For more, check out these verses in the Holy Bible:
Our primary goal is leading people to Jesus Christ and then pointing them to His purpose for their lives. This means winning lost souls to God, guiding them to become born again according to the Scriptures, and teaching newcomers after they have been born again, so that they become stalwart disciples of Jesus Christ and find their own place of ministry in God's kingdom.
Christian Apostolic Church (UPCI) of Clarksburg, WV is, and always has been, affiliated with the United Pentecostal Church International. The UPCI has been among the fastest growing denominations in North America. It is one of the largest Oneness Pentecostal church organizations in existence.
Christian Apostolic Church (UPCI) honors the Lord Jesus Christ and meets the needs of people in our community, our nation, and around the world—through missions efforts both domestic and foreign. Our notable assembly was founded on the solid rock of God's Word over 30 years ago by Pastor and Mrs. William & Beverly Feathers. Opened in 1971, the earliest services were held on 19th Street in Clarksburg's North View neighborhood.
Pastor Feathers was taken to his reward in 1992, having served our assembly until his passing. Following his departure, other dear ministers led the congregation through great revival. Our current pastor and first lady, Doug and LaDonna Joseph, were called of God to the Clarksburg-Bridgeport area in late 2002, by way of much prayer and fasting. In November, 2002, CAC elected these precious servants to pastor the church. A distinguished board of ministering Elders assists Pastor Joseph, and the wonderful heritage of CAC is being carried forward in our current beautiful facility, located on N. 20th Street @ Arlington, very near to the original place of worship.
The United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) has been among the fastest growing denominations in North America since it was formed in 1945 by the merger of the Pentecostal Church, Incorporated (PCI), and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ (PAJC). From 617 churches listed in 1946, the UPCI in North America (United States and Canada) today lists 4,142 churches, 8,801 ministers, and reports a Sunday School attendance of 498,903. Moreover, it is also located in 170 other nations with 22,881 licensed ministers, 28,351 churches and meeting places, 571 missionaries, and a foreign constituency of over 1.5 million, yielding a total worldwide constituency of more than 2 million. The UPCI is one of the largest Oneness Pentecostal church organizations in existence.
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.
The basic governmental structure of the UPCI is congregational with local churches being autonomous: the congregation elects its pastor and its leaders, owns its property, decides its budget, establishes its membership, and conducts all necessary business.
The central organization embraces a modified presbyterian system in that ministers meet in sectional, district, and general conferences to elect officials and to conduct business of the organization.
The UPCI headquarters building, located in Hazelwood, Missouri, houses offices for its general officials, the Pentecostal Publishing House, and a Christian bookstore. Among its endorsed institutions are seven Bible colleges, a children's home, a residency for troubled young men, ministries to those addicted to alcohol and other drugs, a chaplaincy for prisoners, and it endorses chaplains to the military.
Click here to visit the official website of the UPCI.
The doctrinal views of the UPCI reflect most of the beliefs of the Holiness-Pentecostal movement, with the exception of the "second work of grace," 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.
The UPCI holds a fundamental view of the Bible: "The Bible is the only God-given authority which man possesses; therefore all doctrine, faith, hope, and all instructions for the church must be based upon and harmonize with the Bible" (Manual of the United Pentecostal Church, 19). The Bible is the Word of God, and therefore inerrant and infallible. The UPCI rejects all extrabiblical revelations and writings, and views church creeds and articles of faith only as the thinking of men.
The UPCI holds that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works. Faith in Jesus is the means by which a person is justified. At the same time, a sinner must believe the gospel; he is commanded to repent of his sinful life, to be baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ, and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 4:12; 8:12-17; 10:43-48; 19:1-6). Thus the various aspects of faith and obedience work together in God's grace to reconcile us to God.
The UPCI stresses and supports the family unit as God's primary institution and teaches that the church is God's redemptive fellowship for all believers.
We believe the Bible to be inspired of God; the infallible Word of God. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16).
The Bible is the only God-given authority which man possesses; therefore, all doctrine, faith, hope, and all instruction for the church must be based upon, and harmonize with, the Bible. It is to be read and studied by all men everywhere, and can only be clearly understood by those who are anointed by the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:27). "...No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:20, 21).
