Pentecostalism is a Christian religious movement tracing its roots to an event recorded in chapter two of the Book of Acts.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4 | NIV)

Pentecost is derived from the Jewish Shavuot or Feast of Weeks which occurred 50 days after the Passover Sabbath. It was one of three annual pilgrimage feasts that required all males to travel to Jerusalem to present their gifts to God. The Holy Spirit descended on 120 Jesus followers while Jerusalem was filled with visitors satisfying that requirement. Pentecost is traditionally celebrated by Christians seven weeks after Easter Sunday.

In the minds of the early Church, what was experienced on Pentecost fulfilled an Old Testament promise. “. . . I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. (Joel 2:28 | NIV)

It also satisfied promises Jesus made to his disciples.

 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5 | NIV)

Prior to the adoption of the biblical canon, church worship services were characterized by submission to the leading of the Holy Spirit as Jesus had promised. “When the Holy Spirit, who is truth, comes, he shall guide you into all truth, for he will not be presenting his own ideas, but will be passing on to you what he has heard. . . “ (John 16:13 | TLB) People would gather to sing, share the gospel, celebrate the Lord’s Supper and await the leading of the Holy Spirit through a member or members of the congregation.

There are many references to the working of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament Church, but the letters written by the apostle Paul to the Church in Corinth demonstrate how he functioned in worship services through Spirit-filled individuals.

“The Corinthian letters, in particular, indicate that the assembled churches relied on the spontaneity of the Spirit rather than on official authority for the life and direction of their meetings.”[1] This is supported by Justin Martyr (100-165 AD) “For the prophetical gifts remain with us even to the present time.”[2] Later in the same work, he says, “Now it is possible to see among us women and men who possess gifts of the Spirit of God.”[3]

Pentecostals, in general, believe in a post-conversion experience called “baptism with (or in) the Holy Spirit” demonstrated by “speaking in tongues” or glossolalia (speech in an unknown language) or xenoglossy (speech in a language known to others but not the speaker). It emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit in the direct, powerful experience of God in the lives of believers. Many maintain that the initial evidence of the baptism is speaking in tongues.

Those who have been filled may also receive one or more of the “Apostolic Gifts” or Gifts of the Spirit outlined in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 (ESV):

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

According to Hyatt, the Holy Spirit has maintained a low-key presence in some form from that first Pentecost to the present. After years of being absent from mainstream Christianity the Pentecostal movement emerged in Topeka, KS at Bethel Bible College.

The college’s director, Charles Fox Parham, a former Methodist preacher, instructed his students to fast, pray and meditate on Scripture until they received the Holy Spirit baptism. On New Year’s Day 1901, a woman named Agnes Oznam became the first of Parham’s students to speak in an unknown tongue. Others soon followed.

In 1906, the Spirit fell during a service conducted by William Seymour, a Black Holiness preacher and student of Parham. It occurred at Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission, an abandoned African Methodist Episcopal church, located at 312 Azusa St, Los Angeles, CA.

As their numbers grew, many Pentecostals sought to impact their home church congregations by using their spiritual gifts. But that made some members and pastors uncomfortable causing many Spirit-filled people to move on to Pentecostal congregations. Still. opposition increased. Pastors who endorsed charismatic ideas were removed from their pulpits and missionaries lost financial support.

As a consequence, new fellowships and denominations emerged, largely from Holiness backgrounds. But other Holiness denominations rejected Pentecostalism, including the Methodists, Church of the Nazarene and Salvation Army, among others. Yet, it spread rapidly worldwide after 1906. But that expansion was not without controversy and division. The two primary doctrinal divisions were the Trinity and sanctification.

The sanctification controversy was linked to the Holiness tradition of many Pentecostals including Parham and Seymour. William Durham developed what he called the “finished work” theory comprised of three “works.” They were, salvation, Spirit baptism and sanctification. His view was adopted by the Assemblies of God which began in 1914. The majority of Pentecostal denominations are based on the Assemblies of God model, including the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.

By far, the most significant schism grew out of the “oneness” or Jesus-only doctrine that began in 1911 in Los Angeles. The doctrine, similar to Modalism, also known as Sabellianism, is the unorthodox belief that God is one person who manifested himself in three forms or modes in contrast to Trinitarian doctrine where God is one being eternally existing in three persons. Oneness adherents maintain God does not exist as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at the same time. Rather, he is one person and has merely adopted one of the three modes as necessary at various times.

