How the Apostolic Pentecostal Religion was Started
Apostolics After the Apostles
It is arguable that since Christ himself didn't recognize the Apostolic Pentecostal religion they have no grounds on which to claim they are the right religion and only they know "The Truth."
But have you ever asked an Apostolic Pentecostal what happened to their religion after the Apostle's died? If you haven't give it a try, their reaction may surprise you.
Most of them will quote Polycarp, Ignatius,, Tertullian and Abelard but have no answer about what happened between then and the early 20th century.
Although typically considered to be a "new" religion, only coming about in 1906 during the Azusa Street Revival held in Los Angeles and founded by Preacher William Seymour, the oneness apostolic doctrine is attributed to a small handful of people and 2 distinctly so.
The earliest known Oneness believer was Charles Parham, an influential preacher originally affiliated with the Methodist religion and the Holiness movement, however in 1895 he so strongly disagreed with the Methodists that he broke away from them and started his own ministry.
In 1898 Parham moved his new religion to Topeka Kansas where he married Sarah Thistlewaite, the daughter of a Quaker.
Parham took a position at Bethel Bible Church where he taught his theories of holiness and divine healing. There he and his fellow students studied and wondered over scriptural references to being "baptized in the holy spirit" and began prayer sessions to determine whether or not such a thing could happen to someone.
On New Years Eve in 1901, Parham along with his students including Agnes Ozman, also an originating Methodist, held a prayer session that included the laying on of hands in an attempt for her specifically to speak in other tongues and supposedly they achieved it. Parham and the other students were also reported to have spoken in other tongues.
Agnes is the first person to have been reported as speaking in tongues since it first happened, biblically speaking, in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost according to the King James Bible in Acts 2:38.
Before Agnes Ozman died she told people that she had been wrong in believing that anyone who prayed for it would speak in tongues as a result of being baptized in the spirit.
Parham went on to be the leader of the Apostolic Faith Movement and was preaching his message in Houston Texas where William Seymour enrolled in one of his classes in 1905.
As a student of Charles Parham, William Seymour came to believe in glossolalia or speaking in tongues as proof of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Even though he only attended Parham's classes for six weeks, his belief was strong enough that it caused him to lose his position at his local church in Los Angeles.
Out of a church, Seymour found an old building on Azusa Street which had originally housed the African Methodist Episcopal Church in what was back then a racially segregated neighborhood.
The Apostolic Faith Mission was a small church with no pulpit, sound system or real pews and yet its congregation grew quickly between 300 to 1500 people. A growth that came from the holiness revivals they hosted.
In 1906 Charles Parham was invited to preach at the Azusa Street church but it never happened. Parham was being accused of sodomy at the time and his racial opinion didn't make him very popular. He didn't agree with mixing races in church and wanted Seymour to segregate it. It has been said that Charles Parham joined the KKK, otherwise known as the Klu Klux Klan, in 1910.
The Azusa Street Revival took California and other places by storm for several years. People flocked to the small building in the thousands from 1906 to 1913. During that time it sustained its share of hardship and criticism. Locals tried to have the building shut down, many called the police and other church leaders were telling their congregations to avoid the Apostolic Faith Mission like the plague.
By early 1915 things had died down and the attention they were getting from the press was gone. Seymour and his wife continued to pastor the church for the rest of their short lives.
At the same time things were slowing down for the Azusa Street church, things were just beginning to pick up at the World Wide Apostolic Camp Meeting. A group of preachers from various places gathered together to share their interpretations of the scriptures and their belief in the Oneness of the Godhead in Arroyo Seco California.
Attending preachers were, R. E. McAlister, John G. Schaepe, Frank J. Ewart, Frank Denny, G. T. Haywood, Harry Morse, R. J. Scott, George Studd, Andrew D.l Urshan, and Homer L. Falkner.
These preachers didn't necessarily all believe the same thing. They hashed out scriptures and debated theories. Some banded together while others went their separate ways in other denominations.
Since the camp meeting different variations of Apostolic religions were developed and most of them are still active today. The biggest split in the Pentecostal religion to date is the one between the Trinitarians and the Oneness groups.
Some people you might recognize who are or have been associated with Oneness Apostolic churches are, David & the Giants, Lee Greenwood, The Katinas, Tanya Goodman Sykes, Mark Hanby, Gary Oliver and Elvis Presley.