We believe in the one ever-living, eternal God: infinite in power, Holy in nature, attributes and purpose; and possessing absolute, indivisible Deity. This one true God is the Father, transcendent always (John 6:27; 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 4:6; Phil. 2:11; 2 Peter 1:17). This one true God is Holy (Lev. 11:44-45; 1 Peter 1:15-16), and He is Spirit (John 4:24; cf. Isaiah 61:1 and Joel 2:28/Acts 2:17); He is the Holy Spirit. The term Holy Spirit refers to the Spirit that is the one true God (2 Cor. 3:17), not to a second or third divine person or a second or third god. This one true God incarnated Himself in the Son, Jesus Christ, and thus manifested Himself in flesh for our redemption (1 Tim. 3:16; Isa. 9:6; Col. 2:9; 2 Cor. 5:19; Rev. 1:7-8, 11-13, 17-18, cf. Rev. 21:5-7, esp. v. 7; and cf. Rev. 22:3, 12-13).
The Scripture does more than attempt to prove the existence of God; it asserts, assumes and declares that the knowledge of God is universal (Rom. 1:19, 21, 28, 32; 2:15). God is invisible, incorporeal, without parts, without body, and therefore free from all limitations. He is Spirit (John 4:24). A spirit hath not flesh and bones (Luke 24:39).
The first of all the commandments is, "Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord" (Mark 12:29; Deut. 6:4). There is "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Eph. 4:6).
This one true God is, and always has been, Spirit, and as such is perceivable only according to the manners and methods by which He chooses to reveal Himself. He manifested Himself in the Old Testament period in diverse ways; and in the Son, since the beginning of the Incarnation (i.e. after the conception and birth of Jesus Christ). In the Son, God was with us while He walked among men. Whenever God is seen of men in the hereafter, Jesus will be the One who is seen. The Son is the exact image of God; the visible manifestation of the invisible God. Even while we cannot now see the Son in flesh, He is with us through the infilling of His Spirit. The Holy Ghost is God in us, as well as Christ in us, by faith.
The one true God, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, took upon Himself the form of man, and as the Son of man, was born of the virgin Mary. As Paul says "and without controversy great is the mystery of Godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (1 Timothy 3:16).
"He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:11). This one true God was manifest in the flesh, that is, in His Son Jesus Christ. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." (2 Cor. 5:19).
We believe that, "… in Him [Christ] dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9). "For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell" (Col. 1:19). Therefore, Jesus in His humanity was man; in His Deity was and is God. His flesh was the lamb, or the sacrifice of God. He is the only mediator between God and man. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus on His Father's side is Divine, on His mother's side, human; thus, He's known as the Son of God and also the Son of man.
The Bible says, "For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things under Him. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:27-28). And yet, Jesus says of Himself, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty" (Rev. 1:8) and, "He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." (Rev 21:5-7 KJV, emphasis added).
God has had mankind refer to Him by different titles, such as Elohim (God), El Shaddai (God Almighty), and Jehovah (or Yahweh or YHVH), meaning "I AM," or "Eternal One" or "Self-Existent One", often rendered in the AV as "Lord" (i.e. in small caps), which was the redemptive name for God in the Old Testament.
However, in the New Testament, through the Son, the redemptive name of God was newly revealed to be Jesus. The Son, Jesus the Lord and Christ, declared the name of the Father: "O righteous Father … I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:25-26 KJV). Jesus said, "I am come in my Father's name…" (John 5:43 KJV).
Of the Son's name it was prophesied: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: ... and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). This prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled when the Son of God was named, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His People from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).
There is evidence that this is the only name honored by God as His redemptive name under the New Testament (New Covenant): "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
Pardon and forgiveness of sins is obtained by genuine repentance, a confessing and forsaking of sins, along with baptism. We are justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). John the Baptist preached repentance, Jesus proclaimed it, and the Apostles emphasized it to both Jews and Gentiles (Acts 2:38, 11:18, 17:30).
The word "repentance" comes from several Greek words which mean change of views and purpose, change of heart, change of mind, change of life, to transform, etc. Jesus said, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3), and it is commanded, "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47).
