From the best that I can determine, neither the Evangelical approach - which gives priority to Paul - nor the Pentecostal approach - which gives priority to Luke/Acts - can answer all the questions. It is neither either, nor neither or. So many of the teachings of scripture can only be parsed so far and then they appear to lose coherency. I doubt if it really does lose coherency, it is just that our presuppositions are more likely to interfere the more finely we chop the meaning of words. This is because by finely chopping we get into areas where we cannot triangulate our position without depending on conjecture. It is like building a tall tower with a tiny flaw in the foundation. After a while the tower will tip over as inaccuracy after inaccuracy is piled on top of one another.
The scripture makes it very clear that the world in it's wisdom cannot know God. Cannot is the operative word. One reason is that worldly wisdom teaches that truth is perceived through doubt. By doubting we test the veracity of something or someone. We doubt until we are convinced. But when doubt ends we do not have the truth, but faith. Only by faith is truth perceived. Doubt left to itself will continue to doubt. Doubt cannot recognize truth because it can always come up with another reason to doubt. Whatever someone believes can always be doubted by another. Only faith can end doubt.
So this is why I limp. My natural self, my worldly wisdom, cannot find for me a stable position. I can always find more things to question. And so can you. Yet my encounter with God has given me a staff of faith to lean upon.
I accept both Paul and Luke's testimony regarding the Spirit. I have some ideas as to how their differences can be reconciled, but nothing that is a sure thing. My experience with the Holy Spirit has taught me of it's reality and the reality of Jesus.
I invite one and all to set aside doubt and by faith receive the truth. Will all you questions be answered? No. But how can doubt be set aside? By believing that God indeed loves you and has reconciled himself to you. Be reconciled to him.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
My Limp
Now you can see my limp. After all this thinking, I’m left pretty much where I started. The teaching that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the same as conversion is only partially convincing. It can only become convincing if conversion is viewed as something other than a single point in the journey of a believer. The verses that say that if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord is sufficient for salvation cannot then be made to cover the whole concept of conversion. There needs to be a baptism in water and a baptism in the Holy Spirit to further the process. Acts 2:38 describes Peter’s message in response to the question of what shall we do. Repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit. Yet is this conversion?
What of all those people, true believers and lovers of God, who have not done these three? What of the Quakers who do not believe in a literal water baptism? Paul wrote that “Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Rom 6:3-7NIV Can we then say that those who are not baptized do not have new life, cannot be free from sin, and will not partake of the resurrection? The controverted passage in Mar 16 that tells us that those who believe and are baptized will be saved. Are we to tell the Quaker that they are not saved, not yet converted?
Peter, at the home of Cornelius, said after the Spirit had been outpoured, what prevents us now from baptizing these who have received? Was Cornelius and those with him not yet converted? Did they need water baptism to complete their conversion? Why baptize them? They had already received the Spirit. What more do they need?
Yet there is a good reason to be baptized – we are commanded to. I will not say to the Quaker that they are not saved. But I will say that Jesus told us to baptize the nations in making disciples of them in Mat 28:19. You want to be a disciple? Be baptized. I will not speculate on the nature of the relationship between God and the one who, for whatever reason, is not baptized in water. That is stepping onto God’s toes – this is the area of God’s responsibility, not mine.
So too with those who have simply confessed their faith in Christ Jesus, obeyed Jesus’ command and have been baptized in water, I will not say that their conversion is lacking completion. But I will say that God has provided more for you than what you already have. Yet if you don’t know or do not believe you will not receive all that God has promised.
I like the way Luke describes the encounter between Apollos and Priscilla and Aquila. ‘Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately’ (accurately, carefully). Acts 18:24-26 NIV
Here was a guy who taught accurately and with great fervor, with great results, about Jesus. Yet he only knew the baptism of John. A few short verses later we see that Paul finds some other disciples who are in the same condition – they knew only John’s baptism. Their inadequacy was that they had not received the Spirit when they believed. So Paul re-baptized them in the name of Jesus and laid hands on them for the reception of the Spirit. Do you think that Luke wanted us to see the connection? It is hard to imagine that he didn’t. The implication is that Apollos needed the same correction as those disciples Paul met up with.
You know, we may approach the scriptures as a discerner of truth, but, in the end, the scriptures will be used to discern the truth about us. God has promised much for us in His word. The Spirit is even called the Spirit of promise, that which the Father has promised. So I will not judge your relationship with God. That is none of my business. But God has provided more in the Spirit than what many of us have received. This includes all – even those who claim their baptism in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues. The Corinthians had the Spirit but really needed a large dose of wisdom. What are we willing to receive? As Paul says, what do we have that we did not receive? And all is ours. So let’s quit quibbling about each others standing in Christ and look to our own life. Are you walking in the fullness of the Spirit, using the gifts that God has given to you to build up the body of Christ (the baptism in the Spirit is for or unto the body of Christ), or are you hardening your heart in unbelief? If you have received the Spirit, then do what the Spirit desires. If you have not received the Spirit, receive it. “How much more will God give the Spirit to those who ask him” writes Luke in Lk11:13. The point isn’t to divide the body of Christ into the have’s and the have-not’s, but that we all might have all that God has given to us all.
What of all those people, true believers and lovers of God, who have not done these three? What of the Quakers who do not believe in a literal water baptism? Paul wrote that “Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Rom 6:3-7NIV Can we then say that those who are not baptized do not have new life, cannot be free from sin, and will not partake of the resurrection? The controverted passage in Mar 16 that tells us that those who believe and are baptized will be saved. Are we to tell the Quaker that they are not saved, not yet converted?
Peter, at the home of Cornelius, said after the Spirit had been outpoured, what prevents us now from baptizing these who have received? Was Cornelius and those with him not yet converted? Did they need water baptism to complete their conversion? Why baptize them? They had already received the Spirit. What more do they need?
Yet there is a good reason to be baptized – we are commanded to. I will not say to the Quaker that they are not saved. But I will say that Jesus told us to baptize the nations in making disciples of them in Mat 28:19. You want to be a disciple? Be baptized. I will not speculate on the nature of the relationship between God and the one who, for whatever reason, is not baptized in water. That is stepping onto God’s toes – this is the area of God’s responsibility, not mine.
So too with those who have simply confessed their faith in Christ Jesus, obeyed Jesus’ command and have been baptized in water, I will not say that their conversion is lacking completion. But I will say that God has provided more for you than what you already have. Yet if you don’t know or do not believe you will not receive all that God has promised.
I like the way Luke describes the encounter between Apollos and Priscilla and Aquila. ‘Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately’ (accurately, carefully). Acts 18:24-26 NIV
Here was a guy who taught accurately and with great fervor, with great results, about Jesus. Yet he only knew the baptism of John. A few short verses later we see that Paul finds some other disciples who are in the same condition – they knew only John’s baptism. Their inadequacy was that they had not received the Spirit when they believed. So Paul re-baptized them in the name of Jesus and laid hands on them for the reception of the Spirit. Do you think that Luke wanted us to see the connection? It is hard to imagine that he didn’t. The implication is that Apollos needed the same correction as those disciples Paul met up with.
You know, we may approach the scriptures as a discerner of truth, but, in the end, the scriptures will be used to discern the truth about us. God has promised much for us in His word. The Spirit is even called the Spirit of promise, that which the Father has promised. So I will not judge your relationship with God. That is none of my business. But God has provided more in the Spirit than what many of us have received. This includes all – even those who claim their baptism in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues. The Corinthians had the Spirit but really needed a large dose of wisdom. What are we willing to receive? As Paul says, what do we have that we did not receive? And all is ours. So let’s quit quibbling about each others standing in Christ and look to our own life. Are you walking in the fullness of the Spirit, using the gifts that God has given to you to build up the body of Christ (the baptism in the Spirit is for or unto the body of Christ), or are you hardening your heart in unbelief? If you have received the Spirit, then do what the Spirit desires. If you have not received the Spirit, receive it. “How much more will God give the Spirit to those who ask him” writes Luke in Lk11:13. The point isn’t to divide the body of Christ into the have’s and the have-not’s, but that we all might have all that God has given to us all.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
So where does this leave us?
