is this considered a Cult?

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Dennis Michael Roldan
Senior Pastor of The Reformed Roldan Household
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Not necessarily. There are Pentacostal cults for sure. But there are also evangelical churches which hold to Pentacostalism too. The cults usually have anti-trinitarian or legalistic doctrines tied with their pentacostalism though. Surprisingly there are even calvinists within Pentacostalism, though that is usually a transitional phase for them

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Patrick
MDiv, RTS Jackson
Pastor, Grace Presbyterian Church (OPC), Lisbon, NY

"He does well, that discourses of Christ; but he does infinitely better, that by experimental knowledge, feeds and lives on Christ." Thomas Brooks.
"Let us not please ourselves that we have deep understandings, but let us shew our understandings by our practice." Richard Sibbes

It's more of a movement than a cult. But the movement could be said to be somewhat [i:7421f76133]cultic[/i:7421f76133] in nature perhaps, as it usually carries with it things like Brownsville-style revivalism, Word of faith teaching, Dispensationalism and the like. And it's spelled PENT[i:7421f76133]E[/i:7421f76133]COSTALISM.

In Christ,

Chris

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[quote:5d2cbbbc9b]
Surprisingly there are even calvinists within Pentacostalism
[/quote:5d2cbbbc9b]

Not surprising to me (although it should be).
My cousin is an Assemblys of God youth pastor. He has come to embrace the 5 points and is leaning towards a covenantal eschatology. But still beleives in the gifts. Same case goes for my wife. When we got married, she was totally pentacostal, then little by little (with the help of the Spirit) she also embraced calvinism, infant baptism, and amilleniumism. But still believes in the gifts. I know its going to take time, thats why i leave it in God's hands. I 'm just thankful God has brought her to this level so quickly.

[quote:5d2cbbbc9b]
The cults usually have anti-trinitarian or legalistic doctrines tied with their pentacostalism though.
[/quote:5d2cbbbc9b]

I see what you mean, it makes sense

"It's more of a movement than a cult. But the movement could be said to be somewhat cultic in nature perhaps, as it usually carries with it things like Brownsville-style revivalism, Word of faith teaching, Dispensationalism and the like. And it's spelled PENTECOSTALISM.

In Christ,

Chris"

my what a broad brush you use to paint pictures. brownsville is a minor item that many pentecostals reject. Word of Faith is more wide spread but certainly not the norm to my knowledge.

To throw dispensationalism in with two minor parts of a large movement as being cultic is a stretch of most peoples imagination - at least I hope so.

Brownsville/word of faith are basically unique to Pente. while dispensationalism is widespread outside that movement and certainly not any more cultic than reform theology - you may disagree with it but it is not cultic in any sense of the word.

Cult status is usually based on bad Christology/trinity teaching.

I realize [i:89265e7911]all[/i:89265e7911] Pentecostals don't believe in [i:89265e7911]every[/i:89265e7911] error that comes up in some Pentecostal circles (I mean, I've been raised one)--but it's true that they [i:89265e7911]do[/i:89265e7911] have general tendencies and trends. That's precisely why I distinguished between calling it an outright cult (which it is not) and saying that it might be considered somewhat cultic in nature.

In Christ,

Chris

I go to the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada and its very different then the UPC church. I find the UPC is very legalistic, they believe that women can never cut their hair, wear dresses at all times, no makeup, no tv in the home. I have also heard that there is something called oneness pentecostal which I dont quiet understand. The think the trinity is 3 Gods and a friend told me that they say Jesus the father, Jesus the Son and Jesus the Holy Spirit. Someone else might better explain that. I did go to a UPC service and I found that it was very different. We might have someone speak in touge once a month at my Church usually its people just praying quitely to themselves in tonge at the end of the service at the alter. But at the UPC it was loud and not very pleasent to the ears. when I have heard people at my church it sounds plesant and when they pray to themselves quitly or are praying for someone at the alter it sounds almost musical. My friend speaks in Tonges and found that when we went to the UPC it was too harsh for her to handle and she was holding her ears. At the PAOC they say its one of the Gifts a person may have , I have heard there are some out there maybe its the oneness ones but they think its a sign of salvation and I have also heard that they do not think a person is saved unless they are baptized. I find that the only thing different then the PAOC compared to other churches is that they believe that people can have the gift of tonges. Myself I do not have that we did a test on gifts and I was told my top one was craftsmanship , mercy, and a couple others. I find a few people at my church get way too much into the tv evagelists even thougth our Pastor has preached about that it seems they want to believe whatever is on TV. I know that some people will watch Kenneth copland and creflow dollar and because they are Pentecostal they think they represent all Pentecostals , I have seen those statements in another site I was on.

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