Along with repentance (see above) water baptism is for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). Repentance and water baptism are not meritorious works whereby men earn salvation, but rather are steps of obedient faith whereby the believer is viewed by God as justified through the blood of Jesus. Forgiveness of sins and remission of sins are synonymous terms. These two English words, forgiveness and remission, both come from the same Greek word in the New Testament, aphesis. Remission of sins is a process, and it is by the choice of God that both repentance and water baptism are steps of obedience to be followed by the believer (Acts 2:38). These steps are to be commanded for all sinners regarding obedient faith unto salvation.
The scriptural mode of water baptism is immersion, and water baptism is only for those who have fully repented, having turned from their sins and from love of carnal worldliness. There is no teaching in the Word of God of legitimate infant baptism. Baptism should be administered by a duly authorized, called minister of the Gospel, in obedience to the Word of God, and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Book of the Acts of the Apostles 2:38, 8:16, 10:48, 19:5; thus obeying and fulfilling Matthew 28:19.
John the Baptist, according to Matthew 3:11, said, "...He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." Jesus, in Acts 1:5, said, "...ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." Luke tells us in Acts 2:4, "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues [languages], as the Spirit gave them utterance."
The terms "baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire," "filled with the Holy Spirit," and the "gift of the Holy Ghost" are synonymous terms used interchangeably in the Bible.
It is scriptural to expect all who receive the gift, filling, or baptism of the Holy Spirit to receive the same physical, initial sign of speaking with other tongues.
The speaking with other tongues, as recorded in Acts 2:4, 10:46, and 19:6, and the gift of tongues, as explained in 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 and 14, are the same in essence, but different in use, function, and purpose.
The Lord, through the Prophet Joel, said, "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy..." (Joel 2:28). On the Day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2), the Apostle Peter, in explaining this phenomenal experience, cited it as the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy: "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 'And it shall come to pass in the last days,' saith God, 'I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy…'" (Acts 2:16-17 KJV). He further said, "Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." (Acts 2:33). He concluded that, "...The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:39).
Our basic and fundamental doctrine shall be the Bible standard of full salvation, which is repentance and baptism in water by immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the initial sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.
We shall endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come into the unity of the faith, at the same time admonishing all brethren that they shall not contend for their different views to the disunity of the body.
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Pastor Doug Joseph prepares to baptize a convert. He had already received the Holy Ghost. |
Water baptisms are done in Jesus name, in fulfillment of Matthew 28:19, and obedience to Acts 2:38. |
A convert is buried with Christ in baptism. The joy of the Lord is our strength! |
The church family join in rejoicing. All his sins have been washed away! |
[ To see more great real life stories, visit our sister site: www.ReadyToBeFree.com ] |
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CAC members come from all walks of life, including professionals like engineers, business owners and managers, as well as hardworking common folks. We all have one thing in common: We need God. We all came to the same conclusions: No amount of money or worldly possessions can bring real, lasting happiness. And we all needed deliverance from sin by being born again of the water and Spirit, according to God's word (John 3:3-5, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 2:36-39, and many other verses). Thus we all share the same experience of initiation into God's community: Faith and obedience resulting in our sincere repentance, our water baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the receiving (infilling) of the Holy Spirit, with the initial, physical evidence of speaking in a language other than our mother tongue, as the Spirit of God gives the utterance. Following that foundational experience, each CAC member pursues after peace, holiness, the fruit of the Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit, seeking to become a stalwart disciple of Jesus Christ.
You can join us in this miracle of new birth, not by signing a card, but rather by being born into the Lord's Church by responding in faith to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In short, the gospel (I Corinthians 15:1-4) is that:
In our reply of obedient faith:
Life magazine has noted that the Pentecostal phenomenon of receiving the Holy Ghost and speaking with tongues is one of the most significant events of the last hundred years. Millions upon millions of people worldwide have now been born again according to God's Word. Have you? The promise of real freedom awaits those who are ready to be free:
"For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:39).
Read more about being born again according to God's Word...
We would love to meet you! Please call, click, or come by:
| Phone: | (304) 624-4459 | |||||||||
| Facsimile: | n/a | |||||||||
| Location: | We're located in Clarksburg, WV, on N. 20th St. @ Arlington. Click here for a map showing how to find us. | |||||||||
| Mail: | 334 Glen Falls Rd, Suite 100, Clarksburg, WV 26301 | |||||||||
| E-mail: |
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