Why I am NOT a Pentecostal

Why I am NOT a Pentecostal

All scripture quotations are taken from the Authorized King James Bible. Any deviations are not intentional. All underlines, bold and words within brackets are the author's.

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Here are just some of the Biblical reasons why I am NOT a Pentecostal.

1. Pentecostals believe and teach that the events of the Day of Pentecost are to be repeated over and over again.

What does the Bible say?

Pentecost is a reference to an Old Testament feast which God had appointed for the Jews to keep under the Old Covenant (OC). This feast was also known as the Feast of Weeks (Exod. 34:22), and the Feast of Harvest (Exod. 23:16). It took place 50 days after the Feast of Passover, hence the name “Pentecost” meaning “fiftieth”. This feast, along with all of the other OC feasts, contained symbolisms which were fulfilled by Christ (Col. 2:16-17) as part of the New Covenant (NC). Under the OC the gathering of crops symbolized the NC reality of the harvesting of souls (John 4:35). On the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts chapter 2, 50 days after Jesus had been crucified fulfilling the type of the Passover lamb, the Holy Spirit was poured out and 3000 souls were added to the church at Jerusalem (Acts 2:41).

Once the fulfillment of this feast took place, it was never to be repeated again. Believers would still continue to receive the Holy Spirit, but there would be no more “tongues of fire” appearing to people, nor the hearing of a “rushing of a mighty wind”, etc. etc.. These things were limited to the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit and were never to be repeated again. The same is true with the fulfillment of the Feast of Passover. Jesus fulfilled this feast by dying as the lamb of God “which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

1 Corinthians 5:7 ... For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

Should we expect the Feast of Passover to be repeated after it was fulfilled? Should we expect for Christ to come back and die on the cross over and over again? Of course not. Once a Biblical feast was fulfilled, it was never to be repeated again. The same is true of the Feast of Pentecost. It was fulfilled one time and was never to be repeated again.

2. Pentecostals believe and teach that after salvation believers are to seek “the Baptism of the Holy Spirit” which will be evidenced by speaking in tongues.

What does the Bible say?

The Bible tells us that all believers have already been baptized by the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

According to the above verse, every single believer has been baptized by the Spirit of God. But Pentecostalism says that they have not. Who should we believe Pentecostalism or the Bible?

1 Corinthians 12:30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

The above verse sets forth a series of rhetorical questions. A rhetorical question is one in which the answer is obvious and implied. For example, someone might say, “Can pigs fly?” The obvious answer is “No”. In the above verse, we have 3 rhetorical questions and the implied and obvious answer to each is “No”. Not all had the gift of healing, not all could interpret, and not all could speak with tongues.

So let me ask you a question. Since all believers have been baptized with the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13), but not all believers spoke with tongues (1 Cor. 12:30), how could speaking in tongues be the evidence that a believer has been baptized by the Holy Spirit? How could something that not all believers could do, be the evidence of something for all believers? Obviously, it couldn’t, and Pentecostal teaching is once again found to disagree with the Bible.

Pentecostals teach that after salvation believers are to seek “the Baptism of the Holy Spirit” and that the evidence that they have experienced that baptism will be that they will speak in tongues. But the Bible says that every believer already has been baptized by the Holy Spirit, and that not all believers could speak with tongues.

Their mistake is in misinterpreting the book of Acts. The book of Acts is a book of transition from the primary OC people of God (the Jews) to the primary NC people of God (the gentiles). Therefore, many of the practices which are taking place in the early portion of the book of Acts are no longer taking place toward the middle and end of the same book. Therefore, it is what is taking place by the end of the book of Acts that becomes the common practice of the NC church, not what was taking place at the beginning. This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians that every believer is NOW, upon conversion, baptized with the Holy Spirit, when that was not the case in Acts 2. But that was the case in Acts 10 (see Acts 10:44 and Acts 11:16-17). See the transition?

Another thing which Pentecostals do not seem to understand is that it was only the apostles who spoke with tongues on the day of Pentecost. Here is the passage in its context. I will add some words within “[ ]” for clarification.

Acts 1:26 And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they [Matthias; and the other eleven apostles] were all with one accord in one place.

Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they [Matthias; and the other eleven apostles] were sitting.

Acts 2:3 And there appeared unto them [Matthias; and the other eleven apostles] cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

Acts 2:4 And they [Matthias; and the other eleven apostles] were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them [Matthias; and the other eleven apostles] utterance.

So who spoke with tongues on the day of Pentecost? It was “Matthias; and the other eleven apostles”. The 3,000 people which believed Peter’s message (Acts 2:41) and received the Holy Spirit as they were promised (Acts 2:38) are NOT said to have spoken with tongues at all. Only the twelve apostles did. So not only are Pentecostals mistaken in thinking that the day of Pentecost was to be repeated, they are also mistaken regarding what happened on that day in the first place. They say that all believers are to speak with tongues when they receive the Holy Spirit because the believers at Pentecost supposedly did. But the very 3,000 people who believed Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost did NOT speak with tongues. Only the apostles did.

Not only this, the Bible tells us that the gift of speaking in tongues was to cease.

1 Corinthians 13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

The gift of speaking in tongues ceased in the first century. How then could it be a sign for anything now when the true gift of tongues no longer exists? Obviously, it couldn’t. There is a great deception going on in our day. For more on the subject of tongues ceasing please see my article on that subject at the link below.

http://www.seekingfortruth.com/articles/tongues.htm

3. Pentecostalism did not begin until the year 1900.

For over 1800 years of church history Christians believed that the day of Pentecost was a one-time event which had been fulfilled and was never to take place again. And all Christians (apart from a couple of fringe heretical groups) agreed that the practice of speaking in tongues had ceased. But then in the year 1900 a false teacher from Topeka, Kansas named Charles Fox Parham and his followers claimed that everyone else had been wrong for all of those years. They claimed to have rediscovered the gift of tongues and Pentecostalism was born. Since its beginning, this movement has been littered with many false teachers and many false teachings.

4. Beware of Oneness Pentecostalism.

There is a movement within Pentecostalism known as “Oneness Pentecostalism”. These churches reject the doctrine of the trinity and hold to the heretical doctrine of Modalism. Modalism teaches that there is one God that reveals himself in three ways: sometimes as the Father, sometimes as the Son, and sometimes as the Holy Spirit. They believe He is never all three at the same time. Some Apostolic Churches and other churches affiliated with the United Pentecostal Church (UPC) hold to this belief.

These are just some of the reasons why I am NOT a Pentecostal, Oneness or otherwise.

For more on Oneness Pentecostalism, please read the article on that subject at the link below.

http://www.seekingfortruth.com/articles/oneness.htm

If you do not understand that the trinity is Biblical and/or would like to see proof, please read my article which proves that it is true from scripture. You may read it at the link below.

http://www.seekingfortruth.com/articles/trinity.htm