The word APOSTOLIC means "of the Apostles." Most of Christianity today is NOT Apostolic. It does NOT preach the ONENESS of God, which is the only true and correct doctrine of the Godhead. The term Apostolic sets me apart from even the Trinitarian Pentecostals, including the Assemblies of God, Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), Church of God in Christ, and the entire Charismatic Movement. None of those are truly Apostolic. The Trinity doctrine is NOT Apostolic. It is heresy. I have written hundreds of pages on this doctrine. It is essential that we distinguish ourselves from Trinitarians, and the term Apostolic has been used for the past 100 years to make that distinction. I am unashamed. I boldly declare that I am a Oneness Apostolic. I do not baptize in the TITLES but in the NAME of Jesus Christ "for the remission of sins," Acts 2:38. In John 3:3-7, Jesus taught that the NEW BIRTH consists of WATER and SPIRIT. Water baptism in the name of Jesus and the baptism of the Holy Ghost, speaking in other tongues is the fulfillment of the WATER/SPIRIT birth. That is what the Apostles preached and practiced, and that is why I call myself Apostolic.
There are several Orthodox Catholic groups who refer to themselves as Apostolic, usually rooted in Eastern Orthodoxy. There is also a new and modern so-called evangelical movement in America that calls themselves Apostolic, but they are anti-Pentecostals. That is why I use the terms ONENESS and PENTECOSTAL to distinguish myself from those who are NOT Oneness or Pentecostal.
I use the term PENTECOSTAL because the largest part of Christianity is NOT Pentecostal. That means that we preach and practice the experience of Acts 2 - the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. I want the world to know that I am Pentecostal. I am not a Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Mormon, SDA, JW, or anything else. If you don't know that I am a tongue-talker, you don't know who I am. I am, as much as anything else in the world, a PENTECOSTAL.
I use the term HOLINESS to distinguish myself from those who do NOT preach or practice holy lifestyles. HOLINESS means sacred, set apart, separated from the world, consecrated, sanctified. In practical terms, it means that I have rejected the ways of the world, and am identifiably different in my vocabulary, my interests, my manner of living, my habits, my conversation, my manner of dress, and even - yes, even - my hair. HOLINESS means that I attempt to live and act and dress exactly the way the Bible tells me to, in CONTRAST to the ways of the world. HOLINESS people are distinguishably different from other people, and that includes most other professing Christians. I am unashamed. I boldly declare that I believe in and practice HOLY living.
It would not suffice, in these days and times, to use only one of these terms, because most people are completely ignorant of these distinguishing doctrines. There are very few people in the world who practice HOLINESS outside the Oneness Apostolic Pentecostal people, but there are a few, so we attach the terms Apostolic Pentecostal to make that distinction.
If you do not want to be separate, then you can continue to blend in with the crowd, be ecumenical, dress and act and live however you please, and believe that everybody who says "Lord, Lord" is going to Heaven. But I don't, and never will.
There you have it. I am a Oneness Apostolic Pentecostal Holiness believer. That is what a true Christian is. Everything else is anti-Christian "Christianity."
I am UNASHAMED.