According to oneness doctrine, Jesus is simultaneously Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And Jesus is the “name” of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit referenced in Matthew 28:19. Therefore, they perform water baptism “in the name of Jesus” as directed by the apostle Peter in Acts 2:38. This controversy caused a split in the Assemblies of God leading to the formation of the United Pentecostal Church and the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World.

Post-World War II, Pentecostalism became increasingly acceptable to middle class Americans. In 1943, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Assemblies of God, Church of God (Cleveland, TN) and the Pentecostal Holiness Church became charter members of the National Association of Evangelicals, NAE, completely disassociating from the fundamentalists that had disfellowshipped them in 1928.[4]

The ministries of Oral Roberts in the 1950s and the founding of the Full Gospel Businessmen in 1952 by Demoos Shakarian helped mainstream the movement.

What became known an “Neo-Pentecostalism” emerged in the 1960s in the Roman Catholic Church, led by Joseph Leon Cardinal Suenens who was named by two Popes to be episcopal advisor to the renewal. And it exploded when an Episcopal priest, Dennis Bennett (1917-1991) detailed his Charismatic experience in Nine O’Clock in the Morning. He was forced out of his pastorate in Van Nuys, CA, but relocated to Seattle where he pastored an inner-city parish that grew rapidly, becoming ground zero for the Protestant Charismatic renewal.

A.B. Simpson defined what many consider to be the four cardinal doctrines of the Pentecostal movement: salvation, baptism in the holy Spirit, divine healing and the second coming of Jesus. A subsequent addition was belief that the initial evidence of Holy Spirit baptism is speaking in tongues. Finally, most Pentecostals also believe in the premillennial return of Jesus.

By 1995, the global number of Pentecostals and charismatics had reached 463 million, second only to the Roman Catholic Church. And sixty-six percent of all Christians in developing nations identify as Pentecostal or charismatic.

[1] Eddie L. Hyatt, 2000 Years of Charismatic Christianity: A 21st Century Look at Church History from a Pentecostal/Charismatic Perspective (Lake Mary, FL:Charisma House, 2002) Kindle edition, p.9.

[2] Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Christian Library, ed Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Edinburgh;T&T Clark, 1874) p. 240.

[3] Ibid., p. 243.

[4] V. Synan, “Pentecostalism,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed., Edited by Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), p. 901.

Religious syncretism is commonly used to describe the intermingling of non-Christian beliefs with the basic, scriptural tenants of Christianity. The first use of the Greek term synkrētismos or sunkrētismos, was by Plutarch (ca. A.D. 46-120), to describe the joining together of Cretans in opposition to a common enemy. “In the early 17th century, English speakers adopted the term in the anglicized form syncretism to refer to the union of different religious beliefs.”[1] The term has since been applied to the fusion of different philosophical and political ideologies as well. Often the result is a new belief or teaching system.

“From the early 1600s, however; the term in Christian writings has generally referred to the replacement or dilution of essential truths of the gospel through the incorporation of non-Christian elements.”[2] African churches have allowed spiritualistic practices to creep into worship. The Day of the Dead and other indigenous rituals continue among practicing Latin American Roman Catholics. And it is being incorporated into some American congregations through Christian Nationalism. God has a people, but they are not solely white evangelicals; and he has a kingdom, but it is not the United States. When it comes to Christianity, there is no warrant for modification. It is what it is and God expects it to stay that way.

“From its inception until the present, the church has faced questions of culture and religious practices that stand in contrast to the faith revealed in the Bible.”[3] When a congregation moves away from Scripture and ceases to listen to the Holy Spirit, it opens the door to syncretism. Both Testaments contain numerous examples of syncretism, and the unavoidable message is it has no place in the Body of Christ. God doesn’t change. God’s people were exiled for doing it and Christians were constantly warned against it by the apostle Paul and the writer of Hebrews.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 | NIV) Anything that takes our eyes off Jesus violates the first commandment. “In claiming allegiance to Christ, the only standard on which the Christian can rely is the normative framework of the Scriptures.”[4] Religious syncretism is not compatible with genuine Christianity. It is analogous to saying, “The God I believe in.” There is only one God. We have two choices—take him or leave him. The same holds true for Christianity. It is not a junkyard stew, a little of this and a little of

[1] Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, “syncretism,” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syncretism, accessed January 12, 2023.

[2] A.S.Moreau, “Syncretism,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2^nd ed., Edited by Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), p.1158.