So where are we? It is clear to me that receiving the Holy Spirit is not an automatic thing. This is probably why Luke uses the active voice in the Greek verb for receive so often when referring to people receiving the Spirit. It is something the receiver must do. It is not done to them. Then it would be in the passive voice. When you receive you take what is offered. It can be offered, but if you do not take it, it yours but you have not yet received it. Or you take only the part that you understand, or see. Like the Ephesian disciples, they didn’t even know what they were missing. Yet missing it they were. Paul must have noticed something lacking in order for him to ask the question, Did you receive the Spirit when you believed? How could he even ask such a question if it were automatic? Could an Evangelical ever ask such a question? Not hardly. So to my way of thinking the Evangelical position that you automatically receive the Spirit when you believe is faulty. If it was automatic, then no one would have thought to look and see if the Samaritans had actually received the Spirit.
Yet how can this be if, as Paul seems to insist, that receiving the Spirit is foundational – essential – basic – definitive – of our life in Christ? According to the current Evangelical position on salvation, you are not saved if you do not have the Spirit, you are not part of the body of Christ, not translated into the kingdom of the Son, and not a recipient of the new covenant. Pretty serious stuff. Due to the serious doctrinal nature of the reception of the Spirit, how can one say that a Christian would not have the Spirit?
So it appears that Paul and Luke cannot be reconciled. I cannot accept this. In Luke’s telling of the things that Paul did and the things that happened to him, Paul and Luke are in agreement. This leaves me no alternative than to say that the common Evangelical understanding of soteriology, how salvation is to be understood, is in error. Paul’s own statements in Acts cannot be made by the Paul envisioned by the Evangelical.
But where is the error? Here are some suggestions:
1. Receiving Jesus is not the same as receiving the Spirit. When my oldest son was four years old he asked me if Jesus was in his heart. I said that He was. Then he asked me if Jesus is in heaven. I said that that was true too. He then responded by saying that this was really tricky. Our encounter with Jesus is through the Spirit, yet we receive Jesus.
2. That being born of the Spirit and being baptized in the Spirit are not the same thing.
3. That conversion is not necessarily punctilliar, a single turning point, but a complex of events/experiences/beliefs that may or may not happen simultaneously. The baptism in the Spirit is part of our conversion in that it is the part where we receive the down payment of our inheritance as a child of God.
4. That the theme of the already/but not yet that pervades our understanding of the kingdom is applicable not only in the macro scale but also in the individual or micro scale.
5. That the baptism in the Holy Spirit has more to do with the blessings and powers of the kingdom than effecting our salvation.
6. That some verses that could grammatically indicate that receiving the Spirit is based on our salvation or being a child of God actually mean that. In Eph 1:13-14 NIV it reads “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession — to the praise of his glory.” Having believed could also be translated after you believed based on your understanding of the context. See also Gal 4:6 “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." Yet to teach subsequence by these verses is more than they can bear.
Yet how can this be if, as Paul seems to insist, that receiving the Spirit is foundational – essential – basic – definitive – of our life in Christ? According to the current Evangelical position on salvation, you are not saved if you do not have the Spirit, you are not part of the body of Christ, not translated into the kingdom of the Son, and not a recipient of the new covenant. Pretty serious stuff. Due to the serious doctrinal nature of the reception of the Spirit, how can one say that a Christian would not have the Spirit?
So it appears that Paul and Luke cannot be reconciled. I cannot accept this. In Luke’s telling of the things that Paul did and the things that happened to him, Paul and Luke are in agreement. This leaves me no alternative than to say that the common Evangelical understanding of soteriology, how salvation is to be understood, is in error. Paul’s own statements in Acts cannot be made by the Paul envisioned by the Evangelical.
But where is the error? Here are some suggestions:
1. Receiving Jesus is not the same as receiving the Spirit. When my oldest son was four years old he asked me if Jesus was in his heart. I said that He was. Then he asked me if Jesus is in heaven. I said that that was true too. He then responded by saying that this was really tricky. Our encounter with Jesus is through the Spirit, yet we receive Jesus.
2. That being born of the Spirit and being baptized in the Spirit are not the same thing.
3. That conversion is not necessarily punctilliar, a single turning point, but a complex of events/experiences/beliefs that may or may not happen simultaneously. The baptism in the Spirit is part of our conversion in that it is the part where we receive the down payment of our inheritance as a child of God.
4. That the theme of the already/but not yet that pervades our understanding of the kingdom is applicable not only in the macro scale but also in the individual or micro scale.
5. That the baptism in the Holy Spirit has more to do with the blessings and powers of the kingdom than effecting our salvation.
6. That some verses that could grammatically indicate that receiving the Spirit is based on our salvation or being a child of God actually mean that. In Eph 1:13-14 NIV it reads “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession — to the praise of his glory.” Having believed could also be translated after you believed based on your understanding of the context. See also Gal 4:6 “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." Yet to teach subsequence by these verses is more than they can bear.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Why I'm Writing Stuff About the Holy Spirit
I should probably make it clear that the reason I am presently writing about the Spirit is because
- I think it is important
- I am thinking about it a lot, and
- There is much disagreement on the topic.
You Can Lead a Horse to Water, Part 3
Acts 8:14-17 NIV
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
This passage of scripture is a conundrum to many. After all, if receiving the Spirit is the same as conversion, how could these Samaritans who accepted the word of God and were baptized not have the Spirit? If it was automatic, what is wrong with this picture? Those who see something wrong usually say that this is simply the exception that proves the rule. But if an exception happens, this proves that an exception is possible. If possible, then receiving the Spirit at conversion is not automatic. If salvation – conversion – born again – is the same as receiving the Spirit, then this exception would not be possible. So if this is an exception, then it proves more than the rule, it proves that the reality is different than how some conceive it.
I am beginning to see the worms in the can. If conversion is a complex of events, including the confession of faith, water baptism, and receiving the Spirit, what of the thief on the cross? Or loved ones who pray the confession of faith in the Lordship of Jesus as they lay dying in bed? Maybe conversion is the whole process, from alpha to omega, from the precise moment of conception, through birth, growing and remaining faithful to the end of biological life – and maybe beyond? And this whole process is in the seed, the word received.
But what of the verse that says clearly that if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his? (Rom 8:9) Does this mean that the Samaritans were not in Christ, or that just because they had accepted the word of truth and were baptized for the remission of their sins they were not His?
Today if we tell someone about Jesus, they believe and are baptized, what Evangelical could tell them that they do not have the Spirit? More than that, who would look for evidence that they had received the Spirit, evidence that would not have time to develop? What kind of evidence would that be?
The very fact that the Samaritans did not receive the Spirit when they accepted the word of God and were baptized can lead us into three directions. Either they were not converted yet, by something missing in their faith (like Dunn), or because of the special times (like Bruner) it was something that will never be repeated, or that they were converted yet had not yet received the Spirit. Their not having received the Spirit yet could be because their conversion was not yet complete or that it was and receiving the Spirit just had not happened. After all, who is converted through the laying on of hands?
The case for the Samaritans not yet being converted is, to my way of thinking, very weak. If in any other context in scripture we read of someone accepting the word of God and were baptized, no one would even dare to say that they were not converted. For example check out
Acts 11:1 NIV The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. If the Gentiles weren’t converted, what were they? But we know they were. So those who say that the Samaritans were not converted, or that there was a flaw in their conversion, are reading something into the text that is not there.
Another question is, how did they know that the Samaritans had not received the Spirit? What was their clue? After all, even Simon could see for himself when they received the Spirit. It was so impressive that he wanted to buy his way into this ministry. Peter knew that Cornelius and his group had received because they heard them speak in tongues and prophesy. That acts leaves the definite impression that when a person receives the Spirit something happens is unmistakable. Paul even had to ask those Ephesian disciples if they had received the Spirit when they believed. Why did he ask this? How could he ask this if it was automatic? So nothing had happened to those believing Samaritans and everyone knew that this was not right. I wonder if we could be so bold as to say that those who believe today and are baptized and nothing happens along the line of receiving the Holy Spirit like seen in the book of Acts that something is not right? You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
This passage of scripture is a conundrum to many. After all, if receiving the Spirit is the same as conversion, how could these Samaritans who accepted the word of God and were baptized not have the Spirit? If it was automatic, what is wrong with this picture? Those who see something wrong usually say that this is simply the exception that proves the rule. But if an exception happens, this proves that an exception is possible. If possible, then receiving the Spirit at conversion is not automatic. If salvation – conversion – born again – is the same as receiving the Spirit, then this exception would not be possible. So if this is an exception, then it proves more than the rule, it proves that the reality is different than how some conceive it.
