The Most Dangerous Heretics in The Christian Church

I Apologize in advance for the length of this post. I've got a lot say here and I hope you find this informative and challenging.
The Most Dangerous Heretical Group in The Christian Church is the Oneness Pentecostal or United Pentecostal Church. The post will explain who they are, briefly describe what they believe, and explain why they are the most dangerous heretical group in almost all of Christianity.
Before I begin, Let me first say, that I come from a Pentecostal home church. I believe strongly in the continued ministry of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. I completely reject Oneness Pentecostalism as a cult and as heretical. Please do not make the same mistake of so many that equates Orthodox Pentecostalism (Assemblies of God, Independent Assemblies of God, Church of God in Christ, etc.) with these people. We have nothing to do with them, and we are NOT them.
Secondly, Everything that is stated about the doctrines of Oneness Pentecostalism is coming directly from a Oneness Pentecostal pastor who made these doctrinal statements during a debate with the President of a Prominent Southern Baptist Seminary in the Southeast. These doctrinal positions come directly from the horse's mouth, so to speak. I was at the debate, and I took detailed notes, so I can be accurate with my representation of Oneness doctrine.
I. Who are The Oneness Pentecostals?
The Oneness Pentecostals are a denomination of Christians that claims about 14,000,000 members today in about 16,000 churches. Their History is briefly described here: In 1916, at a Pentecostal Meeting in Los Angeles, California, R. E. McAlister gave a sermon on Acts 2:38. In that Sermon, McAlister stated that Baptism could only take place in the Name of Jesus. This began the Oneness Pentecostal Movement. Eventually it moved from California East across the United States and now there are Oneness Pentecostal Churches around the World.
II. What Does Oneness Pentecostalism teach?
A. Most Basically, Oneness Theology denies the Trinity-They reject the concept of the Trinity, saying that God does not exist in three persons, but rather that God exists in one person with three offices, that of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As One of Their founders, Nathaniel A. Urshan, stated, "We do not believe in three separate personalities in the Godhead but we believe in three offices which are filled by one person." This rejection of the Trinity led to their split with the Assemblies of God in 1916.
1.About the Trinity, Oneness Pentecostalism makes these Claims: a.) That The original Church was not Trinitarian in view; b.) That the Trinity has its origins in ancient Greek Philosophy and Babylonian paganism, and was foisted on the Christian Church by the Roman Catholic Church, c.) That in order to receive salvation you must reject the Trinity-Those who hold to Trinitarianism are not saved. (To be fair, not every Oneness Pentecostal believes this- there are some who hold that Trinitarian teaching is heresy, but that this issue is a matter of doctrinal differences, but not one of eternal salvation. I will explain later why I believe that is a matter of salvation.)
2. Oneness Pentecostalism's rejection of the Trinity is nothing new. Their Theology on this issue is a modern form of two ancient heresies- Sabellianism, which stated that Jesus is all of the Trinity, and Modalism, which stated that The Trinity is God in three manifestations. Sabellianism was shown to be heresy during the four Councils and Creeds of Nicea (325), Constantinople (381), Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451).
3. During the debate, I asked the minister how he deals with the passage is John 14:28 where Jesus states "My Father is Greater than I". His answer was that God's Spirit was Living in Jesus. God's Spirit was superior to the Flesh of Jesus' physical body-Therefore, Jesus could say that his Father was greater than He was. When asked about Jesus' cry on the cross, "My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?", He answered that as Jesus was dying, God's Spirit left the Physical Body of Jesus. (More on these statements later).
B. On Salvation, Oneness Pentecostals believe in Three step Salvation-Repentance (Which involves a Change of Mind, not simply confessing sins), Water Baptism in Jesus' Name (If you were not baptized in Jesus' Name you must be rebaptized), and Baptism in the Holy Spirit. If one does not do ALL THREE of these things, he or she is not truly saved.
C. Oneness Pentecostals also believe that they are the one and only true Church and that all others who hold to the Trinity are cults and therefore not the true church of God.