[3] Ibid., p.1159.

[4] Ibid., p.1160.

Arminianism is a theological doctrine that holds humans have the free will to accept or reject God’s grace and may turn from him and lose their salvation. Named after Jacobus Arminius, (1560-1609), a Dutch Reformed theologian, it is a Protestant theological movement. Arminius considered the unconditional view of predestination held by Augustine, Luther, and Calvin to be unscriptural. He thought they had reversed the process by concluding people were either lost or saved prior to hearing the good news of the gospel and went so far as to conclude unconditional predestination makes God the “author of sin.”

He maintained free will and God’s sovereignty are compatible and holds a view of predestination because it is found in Scripture but defines predestination as God’s decision to save those who repent and place their faith in Jesus. The underlying contention is that God knows who will freely accept his offer of saving grace. His Five Articles of Remonstrance stood against Five Point Calvinism (TULIP). The two theological views were at the core of the Dutch Remonstrant issue.

Arminius’s five points were:

1. Free Will or Partial Depravity. All are sinful but all may come to God to be saved by grace. Although we are all sinners and cannot do anything good, including overcoming sin without divine intervention, anyone may be drawn to faith in Jesus by the Holy Spirit and saved by God’s grace.

2. Conditional Election. God “chooses” those he knows will accept his gift of grace.

3. Universal or Unlimited Atonement. Arminius believed that when the Bible says Jesus suffered for all, that is what it means. Jesus suffered for all but did not pay the price of sin for all. Otherwise, everyone would be saved. He died for the sin of those who repent and believe.

4. Resistible Grace. While it is not God’s will that any should die lost, people may resist God’s grace to the point the Holy Spirit quits calling them to repentance and faith.

5. Fall From Grace. A person can lose his or her salvation.

Arminianism is often mischaracterized as Pelagianism, a form of theological liberalism, and syncretistic.^[1] Arminianism was an important influence on John Wesley and a more liberal version went into the making of American Unitarianism.

For a divergent view, see Calvinism.

^[1] J.K. Grider, “Arminianism,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2^nd ed., Edited by Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), p.98.

Sin is any evil action or motive that is in opposition to God. Simply put, it is the attempt to take God’s rightful place in our lives. It controls our behavior and even our thoughts. Most of us have been born with a conscience, an inner voice that warns us when we are making a bad moral decision. Yet, we often ignore it. “If you don’t do what you know is right, you have sinned” (James 4:17 | CEV). Even when we want to do the right thing we often fall short. The apostle Paul confessed, “Instead of doing what I know is right, I do wrong” (Romans 7:19 | CEV). Sin is a genetic disease. No one is immune “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . .” (Romans 3:23 | NIV) 

Humans were made by God in his likeness. (Genesis 1:27, and 9:6) He intends for us to reflect his holy character. So, sin is any behavior that runs contrary to his nature. In the beginning humans were without sin. But God gave us freedom of choice or what we sometimes call “free will.” When faced with a moral choice our first parents sinned. They put more faith in Satan’s lies than in God’s truthful warning. (Genesis 3) When we do anything contrary to trust and faith in God we sin. It was their rebellion, their lack of faith, their desire to be like God that produced the first sin of disobedience. The apostle Paul said “everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). There is nothing humans can do on their own to make things right with God.

Adam and Eve caught and, subsequently, transmitted sin’s disease to every succeeding generation. Thankfully there is an antidote. “Yes, Adam’s sin brought punishment to all, but Christ’s righteousness makes men right with God, so that they can live. Adam caused many to be sinners because he disobeyed God, and Christ caused many to be made acceptable to God because he obeyed” (Romans 5:18-19 | TLB). Sin affects our relationship with God, other people and even nature itself. Jesus fixed what Adam broke. Totally and permanently rejecting Jesus, is the only sin that God will not forgive. 

There are 33 words for sin in the New Testament. One word that is often used as a synonym for sin in English translations is transgression. The Old Testament uses six different nouns and three verbs to describe sin. No matter what word you use sin is sin. There are no “little” sins. God hates all sin. In Old Testament times, an animal without defect was sacrificed to atone for or pay the price for sin. “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22 | NIV). We sin today because we are sinners. We normally don’t kill an animal to make up for our failures or transgressions. Yet, the penalty for sin is still death—a spiritual death, separation from God. For God to be just, a price must be paid for sin. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23 | NIV). The Good news of the gospel is Jesus already paid it with his life. “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 | NIV).