I am beginning to see the worms in the can. If conversion is a complex of events, including the confession of faith, water baptism, and receiving the Spirit, what of the thief on the cross? Or loved ones who pray the confession of faith in the Lordship of Jesus as they lay dying in bed? Maybe conversion is the whole process, from alpha to omega, from the precise moment of conception, through birth, growing and remaining faithful to the end of biological life – and maybe beyond? And this whole process is in the seed, the word received.
But what of the verse that says clearly that if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his? (Rom 8:9) Does this mean that the Samaritans were not in Christ, or that just because they had accepted the word of truth and were baptized for the remission of their sins they were not His?
Today if we tell someone about Jesus, they believe and are baptized, what Evangelical could tell them that they do not have the Spirit? More than that, who would look for evidence that they had received the Spirit, evidence that would not have time to develop? What kind of evidence would that be?
The very fact that the Samaritans did not receive the Spirit when they accepted the word of God and were baptized can lead us into three directions. Either they were not converted yet, by something missing in their faith (like Dunn), or because of the special times (like Bruner) it was something that will never be repeated, or that they were converted yet had not yet received the Spirit. Their not having received the Spirit yet could be because their conversion was not yet complete or that it was and receiving the Spirit just had not happened. After all, who is converted through the laying on of hands?
The case for the Samaritans not yet being converted is, to my way of thinking, very weak. If in any other context in scripture we read of someone accepting the word of God and were baptized, no one would even dare to say that they were not converted. For example check out
Acts 11:1 NIV The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. If the Gentiles weren’t converted, what were they? But we know they were. So those who say that the Samaritans were not converted, or that there was a flaw in their conversion, are reading something into the text that is not there.
Another question is, how did they know that the Samaritans had not received the Spirit? What was their clue? After all, even Simon could see for himself when they received the Spirit. It was so impressive that he wanted to buy his way into this ministry. Peter knew that Cornelius and his group had received because they heard them speak in tongues and prophesy. That acts leaves the definite impression that when a person receives the Spirit something happens is unmistakable. Paul even had to ask those Ephesian disciples if they had received the Spirit when they believed. Why did he ask this? How could he ask this if it was automatic? So nothing had happened to those believing Samaritans and everyone knew that this was not right. I wonder if we could be so bold as to say that those who believe today and are baptized and nothing happens along the line of receiving the Holy Spirit like seen in the book of Acts that something is not right? You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
My Baptism in the Holy Spirit
I came into Christianity through the Pentecostal gate and I still believe that I was baptized in the Holy Spirit 6 weeks after coming to Jesus. You may remember that in my article, What Convinced Me, I mentioned that my sister directed me to ask God for this baptism thing. I knew nothing about it. I knew that I was truly ‘born again’. So here is what happened when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Ever since my sister told me to ask God for this baptism in the Holy Spirit, I had been asking. I also had been trying to figure out what it was, without too much success. I learned that you speak in tongues when you get it. I was taught this by a Pentecostal church that we attended in Quilcene Washington. A lady, who was viewed as a prophetess, would round up us hippies in Port Townsend and take us to church there. The pastor (or was it pastoress?) was a lady from the south, she spoke with a odd southern accent. She would beat her tambourine with gusto throughout the service. Her husband was never seen to say a word. He usually sat at the back unless he was playing his violin. His ears were quite noticeable as the tips were bent down like they were ‘dog-eared’.
Every now and then the prophetess lady would pour out a speech in King James-like-English that was filled with dire warnings and promises of blessing for obedience. Her voice, without any microphone, would completely fill the room. When she spoke most of us would turn introspective, examining our own hearts. I usually did not know enough about what she was saying or how it applied to make any connections with my own life. I just smiled a lot and watched.
One time a guy stood up and wanted to apologize to the church for something. He was invited to come up and speak from the pulpit. As he was trying to get across why he was offended and how it got solved, the lady pastor beat her tambourine at the back of the stage. Finally this guy got ticked and asked her to stop. She said that she would not stop because God was giving her insight into his life, and she hit the tambourine even harder. This really offended this guy, and to be heard over her tambourine and shouts of hallelujah and bless the Lord, he stood on the pulpit to get his point across, but to no avail. He could not compete with her and left the church.
Another time the lady pastor and visiting ministry decided that everyone who wanted a demon cast out of them should come forward. It looked like a good thing to do because, after all, who would want a demon inside of them, making them do bad things? Nearly everyone came forward. I went too, not to be left out. When it came our turn to be prayed for, they would make a cross on our foreheads with their fingers that they had dipped in oil, and lay their hands on our heads and speak in languages I knew to be tongues. The word ‘shondai’ was heard a lot. When they were done casting demons out of the congregation, they proceeded to cast demons out of each other. This was indeed a mystery.
On Wednesday, February 10, 1971,we had a visiting ministry from Port Angeles come to speak to us. His topic was the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I was so glad as I had been fasting for this. On Monday I had decided to go on a three day fast for the Baptism, starting Tuesday. Now this was the second day of my three day fast. Earlier that day I had been speaking to some kids on the street about Jesus. Things were going well until some joker came up and started to rip into me, tearing apart what I was saying with logic I couldn’t compete with. He wound up taking the whole crowd away from me, laughing.
I had heard that this Baptism thing gave you power to tell people about Jesus. I really wanted that. I also thought it would be cool to speak in a language I didn’t know. This preacher told us all about it. When he was done with his message, he asked if there was anyone in the audience who wanted to receive it, to lift their hand. My hand shot up as is if pulled by a string. He then asked those of us who had raised our hands to stand. I stood with the same alacrity. I remember thinking, what is all this delay about? He then asked those of us who were standing if we would come down to the front. I was the first person there. They had me get down on my knees to pray.
As I knelt there in the front of that church, people began to give me advise. Some would say hold on, others would say let go, others told me to pray out loud, others said something different. I felt as if I should be sorry and cry because of my sin. Yet I felt nothing. I said to the Lord, “What a schmuck I am, I cannot even cry.”
As soon as I said this to the Lord, I felt words beginning to form in the back of my mind. I spoke them out. Someone lifted my hands into the air. I held them there and spoke these words even more loudly. Before long I was shouting in tongues. I shouted for about a half an hour, until I was hoarse. It was glorious! The whole room looked like it was filled with a golden glow. I felt waves of love flow through my emotions. I began to ask people their names and introduce them to others, who they probably already knew. But I did not care or notice. I just felt so much love.
I wondered where my sister and brother-in-law were. I could not find them anywhere. Turns out that in the midst of my baptism I did not notice that my sister’s water broke as she was praying for me. They were able to clean it up and take her to the hospital without me noticing. A short time later little Naarah was born. Beth and Naarah came home the next morning.
I didn’t want to stop speaking in tongues. When at the end of the service they began to sing some songs I didn’t know, which was really common, I just sang along in tongues. I could hardly wait to go out onto the street the next day and tell people about Jesus.
But what was I going to do about the third day of my fast? I had told the Lord that I would fast for three days, yet I received the baptism on the second. I broke the fast when I got home from church, yet I felt that I had done wrong. So I started my fast all over again the next day, fasting for three more days.
The next day I went out onto the street looking for someone to talk to about Jesus. I was in a gift shop when I met this girl who I struck up a conversation with. Quickly the topic turned to Jesus. She was hungry and pulled the words out of my soul. I poured and poured and she drank and drank. The people she was with had to drag her away to go where they needed to go. I felt the power of the Spirit helping me, giving me the words to say. So this was the power of the Spirit. I was so delighted!
I know that this story is not the usual story about how someone was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Because the church was so out of order it could reflect badly on my experience. But the fruit through the years since has been great. More reflections later.
Ever since my sister told me to ask God for this baptism in the Holy Spirit, I had been asking. I also had been trying to figure out what it was, without too much success. I learned that you speak in tongues when you get it. I was taught this by a Pentecostal church that we attended in Quilcene Washington. A lady, who was viewed as a prophetess, would round up us hippies in Port Townsend and take us to church there. The pastor (or was it pastoress?) was a lady from the south, she spoke with a odd southern accent. She would beat her tambourine with gusto throughout the service. Her husband was never seen to say a word. He usually sat at the back unless he was playing his violin. His ears were quite noticeable as the tips were bent down like they were ‘dog-eared’.
