Views On The Holy Spirit Poll.

[Scott Hutchinson]

What are your views on The Holy Spirit And Conversion ?

[Sam]

On Mar 5, 2011, some one sent me the following email. This man is now in his fifties. When he was a teenager I was his Sunday School teacher in an Apostolic Church.

Jim

If you don’t mind I would like your thoughts on something.

Is speaking in tongues the absolute and only sign that someone has received the Holy Spirit?

Said differently, if someone has not spoken in tongues does that indicate that they have not received the gift of the Holy Spirit?

I’d appreciate your thoughts,

Thanks,

D....

This was my answer:

D...,

I'm not quite sure how to answer this because there are differences in opinion among Christians on what "receiving" the Holy Spirit means.

I personally believe that there are several works or operations of the Holy Spirit in the life of a person.

1. First, the Holy Spirit draws a person to God. This may take years of time as He deals with us. Some of us resist longer than others.
I did not ask Jesus Christ into my heart and life until I was 17 years old. I had gone to Sunday School some as a child and did not like it and gave my Mom such a fit that she finally gave up on me and my brothers going there.
Later, in my teen years I got into some trouble with the law and started trying to clean up my life and going to church. I went to a Congregational Church which my Grandfather and family were part of.
My Mom was a member since her childhood but did not attend as an adult.
It was very liberal or modernistic and did not accept the Bible as God's Word. I'm sure many there did not even believe that Jesus rose from the dead physically.
I'm not sure how long God had been working on me during my first 17 and one half years.

2. Next would be the time a person gets saved or converted or born again.
I believe that the work of salvation or being born again happens the moment a person calls on the Lord for help.
This would be called "being saved by faith" according to John 3:16 or Acts 2:21 or the "repent" part of Acts 2:38 or Acts 16:31 or Romans 10:9-13 or 1 John 5:1.
I believe that at this moment which some call "accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior" or "asking Jesus into your heart" that Jesus does accept your invitation and comes in to dwell as the Holy Spirit.
This happened to me on at home on Monday, March 28, 1955 when I simply asked Jesus to come into my heart after attending a service at a local Baptist Church.
Something happened to me that night that changed my life so completely that at our 50th high school reunion in Wisconsin in 2006 some people still referred to the "old Jim" and the "new Jim."
A couple nights later I stood up in the Baptist church and testified for the first time in my life. Later that summer I joined the Baptist Church.

3. After salvation, the Holy Spirit (who now dwells in us) continues to work on us until the rapture, perfecting us, equipping us, gifting us, growing us, etc.

I will have to continue my response in a second part here.

[Sam]

this continues my response to D....

Here's where there are differences among Christians. We all agree on number 1 above but we have differences of opinion between items 2 and 3 above.
Some of us believe that there is a difference between the birth of the Spirit (getting saved) and the Holy Ghost Baptism or baptism in the Spirit.
I believe that I was saved or born of the Spirit on March 28, 1955 but I was not baptized in the Spirit until May 20, 1956.
I believe that on March 28, 1955 Jesus Christ came into my heart to dwell. He did not come in as a 5 foot man with carpenter calluses on His hands but came in as the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost or Spirit of Jesus Christ or Christ in me.
On May 20, 1956 at Bethel Tabernacle (United Pentecostal Church) in Racine, Wisconsin at the altar while praising and seeking the Lord, I spoke with tongues. I consider that to be my Holy Ghost Baptism and it happened over a year after I got saved.

In the Book of Acts which spans a period of time from AD 30 to AD 32 there are about 20 instances of people getting saved or getting converted or coming into the church.

In the first couple chapters we find an experience called:
the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4)
being baptized with or in the Holy Ghost (Acts 1;5)
receiving power (Acts 1:8)
the Holy Ghost coming upon you (Acts 8)
being filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:4)
the Spirit being poured out (Acts 2:17)
Jesus shedding forth the promise of the Father (Acts 2:33)
In my opinion, this was experienced by 120 disciples (some say only 12) who were already disciples, were already saved, and was not the same as a salvation or born again experience.
In my opinion they were already saved as they followed Jesus and had even been sent out to preach and what they experienced on that Day of Pentecost (probably Sunday, May 28, A 30) was a separate experience.

Later on in the Book of Acts we find about 20 instances of conversion/salvation and in some cases, water baptism is mentioned and so is Spirit baptism.
In my opinion, in those instances water baptism and Spirit baptism are subsequent to and separate from salvation.

So, I'm not sure I've answered your question as you meant it.

If you meant, "does everyone speak with tongues" when the Holy Spirit comes into their life?" my answer to that would be "no" because I believe the Holy Spirit comes in at conversion and then comes upon us in baptism after conversion.

If you meant, "does everyone speak with tongues" when they receive the Holy Ghost Baptism?" let me explain a little further.

