Kenneth LaPrade, Theological Conference 2022.

What are some of the key Scriptural indicators that genuine Christians truly have holy spirit? Which doubtful modern paradigms about the reality of holy spirit should be carefully avoided?

First off, we should note briefly that “holy spirit” does not biblically mean “the Third Person of the Trinity”, a misguided philosophical/theological paradigm, mainly developed in the fourth century CE. It [holy spirit] never sends greetings to Christian assemblies in any New Testament letters, and it is never approached in prayer (or worshipped) throughout the whole Bible! Since the earliest of creation records (Genesis 1:2) when God effectively brought order to a disordered chaos, the “spirit of God” was active, “moving over the face of the waters.” The term “spirit”, among its varied uses, is rendered “breath” (Job 4:9 – Hebrew: ruach) or “wind” (John 3:8 – Greek: pneuma). God’s “breath”, so to speak, or “holy breath”, is indicative of God’s personal, active involvement with his creation, including his intimate interaction with human beings, created originally in His image. God’s “spirit” or “breath” is no more a distinct “Person” - apart from God [the Father] than your “breath”, (perhaps as a metaphor for your heartfelt thoughts), could be a separate “person” – a “person” other than you!

Jesus was metaphorically “baptizing” folks in holy spirit (John 1:33) throughout the gospels, as clearly evidenced by his powerful commissioning of the twelve in Luke 9:1-2 and then the seventy in Luke 10: 1-2, 17. He spoke prophetically in John, chapter 7 of a future, more complete outpouring of the spirit:

“On the great, last day of the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood up and shouted out, ‘If any of you is in need of drink let him come to me and let him drink. He who believes and obeys me, out of his heart, as Scripture has said, will come rivers of living water.’ He meant by this the spirit which would be given to those who believed and obeyed him. The Spirit was not yet present because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:37-39 – OGF)

It is relevant that Jesus, here in John 7, essentially used the same vocabulary about “living water” – (as associated with “Life of the Age to Come”) which he had used previously with the Samaritan woman (John 4:7-26). In that John, chapter 4 context Jesus and the Samaritan woman discussed the vital subject of worship. Jesus’ striking conclusion was, “… The hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” (v. 21b) In other words, the worship of the Father (the one true God) would no longer be confined to (or dependent on) being at certain physical locations, such as the temple in Jerusalem.

“‘Yet a time is coming, and has now come, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is looking for such people to worship Him. God communicates through spirit [Literally: ‘God is spirit’], and those who worship Him must worship Him on the basis of spirit and truth.’” (John 4:23-24 – OGF)

So, God is “spirit”, just as “God is light” (1^st John 1:5) and “God is love” (1^st John 4:8), meaning that He is full of such pure, dynamic qualities! As reflected in the OGF translation above (in John 4:24), God is extremely capable and desirous of communicating spiritually to true worshippers!

Notice that true worship, in this context, has nothing at all to do with having a certain spiritual gift! We will briefly consider a few ideas about such “gifts” toward the end of this presentation.

Upon mentioning solid, prerequisite information, it has to be truly grasped that the seed of the Gospel of the Kingdom (Mark 1:1, 14-15/Mt. 13:19) must be carefully assimilated with repentance (authentic change) for a person to experience a genuine, biblical “new birth” – 1^st Peter 1:3, 22-25! Within such repentant Kingdom thinking, according to the Apostle Peter, “holy spirit” is given to those who obey God (Acts 5:32), just as salvation is given to those who obey Jesus, according to Hebrews 5:9. To vaguely proclaim that God freely gives his holy spirit to all who latch onto a few unclear, partial truths mixed with a batch of traditional lies would be a wildly far-fetched proposition! The “spirit of truth” is not congruent at all with blatant falsity!

Along with the above observation, it can be noted that bona fide Christians receive the holy spirit by initially believing the true Gospel - and by the obedient action of being baptized. (In Ephesians 1:13 – OGF): “In him [Messiah Jesus], after you heard the word of the truth, the Gospel of your salvation, you believed it and were sealed with the holy spirit of the promise, which is a down-payment on our future inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” (In 1^st Cor. 12:13 - OGF): “For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free; we all were made to drink of one spirit.” Peter clarified these basic, ordered ideas in Acts 2:38-39 (OGF), when he said, “Repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of holy spirit. This promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off – as many as the Lord our God will invite to Himself.” [The unique changed order of events (for obvious, contextual reasons - in Acts 10:34-48) involving the first group of believing Gentiles, does not really contradict this general order in Acts 2.] Among other things, one sees plainly that holy spirit reception, biblically, does not involve “a second work of grace” (or a third), according to some budding, erroneous theologies near the year of 1900 CE. The gift of holy spirit is obviously linked in the Bible to initial, obedient faith.

A section of 1^st Corinthians chapter 2 (v. 9-16 – OGF) elucidates the essential, enlightening benefits of having God’s spirit which is equated with “the mind of Christ.” Having holy spirit and truly walking in it stands in stark contrast with the natural (unspiritual) condition of others:

“But as it is written [in a beautiful reference to our future Kingdom inheritance], ‘Things that no eye has seen, and no ear has heard, things which have not entered the mind of man; all these God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But to us God revealed them through the spirit, because the spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. Who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? In the same way no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. But we did not receive the spirit of the world, but the spirit which comes from God, so that we might understand the things that are graciously given to us by God. And we speak these things not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by spirit, explaining spiritual things with spiritual words. Now an unconverted person does not receive the things of the spirit of God, because it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The person who is spiritual discerns all things, but he himself is evaluated by no one. For ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Messiah.”

