My girlfriend is going to leave the Adventist Church for the United Pentacostal Church. She had 3 days Bible study with these guys last week and is fully convinced that they have the truth. I went to their Church Bible study last night and was not able to provide an argument to their beliefs because of my poor Biblical knowledge. (which i am working on changing)

Angie has been searching for answers for almost a year now, our church does not provide any spiritual upbringing whatsoever. She met this lady at her work (angie works at a AOG school as a teacher aid and this lady works int he tuckshop) and this ladies husband is a pastor and that she said he can talk to her. I said to her before she went to study that if it's in the Bible it's ok. Which is something i regret saying now.

She was at their house all Wednesday (Public Holiday), then after work Friday until Midnight, then straight after Church on Saturday til Midnight and all day Sunday

They have proved to Angie that:

1. The Sabbath Day is not neccassary to keep, as shown in the Bible - Apparently...

2. Eating Unclean meats is acceptable because God ordered Peter to do so in the vision he had.

3. Speaking in Toungs is a neccesity for Salvation.

4. Baptism should ONLY be ever done once and that our Church does it wrong.

I rang up the Elder of our church (really great guy, imo better then our pastor) last night in tears because i know in my heart that something is wrong and we are going to talk about it tonight. Angie initially agreed to come and stuff, but when i rang her this morning she said she isn't ready... which i don't really understand.


This is their beliefs:

Apparently the fastest growing church in North America.

http://www.upca.org.au/index.php?page=believe

If anyone can help me with anything to do this please PM or post here. Move thr thread somewhere else... it doesn't matter

Both her and i need prayer.

Thank-you

I will pray for you and your friend, Coulsty.

You've been added to our pray list. I know what you mean about poor Biblical knowledge! Why is it that we know other things with no problem, but when it comes to the bible oops I can't remember anything?

Coulsty

I was baptized initially into that kind of Church, and I used to speak in tongues.

Take your time, read both sides of the thoughts.

Pray for wisdom, study the word.

Let me know if there is anything I can do.

Yep it's true. Like i know all my Bible stories but when it gets down to the nitty gritty of the Bible, i have never really looked into it.

I am confident that this elder will be able to help you out. I pray it will be a good learning experience for you. God works in mysterious ways.

Good news! We are making progress.

Thanks for the prayers everyone!

Praise the Lord.

I Although I live very away of you and... I understand little english... I understand which you have problem, one day I spoked with people of that church (Pentecostal Unida de Colombia)... and they are very convincing... I understand you... and I will pray with you Tonight(I have bad memory, but I´ll remember you tonight)...
Good Night, And remember, when you Studies the Bible and pray... and you have faith... our God Help you in all time and he will send you the Holy Spirit for to answer with the truth to all peoples and turn back to you girl friend to the truth...

God Bless you Coulsty!!!

Keep us updated as to how things are going. I just saw your post today. It's fairly easy to show the truth of the Bible's teaching on such subjects as the Sabbath and the question you raised about Peter's being commanded to eat unclean animals.

The question regarding the Sabbath is answered by the simple fact that unless Sunday became part of the New Covenant before it was ratified, it is not a part of it. The Bible is very clear that once a covenant is ratified, it cannot be changed or added to. In this case, it would mean that Sunday had to be a part of the New Covenant before Jesus' death, not afterwards. But was it? The disciples of Jesus kept the Sabbath according to the commandment after His death, showing that they knew nothing about any change in that regard. There are many ways of showing from the Bible that the Bible sabbath is still valid under the New Covenant. I hope and pray that your leaders there are able to do this.

As far as Acts 10 is concerned, you will notice that the issue has to do with calling non-Jews unclean, and has nothing to do with eating animals. The whole context has to do with associating with gentiles and teaching them the gospel. See Acts 10: 28. Also, Acts 10: 34, 35 tells clearly what Peter says he learned from his vision: that God is no respecter of persons, etc. Peter does not say he learned that he can now eat pork or other unclean animals, etc.

What happens as a result of the vision? Does Peter immediately go out and buy unclean animals? No. Instead, immediately after the vision, the gospel is preached to people whom Peter had previously considered unclean. To see this clearly, review carefully Acts 11: 1-18. Notice that nowhere in Acts 10 and 11 does Peter say that he learned from that vision that he can change his diet, but what he does do is change how he relates to non-Jews.

Thanks for that insight John317 and thank-you everyone for all the prayers so far.

I managed to work all that out by further reading the passages within the context. I showed my friend this and she doesn't understand that this is a prime example that there are misleading understandings out there.

Angie still needs prayer, though we are still doing Bible study with the elder (he is a brilliant guy) of our church, she usually just sits there reading from the Bible what she wants to read and seems to ignore anything we discuss (unless it coincides with that she is currently learning from UPC). Angie believes that it is Gods will that she is to be there and will not let anyone tell her otherwise.

Her Uncle and Aunt (the people she lives with) and I, tried sitting her down to discuss the fact that she is just consuming everything these UPC people want her to learn but she sits there with a mindless face not listening to anything we say. She doesn't want to talk to anybody what she is learning but simply wants us to pray for her.

I am really scared for her and myself, i cannot discuss with her about anything about what she is doing as she has threatened to end our relationship because she wants to follow God. This to me is absolute rubbish, because if anything would get in the way of our relationship it would be the devil.

She practically lives at the UPS pastors house, constantly doing Bible studies and the likes. I really do not understand what God is trying to do here.

Please keep praying for Angie and myself.

Yes, we here at the Forum are certainly continuing to pray for you and Angie. I know something of what you are going through. Speaking in tongues and taking part in their services are very strong emotional ties. Please let us know if there is any other way that we can help you and Angie.

You gave an Australian site in your reference. Does this mean that this Church you are referring to has its headquarters in Australia? Just interested as I live in Australia and had not really heard of them.

I couldn't get anything related to religion or church or the Bible. Could you tell me the name of the group so I could look it up? I'm sure I've at least heard of it. Is it the United Pentecostal Church? Does this link describe their views?--- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Pentecostal_Church_International

If so, it is one of the fastest growing churches in North America, as shown by this info from the Wikipedia:

Since its formation in 1945, the UPCI has been one of the fastest growing denominations in North America, growing from 617 member churches in 1946 to 4,358 churches in 2007 (which includes 4099 autonomous and 258 daughter works).
the UPCI in North America has 9,085 ministers.
the UPCI in North America reports a Sunday School attendance circa 650,000.
the UPCI has a presence in 175 other nations with 22,881 licensed ministers, 28,351 churches and meeting places, 652 missionaries, and a foreign constituency of over 3 million.
total worldwide constituency, including North America, is listed at 4,036,945.

Coulsty gave a reference as shown above, a reference to a church in Australia. If it is an American based Church Why not a reference to a website in USA? I am interested in why Coulsty gave the reference to an Australian website.

Not that it really matters relating to the request for prayer Coulsty has asked for which it goes without saying that we will remember in prayer. Just interest in knowing why the Australian site was quoted.

I honestly do not not what to say. I don't know how it happened, other then it just happened.

Prayers have been answered. Angie is writing a letter of resignation to the United Penticostal Church because of things that go against what she believes in.

Cannot thank you guys enough, but most of all cannot thank God enough.

I think this has been a test from God, this whole incident has brought both Angie and i closer to God.


God Bless.

Wow!

That's amazingly great news, Coulsty. Wonderful to hear.

I hope you tell us what the main things are that Angie finally decided go against what she believes. Were the Sabbath, "tongues" and eating of unclean animals among those things?

Be sure to thank the church elder there for studying with you and her on those things. We'll continue to pray for you and Angie that you will stay close to Christ.