Every now and then the prophetess lady would pour out a speech in King James-like-English that was filled with dire warnings and promises of blessing for obedience. Her voice, without any microphone, would completely fill the room. When she spoke most of us would turn introspective, examining our own hearts. I usually did not know enough about what she was saying or how it applied to make any connections with my own life. I just smiled a lot and watched.
One time a guy stood up and wanted to apologize to the church for something. He was invited to come up and speak from the pulpit. As he was trying to get across why he was offended and how it got solved, the lady pastor beat her tambourine at the back of the stage. Finally this guy got ticked and asked her to stop. She said that she would not stop because God was giving her insight into his life, and she hit the tambourine even harder. This really offended this guy, and to be heard over her tambourine and shouts of hallelujah and bless the Lord, he stood on the pulpit to get his point across, but to no avail. He could not compete with her and left the church.
Another time the lady pastor and visiting ministry decided that everyone who wanted a demon cast out of them should come forward. It looked like a good thing to do because, after all, who would want a demon inside of them, making them do bad things? Nearly everyone came forward. I went too, not to be left out. When it came our turn to be prayed for, they would make a cross on our foreheads with their fingers that they had dipped in oil, and lay their hands on our heads and speak in languages I knew to be tongues. The word ‘shondai’ was heard a lot. When they were done casting demons out of the congregation, they proceeded to cast demons out of each other. This was indeed a mystery.
On Wednesday, February 10, 1971,we had a visiting ministry from Port Angeles come to speak to us. His topic was the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I was so glad as I had been fasting for this. On Monday I had decided to go on a three day fast for the Baptism, starting Tuesday. Now this was the second day of my three day fast. Earlier that day I had been speaking to some kids on the street about Jesus. Things were going well until some joker came up and started to rip into me, tearing apart what I was saying with logic I couldn’t compete with. He wound up taking the whole crowd away from me, laughing.
I had heard that this Baptism thing gave you power to tell people about Jesus. I really wanted that. I also thought it would be cool to speak in a language I didn’t know. This preacher told us all about it. When he was done with his message, he asked if there was anyone in the audience who wanted to receive it, to lift their hand. My hand shot up as is if pulled by a string. He then asked those of us who had raised our hands to stand. I stood with the same alacrity. I remember thinking, what is all this delay about? He then asked those of us who were standing if we would come down to the front. I was the first person there. They had me get down on my knees to pray.
As I knelt there in the front of that church, people began to give me advise. Some would say hold on, others would say let go, others told me to pray out loud, others said something different. I felt as if I should be sorry and cry because of my sin. Yet I felt nothing. I said to the Lord, “What a schmuck I am, I cannot even cry.”
As soon as I said this to the Lord, I felt words beginning to form in the back of my mind. I spoke them out. Someone lifted my hands into the air. I held them there and spoke these words even more loudly. Before long I was shouting in tongues. I shouted for about a half an hour, until I was hoarse. It was glorious! The whole room looked like it was filled with a golden glow. I felt waves of love flow through my emotions. I began to ask people their names and introduce them to others, who they probably already knew. But I did not care or notice. I just felt so much love.
I wondered where my sister and brother-in-law were. I could not find them anywhere. Turns out that in the midst of my baptism I did not notice that my sister’s water broke as she was praying for me. They were able to clean it up and take her to the hospital without me noticing. A short time later little Naarah was born. Beth and Naarah came home the next morning.
I didn’t want to stop speaking in tongues. When at the end of the service they began to sing some songs I didn’t know, which was really common, I just sang along in tongues. I could hardly wait to go out onto the street the next day and tell people about Jesus.
But what was I going to do about the third day of my fast? I had told the Lord that I would fast for three days, yet I received the baptism on the second. I broke the fast when I got home from church, yet I felt that I had done wrong. So I started my fast all over again the next day, fasting for three more days.
The next day I went out onto the street looking for someone to talk to about Jesus. I was in a gift shop when I met this girl who I struck up a conversation with. Quickly the topic turned to Jesus. She was hungry and pulled the words out of my soul. I poured and poured and she drank and drank. The people she was with had to drag her away to go where they needed to go. I felt the power of the Spirit helping me, giving me the words to say. So this was the power of the Spirit. I was so delighted!
I know that this story is not the usual story about how someone was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Because the church was so out of order it could reflect badly on my experience. But the fruit through the years since has been great. More reflections later.
Friday, May 15, 2009
You Can Lead a Horse to Water, Part 2
Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14-15 NASU
So begins the preaching of Jesus. The topic of the kingdom provides the context in which we can understand all that Jesus said. Jesus’ message was not primarily about love, or repentance, or Israel, or His deity, or salvation, or eschatology. Yet all these themes and more find their place in the story about the King and his kingdom. It is in the kingdom that all these other topics find their proportion and place.
No wonder then there is so much confusion about the kingdom. To understand the kingdom is to understand the main thrust of Jesus’ teaching. It is the thread that weaves these various subjects into a whole.If ‘Jesus is Lord’ is the heart of the gospel and maranatha its benediction, then the kingdom is the message.
How then is the baptism in the Holy Spirit to be understood in light of the kingdom? Where does this topic fit into this story? So often this baptism is put into other stories. If you are an Evangelical, this baptism becomes salvation. Since their view of salvation is punctilliar – a point in time where at one moment I’m not saved and the next moment I is, conversion and receiving the Spirit must be identical. If you are a sacramentalist, the baptism in the Spirit is conferred by some specific liturgical act such as water baptism or the laying on of hands. Those who believe that you receive the Spirit in water baptism find evidence here for that belief. If you are a Pentecostal, this is where you receive the Spirit after you are saved with evidence of speaking in tongues. If you are of a holiness extraction, this baptism becomes the time where you are totally given over – sanctified - to the will of God. Whatever your point of view, this baptism in the Spirit is located at the heart of your doctrine.
Everybody loves 1 Corinthians 12:13. Yet all of these views are unchanged by their reading of this verse. This is a problem for those who believe that doctrine must, in all cases and times, take precedence over experience. Gordon Fee makes it really clear in his book How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth that history must be interpreted through the lens of the didactic – the teaching – portions of scripture. Too bad the early Christians didn’t know this. They interpreted the whole Bible of their day, now known as the Old Testament, through their experience of Jesus and the resurrection. And, I might add, through their common experience of the Holy Spirit.
This common experience of the Spirit is what 1 Corinthians 12:13 was referring. Yet many translations do not bring out this point. The way it is translated makes it look like the Spirit is the baptizer, and by the Spirit we are baptized in or into the body. The body becomes the thing into which we are baptized. As Fee and Turner, among others, have pointed out, the Spirit is what we are baptized into, not the body. This is the normal phrase always translated elsewhere as baptized in the Holy Spirit. The goal of this baptism in the Spirit is to unify one body out of many diverse peoples through their common experience of the Spirit. The whole passage is emphasizing unity in diversity, and this verse is making it explicit. We all, as the body, have a common experience of the Spirit.
This is what Paul seems to mean by saying that we were all given the Spirit to drink. Like land being flooded for irrigation purposes, we all have an opportunity to be soaked in the Spirit. This is where my title comes in. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. For God’s kingdom purpose of unity in the body, we were all given the Spirit to drink. But we must drink. Some sip, some refuse, some gulp it down like thirsty travelers crossing the desert. But we are all given the same drink. So it is not a case of the have’s and have-not’s. It is a case of those who drink deep and those who sip.
So begins the preaching of Jesus. The topic of the kingdom provides the context in which we can understand all that Jesus said. Jesus’ message was not primarily about love, or repentance, or Israel, or His deity, or salvation, or eschatology. Yet all these themes and more find their place in the story about the King and his kingdom. It is in the kingdom that all these other topics find their proportion and place.
No wonder then there is so much confusion about the kingdom. To understand the kingdom is to understand the main thrust of Jesus’ teaching. It is the thread that weaves these various subjects into a whole.If ‘Jesus is Lord’ is the heart of the gospel and maranatha its benediction, then the kingdom is the message.
