I interviewed bishop Larry Owens, who is the head of House of G-d, Holy Church of the living G-d, Pillar and Ground of the Truth, House of Prayer for all People. The movement is known as the Hebrew Pentecostals. It was started in 1914 by Bishop R.A.R. Johnson in Beauford South Carolina, who was a minister "not in the faith of Judaism, but the L-rd had revealed to him that the Sabbath and G-ds laws, statues and judgments were right". Johnson was in a Protestant organization that gave him the Holiness Pentecostal doctrinal perspective. One important aspect of this influence was the acceptance of women in the ministry. He was influenced from other places and started a group called commandment keepers. The group has been in existence and growing ever since then.
When I asked the Bishop if he considered themselves a Christian group or a Jewish group, he stated that they did not identify with either. He explained that they associate themselves with both early Christianity and the faith of the early Hebrews. They believe that what Jesus and his disciples originally taught is not what is being practiced today. Christianity today stresses the New over the Old Testament, which they do not do. They believe that the Old and New Testaments should be taken literally. They also believe that the New and Old Testament "harmonize" and that each book is not separated from the other. They "take the word of G-d with no prior interpretation." and do not take the scripture out of context. They see both the New and Old Testaments as needing each other for the correct interpretation of what the Scripture says. Another reason why they do not call themselves Christians is because of the distinction that present day Christianity makes between the Old and New Testaments. But they do accept Jesus as the son of G-d. They cannot, however, identify with Christianity "just because they accept Jesus as the messiah of Israel and as the son of G-d", because the laws in the Old Testament were done away with. Since Christianity discards the Old Testament, this forces the Hebrew Pentecostals not to identify with Christianity.
They believe that Jesus was G-d manifested in the flesh and that he was the son of G-d. They do not hold to the trinity, but rather believe in a duality. The holy spirit is not coequal to the father and son. For example, when they baptize, they do it in the name of Jesus only instead of the father, son, and holy ghost. They believe the holy spirit was sent by G-d "in his name", so it is not a separate entity, but the spirit of him operating in the church today. He said "Henceforth we'll know him no longer as the flesh, but the spirit". The father and son are on the same plane, but the holy spirit is how they know him today, not a descendant of them. Although they do not classify themselves as a Christian group, they do believe that Jesus was the son of G-d. This is what may lead others to classify them as Christians, even though they do not themselves
Their name, Hebrew Pentecostal, expresses much of their belief system. They use the term "Pentecostal" to express that they do believe in the New Testament "experience". They follow the word of Jesus and his disciples, but do not associate with Christianity as it has developed today. They use the term Hebrew as something different and distinguishable from Judaism. They define a Hebrew as going back to the time of creation and following the belief of the first forefather, Abraham. They follow the "father of the faithful" (Abraham) in his belief because they believe that this was is the true way. They follow certain commandments in the Old Testament, such as dietary laws, the three pilgrimage festivals and the Sabbath.
Their devotional services follow the Hebrew tradition rather than the Christian. They observe the Sabbath, it being an element in Creation since G-d himself rested on the seventh day and Adam rested with Him. He said that they believe the Sabbath was made for man, but the Jewish people are the carriers of it. By observing the Sabbath, they are following the practices made for man.
However, within the Sabbath framework, they have Christian practices incorporated in them. Their devotional service includes singing hymns, choir singing, preaching and praying for people. Saturday morning, they have a "Sabbath school" which is analogous to Sunday school. They are in devotion most of the Sabbath. Jesus is incorporated into the Sabbath in the sense that he is the king of the Sabbath. (This parallels the Jewish idea that the messianic era is one which is entirely Sabbath in nature)
They have a systematic way of dealing with issues that come up within their organization and there is a definite hierarchy. They have a spiritual leader over the entire movement, called the Chief Apostle. Currently, the Chief Apostle is Bishop Fred Scott. Under him, there is a board of Apostles, Elders, Pastors, and Evangelists. If there is a decision concerning matters of the Scripture, it comes down from the board of Apostles to the Pastors and to the local congregation.
Some of the pressing issues facing this group at the current time are concerning Passover and Jesus instituting the L-rds supper. The debate is over the observance of the first and last days of Passover, whether or not it is a day kept like the Sabbath. In terms of modern issues such as Homosexuality and abortion they are very strict since the scripture teaches against those. They are "strictly opposed to adultery, fornication, homosexuality". They are against euthanasia also. They are strict Scriptural people and do not go with any present day knowledge contrary to the bible.
The role of women is very open in the Hebrew Pentecostal church. They have women Pastors, women who can carry out the Sacraments, such as marriage, burying the dead, and rites of Passover. They have no problems with the feminist movement as a whole, but there are some individual disagreements. Basically, as long as the feminist movement does not contradict the word of G-d, then they accept it. I asked him what would "contradict the word of G-d" and he gave an example of abortion. Since the feminist movement advocates abortion it cannot be supported by the church in that area. I asked if male and female roles have changed since their establishment in 1914 and he said that male and female roles have not been altered. The church they broke with initially, Church of the Living G-d, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth had women in very active roles. On fact, it was headed by a woman, Mary Lewis Tate. This acceptance of women into the hierarchy was in the original doctrine of the church.
As a side note, I would just like to point out that their Sacraments are not analogous to the Christian Sacraments. They have incorporated the rites of Passover into them. Passover is not a Sacrament in the Christian tradition. This reflects how they incorporate the Hebrew tradition into the Christian idea. I also noticed that the titles of many aspects of their religion have Christian names and some Hebrew themes although they do not exactly call themselves Christians. One common theme I noticed in their beliefs is the desire to go back to the root of the religion, rather than follow what history has made it to be.
On the surface it seems as if the Hebrew Pentecostals are similar to Messianic Jews. However, Hebrew Pentecostals differ from Messianic Judaism in the respect that they started from different places. Messianic Judaism came from a Jewish background to accept the concept of Jesus as the son of G-d, whereas the Hebrew Pentecostal group came from a Christian background to embrace the Old Testament traditions. They are on the same understanding of the scriptures and identify with them closely.
It is important to look at how they approach change since much of their tradition is based on keeping things as they were originally. I thought it was very interesting that the Bishop said "Yes, if we find there is something the word of G-d teaches that we have not been aware ofwe are open to change." The way they approach change is through question that come up in the national meeting. Anyone can write to the board of Apostles with questions and their answers are discussed. A doctoral change may or may not come out of it. Ideas for change can come from the congregation members themselves. The actual mandate of the change is given by the board of Apostles. It seems that the majority of the movement is based on going back to the basics and keeping things the way they were in the beginning and the acceptance of change seems to go against that framework. They are open to change nonetheless.
With that in mind, I asked him where he saw the group in 100 years, since they are a fairly new group themselves. He said that he sees them as growing in size. In the past 30 years, they have increased 1000%. They grow through the merging of churches and through proselytizing. They do not actively proselytize, but when people hear of them, they explain what they are about and people join.
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