The second coming represents a branch of theological study called, eschatology, the study of the end times. The Bible contains numerous references to what evangelicals call the second coming, second advent or in the Greek, parousia. Parousia is probably the most illustrative. It is often taken to mean presence after absence or the arrival of a ruler. Jesus established his kingdom beachhead during his earthly ministry. It has steadily expanded since through the work of the Holy Spirit empowered Church. Jesus, the king, has been absent, but the Bible provides believers assurance that he will assume full control on his promised return. Many believe he will come for his Church first, an event commonly referred to as the “rapture.” 

Forty days after his resurrection, Jesus spoke with his followers in person for the last time. They were curious about when he would establish his earthly kingdom. He did not directly answer their question. Instead he promised to empower them to spread the gospel message to every part of the earth. Proliferation of the gospel is directly linked to his return. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14 | NIV). Most pastors, apparently do not agree. A study involving 1,000 Protestant pastors conducted in 2019 by LifeWay Research found over half (54 percent) did not believe sharing the gospel with all people groups would influence the timing at all. 

After promising the Holy Spirit, “he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven’” (Acts 1:9-11 | NIV). This was the first post-resurrection, public proclamation that the story of Jesus had not ended. It had only just begun. Jesus previously shared a glimpse of God’s plan on the night of his betrayal. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3 NIV).

The Thessalonian church, was worried about what would happen to believers who died during Christ’s absence. The apostle Paul cleared things up for them in a letter. 

“According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18). 

When Jesus returns, those believers who have died will be raised to new life to inhabit eternal bodies. Living disciples will not die, but they will be like Jesus. “Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, right now, and we can’t even imagine what it is going to be like later on. But we do know this, that when he comes we will be like him, as a result of seeing him as he really is” (1 John 3:2 | TLB). 

Shortly after Paul taught about what would happen when Jesus returns, he heard that false teachers were spreading “fake news” that Jesus had already returned and they had missed it. Paul pulled out his pen and sent them this.

 “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4). 

Even though the exact timing of Christ’s return is uncertain, both Paul and Jesus provided a few clues. (See Matthew 24:3-35) There is sufficient scriptural support for his return and reign, but the timing remains unclear. Jesus did not know when it would happen. “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father”(Matthew 24:36 | NIV).

Evangelicals generally agree on four points regarding the second coming:

1. Jesus is returning
2. When he does, everyone who has ever lived will be resurrected, restored to life
3. Satan and his fallen angel minion will be confined to a lake of fire for eternal punishment
4. The saved will spend eternity with God while the lost will spend eternity separated from God.

The exact how and why is subject to debate. There are a lot of theories, but little fact. The easiest way to wrap your mind around it is to listen to the advice of an old preacher who summed it up in three short sentences. “Jesus is returning. We don’t know when. Be ready.” More than half of evangelical Christians believe he will return by 2050. A Pew Research Center study released in 2010 disclosed 58 percent of white evangelical Christians believe Jesus will return by 2050. In a 2006 Pew survey, 79 percent of American Christians believed he would return someday, with 20 percent of respondents believing it will occur in their lifetime. 

Christ’s next appearance will be in the way the Jewish people of his day expected—as a conquering, warrior-ruler. One explanation for why many of the religious leaders did not accept Jesus as Messiah was they did not understand he would come to earth twice. The prophesies they read in the Old Testament did not clearly differentiate between a first appearance as suffering servant and a second as invincible king. They were awaiting the arrival of one who would rid them of Roman oppression; a man of war rather than the Prince of Peace. His second appearance will be quite different from his first as a helpless infant. “And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30 | NIV). Most, if not all, of the faithful will all be gone at that time. Those who witness the second coming will reluctantly kneel and confess that, “Jesus is Lord” before being sentenced to a place of eternal torment. It is likely the only thing that has prevented Christ’s return before now is God’s mercy. He is allowing the gospel to reach every people group. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). But the clock is ticking toward an event that is only on God’s calendar. 

Regardless of when Jesus returns, for genuine believers, the troubles of this life will be in our rear-view mirrors. But we can’t forget that we are on a battleship, not a cruise ship. We have been warned to remain vigilant, watching, praying and sharing gospel hope with a lost world. We are expected to be on the look-out; not focused on the pool, bar or buffet. “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34-36).

Revised: 01/30/2023