Baptism in The Holy Spirit

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Table of Contents

Title
Copyright
Core
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Note to Reader
References
Other Books
Baptism in the Holy Spirit

RANDY CLARK
Baptism in the Holy Spirit Kindle © Copyright 2011 Randy
Clark All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-937467-14-2
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from
HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright
© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by
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Global Awakening
Core Message Series

It is our desire to bring the messages of the Kingdom to the


people of God. We have taken what we consider to be core
messages from Randy Clark’s sermons and schools and printed
some of them in booklet form. We hope this teaching increases
your understanding of God’s purposes for the times we are in
and that you find yourself encouraged in your faith. Other core
messages are available and they are listed at the end of this
booklet.
Introduction
In the book of Joel, the prophet declares that a time will come
when the Spirit will be poured out on all flesh (2:28-32).
Hundreds of years later, Peter interprets the events of that first
Pentecost as being the initiation of the fulfillment of that
prophecy (Acts 2:14-21). And from that day forward, the
church is now moving in a new dimension, empowered by the
Spirit, having received the “promise of the Father”. This
experience of receiving empowering grace from God Himself,
instead of being a powerful unifying factor bringing the church
together as one family, has unfortunately at times been a
source of division and strife, separating believers from their
God intended destiny. The enemy has crept into the camp and
caused many to think that various passages they read in Acts
must be normative practice for the church, focusing on
individual texts to prove their point, instead of seeing the
overall picture of the Father’s heart.
Rather than focusing on single passages as a framework, we
should look at all the various ways in which Holy Spirit
expressed Himself to the early church and see that God is very
interested in bringing people into His family, using different
experiences and forms to touch people with His love and grace.
He doesn’t seem interested in a particular order in which
people experience them, just that they encounter His saving
power and realize the fullness of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
In this booklet, Randy re-examines some of the controversy
surrounding this important truth and teaches refreshing
insights to help us have a more loving unifying perspective.
God is committed to bringing down the walls that have
separated us, both denominationally and individually. Sharing
his understanding of these important biblical truths Randy
reveals his heart for people to be equipped with understanding
and with love that the Kingdom of God might bring
transformation to people, churches and communities, that earth
might become more like heaven, just as Jesus taught us to pray.
It is our prayer Lord for more of your Spirit to be poured out on
us and through us to others, that your Name will be lifted up!
Chapter 1
Varying Views of the Baptism

There probably is no other experience within Christianity that


has been more controversial than the subject of baptism in the
Holy Spirit. At the same time, there is no other experience more
important for a Christian than baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Christians have disagreed and been divided over when the
baptism in the Holy Spirit takes place, what the initial evidence
of the baptism is, and the process one goes through in
receiving the experience of the baptism. I believe the Western
mindset, which seems to need to systematize its doctrine, is
part of the cause of this division. We like our doctrinal
expressions to be neat and tidy, logical and consistent. We
want to box God into our own doctrinal interpretation of the
Bible. Therein lies the root of the problem with this division;
God is greater than our doctrinal systems. Regardless of
whether that system is Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical-
Reformed, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Holiness, Pentecostal,
or Restoration Movement.
The above groups divide into four doctrinal systems in regard
to the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Infant Baptism
The Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal and Lutheran
group believes one is baptized in the Holy Spirit at the time of
infant baptism and that there is a renewed filling, or a stirring
up of the gift of the Holy Spirit, which one receives at
Confirmation.

At Conversion
The Evangelical, Reformed, Baptist, and Modern Methodist
group believes one is baptized in the Holy Spirit at the time of
conversion and there can be many subsequent fillings of the
Holy Spirit.

Second Work of Grace


The third group, the Holiness groups like Church of God
(Anderson), Nazarene, and others, believes that when one is
born again of the Spirit, at that time they are indwelt and sealed
by the Spirit. However, there is a “second definite work of
grace” of the Holy Spirit, usually called “sanctification”, which
perfects one in love, gives victory over the carnal nature, and
empowers the Christian.

Subsequent to Conversion
The fourth group (i.e., Pentecostals) has two subgroups. Both,
however, see the baptism in the Holy Spirit as subsequent to
conversion. They believe conversion is when one is born
again, indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit. The baptism in the
Holy Spirit must be sought and is subsequent to conversion.
According to this fourth group it is not a simultaneous
experience.
As mentioned, the Pentecostals basically divide into two
subgroups. The first of the subgroups, with a holiness
background, sees three stages in the Christian experience: (1)
conversion, (2) sanctification, and (3) baptism in the Holy
Spirit. The second subgroup, with a more Baptist background,
has a two-stage view: (1) conversion, and (2) baptism in the
Holy Spirit. Sanctification is seen as progressive. The
Assemblies of God and the Apostolic Church are in this group
(Bruner 1970, 92, 323-341).
When we come to the subject of the “initial evidence” of the
baptism in the Holy Spirit, the Pentecostals, most Protestant
Charismatics, and some Roman Catholic Charismatics say that
“speaking in tongues” is the initial evidence of the baptism.
Evangelical Christian denominations tend to emphasize the
fruit of the Spirit, especially faith, hope, and love, as the
evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The third group, the
Holiness group, emphasizes the evidence of the “second
definite work of grace” as being perfected in love, giving power
to always resist temptation, and increased power to serve God
and man.
As I consider the teaching pertaining to the baptism in the
Holy Spirit, I shall not discuss at length the
Catholic/Sacramental understanding of the baptism in the Holy
Spirit. Neither shall I consider at length the Holiness
understanding. My emphasis will be to carefully consider the
difference between the Evangelical perspective and the
classical Pentecostal and most Protestant Charismatics’
perspective.
It is my position that there is truth in each of these camps, but
that each has tried to fit the witness of Scripture into its
particular system. An additional position will be presented
which is what I, and a growing number of other pastors, have
come to believe better reflects the witness of Scripture. Some
people call the position “Third Wave Theology”, but, there is
even diversity of opinion within this camp.
Finally, there are a growing number of people who hail from
non-Charismatic, conservative Evangelical backgrounds but
who have adopted certain classical Pentecostal practices such
as healing the sick, casting out demons, and receiving
prophetic revelations. Many of these people believe that the
so-called baptism in the Holy Spirit happens at conversion and
is not a second work of grace subsequent to the new birth.
They also believe that tongues is simply one of many spiritual
gifts and not the only evidence of a particular spiritual
experience. Many of these people still see themselves as
conservative Evangelicals, theologically and culturally, and
have sought to relate their experiences of the Holy Spirit’s
power to conservative Evangelical beliefs (Nathan and Wilson
1995, 11).
Chapter 2
Definitions of the Baptism

