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I'm not UPC and have refrained from posting on this thread for that reason. But, and with respect to the thread starter (Bro. RKent Smith, I believe), the very title to this thread shows the real problem. Yes, the UPC needs a healer. But, see, the problem doesn't begin and end with the UPC. The problem trancends denominational (or, if you perfer, organizational) barriers. And THAT is the problem. The barriers. The walls that are build between us. And there are many: The New Birth, women preachers, the 2nd coming, Baptism, the Godhead, and on and on. Oneness Pentecostalism goes far beyond the UPC. There are umpteen Oneness organizations and... independent churches? Well, they are countless. The real need for a healer is that we are a divided church. Thats our problem. We live with the mistaken notion that, in order for us to be a truly united Pentecostal church, we all have to dress, walk, talk and live the exact same way. Thats not true. Never has been true, never will be true. As long as we walk around in separate bodies, we will have separate personalities... and, subsequently, separate ideas. The truth is, even within the confines of a particular organization there will always be differing viewponts. To believe two people who affilate themselves with a particular group will automatically believe everything exactly the same is a fantasy. We won't all ever believe everything the same. Who ever said we have to? Sure, we can only walk together if we agree, but on EVERY point of doctrine? On every issue? I think not. If that is the case, then we'll all be walking alone.
So, yes, we need a healer. But where is the healer going to come from? From within the group? No, not according to biblical precedence. Whenever God sent a healer (a prophet, etc) in the Bible, he came from outside the camp. Elijah the Tishbite (which means "a stranger") was a stranger to the house of Ahab. John the Baptist came from the wilderness. Jesus Himself, a Nazerene, was a stranger to Jerusalem. When the NT needed a word from God, who brought that message? It was Paul, a recently converted former persecutor of the church. An outsider.
All the resolutions and recisions of resolutions will do nothing to effect healing... healing will only come from the Sun of Righteousness. When the battles end.. when the dust clears.. then, and only then, will the Lord be able to bring healing. Until we recognize the battle isn't a UPC battle, and that it is our battle we will never be healed. Our enemy? .. not resolutions and affirmations. Not TVs and liberlism. Our battle is our division. Our divided spirits. Our divided house. Healing can come only when we follow the words of the prophet:
2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
That, and that alone, will bring healing to the Body of Christ.
__________________
"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him...." -Psa. 37:7
Waiting for the Lord is easy... Waiting patiently? Not so much.
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