Pentecostals were among the first, if not the first, of modern Christians to rediscover the gifts of the Spirit promised in Scripture. They also hold some of the highest moral standards in Christianity. Pentecostals are careful to hold to Scripture as their rule of faith and conduct. However, some of their beliefs are based on tradition or a misinterpretation of Scripture and thus are incorrect.
Following are some of the errors held by these sincere seekers after righteousness:
- The early Pentecostals understood the necessity of having divine help to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset” and faithfully run the race that was set before them. Over time, emotional religious fervor crept in, supplanting the earlier emphasis on holy living. Doctrines have since been developed emphasizing the excitement, or “new word of prophecy.” The danger for many Pentecostals is to accept personal experience as superior to Scriptural teachings or else twist Scripture to fit their personal experience.
Emotional experiences are never to replace the word of Yah. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Yahushua Himself warned: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:22-23)
- Most Pentecostals believe everyone has an immortal soul. This doctrine contradicts Scripture, which declares Yahuwah “is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality.” (1 Timothy 6:15-16)
The belief in an immortal soul brings with it the accompanying error of an eternally burning hell, for if all souls are immortal, there is no true death. This also contradicts Scripture, which teaches that death is the reward of the wicked. Only the righteous are gifted with eternal life: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of Yah is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23)
- The majority of Pentecostals are premillennial, believing that Yahushua will secretly rapture the righteous from the earth before the time of trouble. Daniel refers to a “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time” pointedly adding, “and at that time thy people shall be delivered.” (See Daniel 12:1.)
Scripture records Yahuwah’s dealings with the faithful of ages past. When He sent a flood to cleanse the earth, He saved Noah through the flood, not from the flood. Likewise, the three worthies were saved through Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, not from it. Yahushua explicitly states: “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:13) Heaven’s plea to flee Babylon is specifically so that all may escape her plagues!
- Pentecostals are probably best known for their belief that speaking in tongues is evidence for Spirit baptism. The ability to speak in a foreign language is certainly a gift Yahuwah can give and there are modern instances where this has occurred. However, all recorded instances of speaking in tongues in Scripture were for purposes of evangelization and thus were, without exception, in known tongues. The modern practice of glossolalia, also known as “speaking in an unknown tongue,” is inconsistent with Scripture. Paul clarified the difference between the true gift of tongues that comes from Yahuwah versus the spurious counterfeit by gently explaining, “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself.” (1 Corinthians 14:4) Edification of oneself, self-exaltation, is inconsistent with the example given by Yahushua.
Yahuwah loves Pentecostals. Their desire for closeness with Him is very precious to Him. He now invites them to lay aside the errors that separate them from Him and draw near to Him in fullness of truth.
