Christianity in doctrine is speaking "as the oracles of God" (1 Peter 4:11). Christianity in action has been beautifully displayed in Diana Harril (8131 Sherman Rd., Chesterland, OH 44026), a 47 year old white woman (with a husband and a son), who last May gave one of her kidneys to "a woman who was barely more than an acquaintance," Toni Whatley, a 46 year old African American (THE OREGONIAN, 3-25-98). Diana did this after she had learned that "the kidney is a colorblind organ," and after being warned by the surgeon of the possibility "of fatal complications" (Ibid).

What Diana did is an eye-opener and a heart-touching example of loving her neighbor as much as she loves herself! Many people would give a kidney to family members, but not many for a new acquaintance. Undoubtedly Diana is the first ever to give a kidney to someone of a different race! Truly Diana’s willingly submitting to the surgeon’s knife is Christianity in action!

But Christianity in doctrine is also important. Diana is a member of the "First Assembly of God" (1370 Richmond Rd., Lyndhurst, OH 44124), a church with many excellent qualities, filled with sincere people who believe every word of the Bible. But I believe that those dedicated church people have need that "the way of God," Christianity in doctrine, be explained to them "more perfectly" (cf. Acts 18:26). I am not a "know-it-all," but I am one who had "the way of God," Christianity in doctrine, explained to me "more perfectly" when I was innocently attending the Methodist Church.

Apollos was "an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures," but wrong in the doctrine of Christianity (Acts 18:24-25). Acquila and Priscilla showed the preacher his error; he accepted the correction, and became a better servant of Christ (Acts 18:27-28). Could there be in the 20th century "eloquent" preachers "mighty in the Scriptures" and yet wrong in the doctrine of Christianity?

The history of the "Assemblies of God" denomination begins with unselfish, out-going people who loved the Lord. On April 9, 1906, in Los Angeles, California, at the Azusa Street Mission, seven deeply religious people thought they "began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance" (THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST ASSEMBLY OF GOD CHURCH, Karen Kish, p. 2). Bless their hearts, they misused some Scripture verses, thinking those verses applied to them.

According to Karen Kish, "Christ told the disciples in Acts 1:8, ‘Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you.’" No, Christ did not speak to "disciples" in general, but he told a select group, "his chosen apostles" (Acts 1:2), then eleven in number (Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James) that "in a few days you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5), and "when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power" (Acts 1:8). Before they were baptized in the Holy Spirit Matthias "was added to the eleven apostles" (Acts 1:26).

On Pentecost Day, Sunday morning, May 28, A.D. 30, at nine o’clock, there came a "sound from heaven, as of a rushing, violent wind," which "filled all the house where they [the 12 apostles] were sitting, and they began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit was inspiring them" (Acts 2:1-4).

Karen Kish leaves the impression that any "disciple" may receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and talk "in other tongues." But in Acts 2 only the apostles, Peter "with the eleven" (Acts 2:14), all of them "Galileans" (Acts 2:7), were the ones to speak "in other tongues." The result was that "devout men, from every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5, "each one heard them [the apostles] speaking in his own language" (Acts 2:6).

Were the seven, at the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles on April 9,1906, who honestly thought they spoke "in other tongues," really speaking in other languages? Could listeners understand in other languages what they were saying? Or does alleged "tongue speaking" to listeners sound like gibberish, unintelligible chatter, jargon, gabble ("loud or rapid talk without meaning," Webster)? The listeners to the apostles, "from every nation under heaven," said "we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty acts of God!" (Acts 2:5, 11).

Moreover, Pentecostal people ("ASSEMBLIES OF GOD is the largest Pentecostal religious denomination in the world" (WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA, p. 817), in their magnifying tongue speaking as done on Pentecost Day, ought also to magnify (1) "a sound from heaven as of a rushing, violent wind" (Acts 2:2) in their assemblies today, and (2) visible "divided tongues as of fire" (Acts 2:3) in their assemblies today.

Later, but not on Pentecost Day, God poured out his Spirit on non-apostles, both men and women, enabling them to prophesy (Acts 2:17-18; 19:6; 21:9), but this was only done after the apostles had laid hands on them (Mark 16:17-18; Acts 8:17-18; 19:6; Romans 1:11; 2 Timothy 1:6). However, no apostle laid hands on the seven at the Azusa Mission in Los Angeles on April 9, 1906.

