Acting as the Spirit's personal Microphone: Speaking in tongues at the New Beginings Apostalic Church

Hey Gang!

Life is still crazy and i am still having trouble with the Google platform blog so I may need to make some changes here soon. I am considering starting up a special YouTube Channel for the project if I can ever get some time (and motivation) to sit down and get to work on it! You may have noticed that I have been falling behind and have not been consistently posting preservice blogs, this is due in part because sleep has been evading me and I need to catch the Z's where and when I can. Bear with me folks, I am still hard at work trying to document my journey for your reading and viewing pleasure. I will do my best to keep up on it. It may help if i simply and streamline some things, this may mean that I will have to adjust the rating system portion, we'll see. Time management, not my strong suit. Anyway, let me share with you my take on the latest chapter in my journey in exploring 52 different paths to truth...

 This is their welcome sign

Last Sunday Chad and I attended another Pentecostal church. This one however was a little more along the lines of what we were expecting to see in the first one we visited almost a month ago. This one was located in Clearfield Utah in a strip mall with about 4 or 5 other small local churches leasing the suites. Several of which were Hispanic Angelic or Pentecostal churches.

The are a branch of the United Pentacostal Church international, to know more about them and what they believe I HIGHLY RECOMMEND visiting their site HERE!!!!

" Fundamental Doctrine

The basic and fundamental doctrine of this organization shall be the Bible standard of full salvation, which is repentance, baptism in water by immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the initial sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance.
We shall endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come into the unity of the faith, at the same time admonishing all brethren that they shall not contend for their different views to the disunity of the body.

About the Bible

The Bible is the infallible Word of God and the authority for salvation and Christian living. (See II Timothy 3:15-17.)

About God

There is one God, who has revealed Himself as our Father, in His Son Jesus Christ, and as the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is God manifested in flesh. He is both God and man. (See Deuteronomy 6:4; Ephesians 4:4-6; Colossians 2:9; I Timothy 3:16.)

About Sin and Salvation

Everyone has sinned and needs salvation. Salvation comes by grace through faith based on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. (See Romans 3:23-25; 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9.)

About the Gospel

The saving gospel is the good news that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. We obey the gospel (II Thessalonians 1:8; I Peter 4:17) by repentance (death to sin), water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ (burial), and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (resurrection). (See I Corinthians 15:1-4; Acts 2:4, 37-39; Romans 6:3-4.)

About Christian Living

As Christians we are to love God and others. We should live a holy life inwardly and outwardly, and worship God joyfully. The supernatural gifts of the Spirit, including healing, are for the church today. (See Mark 12:28-31; II Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 12:14; I Corinthians 12:8-10.)

About the Future

Jesus Christ is coming again to catch away His church. In the end will be the final resurrection and the final judgment. The righteous will inherit eternal life, and the unrighteous eternal death. (See I Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 20:11-15.)"

So these guys are serious...

ATMOSPHERE: 1/10 candles

These guys were very animated and energetic. The first thing I noted when we walked in was the baptismal pool which was nothing more than a water trough for livestock. There were people in the chapel praying out loud, in inaudible English and one or two seemed to be groveling in tongues (if you don't know what speaking in tongues is look here if you want to see it in action, click here!).

Their baptismal pool.

Chad and I were greeted by just about every member of the congregation, however I felt like it was just the customary thing to do because we were also met with suspicion and what to me seemed like strained, passive hostility (the kids weren't very good at saving face). I don't blame them for this as they are a very eccentric ranch of Christianity and I am sure that they have on numerous occasions have been the target of a joke or two by outsiders. Admittedly, I personally find it difficult to believe that people can take some of these things seriously. Miraculous faith healing, speaking in tongues, etc. Practices such as these are very difficult for me to wrap my head around and these are also some big beliefs withing this and many other evangelical churches throughout the nation. Some things just seem so eccentric that it is difficult for outsiders to take seriously or be convinced that the practitioners are serious believers themselves. But I digress.