An Evangelical Definition
My former professor at The Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary, Dr. Lewis Drummond, gives the following definition
of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This definition is an extremely
good representation of the Evangelical position, especially that
of the Southern Baptists:
This truth was first referred to by John the Baptist
(Mt. 3:11). Then it was confirmed by our Lord (Acts
1:4-5) with reference to the initial enduement of the
Spirit at Pentecost. Basically, it is the receiving of the
Spirit by the believer (Acts 2:38; 1 Corinthians 12:13).
It is analogous to “being made to drink into the one
Spirit.” It is thus experienced by all true believers. It
is also the act and experience whereby the believer is
united with Christ and incorporated into the Body of
Christ (1 Cor. 12:12; Gal. 3:27-28). Further, it involves
reception of power, since the Spirit is the powerful
presence of God in us (Acts 1:5, 8). It occurs at
conversion to all believers (Drummond 1975, 78)
(Emphasis mine).

A Pentecostal Definition
The following quotation is from the “Statement of Fundamental
Truths” of the Assemblies of God, with which most Protestant
and some Catholic Charismatics would agree:
All believers are entitled to and should ardently
expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father,
the Baptism in the Holy Ghost and fire, according to
the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the
normal experience of all in the early Christian Church.
With it comes the enduement of power for life and
service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in
the work of the ministry (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4, 8; 1
Corinthians 12:1-31.) This experience is distinct from
and subsequent to the experience of the new birth
(Acts 8:12-17; 10:44-46; 11:14-16; 15:7-9). With the
Baptism in the Holy Ghost come such experiences as
an overflowing fullness of the Spirit (John 7:37-39;
Acts 4:8), a deepened reverence for God (Acts 2:43,
Heb. 12:28), an intensified consecration to God and
dedication to His work (Acts 2:42), and a more active
love for Christ, His word, and the lost (Mk. 16:20)
(Emphasis mine).
Chapter 3
The Evidence of the Baptism

The baptism of believers in the Holy Ghost [in the


Upper Room, on the day of Pentecost] is witnessed
by the initial physical sign of speaking with other
tongues as the Spirit of God gives them utterance
(Acts 2:42). The speaking in tongues in this instance
is the same in essence as the gift of tongues (1 Cor.
12:4-10, 28), but different in purpose and use
(Menzies 1980, 388) (Emphasis mine).
Some Protestant Charismatics and most Roman Catholic
Charismatics would not regard tongues as the initial evidence,
but rather an evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I
personally believe it is possible to experience the phenomenon
of tongues without being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Among
this group, the baptism may occur simultaneously with
conversion or subsequent to conversion, depending upon the
individual’s expectancy and other criteria.
An important leader in the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal
Leon Joseph Suenens, teaches that the baptism in the Holy
Spirit occurs at water baptism and is renewed at confirmation.
(For Catholic theology, the experience of
regeneration/conversion occurs at infant baptism.) He writes in
his book, A New Pentecost?:
Thus what many Catholics need to do is to realize
that, for us, as well as the majority of Christian
Churches, there is not a duality of baptisms, one in
water and one in the Spirit. We believe there is but
one baptism. Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a sort
of super-baptism, or a supplement to sacramental
baptism which would then become the pivot of the
Christian life….Our one and only baptism is at the
same time both paschal and Pentecostal. To avoid
from now on all ambiguity, it would be better not to
speak of “baptism in the Holy Spirit” but to look for
another expression….Different expressions are being
used to define this experience of baptism in the Spirit:
the grace of actualizing gifts already received, a
release of the Spirit, a manifestation of baptism, a
coming to life of the gift of the Spirit received at
Confirmation, profound receptivity or docility to the
Holy Spirit (Suenens 1975, 80-81).

Consideration of the Scriptures That Form


the Basis of the Pentecostal Position
Acts 2:1-13 Pentecost
Acts 8:12-17 Samaria
Acts 9:1-19/ 22:16 Paul
Acts 10:44-46/11:14-16 Cornelius
Acts 19:1-9 Ephesian disciples
The above Scriptures are the primary ones used by
Pentecostals in developing their view of the baptism in the
Holy Spirit as an experience subsequent to conversion. They
basically see all the personalities involved in the respective
passages as already regenerated by the Holy Spirit, having
entered into the New Covenant experience of the new birth.
The Evangelical understanding is that the above passages are
descriptive of the new birth; which is the entry into the New
Covenant at the time of Christian conversion. Simultaneously
receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit at conversion is
understood to be the New Testament pattern. The Evangelical
belief is the baptism in the Holy Spirit is an experience
simultaneous with being born again.
While I was a student at the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, I met a graduate student,
Larry Hart, working on his Ph.D. dissertation. His enthusiasm,
love, joy, and Christian spirit really impressed me. We had
several conversations while I was writing a term paper on the
subject of the Charismatic Movement, and he was writing his
Ph.D. dissertation on “A Critique of American Pentecostal
Theology.”
Larry, who is a Southern Baptist, shared with me that when he
came to Southern Seminary he argued for the baptism in the
Holy Spirit as a subsequent experience to conversion, just as
any Assembly of God minister would do. He had received his
BA degree in Psychology from Oral Roberts University, he later
became Chaplain there and served as Associate Professor in
the Religious Department at the University.
I was surprised when he stated he no longer believed the
baptism in the Holy Spirit to be subsequent to conversion.
Neither did he believe that tongues was the initial evidence of
the baptism in the Holy Spirit even though he did have the gift
of tongues. I asked him what changed his mind and he said,
“The Bible.” I asked what changed his mind about how he had
been interpreting the Bible, and his answer was that he had
read the book entitled “Baptism in the Holy Spirit by James
D.G. Dunn.” He came to his conclusions because he had been
unable to refute Dr. Dunn’s exposition of Scripture. I believe Dr.
Dunn’s book is still one of the most important books on this
subject. It is a meticulous exegesis of all the biblical passages
in the New Testament on this subject, and has also convinced
me that the Pentecostal position demands that some Scriptures
be given a meaning other than what appears to be the plain
meaning of the context.
However, Howard Irwin’s book Conversion-Initiation and the
Baptism in the Holy Spirit, which was written to refute Dunn’s
book, has also convinced me that the Evangelical position
demands that some Scriptures be given a meaning other than
what appears to be the plain meaning of the context. This has
brought me to the position that God is a God of diversity who
does not have to fit his work into either the Pentecostal or the
Evangelical position. He sometimes baptizes in the Holy Spirit
at conversion, and at other times baptizes in the Holy Spirit
subsequent to conversion. Sometimes tongues accompany this
baptism and sometimes does not. I will now look at these
Scriptures in more detail.

