Volume 21 Issue 7
Pentecost cannot be canceled. The experiential infilling of Gods Spirit will never cease. Speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance cannot be prevented. Only the foolish would imagine that any human fiat, fraud or faction could extinguish the powerful transforming infilling of Gods Spirit. It is impossible to eliminate, dispose or replace God’s gift to the world.
The Holy Ghost, first given on the day of Pentecost, transformed the hearts and minds of mankind. God came, as He had promised to His disciples. He came to a little upper room and through the baptism of His Spirit He supernaturally drew men into His body and forever revolutionized the world. And, the revolution has never stopped or been quenched.
The day of Pentecost, recorded in the book of Acts, is not a point in history from which we merely reference the initial outpouring of the Spirit as an unrepeatable symbolic event. It was and is an intentional divine transformation of the human soul, a door of access into Gods presence (Ephesians 2:18). It was and still is a gift to every creature that the, Lord our God shall call (Acts 2:39). It cannot ever be canceled. Men may not and cannot nullify the purpose, the meaning, or the empowerment of that experience. Man cannot take the gift from the hand of the giver. And as it was in the beginning so it is now (Acts 11:15). It is the power of the Church, and the fact that it comes from God makes it our only sustainable source of hope and strength.
Saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh (Acts 2:17). This promise is verification that the Holy Ghost is unstoppable. God WILL pour it out upon ALL flesh. No man, no institution, no philosophy, no government, no religion, no organization, no army, no power can prevent what God has chosen to do in this world. God will keep on giving the gift of His Spirit to men; this is His purpose, and it is His intention. With us, or without us, God will fulfill His purpose. We may choose to be a part of the great outpouring of His Spirit in these last days, or we may be lured down a path driven by our own fleshly lusts. We must guard our hearts and minds, lest we be deceived.
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? (Galatians 3:1-3)
Sadly for some, there is a loathing of this divine empowerment. They resent the Spirits emotional impact, its constant corrections, its guidance, and its demands on our living, its refusal to abide in unclean temples, and its completeness. By this I mean to say that the Holy Spirit replaces the need for the Church to pretend we are sufficient of ourselves. The Holy Spirit negates the idea that the Church itself is the supplier of mans redemption, hope or his needs. Man is complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). A congregation that is dependent on the Holy Spirit is at peace with waiting on the Lord, trusting in His Word and abiding in the faith once delivered. They are at peace with the Apostles doctrine, and continue in it without seeking new ways, new doctrines or so-called new revelations. They are not in a perpetual search for strange prophets and prophecies that tantalize and trick the emotions of men. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts. 2:42)
Pentecost will not be canceled. Not now, not ever. It is like the Red Sea that had been parted by the wind of God, it cannot fail. It was the dusty path through that led to victory and it remained until the people passed over. Oh Lord, till the people pass over (Exodus 15:16). Such is the Pentecostal blessing. It will forever be here, changing the world, filling the souls of men with power, hope, faith, healing, redemption and transforming grace. So it is, and it cannot be stopped.
Slick, cool, fashionable, carnality, modern, postmodern, or whatever can never match the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is the only solution to a new birth. This is Gods doing and it will remain the forging power of Christianity until the people pass over. If you or I or my church or your church discontinues our association with the Pentecostal blessing then so it is, but that does not cause the Pentecostal revival to disappear: it just takes you or me out of it. The power keeps falling. In Africa, Latin America, the Islands, Pentecost just keeps happening. It cannot be canceled.
Pentecostals, you must not doubt the Apostles doctrine will not be canceled. The devils call to return to formalism and fleshly concepts must be resisted. Now more than ever we need the moving of the Holy Spirit, otherwise we reduce ourselves to meaninglessness.
Longfellow in his last poem wrote about the Bells of San Blas, bells that rang out daily on a Mexican island. Longfellow equated the old bells to a call for Protestants to return to the Catholic Church, which he hated. That aside, his words are a powerful reminder of how Spirit-filled people should feel about a call to return to our Apostolic heritage, our Pentecostal experience, our Oneness distinction.
O Bells of San Blas, in vain
Ye call back the Past again!
The Past is deaf to your prayer;
Out of the shadows of night
The world rolls into light;
It is daybreak everywhere. Longfellow, 1882
A grave error unfolds in any church that diminishes or downplays the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. NO ONE CAN CANCEL PENTECOST! Of course one may reject it in his own life, but nevertheless the world will roll into the light of Pentecostal anointing — daybreak everywhere.