COMMUNITY: 3/10 candles

The people were, at least face to face, friendly. I did catch some younger boys looking back and glaring at Chad and I throughout the service, like we weren't welcome. They played live music and hymn lyrics were projected on the wall for the congregation to sing along karaoke-style. I thought it was fun at first but then it got very monotonous and repetitive. the lyrics were very simple, and very very very repetitive. The thing that kept it somewhat entertaining was how involved the people were, dancing, jumping up and down, and singing. The pastor was very cute with the children in the front, he was singing and dancing with them, all the children were smiling and having a good time, it made me smile as well. There was a cute little girl that kept looking back at us, such a sweetheart! She smiled at us and I smiled back, turning her grin into a giggle that the big stranger had acknowledged her friendly gesture, she was the highlight of my morning and the most genuine friendly face I encountered.

SERVICE: 1/10 candles

Overall I really didn't care much for the service. It was mostly all about praising God's name and perpetuating historical inaccuracies such as the discovery of _____ by archeologists and everyone noding in agreement interjecting with a "Hallelujah" or a "praise Jesus". There was a guest pastor speaking today who took a few jabs at the Mormons (A common theme I have seen on this project) and saying why he left the church. He scoffed and criticized the Joseph Smith story and the golden plates yet hypocritically states how he knows that someday "we will find the ark  and the world will know the truth". This was not a learned man, I doubt he had ever had any formal education beyond high school and he relished every moment he was up there preaching. I found the guy truly obnoxious, redundant, and intellectually dishonest. He took what should have been a 30 minute sermon and dragged it out to over an hour and a half! The whole thing was long and monotonous with very little in the way of a message.

MESSAGE: 1/10 candles

If I could assign negative ratings here I would. I will sum up the sermon messages here:

(-) = negative, (+) = Positive, (o)= neutral

• "we are the ONE true church.We don't spread lies to our children like other religions" (we are right everyone else is wrong) (-)
• God is responsible for and allows suffering but he has a good reason for it. (don't worry yourself with the bad things, God will take care of it)(-)
• Can't nobody do you like Jesus (o)
• "We need more Bible-churches, truth-speaking churches" (What about diversity?) (-)
• Demons are everywhere (Be afraid, be very afraid)(-)
• God worked miracles 2000 yrs ago, he still does today (o)
• Do things for God's reward and avoid suffering eternal hellfire (How about doing nice things for the sake of doing nice things? I help others without expecting a reward because I would appreciate it myself, it is the right thing to do. I took a lot of issue with this message)(-)
• All sins are equal (Are they?)(-)
• You can only be saved through Jesus (o)
• Convert EVERYONE (What happened to live and let live?) (-)

I took issue with a lot of these as you can imagine. They teach about a literal Hell where you will spend eternity writhing in agony if you aren't saved through Christ's name, an eternal punishment for finite, temporary sins on Earth. All sins are equal in God's eyes, so stealing a cookie is  the same as killing a person. Demons and evil spirits work to pull you from the path of God? They believe in literal demons and spirits that try to deceive you or cause illness or curses. In fact, after the service, they had made an announcement that one of the members had just bought a house and they invited the congregation to come over and bless the house to expel any evil spirits that dwelt within. They said to bring olive oil in case it was particularly malevolent. They really believe this, I don't thing that they were just joking around and having fun, they really meant to go and exorcise this house of demons and spirits.  The children were targeted specifically, and during the sermon from the head pastor in one of his closing statements (as well as a few other times throughout the service) he said that Satan's forces and wicked things will try to tear us down and try to attack our faith and the church. Each time he said this he would glance back at Chad and I so I really felt like we were being singled out. If this is the way they treat newcomers, then I don't see many people joining this church in the future, which his a real shame that so many would miss out on the only way to meet god. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Chad and I were sitting quietly in the back respectfully and not jumping around and praising Jesus after every other utterance of the pastor at the pulpit. maybe I am reading too much into it but I felt like I was attacked, so there is still a slightly bitter taste in my mouth from this service.

OVERALL: 1/10 candles

Not one of my favorites that is for sure, but this is the way they do things and they seem happy with it. I found it drawn out, repetitive, and boring. I did not care for the messages they were sending, I did not like the feeling of being singled out and indirectly called a force of Satan. They didn't even know us, who we were or why we were there, we were outsiders and they wanted us to know. The glares we got from some of the kids after one of the adults whispered something in their direction concerned me greatly.

They post some of their services and event on their website if you wish to check them out, but I wouldn't encourage anyone to go visit in person if they can help it. Not if you expect a warm welcome, or rather a sincere one. People went out of their way to introduce themselves, but it seemed more like a matter of obligation to them.