"for John truly
baptized with water,
but you shall be
baptized with the Holy Spirit
not many days from
now."
Acts 1:5.
"And I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another Comforter,
that
he may abide with you for ever;
Even the Spirit of truth;
whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not,
neither knoweth him: but ye know him;
for he dwelleth with you,
and shall be in you."
John 14:16-17
The
adversaries of the Bible and the doctrine of Jesus Christ attempt to draw and
seduce the souls of men from the truth. These adversaries truncate the truth
and substitute their false theology from the simplicity of the Gospel and those
great fundamental truths Scripture contains. By means of eristic method in the
handling fo the great mysteries contained in the Bible justifies any debate. It
is our duty that we: “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you
concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting
you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the
saints”(Jude 3). This necessity that is imposed upon Christians should not
be taken without there be a humble reverence of mind and that we ought not to
shrink back from always be conversant about them, to examine and investigate those
holding beliefs and doctrines apart from Orthodox Christianity. True Christians
are not removed for the need to regard the way and the manner or their
revelation(s) they propose are Scriptural, those teachings and doctrines that
are an intermixture and litigious and exotic as found in their phrases and
expression and in their assertions and declarations. Those adversaries of
Orthodox Christianity do decry anything peculiar about the mysteries of God,
and especially the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Those mysteries
of God revealed in Scripture are for the children of God the very glorious
being and wisdom of God. Those adversaries have forced another enigmatical
sense upon the words and expressions, and propositions, as they are the revealed
and declared word of God. What they have done in many cases is that they have
turned the whole gospel into an allegory, wherein nothing properly expressed
but in some kind of allusion not found elsewhere or anywhere in Scripture. This
is irrational leaving the truth in a pool of uncertainty unless a person leaves
behind the Orthodoxy, the foundation of the Church. They make the word of God
uncertain by their expressions, and writings and attempt to cover this
uncertainty with pretence of right reason that Scripture utterly refuses
employment. This subject on the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is
no matter of ordinary controversy in Christianity.
We must
admit that there are things that direct themselves concerning the eternal
salvation of souls of men and we ought to consider them and attend them with a
due sense in regards of their weight and importance. As we contend for the
faith once delivered to the saints we come to this debate, as we should, with
due reverence of the majesty, and infinite, incomprehensible nature of God.
This must not be prostituted, to some captious and sophistical fraud of men of
corrupt minds, those who have been led astray and away from the truth of God’s
word to some false teaching not found in Scripture. God is to be humbly adored
and His revelation(s) in Scripture that He has made of Himself. We all must be
willing to submit our souls and our consciences to the plain and obvious sense
of Scripture, and those propositions set forth in Scripture, those testimonies
and not seek out evasions and pretences that lead to unbelief.
History
testifies that this doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Holy
Spirit has been the source of much debate and making cause for some as with the
Sabellians, Arians, Socinians, to deny the common Church doctrine. People are
seeking what they desire, a larger and deeper sense of God and attempt to pry
from Scripture verses that will support their search. They seek special
revelations from God apart from His revealed word. They desire to have special
spiritual gifts in the form of healing, even to raise the dead, as some have
testified, that they either are a part of the raising of the dead or were the
one raising the dead, event though they give some glory to God. Some ever go so
far as to be “slain in the Spirit” or barking like dogs, or acting drunk as if
this was caused by the Holy Spirit in some special baptism by the Holy Spirit.
There are signs of ecstatic movements and sounds, a swaying of the body in some
rhythmic spell. All claimed to be due to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Does
this bring glory to God? Is this what the Gospel is all about? All this
shouting and posturing by preachers, screaming Scripture, or calling for some
form of mysterious “gibberish” language, or tongue. How, How, does this bring
true worship to God, not matter how sincere a person is, the question is still
waiting for an answer: HOW DOES THIS BRING GLORY TO GOD AND FURTHER THE GOSPEL
AND KINGDOM OF GOD?
This should
drive a person to take time to study what I will bring forth in these blogs to
make an attempt from Scripture to answer these questions.
Why do you not understand My speech?
Because you
are not able to
Listen to My word.
John 8:43
Read, Pray, Listen To God’s Word
Richard L. Crumb
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