The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
(A little Straight Talk)
I was in a country barbershop a
while back to get what is left of my hair trimmed, when a conversation started about
end time events with a clean cut gentleman waiting on his son to receive his
haircut. I recognized the pastoral anointing on him during the conversation and
followed them outside to finish our discussion. His pastoral gift was confirmed
when “Pastor” Chris Giles of Ringel Heights Baptist
Church in Georgetown, SC, introduced himself, and we shared brief testimonies,
as I had worked in Georgetown years before in several of the local industries
before running charter and commercial fishing boats in the area.
Pastor Giles also made mention
of a fact that is true in all of the Christian denominations, and that is the
extreme difficulty of trying to get the people to share their faith. I
remembered a conversation with Bishop Robert McAlister almost fifteen years ago
when he told me, a few weeks before he passed away, that only about two in ten
thousand Christians effectively witness for Jesus. It has been a puzzle to me
since, why good Christian people will simply not share their faith, and I
believe that the answer is straight out of the book of Acts!
Jesus
told His disciples in Acts 1:8: “But
ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye
shall be witnesses unto me both in
The
first thing that happened, of course, was the disciples speaking in various
languages, or tongues, unknown to them, but known to all who heard them in
their own languages. It was about witnessing the power of God to the people for
the purpose of leading them to salvation! The disciples were not speaking in
their prayer language but prophesying to the multitudes that Jesus was the
risen Lord!
For
the last one hundred years since the great Pentecostal movement in this country
was birthed, the main qualifier for having received the Baptism of the Holy
Ghost is the speaking in a tongue unknown to anybody around you, and “Praying
in the Spirit” has become such a badge of honor, especially to the various
denominations of “Pentecostal” believers that the other gifts, and I should
stress, the main gift, and the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit has been
pushed to the back burner, so to speak. That purpose is to empower us to be
effective witnesses for Christ by enabling us to speak to all men, in whatever
circumstance or environment, about Jesus in such a way that they will have an
understanding that God Almighty is talking directly to their hearts. And while
I do not diminished the power of the Holy Spirit praying through us in our
prayer language, I do believe that we need to start emphasizing the main
spiritual gifts and anointing of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life from
the instant of salvation and look to that fruit as evidence of the “Baptism of
the Holy Spirit”. In a person that has truly received the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit, the real evidence should be a longing to share their faith with
boldness and conviction, with signs and wonders following just as Peter prayed “By
stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs
and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.” (Acts
4:30) “And when they had prayed, the
place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God
with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)
Editor’s Note, January 2009: (The text above
was written two years ago and the need for “Christians” to share their faith
has increased exponentially since it was written. We need to accept no counterfeits
where the “Baptism” is concerned; instead we must look for and recognize the
empowerment of the Holy Spirit in addition to the gift of “Tongues” and
encourage every member of the body to seek this empowerment.)