United Pentecostal Church
Overview
Within the Pentecostal movement, the United Pentecostal Church is quite unusual. It holds some extra-biblical beliefs that separates it from being called Christian. It is important to understand that the body of Christ can afford to differ on nonessential issues, but not when it comes to the essentials of the Christian doctrine. It is therefore important to remember that a cult according to the Word of God is any group of people that worship anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ, and believe anything contrary to His Word as found in the Bible. There are many biblical things to which the UPC holds but the Bible should never be twisted and wrangled to fit a particular set of beliefs.
Cult Beliefs:
They believe that the ability to speak in tongues is a necessary indication of a valid religious conversion. They deny the legitimacy of the conversion of “born again” Christians from other denominations where tongues are rarely, if ever, spoken. “No tongues means no salvation.” So, for example, they would essentially regard all Southern Baptists as unsaved, even though they have repented of their sins and trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The Bible never says that speaking in tongues is a sign of salvation; in the New Testament, it is recorded that some people began speaking in tongues, but others did not. Did the disciples/apostles speak in tongues when they were saved? They spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost, but they were already saved through faith long before that event.
They share with other “Oneness Pentecostals” the practice of baptizing in the name of Jesus Christ only. Jesus Christ specifically said to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19); any deviation from this commandment is unacceptable. But the UPC will point to Acts 2:38 and many other passages to give validity to their argument. So who has more authority, Jesus or the apostles?
They believe that water baptism is essential to salvation. But Jesus did not say so in His conversation with Nicodemus. (John 3:3-8)
They reject the traditional concept of the Godhead and do not believe that the Godhead is composed of three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They believe that God is a unity, a Spirit, who has manifested himself in three roles to humanity. An analogy would be a single man who plays three different roles of father, son, and husband — either sequentially or at the same time. In doing so, they interpret the Bible incorrectly. It is true that the Godhead is one (1 John 5:7), but God exists in three separate and distinct personalities at the same time. Evidence of this is found when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Ghost came upon Him and the Father declared from heaven that this was his Son in whom he was well pleased. (Matthew 3:16-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22)Have stated the aforementioned points, it is also necessary for them to believe there is no salvation outside of the United Pentecostal church. The Bible says there no salvation outside of Jesus Christ, not a church. (John 1:12; 3:1-8, Romans 10:8-13)
They reject the traditional concept of the Godhead and do not believe that the Godhead is composed of three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They believe that God is a unity, a Spirit, who has manifested himself in three roles to humanity. An analogy would be a single man who plays three different roles of father, son, and husband — either sequentially or at the same time. In doing so, they interpret the Bible incorrectly. It is true that the Godhead is one (1 John 5:7), but God exists in three separate and distinct personalities at the same time. Evidence of this is found when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Ghost came upon Him and the Father declared from heaven that this was his Son in whom he was well pleased. (Matthew 3:16-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22)Reference: http://www.eaec.org/cults/unitedpentecostal.htm
