A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

Appendix D
Monarchianism is represented today by the United
(“Jesus Only”) Pentecostals. . . . As the differences between
modalism and pure trinitarianism are rather minute, it is
not surprising that a great number of Christians in mainline
denominations, including Roman Catholicism, hold a
modalistic conception of the Trinity, at least unconsciously.
According to this passage, the Oneness doctrine is a relatively
insignificant deviation from “pure trinitarianism” and
amounts to nothing more than “a modalistic conception of the
Trinity.” Why then it is sufficient to make someone a cultist? Is
the author now willing to extend this blanket condemnation to
the “great number of Christians in mainline denominations”
who hold essentially the same view?
Serious Factual Errors
The booklet begins with historical background and statistics.
Here we find many egregious errors, such as these examples
from pages 8 and 9:
• Claim: There have been two “recent schisms” in the
United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI). First, in
1986 a “3,000-member” church left.
Response: The church in question had about one-fifth
this number at the time, and there was no schism.
• Claim: In 1993 “over 200 pastors” left the UPCI rather
than “pledge conformity with the UPCI’s ‘Holiness
Standard.’” The booklet repeats a 1993 prediction that
“800 ministers would leave the denomination soon” and
comments, “It is not yet disclosed how many defected.”
Response: In the spring of 1993, the UPCI reported that
50 pastors withdrew by missing the final deadline to sign
an annual reaffirmation of two sections of the UPCI’s
Articles of Faith entitled “Fundamental Doctrine” and
“Holiness.” A total of 120 ministers did not sign the
affirmation, representing 1.6 percent of the total of
349