What stands out between regular pentecostal churches and FourSquare?

[FriendOfJesus916]

I'm moving to Anderson, Indiana and they have a FourSquare church and I'm very interested. But, as with my old baptist beliefs, i'm scared to step foot in a "reformed" or "Progressive" church that does not believe in Hell or Satan. Am I safe to go to that church?

 

[Bob Carabbio]

Salvation | The Foursquare Church

They seem to be a pretty straight up Pentecostal bunch.

 

[FriendOfJesus916]

Wonder why they needed to make their own name then.. well I am going to one this sunday.

 

[dragongunner]

It got started by Aimee Semple McPherson. I knew someone in Foursquare so did alot of reading on her, and even got some cds of her preaching long ago.
She was a remarkable woman that had a dark side that came to light....when and if you ask Four square people about her, they usually won't argue with all the bad things that came to light, they seem to know, and rather just say to remember all the good she did. She was a remarkable woman.....just don't know what it was that got so messed up.....but in her early days their is no doubt she was on fire for God and that God was with her, she became so famous that some say she was in some newspaper or another everyday and was one of the most famous well known persons of the 20's. She in fact got radio started with the Gospel.

 

[lightandglory]

I would say main difference between Four Square and AoG is the speaking in tongues.
AoG believes that speaking in tongues is physical evidence of baptism in Holy Spirit.
On the other hand FourSquare church does not believe this is an evidence.

 

[Bob Carabbio]

The name represents the four-fold ministries of Jesus:

THE SAVIOR,
THE BAPTIZER WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
THE HEALER
THE SOON-COMING KING

Simple as that

 

[Bob Carabbio]

From their website:

"We believe that those who experience Holy Spirit baptism today will experience it in the same manner that believers experienced it in the early church; in other words, we believe that they will speak in tongues—languages that are not known to them (Acts 1: 5, 8; 2:4)."

Pretty much identical to the AoG.

 

[JGiddings]

So REAL languages right?
Not jibberish?

 

[Bob Carabbio]

"REAL languages right?"

Aye, Laddie, that's the rub!!!!

Reminds me of the story told by a Wycliffe translator in New Guinea working on translating the Bible into Onabasilu. She asked a question of a fellow, but he didn't answer, only blinked his eyes. Turns out that's Onabasilu for "Yes". One thing that they struggled with was that there's no words in the Onabasilu tongue to express the concept of a "Friend" who's not also a relative - i.e. if you're not "Family" you're automatically an Enemy. and since Jesus isn't "Family" - why would he die for you????

The simple fact is that what you THINK is "Gibberish" may be a perfectly good Language to somebody else. I rather doubt that the Four Square is any different than any other Pentecostal group in that regard.

I think of the Orthodox chant "Ghospodi Pomilui", which sounds like "Gibberish", but is a petition to God to "Show Mercy".

 

[ltwin]

Wonder why they needed to make their own name then.. well I am going to one this sunday.

I wonder why the Assemblies of God needed their own name?

I wonder why the Church of God in Christ needed their own name?

I wonder why the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) needed their own name?

These are the biggest Pentecostal denominations, and they all have "their own names." The Church of the Foursquare Gospel is simply a name that Aimee Semple McPherson chose because it represented the simplified Pentecostal message:

Jesus as Savior,
Jesus as Healer,
Jesus as Spirit-baptizer,
and Jesus as Soon-Coming King.

In other words, the Gospel that Pentecostals preach is a "full gospel" or a "Four-fold" or "Foursquare" Gospel.