A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
It is evident that the author and publisher wish to portray
Oneness Pentecostals as cultists and false religionists. The booklet
is one of the newest in a series by various authors entitled
Zondervan Guide to Cults and Religious Movements. On the
cover, the most prominent word in this series title is Cults. The
introductory booklet to the series is Unmasking the Cults. The
last booklet in the series summarizes all the movements studied,
and its title is Truth and Error: Comparative Charts of Cults
and Christianity. The other twelve titles in the series are
Jehovah’s Witnesses; Masonic Lodge; Mormonism; New Age
Movement; Satanism; Unification Church; Mind Sciences;
Astrology and Psychic Phenomena; Buddhism, Taoism and
Other Far Eastern Religions; Goddess Worship, Witchcraft
and Neo-Paganism; Hinduism, TM and Hare Krishna; and
Unitarian Universalism.
Classifying Oneness Pentecostals with these groups implies
a spiritual similarity and a common satanic origin. At the least,
it seems that the author and publisher discredit all Oneness
Pentecostal experiences with God. But how can they venture to
make such a judgment with no indication that they have ever
attended Oneness Pentecostal worship services or interacted
significantly with Oneness Pentecostals on a personal level?
How can they seemingly denigrate all faith, repentance,
reception of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and spiritual fruit
among Oneness Pentecostals while apparently accepting the
same manifestations among Trinitarian Pentecostals? Have they
no concern that they could be ascribing works of the Holy Spirit
to Satan, something Jesus warned strongly against in Matthew
12:22-32? In this connection, it is noteworthy that many
Oneness Pentecostals first believed on the Lord, repented, or
received the Holy Spirit in trinitarian churches and then continued
serving the Lord in Oneness churches.
The author’s willingness to excoriate Oneness Pentecostals
for their doctrine of God is particularly surprising in light of
views expressed in his book God in Three Persons: 335
348