Ex-Pentecostals

[Jared]

I was wondering how many other ex-Pentecostals there are here. I was raised in the Assemblies of God, but now attend a non-denominational non-Charismatic church where the pastor is a young reformed guy in his 20's.

What led you away from Pentecostalism? Did you find yourself somewhere else before you became reformed?

 

[Scott1]

Using that term broadly, charismatic/pentecostal churches.

First, the doctrines of grace ("five points"), then an accountable, unifying confession of faith, and a high view of the church, including discipline.

Later, covenant theology and a "high" view of the sacraments, and

understanding that new special revelation does not ordinarily come through I Cor 12 gifts, now that the Scripture has been completed and the foundation of our faith laid in it.

 

[Andres]

I was saved into the Pentecostal Church of God (very similar to AoG) at the age of 18. At one point I even held an exhorters license with them. When I finally began to really study the scriptures, including applying academics rather than just "having faith" I began to understand that Pentecostalism and it's teachings were not biblical. I am not even talking about the gifts of the spirit so much (although I am a cessationist) but rather word of faith and rank arminian teachings. Simply put, I left for the reformed faith because it's biblical.

 

[ooguyx]

I was also saved in a Pentacostal Church of God church at 19. Early on, I would notice the fake "signs" etc, and could never really understand why when I read the Bible it didn't really match up with what I was learning there. I made the move to reformed doctrine slowly though. I started by attending Mars Hill, and while there I kept reading Van Til, Bahnsen, Sproul, etc. then made the move to an OPC church. Can't say that I miss pentacostal worship services.

 

[Andres]

I was also saved in a Pentacostal Church of God church at 19. Early on, I would notice the fake "signs" etc, and could never really understand why when I read the Bible it didn't really match up with what I was learning there. I made the move to reformed doctrine slowly though. I started by attending Mars Hill, and while there I kept reading Van Til, Bahnsen, Sproul, etc. then made the move to an OPC church. Can't say that I miss pentacostal worship services.

whoa you went from PCG to OPC too! That's cool. We should start a ministry to PCGers.

 

[sonlight]

Too much alphabet soup in all this. LOL Too many abbreviations make my feeble head spin. I spent time in an Assembly of God church. Back then I didn't really understand much about churches or theology. I still don't. I just knew about Jesus and that was about it. There was a lot of hocus pocus and rolling around on the floor by a lot of people. I faked it a bit with the speaking in tongues thing. I never felt anything amazing or what they said you were supposed to. I just figured I was defective and God didn't want anything to do with me either so I tried to play along to fit. After that I never did go back to any church that had some denomination on the sign except once. I didn't trust them and I'm not sure I do even now. There were a few non denominational churches that I went too. I went to a Church of Christ for a while and I thought that was a pretty good church but I was still blissfully ignorant of any theology. It seemed to be OK to me, but now I realize that they had this thing about I think it is called regenerative baptism or something like that. If you aren't baptized you aren't saved. I was baptized for the first time in my life in that church. I figured that was good for life but I was wrong. I got baptized again in the Seventh Day Adventist church and that seemed to be right too. Once again, they pointed out things in the Bible that made everything they said to be true. I'm not all that smart and I guess I can get fooled pretty easy. They did teach me a lot of cool things there like how the Old Testament reflects the New Testament. The Tabernacle was a sign to the Jews of the coming Messiah and a lot of prophecy that was for the most part wrong. That baptism was basically meaningless as well, I have found out recently. Every time you join a different church, you have to be baptized again. That's OK. I don't mind. This time around it will be in a Sovereign Grace Baptist church. I'll do my best to go along with this church, even though they believe one thing I am not all that good with. It's not all that important, it just deals with the history of their church, and they could well be 100 percent right because I am far from smart enough to know for sure. I figure that if somebody manages to prove this one wrong too, I am just gonna give up on churches altogether. I've been used and manipulated by enough of them with their preying on my stupidity. In the same light, I've pretty much given up on society already. I'm no good at social situations and I never will be. I wasted too many years trying at that. I think a lot of people don't realize they have serious shortcomings or accept the fact that they do if they know it. I have found that you can't get anywhere beating your head on a brick wall except getting a headache and you can't make a silk purse out of a pig's ear. This little piggy stays home and hides most of the time.

