Is this a "Oneness" Pentecostal church?

[anonymous]

I have finally found a church with a youth group that is Apostolic Pentecostal and seems like a nice church. But I have run into an issue, here. See, I just came across the fact that some Pentecostals do not believe in the Trinity but the "Oneness" of God. I am confused on these two doctrines. So would the church that I wish to visit (Apostolic Pentecostal) be a "Oneness" Pentecostal church? And what is the basic doctrine of an Apostolic Pentecostal church? Any answers would be appreciated.

Also, here is a link to the website of the church I want to attend:
http://truthtabohio.com/

Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Truth-Tab...0479022813
@theBerean: I certainly believe in those things and have been to Pentecostal churches multiple times and witnessed Glossolalia. I am confused, to be honest- on the Trinity. Thank you for your answer!

[theBerean]

Its hard to tell by just going by a churchs name.

Simply ask for a Doctrinal Statement or a Statement of Faith.

If they don't have one handy then simply ask the Pastor or one of the elders if they believe in the traditional Trinty.

If they are Oneness Pentecostal they will say no. (they might try to be a little evasive but its not hard to pin em down.

Let us know what happens. ok?



...theBerean


Added: I just looked at the link and they do not have any kind of doctrinal statement on the page. But I can tell you that they are into all of the "sign" gifts. Tongues, Healings, various expressions of the "Spirit", etc,. So if you are not in agreement with that you will be very uncomfortable attending there. Personally, I know I could not attend as I have some serious doctrinal differences with those teachings. In my view some of that is skating way too close to the line of heresy. But you may have a different view.

Added2: I am sorry to hear that you are confused on the Trinity. I certainly hope and pray that you soon get that settled in your mind. It is an ESSIENTIAL doctrine. One is not a Christian without believing it.

@Anonymous: Be assured that NOBODY understands the Trinity. To full understand Gods nature we would have to be God. But it is taught in Scripture. Basically, the bible says there is but one God. It then proceeds to call the Father God. The Son God, and the Holy Spirit God. Hence the three Persons ARE the One God. It never explains it. Probably because we would not understand it even if we were told. At bottom, that is as far as ANYONE can take it. God doesn't owe us an explanation. In fact, God doesn't even owe us as much as He HAS told us. He owes nobody nothing.

[john b. loved]

If they are Apostolic Pentecostal then they believe in Oneness doctrine, which I certainly believe to be an error.
Listen to two competent men debate the issue:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_q...ebate&sm=1

[HG Wells]

Apostolic are a form of Unitarian (ONE GOD)...United Pentecostal is also a Oneness denomination. But the difference between them and us "Biblical Unitarians / Christian Monotheist" is that they believe that Jesus IS THE ONE GOD.....

We don't......

We believe
1 Timothy 2:5

There is only ONE GOD and ONE MEDIATOR between God and Men...The MAN, Christ Jesus.

Jesus is The ONLY BEGOTTEN SON of God BUT NOT God....

http://www.christianmonotheism.com/

I just want to add, that if you would like to ask questions of someone who was a Trinitarian Minister for some 25 years and now Unitarian Minister for some 15 years please feel free to email me...I am assuming you could taste the hate and lies in the comments of those who know nothing about us.

[Annsan_In_Him]

You are wise to pause and check this out first before proceeding. Yet if you are confused on what the Trinity doctrine states, you need help to understand that first before you will be able to weigh up this church's stance. Let me try to put it succinctly for you, and then you can look at the links.

The one Being of God subsists in the three Persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. None of the three Persons were ever created but have existed eternally as the Godhead. The Trinity doctrine tries to do justice equally to the One Being of God as to the three Persons who share this same divine 'Being'.

Oneness Pentecostals are so keen to 'protect' one aspect of the doctrine (that God is One), they fall into the trap of denying the second aspect (that this One Being subsists in the three Persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.) They end up with a modern day variation on the ancient heresy of Modalism.

Modalism goes back to before AD 200 and is attributed to a chap called Marcion, a Syrian gnostic. He adopted the gnostic view of the spiritual Father who revealed himself in Jesus, making a dualistic distinction between the Creator and the true but unknown God, the Father. So he denied that Jesus was truly incarnate (which is the heresy of Docetism). Marcion taught that Jesus was merely "the spirit of salvation, and did not truly suffer and die on the cross, for God cannot suffer and die. Marcion's successors so fully identified Christ with the Father that they presented Jesus as but a mode of the Father - Modalism.

