The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

[GoBahnsen]

Well, I said I would put up a thread on this topic, but I want to make it clear that I don't consider myself a Theologian (professionally) and I've always said here, that I'm just a layman.

Coming out of Calvary Chapel and Chuck Smith's Pentecostal roots, we were taught a doctrine there of a "second blessing" for "power to witness". I had hands laid on me more than once. Once I had a group of tongue's speaking Koreans go at it over me ( they later turned out to be a small cult group who had infiltrated Calvary to prepare the Koreans there for a certain prophesied date of the Lord's return- failed). I have been to different Pentecostal Churches and seen wild things done in the name of being "filled with the Spirit."

I have fasted and prostrated myself on the floor seeking something more from God. I followed Finney ( the one who helped to popularize the whole teaching) for two years and once thought I was sinless for about two months.

So I've been around it. Others have had more experience.
The Pentecostal arguments defending this special blessing are interesting and important. They refer first of all to the biblical passages that speak of this baptism, namely, John the Baptist's words about the work of Christ, Matthew 3:11 and other accounts: Mark. 1:8; Luke. 3:16; John. 1:33): "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire."

Then they go to the book of Acts and the promise Jesus gave His disciples just before His ascension. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (1:5). From there, they point to the accounts of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the 120 disciples on Pentecost (Acts 2:4) and on various people after Pentecost, and Peter and John with the Samaritans. Peter and Cornelius Acts 19:1, and Paul and about twelve Ephesian believers.

In all these cases, Pentecostalism argues, people received the baptism of the Holy Spirit after believing, as a separate, special gift and experience. And in addition it says that all these cases are normative for today. This is still the way the Holy Spirit works. This is what every Christian may receive, i.e. if certain spiritual conditions are met.

In fact, Pentecostals even argue from the life and experience of Jesus Himself! They say that He too received His special baptism after He trusted in God, prayed, and obeyed ( Matt. 3:16,17). Besides, they also make appeal to the experience of the believers in Corinth, to the special blessings these Christians received even after they were already converted. And for further proof they refer to Ephesians 5:18, "...Be filled with the Spirit."

Therefore, because this is its teaching, this is what Pentecostalism tells its followers to seek. They are really taught not to be content with "ordinary" salvation. "Seek this, pray for this, do all you can to obtain this baptism of the Holy Spirit! Get to the next level of blessing and experience! If you truly want to have it all, go after this!"


We'll explore this more closely as we continue in this thread. We will show that this is not only un-Biblical, but also dangerous to believe in.

[learning]

This is interesting. Thanks for sharing. I hope I can share a bit. I believe that according to Romans 10:9-13, that Salvation for us is there. I am concerned that people are only concerned about being 'saved' like for heaven, and do not realize that they are 'saved' to be free from sin, and to know God.
I can't remember the exact reference, but I think it is in John, where Jesus says 'Here in is eternal life, to know You (referring to His Father to whom Jesus was praying to) and me.'

I wish, for some reason, to refrain from mentioning my church, but it comes out of the Wesleyan holiness tradition. I have heard of 'entire sanctification' and I have seen camp meetings and church services where people got blessed, heard 'holy laughter' (which was just one man laughing that almost seemed like weeping, in a church service) but not much was/is mentioned 'at times' about this. Some of our demonination has been more traditional in worship, some more charismatic.

I do know that my Father, a minister, was told by an Uncle who was a Pentecostal minister, that he needed to 'get the gift of tongues' and my Father always seemed hurt by that. My Father was one who couldn't help but put up his hand during the singing of some hymns, like 'Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer' or 'Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine' and at one of this uncle's services, my father would say 'Amen' to a visiting preacher's words, and that minister pointed to my father and said 'I know sir, you have the Holy Spirit in you.' It was like, God was giving my father praise in front of the uncle who hinted that my father didn't have the Holy Spirit, if he didn't speak in tongues.