Part of a footnote in the OGF Translation (p. 409) states - about v. 16 here, “The Hebrew of Isa. 40:13 cited here has ‘spirit’ and the LXX which Paul cites has ‘mind.’ This shows that mind and spirit (and often ‘heart’) are more or less synonymous.” We might remember Jesus’ brief statement (in John 6:63) about his own spiritual teachings: “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” Several similar terms like “holy spirit”, “spirit”, “the anointing” (1^st John 2:20, 26), “the spirit of God”, and “the spirit of Jesus” (Acts 16:7) are altogether used hundreds of times in the N.T. in multi-faceted ways to indicate God’s very personal “heart”, so to speak, being poured into actively loving, obedient children. Such uses are never hazy or nebulous, but they are focused on the understanding of concepts expressed with plain words!

For example, one can read 1^st Thessalonians 4:1-8 and view how having holy spirit is linked to absolute integrity in sexual matters, or see in 2^nd Corinthians, chapter 3 that being “written on” (metaphorically) “with the spirit of the living God” makes us competent as servants of a new covenant “in the spirit”, instead of the old, “fading away” Mosaic covenant which is “in the letter.” One can perceive in Romans, chapter 8 that having God’s spirit – and living by it - is linked to victory over the current inclinations of human nature, and it (God’s spirit) testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, “heirs of God” and “fellow heirs with the Messiah” in the hope to “share in the [future] glory with him.” One can also grasp the deep hope-love connection in Romans 5:5, “And hope does not disappoint us, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit which was given to us.” Along with that foundation of unselfish love, one can discern that in severe contrast (Galatians 5:19-21) with dark, negative, demeaning, divisive tendencies; one can live by fruitful, spiritual norms: “But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the [Mosaic] Law…. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (Galatians 6:18, 22-23 – OGF) I might add here that, according to accurate Scriptural integrity, this “fruit of the spirit” described in Galatians (along with the other few, basic aspects of holy spirit which we have observed so far) are simply dependent upon the obedient, loving response of authentic faith in the words of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. They are not at all based on having (or not having) a certain “spiritual gift” or operating a specific, so-called “manifestation” - other than having the vital connection of holy spirit itself.

Slowly reading John, (chapters 13-17) provides a full, rich context for Jesus’ last set of instructions to his disciples before his intense time of suffering. Within those chapters, Jesus highlights what would be given spiritually to his followers after his death and resurrection:

“’If you love me you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. This is the spirit of truth. The world is incapable of receiving it, because it does not see it or know it, but you do know it, because it remains with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you…. If anyone loves me, he will preserve and obey my Gospel of the Kingdom word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our residence with him. I have spoken these things to you while I am still with you. But the Counselor [parakletos], the holy spirit, which the Father will send as representing and reproducing my presence, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.’” (John 14:15-18, 23b, 25-26 – OGF)

“’When the Counselor comes, the one I will send you from the Father, the spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father, this Counselor will testify about me.’” (John 15:26 – OGF)

“’Nevertheless I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I am going away, because if I do not go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. When he [The Counselor] comes he will convict the world about sin, doing right, and judgment …. I still have many things to tell you, but you are not able to bear them now. When that spirit of truth comes, it will guide you into all the truth. The spirit will not speak on its own initiative, but it will speak whatever it hears, and it will declare to you what is going to happen in the future. It will glorify me because it will receive from me and show it to you. Everything which the Father has is mine. That is why I told you that the spirit will take from what is mine and declare it to you.’” (John 16:7-8, 12-15 – OGF)

There is a Scriptural passage in 1^st John 2:1-2 (OGF) which is intimately linked to what we have glimpsed about the Counselor in John 14, 15, and 16. The Counselor [parakletos] essentially means one who stands alongside another to counsel, to guide, to comfort, to help, or to defend. “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins we have an advocate [parakletos] with the Father – Jesus Messiah, the righteous one. He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only ours, but for the whole world.”

The “advocate” of 1^st John 2:1 should not be thought of as something distinct from the “Counselor” of John, chapters 14-16, but as spiritually referring to the same thing. The resurrected, ascended Jesus is “the lord” and “the spirit” in 2^nd Corinthians 3:17-18 whom we should look at as we are transformed! So, our Counselor or Advocate is the spiritual “great high priest” Jesus - to whom we have continual, intimate access, according to Hebrews 4:14-16.

One might prayerfully consider how much the Counselor’s work (in accurately reminding us of Jesus’ words and actions) was initially accomplished throughout years and decades of early, first century folks preaching Jesus’ Gospel words - and eventually during the actual writing and preserving of N.T. Scriptures. Nowadays, when we grow in grace, while embracing this masterful, coherent written testimony about Jesus’ Kingdom Gospel, holy spirit from God’s mighty heart energizes our faithful, obedient, loving response!

                                                                      Part Two

Before closing this introductory “holy spirit” presentation, I would like to briefly comment on a type of modern “spirituality” which I heartily embraced during previous decades. Nowadays, I feel compelled to lovingly warn folks about some possible dangers embedded in my own, once-cherished background, coupled with strong feelings. I speak of such things from having been a long-time “insider” (over 40 years) in Pentecostal-Charismatic activity in an intimate way.