 

[reformedminister]

United Methodist Church-United Pentecostal Church - Foursquare Church - United Methodist Church-Independent - Cumberland Presbyterian. I became a Calvinist after I left the UMC. Also, along my journey I spent some time with the General Baptists, URCNA, PC (USA), and Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod). These stops were just water breaks lasting less than a year. Among this last grouping I only held membership in the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod). I was a Calvinist at the time and did not agree with their Sacramental teaching nor their rejection of double predestination.

 

[William Price]

Former Oneness Pentecostal minister for 17 years, and came to Christian faith in February of 2009. Tried to go back to these to bring the truth and could not. recently gave up and began work to join a Reformed Baptist church. My breaking point was listening to Paul Washer's sermons and reading John 6. 2 and 2 do not add up to 1,098,435,294,111.

 

[Heidelberg1]

I was involved in the Assemblies of God. I also went to one of their Bible Colleges. To this day, I still have good friends in that denomination. For them, it comes down to a choice between the Catholic Church, the really bad PCUSA church, the liberal ELCA church, or the AoG church in town.

My first exposure to the Doctrines of Grace was through the ministry of John Piper in the early 90s (when I was attending the AoG Bible School). Piper's preaching was the means God used for me becoming a Calvinist. Many years later, I met Joel Beeke at the 2007 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors. Beeke was not preaching, but he was in the bookstore. He strongly recommended that I read the Reformed Confessions. I bought the book, the Reformed Confessions Harmonized, and fell in love with the Reformed Confessions of Faith. Also in 2007, I was passing through Minot, ND on a Sunday morning. I stopped and worshipped at an RCUS church there. It was my first time ever worshipping in a Reformed Church. The service was beautiful. I just loved the way they approached worship. And I loved the way they celebrated the Lord's Supper there. Since becoming aware of the Reformed Faith, I have never lived in a town where there is a Reformed Church.

 

[A.J.]

I first became aware of the doctrines of grace through John Piper, John MacArthur and James White after having been raised a Pentecostal for about a decade. I initially thought that it was perfectly possible to believe in continuationism and "Calvinism" at the same time. Further study proved me wrong. Historic Calvinism and Pentecostalism are at odds with each other.

 

[Augusta]

I was raised in a Foursquare Church which was very charismatic. You can see my very first post here. I was still attending the Foursquare church a the time. It has a lot of detail on my conversion.

 

[Grillsy]

My wife was raised in the AoG technically but later on her parents had "visions" and began to set up their own heretical ministries. I was not raised in church but came to faith and initially attended a Holiness congregation.
My wife and I (while dating) both discovered the Doctrines of Grace together. After some unpleasantness with a very extreme group of Pentecostals, while we were living in Panama, we joined with the OPC and never looked backed. That is the short version of the story.

 

[BenjaminBurton]

I was raised Baptist but when some things happened in my church that caused me to disassociate with the body, I was left with little option. I had some friends that I had known most of my life that went to my Christian high school that had been attending an AG church not far from where I lived and I jumped in. I left the church (and a lot of the teaching) upon graduating and moving away to college where I was faced with the Doctrines of Grace. I can't say that I'm completely a cessationist at this point but do enjoy studying the topic.

 

[Jared]

Former Oneness Pentecostal minister for 17 years, and came to Christian faith in February of 2009. Tried to go back to these to bring the truth and could not. recently gave up and began work to join a Reformed Baptist church. My breaking point was listening to Paul Washer's sermons and reading John 6. 2 and 2 do not add up to 1,098,435,294,111.

That's incredible. You were actually part of a cult and now you're saved. Awesome. God does amazing things.

---------- Post added at 05:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:23 PM ----------

I was involved in the Assemblies of God. I also went to one of their Bible Colleges. To this day, I still have good friends in that denomination. For them, it comes down to a choice between the Catholic Church, the really bad PCUSA church, the liberal ELCA church, or the AoG church in town.