That said, there was a time in my teen years, when I was working at a little grocery store in the community. It might seem funny, but I felt a strong urge at times, to ask people who were buying cigarettes, if they wouldn't mind if I prayed for them to quit. (OK, the owner of the store- it was a chain of stores, he only owned this one, was a Pentecostal Christian, so I wasn't worried about talking about praying) For some reason, I felt condemned because I couldn't ask people if they wanted me to pray for them to quit smoking as I sold it to them. (Mostly we sold groceries, etc., but this was something sold there). I actually took the verse in James , saying 'He who knows to do good and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.' as condemnation because I just couldn't get the nerve up to ask. Well, God gave me the gift of tongues that summer, and I did pray in them only in private (and still do) and I actually did have the ability to ask people if they wanted me to pray for them to quit smoking. You know, most people actually said 'yes' and only one or two laughed about it. Most really wanted me to pray for them to quit!

Now, my Father and Mother knew about this. My Father, at first, wasn't too happy, probably because of the problem he'ld heard about it in the church and what he went through with my Uncle. But my Mother said she believed that God gave it to me to comfort me.

But I believe when I asked Jesus Christ to come in to my heart as a little girl, that He did and His Spirit too. I know I've been different ever since.

I went to Bible College that fall, and I really enjoyed worshipping with God. I worked that summer in a nursing home, and found it difficult, and my prayer life got a little off because of shift work. But I still read the word. I have found my prayer life and closeness to God has varied over the years, and I believe sometimes we feel close to God and sometimes He pulls away, so we don't rely on 'feelings' so much, as faith in God. I believe that obedience brings power (a lady in my church said that to me, and it still speaks to me) and that God's Spirit is in us for to give us comfort, and to guide us in truth. So many times when I have been afraid I might not be His, He has whispered 'I will never leave you nor forsake you' and sometimes, when I struggle with obedience, and I wonder what I'm doing with my life, if I am throwing it all away for something I'm not even sure about at times, I hear 'Trust Me'.

I truly believe the Holy Spirit's job is to comfort us and remind us what Jesus said, to remind us that He is there to keep us going on our journey. He is not some 'experience' that we get and rely on, but we should remember any wonderful 'experience' we have had with Him. But He wants us to follow the words of Jesus, and I believe the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth, but the main truth IS Jesus, HE is the truth that we should focus on.

[Ormly]

I'm with you Learning. What you have is experienced is of the utmost importance for vitality in our Christian life. Let no one discourage or discredit you in this. Speak it. It will only pride that will speak against you.

As you well know many have a form of Godliness but deny the power there of believing the power is for today but unbelieving in the sense they really don't expect anything from God in the prayer life. It's can only all be petitions anyway since we don't know what to pray for when praying with our minds and God knows what we need before we ask Him. I sat in a UMC with a false hope for over a year and praying in silence. I felt like a monk. I left.

This is interesting. Thanks for sharing. I hope I can share a bit. I believe that according to Romans 10:9-13, that Salvation for us is there. I am concerned that people are only concerned about being 'saved' like for heaven, and do not realize that they are 'saved' to be free from sin, and to know God.
I can't remember the exact reference, but I think it is in John, where Jesus says 'Here in is eternal life, to know You (referring to His Father to whom Jesus was praying to) and me.'

That is key if we are to understand what the baptism is all about, i.e., intimacy. I view it as an external touchstone to an internal reality. There, builtin to the experience from Christ, is the check and balance that "bears witness" that we are of Him and in Him. Will He give us a stone when we ask for bread? [See John 6 -Bread of Life] Also: 1 John 2:14 (KJV)
I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

To know Him is to hunger for Him. To hunger for Him is too seek Him with the whole heart. Seeking Him with the whole heart keeps one from sin/sinning. Focused vision being the thing needed and it is attainable.

1 John 3:9
No one who is born of God commits sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. BUT: My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate [Paraclete] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 1 John 2:1

What does this say about the "nominal-garden variety" born again Christian and the NEED for the Baptism of Jesus Christ with the Holy Ghost?

I hope this is a help to you, Learning.

Orm

[markporter]

Well, I think I'm going to be partly with GB here and partly against - I'm not exactly with the pentecostals, I'm more with the vineyard people on this - there is one baptism into which we are all baptised when we enter into the process of salvation - that isn't all there is to the christian life however, the NT leads us to expect a dynamic life in which we encounter the holy spirit in many different ways, in profound encounters, in specific moments of empowerment for a task, in guidance, and in other ways too and I think this is the type of life we should be wanting to live, in dynamic relationship with God, expecting him to work in this kind of way amongst us (acts/1 corinthians type stuff) - there is more!

