In the early spring of 1936 Aimee Semple McPherson returned to Angelus Temple after a protracted absence. She did not like what she found. She discovered that the church had declined spiritually. She used the words "cold" and "dead" to describe conditions she deplored. Nowadays services and results such as prevailed at the time in the Temple likely would be considered a flaming revival, with hundreds saved, healed, and filled with the Holy Spirit every week. But the state of the church was a far cry from what she left months before. Associate Pastor Rheba Crawford had not been able to maintain the afflatus she formerly had presided over during Mrs. McPherson's previous absences.
Frank Bartleman's book Azusa Street (a firsthand account) talked about how, later on, Pentecost had been replaced with emotionalism, many had gone cold, and many had reverted to using 'music to jazz up the people.'
I get the feeling that what passes for 'Pentecostal church' these days is a far cry from what shook the world in the early 20th century... Much less the late 1st century...
N.David, that is something I have just not understood yet per your qoute at the bottom about the Apostolic/Pentecostal, how can one be both I mean I have heard my Ex Pastor in the Apostolic Church I attened (ALJC) affiliation talk poorly of other Pentecostal Churches in the area, I thought all you guys are the same..We had a discussion before we left the Church and I brought up being Pentecostal and he said he was not, that he was Apostolic but the Church affiliates with some other Pentecostal Churches?? That really lost me....lol
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I read that book last year. It's a great book that every Pentecostal/Apostolic should read. And yes, we're a far cry from the days of Azusa Street
dude, we are a far cry from what the church was when I was a kid.
we got edumacated and decided we needed to be taken seriously.
This is true as well. The church my father pastored once had revival services for a full month back in the late 80s. Tuesday thru Sunday, with only Monday evening off. Now it's a fight to have a special service on a Friday or Saturday.
The difference between oneness pentecostal services in the 50s and oneness pentecostal services today is tremendous. I was there in the 50s and I occasionally visit today and today has very little in common with back then. If you could take the saints in the 50s and transport them to today, they wouldn't believe what was happening....or more accurately, not happening.
Oneness pentecostalism today is a mere shell of what it was 50-70 years ago. It's a completely different church.
The difference between oneness pentecostal services in the 50s and oneness pentecostal services today is tremendous. I was there in the 50s and I occasionally visit today and today has very little in common with back then. If you could take the saints in the 50s and transport them to today, they wouldn't believe what was happening....or more accurately, not happening.
Oneness pentecostalism today is a mere shell of what it was 50-70 years ago. It's a completely different church.
Trust me, it's not limited to Oneness Pentecostal churches.
About 10 years ago I was invited to an AoG, up in Washington State. We were told this place was happening, in the middle of revival, people were coming from 100s of miles away.
So we went. It was a packed house, probably about 500 people or so.
And no different than any Baptist church I had ever been to.
My kids were whispering to me 'are you sure this is a pentecostal church? They sure don't seem like it...'
The difference between oneness pentecostal services in the 50s and oneness pentecostal services today is tremendous. I was there in the 50s and I occasionally visit today and today has very little in common with back then. If you could take the saints in the 50s and transport them to today, they wouldn't believe what was happening....or more accurately, not happening.
Oneness pentecostalism today is a mere shell of what it was 50-70 years ago. It's a completely different church.
You have a time machine?
__________________ Let it be understood that Apostolic Friends Forum is an Apostolic Forum.
Apostolic is defined on AFF as:
There is One God. This one God reveals Himself distinctly as Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The Son is God himself in a human form or "God manifested in the flesh" (1Tim 3:16)
Every sinner must repent of their sins.
That Jesus name baptism is the only biblical mode of water baptism.
That the Holy Ghost is for today and is received by faith with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues.
The saint will go on to strive to live a holy life, pleasing to God.
Trust me, it's not limited to Oneness Pentecostal churches.
About 10 years ago I was invited to an AoG, up in Washington State. We were told this place was happening, in the middle of revival, people were coming from 100s of miles away.
So we went. It was a packed house, probably about 500 people or so.
And no different than any Baptist church I had ever been to.
My kids were whispering to me 'are you sure this is a pentecostal church? They sure don't seem like it...'
I agree, it's not limited to oneness pentecostal churches. Growing up, I couldn't attend an AG (or any trinitarian) church so I don't have the experience from the 50s like I do with the oneness pentecostals, but listening to my AG friends today talk, it seems the AG was much different in the past also.
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