Acts 2:1-13
These verses describe the disciples’ experience in the upper
room. They were saints of God who were saved by faith, just as
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and other justified believers in
the Old Testament. However, they were unique because they
lived in the interim time of the ministry of Jesus. The Holy Spirit
was prominent in preparation for Jesus’ ministry and upon
those who shared in his ministry, but, like John the Baptist,
they were still under the Old Covenant. The full experience of
the Holy Spirit in an abiding manner was not possible until the
New Covenant was established. This did not occur until the
Day of Pentecost. Since today we do not live our lives in two
dispensations or, in other words, under two covenants, the 120
disciples’ experience cannot be the model for our Christian
experience.
However, what are we to make of the eleven disciples who had
received the Holy Spirit on the night of the first resurrection
recorded in John 20:22? One cannot argue that Pentecost was
their reception of the Spirit. For these eleven, the experience
was subsequent. However, for the remainder of the 120, it
appears to have been simultaneous with the regenerating work
of the Spirit.

Acts 8:12-17
Acts 8:12 tells us that when the Samaritans “believed Philip as
he preached the good news of the Kingdom of God and the
name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and
women.” I want you to note they believed and were baptized.
Acts 8:14-17 tells us that the Apostles at Jerusalem sent Peter
and John to Samaria when they heard that the Samaritans had
“received the word of God.” Peter and John “prayed for them
that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for it had not yet fallen
on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they
received the Holy Spirit” (vv. 15-17).
On the surface this passage does seem to teach, at least the
possibility of, the baptism in the Holy Spirit being subsequent
to conversion, but questions still remain. Was this experience,
at the hands of the Apostles, their baptism in the Spirit
subsequent to conversion or was it their genuine conversion
with its correspondent simultaneous baptism in the Holy
Spirit?
Dr. James D.G. Dunn believes the latter. He believes Luke
means for us to understand that the Samaritans’ faith was
defective. He gives us two reasons for believing so. First, Luke
does not use the usual Greek word for “believe” in reference to
the Samaritans. Rather, he uses a different Greek word that
means “to believe” (intellectual assent), which is head
knowledge. It also means to agree intellectually with what has
been said. Hence, intellectual assent to propositional truth is a
defective belief because it does not involve the full
commitment of the person. Secondly, Dunn believes that Luke
intends to use Simon as a model for the Samaritans. Since
Simon’s faith was defective, so was the Samaritans’. (I find it
interesting that this argument of Simon being a model
indicating that the Samaritans’ faith was defective is later not
applied to Apollos and the Ephesian disciples. Consistency
would demand that this model idea would prove the Ephesian
disciples were really already Christian disciples like Apollos.
Dunn, however, is not consistent in applying his arguments
when they do not fit his system.)
Michael Green has noted that the word Luke used for “believe”
is used for the saving kind of belief in other biblical passages
and thus finds Dunn’s argument weak. I, too, believe this is the
weakest point in Dunn’s book. Here, the Pentecostal
perspective of subsequence is the most natural meaning of the
text in its context.
I believe God, in His sovereignty, withheld the Holy Spirit in
order to await the arrival of the Apostles from Jerusalem, in
order that they might see first hand God’s acceptance of non-
Jews into the infant Church. This was the purpose of visible
manifestations of the Holy Spirit, especially tongues, in the
early days of the Church. It was a visible sign of God’s
breaking down prejudicial barriers and accepting all men and
women into the church on the basis of repentance and faith
alone. Though tongues were not specifically mentioned in this
passage, some visible manifestation was present. The Bible
explicitly says that “when Simon saw that the Spirit was
given….” Some possible manifestations, which Simon might
have witnessed are shaking, trembling, and being slain in the
Spirit (cf., 8:18). I personally believe that if tongues were the
primary manifestation, Luke would have stated so in the writing
of the Book of Acts.

Acts 9:1-19; 22:16


Let us now consider the conversion of Saul of Tarsus who
would later become the Apostle Paul. Pentecostals and many
imprecise Evangelicals consider the experience of Saul on the
Damascus Road to have been his conversion. But, this does
not bear up under Scripture. Paul tells us in Acts 22:16 that
after the Damascus Road experience, even after Ananias was
used to heal his eyes, Ananis told him to “rise and be baptized,
and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” In 9:17,
Ananias tells Paul that God had sent him to Paul in order that
Paul may regain his sight and be “filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Verse 18a tells us that “immediately something like scales fell
from his eyes and he was baptized.” Paul never tells us exactly
when he was filled with the Holy Spirit. One can only
conjecture. I believe, based upon Acts 2:38, that Paul probably
received the filling of the Holy Spirit at the time of his
repentance baptism, which was the New Testament means of
expressing repentance and faith. His sins were forgiven at that
time.
The main point is that Saul was not yet a Christian when
Ananias came to him, so his filling with the Holy Spirit could
have been simultaneous with his conversion as much as it
could have been subsequent to his conversion. Scripture does
not specify.
One last matter in Acts 9:5 to be considered is Saul’s question,
“Who are you, Lord?” He could not have been placing faith in
Jesus with the title “Lord” because he did not know who was
appearing to him. And further, the Greek word for Lord,
“kurios” also had the meaning of “Sir”. Saul was most likely
using this latter meaning.

