To former members of Pentacostal Churches:

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Chichebe

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Recently I have been having a number of discussions with friends who are members of Pentacostal Churches. Through these discussions I have had the opportunity to address a number of misconceptions and common objections of the Catholic Church. I ask these questions purely for my education and to guide me in my discussions.
  1. Firstly, what were the things that drew you to the Pentacostal Church?
2)If you have left what were your reasons and what things from your old church do you miss in the denomination you eventually joined?
  1. If you did become Catholic, why, and what were the biggest hurdles?
  2. How supportive were your friends in the church you left?
Thanks
 
Doihavtasay thanks for your great reply. There are a number of things you said that struck a cord. My best friend’s girlfriend is from a Pentacostal Church and it is commendable the amount of support present in her church. But she has had difficulty in approaching members of her church regarding her relationship with a Catholic. I was wondering how big a deal it is to fellow members when someone is on the verge of either embracing the Catholic Faith or contemplating marriage to a Catholic- and why is this the case?

Lastly, had reading about Church History helped you in your journey? What was the most influential work you read?

Thanks 👍
 
The first thing you should learn about the “Pentacostal” church is how to spell Pentecostal correctly.
 
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Chichebe:
Recently I have been having a number of discussions with friends who are members of Pentacostal Churches. Through these discussions I have had the opportunity to address a number of misconceptions and common objections of the Catholic Church. I ask these questions purely for my education and to guide me in my discussions.
  1. Firstly, what were the things that drew you to the Pentacostal Church?
Well, my brothers and sister and I were brought into the Assemblies of God because my widowed mother got all excited about speaking tongues and claiming healings and that sort of thing. My brothers and sister left the sect as soon as they were old enough, but I stayed because of the Bible teaching, which I thought was wonderful. I know as much as I do about the Bible because I attended and graduated from one of their colleges with a B. A. in Bible and religious education.

2)If you have left what were your reasons and what things from your old church do you miss in the denomination you eventually joined?

My experience was rather oppressive, I’m afraid. It was like being married to the wrong man. For instance, I was constantly judged by others and had to prove my faith to them. I also felt like I was spinning my wheels, spiritually speaking. One can live on gratitude towards God just so long before it wears thin–it was about all they knew about when it came to the prayer life. That and “claiming” this and that in Jesus’ name. I didn’t know there was anything better because they kept telling us that liturgical churches were spiritually dead and the worst was the Catholic Church which was the Whore of Babylon. Reading C. S. Lewis convinced me they were wrong about the first thing and reading J. R. R. Tolkien told me they were wrong about the latter.
  1. If you did become Catholic, why, and what were the biggest hurdles?
I did become Catholic but it was a long process, so I could never tell it all here. Suffice it to say, I looked into the teachings of the Catholic Church and discovered that they were reasonable and believeable, and that my sect had been dead wrong about what Catholics believe and practice. My biggest obstacle, at first, was the Marian teachings, but once I understood that the Church was founded by Christ, I realized that it must be right about Mary, which prompted me to look into the teachings for myself. Once again, I found that the Church taught something altogether different about Mary than I had been led to believe in the AoG.
  1. How supportive were your friends in the church you left?
I didn’t have much to do with my former friends from the sect because I left it before I graduated from the AoG college. I had returned to the ECUSA at the time, which they accepted because my parish had a charismatic group to which I then belonged. And by the time I decided to become Catholic I’d married and moved on with my life.

I did have an experience with a former roommate who had married and had a set of twins and was expecting her second set of twins. Her AoG church gave her a baby shower and her sister in law, whom I also knew from the AoG college got my name and address and invited me. I was going through RCIA at the time. Mingling in again with that sect and seeing how it operated only further convinced me that I was doing the right thing by becoming Catholic. I could tell you why, but there is no need to go into the whole thing. What I particularly remember was how I thankfully kissed my statue of Mary when I got home. I was so happy to know that I would never have to submit myself to their brand of acting and believing ever again.

Thanks

You’re very welcome! 🙂
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Chichebe:
I was wondering how big a deal it is to fellow members when someone is on the verge of either embracing the Catholic Faith or contemplating marriage to a Catholic- and why is this the case?

Oh it’s a BIG deal alright ! The RCC is the enemy, it’s the whore of babalyon ( so glad my self worth is not tied into my spelling ability LOL ) with the Pope being the anti-christ. So if a friend of yours was about to join up with such a cult, what would your reaction be?
The great majority of prots honestly believe this. It’s written in some of the prot catechism even! I know it’s in Luther’s and Westminister Confesions. Not that the Pentecostols ever READ or even have one… it’s still the prevailing view.

One thing that does confuse them is when they meet a Catholic who OBVIOUSLY loves and follows the Lord. Christians, no matter the denom, recognize each other on some deep level as a brother/sister in the Lord. They don’t understand how a believer could be deluded by the RCC with out the Holy Spirit ‘saving’ them from it or revealing to them the pagen, idolatrous doctrine of the Church. It doesn’t fit with their view that the HS will protect and guide you to TRUE doctrine. It leaves them with a gnawing doubt that the HS isn’t as powerful as they were lead to believe…which of course they can say, and they can’t admit the obvious either- that the RCC just might be a Christian Church and not a cult. So they are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

So best rememdy is to be that real Christian to them. Show them the light of Christ in your life, and be open to questions from them.

Lastly, had reading about Church History helped you in your journey? What was the most influential work you read?

I have been a member of many theological lists over the years. One very good reformed list where some brave Catholics had ventured to get on. They always posted interesting web referals to originals works that I would follow and read. For example- I was not aware of the reformers devotion to Mary! It’s so despised in reformed churches that this is NEVER brought up or discussed in Sunday School. It’s like a skeleton in their closet. Refomers rely heavily on church history to ‘prove’ they are the ‘original’ church so it’s rather humerous they have to back pedal on any doctines or belief that they no longer hold. 😉

There was not one single item. Just learning and reading the original works/beliefs of the reformers for starters, then go on to Augustine and the other church father’s beliefs in important matter such as the Eucherist- was a REAL eye opener. All these things are available on-line.

Another thing that really helped me was having been trained in the ‘covenental’ view of the Bible.
It made it very easy for me to understand a lot of what Scott Hahn has to say and light bulbs started going off in my head…

I think the biggest hurdle to RCC is that you have to really study in order to understand it all. Or maybe to truly appreciate it all. I was raised Catholic, but it wasn’t until this year that the connection between the OT temple and the RCC church hit home! The fact that Gd has ALWAYS physically been present with His people; First walking with Adam & Eve, then in the Ark of the Covenent, now in the Euchirist. I mean WOWEEE!!! It would be anti-Biblical to think OTHERWISE LOL

Thanks 👍
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Doihavtasay thanks. Recently through these many discussions I have found that I have had to do some work. You mentioned Scott Hahn, like you I have found his work has really helped in my understanding of covenants. I am currently reading ‘Swear To God - The Promise and Power of the Sacraments’ by Hahn having just finished reading ‘Rome Sweet Home’. I thought the latter book was good but I have found ‘Swear To God’ even better!

One of my biggest challenges is convincing my friends that you can be Christian and Catholic. As they often have this belief like you said that there can recognise you as being Christian but is is almost as if it is a mistake.Like the appearance of a rare genetic mutation that has suddenly arisen. No matter how much you inform them that there are others like me and you they can to believe it.

Anyway I am happy that some are becoming receptive to my message at least enough to deals with there own misconceptions.

Any way thanks for your response - seems you were the only former Pentecostal in the forum! This was the first ever thread I started I will try to be more inclusive next time or we can use MSN mesenger 😃

👍
 
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