Oneness Oneness

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Oh man, and I was hoping to start this conversation!

Bro. Shaw, I'm very glad you  did! We must be feeling  the same burden!

I am NOT UPC, PAW, or any other denomination, and NEVER will be. But I am
Apostolic, Oneness, Acts 2:38 to the core.

I recently completed a very long email to another Apostolic who is
currently attending a UPC church. I have posted that email at my home page
and would dearly love to hear responses from you other Oneness-Acts
2:38-Apostolic's to that message. I am still waiting to hear back from
Michael.

It's located off my home page here:

http://www.corecom.net/~brendapp/apostoc.htm

For those of you without Internet access, I'd be more than happy to email
it to you. (It took six emails to send!)

The letter covers man-made organizations, man-made holiness standards,
women in the ministry, Babylonian influences, etc.

Basically speaking, my brothers and sisters, the reason there isn't and
won't be total unity under the current structures is because they are
man-made organizations! This gives us the freedom and flexibility to say-
"I choose this organization over that organization" (i.e. PAW vs. UPC,
etc.)

I've done a bit of studying into the early organizations of, for example,
the UPC, and the PAW. And it is, and always has been to me, a very obvious
reason that there is still disunity. I am very surprised, actually, that no
one has picked up on this fact yet, to tell you the truth.

Read this scripture, and tell me if you CAN'T see what it is...

Eph 4:11 "And he gave some, APOSTLES; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
Christ: 13 TILL we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge
of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to
and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of
men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;"

Do you see that? Especially the two words I've capitalized up there? "He
gave some APOSTLES... TILL we all come in the unity of the faith..."

Folks, we're not at the unity of the faith nor fulness of Christ yet, so
where ARE these APOSTLES???

We call ourselves Apostolics, and that's the one thing we DON'T have, and
haven't had AT ALL, in this latter rain movement- APOSTLES!!! Seems kind of
ironic, doesn't it?

When our brothers were formulating man-made organizations, instead of
seeking God for HIS hierarchy which God had already ordained, and is
clearly set forth in HIS word, they "man-made" one, or two, or three, or
four, or....?????? other man-made structures.

Instead of seeking God to anoint some apostles, etc. they set up
organizations in which the leaders were ELECTED by men, and that can be set
in, and out, by the elections of men also! So where's God's say in all
this? Where does God's word authorize these man-made organizations???? What
happened to- Rom 11:29 "The gifts and calling of God are without
repentance." So how does one "lose" a pastorship, or ordination by not
paying dues to a man-made organization?

My brethren, the types of "governments" that "denominations" represent are
listed well below, and definitely  UNDER the authority of all the other
ministries (except one)!!!

1Co 12:28 "And God hath set some in the church, FIRST apostles, SECONDARILY
prophets, thirdly teachers, AFTER THAT miracles, THEN gifts of healings,
helps, GOVERNMENTS, diversities of tongues."

Do you see where "GOVERNMENTS" is listed in priority? One step up from
tongues in importance. And yet all these man-made denominations RULE over
the saints CONTRARY to God's hierarchy, DO THEY NOT???  I am asking you
here honestly- I don't know, I've never been under man-made hierarchies
that were placed OVER the ministers. How does it feel??? Please don't get
insulted by this, I'm asking you an honest question.

There was a group of people in the Bible that were concerned that they
didn't have a natural authority to rule them by also. Do you know what God
thought of them?

1Sa 8:4 "Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and
came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5 And said unto him... now MAKE US A KING TO
JUDGE US LIKE ALL THE NATIONS."

1Sa 8:6 "But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to
judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. 7 And the LORD said unto Samuel,
Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for
they have not rejected thee, BUT THEY HAVE REJECTED ME, THAT I SHOULD NOT
REIGN OVER THEM."

So you see, instead of seeking God to reinstate HIS hierarchy, our
brother's did us a "favor" by creating new man-made organizations, thereby
REJECTING Christ's reign over them, in the same manner as the Hebrews, by
rejecting God's previously ordered, and ordained hierarchy!!!

So that you can see a little clearer what I mean, here is an excerpt from
"20th Century Pentecostals" by Fred Foster, pg 151, available from PPH...

"The First Meeting of the United Pentecostal Church... was held September
25, 1945... The first business session of the merged organization... was to
be the ELECTION of officers, and it was NATURAL THAT EACH MIND WAS
QUESTIONING ITSELF ON WHO THESE WOULD BE..."

"NATURAL"??? "Each mind was questioning itself"???? The "ELECTION of
officers"? What happened to God's ordination process? Whatever happened to
seeking God for His perfect will???? That's what SHOULD HAVE happened, but
they sought their NATURAL MINDS instead!!!!

Please show me the calling of "General Superintendent" in the Bible!! Is
this the "pope" of the UPC?? :-) No offence, just curious. Or where were
any of the "officers" of the New Testament ever "elected"???

And if they're NOT in the Bible, where is any God given authority for them
to take leadership over GOD'S people, or more specifically- OVER the
apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers?

Deu 4:2 "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall
ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD
your God which I command you."

Rev 22:18 "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the
prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall
add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. 19 And if any man
shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from
the things which are written in this book."

That's  partly why I'll never come UNDER the authority of the UPC or any
other man-made organization!

----

Now, did any of you realize that the Apostles represent the foundation of
the New Jerusalem?

Rev 21:14 "And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the
names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb."

Eph 2:19 "Now therefore ye are... the household of God; Eph 2:20 And are
BUILT UPON THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES and prophets, Jesus Christ
himself being the chief corner stone;"

Is Jesus still in the church? Are prophets still in the church? So how come
there aren't any God-ordained apostles in the church?

Some of us have been waiting around for the Jews to rebuild their temple.
Maybe we should be seeking God about rebuilding OUR temple- and where
better place to start than on the foundation of 12 APOSTLES???? And the
complete restoration of the five-fold ministry?? Rather than all these
man-made, organizations that only serve to keep us divided under the rules
of men- what could be wrong with, instead, seeking Jesus Christ, that He
restore HIS Biblical hierarchy and structure this, HIS church and
organization accordingly? Or don't we BELONG to Him?

Something for you all to think about at least, isn't it?

----

Again, please check out my letter to Bro. Michael. It may answer a bunch
more questions on this subject BEFORE anybody may happen to put their foot
in their mouth! ;-)

Please note: I'm not writing this because I think you all should leave the
UPC. I just want to make it understood where it is situated in a biblical
perspective of things. I showed you where "governments" is listed in 1
Corinthians 12:28- so it IS there, but it's listed next to the last. So I'm
NOT saying bodies like the UPC have no place in the church. I'm saying we
"Apostolics" need to get these organizations back DOWN into their proper
perspective, and seek Jesus to lift us UP to the fulness of HIS CHURCH
STRUCTURE that we all can grow up unto the perfect, mature "spiritual man"
that He told us about in Eph 4:11-14!

Personally, I believe this may possibly be what it's going to take to
restore the full Apostolic power to our salvation message!

And also,  then maybe we CAN all GO HOME!!!!

May God bless you all, my brethren...
Tom Raddatz

http://www.corecom.net/~tomrpp/watchman.htm