While it sounded tempting, I’ve been through and seen enough bad things in the ministry to realize this might not be a good thing. Besides all that, what this pastor was trying to do was highly unethical. I’ve seen so many bad things in the ministry that I’m now afraid to tell someone that I’m even a preacher. He knew it was unethical. He asked me not to tell anyone.

God sometimes goes above and beyond what we ask for. One night at McDonald’s after church, we were sitting at a table with a man and wife that was older than us. Let me remind you that no one knew what I was working on. I hadn’t even discussed this with my wife. I wasn’t too surprised when he looked at me and said, “What this town needs is another church.” I just nodded in agreement. Then he looked me in the eye and said, “God told me you’re the man.”

When I left McDonald’s that night I knew this wasn’t something that had leaked out. You had to to tell someone to have a leak and I hadn’t told anyone. I tried my best to act surprised, like this was news to me. But he added fuel to an already burning fire.

Another prayer I had been praying was to provide us a church. Ironic that I didn’t want to start in a storefront, but now we own a storefront. God provided. The Church of God of Prophecy put their building up for sale and they even financed it for us.

We later sold this little church and bought a storefront. The last UPC preacher that came by to explain how wrong we were was surprised to learn we owned free and clear our little storefront. God is a provider.

The last service I was in before I left the United Pentecostal Church couldn’t have been anymore God ordained. I was the youth minister of the church. Keep in mind that up to this night no one knew what I was fixing to do.

I’ll never forget what the pastor preached. The topic was what do you want to do for Christ. I couldn’t stand up and tell what God had laid on my heart like every one else was doing because that wasn’t the appropriate place to do it. But you can imagine my shock with me sitting there, when the former youth minister announced that he wanted to be the youth minister again.

After service I went in and told the pastor what I wanted to do. And that night the former youth pastor’s wish was met. He was the youth minister again.

When I left, I didn’t split the church. I took my brother and his wife, who would have left already had it not been for me asking them to wait because I was working on something. My brother had gone through a divorce and let me tell you, ex’s going to the same church doesn’t work very well.

That last night at my UPC church was the first time to reveal what I was doing to anyone. So far so good, or so I thought.

Next I told my wife, my brother and his wife. My wife was nervous. Then I told my parents. My dad assured me they were behind our new adventure, but that they were going to stay at the UPC church. His excuse was that he didn’t want people to see it as a family thing. I knew it was because they now had so much invested in the building. But I wasn’t telling them to try to get them to go with me. In fact, I was glad they were staying. I wanted a clean break.

I told the pastor of the Spanish UPC church. We had been friends for years and I wanted to keep their friendship. I told the oldest elder in the church. Years ago he had a dream that a young church rose up out of the older church. I felt his dream was coming to pass. He didn’t seem to share my excitement.

The adventure finally begins.

See Part 2.

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