Why I Left The UPCI

Thank you for watching!! I thank all of you who choose to stay and love you all

God,Jesus,Christian Life,Denomination,Why I Left,Leaving,Left,united pentecostal church,leaving upci church,United Pentecostal Church International,oneness pentecostal heresy,Oneness Pentecostal,Trinity,Salvation,Standards,Church Legalism

[progodspeed]

I was a former-UPCI member myself. What really did for me was their teaching on tongues being the initial evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost... where they straight up deny the salvation of any one who doesn’t receive tongues- even if they place faith in Christ, repented, and got baptized. That for me, was a fat line they crossed.

Also, their stipulations on salvation is only like a 100 years old. No one taught what UPCI taught for 1900 years straight! If they are right, then like percent of Christians are saved, because UPCI only accounts for that many believers throughout history.

[KarenandAlex]

Good for you! Many people won’t roll their sleeves up and do the work to study further into what the Bible is actually saying. I left the upci about 1-1/2 years ago and it was a rough mental battle that followed with anxiety and stress. Today I am in a much better state and mind with the support of my amazing husband and family.

[hannahdickson]

Hey Tom! Thanks for opening up and sharing about your decision.
About Acts 2:38 making it seem that we need to have “works” to be saved. I wouldn’t say that getting baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost is something WE do. Deciding to be baptized is our choice, yes, but we could have someone dunk us in water, but without the power of Jesus and His saving grace and mercy, it would mean nothing. Being baptized is a work that God does. That when we obey, (which obedience is biblical. If ye love me, ye will obey my commandments) God is the one who washes our sins away. HE did that. Receiving the Holy Ghost…. We make the decision to open up to Jesus and HE chooses to come live inside of us and fill us. He gives us the power to speak in other tongues and have an intimate love language with Him like no other (for when we don’t know what to pray, the spirit itself makes intercessions for us with groanings that cannot be understood by man. AKA not English.) BUT, the Lord wants to see that we are open to following Him, so we make the decision to LET Him save us. I don’t believe RECEIVING the Holy Ghost or BEING baptized is something we necessarily do. Because without God, it would mean nothing. ❤️ Love you fam!
As far as oneness, I believe there is one God. I asked the Lord, “Are you one God?” He brought the scripture to my mind…. “Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord.” I think of the burning bush with Moses…. God says in Exodus 3:14, “I am that I am….” This translates to “I am what you need me to be.” This always hit me personally when I learned that translation in Bible college because God literally is what we need Him to be. But by Him saying that, He would technically show that the other two beings in the trinity aren’t what we need them to be. Because He said “I AM, what you need me to be.” If that makes sense!
You know I don’t debate much, Tom. I didn’t add scriptures here because I know you know them all, and exactly what I’m talking about. I love you fam. After thinking about it, I decided to put some input in! Take it as you will! You know we will always be friends, even if you believe that chocolate milk comes from chocolate moo cows. I promise that we will remain friends. ❤️

[hm]

Excellent video, clear and articulate. I also appreciate the place of love this comes from. Looking forward to future content.

[darwinapala]

I was raised in the UPCI and no longer attend. I am now simply a Holy Ghost filled Christian.

Let me share this with you. As far as Trinity v. Oneness, this argument if you please has been illustrated or explained in this matter:

The Godhead is like an egg. You have 1 egg but three manifestation of that 1 egg. You have the Shell, the egg white, and the yolk.

Again, this has been used by both Trinitarians and Oneness churches in defending their beliefs according to scripture.

Now as far three separate persons I TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH THIS.

First of all God is a spirit not a person. Secondly, Since God is a spirit he manifested himself into Flesh in order to dwell among us and to be become the ultimate sacrifice for mankind.
Thirdly, the Holy Ghost is also a spirit. The Bible states it is the spirit of Truth and we teach you all this things.

So since God is a spirit, Jesus the son of God who was flesh and the Holy Ghost is a spirit.

Who is actually correct 🤔? Trinity or Oneness?

I had a coworker in Texas that was pentecostal and they were a large church. But they were not Trinity nor Oneness! They claimed according the biblical scripture they identified themselves as Twoness. Seriously I couldn't make this up if I tried 🙄!!!

They believe since God is a spirit and the Holy Ghost is a spirit and of course Jesus was flesh, there were only two.

Having been raised in the UPCI from 10-48 years old and the last 10 years of my life more nondenomination I am no longer seeking answers. I am seeking God in Heaven.
The word of God does teach that the Fulness of the God head is a mystery.
I have done so much research on both the Trinity and the Oneness of God and according to the egg illustration I used earlier could it be both are identical and it is simply each man's interpretation of the word?

I am asking here.... would love feed back and responses

[britniturner]

They also believe that they are the only denomination that is saved and everyone else is lost and going to hell. Or at least this is what I was taught when under UPC

[jamman]

We left the UPCI as well. Best decision my wife and I have made.

[LifewithJennyintheUSA]

I am in the process of leaving the UPCI also after being 3rd generation, after studying the scriptures for myself I just can’t believe in oneness anymore and I also can’t say that all of the Christian singers (that we sing their songs) that aren’t Apostolic are going to hell (which is what the church would believe). And the story of what Paul said to the jailer was also what confirmed to me that Acts 2:38 was being taken out of context.1 Corinthians 8:6 changed me from oneness to confirm that the Father and the Son are not the same but are related. The semicolon is used when taking about 2 separate things, and the word Lord itself means “Ruler by inheritance.”

