A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
but we have only just started into this great subject of
who Jesus Christ is.
It is amazing that someone with this insight would
suppress such a glorious message and experience for the
sake of fellowship. Yet that is what Bell did. In 1920 he
was elected a second time as general chairman of the
Assemblies of God, a position he held until his death in
1923.
We should also note that some ministers eventually
left Oneness circles in order to return to a broader base
of fellowship and ministry. They maintained or renewed
fellowship with trinitarians and conducted their later ministry
primarily among them, but they never renounced
their Oneness views. Examples were William Booth-
Clibborn, L. C. Hall, and H. G. Rodgers.
Conclusions
The Oneness message was not an aberration but a
logical, scriptural development among the earliest
Pentecostals, given their restorationist impulse, emphasis
on Scripture, and willingness to reevaluate and abandon
doctrinal tradition. From the very start of the Pentecostal
movement, some people were baptizing in Jesus’ name,
including Charles Parham himself. Very soon some, such
as Andrew Urshan and Frank Ewart, were rethinking their
understanding of the doctrine of God. The ministries of
Parham, William Seymour, and especially William
Durham prepared the way for the Jesus Name message,
and this point will be even more apparent as we discuss
the doctrine of salvation in chapter 4. As we shall see, in
formulating and expounding their doctrine, the Oneness
86