[GoBahnsen]

Well, I think I'm going to be partly with GB here and partly against - I'm not exactly with the pentecostals, I'm more with the vineyard people on this - there is one baptism into which we are all baptised when we enter into the process of salvation - that isn't all there is to the christian life however, the NT leads us to expect a dynamic life in which we encounter the holy spirit in many different ways, in profound encounters, in specific moments of empowerment for a task, in guidance, and in other ways too and I think this is the type of life we should be wanting to live, in dynamic relationship with God, expecting him to work in this kind of way amongst us (acts/1 corinthians type stuff) - there is more!

Thanks Mark. Even though you can't throw in with me on the whole, at least you were charitable about it. I really want to tread lightly on this subject. Calvinists don't have God in a box. Though while we do say He won't violate His promises and that He won't author confusion, we still realize that if He wants someone to speak in a language they haven't studied, then He can do that.

It just doesn't appear to be the norm, and in fact this seems to be the case in the NT. The sign gifts were fading out with the death of the Apostles and NT Prophets. Even the amazing early healings, were dropping off as God began to establish what would become the norm. People will get sick and die.

The bad teaching of it all is when Christians are left to wonder why God would give some a "prayer language" and others not. The teaching often says that God wants every believer to have this gift, but obviously many try and never get it. Then yoiu end up with this superiority issue. The ones with more faith get it and those with colder faith are left out. This is part of the dangerous element in the teaching. It's divisive. As brother Vinny said "the haves and the have nots"

It's always interesting how God seems to be really into giving the Pentecostals the gift of tongues, but not the harder ones like healing. It's easy to work oneself into making unintelligible sounds, it's another thing to say "rise, take up your bed and walk." Why aren't the healers in the hospitals, clearing them out?

Someone might say, because they lack faith. Hey, let one of them go in there and do a miraculous healing and the faith thing will start to climb quickly. When Jesus was healing people, they gathered like flies and often He healed all of them. Granted, faith figures in, but like I said, it also catches on when someone is really healed.

I remember at Calvary Chapel one service, there was a young man who had been in a skiing accident or similar to that. He was up on stage with Chuck in a wheel chair. Paralyzed and unable to walk, you could see how badly he wanted the use of his legs again. Chuck prayed for a healing and the boy tried to exercise all his faith, with thousands watching and praying with faith, but no was the answer.

Funny how backachs or stomach problems get the healings, but the harder ones seem to go unanswered. I'm not saying God doesn't heal today or do miracles, I'm only pointing out that there is a lot of sham going on in Pentecostalism and gifts of healing and tongues are not normative today. And those churches that build their ministries around them, typically are filled with false doctrine and or weakened Gospel preaching, while signs and wonders fill the Cjurches with hopeful curiosity seekers and people that really want a touch from God. This is another part of the danger involved. Often it's all a sham, shrouded in bad doctrine and souls are led astray.

[Ormly]

All for His pleasure and of course His sovreignty in the matter. Who knows how He will choose and whom? It's all a mystery. "You there, you get the gift --- and you, over there, you get nothing. --- that goes for my saving Grace and faith to believe for salvation as well." "How come, you ask?" "Who are you claypot, to ask the Potter how to conduct His business?" "My ways are higher than your ways and don't you forget that." I'll never let you in on what I'm after because it's too divisive."

[GoBahnsen]

All for His pleasure and of course His sovreignty in the matter. Who knows how He will choose and whom? It's all a mystery. "You there, you get the gift --- and you, over there, you get nothing. --- that goes for my saving Grace and faith to believe for salvation as well." "How come, you ask?" "Who are you claypot, to ask the Potter how to conduct His business?" "My ways are higher than your ways and don't you forget that." I'll never let you in on what I'm after because it's too divisive."

I see your point/objection and I was waiting for someone to raise it. If God can choose whom He will in Salvation (and He does) then why can't it be that way in the Church? Well it certainly is that way. Not all have the same gifts, but that's not the complaint in this thread. We are wanting to demonstrate abuse and misuse, bad doctrine and unbiblical practice. Divisive-ness, not over the truth, but over error. We maintain that much of Pentecostalism is off with regard to true doctrine and practice. Some worse than others. Stay tuned.