Acts 10:44-46; 11:14-16


Now let us look at the story of Cornelius. Pentecostals see
Cornelius as already saved and the experience of tongues at
Peter’s preaching as his baptism in the Spirit, which was
subsequent to his time of conversion. I do not agree.
It is true Cornelius was a religious man. He was “a devout man
who feared God with all his household, gave alms liberally to
the people, and prayed constantly to God” (Acts 10:2).
Cornelius was a “God-fearer”. This title was used for those
Gentiles who embraced the moral law and worshipped the One
God of Judaism. He too, was justified by faith under the Old
Covenant. His experience, however, was not that of the new
birth under the New Covenant.
Cornelius himself, told Peter that the angel had told him to
“send to Joppa and bring Simon called Peter, he will declare to
you a message by which you will be saved ...” (Acts 11:14). This
clearly teaches that Cornelius and his household received their
conversion during Peter’s visit and his preaching to them.
Again tongues was given to verify to the Apostle Peter the
legitimacy of their conversion and acceptance by God. Another
barrier was torn down. Not only was God accepting Jews and
Samaritans, but now he was accepting Gentile God-fearers into
the Christian faith and Church.
This passage does not fit the Pentecostal system, just as the
Samaritan passage does not fit the Evangelical system. Again,
God does not fit His work into either the Pentecostal or the
Evangelical position on this subject. Rather, He is a God of
diversity that is revealed through both positions.