The Assemblies of God preachers believe "in water baptism by immersion"("What We Believe," Web Site), but they also believe that sinners are saved before they get to the water, that "the only means of being cleansed from sin is through repentance and faith in the precious blood of Christ" (Ibid.). On the other hand, truly "Pentecostal" preachers cite what believing sinners on the day of Pentecost were required to do before "being cleansed from sin":

In regard to baptism, one wonders why "What We Believe" does not cite these verses from the "authoritative Word of God":

They Assemblies of God preachers believe that "the baptism in the Holy Spirit, according to Acts 2:4, is given to believers who ask for it." As shown above, the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:4 was only given to the apostles, and no one asked for it.

Historically, besides the apostles receiving Holy Spirit baptism in Acts 2:4, there is only one other biblical example of Holy Spirit baptism, when God made sure that Peter, a prejudiced Jewish preacher, would allow non-Jews to come into the church. The Holy Spirit baptism coming on a group of unsaved people caused Peter to exclaim: "Can anybody forbid water that these should not be baptized who like us have received the Holy Spirit? (Acts 10:44-48).

The Holy Spirit baptism did not come on the group of unsaved people to save them. If Holy Spirit baptism was to save Cornelius and his household, that could have happened without Peter making the 30 mile trip from Joppa to Caesarea. Why did an angel tell Cornelius, "Send men now to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter" (Acts 10:5)? Why did not the angel tell Cornelius what to do to be saved? Simply because the gospel, "the power of God unto salvation" (Romans 1:16), the Lord has placed in the hands of men, "earthen vessels" (2 Corinthians 4:7; cf. Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47). Though it would take three full days (Acts 10:30) to get the earthen vessel in Caesarea, it is not God’s plan that a heavenly vessel, an angel, tell a sinner what to do be saved. All the angel could do was to tell Cornelius to send "to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter, who will speak words to you by which you and all your house will be saved" (Acts 11:14). The baptism of the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his house convinced Peter that he should "speak words" by which the Gentiles might be saved. So, after his question challenging anybody to "forbid water," he "commanded them to be baptized in he name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 10:47-48).

Some ten years had passed from the day of Pentecost in A.D. 30, when the apostles in Jerusalem were baptized in the Holy Spirit, before Cornelius and his house were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Thousands of people had been during those years baptized in water for the remission of their sins (Acts 2:41; 14:1, 21), but none of them had been baptized in the Holy Spirit, "for as yet" the Holy Spirit had "fallen upon none of them: only they had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 8:16). The baptism of Cornelius and his house in the Holy Spirit had nothing to do in saving them, and its appearance on Cornelius and his house was a shock to Peter, carrying his mind back to the only other occurrence of Holy Spirit baptism: "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning" (Acts 11:15). The "beginning" was on Pentecost Day, some ten years before (Luke 24:47), with only "water" baptism, not Holy Spirit baptism, in the intervening years (Acts 8:36).

Thus the only two examples of Holy Spirit baptism were not for salvation. One was to give "power" to the apostles (Acts 1:8), and the other to convince Peter to go ahead and "speak words" whereby Cornelius and his house could be "saved" (Acts 11:14). One example was in A.D. 30, and the other in about A.D. 40. In 62 A.D. Paul wrote that there is "one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5). The preachers of the Assembly of God denomination believe that today there are two baptisms, one in the Holy Spirit (if asked for), and one in water. It thus appears that Paul would not be accepted as an Assembly of God pulpit man.

John’s words about Jesus in Luke 3:16 were not intended to be taken alone: "he will baptize you [plural, humas] in the Holy Spirit and fire." If taken alone, John is foretelling two baptisms (Holy Spirit as one, and fire as the other) for "you"--plural, which does not make sense. However, other verses show that only two groups of people received Holy Spirit baptism (the 12 apostles and Cornelius with his house, Acts 1:5; 10:44; 11:15), and other verses show that only the wicked and disobedient people will receive fire baptism, an immersion in a "lake of fire" that is "unquenchable" (Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17; Revelation 20:14).

Besides the errors discussed above (tongue-talking, Holy Spirit baptism, and water baptism), into which the good people of the Assemblies of God have been led, there are other errors (giving the Lord’s church a denominational name, an anti-biblical "rapture," Christ’s "return to this earth" to "rule over the nations," and the one-man pastor system) which I will be glad to discuss with anyone interested. I rejoice that there is a common ground undergirding any discussion that is well stated by the Assemblies of God:

WE BELIEVE ...

12-15-98