Quote:
Originally Posted by disciple
...If you're not baptised in Jesus Name and filled with the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues you ain't in the Body!  ...! |
That was the opinion of some Oneness Pentecostals in 1945 when the UPC was formed.
Apostolics had taught for years that salvation was a separate experience from water baptism and/or Spirit baptism. Those who received the Holy Ghost Baptism (HGB) in Topeka, Houston, Los Angeles, etc. did not consider themselves more saved after the HGB than before. After the revelation of Jesus' name and the re-baptism by many, they did not consider themselves any more saved after water than baptism than before.
Over time, some, then many, began to teach that water baptism was essential to salvation and that the HGB was essential to salvation. This was an innovation and was not the doctrine of the earlier "Apostolic Faith."
By the time of the merger there were differences of opinion among the brethren as to just how and when a person was born again. The fundamental doctrine statement was written ambiguously enough to accommodate both opinions which we have since called "one-step" and "three-step."
It is my opinion that we should not make "one-step" or "three-step" doctrine a criteria for fellowship.
I happen to be a one-stepper and because of that I can accept anyone who has called on the name of the Lord as a brother or sister and fellow member of the Church, the Family of God, the Body of Christ, or the Kingdom. I know good people (Lutherans, Roman Catholic, and Oneness Pentecostal) who believe water baptism is the birth of water in
John 3:5 and that the HGB is the birth of the Spirit in
John 3:5. I respect them but just don't see it that way. As a matter of fact, the last church I preached in is pastored by a very strong one-stepper. I made sure he understood how I believed before I went there and he was OK with it --but he didn't agree with me.
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