III. My Response to Oneness Doctrine
A. The Trinity- The Scriptures very clearly support the concept of the Trinity-God in Three Separate Persons-God the Father, God the Son and God The Holy Spirit- Each Co-equal, Co-existent, Co-eternal, and Of the same Substance.
Scriptures that point to the fact that they are separate from each other include, but are not limited to: Matthew 5:43-45 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. (Jesus was quite obviously not referring to himself because He was on earth. Similarly, In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus says "Our Father which art (present tense) in heaven..." Jesus is not mistaken. He was on earth while the Father was in Heaven. If He was the Father, then The Father could not have been in heaven while Jesus was on earth.) Matthew 10:32- Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. (Christ is not schizophrenic. He is most obviously not confessing the Person to himself)
Jesus Prayed to the Father-Matthew 11, Mark 14, Luke 22, Luke 23, John 17, etc. He very clearly is not talking to Himself.
Luke 23 provides an example of where Oneness Theology directly contradicts Scripture. In Luke 23:46 Jesus says, "Father, Into Thy hands I commend my spirit" If God's Spirit had left Him, what was Jesus talking about? Jesus is differentiating between His Spirit and the Father. Oneness Pentecostals see no distinction between the Spirit in Jesus and the Father.
Several places in the Gospel of John (See John 5 and John 8 Especially), Jesus Says that the Father sent Him and He is referring to a person other than Himself.
John 14- Christ said He was going to the Father-He was not going to Himself
Also, How does a Oneness Theologian deal with the Voice of God that appears in the Gospels? On Three separate Occasions, The Father speaks from heaven to the World-At the Baptism of Jesus by John (Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3), At the Transfiguration (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9), and in John 12. If Jesus is the Father, how does the Father speak from heaven?
Additionally, look at the opening Blessing from Paul in all of His Letters-He Opens every letter the same way-"Grace unto You and Peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ..." Paul is separating the Father and Son very Clearly while maintaining the divinity of Both Father and Son. We see from Jesus' own words that the Father is distinct from the Son, and yet Scripture Maintains that they are very clearly both God-See John 8:58, John 1:1, John 10:30, The reference to Jesus as the Lord throughout the Epistles, etc.
B. On Salvation-Scripture is very clear-Salvation is completely by Faith in Christ alone. Water Baptism is NOT a requirement for Salvation, and neither is Speaking in tongues. Both Water Baptism and Speaking in Tongues are not evil- in fact, they are both things that we see happening in Scripture. Baptism is not a requirement for Salvation- but it is something that is done in obedience to Scripture. If one does not have a personal trust in Jesus, no amount of water baptism or speaking in tongues will save them. Baptism and speaking in tongues are outward expressions of an already held inward faith. When one makes water baptism and Speaking in Tongues a requirement for salvation, they become works, instead of blessings of God. Scripture very clearly states: Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. II Timothy 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
C. Oneness is the group who is a cult, because they deny basic Bible Truths and distort the Word of God into something that it is not.
D. Back to the Statements made the pastor that I paraphrased earlier: One question that I was not able to ask at the debate due to time constraints was "If God's Spirit left Jesus at the Crucifixion, When did He enter Jesus-In Other Words, When did Jesus become God? Was it at the Incarnation, or was it at His Baptism by John, when the Spirit descended on Jesus (Oneness teaches that God dwells inside each believer when he is baptized in the Holy Ghost)? Either way, The Oneness Doctrine is in trouble. If Jesus was God at the Incarnation, and he ceased to be God on the cross as he bore our sins, then he died as a human, and not as the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God which took away the Sins of the World. If this is true, we have no real hope, because a mere man could not have died in our place. If we don't have the perfect sacrifice, we are all condemned to hell, because only a perfect sacrifice can wash our sins away. Also, if Jesus was not God even in death, there is NO WAY He could have taken the keys of death and hell from Satan.
