Posted by pelathais post #28
"I believe there are writings of Oneness Pentecostal pioneers that make it clear that they believed people not having been "saved" in the three step manner were going to make heaven. I think some of those writings would make for a good discussion of a documented premise.
I'm testing the waters with an upload of a pdf document... and there it is!
John Dearing seems to take a different tack at this issue than the "light" and "lesser light" teachings. The attached PDF document is a scan from the Pentecostal Home Study Course, copyright PPH and etc. This was required reading for all UPC ministers up until the late 1980's. For background, Dearing (1880-1940) was one of the founders of the PCI.
The most important part is:
Quote:
"We so often meet with the question, 'What are you going to do with the many faithful people who have lived for God and yet never experienced
the baptism of the Holy Ghost as in Acts 2:4?' Then we are glad for our text by which we can answer that God can call those things which be not as though they were. If God would count Abraham's faith for righteousness and call him the "father of many" while he was yet childless, is it not just like Him to do that for my old faithful grandmother? Yes, He can and does, thank God! I am not talking about all the professors that died before the outpouring of the Spirit, but I am talking about those who really walked with God. When those precious souls surrendered their lives to the known will of God, they were made happy in the blessing He gave them and the blood gave them a clean slate, a perfect standing before God. Yet we have to admit that their state was far different from that of a Spirit-filled believer of today. Can we not believe that their standing was just as good as ours, that God through their faith would call the things that be not as though they were?
However, if those same people had lived on to see our day of increased
light and had desired to keep their standing, they too would have embraced Acts 2:4 and would soon have been rejoicing in a Spirit-filled
life. Thus their standing would have remained the same, but their state would have been greatly changed." (emphasis in original)
This is also remarkable for the insight that it gives to us in showing how the first generation of Pentecostals looked at themselves. They really felt that something remarkable had taken place in 1900 - something so dramatic that it affected the way in which God would judge man. They were drawing a line through history here. This is an important consideration for those who hold to the "continuous remnant" theory. The first generation of Pentecostals didn't know of any such "remnant" in their time.
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Also, note how he states that those who were not Spirit-filled still had a "perfect standing" with God. That first generation was not just troubled about whether their Trinitarian "brethren" would be saved. They were troubled about their own family members, friends and fellow ministers. The severe judgment that is inherent in the "Three-Stepper" way was even more problematic for our spiritual pioneers.
I think that is why the "Three-Stepper" program had to wait a couple of generations before it could become dominant. This may also be the reason so many "Three-Steppers" are such historical revisionists. They desperately want the Anabaptists and Albigensians to be "Oneness Pentecostals" so that they don't have to send everyone to hell."
~ pelathais
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