How then is the baptism in the Holy Spirit to be understood in light of the kingdom? Where does this topic fit into this story? So often this baptism is put into other stories. If you are an Evangelical, this baptism becomes salvation. Since their view of salvation is punctilliar – a point in time where at one moment I’m not saved and the next moment I is, conversion and receiving the Spirit must be identical. If you are a sacramentalist, the baptism in the Spirit is conferred by some specific liturgical act such as water baptism or the laying on of hands. Those who believe that you receive the Spirit in water baptism find evidence here for that belief. If you are a Pentecostal, this is where you receive the Spirit after you are saved with evidence of speaking in tongues. If you are of a holiness extraction, this baptism becomes the time where you are totally given over – sanctified - to the will of God. Whatever your point of view, this baptism in the Spirit is located at the heart of your doctrine.
Everybody loves 1 Corinthians 12:13. Yet all of these views are unchanged by their reading of this verse. This is a problem for those who believe that doctrine must, in all cases and times, take precedence over experience. Gordon Fee makes it really clear in his book How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth that history must be interpreted through the lens of the didactic – the teaching – portions of scripture. Too bad the early Christians didn’t know this. They interpreted the whole Bible of their day, now known as the Old Testament, through their experience of Jesus and the resurrection. And, I might add, through their common experience of the Holy Spirit.
This common experience of the Spirit is what 1 Corinthians 12:13 was referring. Yet many translations do not bring out this point. The way it is translated makes it look like the Spirit is the baptizer, and by the Spirit we are baptized in or into the body. The body becomes the thing into which we are baptized. As Fee and Turner, among others, have pointed out, the Spirit is what we are baptized into, not the body. This is the normal phrase always translated elsewhere as baptized in the Holy Spirit. The goal of this baptism in the Spirit is to unify one body out of many diverse peoples through their common experience of the Spirit. The whole passage is emphasizing unity in diversity, and this verse is making it explicit. We all, as the body, have a common experience of the Spirit.
This is what Paul seems to mean by saying that we were all given the Spirit to drink. Like land being flooded for irrigation purposes, we all have an opportunity to be soaked in the Spirit. This is where my title comes in. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. For God’s kingdom purpose of unity in the body, we were all given the Spirit to drink. But we must drink. Some sip, some refuse, some gulp it down like thirsty travelers crossing the desert. But we are all given the same drink. So it is not a case of the have’s and have-not’s. It is a case of those who drink deep and those who sip.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
You Can Lead a Horse to Water
Recently I have been wrestling with the Lord. Like Jacob, I’m trying to pin the Lord down. And like Jacob, I have a limp for all my trouble. I have been trying to pin the Lord down on an understanding of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Simple, you might say. Why bother with something so obvious…?
I started out as a simple Pentecostal. I met Jesus and was completely changed. I was healed of drug abuse, my behavior radically changed, and all I wanted to do was pray, read the Bible, and tell others about Jesus. Six weeks after I met the Lord I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, shouting in tongues until I was hoarse.
Everything was simple. The few people I came across who believed that the gifts of the Spirit died out with the Apostles I quickly dismissed. We needed the word confirmed to us as much as they did and the perfect won’t come until Jesus returns. Simple.
But as I read more and more and did my best to come to an equitable understanding of scripture I began to notice things. I noticed that there was no verse that said that you must speak in tongues – and that there was no proof that speaking in tongues was the evidence that someone had received the Holy Spirit. The only verse that even indicated that tongues was an evidence of the reception of the Spirit was in Acts 11, where Peter is explaining to the leaders in Jerusalem how he knew the Gentiles had received the Spirit and could therefore be baptized. I also noticed that according to Romans 8:9 NIV “ if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” At first this was a non-issue. After all, everyone I knew believed that the Spirit lived in a person when they were born again. When you were born again your spirit and the Holy Spirit were conjoined. As far as I knew, only those radical Pentecostals who didn’t think you were saved until you spoke in tongues believed that you did not, in some sense, get the Spirit when you believed.
But we all believed that having your spirit made new by conjoining with the Holy Spirit was not the same thing as receiving the Spirit in the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In recent years this has come under attack. Bruner, Dunn, Fee, Turner and others have all claimed that you are baptized in the Spirit at conversion. They have done some real scholarly work. The non-issue has become an issue. If what I understood about my experience is incorrect, I want to know. I need to able to teach the truth.
In this controversy I see two pivot points. For the Pentecostal side, this verse is crucial. 1 Corinthians 12:13 NIV “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” For the conversion/baptism in the Spirit side, Acts 8, the incident at Samaria.
In the next post I’ll look at 1 Cor 12:13 and the following post I’ll take on the implications of Samaria.
I started out as a simple Pentecostal. I met Jesus and was completely changed. I was healed of drug abuse, my behavior radically changed, and all I wanted to do was pray, read the Bible, and tell others about Jesus. Six weeks after I met the Lord I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, shouting in tongues until I was hoarse.
Everything was simple. The few people I came across who believed that the gifts of the Spirit died out with the Apostles I quickly dismissed. We needed the word confirmed to us as much as they did and the perfect won’t come until Jesus returns. Simple.
But as I read more and more and did my best to come to an equitable understanding of scripture I began to notice things. I noticed that there was no verse that said that you must speak in tongues – and that there was no proof that speaking in tongues was the evidence that someone had received the Holy Spirit. The only verse that even indicated that tongues was an evidence of the reception of the Spirit was in Acts 11, where Peter is explaining to the leaders in Jerusalem how he knew the Gentiles had received the Spirit and could therefore be baptized. I also noticed that according to Romans 8:9 NIV “ if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” At first this was a non-issue. After all, everyone I knew believed that the Spirit lived in a person when they were born again. When you were born again your spirit and the Holy Spirit were conjoined. As far as I knew, only those radical Pentecostals who didn’t think you were saved until you spoke in tongues believed that you did not, in some sense, get the Spirit when you believed.
But we all believed that having your spirit made new by conjoining with the Holy Spirit was not the same thing as receiving the Spirit in the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In recent years this has come under attack. Bruner, Dunn, Fee, Turner and others have all claimed that you are baptized in the Spirit at conversion. They have done some real scholarly work. The non-issue has become an issue. If what I understood about my experience is incorrect, I want to know. I need to able to teach the truth.
In this controversy I see two pivot points. For the Pentecostal side, this verse is crucial. 1 Corinthians 12:13 NIV “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” For the conversion/baptism in the Spirit side, Acts 8, the incident at Samaria.
In the next post I’ll look at 1 Cor 12:13 and the following post I’ll take on the implications of Samaria.
Monday, May 11, 2009
What Convinced Me
A Christian is someone who believes in Jesus. Now that doesn’t seem to say much, does it? After all, what does “believe in” mean? Is it like asking if you believe in ghosts? Or, do you believe in Harry Potter? And why Jesus? Who is he anyway? Couldn’t you say that you just believe in God and be done with it? What difference does it make?
I like questions; they are the best way to get answers. If you don’t ask questions, an answer can hit you in the face and you may never even know it. Of course, just because you ask a question doesn’t mean you automatically get the answer. But at least you are looking for an answer, and that’s the first step in finding one.
To me, the best questions have to do with the word why. Why does ice float? Or, why do people have so many different languages? I especially like this why question: Why is the universe here? Some people say this is a question without a real answer. Like questioning why the jelly fish or why yellow. Few would accept the answer “Well, just because it is.” Same with the question Why is everything here? There is a reason why, and the Bible helps us understand what that reason is.
People have thought about how the universe got here for a long time, probably as long as there have been people. Many answers have been suggested. The problem with this question is that no one can prove his or her answer is better than anyone else’s. No one ever saw how it was done. For a scientist to answer this question, the scientist would have to prove that answer was correct by doing it all over again. Before that, it would just be a theory. So far, no one can make something from nothing, let alone a whole universe! Just for starters I wonder if anyone can even make a space where they can prove that nothing is in it?
You might be wondering what all this has to do with Jesus. Good question! The Christian is convinced there is one God who made everything out of nothing. The Christian is also certain this one God came into the world of humans by being born only as Jesus of Nazareth and no one else, ever. This is the same Jesus that I said Christians must believe in. Think of what this could mean! If God did come as a person, we could get to know God and find out the answers to some of our questions, such as "Why do people do so much bad stuff to each other? Do we have a purpose in life? If so, what is it? Is there any way to change myself, or others? Is there a way to have a life with real joy, or satisfaction?"
Most importantly of all, we could get to know what God thinks. We could find out what is important to God.