Acts 19:1-7
Finally, let us consider the case of the disciples at the city of
Ephesus. Again the Pentecostals find here a classic text that
seems to teach the baptism in the Holy Spirit as an experience
subsequent to conversion. They see these disciples as
Christians, but do not believe they received the “baptism in the
Holy Spirit.” This is based upon the King James Version of
Acts 19:2. It reads, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye
believed?” Dunn emphasizes that this is an inaccurate
translation, which has been corrected in the modern
translations. The proper translation reads, “Did you receive the
Holy Spirit when you believed?” When I first read Dunn’s
book, this argument convinced me, not being a Greek scholar
myself. Since that time, the New International Version has been
printed. In its footnote to Acts 19:2 it has “after” as a
possibility rather than “when.” I realize now that the modern
translations were completed since the beginning of the
Pentecostal movement. However, almost all of the translators
were not Pentecostal in their beliefs and experiences. Thus we
have a case of theology affecting translation. Either “when” or
“after” would be possibilities of reflecting the meaning of the
Greek word.
I thought it would be very interesting to see how this verse
was translated into other languages, as well as English prior to
1901. I found this so interesting that I called the library of The
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and asked them to send
me the photocopies of English translations of this passage that
would have been written prior to 1901. I received photocopies
of four of the oldest English translations. They were written in
the 1500s prior to the King James Version. All of them
translated the word as “since” rather than “when.”
Dunn believes Paul’s question, “Did you receive the Holy
Spirit when you believed?” really was a test to see if these men
were Christians or not. The Apostolic preaching as recorded in
Acts always mentioned the Holy Spirit; note Peter’s
Pentecostal sermon in the second chapter of Acts. How could
these men have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ and not
have heard of the Holy Spirit? I believe it would have been
very unlikely. Today’s preaching, however, would find this
omission of the Holy Spirit commonplace in much of the
Church.
According to Acts 19:3-5, men had been baptized by John the
Baptist but had not received Christian baptism. We know that
Luke did not reserve the word “disciple” for Christian disciples
only, for in his gospel he speaks of John the Baptist’s disciples
(Luke 7:18). Dunn believes they were the disciples of John the
Baptist. They received the Holy Spirit at the time of their
conversion, which was occasioned at the time of water baptism
and Paul’s laying on of hands. The tongues were present at the
time of conversion-initiation and not subsequent to it. It
should be taken into account that the term “conversion-
initiation” allows for the concept of subsequence from a
Pentecostal perspective because Pentecostals would not see
baptism in water as necessary for conversion though it would
certainly be a part of initiation into the local church.
It is not enough to hide behind the supposedly “correct”
translation of Scripture and precise biblical language pertaining
to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Pentecostals and Charismatics
today, like their spiritual forerunners of the Holiness Movement
and the earliest Methodists, are to be praised for their
emphasis on the experience of the Spirit.
I am presently reflecting upon my study in this area. As I do
so, I recall Roman Catholic Cardinal Leon Joseph Suenens’
language about “appropriating” the reality of our potential in
Christ. Arnold Bittlinger, a German Lutheran Charismatic
professor of Theology, believes:
Every Christian has been baptized in both [water and
spirit] or he or she is not a Christian in the full sense
of the word. In baptism one receives potentially
everything one will ever receive in Christ. But God’s
purpose in baptism must be actualized through the
appropriation of its potential in the life of the
individual Christian (Culpepper 1977, 59).
And again, from the non-Charismatic Southern Baptist
professor, Dr. Robert Culpepper:
It is better to speak incorrectly of a second blessing
or a second Pentecost and lay hold of the reality of
new life in Christ than to let the soundness of our
doctrine rob us of its substance (Culpepper 1977, 72).
One of the great New Testament scholars of our day, Gordon
Fee, has a wonderful chapter on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit
in his book entitled Gospel and Spirit: Issues in New
Testament Hermeneutics. Chapter 7, “Baptism in the Holy
Spirit: The Issue of Separability and Subsequence”, is very
helpful in healing the divide between Evangelicals and
Pentecostals. Dr. Fee states:
The purpose of this present essay is to open the
question of separability and subsequence once
again, and (1) to suggest that there is in fact very
little biblical support for the traditional Pentecostal
position on this matter, but (2) to argue further that
this is of little consequence to the doctrine of the
baptism in the Holy Spirit, either as to the validity of
the experience itself or its articulation.” (Fee 1991,
106-107).
He states again,
“What I hope to show in the rest of this essay is that
the Pentecostals are generally right on target
biblically as to their experience of the Spirit. Their
difficulties arose from the attempt to defend it
biblically at the wrong point (Fee 1991, 108).
I find myself in total agreement with the position of Dr. Fee
when he writes:
In thus arguing, as a New Testament scholar, against
some cherished Pentecostal interpretations, I have in
no sense abandoned what is essential to
Pentecostalism. I have only tried to point out some
inherent flaws in some of our historic understanding
of the texts. The essential matter, after all, is neither
subsequence nor tongues, but the Spirit himself as a
dynamic, empowering presence; and there seems to
me to be little question that our way of initiation into
that -- through an experience of Spirit baptism -- has
biblical validity. Whether all must go that route seems
to me to be more moot; but in any case, the
Pentecostal experience itself can be defended on
exegetical grounds as a thoroughly biblical
phenomenon … I think it is fair to note that if there
is one thing that differentiates the early church
from its twentieth-century counterpart it is the level
of awareness and experience of the presence and
power of the Holy Spirit. Ask any number of people
of today from all sectors of Christendom to define or
describe Christian conversion or Christian life, and
the most noticeable feature of that definition would
be its general lack of emphasis on the active,
dynamic role of the Spirit.
It is precisely the opposite in the New Testament. The
Spirit is no mere addendum. Indeed, he is the sine
qua non, the essential ingredient, of Christian life.
Nor is he a mere datum of theology; rather, he is
experienced as a powerful presence in their lives (Fee
1991, 110-111) (Italic emphasis Fee’s, bold emphasis
mine).
Dr. Fee sets out to indicate (by looking at the biblical texts to
see reception of the Spirit as something that was part and
parcel of their conversion experience) that this reception was
inclusive of receiving the Spirit accompanied with visible
manifestations of His presence.
Indeed, it was the Pentecostals’ ability to read the
New Testament existence so correctly, along with
their frustration over the less-than-adequate norm of
anemia that they experienced in their own lives and in
the church around them, that led to seeking for the
New Testament experience in the first place. The
question, of course, is, if that was the norm, what
happened to the church in the succeeding
generations? It is in pursuit of that question that an
understanding of the Pentecostal experience as
separate and subsequent lies (Fee 1991, 116).
Dr. Fee raises the questions whether or not the Pentecostal
experience must be seen as not biblical because it does not fit
the biblical pattern, or if they need to reinterpret the Bible to fit
their experience. To both these questions he answers NO! How
then are we to let the Bible speak clearly what it says, and also
validate the Pentecostals’ experience of the Spirit? He writes:
On the one hand, the typical evangelical or reformed
exegete who disallows a separate and subsequent
experience simply must hide his or her head in the
sand, ostrichlike, to deny the reality–the biblical
reality–of what has happened to so many Christians.
On the other hand, the Pentecostal must be wary of
reforming the biblical data to fit his or her own
experience. The solution, it seems to me, lies in two
areas: (1) An examination of the components of
Christian conversion as they emerge in the New
Testament, and (2) an analysis of what happened to
Christian experience once the church entered into a
second and third generation of believers.
Without belaboring any of the points in detail, it
seems to me that the components of Christian
conversion that emerge from the New Testament data
are five:
1. The actual conviction of sin, with the consequent
drawing of the individual to Christ. This, all agree, is
the prior work of the Holy Spirit that leads to
conversion.
2. The application of the atonement in the person’s
life, including the forgiveness of the past, the
canceling of the debt of sin. I would tend to put
repentance here as a part of the response to the prior
grace of God, which is also effected by the Spirit.
3. The regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that gives
new birth, that brings forth the new creation.
4. The empowerment for life, with openness to gifts
and the miraculous, plus obedience to mission. This
is the component that Pentecostals want to make
subsequent to numbers 1, 2, 3, and the Protestant
tradition wants to limit simply to fruit and growth, but
tends at times seemingly to omit altogether.
5. The believer’s response to all this is baptism in
water, the offering of oneself back to God for life and
service in his new age community, the church. This
act obviously carries with it the rich symbolism of
elements 2 and 3 (forgiveness and regeneration), but
in itself effects neither.
The crucial item in all of this for the early church was
the work of the Spirit; and element 4, the dynamic
empowering dimension with gifts, miracles, and
evangelism (along with fruit and growth), was normal
part of their expectation and experience. (Fee 1991,
117-118)
Fee points out that the problem is that point 4, the dynamic
reality of the Spirit became lost in the subsequent history of
the church. A condition arose which was very different from
the experiences of the New Testament believers.
Christian life came to consist of conversion without
empowering, baptism without obedience, and grace
without love. Indeed the whole Calvinist-Arminian
debate is predicated on this reality, that people can
be in the church, but evidence little or nothing of the
work of the Spirit in their lives (Fee 1991, 118).
Few would argue that this is the case, but how did this
situation develop?
There are two main reasons for this development. The first is
that the New Testament was written to first generation
Christians who were baptized as adults, thus the issue of
second and third generations wasn’t addressed. The
conversions for the succeeding generations of those who grew
up in Christian homes would not be so dramatic or life
changing. The dynamic experiential nature of the conversion
experience would be the first to go. (Fee 1991, 118)
The second reason, and most devastating, was the connection
between water baptism and the reception of the Spirit. With the
eventual acceptance of the practice of infant baptism the
dynamic experiential nature of conversion was lost. This would
prove to be the case for most of Christian history, but it was
not the situation in the Bible. All the pietistic movements since
the Montanists to the Toronto Blessing must be understood as
a reaction to the sub-normal life of the Christians in the church
in comparison to the life in the Spirit that is depicted in the
Bible (Fee 1991, 119).
It is precisely out of such a background that one is to
understand the Pentecostal movement with its deep
dissatisfaction with life in Christ without life in the
Spirit and their subsequent experience of a mighty
baptism in the Spirit. If their timing was off as far as
the biblical norm was concerned, their experience
itself was not. What they were recapturing for the
church was the empowering dimension of life in the
Spirit as the normal Christian life.
That this experience was for them usually a separate
experience in the Holy Spirit and subsequent to their
conversion is in itself probably irrelevant. Given their
place in the history of the church, how else might it
have happened? Thus the Pentecostal should
probably not make a virtue out of necessity. At the
same time, neither should others deny the validity of
such experience on biblical grounds, unless, as some
do, they wish to deny the reality of such an
empowering dimension of life in the Spirit altogether.
But such a denial, I would argue, is actually an
exegeting not of the biblical texts but of one’s own
experience in this later point in church history and a
making of that experience normative. I for one like
the biblical norm better; at this point the Pentecostals
have the New Testament clearly on their side (Fee
1991, 119) (Italic emphasis Fee’s, bold emphasis
mine).
The above quotes can be summarized as follows; the
Pentecostals view of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit to be the
evidence of speaking in tongues at a subsequent experience to
their conversion, is based upon weak biblical support. The
Evangelicals have done an even greater injustice to the biblical
text by almost totally missing the nature of Christian life as a
life of vibrant, dynamic, supernatural life in the Holy Spirit. The
necessity for a subsequent experience is the Spirit is not
necessitated by biblical texts but rather their place in Christian
history, because for many people their baptism in the Spirt was
subsequent.
I believe Evangelicals owe a great debt to the Pentecostals.
They, along with the Charismatic Movement that followed later,
have been virtually alone in emphasizing that the charismata,
grace gifts, are still the birthright of the Church. They rejected
dispensationalism’s view that the gifts of the Spirit were dying
out with either the death of the Apostles or the canonization of
the New Testament.
Today, many within the Evangelical camp are listening to their
brother Pentecostals and Charismatics brothers. We cannot
deny the genuine accounts of the “sign gifts” in operation
today. The Charismatics particularly have left the “saw-dust”
trail and have entered the graduate departments of our
universities. Much of what they say about the gifts is well
balanced and biblical. It is actually more accurate than
Evangelical interpretations of the gifts. What I am excited
about today is the possibility of Evangelicals being open to
expecting and experiencing the gifts of the Holy Spirit while not
having to identify with the Pentecostal interpretation of the
“baptism in the Holy Spirit”; nor what I believe has been a
legalistic-Pharisaic attitude within much of Pentecostalism. We
must, as God does, look at the motive behind this legalism
within Pentecostalism. I believe it is motivated by a
misunderstanding of Christ’s understanding of holiness
coupled with a deep love for Him. Therefore, let us be
temperate in our condemnation of this legalism. In reality, this
legalism seems to be passing away, and it must also be noted
that there was also legalism on the part of many Evangelical
groups at the turn of the century.
Furthermore, let us not forget the multiple examples of great
men and women of God who spoke of an experience, call it
what you may, subsequent to conversion which radically
changed their lives and made them victorious: men like John
Wesley, D.L. Moody, R. A. Torrey, and Charles Finney.
I personally sense my inadequacy in the area of ministry and
relationship to the Holy Spirit. David (Paul) Yonggi Cho and
the late John Wimber have emphasized our need to be intimate
with the Holy Spirit. Mike Bickle calls this “developing a secret
history with God.” This is the deep need of the Church today.
Chapter 4
Appropriating the Baptism