Published by Kelly Spies
I'm just a chick with a lot to say about different things. I've been writing for most of my life and aspire to someday be a published novelist as well as content writer. View profile
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119 Comments
Post a CommentThis entire article is FALSE. Im Apostolic and Ive studied our history. How dare you criticize Gods people. No matter what faith or denomination they are from
I'm afraid no matter who you talk to about any organized portion of any body of Christ there will be different explanations on what people feel is the best way to serve God However God and Jesus made it clear what we must do to keep the gift which was freely given to us in the best way to serve. The body of Christ is a world wide oneness if the faith that is one of the main wepons we have against the spirits of this world . We have but to realize that our spirit lived befor this flesh and after this flesh we just have to deside by faith wher we want to live with or without Christ no matter where we serve God wants our Hearts in Christ and for us to live in LOVE. So whats it going to be whether or not we are Apostolic,Baptist,Catholic, Methodist, I dont think God cares as long as we serve him with all our mind,hearts,&souls in faith and love When your spirit gets to Heavan there will be no one there to ask you are you a Baptist if you are there the only thing that will matter is that you are there because you served well and lived what was given you in his word from your instruction for liveing the BIBLE
it sounds like you know a LITTLE about what you are saying, but mabe you should have spent a little time trying to get to know JESUS and a little less time with your so called friends,dicecting him so,i think you belive what you say,and thats not good for you to belive a lie and well i think you can finish that up.
This "history lesson" is FULL of error, but I will limit my response to 2 (maybe 3) things. for ONE, APOSTOLIC PENTECOSTAL is a DENOMINATION, not a RELIGION. Apostolic Pentecostals believe there is one God who chose to MANIFEST Himself in many different ways (I'll just stick to the "great divide). We believe God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are all the same. Other DENOMINATIONS do not. Others believe that there is one God, eternally existing in 3 PERSONS, God, The Father, God, The Son, and God, The Holy Spirit; and STILL we find that are further variations to the Trinitarian belief.
One thing that was COMPLETELY wrong is that the Upper Room experience was NOT the last account of the Holy Ghost being received. You must do more research. You need to understand that Acts 10:45 also gives another account of gentiles receiving the Holy Ghost with the EVIDENCE of other tongues. I could probably go for hours, seeing and I'm one of those "rare" Apostolics who k
amen sis olsen, the devil comes to kill, still, and destroy, but thank God he came to give us abundant life and to the fullest and it will overflow, just keep hanging in there! Jamess1:2. when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy! see the treasure in your trails. iam sorry for the hurt and pain, but let God be you vendicater and in do time he will lift you up! our God is good all the time. God bless sister:)
kelly spies, Gods word are the same today, yesterday, and forever. im sorry, but you cant take from the bible or add! why do you need so badly to erase the speaking of tongues after acts? dont matter since the bible was here before mankind. even if everyman is a liar, God is the truth! are you running from somthing the lord has put in your heart, but you dont want to do the will so you fight the truth? just a question!
I am a Roman Catholic and have attended many catholic churches both in the US and abroad and waliking into the church I always feel welcome not only because of the organization that the church as taught but as Catholics we are surpose to accept all others. There was a woman one day that came to Mass and during the pray session she started to shake and her eyes went up into her head and she was speaking a weird language and I say weird language. It made some people scared some even said that it's the devil being brought out of her. The priest said to the congreation brothers and sisters do not be scared; this may not be what is always seen in our church but I can assure you it is by no means a work of the devil. Some of Christian brothers and sisters do experience different interactions with God but just because they do experience that it does not mean that they are different. He said allow our sister to interact with God and we must continue with prays then said let us pray. Immedi
This person makes me laugh by her ignorance. When Jesus walked this earth he was rejected by 'religious people'. The person who wrote this artilce is a prime example of such a person. It so sad how easily Satan uses her as a weapon against Jesus.
You are attacking our Apostolic word, we teach and worship right out of the Bible and everything we do you can reference in the Scripture, you need to do your homework.Also you talk about our beliefs, how about the Muslims, the Mormons, the Buddhist and the 7th day Adventist
After reading this article, and putting my experiences aside, it seems that the TV show "Nightline" found scientific proof that there are changes in the human brain during the practice of glossalalia. Google it and you can see the video.