The Christian believes in this Jesus. This means that the Christian is convinced that God, the One-who-made-it-all, is Jesus. This is why Jesus is called the Son of God. Like Father, like son, the saying goes. If you have seen Jesus, you have seen God.
Now why would a person believe that God came to humankind as Jesus? What could convince a person that Jesus is God? When you ask this question of Christians, you get many different answers. This is because people are convinced by different things. What it took to convince a scientist, like the guy who mapped human DNA, would probably be different from what it took to convince my daughter Sarah when she was four years old. Each one became convinced in their own way.
What convinced me was something that I have never heard happen to anyone else. I was not raised as a Christian and I had never read the Bible, except for three small parts. As a teenager, I had become involved with drugs. One day, on December 28, 1970, I was smoking marijuana at my parents house in the living room with the neighbor girl who lived across the street. A fire was burning in the fireplace that we hoped would help hide the smell. We were thinking about going to a party later when the phone rang in the kitchen. I got up and answered the phone, one of those old dial types that hung on the wall. It was my sister Beth wanting to talk with me. This was unusual, and I asked if she wanted to talk instead to her friend who was in the living room. She said no, she really wanted to talk with me. I asked her why.
“Because Jesus Christ has chosen you,” she replied.
“What does he want to do with me?” I asked. “I’m about the biggest wreck there is.” I had taken drugs so many times that for the last year I had been unable to carry on a whole conversation because I would forget what I was talking about, even in the middle of a sentence. But there was something about her words and the way she spoke that it did not occur to me to doubt her.
“That’s just why He wants you, to fix you up,” she insisted.
Well, this started a conversation about Jesus. As we talked, I started to laugh at stuff that really wasn’t that funny. I explained to Beth that the reason I laughed at such times was because I had just smoked some marijuana. This made Beth upset.
“I don’t want you to smoke that stuff ever again,” she commanded in a stern voice.
As soon as she said this, I felt something snap on my chest, then I felt something like a cloak or jacket fall off my shoulders, and I knew instantly that I would never abuse drugs again. And I haven’t.
Beth went on to say that it was my sin that had closed me off from God. Now you have to understand, we didn’t use the word “sin” in our home when we were growing up, except as a joke. So I asked Beth what did she mean by sin?
“You know,” she said. “The stuff you’ve done wrong.”
I knew I must have done something wrong in my life, but at that moment I couldn’t think of anything specific. Beth then told me that I needed to ask God to forgive me.
I had no idea how to do such a thing. I stalled by asking Beth if I needed to do it right then.
“Do you know for sure that you’ll live till tomorrow?” she asked pointedly.
“Well, not for sure.” I answered, although I was planning on it.
“We had better do this right now. I’ll guide you in what to say. You can repeat after me,” she directed.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do it right now.”
As soon as I agreed to ask God to forgive me, something weird happened. I was standing with my back leaning on the kitchen wall talking on the phone, yet it was behind me and a little to my left I seemed to hear someone say, “Go ahead and get into it. But if after a while you find out that it is not God, you can always get back out again.”
As soon as that voice was done speaking I heard another voice, deep and strong, this time coming from in front of me, a little to my right and above my head. “No, it is all or nothing!” it commanded.
I thought for just a small moment, and then I decided it would be all. So Beth led me in asking God to forgive me and be the Lord of my life. When we were done, I had this strong sense of the truth of it all. I knew that I knew I had just met God, talked with Him personally, and that God’s name was Jesus. In all this I somehow also knew the Bible was true. I was so happy and excited! I knew God!
Beth told me she had to go but for me to ask God for the baptism in the Holy Spirit (more about this later). She told me that when I received the Holy Spirit, I would get wisdom. She also told me that God liked to be talked to all the time. Some people call this prayer. She then hung up the phone, as did I.
I stood there in the kitchen, letting it all soak in. I had just met God, and His name was Jesus! Talk about something unexpected! I then walked back out to the living room where just a little while ago I had been smoking marijuana with the neighbor girl. There were now two young ladies there. They asked me if I wanted to go to a party with them. I told them no, I didn’t. They asked me why.
“I just met God.” I answered. “His name’s Jesus! I’m going to go upstairs and pray.”
You should have seen their jaws drop—they were so stunned! They looked at me as if I had finally wandered off, went around the corner, and lost my way back. They couldn’t leave fast enough! I went upstairs to ask God for this baptism in the Holy Spirit thing, whatever that was.
Nothing seemed to happen. As I lay upon my bed, I felt as if I would die if I didn’t get this baptism in the Holy Spirit. I found myself becoming more and more fearful. Then I thought about how ridiculous this fear was. I would just trust Jesus. I then fell asleep.
When I awoke the next morning I was shocked by how clear my thinking was. I could think a sentence all the way through! When I went to the bathroom, I looked into the mirror and saw this guy (me) with a beard all the way down to the middle of his chest. How outrageous! So I trimmed it conservatively to about three inches in length. My mind was clear…I could think again! I felt free! Everything looked so new! Wow!
This was the start of a long journey.
I have never found anything that could change my mind
from knowing for certain
that I have actually met and know God,
the One-who-made-it-all.
I believe in Jesus and that makes me a Christian.
I like questions; they are the best way to get answers. If you don’t ask questions, an answer can hit you in the face and you may never even know it. Of course, just because you ask a question doesn’t mean you automatically get the answer. But at least you are looking for an answer, and that’s the first step in finding one.
To me, the best questions have to do with the word why. Why does ice float? Or, why do people have so many different languages? I especially like this why question: Why is the universe here? Some people say this is a question without a real answer. Like questioning why the jelly fish or why yellow. Few would accept the answer “Well, just because it is.” Same with the question Why is everything here? There is a reason why, and the Bible helps us understand what that reason is.
People have thought about how the universe got here for a long time, probably as long as there have been people. Many answers have been suggested. The problem with this question is that no one can prove his or her answer is better than anyone else’s. No one ever saw how it was done. For a scientist to answer this question, the scientist would have to prove that answer was correct by doing it all over again. Before that, it would just be a theory. So far, no one can make something from nothing, let alone a whole universe! Just for starters I wonder if anyone can even make a space where they can prove that nothing is in it?
You might be wondering what all this has to do with Jesus. Good question! The Christian is convinced there is one God who made everything out of nothing. The Christian is also certain this one God came into the world of humans by being born only as Jesus of Nazareth and no one else, ever. This is the same Jesus that I said Christians must believe in. Think of what this could mean! If God did come as a person, we could get to know God and find out the answers to some of our questions, such as "Why do people do so much bad stuff to each other? Do we have a purpose in life? If so, what is it? Is there any way to change myself, or others? Is there a way to have a life with real joy, or satisfaction?"
Most importantly of all, we could get to know what God thinks. We could find out what is important to God.
The Christian believes in this Jesus. This means that the Christian is convinced that God, the One-who-made-it-all, is Jesus. This is why Jesus is called the Son of God. Like Father, like son, the saying goes. If you have seen Jesus, you have seen God.
Now why would a person believe that God came to humankind as Jesus? What could convince a person that Jesus is God? When you ask this question of Christians, you get many different answers. This is because people are convinced by different things. What it took to convince a scientist, like the guy who mapped human DNA, would probably be different from what it took to convince my daughter Sarah when she was four years old. Each one became convinced in their own way.
What convinced me was something that I have never heard happen to anyone else. I was not raised as a Christian and I had never read the Bible, except for three small parts. As a teenager, I had become involved with drugs. One day, on December 28, 1970, I was smoking marijuana at my parents house in the living room with the neighbor girl who lived across the street. A fire was burning in the fireplace that we hoped would help hide the smell. We were thinking about going to a party later when the phone rang in the kitchen. I got up and answered the phone, one of those old dial types that hung on the wall. It was my sister Beth wanting to talk with me. This was unusual, and I asked if she wanted to talk instead to her friend who was in the living room. She said no, she really wanted to talk with me. I asked her why.
“Because Jesus Christ has chosen you,” she replied.
“What does he want to do with me?” I asked. “I’m about the biggest wreck there is.” I had taken drugs so many times that for the last year I had been unable to carry on a whole conversation because I would forget what I was talking about, even in the middle of a sentence. But there was something about her words and the way she spoke that it did not occur to me to doubt her.
“That’s just why He wants you, to fix you up,” she insisted.
