have any of you ever been in a upc/united pentecostal-apostolic church?

Question

And if you have and do not attend there anymore, why did you leave and why don't you go there anymore???

Answer 1

I was born and raised in a UPC church and will never leave. Those who say it is a cult are wrong. The "chattering like monkeys" is called The Holy Ghost it is in the Bible acts chapter 2.
Have you been to one?

Answer 2

Hello I attend a UPC church all the time . My church believes in repentance baptism tongues just like Acts 2:38 says. And the church u went to angel--- is not at all like mine or like the bible says a church should be.

Answer 3

I went to UPC church for 6 yrs almost to the day. I left for a couple different reasons. 1.) They allowed a man to be elected to be on the deacon board that is not a Christian. I find that unbiblical. 2.) I felt completely invisible. 3.) Members allow the clergy to guide their lives completely w/o a thought of their own. This is preached as obedience when its not.We must study to show ourselves approved. People,as such, must live for God because they want to. Not because they have to.4.) People were allowed to participate in services within 2-3 wks. after coming to the church. They openly didn't live the tenants of the church. Even 3 yrs. later they were not living in accordance to the tenants of the church. I just felt they weren't standing up for the same standards anymore. Standards didn't seem to apply to everyone. The preacher/his wife decided for you what was what.

Answer 4

I've been in lots of meetings where the 'five fold' ministry was operating (Apostolic) - the minister of these meetings travels the world - so i don't attend when he's out of the country. I might attend again if he ever comes back to my local church - it depends on the minister/pastor, whether i trust him or not.

It sounds like you've had a bad experience by the way you've worded the question - would this be right? can i just add - when God moves on His people - it can be scary at first - there's nothing to be scared of - when the angels appeared to ppl in the Bible they were terrified - worth remembering..

Answer 5

I left coz it felt wrong somehow, I didn't agree with certain main principles, the members were on a different wavelength than I am (which isn't bad in itself...just...uncomfortable) and coz if it makes people be like my ex friend, then I want nothing to do with it.... I can handle things being different and weird to me, but if it doesn't make me feel right inside, I have to wonder....

To be honest, I liked the UPC better than an APC, but there were still things I didn't agree with that made me feel uncomfortable.

Answer 6

Yes, it was ministered by the director of a treatment center I was in. They didn't "demand" that you attend church services, there was an alternative we could choose. But they wanted us to have a strong spiritual connection. I went out of respect for the minister who had helped so many people through rehab.

PRAISE JESUS!!!

(Pantheist)

Answer 7

I've been.... I've ministered in one.

They believe that one must literally say the name "Jesus" when one is baptised or one's baptism does not count... In fact, one's very salvation may be counterfeit..

I left because they are stupid.

I left Christianity because I became educated, objectively.

Jesus never even existed.

It's really the truth.

I've done my homework and all you sophomoric students of the Bible keep giving me all those tired old apologetic reasons why you think he did exist.

They do not stand to reason... Sorry. If there's just as much evidence for Jesus as there was Julius Caesar... Well then I guess I just will not believe that Caesar existed either...

That's one silly example. I know the evidence for Caesar is far greater than the evidence for Jesus - but anyway.

The Bible is not history, etc, etc....

It's only a matter of time when all the pertinent information gets out and Christianity will have to fall away like all other great myths that were believed.

Answer 8

Yes, I have.
And no, I don't go anymore.
Among the many reasons...

In one such church, the pastor did his very best to push me over into the waiting arms of the "catchers" behind me. My attitude is that if God wants me to fall over, He won't need anyone to push me...and I'm not about to "fake it" to make some pastor look good.
After the service, as everyone came through and shook hands with him, his comment to me was that he felt "great spiritual strength" coming from me.

I have seen men and women rolling around on the floor, making obscene animal noises, or on all fours, braying and mooing like farm animals...even one woman doing a very passable imitation of a chicken...to where one almost expected her to lay an egg. And this is supposed to be all under the loving touch of the Holy Spirit.
Right.

I have watched, and listened, while people spoke in "tongues"...and what I heard was either the repitition of a few nonsense syllables "gidda gidda gidda gidda", or weird howling noises as of a woman in horrible pain...
I watched a pastor's wife, generally an amiable woman, begin speaking in tongues...her facial expression changed, she became very angry, screaming at the congregation...I have no idea what she was supposed to be saying, but it was obviously not "have a great Sabbath"...

In that same vein, I've watched nice people change, and become fierce, cruel people. One young man of my acquaintance swears that he was locked in a dark room and forbidden food, water, bathroom privileges, or even light, while groups of people came in and "laid hands on him"...and, he says, their hands wandered all over his body...while they "prayed over him" in "tongues"...the idea was that he was going to stay there until he "got the Holy Spirit". When I met him, he was terrified that he had committed the "unforgivable sin"...basically he "faked it" so that he could get out of that room. (Later on, children's services intervened, and he was removed from his parents...his dad is still an "elder" in that church.)

And finally, I have been robbed at least twice in one of these churches. Once, my wallet, another time, my sweater-coat.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea...
Nope, I won't be going back....

Answer 9

i have been to both UPC and apostolic. they are two different things. my family goes but i have never really understood their mindset. i am a christian and i believe in what the bible says. and they like to argue and interpret it in their own way. for example there are plenty of places in the bible where Jesus refers to himself god and the holy ghost as separate beings but they believe in the oneness that Jesus is god and the holy ghost.

Answer 10

I regularly visit a pentecostal church for prophesy conferences. I love it and I am thinking about making it my home church.