There is something in common between T.D. Jakes of The Potter’s House, Tommy Tenney of God Chasers Network, Witness Lee of Living Stream Ministry [1], Luis R. Santos of Jesus Christ To God Be the Glory, Apollo C. Quiboloy of Jesus Christ the Name Above Every Name, Wilde E. Almeda of Jesus Miracle Crusade International, and David K. Bernard of United Pentecostal Church International. They all believed Jesus manifested to be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit teaching espouse by the “Oneness” religious cult group.

Who are the “Oneness” religious groups? What do they believe? The “Oneness” teaching started in the second century when the ancient church apologist refuted the modalist teachers namely Sabellius, Praxeas, Paul of Samosata, Noetus of Smyrna, and Zephyrinius. They formerly came from a Christian background but later teach the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three manifestations or roles of Jesus Christ.

The ancient name for this false teaching is modalism. There are two forms of modalism, that is, monarchian modalism that came from the word “monarch” the one who rules and “mode” a manner of expression or manifestation. They believe Jesus is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit at the same time. Another form of modalism is dynamic modalism where Jesus is the Father in the Creation, the Son in the Redemption, and the Holy Spirit in the Pentecost.

Tertullian, one of the early church fathers wrote an apologetic letter Against Praxeas saying, “By this Praxeas did a twofold service for the devil at Rome: he drove away prophecy, and he brought in heresy; he put to flight the Paraclete, and he crucified the Father.” [2]

The early church fathers, particularly Tertullian contended for the truth by exposing the false teachings of the heretics. As a result, Christian Creeds were developed to draw the line between orthodoxy and heresy. This wise decision is a huge help for the Christian church to preserve the doctrine that was passed on to them by the apostles.

This “Oneness” heresy did not gain popularity for many centuries until it resurfaced in 1913 to 1914 during the gathering of Trinitarian Pentecostals in Arroyo Seco, California. The persons responsible for this teaching were former pastor R.E. McAllister who taught that water baptism must be administered in Jesus’ name based on a faulty interpretation of Acts 2:38. This unfortunate interpretation was strengthened by another twisted understanding of Matthew 28:19 by John G. Scheppe where he concluded the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is Jesus based in Acts 2:38. They have no idea that they were resurrecting an ancient heresy called modalism.

This modalist teaching earned a number of monikers like New Issue, The Jesus Only, and Oneness Pentecostals. This teaching has divided the pastors of one of the major denominations in Christianity namely the Assemblies of God. According to Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, “In its Fourth General Council (1916), the [Assemblies of God] adopted a ‘Statement of Fundamental Truths’ that forcefully maintained the Trinity, effectively banning 156 of the AG’s 585 ministers.” [3]

The first “Oneness” religious organization formed by these banned ministers is the General Assembly of Apostolic Assemblies (GAAA). The GAAA merged with the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW) in 1918. Their organization gave birth to another two “Oneness” groups namely, Emmanuel’s Church in Jesus Christ (ECJC) later known as Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ (ACJC) and the Pentecostal Ministerisl Alliance (PMA) aka Pentecostal Church, Incorporated (PCI). In 1931, ACJC and PAW joined to become Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ (PAJC). In 1945, PCI and PAJC merged to form the biggest “Oneness” cult group today which is the United Pentecostal Church, International supervised by Dr. David K. Bernard.