I have given much thought to the prerequisite conditions for


this spiritual experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, if
there are any conditions. It seems to me that the first possible
condition is to become aware of our personal inadequacy in
our Christian life. We must recognize our defeatedness, our
indifference, our lack of power, and lack of faith, etc. Second,
we must desire for this condition to change. By this I mean we
develop a serious desire or hunger to be victorious Christians.
Third, we must want our lives to honor God and to be used in
his service, for his glory. Then, we do not ask for a spiritual
high to make us feel good, or for an experience that can boost
our ego or spiritual pride. Rather, we are asking for power and
gifts to make us commensurate to the task before us of binding
the “Strong Man” and plundering his home. The task is that of
“breaking down the gates of hell.” For in our victory God is
glorified, honored, pleased, and we are edified. This
empowering enables our faith to express itself in love.
Billy Graham said:
I think it is a waste of time for us Christians to look
for power we do not intend to use: for might in
prayer, unless we pray; for strength to testify,
without witnessing; for power unto holiness, without
attempting to live a holy life; for grace to suffer,
unless we take up the cross; for power in service,
unless we serve. Someone has said, “God gives
dying grace only to the dying” (Graham 1978, 107).
I am excited about what I see happening in the body of Christ
right now. Since I went to Toronto Airport Vineyard and was
used to begin the meetings, I have been privileged by God’s
grace to meet key leaders of both Evangelical and Pentecostal
streams. I am discovering there is much more openness to
diversity of spiritual experiences than there was twenty years
ago. I find Pentecostals open to working with me, knowing that
I don’t believe one must speak in tongues to be baptized in the
Spirit; though I have had a prayer language since 1971 yet it
did not occasion my baptism in the Holy Spirit. At the same
time, I am finding Evangelicals who are open to working with
me knowing that I do believe in the gifts of the Spirit, and in the
baptism of the Spirit occurring both simultaneously with
conversion, and more often subsequent to conversion. I am
finding men of Evangelical stripe who admit they were baptized
in the Holy Spirit after their conversion; I am also meeting
Pentecostals who admit that they believe one could be
baptized in the Holy Spirit before receiving one’s prayer
language, at the time one received it, or after one received it.
In summary, the traditional walls are beginning to fall. Why?
Because desperation has risen in the hearts of people to
experience what the Bible speaks of in such experiential terms,
rather than being satisfied with a tidy, supposedly
theologically correct understanding of the baptism in the Spirit.
While I was attending seminary at the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, I was told by Dr.
Louis Drummond about the great Shantung Revival among the
North China Mission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Although I graduated in 1977, I had never read anything about
the Shantung Revival (the book I reprinted in 1995) twenty
years later. For several weeks I had an impression coming into
my head to get anything written about the Shantung Revival
and read it. I was captivated by this revival among Southern
Baptist missionaries in 1932. It is clear it began among the
leadership who were tired and burned out. They admitted their
need for more and discovered that some of the leaders among
them were not even truly born again. The emphasis was a
study of the Bible relating to the Holy Spirit and a baptism of
the Holy Spirit. As I read Shantung Revival I found everything
that has been happening in the Toronto Blessing, except the
animal sounds, which have been so blown out of proportion. I
write this April 18, 1996, and to the best of my knowledge there
have only been 12 times that there were animal sounds at the
Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, and only three times in
meetings which I have led. Considering there have been
meetings six nights a week since January 20, 1994, in Toronto,
and I have been in over 350 Renewal meetings, 15 occurances
is not indicative that this is one of the main things God has
been doing in this Renewal.
But, about the other things that often occur -- the shaking, the
falling, the crying, the laughing -- all of these things occurred
in the Shantung Revival. These things seem to occur
everywhere people have been seeking the fullness of the Holy
Spirit. I have found evidence of this in Protestant revivals from
all over the world, from Roman Catholic histories of revival, and
from the Bible.
Chapter 5
Summary

