believed in British Israelism, an ideology maintaining that the Anglo-Saxon peoples were among the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. In addition, Parham subscribed to rather unorthodox views on creation. He believed God took two days to create humans—non-whites on the sixth day and whites on the eighth. Parham also supported Theodor Herzl and the struggle for a Jewish homeland, lecturing on the subject often. Oneness Pentecostals would agree with Parham's belief that Spirit baptized (with the evidence of an unknown tongue) Christians would be taken in the rapture. But his teachings on British Israelism and the annihilation of the wicked were vehemently rejected. Legacy Parham originated the doctrine of initial evidence—that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is evidenced by speaking in tongues. It was this doctrine that made Pentecostalism distinct from other holiness Christian groups that spoke in tongues or believed in an experience subsequent to salvation and sanctification. In a move criticized by Parham, his Apostolic Faith Movement merged with other Pentecostal groups in 1914 to form the General Council of the Assemblies of God in the United States of America. Today, the worldwide Assemblies of God is the largest Pentecostal denomination. In 1916, the fourth general council of Assemblies of God met in St. Louis, MO to decide on the mode of baptism they would use. All Apostolic Faith Movement ministers were baptized in Jesus' name by Charles F. Parham including Howard Goss, First Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church International. After a vote, out of approximately 430 ministers, 133 were asked to leave because the majority ruled they would maintain the Catholic Trinitarian formula of baptism as the official baptism of the Assemblies of God. This move formally sparked the creation of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, which would eventually create the United Pentecostal Church International and the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notes References Further reading Goff, James R., Jr. Fields White Unto Harvest: Charles F. Parham and the Missionary Origins of Pentecostalism (1989), the standard scholarly biography Primary sources Charles F. Parham, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, 1902) Charles F. Parham, The Everlasting Gospel (Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, 1911) Selected Sermons of the Late Charles F. Parham, ed Sarah E. Parham (Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, 1941) External links American Christian Zionists American Pentecostals American evangelicals Holiness movement Pentecostal