Unity of the Spirit (was Re: Rings with a twist)

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At 01:53 PM 8/8/96 -0500, you wrote:

>> > We shall endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come
>
>> I was always told that paragraph was in specific reference to trinitarian
>> doctrine that was still in some of the churches when the two previous
>> church organizations (pajc and ???) came together.  This was to reinforce
>> that the preceding paragraph was indeed "our" doctrine.  This didn't work
>> out as expected, resulting in the Assemblies of God.
>
>Last year was the fiftieth anniversery of the UPC and came about as a
>result of a merger between the Pentecostal Church Incorporated, and the
>Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ, which were described in the
>booklet _Meet the United Pentecostal Church_ as the two largest Oneness
>Pentecostal bodies.
>
>The Assemblies of God predates the UPC and, in fact, various Oneness
>groups came about as a split from the AofG.
>

Richard's right of course, concerning the origins of the AOG. Though, some
time ago I remember reading about what Br. Young is referring to in Dr.
David Reed's work on pre-UPC oneness history. (BTW, Dr. Reed really is "da
Man" when it comes to pre-UPC history. That he's cited positively by both
C.R.I. *and* David Bernard tells you something about the objectivity of his
work... I highly recommend!)

Anyways as I recall, Br. Young is correct that the said paragraph was in
reaction to doctrinal tension in the merger of the PAJC and PCI. But the
dispute wasn't about the trinity, but tongues!!! and it's relationship to
regeneration! Many members of one of those groups (I think it was the PCI)
held to the "classic" pentecostal position on tongues (i.e. the older
pentecostal doctrine that spirit baptism was an experience subsequent to
salvation, as taught by Parham in 1900 and the AOG today). Everyone else
held to what is most commonly taught today in the UPCI - tongues as the
exclusive sign of regeneration.

This is all I can remember. It may be that the classic pentecostals (always
being outnumbered) left the UPC and went to the Assemblies of God (which by
this time had long been established) and that's what Br. Young remembers.
But, this is just my personal conjecture. I could look it up, if anyone's
interested. Maybe some of the old-timers on the list can fill in the details
or correct me in anything if I'm wrong..... anyone? :-)

Charles

P.S. Speaking of the AOG, I recently subscribed to their relatively new
e-mail list on my home pc. Guess what the long running topic is...?  

Yep, holiness standards.