My first exposure to the Doctrines of Grace was through the ministry of John Piper in the early 90s (when I was attending the AoG Bible School). Piper's preaching was the means God used for me becoming a Calvinist. Many years later, I met Joel Beeke at the 2007 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors. Beeke was not preaching, but he was in the bookstore. He strongly recommended that I read the Reformed Confessions. I bought the book, the Reformed Confessions Harmonized, and fell in love with the Reformed Confessions of Faith. Also in 2007, I was passing through Minot, ND on a Sunday morning. I stopped and worshipped at an RCUS church there. It was my first time ever worshipping in a Reformed Church. The service was beautiful. I just loved the way they approached worship. And I loved the way they celebrated the Lord's Supper there. Since becoming aware of the Reformed Faith, I have never lived in a town where there is a Reformed Church.

The town that I live in is a lot like that. I don't know of a fully reformed church here. But, the pastor at our church and the pastor at a First Baptst church in town are both reformed. Those are the only two here that I'm aware of.

---------- Post added at 05:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:31 PM ----------

I was raised Baptist but when some things happened in my church that caused me to disassociate with the body, I was left with little option. I had some friends that I had known most of my life that went to my Christian high school that had been attending an AG church not far from where I lived and I jumped in. I left the church (and a lot of the teaching) upon graduating and moving away to college where I was faced with the Doctrines of Grace. I can't say that I'm completely a cessationist at this point but do enjoy studying the topic.

I'm with you. I still like to listen to reformed charismatics like C.J. Mahaney, Sam Storms, and Mark Driscoll.

 

[KaphLamedh]

I was member of Free Church of Finland, which is almost same as pentecostal. Only the name is different, but practically it´s the same.
Yes, there was tongue speaking and prophecies, but the what makes me wonder a lot was huge use of worship music (if anyone knows Hillsong from Australia, know what I mean with this worship music).
I have never spoke with tongues, but I believe that God can give real tongues to spread the Gospel. In that church people speak with tongues and rarely none interpret them. If someone, like me, don´t speak with tongues are not "clean enough in order that God could fill him/her with the Spirit" or they are kind of second rate christians and they cannot get much responsobility. Also if you have money to go to Bible School or travel a lot to f.ex Israel you are somehow more spiritual or more experienced in faith. These things never said publicly, but that what I felt quite often. I wonder why all kind of experiences was even more important than reading of the Bible.
I have to say that I don´t hate my former church, I have on harm feelings. I still love them and I get really good Bible teachings, as not everyone was into this charismatic stuff.

Arminianism is quite obvious what comes to free will and election. Most of people think that people have free will to choose God. And God chooses them that first chooses God. And they are elected that have first chose God. Perseverance of the saints is like heresy for them, and it is difficult to talk about it with them. I have notice that they don´t fully understand it, and it is somekind of strawman made out of it.

Well, that´s what comes to my mind just now.

 

[EverReforming]

I was initially raised in a Holiness church, as that's what my mother grew up in. By the time I'd reached High School, we were attending an Assembly of God church, and I was with the denomination until I graduated college. After college I started attending a Southern Baptist church, which is what I've attended until recently when I discovered R.C. Sproul and started listening to his sermons which was my first real introduction to Reformed theology which combined with moving and looking for a new church home ultimately led to my attendance at a PCA church. It was a slow process coming to a Reformed faith, but I'm grateful that God ultimately brought me to this path.

 

[Willem van Oranje]

I was wondering how many other ex-Pentecostals there are here. I was raised in the Assemblies of God, but now attend a non-denominational non-Charismatic church where the pastor is a young reformed guy in his 20's.

What led you away from Pentecostalism? Did you find yourself somewhere else before you became reformed?

After my conversion at age 15, I was looking for Christian fellowship. So I joined the only church I knew of where I thought people were as enthused about Jesus as I was, motivated to serve him like the people I read about in the Scriptures. It was the local Assembly of God that my mother used to take us to whenever she was in town visiting. I became a member there. I was a pentecostal/charismatic in the holiness tradition. The AoG movement traces its origin in Wesleyanism.

