Oneness Pentecostals?

[RocketGirl]

Are oneness pentecostals considered lost even though they have trusted in Jesus as their Savior?

[Harley]

Are oneness pentecostals considered lost even though they have trusted in Jesus as their Savior?

I guess the question is - can you have a bad/wrong Christology and be saved by Christ?

[Sing4Him]

Here is one article to shed some light on this:

T.D. JAKES AND ONENESS PENTECOSTALISM (AKA MODALISM)
I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me... Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. (Exodus 20:2-3; Galatians 4:8, KJV)

Dr. T.D. Jakes Does Not Believe In God

A reader of Apprising Ministries writes to ask for more information about this issue of Ed Young, Jr. having Oneness Pentecostal and Word Faith mogul Dr. T.D. Jakes, who has a “Doctor of Ministry in Religious Studies from Friends International Christian University” (Online source) at his Creative Church Conference 2007 (C3 2007) in February. By the way FICU just also happens to be the Alma Mater of such luminaries of the Cult of the Word Faith Church as “Bishop” Clarence E. McClendon and Dr. Frederick K.C. Price.

Leaving aside other heresies of this pillar of Satan’s Ecumenical Church of Deceit that T.D. Jakes may or may not preach the central issue is his patent denial of the cardinal (non-negotiable) doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The interested reader is referred to my article Keeping You Apprised of: the Holy Trinity for more but here is a succinct definition of this essential doctrine of the Christian Church:

Within the nature of the one true and living God there are three co-equal and co-eternal Persons (cognizant egos) existing simultaneously; The whole undivided essence of God belongs equally to each of the three Persons; God the Father; God the Son – Who is Christ Jesus of Nazareth – and God the Holy Spirit. And these three Persons are that one God.
And before we get to the reader’s question here again is how the Belief Statement from The Potter’s House where T.D. Jakes is pastor currently reflects his Oneness Pentecostal view of God:
God--There is one God, creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three manifestations: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Online source)
For a more in-depth examination of Jakes’ view of God I refer the you to my article Keeping You Apprised of: T.D. Jakes on the Trinity. But above is unquestionably the language of Oneness Pentecostalism which is virtually identical to that expressed by anyone involved in the various offshoots of this non-Christian cult:

Grasping The Oneness Pentecostal View Of God

Dear Pastor Ken,
I’m attempting to follow this issue with Ed Young, Jr. having T.D. Jakes in to preach at his church. Although I agree with you I am having a little difficulty understanding exactly where there is a problem with Jakes’ view of the Trinity. How can this be put into simple terms as to the difference between the 2 positions?
As far as what you say are the “three manifestations” of T.D. Jakes, it seems like that would really be like three different ways and not three persons at the same time? If so, has this ever been taught before?
Here is my response:

Thank you for your question. Yes, it has and you need to keep in mind that when discussing an area of theology as essential as the very nature of God Himself it is absolutely imperative to make those you talk to clearly define their terms. Oneness Pentecostalism (aka Jesus Only) came about around 1913 just after the Azusa Street Pentecostal revival. It is itself another revival of what has been called Sabellianism (after Sabellius excommunicated 220 AD) and Modalistic (modes; ways) Monarchianism (one king).
So you’ve got a pretty good handle on it. I can tell you assuredly that Jakes believes there is one God. We do as well. However, he believes God is a single (cognizant ego) person who showed (manifested) himself, and/or acted in three different ways (modes or dimensions). He would teach that in the Old Testament God shows Himself as Father through creation, then as Jesus Christ the Son in redemption, and now he is acting as Holy Spirit in regeneration. As such: one God, one individual and solitary person, performing or manifesting himself in three different modes or ways of operation.

The Non-Christian Cult Of Oneness Pentecostalism

This just happens to be the very first cult I ended up encountering and then having to study. I did write about the United Pentecostal Church International, which is the largest Oneness group many years ago when I got into ministry but have not published that paper as yet. I have long known Jakes was a modalist/Oneness Pentecostal but had never dreamed that any mainstream evangelical church–let alone SBC:doh :doh :doh –would ever bring him in because this view of the Trinity was kicked out of the Church as long ago as 220 AD! I do pray this helps you notice even more that Satan simply re-uses old heresies.

What he does is to wait until the Church is soft in an area and then reintroduces it at that vulnerable time. Right now the Body of Christ is in love with man and has this misguided idea that God wants unity so badly that we can put aside the cardinal doctrines of the Church. In a nutshell here’s what’s at stake. If this foolish C3 2007 conference put on by Ed Young, Jr. was simply a big secular Amway-type “bigger is better” pep rally of “success=more money” then Jakes would certainly be welcome. Without a doubt T.D. Jakes is quite a charismatic figure, a powerful speaker and a very successful business man.
However, this C3 2007 is allegedly a “Christian” church function with two high profile members of the SBC and it is being held in an SBC church. I already showed that Jakes believes in a god who is a solitary person who has three different titles and who simply has acted in three different ways. The SBC however believes in the God of the Bible Who is three Persons; Who are not each other, but are in fact the one God. Therefore Jakes actually believes in another god altogether; a different god. This is what people are missing here. If the LORD God Almighty–our glorious and majestic Creator–tells us He is three Persons; God the Father; God the Son–Christ Jesus of Nazareth–and God the Holy Spirit, and further that these Persons are not each other, then this is Who He is.

