A Follow Up: Apostolic Pentecostalism; The Cult of Christianity

Under normal circumstances I would not write this piece and I had no intentions to do so when I first wrote the article Apostolic Pentecostalism; the Cult of Christianity but the sheer volume of private messages, emails and comments I've received seem to dictate that I should say something. This has led me to settle on the idea of answering questions that risen as a result of that article and to clarify a few things that didn't come across as clear as I thought they did.

One question I get a lot from readers is, "how many apostolic churches have you been to?" I touched on my history with the Apostolic Pentecostal group lightly in my article but apparently I should have gone into further detail.

My childhood was extremely tough - that's something I won't go into detail about - but 2 months before my 13th birthday my mother found religion and that began my experience with the Apostolics. From the time I was 13 until I was 15 1/2 I sat under 2 different pastors. I left home and the church and returned again when I was 18. I did another 2 1/2 years in the religion and again sat under 2 different pastors.

I had friends from different Apostolic churches, some in the same state as I and others spread out in different states. I can not tell you how many churches I've visited because I don't know the number. Suffice it to say I've visited many, many churches.

Another question (or accusation, depending on how you look at it) I get from people is why I lump all Apostolic Pentecostals together in one stereotypical group.

The answer to that question is simple. I lump them together because regardless of how strict or loose the church's holiness standards - and you Apostolics know what I mean by that - the doctrine is the same. My article, Apostolic Pentecostalism; the Cult of Christianity was an explanation of how they behave as a cult, not an attack on their holiness standards but it does all tie in together.

Just because the church in North Dakota allows its women to wear clear nail polish doesn't make its belief system any different than the central California church that won't tolerate a small slit in the back of a woman's skirt.

Although I spoke about holiness standards in my previous article it was not my main focus. I've always found it funny that whenever someone speaks out about the Apostolic Pentecostals and even slightly refers to the holiness standards the Apostolics zoom in on that and that becomes the battle ground of contention.

Something else my readers have delighted in pointing out is that I must not have read the book of acts. I assure you I have read the book of acts and it has not changed my perspective at all.

Just for the record I have not negated the experience of speaking in tongues. I do find it interesting though that I can walk into any Apostolic Pentecostal church and find men and women roaming the aisles during prayer time who are mindlessly babbling "howakachuka seeka moochacks" while people watching, tying their shoes, popping a breath mint, tidying the pulpit or any number of other things.

I also find it interesting that the only one who can "verify" if someone spoke in tongues is a preacher. Don't you think if God gave you the gift of tongues that you wouldn't need to have it verified?

Try this: relax your jaw and let it move any way it wants at a rapid speed. Now let any old random sound come out of your mouth. What comes out? Sounds amazingly like speaking in tongues doesn't it?

My readers have also stated that I wrote that article because I am bitter and have an ax to grind against the UPC. Fair enough. There is a small amount of truth to that statement. I am bitter about the parts of my life I've lost to the UPC and I am bitter about the techniques they use and what it has done to my family, especially my own daughter.

Having said that, the reason I wrote that article is because after many years of reversing the thinking that was instilled in me during my Apostolic days I realized that there should be some kind of warning available to people. Someone needs to stand up and tell the truth and I'm not afraid to do just that.

Aside from my own personal experience with the Apostolic Pentecostal Church my readers have openly wondered where I got my facts from; as if personal experience isn't enough.

Before I wrote the article Apostolic Pentecostalism; the Cult of Christianity, I reached out to some people I know who used to belong to the organization. One of those people was born into the church as a Preacher's kid and didn't leave until he was nearly 30 years old. He went on to write a book about the inside knowledge he has of the UPC and started a support group for those trying to integrate back into the world.

I've been asked what exactly I do believe in and while that's not something I feel is anyone's business I also feel that I owe some sort of explanation considering I outed the UPC.

I believe there is a creator (if that's what you want to call it) out there. I can't say there is a god or supreme being. I simply can't go along with that because no one has that answer. Sure you can argue that the Bible says so but to date there is no proof that the Bible is anything other than a documentation of life ages ago.

My belief is that just because somebody said, "God told me to write this" doesn't necessarily mean that's what happened. There are people who will say, "but Moses was chosen by God to write the book of Genisis." I counter that with, "says who? Moses?"

There are books of the Bible that have never made it into the published version. There are books written by women and scrolls that archeologists are still discovering today. Answer this one question for me. If the Bible was ordained from God then why did man get to pick and choose what was included in the Canaan?

We have no answers about the afterlife. Nobody has been there, come back and given us the details. Some believe they have but what proof do they have?

I do not believe in religion. Not in Christianity or any other form of religion. In my mind all religions are man made. Religion stems from mankind's need to understand and analyze those things that are a mystery to us; that which we do not by nature have an answer for. If you take a look at history you will see all sorts of things that man attempted to understand and when couldn't claimed was bad for the soul.

I suppose I could go on at greater length to explain the position I've taken against the Apostolic Pentecostal church but there probably isn't enough paper in the world to write it on so I'll leave this follow up with one last statement. You have your opinion and I have mine. Either one of us could be right. Who's to say?