Assembled in the Presence of God (Aren’t We All?)

Note: this is a short research paper that we had to write for class on a denomination of our choice.

The Assemblies of God denomination traces its roots back to a revival that began with a prayer meeting at Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, on January 1, 1901. They claim that the people at this prayer meeting earnestly wanted to see the Lord’s work in their lives, so they were earnestly praying about it, and that God poured his Holy Spirit out on them, which they believed was the “baptism of the Holy Spirit,” which is spoken about in Acts. “[The] recipients of the experience, through study of the Scriptures, came to believe speaking in tongues is the biblical evidence for the baptism in the Holy Spirit.”

This leads to one of their distinctive doctrines, and that is that they believe that God baptizes people, who are already believers, in the Holy Spirit “to further empower them for Christian service.” The passages that they provide for proof are Acts 8:12-17, Acts 10:44-46, Acts 11:14-16, and Acts 15:7-9. The last three passages obviously have nothing to do with the matter, as they are all talking about the same thing: the first gentiles getting saved. Not an act after the fact (correct me if I’m wrong.) The Acts 8 passage for proof is very sketchy at best. The Assemblies of God also believe that “The initial physical evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is ‘speaking in tongues.’” The passage that they provide for proof for this point is Acts 2:4, which speaks of the Holy Spirit being initially given on the day of Pentecost: a one-time occurrence (unless you also look at the first gentiles which received the Holy Spirit, but these two events are very strongly related). Thirdly, they believe that “Divine healing is an integral part of the gospel. Deliverance from sickness is provided for in the atonement, and is the privilege of all believers.” Texts they provide as proof are Isaiah 53:4-5, Matthew 8:16-17, and James 5:14-16. Interpreting the first two passages to mean anything of the sort is just a gross hermeneutical blunder! Interpreting James 5:14-16 as a one hundred percent guarantee is also a serious hermeneutical mistake. Not as completely ridiculous as the first two passages, but severely misguided.

The purpose statement of the Assemblies of God hits a little closer to the mark than some of their doctrines do. It reads: “To be an agency of God for evangelizing the world. To be a corporate body in which man may worship God. To be a channel of God’s purpose to build a body of saints being perfected in the image of His son.”

The type of government in the church is congregational. The congregation elects a pastor, and a board of deacons to help him run the church. They only practice two ordinances: water baptism, and communion.

One of the Assemblies of God’s main strengths is that they have many of their doctrines right, most importantly the doctrine of salvation. However, several of them stand on no firm Biblical ground whatsoever. From reading some of the information and papers that they have posted on the official Assemblies of God website (http://ag.org), it seems apparent that they place an overemphasis on speaking in tongues as confirmation of being in the Spirit. They also have rather confused ideas of how the Spirit works. However, it has to be noted that the Assemblies of God has done a great deal to reach the world; they claim to have over 52 million members worldwide. In conclusion, the Assemblies of God has its pros and cons. I personally would not choose to align myself with them.