[Ormly]

I see your point/objection and I was waiting for someone to raise it

I don't believe you see it at all.....in fact.....[fill in the blanks]

[GoBahnsen]

I don't believe you see it at all.....in fact.....[fill in the blanks]

Solly on Ormly: "Well done, Ormly, your insulting behaviour finally makes you the one and only occupant of my ignore list."

I should be as wise as Solly, but someone has to keep you in check. I've had your number from day one and though some here want to look the other way, I've got you in my sites and that's where you'll stay.

[Ormly]

Solly on Ormly: "Well done, Ormly, your insulting behaviour finally makes you the one and only occupant of my ignore list."

I should be as wise as Solly, but someone has to keep you in check. I've had your number from day one and though some here want to look the other way, I've got you in my sites and that's where you'll stay.

I'm thrilled to be sure in addition to being awestruck at your pre-eminence and presumption..

I need to be as wise as Chappie and leave you to your devices or should I say, devisiveness....but you are so much fun it's hard to keep from checking in for a laugh.

I guess now I'll get a fresh Mod notice for this being an insult and hurting your feelings. Never mind all the blue ink you smear around.

[GoBahnsen]

I'm thrilled to be sure in addition to being awestruck at your pre-eminence and presumption..

I need to be as wise as Chappie and leave you to your devices or should I say, devisiveness....but you are so much fun it's hard to keep from checking in for a laugh.

I guess now I'll get a fresh Mod notice for this being an insult and hurting your feelings. Never mind all the blue ink you smear around.

I used to wish you'd fill up your warning points and be gone. But the more I think about it you serve a purpose here at Tweb. I'm opposed to abusive Pentecostalism and you represent it. You are a walking advertisement of it's dangers. For that I'm thankful, though I would prefer you repent.

[Ormly]

I used to wish you'd fill up your warning points and be gone. But the more I think about it you serve a purpose here at Tweb. I'm opposed to abusive Pentecostalism and you represent it. You are a walking advertisement of it's dangers. For that I'm thankful, though I would prefer you repent.

Right. You need me here to keep you in check. I've had my eye on you from the day one and don't you forget it. Other people may turn a blind eye but not me. You'r on my list, bunk.

There. How's that sound?

[GoBahnsen]

Right. You need me here to keep you in check. I've had my eye on you from the day one and don't you forget it. Other people may turn a blind eye but not me. You'r on my list, bunk.

There. How's that sound?

Sounds par for the course. I resisted name callling and you had to add "bunk". I'll still resist getting in the gutter with you and remain respectful. Have a nice day sir.

[Sheepdog]

well, before i say more let me note that i think a good majority of the goofiness that goes on in the pentacostalist movement is not from God. though at the same time i'm not a cessationalist since i'm more agnostic regarding miracles in our modern day. i'm not a sensationalist either, or at least i try not to be

however, Steve Greg made a good point in one of his tape series (i forgot which audio file precisely, but it's on his site here: http://www.thenarrowpath.com/mp3table.html).

namely, it seems like the Disciples arleady received the Spirit in John 20:22 when he first appeared to them as a group. then we see in Acts after Jesus' ascension that something else happens to them involving the Holy Spirit. Mr. Greg argues from this for a baptism of the Spirit which is different from the indwelling that happens when we initially believe.

it's an interesting case; right now i'm not sure what to think of it.

[Ormly]

well, before i say more let me note that i think a good majority of the goofiness that goes on in the pentacostalist movement is not from God. though at the same time i'm not a cessationalist since i'm more agnostic regarding miracles in our modern day. i'm not a sensationalist either, or at least i try not to be

however, Steve Greg made a good point in one of his tape series (i forgot which audio file precisely, but it's on his site here: http://www.thenarrowpath.com/mp3table.html).

namely, it seems like the Disciples arleady received the Spirit in John 20:22 when he first appeared to them as a group. then we see in Acts after Jesus' ascension that something else happens to them involving the Holy Spirit. Mr. Greg argues from this for a baptism of the Spirit which is different from the indwelling that happens when we initially believe.

it's an interesting case; right now i'm not sure what to think of it.