The movement of which I was a part is rooted in the unquestioning idea that “speaking in tongues” is the initial evidence (potentially for all Christians) of being “baptized in holy spirit.” With a heart full of prayerful kindness toward my beloved, enthusiastic colleagues, I know I should respectfully challenge this relatively modern doctrine of “initial evidence” and the assumption that “speaking in tongues” is for all Christians. I do not engage here in an argument of “cessationist” thinking vs. “continuationist” beliefs, but I do freely make a few observations, while carefully comparing certain biblical standards with the assertive mentality of a fast-growing modern movement - already for a bit more than 120 years. This has been an area of focused personal study for me for about five years now; frankly, before these last few years, I had only studied such “spiritual” ideas (for decades) from a zealously defensive one-sided view.

To give some historical background, interested people should know that this bold “initial evidence” theology (associated with “latter rain” symbolism) and the priority of tongues for all believers - was specifically developed by Charles Fox Parham (perhaps in the late 1890s) leading up to vivid claims of a new outpouring of holy spirit, with a new outbreak of “speaking in tongues” in Topeka, Kansas on January 1^st, 1901. Parham’s new doctrinal focus and practice was soon moved to Houston, Texas where a student named William J. Seymour accepted Parham’s teachings. Seymour then took these ideas to Los Angeles where he initiated the fervent Azusa Street revival from 1906 to 1909. Basically, this whole development of 120 years of Pentecostal/ Charismatic activity stems from the theology and practice of these two men: Parham and Seymour. To grasp the significance of Parham’s unique, pioneering role, you might want to check out this kindly written, thorough biography: Fields White Unto Harvest: Charles F. Parham and the Missionary Origins of Pentecostalism by James R. Goff, Jr. To merely get a brief overview of the notable impact of these two men, you can read pages 42-62 of The Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements: The History and the Error by David W. Cloud.

One thing which I have noticed about my specific background and its indoctrination in “spiritual matters” is how certain Bible passages had to be either ignored or vastly distorted (taking advantage of a certain KJV weakness) in order to ardently promote the “tongues for all” bandwagon. Early in 1^st Corinthians, chapter 12, certain verses were explained in the following way, using the KJV. Verse 7 was highly emphasized: “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” The word “but” was adamantly assumed to introduce a strong contrast to the overall, previous context of diversity in gifts, services, and activities being distributed by God in distinct ways. Nevertheless, the word “but” is not the strong contrasting Greek word alla, but rather it is the weak connective de which is most often translated “and.” Even though the word “manifestation” is singular, we were taught to regard it as involving a “package deal” of the nine evidences listed in verses 8-10. Even though the Greek text (in verses 8-10) is not at all conducive to the following rendering, we would boldly assert that the “to one” and “to another” had nothing to do with individual people being designated, but that this vocabulary was connected to the word “profit” in verse 7. So, (in v. 8) we wrongly regarded the text as saying, “For one [profit] is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, for another [profit] the word of knowledge, etc.” I have checked more than a hundred translations (English and Spanish), but none corroborate this wildly distorted explanation, which is the zealous doctrinal basis for the “all nine all the time” mentality of the old Way ministry.

With this incongruent “For one profit” emphasis firmly in mind, we were led to dishonestly disregard an important clear passage in the latter part of chapter 12, (in verses 27-31 - OGF):

“Now you are the body of Messiah, and each one is a part of it. God has appointed in the church: first Apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then those who perform miracles; then gifts of healings, of helping, leadership, and different languages. Are all apostles? No. Are all prophets? No. Are all teachers? No. Do all perform miracles? No. Do all have gifts of healing? No. Do all speak in different languages? No. Do all interpret languages? No. But you should earnestly desire the best gifts [collectively, as God wisely distributes them]. And now I will show you the most excellent way.”

Without reading carefully here, and, by using deceitful suppositions to support our distorted rendition of verses 7-10 (of 1^st Cor. 12), we would lightly chalk off verses 27-31 to mean that, even though all believers can inherently operate all 9 “manifestations” listed in verses 8-10, they would not do so in a church meeting, so the meetings would not run too long! How sloppy we were to explain away this significant passage! Everyone knows that not all are Apostles or prophets – whether at a “meeting” or not! These verses (27-31) are dynamically compatible with the whole thematic context of chapter 12, which indicates extremely diverse functions and gifts distributed differently according to God’s sovereign choices. All of 1^st Corinthians, chapter 12, flows harmoniously with the distinctive giving of diverse gifts to individual folks with quite different functions in Romans 12:4-8.

When analyzing some phrases in chapter 14 (of 1^st Cor.), we would isolate certain partial phrases, and give them a contradictory spin. We would promote a downright strange interpretation of a partial quote of v.4 to suggest that all could and should speak in tongues a lot (in their private lives) in order to edify themselves spiritually. Thus, we would violate the clear context in which efforts at self-edification are actually being scolded; public utterances must be to edify the whole congregation! Verse 5a (another partial quote) was used to exalt “tongues for all” thinking, as if God wills all believers to do it (obviously contradicting 1^st Cor. 12:27-31.) Nevertheless, Paul’s wise use of rhetoric in the whole of verse 5 is to emphasize that even if all could speak in languages (which would be great – hypothetically), it is of greater importance and priority that all speak “prophecy” - in a language understood by all present!

