On 1/5/06, Miguel <fbco@...> wrote: > I have met several "charismatics" here that have tied the two together - > belief + baptism = salvation...then add tongues is the sign you are truly > saved. > > Now I read your post - I know these other pastors personally - you both have > different messagess. One is a CoG in Christ, two are AoG, one a Full > Pentecostal - they all have the same doctrine belief + baptism = salvation > with tongues as the proof. > > Reasons like these descrepencies is why many baptist, like myself, do not > accept baptism from non-baptist groups. > > Miguel I was in the AoG for 13 years. I am now SBC. In my years as part of the AoG I never met anyone who believed that "belief + baptism = salvation with tongues as the proof." Salvation was belief. Period. I was baptized by immersion as a believer by a close friend who is an AoG pastor. My SBC church accepted this as a valid baptism. What I did find in the AoG as fairly common, however, was the belief that unless you were "Spirit-filled" (and by that it is meant "speak in tongues") that you were a marginal Christian at best. You could not be expected to be truly effective in God's work until you were "Spirit-filled." When I visited my AoG friends and told them that God has called me to go to seminary, all they wanted to know was whether the seminary was "Spirit-filled." (How does the Spirit fill a building, BTW?) It didn't seem to matter whether the seminary taught the true Word of God and provided a good education. Because it wasn't "Spirit-filled" it was deficient. When I discuss doctrine with my AoG friends, they dismiss my reasoning from Scripture because I am not (or I am no longer) "Spirit-filled." They dismiss the sound Scriptural reasoning of men like John Piper, John MacArthur, Albert Mohler, etc. because they are not "Spirit-filled." This attitude seems semi-gnostic to me. Unless you are "Spirit-filled" then you don't have the inside knowledge necessary to truly understand God's Word and you don't have what it takes to be used by God. This is what most bothers me about the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement. I am a born-again son of God. I was purchased by Christ's blood. I love God's Word and I believe every word is true and without error. I have dedicated my life to serving Him and following Him wherever He would lead me. My greatest desire is to be used by Him to build up His kingdom. I left my family and friends and job to move half-way across the country to study His Word. But I can't be used by God because I don't speak in tongues?!? To use a new Greek word I learned since coming to this forum ... HOGWASH. -- Grace and peace, Kevin Sigafoos --------------------- For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Rom 11:36)