In Acts 2, those 120 disciples (which where about one fourth of the total group of believers at that time according to 1 Corinthians 15:6) received a baptism in the Spirit or a filling with the Spirit and it is recorded that they spoke with tongues.
In Acts 4:8 it says that Peter was filled with the Spirit but there is no mention of speaking with tongues.
In Acts 4:31 Peter and others prayed and it is recorded that they were filled with the Spirit but there is no mention of speaking with tongues.

In Acts 8:5-26, which probably happened in the winter of AD 31/32 Philip went to Samaria and preached Christ.
People heard, believed and were baptized in water. In my opinion they were saved.
However, they had not received an experience spoken of as:
"receiving the Holy Ghost" (verses 15 and 17 and 19)
the Spirit falling upon them (verse 16)
the Holy Ghost being given (verse 18)
In my opinion, this shows a difference between being saved or born again and having the Spirit dwelling within and a subsequent experience called several things but what I would also call the Holy Ghost Baptism.
There is no mention of speaking with tongues here but something happened when hands were placed upon them and the Sprit came upon them because Simon the sorcerer wanted to buy the ability to lay hands on people and minister the Spirit Baptism.
He had seen healings and miracles and great joy but something else happened when they were filled with the Spirit. It doesn't say so but I believe they spoke with tongues.
Also, when Peter said, "thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter" in verse 21, the word "matter" there is translated "utterance" in 1 Corinthians 1:5 and some say this means Simon saw and heard the Samaritans speak with tongues.

Saul the persecutor of the church had a personal encounter with Jesus on the road outside Damascus in Acts chapter 9.
The traditional date for this is January 25, AD 32.
Saul/Paul fell to the ground and cried out, "Who are you, Lord" and the Lord said, "I am Jesus" (Acts 9:5).
Paul evidently believed Him and said, "Lord, what do you want me to do?"
In my opinion, Paul was saved right then because he confessed Jesus as Lord and believed that He was risen from the dead (ref Romans 10:9-13).
Three days later, a Jewish believer came in, called him "Brother Saul" and laid hands on him so that he might be filled with the Spirit.
In my opinion, that shows a difference between being saved or born again and being filled with the Spirit or being baptized in the Spirit.
There is no mention of Paul speaking with tongues here but in a later reference (1 Corinthians 14:18 probably written in the autumn of AD 55) he said that he spoke with tongues more than the whole Corinthian Church.

In Acts chapter 10, probably AD 38) Peter went to Caesarea and preached to a Roman centurion and some people that he had gathered together.
While he preached his sermon he was interrupted by those people speaking with tongues (verse 46).
In verse 45 this is called the Holy Ghost being poured out. In verse 47 it is called receiving the Holy Ghost. In 11:15 it is called the Spirit falling upon them; in 11:16 it is referred to as being baptized in the Spirit; and in 11:17 it is called a gift.
In my opinion, those people heard Peter preach, believed what he said (and were saved), began to rejoice and began to speak with tongues (were baptized in the Spirit.)

In Acts 19:1-7 (probably October AD 53) in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul found some disciples and asked them about their experience with the Holy Spirit.
There were about 12 of them and they did not know about the death, burial, and Jesus.
Paul explained the Gospel, they evidently believed because it is recorded that they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
In my opinion, they were saved when they believed the Gospel presented by Paul and they were subsequently baptized in water and baptized in the Spirit.

Since these experiences: Jews in Acts 2; Samaritans in Acts 8; Gentiles in Acts 10; and Baptists in Acts 19 are all records of people receiving an experience called a filling with the Holy Ghost or a baptism in the Holy Ghost or other terms, and it is either recorded or implied that they spoke with tongues, some have come to the conclusion that all who are filled with the Holy Spirit or all who are baptized in the Holy Spirit will have the same tongues speaking experience. Others do not believe that we can draw that same conclusion form these examples.

I know this has become quite lengthy. I hope I didn't make many spelling or grammatical errors or give wrong Bible references.
I am not trying to argue or convince you of any specific doctrine. I know good Christians who do not agree on this.
I hope I have answered your question.

Briefly stated, what I believe is this.
1. There is a salvation/born again experience that happens when a person believes in Jesus and asks Him into their life. When this happens, Jesus does come in to dwell in us. This could be called receiving the Spirit.
2. There is a separate experience called a baptism in the Holy Ghost and when that happens, ordinarily we would expect the person who receives that experience to speak with tongues. This experience could also be called receiving the Spirit. We just receive Him (or make room for Him in our lives) in a different way or in another experience or work of the Spirit.

Do I believe that a person can have the Holy Ghost living in him or her if that person has never spoken with tongues?
Yes. I believe there are innumerable Christians who have Jesus in their hearts who have never spoken with tongues. Some don't believe that speaking with tongues is a valid experience for us today.
I also know many Christians who speak with tongues. I personally speak with tongues just about every day.
I do not believe Christians who have spoken with tongues are any better than those who have not. They have just received a promised experience that other Christians have not.