We could go on here (in verse 18) and see the same type of distortion, through another exalted partial quote of Paul’s overall rhetoric – v. 18 (which almost certainly uses hyperbole to make a dramatic contrast.) Verse 19 emphatically completes the thought. By the way, I am not suggesting that all people from any Pentecostal-Charismatic background twist the Scriptures in the same way in which I was badly misled.

Anyway, the “initial evidence” theology of being baptized in holy spirit (with tongues for all) can certainly be challenged in many more ways; I have merely scratched the surface so far. One unfortunate consequence of my former mindset is that there exists a zealous compulsion to “lead” people into the experience of tongues – something never seen in Acts 2, 10, 19 or 1^st Corinthians 12-14. I was personally involved in guiding hundreds into such an exuberant experience! We (in our old group) would get folks to relax, open their mouths, and engage in deep breathing for a few minutes (after having taught them our detailed, distorted analysis of 1^st Cor. 12-14.) We would then discuss the mechanics of speech with them: how one must vocalize utterances by pushing up sounds from the throat, while moving one’s tongue and lips to formulate unknown “words” – supposedly. If one would follow such a procedure, and begin to emit syllable-like noises, it was boldly assumed that they were speaking real languages! (Of course, that is a huge assumption, especially when no evidence of genuine language is present.) The whole system was a blatant manmade approach to producing unintelligible sounds.

Sadly, all this was done for decades (in my old group) among folks without any inkling of the Scriptural Gospel of Kingdom, since we were terribly misled, convinced dispensationalists - who regarded Jesus’ words as not addressed to Christians. Due to the overwhelming evidence of pure gibberish among us along with clever sounding, invented “interpretations”, it is most likely that none of us had “holy spirit” at all.

I remember well the strange obstacles we often faced, such as the prevalence of very, very repetitive “tongues.” For example: “ham – ara -kava – shava / ham – ara – kava – shava, etc., in which one vowel sound: “ah” (in this case) would be constantly used. We would consider this as an example of “baby tongues” and engage in repeated “practice sessions” to try to remedy the situation. In addition to this weakness, many would speak in tongues for perhaps 30 seconds and give an interpretation of about 5 seconds (or some other such disparity.) So, we would practice timing. Personally, I was extremely zealous about leading such practice sessions for years!

Also, formulaic, bland, pedantic “interpretations” badly plagued our meetings: “My little children”, “I love you so much”, or “I am closer to you than your very breath.” Some phrased their messages in King James vocabulary: “Yeah, verily, thou shalt stand fast on my word.” It did not dawn on me until many years later that we were all involved in speaking (and falsely interpreting) sheer gobble-de-gook, even among those of us whose tongues were more language-like than others. None of what I have described here in our recent times even closely resembles what was going on in Acts 2, 10, and 19 and what Paul needed to earnestly correct among those at Corinth, where bona fide languages were truly spoken – but sadly misused.

I know very well how difficult it is to change after being trained for years to follow certain mental patterns regarding spiritual matters, while confidently supposing that one has been fully in sync with Scriptural integrity. I do not doubt the sincerity of those who pursue the type of spirituality to which I was formerly addicted for decades, but I did come to question the authenticity of the “fruit” among us who have zealously assumed that modern “tongues for all” theology (and “latter rain” assertions) are somehow parallel to records in Acts and 1^st Corinthians. For example, my old adherence to “tongues as absolute proof” coupled with “once saved, always saved” theology – inspired me to be extremely arrogant, rash, and even reckless in many of my decisions for years, instead of being biblically humble (Mt. 5:3.) I am not presuming that others have been as haughty as I once was. I even rejected obedience to God regarding getting baptized for many years, since I proudly asserted dogmatically that my tongues were proof of essential holy spirit baptism, as replacing water baptism (according to a misguided theology.) I was also guilty at times of looking down at Christians who did not speak in tongues, as if they were somehow less spiritual than I was. In addition to my defects, I sadly witnessed the increasing, defensive hostility of my peers when I began to question several dubious traditions among us.

   I do not expect anyone at all to change his/ her views simply because I urgently needed to undergo a dramatic paradigm shift in my own life. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that some folks, whether from my background or from a similar set of experiences, might be motivated to re-study this whole “holy spirit” subject slowly and carefully, while being open-minded toward distinct, possibly valid points of view. I know how easy it is to reject new information out of hand, due to strong emotional attachments and being prone to knee-jerk reactions, but I am sure that none of us really want to be stuck in fruitless ruts of self-deception! Two books which carefully analyze how real, miraculous speaking of previously unlearned languages powerfully served as a striking sign to unbelievers (1^st Cor. 14:22) in 1^st century culture (a relatively unknown topic nowadays) are Tongues Will Cease… But When? by Raymond C. Faircloth and Tongues Shall Cease? by Tony Watts. Two other books which provide some keen, valuable research about the growing, modern “tongues” movement are Speaking in Tongues: A Cross-Cultural Study of Glossolalia by Felicitas D. Goodman and Tongues of Men and Angels (a controversial and sympathetic analysis of Speaking in Tongues) by William J. Samarin. Another source of thoughtful research into the modern phenomenon is The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues by John P. Kildahl. Finally, I attach here a website address for an online study (presented in Two Informative Parts) which specifically offers some thoughtful, gentle rebuttal for those whose doctrinal background in understanding the subject of “tongues” is perhaps similar to my previous mindset:

http://www.godskingdomfirst.org/SpeakingInTongues.htm

 

 

     Vital “holy spirit” Connections

What are some of the key Scriptural indicators that genuine Christians truly have holy spirit? Which doubtful modern paradigms about the reality of holy spirit should be carefully avoided?

