Some non-charismatics persist in warning against the baptism in the Holy Spirit, little knowing that this gift is promised to everyone who believes in Jesus, everywhere. Skeptics warn “Be Careful!” But Jesus promised that he would not only save and heal those who believe but that he would also baptize them “with the Holy Spirit and fire”. God is a good Father and gives His children good gifts!
Had these skeptics been present on the day of Pentecost they would have viewed the outpouring of the Spirit with much concern. Known languages spoken supernaturally by Galileans spilling noisily out of an upstairs room? Accounts of a sudden “rushing wind” and of “tongues of fire” sitting on men’s heads? What precedents were there in Scripture for such things? And how can Joel’s prophecy be used to explain the unusual phenomena of Pentecost when it says nothing whatsoever about “speaking in tongues”?
Those who oppose the gift of speaking in tongues also tend to be dismissive of the gift of prophecy, which they regard as outdated and incorrectly interpret as “inspired preaching”. They also dismiss the spiritual gifts of healing and miracles yet fully accept those gifts less offensive to their unrenewed minds. They find themselves in a quandary, in that they are valiant for the truths of justification by faith, water baptism by immersion and the priesthood of believers, yet shrink at the thought of receiving also important spiritual gifts.
They remind me of those who entered the Promised Land but neglected to possess their inheritance (Joshua 13:1). It is not our prerogative to limit the spiritual experiences that accompany God’s promises.
“Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) The only difference between the Jesus of yesterday and today is that while on earth he ministered in his physical body, whereas now from heaven he ministers through his spiritual body, the Church.
God commanded that the Passover lamb be eaten entirely, so we must partake of Jesus the Lamb of God in every aspect. It is not our prerogative to choose which parts are acceptable. The promises in God’s Word are not optional but are absolute for every Christian everywhere.
In the Army ignorance is no excuse. Standing Orders remain much the same, day in and day out, but Routine Orders are posted daily. Every soldier’s responsibility is to become familiar with both. The apostle Paul targeted the pride of Christians at Corinth repeatedly with “Do you not know?” If Paul were alive today, he would address the intellectual pride behind the rejection of spiritual gifts because he writes against it quite clearly.
“And my speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power: that your faith might not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4).
“For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not wrought by me, to make the gentiles obedient, by word and deed, though mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” (Romans 15:18, 19)
“Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.” (2 Corinthians 12:12)
Non-charismatics claim the ministry of apostles and prophets ceased in the Church around the time of the end of Acts. It is true that the ministries of apostles and prophets were foundational (Ephesians 2:20), but just as Jesus Christ was the foundation laid by Paul at Corinth, he is also that of every bible-based church.
If it be argued that the foundational ministries of apostle and prophet ceased 2,000 years ago, does it then follow that the healing ministry of Jesus Christ recorded in the Gospels should be limited to the lifetimes of the first apostles? If they can be attributed to God’s Sovereign Will, what of the many Bible verses that include healing in the Covenant?
Pentecostals have been patient with non-charismatics – despite the tendency of the latter to strip the evidence of the manifestations of the Spirit from such world-shaking spiritual events as the second Welsh Revival. That amazing event took place at the start of the 20th century, and Evan Roberts its leader was a Pentecostal if ever there was one!
Yet a woman who viewed manifestations of the Spirit with distaste ended his participation in that revival and wrote a book in which she refers to much of what she saw as questionable. Did you know that the Keswick Convention so beloved of evangelicals was in all but name Pentecostal, and that the manifestations of the Holy Spirit were evidenced in the meetings? So, throw religious revisions and church history rewrites to the wind!