By Manifesto Joe
You read it right. Yahoo! News ran a piece from The Associated Press delving into Sarah Palin's background in organized religion. She used to be a Pentecostal (Assemblies of God).
You know -- it's that highly emotional Protestant denomination that is OK with speaking in unknown tongues and faith healing. Where I come from they are often referred to as "holy rollers" because of their habit of writhing about in the aisles when possessed by the Holy Spirit.
A few years ago she sort of switched to an "independent evangelical" church. (I thought that was basically what Pentecostals are.)
But, her current church embraces -- pardon the choice of words -- the Focus on the Family program that stresses prayer to help homosexuals become heterosexual. (But not practicing hetero until after marriage, of course.)
My question is: After this miracle of conversion, do they still have to handle the snakes?
There are subgroups among Pentecostals, mainly those in the South and Appalachian regions, that are into handling venomous serpents. Members have also been known to drink strychnine as a demonstration of faith.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
2 comments:
Assembly of God are not pure Pentecostal. Although some consider themselves Pentecostal, many vehemently deny any association. I was A/G for a few years, and I would call them more closely aligned to the Evangelicals.
The Holy Rollers were a sect of Pentecostals, usually getting down on the floor and rolling around the church and out the door after the service. There were also the Quakers, and the Shakers.
You are also correct though, the term has been used to derisively denote any Pentecostal.
Also, I don't doubt that the power of prayer could accomplish that for some, I would be reluctant to stress it as doctrine, as Dobson has done.
Post a Comment