First off, we should note briefly that “holy spirit” does not biblically mean “the Third Person of the Trinity”, a misguided philosophical/theological paradigm, mainly developed in the fourth century CE. It [holy spirit] never sends greetings to Christian assemblies in any New Testament letters, and it is never approached in prayer (or worshipped) throughout the whole Bible! Since the earliest of creation records (Genesis 1:2) when God effectively brought order to a disordered chaos, the “spirit of God” was active, “moving over the face of the waters.” The term “spirit”, among its varied uses, is rendered “breath” (Job 4:9 – Hebrew: ruach) or “wind” (John 3:8 – Greek: pneuma). God’s “breath”, so to speak, or “holy breath”, is indicative of God’s personal, active involvement with his creation, including his intimate interaction with human beings, created originally in His image. God’s “spirit” or “breath” is no more a distinct “Person” - apart from God [the Father] than your “breath”, (perhaps as a metaphor for your heartfelt thoughts), could be a separate “person” – a “person” other than you!

Jesus was metaphorically “baptizing” folks in holy spirit (John 1:33) throughout the gospels, as clearly evidenced by his powerful commissioning of the twelve in Luke 9:1-2 and then the seventy in Luke 10: 1-2, 17. He spoke prophetically in John, chapter 7 of a future, more complete outpouring of the spirit:

“On the great, last day of the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood up and shouted out, ‘If any of you is in need of drink let him come to me and let him drink. He who believes and obeys me, out of his heart, as Scripture has said, will come rivers of living water.’ He meant by this the spirit which would be given to those who believed and obeyed him. The Spirit was not yet present because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:37-39 – OGF)

It is relevant that Jesus, here in John 7, essentially used the same vocabulary about “living water” – (as associated with “Life of the Age to Come”) which he had used previously with the Samaritan woman (John 4:7-26). In that John, chapter 4 context Jesus and the Samaritan woman discussed the vital subject of worship. Jesus’ striking conclusion was, “… The hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” (v. 21b) In other words, the worship of the Father (the one true God) would no longer be confined to (or dependent on) being at certain physical locations, such as the temple in Jerusalem.

“‘Yet a time is coming, and has now come, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is looking for such people to worship Him. God communicates through spirit [Literally: ‘God is spirit’], and those who worship Him must worship Him on the basis of spirit and truth.’” (John 4:23-24 – OGF)

So, God is “spirit”, just as “God is light” (1^st John 1:5) and “God is love” (1^st John 4:8), meaning that He is full of such pure, dynamic qualities! As reflected in the OGF translation above (in John 4:24), God is extremely capable and desirous of communicating spiritually to true worshippers!

Notice that true worship, in this context, has nothing at all to do with having a certain spiritual gift! We will briefly consider a few ideas about such “gifts” toward the end of this presentation.

Upon mentioning solid, prerequisite information, it has to be truly grasped that the seed of the Gospel of the Kingdom (Mark 1:1, 14-15/Mt. 13:19) must be carefully assimilated with repentance (authentic change) for a person to experience a genuine, biblical “new birth” – 1^st Peter 1:3, 22-25! Within such repentant Kingdom thinking, according to the Apostle Peter, “holy spirit” is given to those who obey God (Acts 5:32), just as salvation is given to those who obey Jesus, according to Hebrews 5:9. To vaguely proclaim that God freely gives his holy spirit to all who latch onto a few unclear, partial truths mixed with a batch of traditional lies would be a wildly far-fetched proposition! The “spirit of truth” is not congruent at all with blatant falsity!

Along with the above observation, it can be noted that bona fide Christians receive the holy spirit by initially believing the true Gospel - and by the obedient action of being baptized. (In Ephesians 1:13-14 – OGF): “In him [Messiah Jesus], after you heard the word of the truth, the Gospel of your salvation, you believed it and were sealed with the holy spirit of the promise, which is a down-payment on our future inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” (In 1^st Cor. 12:13 - OGF): “For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free; we all were made to drink of one spirit.” Peter clarified these basic, ordered ideas in Acts 2:38-39 (OGF), when he said, “Repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of holy spirit. This promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off – as many as the Lord our God will invite to Himself.” [The unique changed order of events (for obvious, contextual reasons - in Acts 10:34-48) involving the first group of believing Gentiles, does not really contradict this general order in Acts 2.] Among other things, one sees plainly that holy spirit reception, biblically, does not involve “a second work of grace” (or a third), according to some budding, erroneous theologies near the year of 1900 CE. The gift of holy spirit is obviously linked in the Bible to initial, obedient faith.

A section of 1^st Corinthians chapter 2 (v. 9-16 – OGF) elucidates the essential, enlightening benefits of having God’s spirit which is equated with “the mind of Christ.” Having holy spirit and truly walking in it stands in stark contrast with the natural (unspiritual) condition of others:

“But as it is written [in a beautiful reference to our future Kingdom inheritance], ‘Things that no eye has seen, and no ear has heard, things which have not entered the mind of man; all these God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But to us God revealed them through the spirit, because the spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. Who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? In the same way no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. But we did not receive the spirit of the world, but the spirit which comes from God, so that we might understand the things that are graciously given to us by God. And we speak these things not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by spirit, explaining spiritual things with spiritual words. Now an unconverted person does not receive the things of the spirit of God, because it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The person who is spiritual discerns all things, but he himself is evaluated by no one. For ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Messiah.”

