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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Pentecostal_movement
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1992-09-02
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Christian revivalist movement inspired by the
baptism in the Holy Spirit with `speaking in
tongues' experienced by the apostles at the
time of Pentecost. It represents a reaction
against rigid theology and formal worship of
the traditional churches. Pentecostalists
believe in the literal word of the Bible and
disapprove of alcohol, tobacco, dancing,
theatre, and so on. It is an intensely
missionary faith, and recruitment has been
rapid since the 1960s: worldwide membership
is more than 10 million. The Pentecostal
movement dates from 4 Apr 1906 when members
of the congregation of the Azusa Street
Mission in Los Angeles experienced `baptism
in the Spirit'. From this phenomenon it is
sometimes also known as the Tongues movement.
The services are informal, with gospel music
and exclamations of `Hallelujah'. The
movement spread, and took hold in revivalist
areas of Wales and N England, but was less
successful there than in Scandinavia, South
America, and South Africa. In the USA, where
the largest grouping is the Assemblies of
God, members of the movement total more than
0.5 million. It has been spoken of as the
`third force' in Christendom, and a serious
challenge to Roman Catholicism and
traditional Protestantism.