Introduction

The United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) was formed in 1945 by the merger of the "Pentecostal Church Incorporated," and the "Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ." According to their website, The UPCI emerged out of the Pentecostal movement that began in Topeka, Kansas in 1901. It traces its organizational roots to October 1916, when a large group of ministers withdrew from the Assemblies of God over the doctrinal issues of the oneness of God and water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.

Besides the questionable beliefs and practices of the common Pentecostal, as will be shown below the UPCI goes beyond and into rank heresy. The UPCI states on their website: "The doctrinal views of the UPCI reflect most of the beliefs of the Holiness-Pentecostal movement, with the exception of . . . the historic doctrine of the Trinity, and the traditional Trinitarian formula in water baptism. It embraces the Pentecostal view that speaking in tongues is the initial sign of receiving the Holy Spirit."

Denial of the Trinity

In distinction to the doctrine of the Trinity, the UPCI holds to a modalistic view of God. Modalism is an old heresy that views the Trinitarian concept of God (three persons with one nature) as a falsehood. Rather, modalists teach that God is one person with three different roles or manifestations - these manifestations are named according to what God is doing through them. Thus God is manifested as "Father in creation", as "Son in redemption," and as "The Holy Ghost in regeneration." This leads to their baptizing in only one name.

Baptism in Jesus' Name Only

Because UPCI believes God's names to really be titles, they see the command to baptize in "the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19) not as a command them to use these names as a formula, to baptize in "the name" (they choose Jesus out of the three mentioned, for it is "the supreme, saving name"). Citing Acts 2:38 and 4:12, and 19:2-5 they believe that the proper formula is to baptize in Jesus' name alone.

The Necessity of Tongues

The UPCI teaches that there are two major evidences of the baptism of the Holy Spirit: speaking with tongues and the fruit of the Spirit. This Spirit Baptism is not considered optional for a believer: ". . . the new birth, consisting of water and Spirit, was never set forth as being optional or unessential. 'Ye must be born again' are the words of Jesus in John 3:7. Until a person is born of the Spirit, he cannot be called a 'son' of God. " Thus, speaking in tongues is a gift that all true believers have.

Conclusion

As has been shown the UPCI denies the historic and biblical teaching of the Trinity and exchanges it for the modalist heresy. They also make tongue-speaking an essential ingredient in salvation and deny the baptismal formula set out by Jesus Himself. Counterarguments may be found throughout this website, but it is enough for now to show that the UPCI is a heretical movement by their own admission.