EA tries to run a tight ship.
Discussions on "one-step" or "three-step" would not be allowed.
I once posted something about Bro. Howard Goss.
Then someone asked if he wasn't the one that said Baptists were saved?
I posted the quote from Bro. Goss to Bro. Ballestero about Baptists being in the bride of Christ.
I received the following email:
Nov 26, 2008 (about 6 pm EST)
Your discussion is being removed and I would ask that you never discuss the plan of salvation on EA. This is a topic that is handled by our Pastors and ministers, not left up for discussion in a forum where false teachings can be propagated.
Should this violation occur again, please note that we will have no other choice but to remove you from the site.
Then I responded to the administator:
Since the post has been deleted, I don't know just what I said. I don't think I was promoting any specific theory of salvation. I was only pointing out that the early Apostolic folks of the late 1800's and early 1900's did not consider the Holy Ghost Baptism to be necessary for salvation. Also, after some received the revelation of water Baptism in Jesus' name, they began to practice it but did not consider it necessary for salvation. The idea that water and Spirit baptism are the birth of water and Spirit of
John 3:5 was a later idea among Apostolics and is not universally believed among Oneness Pentecostals and is not even universally believed in the UPCI.
When the UPC was formed in 1945 by a merger of the Pentecostal Church Inc. and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ the "fundamental doctrine" statement was adopted because of the differences of opinion among the ministers and teachers on how a person was justified/saved/born again. Some believed justification/salvation/regeneration took place at repentance and was to be followed by water and Spirit baptism. Others believed that justification/salvation/regeneration did not happen until after repentance plus water baptism plus Spirit baptism. Some of the leaders of the newly formed UPC, including the General Superintendent (H. Goss), the Foreign Missions Secretary (W. Stairs), the Sunday School Director (E. McNatt), plus some district presbyters believed that justification/salvation/regeneration took place at repentance. This can be verified by checking historical records.
The last clause of the fundamental doctrine statement says:
"We shall endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come into the unity of the faith, at the same time admonishing all brethren that they shall not contend for their different views to the disunity of the body." I hope my comments were not perceived as promoting disunity when they were only meant to be informative.
about an hour later I received the following reply from the administator:
Bro Ellis,
Please review our guidelines with regard to acceptable discussions.
Your discussion is not acceptable. It could lead folks to believe that the Holy Ghost and water baptism is not needed.
That was in late November 2008.
I've been careful about what I've posted ever since.
It's his forum. He can make whatever rules he wants.
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