Overview
Within the Pentecostal movement, the United Pentecostal Church is quite
unusual. It holds some non-traditional beliefs that separates it from being
called Christian. It is important to understand that
the body of Christ can afford to differ on nonessential issues, but not when it
comes to the essentials of the Christian doctrine. It is therefore important to
remember that a cult according to the Word of God is any group of
people that worship anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ, and
believe anything contrary
to His Word as found in the Bible. The Bible is truth, but should never be
twisted and wrangled so that it will fit a particular belief as the UPC has
done.
Cult Beliefs:
They believe that the ability
to speak in tongues is a necessary indication of a valid religious conversion.
They deny the legitimacy of the conversion of "born again" Christians from
other denominations where tongues are rarely, if ever, spoken. "No tongues
means no salvation." So, for example, they would regard essentially all
Southern Baptists as unsaved, even though most had repented of their sins and
trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The Bible never says that speaking in
tongues is a sign of salvation; in the New Testament, it is recorded that some
people began speaking in tongues, but others did not. For example, how about
the disciples/apostles? Did they speak in tongues when they were saved? They
spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost, but they were already saved long
before that event.
They share with other "Oneness
Pentecostals" the practice of baptizing in the name of Jesus Christ only.
(See Acts 2:38) Jesus Christ gave instructions on baptism in Matthew 28:19.
He specifically said to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit; any deviation from this commandment is unacceptable.
They believe that anyone who is
not baptized in the name of Jesus only will not be accepted into heaven when
they die. This is nonsense and not found anywhere in the Bible.
They reject the traditional
concept of the Trinity. They do not believe that the Godhead is composed of
three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They believe that God is a unity,
a Spirit, who has manifested himself in three roles to humanity." An analogy
would be a single man who plays three different roles: that of father, son,
and husband -- either sequentially or at the same time. They interpret the
Bible incorrectly. It is true that the Godhead is one (I John 5:7), but God
exists in three separate and distinct personalities at the same time. Evidence
of this is found when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Ghost came upon Him and the
Father declared that this was his Son in whom he was well pleased. Matthew
3:16-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22
They believe there is no salvation outside of the United Pentecostal church. The Bible says there no salvation outside of Jesus Christ, not a church. John 1:12; 3:1-8, Romans 10:8-13
Source: http://www.eaec.org/cults.htm