Airman-
You've been targetted. I wish there were another way to put it, but I've seen this tactic used too many times not to recognize its description. They want you in that church, in all probability because you're in the military, and through you (if they can get you 'hooked') they can gain access to other military personnel.
What you need to realize is that you are not confronting people whose desire is to enlighten you. Instead, you are confronting people whose desire is to overpower you. The tactic that they use is similar to that used in other radical denominations. They will come at you with verses from all over the Holy Bible which they claim prove their position. This is called the knight-works-exegesis argument, and is in reality a blatant abuse of Scripture in order to have it serve their own purposes. They sew scattered verses of Scripture into a 'patchwork quilt', and then they use that 'quilt' to overwhelm those they want to subdue.
What they count on is that (1) you will not look up each and every passage where the verses they are using originally were located. If you did, you would discover that the original intent of the verses had nothing whatsoever to do with how they are using them. And (2) they count on you to succumb to the hitlerian tactic. This tactic was described by none other than Adolph Hitler himself in his book Mein Kampf, chapter 6, War Propaganda. It is a tactic deliberately intended to 'short circuit' the intellect and attack the emotions directly, manipulating them to serve their own purposes. There are Bible colleges which teach their students how to do this successfully (I personally know of two in this region of the USA). So what you are seeing as a genuine concern for your spiritual welfare is in reality a well-trained, concerted effort to subject your emotions to their desires.
The counter thrust to this tactic is to know Scripture and to recognize what they are up to. One of their favorite sayings is, "No one will get into heaven alone," meaning that each person who is a member of that church must help convert someone else to their theology. It's the pyramid scheme applied to a church, and you've been selected to occupy one of the levels on that pyramid. Once they believe themselves to have conquered you, then they will order you to bring others into their fold, thus increasing the size of the pyramid.
One of the Scripture passages which runs contrary to their teaching is the very passage that they attempt to use to promote it, namely, Acts 2:1-13. The only thing unknown about the tongues spoken in that passage was from the perspective of the apostles themselves. The audience who heard them speak recognized the languages they were uttering as their own native tongues. Today's equivalent would not be to babble incoherent words that someone else would need to 'translate' as the words of the Holy Spirit, thus giving the translator's words a spirituality they do not deserve to have. Rather, it would be to have the ability to speak languages which are known intimately by those who hear them, such as Russian, Chinese, or Arabic, but that you yourself had never learned through education or environment.
There are four passages of Scripture which the pentecostals that I have debated do their utmost to claim that we are not to pay attention to. They are
a. Romans 3:19 to 5:10: This passage tells us quite clearly that our salvation is by putting our trust in what God has done already, rather than putting our trust in whatever we ourselves might be able to do. We are to realize that salvation must be received as a gift; it cannot be earned as a salary. It is by putting our trust in God's promise of his own righteousness replacing our unrighteousness that we have assurance of salvation.
b. Romans 7:14-24: Paul here describes 'paradoxical intention'. There's an old saying which is, "The harder you try, the faster you fail." Paul recognized this quirk even in his own body; what he wanted to do, he could not do, but what he fought against doing, he eventually did.
c. Galatians 5:16-26: God also knows of this quirk in our nature that we now call paradoxical intention, and has himself done something about it. Instead of depending on ourselves, we are to rely on God to subdue our sinful nature and implant in us a new, more spiritual one. And this new nature isn't one that goes around 'showing off' gifts it has supposedly received from God. Rather, it is one that gives power and authority to those emotions which we now identify as 'positive emotions' such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (the fruit of the Spirit). These emotions replace those listed under the heading 'acts of the sinful nature', and they are to be recognized and accepted by us as the 'borders' within which all our words and actions are to originate.
d. Matthew 25:31-46: This is the 'feed the hungry' passage, and the closest I ever got a pentecostal to admitting that it was still to be followed today was one who said, "It's to be followed sometime in the future after everything else that's more spiritual has been completed." But I've read this passage numerous times, and have yet to find an expiration date there. Christ's compassion for those who were sick and in need around him showed itself not in pious rhetoric, but in hands-on work in order to alleviate their plight. What he did himself, namely, show his compassion for those in need through practical actions taken in order to lessen their suffering, he expects those who claim to be his followers to also perform through the practical application of this passage to the world around us.
This passage is the litmus test for whether an organization identifying itself as a christian church is in reality following the dictates of Christ and his apostles. Those prganizations which identify themselves as christian, and endeavor to perform these acts of compassion to the best of their ability, can be seen as atruly christian. But those organizations which try to 'dance around' the orders given in this passage cannot call themselves christians, irregardless of how pious and verbose their communications with others are.
I hope this helped you without its being overly long. Your OP reminded me of battles that I had to engage in many years ago. May God be with you.
these are good questions. My .02:
