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By Larry Schoonover

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Integrity
  by C.M. Yadon

Pentecost?

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  by Rod White

Pentecost?

The Pentecostal Movement is a religious phenomenon that has transformed the face of Christianity since its Twentieth Century advent at Charles Parham's Bible school in Topeka, Kansas. Parham had instructed his students to carefully study Acts 2, believing that speaking in tongues was the evidence of Spirit baptism. After careful examination of the Scriptures, oneAgnes Ozman was baptised with the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues on January 1, 1901. Therediscovery of the Pentecostal experience shortly lead to converts and seekers around America.  Pentecostalism received its greatest thrust and expression in the Azusa Street revival that ran in Los Angeles from 1906 to 1913. This revival attracted Christians from nearly every denomination and from all over the world. Though Pentecostal adherents met with much opposition, the phenomenon continued to spread as newly-filled saintsand preachers returned to their communities and began to hold meetings.

Many early Pentecostals were opposed to ideas of organization. The movement, in the beginning, had no denominational aspirations but intended to work from inside the various existing denominations. However, it became increasingly clear as stalwart opposition to Pentecostalism mounted that it would be necessary to form some organisation in order to credential ministers who were being disfellowshipped by their former assemblies. To this end, the Assemblies of God (and other less significant Pentecostal groups) began to organise. The Assemblies of God was chartered in 1913 by the initiative of such
Pentecostal pioneers as E.N. Bell, Howard Goss, D.C.O. Opperman, Archibald Collins and Mack Pinson (Burgess & McGee 24).

The re-emergence of Oneness Pentecostalism in the Twentieth Century can be traced to the year 1914, where it surfaced within the fledgling Assemblies of God. The Pentecostal Movement was focused on the resotration of Apostolic Christianity:

The extreme literal Biblicism of Pentecostals led them to concentrate on reproducing in detail the life of the New Testament church. Close study of the book of Acts disclosed that the Apostles baptized converts in the name of Jesus, rather than that of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. (Anderson 176)

This return to Apostolicity was heralded by R.E. McAlister who ignited, no doubt unintentionally, the "New Issue" controversy (as it came to be called) that was destined to forever divide the Pentecostal Movement along the lines of a theology on the Godhead.  McAlister noted in a baptismal sermon delivered to a Pentecostal campmeeting in 1913 that the Apostlic Church of the New Testament never employed the triune formula but baptised exclusively in the name of Jesus Christ.

This spawned a new focus on the name of Jesus. John Scheppe, who attended the service, spent the night in prayer and Scripture reading and ran through the camp the following morning shouting that he had received a revelation of the power of Jesus name.  Frank Ewart, a former Baptist minister who had received the Pentecostal experience in 1908, also gave special heed to McAlister's message. Ewart began a careful and systematic search of the Scriptures, concluding that not only should baptism be administered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ but that Jesus was indeed the highest revealed name of God. He denounced the Trinity and embraced the pure monotheism of Oneness doctrine as described in the New Testament.

Ewart advanced the Oneness Pentecostal message, preaching his first sermon on the Acts 2.38 plan of salvation at a tent meeting in Belvedere, outside of Los Angeles, on April 15, 1914.  Brother Glenn Cook joined Brother Ewart at Belvedere where the two rebaptised one another in the name of Jesus Christ (Burgess and McGee 644). Brothers Frank Ewart, Glenn Cook, R.E. McAlister and G.T. Haywood had organised the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World in 1913. This organization, though not exclusively Oneness at its founding, quickly became such (Anderson 177). The message of the Oneness of God and the practise of rebaptism spread throughout the Pentecostal Movement.

Prominent Pentecostals soon joined the Oneness Movement including Howard Goss, who had actually been baptised in the name of Jesus Christ by Charles Parham at the time of his conversion, and D.C.O. Opperman. The message gained particular popularity in the South. The Assemblies of God lost all of its ministry in Louisiana to the Oneness Movement. Many ministers in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and California also joined the 'NewIssue' adherents. In Indiana, Bishop G.T. Haywood and all 465 members of his congregation accepted the Oneness message and were rebaptised in Jesus name. This caused a great stir in the Assemblies of God, and powerful factions began to form (Foster).

Many within the Assemblies of God began to attack Oneness believers. J. R. Flower and E.N. Bell were early opponents of Oneness doctrine and the necessity of baptism in the name of Jesus only. Bell, however, eventually received the message and was rebaptised in the summer of 1915 in Jackson, Tennessee (Anderson 178). Bell did, unfortunately, later return to the ranks of the trinitarian Assemblies of God.

The culmination of the Oneness question came at the Council of 1916 held in St. Louis. The Council leadership, which were all strategically anti-Oneness, instituted a 'Statement of Fundamental Truths' to be ratified by the ministry of the Assemblies of God. Oneness advocates, who were given limited representation at the Council, were,in the end, forced to withdrawl from the organisation. Over a quarter of the ministry of the Assemblies of God chose to leave the body after the statement was passed to the singing of the trinitarian hymn 'Holy, Holy, Holy.'

These early leaders were, though fully prepared to break organisational fellowship with their opposition, left to reorganise. Various efforts were made, and several early Oneness organisations emerged. The Oneness Movement, despite its growth and doctrinal unity, has remained a largely fragmented one. Literally hundreds of Oneness organisations have existed throughout the decades since the schism with the Assemblies of God. They have merged and recreated themselves many times over.

Perhaps the most important consolidation was the unification of the Pentecostal Church Incorporated and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ that came to form the United Pentecostal Church, the largest Oneness organisation at present. Other significant organisations include the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Present statistics estimate that there are over 18 million Oneness Pentecostals worldwide. The Oneness Movement, perhaps more than any other branch of Pentecostalism, has dedicated itself to Apostolic doctrine. Oneness Pentecostals have a great Pentecostal heritage, a history marked by the pioneering spirit of Oneness believers dedicated to the truth and the power of a New Testament theology that truly distinguishes this segment of the Pentecostal Movement.

Works Cited:
Anderson, Robert Mapes. Vision of the Disinherited: the Making of
  American Pentecostalism. Oxford University Press. 1979.

Burgess, Stanly M. and Gary B. McGee (eds.). Dictionary of Pentecostal
  and Charismatic MovementsZondervan Publishing House. 1988.

Foster, Frank. Twentieth Century Pentecostals: Their Story. Word Aflame
  Press. 1982.