What led me away from charismaticism? It was Reformed theology. I came to know (based on my listening and reading to the Scriptures,) that Calvin had been right on Predestination. So eventually I began to look for a church which taught the doctrines of grace.

At first I visited a charismatic "Reformed" church. But it was just weird. Instead, I began to visit a large PCA church featuring expository preaching and Reformed theology.

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

[MLCOPE2]

Pre conversion: DoC

Post conversion: AoG (affirmed cessationism here) - UMC (affirmed complementarianism here) - GARBC (affirmed doctrines of grace here) - SBC - IFB (affirmed the blessing of alcohol here ) - PC(USA) - IFBC (affirmed Covenant theology here) - RPCNA (affirm reformed confessionalism here) and I am here to stay!

 

[timmopussycat]

Came to faith out of a pagan background in an Independent Pentecostal church where the minister preached 4 point Calvinism from Scripture without making a big deal of it. One of the elders ran a bookstore and when I looked in a few weeks after conversion, he literally grabbed my arm, marched me down the store aisle and commanded "Buy this book!" It was J. I. Packer's Knowing God. What ultimately moved me out of those circles was discovering Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermons on "Joy Unspeakable" and "The Sovereign Spirit" and his massive series "Revival" all of which demonstrated that Pentecostal theology is not a satisfactory understanding of whatever the Holy Spirit is doing today.

 

[Herald]

Add me to the list. My Christian journey took went like this: Roman Catholicism, Assembly of God, Catholic Charismatic movement, back to the Assembly of God, period of wandering in sin, Conservative Baptist Church, Reformed Baptist.

 

[JDKetterman]

Prior to coming to the Reformed Faith, I went to a large United Pentecostal Church which was a modalist group, but after spending 3 months studying the Scriptures, I left because I rejected their doctrine of God. Besides rejecting their doctrine of God, I saw no biblical warrant for their doctrine of perfectionism, pelegianism, and their teaching on the evidence of salvation.

 

[Jon 316]

Saved through the brethren- joined the pentecostal charismatic movements- some wonderful times there- but fundamentally my soteriology was more inline with a reformed view- although I did not realise it. Romans 9, Martyn Lloyd Jones, Spurgeon, Macarthur, Driscoll all contributed towards me realising that the doctrines of Grace more fully summed up my own view on salvation and more importantly were truer reflection of the bible's teaching.

I began to see an increasing departure from the gospel among modern charismatics which caused me real grief, left the pentecostal ranks just over a year ago.

 

[Jared]

SBC - IFB (affirmed the blessing of alcohol here )

I've heard of a second blessing and the Toronto blessing, but the blessing of alcohol is new to me.

---------- Post added at 04:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:10 PM ----------

Saved through the brethren- joined the pentecostal charismatic movements- some wonderful times there- but fundamentally my soteriology was more inline with a reformed view- although I did not realise it. Romans 9, Martyn Lloyd Jones, Spurgeon, Macarthur, Driscoll all contributed towards me realising that the doctrines of Grace more fully summed up my own view on salvation and more importantly were truer reflection of the bible's teaching.

I began to see an increasing departure from the gospel among modern charismatics which caused me real grief, left the pentecostal ranks just over a year ago.

Sadly, I have noticed this too. I think that some younger Pentecostals and Charismatics in an attempt to get away from the stereotypes that generally come along with the Charismatic movement, are becoming mroe worldly and are willing to embrace liberal theology. I'm not saying that this describes everyone, but I have seen it.

 

[Jon 316]

Sadly, I have noticed this too. I think that some younger Pentecostals and Charismatics in an attempt to get away from the stereotypes that generally come along with the Charismatic movement, are becoming mroe worldly and are willing to embrace liberal theology. I'm not saying that this describes everyone, but I have seen it.

I observed some time ago- that while the charismatics where very evangelistic- for the most part they were promoting a form of liberalism i.e theology rooted in experience, or humanistic notions of the Knowledge of God, mission was packaged alomost purely in social terms, ecclesiology was poorly defined and far too dominated by secular ideology. Also sanctification was confused with emotional well being and most of teh teaching in this area had more to do with Freud than Jesus or the apostles!