Let me state that I believe the Bible does not fit either the
Pentecostal or the Evangelical systems regarding the baptism
in the Holy Spirit, both are too narrow. I believe the same God
that did not make two fingerprints or two snowflakes alike did
not intend to make our experience of his Spirit to be the same
for everyone. When we look back at the passages in Acts we
find that the people were baptized in the Holy Spirit at a prayer
meeting with tongues (Acts 2) and at another prayer meeting
without tongues (Acts 4:31). Sometimes the Spirit came after
baptism with the laying on of hands, with no tongues
occurring (Acts 8). At other times, we are not told the
particulars of how or when someone was baptized with the
Spirit (Acts 9). Baptism in the Spirit can occur at the time of
conversion, before water baptism, with tongues and prophecy
accompanying it (Acts 10). Or it can also occur after water
baptism with the laying on of hands accompanied by tongues
and prophecy. There does appear to be at work here a God who
likes diversity, and I suggest we need to learn to like diversity. I
believe if we could learn to appreciate this biblical diversity, it
would enable us to appreciate the diversity within the body of
Christ, which Satan has used to divide us.
In my church we honor and welcome people who have had
experiences reflecting this New Testament diversity. We do not
try to convince them that their experience is not valid, or is not
normative. Rather, we emphasize that God is free to baptize us
and fill us with his Spirit in whatever way he so chooses. In
this manner we can find unity in the midst of diversity.
As a matter of fact my emphasis has not been so much on the
experience of being baptized in the Spirit as it has been on the
fruit of having an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. The
reason I have encouraged the people of my church not to ask
someone if they have been baptized in the Spirit is that the
answer doesn’t really tell one much. What do I mean by this?
Well, it’s like asking someone if they have had a wedding. They
may answer, “Yes,” but you don’t know anything about the
relationship. They may be living in hell in the marriage or in
marital bliss. They may have had a wedding, but are now
divorced, widowed, or separated. One does not really know
much about the relationship by asking someone if they have
had a wedding. Rather ask them about how intimate they are
with their mate and if they love him/her more today than when
they first married.
In like manner, people could have had an experience, call it
baptism in the Holy Spirit, years ago but now they are cold,
lukewarm, or backslidden, or they may be passionately in love
with God. Focus on the relationship. In this way people cannot
hide behind an experience of the past. It is not enough to have
had a baptism in the Holy Spirit; we must continue to be filled
with the Holy Spirit.
Not only does the Bible reflect diversity of experiences
pertaining to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but also the history
of the Church does. I must believe that Jesus was right when
he made the evidence of the Holy Spirit to be the reception of
power (Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8). I believe Arthur Blesset was
right when he told us we should emphasize the “red,” referring
to the words of Jesus in the Bible. When I read the history of
the Church I find men who had received power and then had a
powerful influence upon the Church and society. Some of these
people, like Francis of Assisi, Ignatius Loyola, and Mother
Teresa, were Roman Catholic; others like George Whitefield
and Billy Graham were/are Reformed; others like John Wesley,
E. Stanley Jones, and Charles Finney were Arminians; and still
others like Maria Woodworth-Etter, John G. Lake, Smith
Wigglesworth, T.L. Osborn, Oral Roberts, Omar Cabrera, Carlos
Annacondia, Claudio Freidzon, Luis Palau, and David Yonggi
Cho are Pentecostals. I cannot believe that the non-
Pentecostals mentioned above were not baptized with the Holy
Spirit because they did not speak in tongues, and that others
who have spoken in tongues, but who have had little impact
upon the Church and society have been baptized in the Spirit.
If power is a major purpose and evidence of the baptism in the
Holy Spirit, then I must acknowledge both Church history and
the Bible indicate that people can be baptized in the Holy Spirit
with diverse experiences in how they received this baptism. See
the book, Powerlines, which records the expressions of the
Spirit in many famous Evangelicals.
Billy Graham concludes his book, The Holy Spirit with this
illustration:
Over 100 years ago, two young men were talking in
Ireland. One said, “The world has yet to see what
God will do with a man fully consecrated to Him.”
The other man meditated on that thought for weeks.
It so gripped him that one day he exclaimed, “By the
Holy Spirit in me I’ll be that man.” Historians now say
that he touched two continents for Christ. His name
was Dwight L. Moody. (Graham 1978, 220)
Let us strive to be spiritual leaders of the Church, willing to pay
the price of putting His Kingdom before our own. May we
desire to have many repeated fillings of the Spirit in order that
we might be known as men and women full of the Holy Spirit.
Let us humble ourselves before God that he might lift us up.
Let us truly acknowledge our personal weakness that we might
turn from self and the flesh to Christ and the power of his
Spirit. Let us love one another as mutual leaders in his Church
and pray for each other, confess our sins to each other and
carry each other’s burdens. Let us quit fighting each other and
fight the real enemy, Satan, who accuses the brethren.
Chapter 6
Case Studies of Baptism