So, if Jakes–who flatly denies this–is to be included with Christians because he supposedly “loves” Jesus; then why not invite the Mormons in too? After all, the LDS Church is a hugely successful conglomerate made up of ostensibly “nice” people who also believe in a trinity and they love their “Jesus” too? Or how about the Jehovah’s Witnesses? The average Jehovah’s Witness does far more for their “Jesus” whom they also love than those of us who really do know Him. And they also believe in a god who is one person. Let’s consider the world religion of Islam, they too believe in a god who is one person and they revere their own “Jesus” as a prophet who is almost equal to Muhammad.
Opening The Door Of No Spiritual Return

Now I hope you can see that to open the door to Oneness Pentecostals as Christians (though some might know Christ and are still ill-informed) is to have to then open the door to all those other groups as well. But right now it looks as if that’s where we’re headed with T.D. Jakes and Oneness Pentecostals. My opinion is that president of the SBC Dr. Frank Page won’t make a stand and from all my letters I have gotten zero feedback–let alone offers to step in–from any major names in the evangelical world.:rant From the couple of letters I’ve gotten back the attitude is essentially: Good luck I hope somebody does something but I just can’t take this on right now I'm too busy.
How very sad, the alleged Church “militant” is so tepid and timid will not even defend the Holy Trinity. So a flaming heretic like Dr. T.D. Jakes with a very powerful speaking persona will now come right into this SBC meeting and dominate it as he did last year at C3 2006. And from there other “evangelical” church groups will be more emboldened to follow suit and Jakes will go from someone who was once on the fringe of the Church to front and center stage. But know this: Opening this door to Jakes will also be opening the door for mainstream acceptance for a whole host of other Word Faith and Emergent Church spiritual “knuckleheads.” Unfortunately I must say there are quite perilous times to come dead ahead.
However, we take heart that there won’t be any of their blood on our hands if we keep faithfully sounding the alarm. I do pray this helps…and may God have mercy on us all…:pray
http://www.apprising.org/archives/2007/01/td_jakes_and_on.html

[Sing4Him]

Oneness Pentecostals sometimes call themselves “Apostolic” to distinguish themselves from trinitarian Pentecostals.

Oneness Pentecostals accept the Deity of Jesus Christ and the authority of Scripture. But they reject the doctrine of the Trinity and insist that people should be immersed in water “in the name of Jesus” and not “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” T.F. Tenney (senior) himself insists that Oneness doctrine does not contradict the Bible.5

Other problems with Oneness Pentecostalism are legalism, elitism, and judgmentalism towards orthodox Christians. Oneness groups tend to regard people who have not been immersed “in Jesus’ name” as unsaved and the UPC itself goes as far as to insist that people who have been immersed in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit must be reimmersed “in the name of Jesus”, because otherwise they will remain unsaved. This encourages UPC members to think that their admittance into heaven is decided by their own performance rather than by simple faith in Christ’s atonement.

Oneness Pentecostals, including the UPC, insist that the reception of the Holy Spirit must be accompanied by speaking in tongues. As a result, many of them maintain that Christians who do not speak in tongues are not even saved. :tsk

Hardline Oneness adherents believe that they are into higher truth because of their superior doctrine and strict holiness standards. The UPC official holiness code presents to its members a long list of ‘dos-and-don’ts’. They are urged not to watch television or go to cinemas, or sports events. Women are instructed not to wear makeup, jewellery, trousers, or short hairstyles. Indeed, members of hardline UPC churches are taught that Christians who are not UPC members are hellbound because they watch television or wear jewellery.
The overall effect is that UPC members believe that they are saved by their works rather than by grace alone. One pastor, interviewed for Charisma & Christian Life Magazine, who wished to remain anonymous, said:

“I was taught in the UPC that we were the body of Christ – that we had the whole gospel and everyone else just had a part. No one actually came out and said that other Christians aren’t going to heaven, but that attitude was implied.”6

Many prominent leaders have broken ranks with the UPC over the years. In 1976 Pastor C.G. “Jabo” Green of Houston, Texas, was elected to lead a network of dissident UPC leaders who wanted more grace and less sectarianism. This organization represents about 430 US ministers.7 However, most pastors in this network still hold to the Oneness position on the Godhead, although they do not require new members to be reimmersed “in Jesus’ name” or expect conformity to a set of holiness standards. Neither do they teach that trinitarian Believers are unsaved.8

http://www.intotruth.org/apostasy/TT-1.html


NOT GOOD!

[Harley]

Obviously Oneness Pentecostalism falls into the category of modalism and therefore parts from historic (sorry Sing4Him - Historical Theology is my main area of study) Christian orthodoxy.

But if a modalist believes that Jesus was divine, and sinless, and paid the penalty for their sin - does their faulty Christology negate the faith?

I'm in no way advocating it - just hearkening back to the original question.

[Sing4Him]

harken away..

Modality negates the triune God.

This is a different gospel.

No salvation here.

[Sing4Him]

.they reject the doctrine of the Trinity

[Sing4Him]

saved by their works

NOPE!

[Sing4Him]

their admittance into heaven is decided by their own performance

UH UH!

[Harley]

Who are you quoting in the last two posts?

Anyway, here's my thinking. I don't want to dismiss something as serious as denying the orthodox view of the Trinity - that's for sure. And I'm not disagreeing with Sing4Him... I'm just not as confident, either.

There are plenty of verses that speak of faith in Christ's atonement, professing him as Lord, "if you believe Him who sent me" you have... that layout the necessity for faith in Christ. But what verses give us the "Here's what you have to believe about this Christ" to be saved parameters?

Obviously, if someone denies the deity of the Lord, or the humanity of the Lord they are negating crucial components of his. But Oneness Pentecostals, modalists, still believe he was both divine and human...

I wonder who they think he was prayer to in the garden, whose voice was heard at his baptism, into whose hands did he commended his spirit?

Modalism may make the trinity easier to understand, but it raises a lot of logistical issues...