Part of a footnote in the OGF Translation (p. 409) states - about v. 16 here, “The Hebrew of Isa. 40:13 cited here has ‘spirit’ and the LXX which Paul cites has ‘mind.’ This shows that mind and spirit (and often ‘heart’) are more or less synonymous.” We might remember Jesus’ brief statement (in John 6:63) about his own spiritual teachings: “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” Several similar terms like “holy spirit”, “spirit”, “the anointing” (1^st John 2:20, 26), “the spirit of God”, and “the spirit of Jesus” (Acts 16:7) are altogether used hundreds of times in the N.T. in multi-faceted ways to indicate God’s very personal “heart”, so to speak, being poured into actively loving, obedient children. Such uses are never hazy or nebulous, but they are focused on the understanding of concepts expressed with plain words!

For example, one can read 1^st Thessalonians 4:1-8 and view how having holy spirit is linked to absolute integrity in sexual matters, or see in 2^nd Corinthians, chapter 3 that being “written on” (metaphorically) “with the spirit of the living God” makes us competent as servants of a new covenant “in the spirit”, instead of the old, “fading away” Mosaic covenant which is “in the letter.” One can perceive in Romans, chapter 8 that having God’s spirit – and living by it - is linked to victory over the current inclinations of human nature, and it (God’s spirit) testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, “heirs of God” and “fellow heirs with the Messiah” in the hope to “share in the [future] glory with him.” One can also grasp the deep hope-love connection in Romans 5:5, “And hope does not disappoint us, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit which was given to us.” Along with that foundation of unselfish love, one can discern that in severe contrast (Galatians 5:19-21) with dark, negative, demeaning, divisive tendencies; one can live by fruitful, spiritual norms: “But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the [Mosaic] Law…. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (Galatians 6:18, 22-23 – OGF) I might add here that, according to accurate Scriptural integrity, this “fruit of the spirit” described in Galatians (along with the other few, basic aspects of holy spirit which we have observed so far) are simply dependent upon the obedient, loving response of authentic faith in the words of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. They are not at all based on having (or not having) a certain “spiritual gift” or operating a specific, so-called “manifestation” - other than having the vital connection of holy spirit itself.

Slowly reading John, (chapters 13-17) provides a full, rich context for Jesus’ last set of instructions to his disciples before his intense time of suffering. Within those chapters, Jesus highlights what would be given spiritually to his followers after his death and resurrection:

“’If you love me you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. This is the spirit of truth. The world is incapable of receiving it, because it does not see it or know it, but you do know it, because it remains with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you…. If anyone loves me, he will preserve and obey my Gospel of the Kingdom word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our residence with him. I have spoken these things to you while I am still with you. But the Counselor [parakletos], the holy spirit, which the Father will send as representing and reproducing my presence, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.’” (John 14:15-18, 23b, 25-26 – OGF)

“’When the Counselor comes, the one I will send you from the Father, the spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father, this Counselor will testify about me.’” (John 15:26 – OGF)

“’Nevertheless I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I am going away, because if I do not go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. When he [The Counselor] comes he will convict the world about sin, doing right, and judgment …. I still have many things to tell you, but you are not able to bear them now. When that spirit of truth comes, it will guide you into all the truth. The spirit will not speak on its own initiative, but it will speak whatever it hears, and it will declare to you what is going to happen in the future. It will glorify me because it will receive from me and show it to you. Everything which the Father has is mine. That is why I told you that the spirit will take from what is mine and declare it to you.’” (John 16:7-8, 12-15 – OGF)

There is a Scriptural passage in 1^st John 2:1-2 (OGF) which is intimately linked to what we have glimpsed about the Counselor in John 14, 15, and 16. The Counselor [parakletos] essentially means one who stands alongside another to counsel, to guide, to comfort, to help, or to defend. “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins we have an advocate [parakletos] with the Father – Jesus Messiah, the righteous one. He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only ours, but for the whole world.”

The “advocate” of 1^st John 2:1 should not be thought of as something distinct from the “Counselor” of John, chapters 14-16, but as spiritually referring to the same thing. The resurrected, ascended Jesus is “the lord” and “the spirit” in 2^nd Corinthians 3:17-18 whom we should look at as we are transformed! So, our Counselor or Advocate is the spiritual “great high priest” Jesus - to whom we have continual, intimate access, according to Hebrews 4:14-16.

One might prayerfully consider how much the Counselor’s work (in accurately reminding us of Jesus’ words and actions) was initially accomplished throughout years and decades of early, first century folks preaching Jesus’ Gospel words - and eventually during the actual writing and preserving of N.T. Scriptures. Nowadays, when we grow in grace, while embracing this masterful, coherent written testimony about Jesus’ Kingdom Gospel, holy spirit from God’s mighty heart energizes our faithful, obedient, loving response!

                                                                      Part Two

Before closing this introductory “holy spirit” presentation, I would like to briefly comment on a type of modern “spirituality” which I heartily embraced during previous decades. Nowadays, I feel compelled to lovingly warn folks about some possible dangers embedded in my own, once-cherished background, coupled with strong feelings. I speak of such things from having been a long-time “insider” (over 40 years) in Pentecostal-Charismatic activity in an intimate way.