There are many theological errors that these “Oneness” religious groups embraced. They believed the Trinity doctrine is of pagan origin. Their belief in salvation is accompanied by works. And their practice of holiness borders on legalism. Some of them are the following:

1. Jesus is the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
2. The Father is not a distinct Person but a manifestation of Jesus.
3. The Holy Spirit is not a distinct Person but a manifestation of Jesus,.
4. The Eternal Father in Isaiah 9:6 is interpreted as relational. [4]
5. Many “Oneness” interpret Lord Jesus Christ as Father (Lord), Son (Jesus), and Christ (Holy Spirit).
6. Many “Oneness” believed Jesus is the Father in His being the Creator.
7. An individual must be water baptized in the baptismal formula of Acts 2:38 (in Jesus’ name) to be saved.
8. “Oneness” female members are not allowed to cut their hair based on 1 Cor. 11:6.
9. An individual must speak in tongues after water baptism to be assured that he is truly saved.
10. “Oneness” female members are forbidden to wear jewelry, make-up, and pants.
11. “Oneness” males must be clean-shaven sporting short hair.
12. They abhor medical treatment and medicine applying hyper faith in their belief.
13. They are King James Onlyist people.

A number of Christians are having a hard time discerning the difference between Trinitarian and Oneness groups that they thought the latter are also believers. One of the major teaching that made many conclude the “Oneness” are no different from Christians is the former’s teaching about Jesus being God, Savior, Son of God, Lord, and Messiah. Their strong belief about Jesus being God is commendable but its unfortinate that they vehemently deny the Persons of the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Dr. Warren Wiersbe warned us in his book titled Be Alert where he states, “In 2 Peter 2:3, Peter pointed out that the false teachers used ‘feigned words.’ The Greek word plastos from which we get our English word plastic. Plastic words! Words that can be twisted to mean anything you want them to mean! The false teachers use our vocabulary, but they do not use our dictionary. They talk about ‘salvation,’ ‘inspiration,’ and the great words of the Christian faith, but they do not mean what we mean. Immature and untaught believers hear these preachers or read their books and think that these men are sound in faith, but they are not.” [5]

This practice is no longer new among the cult groups. The Iglesia ni Cristo believed Jesus is rightfully worshipped but as a creature. The Mormon missionaries believed in the Trinity but referred the three Persons as “three Gods.” The Metro Manila International Church (MMICC) believed salvation is by faith but added water baptism into it. The Seventh-day Adventist also believed in salvation by grace through faith but added the Mosaic laws. The Members Church of God International (MCGI) and Jehovah’s Witnesses claim Jesus is God but an inferior God. And the “Oneness” people believed there is only one God but only one Person namely Jesus alone.

We cannot deny the fact that there may be some genuine Christians or Trinitarian believers among the “Oneness” religious groups who do not care about “Oneness” theology. They were probably enticed to join the group because of friendship, healing experience, and community but their faith is still in Jesus the second Person of the Trinity. The “Oneness” cult religion is still a challenge to the Christian church today since we share almost the same church history and authority of the Scripture. However, let us not cease to reach out to the “Oneness” people patiently with the gospel of Jesus Christ in love and gentleness. Let’s be faithful to the Scripture rather than simply ignore their heretical views just because they are very nice and friendly people. Remember, no amount of sincerity can saved a Oneness person.

[1] Witness Lee, was a Chinese who started the group known as “local churches” giving birth to Living Stream Ministry based from Anaheim, California. Although Lee and his group claimed to be Trinitarian quoting a number of orthodox early church fathers, the former still believes Jesus is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in many of his writings placing him and the Living Stream Ministry under the category of a cult group. Numerous Christian theologian and apologetics ministry continues to disagree with Hank Hanegraaff of Christian Research Institute, Gretchen Passantino of Answers In Action, and the Fuller Theological Seminary’s amicable statement regarding this theological cult group.

[2] Against Praxeas, The Early Church Fathers: Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume III, Edinburgh Edition, e-Sword Version 7.6.1 © 2000-2005.

[3] E. Calvin Beisner, “Jesus’ Only” Churches, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), 7.

[4] The Hebrew word for “Everlasting Father” is abiad which literally means “father of eternity,” a descriptive term not a relational term. It is like saying Alexander Graham Bell is the father of modern-day telephone. Now, this will be absurd if we take this literally as relational.

[5] Warren W. Wiersbe, “Be Alert,” (England: Cook Communications Ministries, 2005), 38.

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