Modalism abandons the personality of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The modern-day variation of this heresy with the Oneness Pentecostals is that the Son is the Father (not that the Father is the Son). They either stress that God is now the Son (and not the Father) or that, since the Son returned to Heaven, he is now the Holy Spirit.

Why do they do this? It's due to incorrect teaching and understanding of the Trinity doctrine in the main and, granted, this ancient Church doctrine is not simple to grasp! (Well, what kind of a God WOULD be simple to express, doctrinally?) Although the Oneness Pentecostals uphold the deity of Christ and avoid the trap of saying He's a second or secondary god (as say the Jehovah's Witnesses), it undermines Jesus' role as Christ being our advocate, representative before God. It turns the events of redemptive history into a sort of charade. Not being a distinct person, the Son cannot actually represent us to the Father. It says Christ was human in appearance only; it suggests that God Himself died on the cross, and that Jesus did not provide a vicarious atonement.

So you see how this strikes at the foundations of some of the most important Christian theology? I have had discussions with some Oneness Pentecostals, and they are truly sincere. But one can be sincerely wrong. Unfortunately, their presentation confuses millions of other people who think that all Christians believe what they believe. Those millions are represented on here by mockers who say that Christians teach that Jesus is His own Father. No. That's not what Christianity teaches. The Trinity is clear that the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Father etc. But Oneness Pentecostals have caused this confusion. Muslims and Jehovah's Witnesses (who hate the Trinity doctrine with a vehement loathing) continually quote Oneness Pentecostals, imagining they are quoting Christianity. It causes no end of trouble for Christians who know full well that Jesus is not His own Father.

Now, if I've not done justice to the Oneness Pentecostal view of the Being of God, I'm sorry. I'm trying my best to grasp where they differ from orthodox teaching on the Trinity. They DO differ, and it's a serious difference. Please don't make your criteria for joining a church whether they've got a good youth group or not! Seek God in prayer to see where HE wants you to be! AiH

[Talmidah]

Hello, A. It sounds like you did find a Oneness Pentecostal church. My advice is to "run, don't walk."
. Sweetie, for several years i had been in a Christian-appearing religion that didn't believe in the Trinity. So, this was a question that i needed to work through myself.
. But by that time, i had had so many people telling me so many differing and conflicting things that i had finally come to understand that the only One that i could trust and turn to to tell me the REAL truth was God/Jesus Christ Himself. Additionally, the religion that i had belonged to taught us that the Bible was the Word of God, nothing added or taken away, teaching us that "God means what He says and says what He means" ... and that was the very teaching that finally helped me to know that the Trinity is correct ----- i figured that if i could say what i mean and mean what i say even though i am fallible and finite, God being omnipotent certainly could .... and i simply just read the Bible the way i would read any other written material (history, poetry, philosophy, ethics, civics, etc.), without reading my own or anyone else's interpretation into what He was writing. And, of course, i asked Him to show me His Truth, not mine or anyone else's, wanting it.
. As i had my daily Bible readings, i started making a list of scriptures that seemed to point to the fact that Jesus Christ was God and those that seemed to point to the fact that He wasn't. Eventually, i came up with a list that had about as many scriptures on one side as on the other ------ and that was when He showed me 1 Timothy 3:16 in the KJV and the Greek Interlinear Bible ... and that one scripture tied ALL those seemingly contradictory scriptures together, showing me that the Trinity was true and that Jesus Christ is God.
In additon, He helped me to understand that in the same way that we people are made up of a body, soul, and spirit but we are still one individual, so is He made up of Three but is still One Individual. The only difference is that we people can't separate those parts of us from each other without dieing while He can.
. There are many Pentecostal-type denominations out there, A. The one that i would recommend the highest to you would be the Church of God International. The website for the Mount Paran North Church of God in Marietta, GA, USA will give you a taste of what that denomination is like (i know its head pastor, Dr. Mark Walker, and HIGHLY recommend him). New Life Ministries, newlife.com, should help you to find a loving but docrinally accurate church, too. Equip.org, The Christian Research Institute is another resource that i HIGHLY recommend to you.
.
I need to let you go, A. I am running out of room.
I hope that helps you.
I will be praying for you.
T

[tugboat]

From my experience, the core doctrines are:
1) You must be born-again (Jn 3)
2) You accomplish this by repentence, baptism in Jesus' name and receiving the Holy Ghost (Acts 2)
3) Living a life that shows the fruit of repentence (epistles)

[DIANE]

My goodness, do you know how penecostals carry on in their churches -like people possessed? Give them a wide berth.

The Trinity is not logical, as you already know in your heart.