If Jesus became God at the Baptism, and if He was sinless (as the Oneness affirm), than He was able to live perfect without God's help from his birth until he was baptized at the age of thirty. If Jesus could live sinless as a human, (that is, without being God, and without God's help), that means that we can live sinlessly on our own as well. If that is True, Then JESUS WOULD HAVE NEVER HAD TO COME. Christ had to come because we could not, and cannot live, and will NEVER be able to live sinlessly by ourselves. It is ONLY Christ's sacrificial death that allows to live free from sin.
The Doctrine of the Trinity is vitally important because it deals with the very essence of Christianity-The sacrifice of Jesus for our sins on the Cross of Calvary. If Jesus was the Father, as Oneness Doctrine teaches, he could not have completed the work on the cross as God, because God cannot die. Christ had to, as discussed above, finish the work as God in the Flesh. If there is no Trinity, Jesus could not have finished the Work that His Father gave him to do. If Jesus is the Father, His work was incomplete and we have NO eternal hope. If God's Spirit left Him, He would not have been able to say “It is Finished (John 9:30).
IV. Why Oneness Pentecostalism is the most Dangerous Herectical Group in Modern Christianity.
The main reason I say this is that it can be very hard to spot a Oneness Pentecostal Church. To those who are uninformed and do not know how to spot them, they appear as if they are Orthodox. Two reasons they appear to be Orthodox: First of all, Many in Oneness Pentecostalism do a good job of hiding their doctrine from those who don't know. For instance, A Dear Friend of mine, here at my University, attended the local Oneness Pentecostal Church here locally for a year and a half before she found out that they deny the doctrine of the Trinity. When she found out, she left that church and is now attending a local Orthodox Baptist Church. She only found out that this church was Oneness because she was singing the old hymn "Holy Holy Holy" and someone told her that they do not believe that in the Trinity.
Another example is T. D. Jakes; Very few people actually realize that Bishop Jakes is Oneness Pentecostal. To many he is a major evangelical Pentecostal preacher. If you look at his church's Doctrinal Statement on the Trinity, however, it is very clear that He is a proponent of at least some Oneness Theology. "Three Manifestations of One God" is a Classic sign of Oneness Theology on the Trinity. (Truth be told, I didn't watch much of Bishop Jakes anyway- he is a big Prosperity Gospel guy, and I can't stand the Prosperity Gospel, but that is another Post entirely). Many Oneness Pentecostals hide their doctrinal positions, Unlike the Mormons or the Jehovah's Witnesses, whose aberrant doctrinal positions are well known.
Secondly, Oneness Pentecostals speak "Christianese" very well, and most especially "Pentecostal Christianese". They sound just like those who believe in the Trinity- they claim that the Bible is their only source of authority. They talk about Jesus as God. They preach repentance and baptism by immersion. They talk about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the Gift of Tongues being in operation. They promote personal holiness and modesty. If one does not pay really close attention, he will miss their heresy for all the "good things" they say.
The Bottom Line is that when You compare the teachings of Oneness Pentecostalism with the teachings in the Scriptures, Oneness Pentecostalism falls well short on matters of vital importance-They are WRONG on the Trinity and WRONG on Salvation, two of the most important doctrines in Christianity.
V. Why all of This Matters.
Some of You are asking, What is the big deal? Why does any of this matter, anyway?
We as Christians are called by God to “earnestly contend for the faith that was one delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3). The definition of contend, according to Merriam Webster, is 1): to strive or vie in contest or rivalry or against difficulties : struggle and 2): to strive in debate: argue. Therefore we must strive for the Truth of the Gospel against lies and heresies. If we are to do that then we must know what we believe and why we believe what we believe. If We do not defend the Truth, Lies will flourish, and ultimately the message of the Gospel will suffer.
The Trinity is a Vital Doctrine of the Christian Faith and we must defend it as the Fundamental Doctrine that it is.
What we believe matters, because what we believe affects what we do. Doctrine Matters-it defines who we are and what we believe as followers of Jesus Christ. Truth matters-Jesus said He is the Truth. We MUST Contend for Truth against Heresies.