I Didn't See Heaven's Gates

Let me share with you a story. Well, a couple of stories. Few of my close friends know, and others just know a little. This is a story of my Christian upbringing. There are things that I witnessed as a child that I can clearly remember. I grew up in a Pentecostal church that became very Charismatic, legalistic, and fundamental. There were many don’ts. There were many things I could not do and the reason was that those things “were of the devil.” I felt like Bobby from the film The Waterboy.

One thing that is common in Charismatic churches are revelations and "spiritual experiences.” To begin, I'll share what the pastor of this unique church tried to accomplish with me and another boy. The pastor had given a testimony of when he went to a country in Latin America. He said that when he prayed for a child there, this child saw a vision of heavens gates. When he finished speaking, he called my name and the name of another boy. We came to the platform and stood side by side, facing away from the congregation, our shoulders to the left of them. The pastor stood in front of us and laid his hands on our heads and began to pray. Tears ran down my face and I fell back (after all, it's what everyone did when the pastor prayed and laid hands on them). When we got back to our feet, he asked, "What did you see?" We answered, "Nothing." In my mind I asked, "Did he want us to see heaven's gates?" The pastor had nothing to say so he just gave a grin to the congregation.

In the Hispanic Pentecostal/Charismatic church there is a something called, liberación (liberation). It's the practice of "liberating" people from demons. It was a habitual practice for this church (and still is). Every Sunday the devil and demons were rebuked. I remember a time when the pastor was rebuking from his pulpit, and the majority of the congregation had come to the altar, including myself. Next to me was a woman with her hands lifted. She began to shake and began to vomit. Someone brought a trashcan to her and she continued. It was not strange to see this in that church. People fell shaking and twitching, speaking in tongues, and other things.

You see, in this church it wasn't so much of being drunk/slain in the Spirit, but liberating people from darkness. What I believe was and is the largest problem, is the pastor. I was about 9 years old when my parents decided to leave this church and attend another. Most of the things I saw were from the time I was an infant to the age of 9. At that time I did not know why we left that church, but as I got older I began to understand. The things that were practiced, and are being practiced, are unbiblical. The pastor would read books of witchcraft and the occult to know how the enemy would work. Those books influenced many of the things he practiced and taught the church. The next time I saw him and heard him preach was at my grandmother’s funeral. He stated that he had a conversation with a demon, and then rebuked him.

Though my family left that church when I was 9, we still considered ourselves as Pentecostals. So we ended up in an Assemblies of God church. For the next 11 years this church would be my home church. This was the placed where God saved me, and where I was baptized. But I ended up leaving. Why? Well, I’ll share that story soon.