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It's not about deceiving anyone, Rn. It's about having a different view on some things. Imo, a denomination has 20 doctrinal points and you modify one....that doesn't make you a deceiver; it makes you a Christian

IF a group want to join a denomination and the pastor wants to affiliate with an established church body , and if then he is asked to affirm all the pillars of that church and he affirms them to the leaders even though he does not believe them is that no a lie?

Baptists have independent churches. The AOG . like the UM or the COTN do not.

It is one thing to have occasion to change a doctrinal stand after membership, it is another to to lie to get the affiliation .

The AOG say CLEARLY that their are NON negotiable . That is a very clear statement on what they want taught in their churches.

Rn, I'm a UM.

I don't affirm everything in their articles of religion or their doctrinal history and traditions.

There is transition taking place in the AOG regarding the necessity of "tongues evidence." Since it is BIBLICALLY TRUE that tongues is not required as evidence, then we can only say that that entire denomination is changing, AND we can say that the written documents of a denomination sometimes don't keep pace with the theology of its people.

It's not deceptive. It's growth and Christians are subject to it.

Otherwise, you are wrong to switch from one belief to another regarding calvinism. You were a member of your previous church, weren't you? There's no affirmation made by a pastor that isn't made by a member.

The AOG say CLEARLY that their are NON negotiable. That is a very clear statement on what they want taught in their churches.

Perhaps since the discussion of my church prompted this, I should attempt to clarify (however, part of me acknowledges the fact that I will live to regret this).

RN, we left the Calvinist church based on the doctrine of election. The day we heard the pastor say from the pulpit "there is no one in Hell whom Jesus loved," was the day we had to leave. As a former Wesleyan, you understand why that was troublesome.

But as I have also tried to explain, we are content to agree on specifics. Other issues are negotiable.

I believe:

The Bible is inspired, infallible
There is one God who became incarnate
Christ's death is substitutional
Our future is linked to Christ's Resurrection
One day Christ will Return

I also believe in the statement: "Free salvation for all men. Full salvation from all sin."

Beyond that I think (pretty much) anything else is gravy. And I don't happen to like gravy.

That the Calvinist church I attended believed in infant baptism and I did not didn't bother me. As I explained, I couldn't serve as an officer of the church, but it didn't mean I couldn't fellowship there.

On the list of AOG beliefs you posted I noted that I'm not sure about #13 and #14 (I think those are the ones) that deal with the end times. While I think it's a fascinating study, I don't think it's an essential. When I read the words of Jesus that said "No man knows the day our the hour" I can say okay and not worry about it. I think it far less important to try to figure it out than to make sure my heart is in tune with God's.

In the haste of posting I possibly implied that my church does not believe in the Baptism of the Spirit. I did not mean to do that. But we are very different in the practical application of that. AFAIK, that doctrine is only taught in membership classes and or possibly other specific classes.

But, we do differ from other AOG churches in application of that belief. We have nine pastors. In the 6 years I've been there I have never seen any of the pastors exhibit the gift of tongues (that would also include two former pastors). They have, on the (less than a dozen) occasions (in six years) that tongues have been present in a Sunday morning service provided an interpretation. More often than not the interpretation has come from the congregation.

I'm in the choir. That's two services every Sunday. Six years. A dozen manifestations.

You do the math. Is that your typical AOG?

We have sister churches who are far more pentecostal in that regard. We have planted at least 9 churches over our church lifetime. Some specifically drew the members who sought the more traditional pentecostal experience.

You remember the story of the boys killed in the car accident. Since that time our youth group has doubled. We have over 300 kids every Wednesday night. And it has remainded consistent. Many of those new kids come from no church background at all. A local newspaper ran a survey and our youth group was voted "best youth organization in the city." In the town that's the HQ of the Southern Baptist Mission Board would a bunch of babbling pentecostals gain that recognition?

So, yes, I can tell you with confidence that in our youth group and in our Sunday school, while the doctrine may be explained, it is not being actively taught as a public manifestation.

And, out of those 11 folks I mentioned above, I can only name four who I recall actually speaking about their experience with the gifts. Granted the senior pastor speaks from the pulpit more than 80% of the time, so I don't often hear the others. But those examples were in the context of a prayer language. I assure you that no one lied to get their affiliation. I believe that probably all 11 have had the experience.

My wife, my older son and I have a very visible presence in the church through choir, through our music and fine arts production and through our leading of worship on Wednesday nights. We have been members officially for about four years.

We have NEVER been told that we are required to have the experience of tongues.