The movement of which I was a part is rooted in the unquestioning idea that “speaking in tongues” is the initial evidence (potentially for all Christians) of being “baptized in holy spirit.” With a heart full of prayerful kindness toward my beloved, enthusiastic colleagues, I know I should respectfully challenge this relatively modern doctrine of “initial evidence” and the assumption that “speaking in tongues” is for all Christians. I do not engage here in an argument of “cessationist” thinking vs. “continuationist” beliefs, but I do freely make a few observations, while carefully comparing certain biblical standards with the assertive mentality of a fast-growing modern movement - already for a bit more than 120 years. This has been an area of focused personal study for me for about five years now; frankly, before these last few years, I had only studied such “spiritual” ideas (for decades) from a zealously defensive one-sided view.

To give some historical background, interested people should know that this bold “initial evidence” theology (associated with “latter rain” symbolism) and the priority of tongues for all believers - was specifically developed by Charles Fox Parham (perhaps in the late 1890s) leading up to vivid claims of a new outpouring of holy spirit, with a new outbreak of “speaking in tongues” in Topeka, Kansas on January 1^st, 1901. Parham’s new doctrinal focus and practice was soon moved to Houston, Texas where a student named William J. Seymour accepted Parham’s teachings. Seymour then took these ideas to Los Angeles where he initiated the fervent Azusa Street revival from 1906 to 1909. Basically, this whole development of 120 years of Pentecostal/ Charismatic activity stems from the theology and practice of these two men: Parham and Seymour. To grasp the significance of Parham’s unique, pioneering role, you might want to check out this kindly written, thorough biography: Fields White Unto Harvest: Charles F. Parham and the Missionary Origins of Pentecostalism by James R. Goff, Jr. To merely get a brief overview of the notable impact of these two men, you can read pages 42-62 of The Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements: The History and the Error by David W. Cloud.

One thing which I have noticed about my specific background and its indoctrination in “spiritual matters” is how certain Bible passages had to be either ignored or vastly distorted (taking advantage of a certain KJV weakness) in order to ardently promote the “tongues for all” bandwagon. Early in 1^st Corinthians, chapter 12, certain verses were explained in the following way, using the KJV. Verse 7 was highly emphasized: “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” The word “but” was adamantly assumed to introduce a strong contrast to the overall, previous context of diversity in gifts, services, and activities being distributed by God in distinct ways. Nevertheless, the word “but” is not the strong contrasting Greek word alla, but rather it is the weak connective de which is most often translated “and.” Even though the word “manifestation” is singular, we were taught to regard it as involving a “package deal” of the nine evidences listed in verses 8-10. Even though the Greek text (in verses 8-10) is not at all conducive to the following rendering, we would boldly assert that the “to one” and “to another” had nothing to do with individual people being designated, but that this vocabulary was connected to the word “profit” in verse 7. So, (in v. 8) we wrongly regarded the text as saying, “For one [profit] is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, for another [profit] the word of knowledge, etc.” I have checked more than a hundred translations (English and Spanish), but none corroborate this wildly distorted explanation, which is the zealous doctrinal basis for the “all nine all the time” mentality of the old Way ministry.

With this incongruent “For one profit” emphasis firmly in mind, we were led to dishonestly disregard an important clear passage in the latter part of chapter 12, (in verses 27-31 - OGF):

“Now you are the body of Messiah, and each one is a part of it. God has appointed in the church: first Apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then those who perform miracles; then gifts of healings, of helping, leadership, and different languages. Are all apostles? No. Are all prophets? No. Are all teachers? No. Do all perform miracles? No. Do all have gifts of healing? No. Do all speak in different languages? No. Do all interpret languages? No. But you should earnestly desire the best gifts [collectively, as God wisely distributes them]. And now I will show you the most excellent way.”

Without reading carefully here, and, by using deceitful suppositions to support our distorted rendition of verses 7-10 (of 1^st Cor. 12), we would lightly chalk off verses 27-31 to mean that, even though all believers can inherently operate all 9 “manifestations” listed in verses 8-10, they would not do so in a church meeting, so the meetings would not run too long! How sloppy we were to explain away this significant passage! Everyone knows that not all are Apostles or prophets – whether at a “meeting” or not! These verses (27-31) are dynamically compatible with the whole thematic context of chapter 12, which indicates extremely diverse functions and gifts distributed differently according to God’s sovereign choices. All of 1^st Corinthians, chapter 12, flows harmoniously with the distinctive giving of diverse gifts to individual folks with quite different functions in Romans 12:4-8.

When analyzing some phrases in chapter 14 (of 1^st Cor.), we would isolate certain partial phrases, and give them a contradictory spin. We would promote a downright strange interpretation of a partial quote of v.4 to suggest that all could and should speak in tongues a lot (in their private lives) in order to edify themselves spiritually. Thus, we would violate the clear context in which efforts at self-edification are actually being scolded; public utterances must be to edify the whole congregation! Verse 5a (another partial quote) was used to exalt “tongues for all” thinking, as if God wills all believers to do it (obviously contradicting 1^st Cor. 12:27-31.) Nevertheless, Paul’s wise use of rhetoric in the whole of verse 5 is to emphasize that even if all could speak in languages (which would be great – hypothetically), it is of greater importance and priority that all speak “prophecy” - in a language understood by all present!