Well, this started a conversation about Jesus. As we talked, I started to laugh at stuff that really wasn’t that funny. I explained to Beth that the reason I laughed at such times was because I had just smoked some marijuana. This made Beth upset.
“I don’t want you to smoke that stuff ever again,” she commanded in a stern voice.
As soon as she said this, I felt something snap on my chest, then I felt something like a cloak or jacket fall off my shoulders, and I knew instantly that I would never abuse drugs again. And I haven’t.
Beth went on to say that it was my sin that had closed me off from God. Now you have to understand, we didn’t use the word “sin” in our home when we were growing up, except as a joke. So I asked Beth what did she mean by sin?
“You know,” she said. “The stuff you’ve done wrong.”
I knew I must have done something wrong in my life, but at that moment I couldn’t think of anything specific. Beth then told me that I needed to ask God to forgive me.
I had no idea how to do such a thing. I stalled by asking Beth if I needed to do it right then.
“Do you know for sure that you’ll live till tomorrow?” she asked pointedly.
“Well, not for sure.” I answered, although I was planning on it.
“We had better do this right now. I’ll guide you in what to say. You can repeat after me,” she directed.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do it right now.”
As soon as I agreed to ask God to forgive me, something weird happened. I was standing with my back leaning on the kitchen wall talking on the phone, yet it was behind me and a little to my left I seemed to hear someone say, “Go ahead and get into it. But if after a while you find out that it is not God, you can always get back out again.”
As soon as that voice was done speaking I heard another voice, deep and strong, this time coming from in front of me, a little to my right and above my head. “No, it is all or nothing!” it commanded.
I thought for just a small moment, and then I decided it would be all. So Beth led me in asking God to forgive me and be the Lord of my life. When we were done, I had this strong sense of the truth of it all. I knew that I knew I had just met God, talked with Him personally, and that God’s name was Jesus. In all this I somehow also knew the Bible was true. I was so happy and excited! I knew God!
Beth told me she had to go but for me to ask God for the baptism in the Holy Spirit (more about this later). She told me that when I received the Holy Spirit, I would get wisdom. She also told me that God liked to be talked to all the time. Some people call this prayer. She then hung up the phone, as did I.
I stood there in the kitchen, letting it all soak in. I had just met God, and His name was Jesus! Talk about something unexpected! I then walked back out to the living room where just a little while ago I had been smoking marijuana with the neighbor girl. There were now two young ladies there. They asked me if I wanted to go to a party with them. I told them no, I didn’t. They asked me why.
“I just met God.” I answered. “His name’s Jesus! I’m going to go upstairs and pray.”
You should have seen their jaws drop—they were so stunned! They looked at me as if I had finally wandered off, went around the corner, and lost my way back. They couldn’t leave fast enough! I went upstairs to ask God for this baptism in the Holy Spirit thing, whatever that was.
Nothing seemed to happen. As I lay upon my bed, I felt as if I would die if I didn’t get this baptism in the Holy Spirit. I found myself becoming more and more fearful. Then I thought about how ridiculous this fear was. I would just trust Jesus. I then fell asleep.
When I awoke the next morning I was shocked by how clear my thinking was. I could think a sentence all the way through! When I went to the bathroom, I looked into the mirror and saw this guy (me) with a beard all the way down to the middle of his chest. How outrageous! So I trimmed it conservatively to about three inches in length. My mind was clear…I could think again! I felt free! Everything looked so new! Wow!
This was the start of a long journey.
I have never found anything that could change my mind
from knowing for certain
that I have actually met and know God,
the One-who-made-it-all.
I believe in Jesus and that makes me a Christian.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Prophetic Nature of the Church
Moses was having a bad day. The whole nation was complaining that they wanted meat, and God was ticked off. People were dying and crying and Moses was tired of carrying the whole weight. So Moses told the LORD, “If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now — if I have found favor in your eyes — and do not let me face my own ruin."
Moses needed help. But God had a solution other than killing Moses. He told Moses that not only was he going to provide meat for the whole nation; he was going to provide them enough meat for a month! And he was also going to get Moses some help. He told Moses to gather together 70 elders and the LORD was going to put some of the Spirit that was upon Moses upon them.
Moses couldn’t believe his ears. Impossible as it was to provide that much meat out in the wilderness, Moses told the people what the LORD had said and gathered together the elders at the meeting tent. Then the LORD came down in a cloud and took of the Spirit that was upon Moses and put it upon the 70 leaders. When this happened they all prophesied. Even two guys who were supposed to be there but stayed behind in the camp also received the Spirit and prophesied.
Now Joshua, Moses’ aide, didn’t like the way this looked, and told Moses so. But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!"
Would Moses get his wish? Nearly every prophet in some way prophesied of a coming time when God’s Spirit would be outpoured. It would be the day of the King and the kingdom. Before the day of Pentecost, after Jesus’ resurrection, the Apostles asked Jesus if this was the time that the kingdom would be restored. This was just after Jesus had taught them over the last 40 days about the kingdom. Jesus didn’t rebuke them for still not understanding, but told them that “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus’ answer, as always, went to the heart of the issue. In lieu of an immediate full and complete manifestation of the kingdom - the restoration of the kingdom – there would be an outpouring of the Spirit in power so that the people of God could be a witness to Jesus throughout the whole world.
As Joel had prophesied, one of the results of the outpoured Spirit would be prophecy. Throughout the book of Acts, when people had the Spirit come upon them, they often prophesied. Paul wrote that we should all “eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy”. Why did Moses and Paul want God’s people to be prophetic? Why does the Holy Spirit desire to manifest himself in the church through prophecy? Is there some aspect of the kingdom of God, and of our witness to Jesus, that cannot be seen apart from the prophetic?
What is prophecy? The prophet Amos wrote, “God has spoken, who can but prophesy?” John, in the book of Revelation, writes that the “Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.” Prophecy is where someone, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, says what God is saying to a person, a group, a nation, or a situation. The person acts as God’s voice. This may be about the future, but is also often about the past and the present. In Revelation chapters 2-3 Jesus is seen speaking to the 7 churches. He reveals, through what he tells John to write, something about himself, something about how he sees them, what they have done, are doing, what they should do and what Jesus himself will do. This is the essence of prophecy. It is God personally communicating through his servants his intentions to others.
This is the kind of help Moses needed. He needed others to come alongside and be God’s voice to the people. The load was way too much to bear for one person. Paul wanted us to eagerly desire the supernatural ability to be God’s voice to others. Why? Because Paul wanted us to help each other know God in reality, not just in our imagination. We all want God to genuinely enter into our lives and interact with us. Without prophecy, God can be too distant, intangible, and transcendent. With prophecy we can hear God’s voice in a tangible way. So “if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!" It is to this reality of God among us that prophecy is meant to be a witness. This is how prophecy builds us up in our faith. Through prophecy we can see Jesus active in our midst.
The gift of prophecy needs to be reclaimed by the church. It has fallen on hard times through misunderstanding, misuse, and abuse. Even the basis for this gift, the outpouring of the Spirit, is either discounted or misapplied. Paul warned us not to be ignorant of these things of the Spirit. Yet much of the body of Christ lives as if prophecy is irrelevant. Because of this, our witness to the world that Christ is among us is often without power. Our impact on the world is not what it could be. And why should we have impact if all we are offering is just another set of ideas and practices, albeit good ones? Paul never wanted the gospel to be presented in this way.
Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, said “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.” They knew that God chose them because the gospel came to them in more than just words, but also in the power of the Spirit. He also wrote to the Corinthians “my message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.”
One of my deep disappointments regarding the emerging church movement is its apparent rejection of the practice of the gifts of the Spirit. In its effort to distance itself from the excesses, doctrinal immaturities, exclusiveness, and fundamentalism of some of the previous ‘Spirit’ movements in the church, it has turned a deaf ear to many of the more dramatic types of genuine Spirit manifestation. Although this is not without some justification, I think that Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians that they should not despise prophecy is also applicable to us today.