[donnahope]

Stand up for what you believe in. Because at the end of the day God put this on your heart to share. I believe that only he can guide you to where he wants you to be. God bless you Tom.

[z-man]

Greetings in the name of Jesus.
First time on the channel. Just to be clear at the outset, I am a licensed UPCI minister. I’ve been in the UPCI over 30 years, and there are some common things that I notice with these types of arguments.
(1) It’s, as was stated here, after someone “analyzed the facts.” Whereas, when someone talks about going from trinitarian to oneness, I almost always hear “and as I was praying and reading the scriptures, God gave me a revelation of what all of this meant.”
(2) Rather than aligning 1 scripture with the entire theme of the Bible, there always seems to be (with the trinitarian view) trying to align the whole theme of the Bible on 1 scripture, and not even the context of the scripture used. Case in point, the entirety of the Old Testament shows the relationship of 1 God with His chosen people. Jesus even reiterates the first and greatest commandment is Deut 6:4 in Mark 12:29. This, along with the commandment of having no other gods, is what made Israel different from any other religion.
(3) These arguments always seem to try to fit God into a person-shaped hole. God isn’t a man. Romans 3:4 says, “…let God be true, but every man a liar…”. This would indicate that man is different from God. Numbers 23:19 says, “…God is not a man…neither the son of man…”. See also 1 Sam 15:29. John 4:24 says that God is a spirit. Back to what’s been said in this video, John 8:17-18 talks about the testimony of 2 “men” being true. If we’re just using the verse on its face, as was done here, then the Bible is contradicting itself. If you skip back 3 chapters to John 5, Jesus is making this same point and goes on to say that the scriptures are they which testify of Him. So, the Father is the witness that testifies through the scripture, because we know that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God” according to 2 Tim 3:16. And “men” wrote down that God-inspired scripture.
Furthermore, just to throw this in, in a courtroom, an expert witness can speak as their professional or personal opinion (e.g. a man could speak as “Dr. Smith” or “Mr. Smith”) for what it’s worth.
(4) Much of the reading of scripture in these points is done through the lens of Christianity being the major world religion for some 2 millennia, and we need to consider, in scripture, the following: the writer, the audience, and the context of the passage. Telling a pagan Roman jailor to believe on a figurehead of a newly established religion (of which he was not a part) bears a VERY different connotation from telling a person who is a Christian to just believe on Jesus. Furthermore, in that “same hour” they baptized the man and his household. Believing in Jesus would seem to have very clearly included believing on everything He taught (including baptism).
May the Lord continue to reveal Himself and truth to you and all viewers. Blessings in Jesus’ name.

[cajunguy]

After having been UPC for the better part of 20 years, travelling and ministering I can tell you there's a lot that the UPC does get wrong. I still love the members of the UPC though. I left more than 10 years ago, and I've found more consistency in my Christian walk than ever before because I feel like I have a more firm and full grasp on Scripture. Blessings to you on your walk with God!

[belikebereansministries]

I just left a week ago and yeah I’ve had a very peaceful last two weeks. I’m definitely subbing for sure.

[kenredbourn]

I NEVER SAY THAT I DONT BELIEVE IN THE TRINITY, I SIMPLY SAY THAT I BELIEVE IN THE UNITARIAN-ONENESS VIEW OF THE TRINITY.

[paultin]

I’m not upc but God is one not three, please the upc have a lot of bad things but don’t throw out the truth of Gods word. No such thing as trinity in the Word especially if you understand Greek, this is a big subject trinitarians add to the scriptures. It’s a shame the upc don’t teach the One true God properly. And Yahweh is singular. Stay blessed glad you left that cult.

[FrnkSanchez]

Salvation is by grace of God. Speaking in tongues is a promise. I was raised in Assembly of God, we are attending to a UPCI church. There are a few things that I am not agree with, like you said how to dress and things like that. Yet the most important is to study the bible and do not believe everything but ask God for his word and follow his presence

[CKoinonia]

Glad you have seen some of the errors the UPCI teaches. It would have been nice if this had been more personal instead of theological and then later get into the latter. Like, when did you start questioning and what prompted that, what did you question first, what was the process you went through in sorting through the teachings, what was the reaction of church members, did you and your wife go through this at the same time, and so forth. You may want to look into the YouTube channel Responsible Faith.

[-_-obito-_-]

Tom!!! Love you bro imma miss seeing you man but I support you 100% man how you are doing welll

[corylittrell]

The funny thing about Oneness Pentecostals is that they swear by the King James Authorized Version of the Bible and the translators of this version were mainly Anglicans(Catholic Lite) and Puritans so they believed in the Trinity, infant baptism and the Nicene Creed and the Apostle's Creed and the Athenasian Creed

[stephenadams]

Truth is bright almost blinding, when truth enters the heart some people react in an accepting manner and some recoil because truth is speaks truth.

[kobymccarty]

I just recently came into the UPCI about a year and a half ago. I know it was God who led me out of the Trinitarian Church. After spending a lot of time in prayer a lot of days, it’s like the Lord flipped a switch and He started to give me revelation of the Mighty God in Christ. I don’t believe in consciences, not long after things started popping up on my YouTube and social media platforms about Oneness Apostolic Pentecostalism, I started watching videos on there doctrine and things, and it made a whole lot of sense unlike the Trinitarian doctrine. Not to bash Trinitarians but the history of the doctrine and the doctrine itself contradicts the Bible a lot. Either way your still my brother, God bless you!