Here Sheep. You may have missed this. Hope you will read it carefully. It's no longer available in print.

JESUS CHRIST, THE BAPTIZER



"THERE WAS A MAN SENT FROM GOD, whose name was John. .. . The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.... And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.

"And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.

"And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God" (John 1:6, 29, 32—34).

Every one of the four Gospels spells out John’s declaration, "I indeed baptize you with water; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost." When the Pharisees asked, "Why baptizeth thou?" he replied, "That he should be made manifest.. . therefore I am come baptizing with water" (John 1: 25, 31). Furthermore, John assured them that he was sent to baptize with water (vs. 33). It was his ministry. This fact was recognized to such an extent that he became known as "John the Baptist."

I doubt whether one could find a ten-year-old in Christendom that has not yet learned about John the Baptist. All through the ages, generation after generation, men have learned of this great prophet, but they know him by what he did and not by what he said or prophesied. Yet we know that he was both prophet and baptizer.

In recent times I have been astonished to find that very few Christians have ever heard that Christ is the baptizer in the Holy Ghost. They know Him as the Lamb of God, as Saviour; and as the Son of God, our Lord; but they are unfamiliar with the fact that He was announced to the world as the One to whom God gave the ministry of baptizing with the Holy Ghost.

Jesus Christ is both Saviour and Baptizer. We have no doubt that He is as much the Saviour today as when He died on Calvary as the Lamb of God. Even so, He is still the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit as much as He was when He commenced this ministry on the Day of Pentecost, for He is the "same, yesterday, today and forever."

I have just traveled in seven countries and addressed over 300 ministers belonging to seven of the major classical Protestant churches. During these three months I have read a great variety of ecclesiastical writings, touching upon almost every subject and event between Easter and Pentecost. From Ascension to Pentecost. I have listened to many radio talks in several languages. Not once did I hear a minister, see in a paper, or hear over the radio any mention that Christ baptized with the Holy Spirit. In conversations many that questioned me or spoke to me expressed some surprise at my strong emphasis upon the message that Christ is the Baptizer in the Spirit. I have heard much about the work of the Spirit, about receiving the Spirit, and even about the coming of the Spirit, but nothing is ever said about being baptized with the Spirit.

The first intimation in history that a baptism with the Spirit was a possible event in the life of a human being came from John the Baptist. However, he did not announce the experience but rather the one who gave such an experience. He announced that the Baptizer was coming. He clearly states that God had told him that Christ would be the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost. He also assures us that the image for this act of Christ was his own act of baptizing in the river. From the very beginning, therefore, all John’s converts fully expected an experience that would be as overwhelming as their baptism in the river. These converts had an encounter with the baptizer and not with water or even the river. What they were to expect was an encounter with the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit and not with the Spirit or with the work of the Spirit in their lives.

For every baptism there must be an agent to baptize, and an element with or into which to baptize, and finally a candidate to be baptized. Such a candidate must present himself and ask for baptism. Then there must be a total and complete surrender to the baptizer and not to the element in which he baptizes. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is an encounter with Christ, the Baptizer. The candidates are those who have already had an encounter with Him as the Lamb of God, the Saviour, who took away all their sin and made them worthy temples of the Holy Spirit.

The disciples who left John and followed Christ that He might baptize them with the Holy Spirit discovered that He was full of the Spirit. They saw His miracles to prove it and heard His word to confirm it. Then He gave them power and authority to cast out devils and heal the sick, but that was not the baptism in the Spirit that they expected. Finally they saw Him weak and as a Lamb led to the slaughter, and He opened not His mouth. He died on the cross and was laid in the tomb, and no one had been baptized in the Spirit. What about John’s prophecy? Was it all mythical or mystical?

In the evening of that first Easter day of Resurrection, He suddenly and unexpectedly appeared in their midst. Then He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost." This was after He had explained, "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." But how did His Father send Him? First He came, born of the Spirit (Luke 1:35), and then He was endued with the Spirit (Luke 4: 1) to commence His earthly ministry. So here the disciples became the very first members of a new body, the church. He breathed eternal life into them. Calvary, the all-effective altar of God, had dealt with the sin question, and those who were dead in trespasses and sin now could receive the life-giving, regenerating Holy Spirit. This was for them the occasion where they were baptized into one body by the Spirit (I Cor.12:13).

But John said that God had said that Jesus would baptize with the Spirit, not that He would give the Spirit. I wonder how these disciples thought and felt about all these strange things? However, a few weeks later Jesus again spoke to the same men to whom He had said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Now He confirms John’s message. He says to them, "John truly baptized with water: but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts 1: 5). Here Christ accepts and confirms the same image that God had given to John, a baptism in water and a baptism in the Holy Spirit—indeed a river baptism, but the river of life must first begin to flow upon earth.

Several predictions were confirmed on the Day of Pentecost. The Father gave the promised Holy Ghost, who was heard as wind and seen as fire. Jesus began to baptize in the Spirit and fire. The immediate consequence of this baptism was that the candidates began to speak with other tongues as Jesus had promised (Mark 16: 17). Then the Holy Spirit began to convict of sin, righteousness and judgment as Peter preached to the multitude (John 16:8). But the record says, "They were all filled {overflowed] with the Holy Ghost, and [of which was] they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts2:4).

It seems that from this very day onward much more emphasis was given to the experience of the disciples than to the act of Jesus the Baptizer, and the whole controversy began to revolve around glossolalia—speaking with other tongues—which was the very simple consequence of this baptism in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the gift and tongues was the consequence. These tongues were a manifestation of the Holy Spirit and not a manifestation of the ecstasy of the human spirit. Speaking in tongues by the Holy Spirit or, as Paul puts it, "Praying with the Spirit," is an act of the Holy Spirit upon the human spirit which transcends the understanding (I Cor.14: 14, 15).

Thus it seems clear that on the day of Pentecost the spirit of the disciples was baptized into the Holy Spirit and their bodies were filled with the Holy Spirit—overflowed with the Holy Spirit. The fact that they commenced to speak "with the Spirit" was proof of this overflowing.

In our day many pray for an infilling, an experience, instead of seeking the Baptizer. They ask the Holy Spirit to fill them when they should be asking Christ to baptize them. The baptism will produce the filling. This filling of the body by the baptism of the human spirit into the Holy Spirit produces an overflowing (see John 7:38) which causes the vocal organs to go into action and speak a language that is unknown to the candidate. He may be fully aware of what he is doing but does not know what he is saying (I Cor.14:14).

On the day of Pentecost God gave the Holy Spirit and Christ then baptized His followers into the Spirit, and they began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4). About 10 years later, according to Acts 10:44—46, when the Apostle Peter dared to preach to the Gentiles for the first time (Acts 11:19), these same Gentiles received exactly the same experience that the apostles and the disciples of Christ had on the day of Pentecost. The record says, "And they of the circumcision [Jews] were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God" (Acts 10:46). The Jewish Christians in Jerusalem objected to all this. (Acts 11:2). Then Peter in his defense said, "And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 11: 15, 16). In other words, it was the same Baptizer who baptized into the same element, with the same consequences. The consequences were what convinced the Jewish Christians that the experience of the Gentiles was valid, for they heard them speak with tongues (Acts.10:46).

From this record it is quite clear that during the first decade Peter and the church in Jerusalem believed that Jesus is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit and that "speaking with tongues" was the immediate consequence or confirmation of this baptism. During this last decade in our time the Christian world has become more conscious of the Holy Spirit and many are reaching out for His power and a charismatic ministry. However, it seems to me that unless the church once again lifts up Christ as the Baptizer, many will seek the blessing from the Holy Spirit and fail to find it because He will always honor Christ.

To get the baptism in the Spirit everyone must seek an encounter with the Baptizer, who began this ministry on the day of Pentecost when He truly came back in the Spirit to baptize His disciples. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Heb.13:8).

David Duplessis .......[Mr. Pentecost]



Note: John 20.22 is as you state. That's the "indwelling". The new birth.
Acts 2 is the "coming upon", the Baptism by Jesus in/with the Holy Ghost as John the Baptist prophesied.

Hope that helps.