We could go on here (in verse 18) and see the same type of distortion, through another exalted partial quote of Paul’s overall rhetoric – v. 18 (which almost certainly uses hyperbole to make a dramatic contrast.) Verse 19 emphatically completes the thought. By the way, I am not suggesting that all people from any Pentecostal-Charismatic background twist the Scriptures in the same way in which I was badly misled.

Anyway, the “initial evidence” theology of being baptized in holy spirit (with tongues for all) can certainly be challenged in many more ways; I have merely scratched the surface so far. One unfortunate consequence of my former mindset is that there exists a zealous compulsion to “lead” people into the experience of tongues – something never seen in Acts 2, 10, 19 or 1^st Corinthians 12-14. I was personally involved in guiding hundreds into such an exuberant experience! We (in our old group) would get folks to relax, open their mouths, and engage in deep breathing for a few minutes (after having taught them our detailed, distorted analysis of 1^st Cor. 12-14.) We would then discuss the mechanics of speech with them: how one must vocalize utterances by pushing up sounds from the throat, while moving one’s tongue and lips to formulate unknown “words” – supposedly. If one would follow such a procedure, and begin to emit syllable-like noises, it was boldly assumed that they were speaking real languages! (Of course, that is a huge assumption, especially when no evidence of genuine language is present.) The whole system was a blatant manmade approach to producing unintelligible sounds.

Sadly, all this was done for decades (in my old group) among folks without any inkling of the Scriptural Gospel of Kingdom, since we were terribly misled, convinced dispensationalists - who regarded Jesus’ words as not addressed to Christians. Due to the overwhelming evidence of pure gibberish among us along with clever sounding, invented “interpretations”, it is most likely that none of us had “holy spirit” at all.

I remember well the strange obstacles we often faced, such as the prevalence of very, very repetitive “tongues.” For example: “ham – ara -kava – shava / ham – ara – kava – shava, etc., in which one vowel sound: “ah” (in this case) would be constantly used. We would consider this as an example of “baby tongues” and engage in repeated “practice sessions” to try to remedy the situation. In addition to this weakness, many would speak in tongues for perhaps 30 seconds and give an interpretation of about 5 seconds (or some other such disparity.) So, we would practice timing. Personally, I was extremely zealous about leading such practice sessions for years!

Also, formulaic, bland, pedantic “interpretations” badly plagued our meetings: “My little children”, “I love you so much”, or “I am closer to you than your very breath.” Some phrased their messages in King James vocabulary: “Yeah, verily, thou shalt stand fast on my word.” It did not dawn on me until many years later that we were all involved in speaking (and falsely interpreting) sheer gobble-de-gook, even among those of us whose tongues were more language-like than others. None of what I have described here in our recent times even closely resembles what was going on in Acts 2, 10, and 19 and what Paul needed to earnestly correct among those at Corinth, where bona fide languages were truly spoken – but sadly misused.

I know very well how difficult it is to change after being trained for years to follow certain mental patterns regarding spiritual matters, while confidently supposing that one has been fully in sync with Scriptural integrity. I do not doubt the sincerity of those who pursue the type of spirituality to which I was formerly addicted for decades, but I did come to question the authenticity of the “fruit” among us who have zealously assumed that modern “tongues for all” theology (and “latter rain” assertions) are somehow parallel to records in Acts and 1^st Corinthians. For example, my old adherence to “tongues as absolute proof” coupled with “once saved, always saved” theology – inspired me to be extremely arrogant, rash, and even reckless in many of my decisions for years, instead of being biblically humble (Mt. 5:3.) I am not presuming that others have been as haughty as I once was. I even rejected obedience to God regarding getting baptized for many years, since I proudly asserted dogmatically that my tongues were proof of essential holy spirit baptism, as replacing water baptism (according to a misguided theology.) I was also guilty at times of looking down at Christians who did not speak in tongues, as if they were somehow less spiritual than I was. In addition to my defects, I sadly witnessed the increasing, defensive hostility of my peers when I began to question several dubious traditions among us.

   I do not expect anyone at all to change his/ her views simply because I urgently needed to undergo a dramatic paradigm shift in my own life. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that some folks, whether from my background or from a similar set of experiences, might be motivated to re-study this whole “holy spirit” subject slowly and carefully, while being open-minded toward distinct, possibly valid points of view. I know how easy it is to reject new information out of hand, due to strong emotional attachments and being prone to knee-jerk reactions, but I am sure that none of us really want to be stuck in fruitless ruts of self-deception! Two books which carefully analyze how real, miraculous speaking of previously unlearned languages powerfully served as a striking sign to unbelievers (1^st Cor. 14:22) in 1^st century culture (a relatively unknown topic nowadays) are Tongues Will Cease… But When? by Raymond C. Faircloth and Tongues Shall Cease? by Tony Watts. Two other books which provide some keen, valuable research about the growing, modern “tongues” movement are Speaking in Tongues: A Cross-Cultural Study of Glossolalia by Felicitas D. Goodman and Tongues of Men and Angels (a controversial and sympathetic analysis of Speaking in Tongues) by William J. Samarin. Another source of thoughtful research into the modern phenomenon is The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues by John P. Kildahl. Finally, I attach here a website address for an online study (presented in Two Informative Parts) which specifically offers some thoughtful, gentle rebuttal for those whose doctrinal background in understanding the subject of “tongues” is perhaps similar to my previous mindset:

http://www.godskingdomfirst.org/SpeakingInTongues.htm