The passage in Thessalonians reads like this: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” As with all of Paul’s exhortations, there was a good reason for giving them. If we could not put out the Spirit’s fire, why would he have exhorted us not to put it out? But what did Paul mean by the Spirit’s fire? Does anyone besides me hear echoes of the words of the prophets? Without the fire of the Spirit the distinction between the holy and the profane would be blurred. Fire marks the line of that which is totally devoted to the Lord from that which is not yet so devoted. But it is the Spirit’s fire, a fire not of our own making. Yet that cannot mean that the Spirit’s fire can burn without our consent and complicity. If it could burn in such a way, without our consent, then how could we put out the Spirit’s fire? So for the fire of the Spirit to burn in us we need to agree with the Spirit. This results in a passion for the things of God – love, holiness, faith, compassion, forgiveness, truth, justice, fidelity, and so on. By agreeing to live like this we are in step with the nature of the Holy Spirit. The more we are consumed by these virtues the more we are ‘on fire’ by the Spirit.
Yet there is an aspect of the Holy Spirit’s fire that manifests itself in the supernatural, in things that happen that defy natural explanation, which we also need to consent to. This will bug the rationalist who must have all things explained in a natural, causative way. The difficulty in explaining the supernatural is that it cannot be explained naturally. How come everyone isn’t healed, or why did God answer that prayer but appears not to have answered this other prayer? The rationalist wants rules so it will work the same way every time. There probably are rules and principles governing the manifestation of the supernatural power of the Spirit of God, but they are not natural rules. This is not magic. It is a relationship with the supernatural Being who made it all and who desires to share his life and power with his children.
Our witness to Christ is that he is real. Prophecy, done rightly, will help to confirm our affirmation that Jesus is risen and is truly among us by the Spirit of God. This is why Jesus wanted the disciples to wait until they had been “clothed with power from on high” before they began their witness. Jesus didn’t want the gospel to be just another religion. He wanted the world to know that he is really the Son of God, the Son of the One-and-Only-Who-Made-it-All. They would need the power of the Spirit to declare this in a manner consistent with the message. Only by a demonstration of the character and power of the Spirit can the church be truly incarnational.
Will Moses get his wish? The potential is there. God has poured out his Spirit. The Church needs to decide if it can have the faith to receive it in order to hear God and say what God is saying. Maybe then we all can be, each in his own way, a prophet of God.
Moses needed help. But God had a solution other than killing Moses. He told Moses that not only was he going to provide meat for the whole nation; he was going to provide them enough meat for a month! And he was also going to get Moses some help. He told Moses to gather together 70 elders and the LORD was going to put some of the Spirit that was upon Moses upon them.
Moses couldn’t believe his ears. Impossible as it was to provide that much meat out in the wilderness, Moses told the people what the LORD had said and gathered together the elders at the meeting tent. Then the LORD came down in a cloud and took of the Spirit that was upon Moses and put it upon the 70 leaders. When this happened they all prophesied. Even two guys who were supposed to be there but stayed behind in the camp also received the Spirit and prophesied.
Now Joshua, Moses’ aide, didn’t like the way this looked, and told Moses so. But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!"
Would Moses get his wish? Nearly every prophet in some way prophesied of a coming time when God’s Spirit would be outpoured. It would be the day of the King and the kingdom. Before the day of Pentecost, after Jesus’ resurrection, the Apostles asked Jesus if this was the time that the kingdom would be restored. This was just after Jesus had taught them over the last 40 days about the kingdom. Jesus didn’t rebuke them for still not understanding, but told them that “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus’ answer, as always, went to the heart of the issue. In lieu of an immediate full and complete manifestation of the kingdom - the restoration of the kingdom – there would be an outpouring of the Spirit in power so that the people of God could be a witness to Jesus throughout the whole world.
As Joel had prophesied, one of the results of the outpoured Spirit would be prophecy. Throughout the book of Acts, when people had the Spirit come upon them, they often prophesied. Paul wrote that we should all “eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy”. Why did Moses and Paul want God’s people to be prophetic? Why does the Holy Spirit desire to manifest himself in the church through prophecy? Is there some aspect of the kingdom of God, and of our witness to Jesus, that cannot be seen apart from the prophetic?
What is prophecy? The prophet Amos wrote, “God has spoken, who can but prophesy?” John, in the book of Revelation, writes that the “Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.” Prophecy is where someone, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, says what God is saying to a person, a group, a nation, or a situation. The person acts as God’s voice. This may be about the future, but is also often about the past and the present. In Revelation chapters 2-3 Jesus is seen speaking to the 7 churches. He reveals, through what he tells John to write, something about himself, something about how he sees them, what they have done, are doing, what they should do and what Jesus himself will do. This is the essence of prophecy. It is God personally communicating through his servants his intentions to others.
This is the kind of help Moses needed. He needed others to come alongside and be God’s voice to the people. The load was way too much to bear for one person. Paul wanted us to eagerly desire the supernatural ability to be God’s voice to others. Why? Because Paul wanted us to help each other know God in reality, not just in our imagination. We all want God to genuinely enter into our lives and interact with us. Without prophecy, God can be too distant, intangible, and transcendent. With prophecy we can hear God’s voice in a tangible way. So “if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!" It is to this reality of God among us that prophecy is meant to be a witness. This is how prophecy builds us up in our faith. Through prophecy we can see Jesus active in our midst.
The gift of prophecy needs to be reclaimed by the church. It has fallen on hard times through misunderstanding, misuse, and abuse. Even the basis for this gift, the outpouring of the Spirit, is either discounted or misapplied. Paul warned us not to be ignorant of these things of the Spirit. Yet much of the body of Christ lives as if prophecy is irrelevant. Because of this, our witness to the world that Christ is among us is often without power. Our impact on the world is not what it could be. And why should we have impact if all we are offering is just another set of ideas and practices, albeit good ones? Paul never wanted the gospel to be presented in this way.
Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, said “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.” They knew that God chose them because the gospel came to them in more than just words, but also in the power of the Spirit. He also wrote to the Corinthians “my message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.”
One of my deep disappointments regarding the emerging church movement is its apparent rejection of the practice of the gifts of the Spirit. In its effort to distance itself from the excesses, doctrinal immaturities, exclusiveness, and fundamentalism of some of the previous ‘Spirit’ movements in the church, it has turned a deaf ear to many of the more dramatic types of genuine Spirit manifestation. Although this is not without some justification, I think that Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians that they should not despise prophecy is also applicable to us today.
The passage in Thessalonians reads like this: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” As with all of Paul’s exhortations, there was a good reason for giving them. If we could not put out the Spirit’s fire, why would he have exhorted us not to put it out? But what did Paul mean by the Spirit’s fire? Does anyone besides me hear echoes of the words of the prophets? Without the fire of the Spirit the distinction between the holy and the profane would be blurred. Fire marks the line of that which is totally devoted to the Lord from that which is not yet so devoted. But it is the Spirit’s fire, a fire not of our own making. Yet that cannot mean that the Spirit’s fire can burn without our consent and complicity. If it could burn in such a way, without our consent, then how could we put out the Spirit’s fire? So for the fire of the Spirit to burn in us we need to agree with the Spirit. This results in a passion for the things of God – love, holiness, faith, compassion, forgiveness, truth, justice, fidelity, and so on. By agreeing to live like this we are in step with the nature of the Holy Spirit. The more we are consumed by these virtues the more we are ‘on fire’ by the Spirit.
Yet there is an aspect of the Holy Spirit’s fire that manifests itself in the supernatural, in things that happen that defy natural explanation, which we also need to consent to. This will bug the rationalist who must have all things explained in a natural, causative way. The difficulty in explaining the supernatural is that it cannot be explained naturally. How come everyone isn’t healed, or why did God answer that prayer but appears not to have answered this other prayer? The rationalist wants rules so it will work the same way every time. There probably are rules and principles governing the manifestation of the supernatural power of the Spirit of God, but they are not natural rules. This is not magic. It is a relationship with the supernatural Being who made it all and who desires to share his life and power with his children.
Our witness to Christ is that he is real. Prophecy, done rightly, will help to confirm our affirmation that Jesus is risen and is truly among us by the Spirit of God. This is why Jesus wanted the disciples to wait until they had been “clothed with power from on high” before they began their witness. Jesus didn’t want the gospel to be just another religion. He wanted the world to know that he is really the Son of God, the Son of the One-and-Only-Who-Made-it-All. They would need the power of the Spirit to declare this in a manner consistent with the message. Only by a demonstration of the character and power of the Spirit can the church be truly incarnational.
Will Moses get his wish? The potential is there. God has poured out his Spirit. The Church needs to decide if it can have the faith to receive it in order to hear God and say what God is saying. Maybe then we all can be, each in his own way, a prophet of God.
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