GOD and
“Oneness”
The
United Pentecostal Creed Book tells us what their position
is on “The One True God.” They believe God “has revealed Himself as Father,
through His Son, in redemption; and as the Holy Spirit by
emanation.”
They
further explain, “The one true
God, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, took upon Himself
the form of man, and as the Son of man, was born of the
virgin Mary.”
Further,
"Unlike traditional
trinitarianism, the UPCI (United Pentecostal Church
International) affirms that God is absolutely one, with no
distinction of persons. He has revealed Himself as Father
(in parental relationship to humanity), in His Son Jesus
Christ (in human flesh), and as the Holy Spirit (in
spiritual action).”
Another
Pentecostal source words it this way: “God is one person, manifested as
Father in creation, the Son in redemption, and the Holy
Ghost in the church.” All three are the same
person in different manifestations.
If
there is just one person of God, how can that one person
be the Son of God right now? In spiritual action, in the
church, or in emanation, Pentecostals argue God is the
Holy Ghost right now. Remember, they tell us there is only
one person of God. No true Pentecostal can possibly
believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God now – God who
once was creator, became the Son in the flesh, and is at
this moment the Holy Ghost, so says their Creed Book. To
believe a thing that makes it impossible to say Jesus
Christ is the Son of God today is frightful (John 8:24).
Jesus, God incarnate, never ceases being God, but
Pentecostalism simply removes his deity as the person of
God and transforms him into an emanation of God which they
call the Holy Ghost. Nobody can be more wrong on the Bible
than that!
Jesus
said, “I and my Father are
one” (John 10:30). Pentecostals err when
they add the word "person" to this verse –and
they all do it. Jesus and the Father are one, but not one
person any more than a husband and wife are one person
(See Matt 19:6). Jesus prayed, “Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word; that they all may be
one; (emphasis added) as thou, Father, art in me, and I in
thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou
gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as
we are one” (John 17:20-22).
The
oneness of John 17 is a oneness that should exist among
all believers and Jesus said it is the oneness that exists
between him and the Father. Notice that he prayed that we
will be one as he is one with the Father. Jesus did not
pray that all believers become one person. The as is a
comparison of the oneness of the Father and Son to the
oneness of all believers. The oneness of the Godhead is a
oneness of several dimensions. Consider: