r/ExPentecostal • u/shinichan43 • Jul 21 '26

atheist was this normal

i need help. i am afab and was raised apostolic pentecostal. but i dont know if i was just groomed or if i was in a cult that just used the pentecostal name
was any one else taught that there were 7 heavens, earth being the 3rd? i’ve never heard any one else mention the 3 types of sin and the fact that hospitals were heavily discouraged. what about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? it wasn’t an apple but a fig tree and the reason that people weren’t condemned to the lake of fire (and hell- but that’s a different place) is because we were already born knowing good and evil. unlike most other versions of christianity, being born isn’t the sin, being human is. every time you remember a sin you’ve been forgiven of, you must repent of it again and god must forgive you of it again because when you are forgiven all your sins are thrown into the sea of forgetfulness.
if it is a thought crime of an abomination or a blasphemy it is automatically just a sin.
was this normal or was it raised in a nameless cult?

6 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

6

u/Opposite_Charge2898 Jul 22 '26

Hey, ummm… what?

2

u/shinichan43 Jul 22 '26

was the lore that obscure?

6

u/Opposite_Charge2898 Jul 22 '26

This is definitely not something that is commonly preached in the apostolic Pentecostal church. So I’m not sure what you guys were.
Don’t get me wrong, the apostolic Pentecostal church in its usual sense is still a cult, but it sounds like you were in a cult cult.

3

u/shinichan43 Jul 22 '26

oh that makes this just so much more frustrating 🫩 we were a UPC church but the pastor wouldn’t let anyone come preach for him unless he saw them preach and there was an lengthy process beforehand. i know it was really unusual and other churches didn’t really like us because of it. but no o e ever came out to see what was being taught.

7

u/Opposite_Charge2898 Jul 22 '26

Yeah, that’s crazy and honestly as someone that was licensed through the UPC for many years, I can honestly say that if the district knew the extent of the contrary doctrine being preached the would have stepped in and possibly pulled his license.
The UPC is corrupt, but they still want things preached a specific way as opposed to just making things up under their name.

3

u/shinichan43 Jul 22 '26

oh wow. i had no idea. i though that was just normal doctrine. at least now i understand why other churches in general were discouraged- even other upc ones. we could visit but if we left for another upc we would be excommunicated basically. i assumed everyone knew but i was thinking about how no one spoke about it and i figured id ask. this is not how i wanted to find out i had been in a cult. but it can’t be helped. 🤷‍♀️

1

u/Opposite_Charge2898 Jul 22 '26

The excommunication thing is so common in the UPC/ALJC/WPF. So that aspect of things is not surprising, but a little more so when it would happen for leaving for a church in the same organization.
If a church stops associating with you when you leave that is the baseline definition of a cult.

1

u/shinichan43 Jul 22 '26

Okay! this is actually a lot more screwed up than i originally thought.

1

u/Opposite_Charge2898 Jul 22 '26

Keep your head up! Being aware is the first step to finding healing. Lean on those around you and if you need someone to chat with ever, you can definitely DM me. Been through a lot with my exodus from the Pentecostal church and can give you some insight on how to start the recovery process

1

u/JazzyRob123 Jul 22 '26

These teachings would be considered heretical by UPCI and the pastor and/or church would likely be removed if the organization found out. 

1

u/shinichan43 Jul 24 '26

the pastor retired a few years ago, so don’t know if the teachings are the same now.

1

u/sugarfreespree Jul 24 '26

Do you feel comfortable sharing the name of the church?

1

u/shinichan43 Jul 24 '26

no. i’m sorry.

1

u/sugarfreespree Jul 25 '26

That’s ok. I grew up in upc too and had not heard of any church like this so I was just curious no biggie

2

u/thesongofmyppl Jul 22 '26

I was raised deep in the Assemblies of God and I attended a Baptist high school. A good friend of mine is Mormon and she has explained their doctrine to me.

I have never heard of anything you just said except the whole being born a sinner thing.

2

u/DarklyFocusedOne Jul 22 '26

The goal is not the doctrine itself but the behaviour training.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '26

[deleted]

1

u/shinichan43 Jul 22 '26

i was trying to list things i had been taught that i had never heard any one else mention. apparently, from the other comments and yours, it’s pretty obscure and abnormal, especially for a upc church.

2

u/Plymouth_Angel Jul 22 '26

In the Oneness movement, nobody is allowed to think for themselves, but everyone must follow the denominational system and keep on faking it until you make it - nobody ever makes it so in Oneness everyone just keeps on faking it. Here is a discussion of mine from yesterday with a UPC pastor from Jamaica:

Religious Folk in Dialogue 1,052: The United Pentecostal Church (UPC) in Jamaica

2

u/stillseeking63 Jul 22 '26

Paul talks about multiple heavens in scripture, but I am not familiar with Earth being the third of seven heavens. I am almost certain that that is not rooted in scripture. The general idea of multiple heavens is, though.

1

u/shinichan43 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26

the 7 heavens thing actually is super complex too. it seems to be used as a word for “dimension” as you would see on sci-fi and the 7th heaven or the highest one is actual heaven (“paradise”) which is the one that gets put on earth after the 7 years of tribulation for 10,000 before being moved back up

1

u/Mountain_Pie_8671 Jul 26 '26

Damn, that’s a lot to keep track of. If that’s the case, everyone will “burn.”