A personal baptism in the Holy Spirit


Randy Clark, Pastor of the Vineyard, St.
Louis, Missouri. October 27, 1989 10:45 a.m.
Last night was the most powerful experience of God’s presence
to date. It was more powerful than my conversion as far as
experiencing the manifest presence of God. (I am not talking
about the experience of grace-forgiveness at conversion). It
was more powerful than the experience I had at the 1984 James
Robison Bible Conference--an experience of great humbling,
love, and emotion. It was more powerful than the “baptism in
the Holy Spirit” which occurred in March 1984 that lasted for
13 minutes and was characterized by electrical power running
through my body. This fresh baptism was awesome because
God alone is awesome.
I am writing this down because I never did record the other
experiences, believing at the time I could never forget any of
the details. However, time and experience have proven
otherwise. I do not remember clearly the details of those
experiences with God. I do know, however, that those above
mentioned experiences, and my healing and being called to
preach, have altered the course of my life and its purpose.
They have been radical experiences producing radical changes
in my life.
I now shall try to put into words -- which cannot adequately
describe the glory of the experience -- my reflections on last
night’s meeting, and my fresh baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The meeting was the seventh session of the 1989 Regional
meeting for the Association of Vineyard Churches. I went not
really expecting some new empowering, but rather some better
understanding of the many changes the Holy Spirit was
initiating in the Vineyard movement. The six previous meetings
had been good, but I had sensed no stirring by the Holy Spirit
in regard to myself. The last meeting was Thursday night and
Todd Hunter spoke on “Obedience.” Near the end of the
message I felt the Holy Spirit beginning to affect me. Hot tears
were running down my face. They were not tears of conviction,
but tears of confirmation--of God’s nearness, and of God’s
heart for evangelism. (Todd was alluding to evangelism at this
point in his message.) At this time I had a strong impression
that of the five-fold ministry, evangelism /evangelist was what I
was called to do. I had been struggling with this issue for some
time. John Wimber had told me that he felt God had shown him
twice that there was an apostolic call upon my life. That was in
1985 and in 1986. He had told me the first time we met and he
prayed for me (January 1984), “You are a Prince in the Kingdom
of God….” and other encouraging prophetic words.
Bob Jones had told me in August of 1985 that I had a strong
“teaching anointing.” Only the day before this experience, Bob
Jones said I was anointed in revelatory gifts-prophecy, in
evangelism, and in pastoring. However, I felt like all this was
too vague.
While I was sitting, listening to Todd, with tears running down
my face, I had the strong impression: “You’re for evangelism—
you have always loved leading people to the Lord and
preaching evangelistically.” I thought, “ I will go forward
during ministry time and ask God to confirm this call to
evangelism, or anointing for evangelism.” I thought somebody
would speak prophetically to me as confirmation. The
invitation was for those pastors who sensed emptiness in
ministry, a lack of power and anointing, and who realized a lack
of power in praying for the sick. When I went forward, Happy
Leman came and prayed for me. I do not remember exactly what
he said, but he said nothing about evangelism. Another person
came to pray for me; I do not know who she was. Both times I
sensed a low-grade anointing of the Holy Spirit, but nothing
really powerful or confirming happened.
I then felt impressed to have Steve Nicholson pray for me. I
had prayed for him in August of 1985 and there was a
prophetic insight to pray for “all the gifts commensurate to the
office of an apostle.” God came, and Steve was consumed by
the Holy Spirit. Now I felt he should pray for me. So, I asked
him to pray for me and he did. He prayed for the restoration of
vision and faith in me, and for the restoration of expectancy
and power like I had known in ‘85 after a long fast. He prayed
for God’s purposes to be renewed in me. He said, “You thought
you could just pastor one congregation in St. Louis, but God
has more in mind,” and other things which I do not remember.
The anointing of God resting on me grew more powerful and it
became difficult to keep standing. The power in my hands,
especially the right hand, intensified to about a 6 on a scale of
0 to 10, with 0 equal to no witness and 10 equal to painful
witness of power or electricity. My hands were shaking from
the electricity. However, Steve said nothing about
“evangelism” to me. After he finished praying I kept standing
at the altar area because I still felt God’s presence and power
resting on me. About ten minutes later the benediction was
given but I had resolved not to open my eyes or move from
where I was standing as long as I felt God’s presence on my
physical body. Finally the witness became so weak that I
opened my eyes, and turned around to prepare to leave.
A very brief period of time passed when Ron Allen, the Area
Pastoral Coordinator in Indiana came up to me. He asked where
DeAnne was and how my son was doing. I answered Josh was
fine. Then he said, “The enemy has tried to take your son, but
he did not succeed. Joshua and you will stand hand in hand
before the nations.” I was still so dazed that I made what I now
know was an inadequate response. I just smiled and said,
“That’s good.”
Ron left and I sat down to write what he had just told me.
When I did, the reality of what he said hit me and I began to
weep. I knew Ron was especially gifted in evangelism. I
thought, “I’ll tell him what I believed God had impressed upon
me about being for evangelism.” I was thinking that, like
Timothy, I would be connected with a local church as a pastor
and primarily be engaged as an evangelist within the pastoral
role.
I went up to Ron and told him all of this. He did the Bob Jones
“thing” of hand to hand, and said he felt the witness of the
middle finger--representing evangelism. He felt that what I was
sensing was true. I did not put much confidence in the hand to
hand “thing” of Bob Jones, so this did not convince me. Ron
then asked me if he could pray for me. I believe what happened
this time in prayer was God’s confirmation of His earlier
impression. When Ron began to pray, immediately there was a
witness of strong anointing on Ron. The hand he put on my
chest was shaking and I could feel electricity going from his
hand into my chest -- about a 3 on the scale. My right hand
began to feel electricity, which caused it to twitch and then
shake. As he continued to pray, I began to feel electricity in my
left hand, but without the twitching or shaking. It was
“buzzing.”
I was standing there with my eyes closed and overheard Ron
tell someone to blow on my heart. When the person did I was
“slain in the Spirit.” It was as if I had been pushed down, but
nobody pushed me in the slightest way. Right before this
happened, the power in my hands had reached a 7. When I fell
to the floor everything intensified and I was now really affected
emotionally, not just crying but weeping loudly and
uncontrollably. I felt what I believe was God’s heart and His
love for me. I was praying quietly, “Thank You God, Thank You
God,” and was repenting for having lost vision, expectancy,
power, and love for Him and His purposes. I was overwhelmed
by the sovereignty of the event and its intensity. Then the
power began to get stronger and I felt it intensify from 7 to 9 in
both hands, and it was now becoming uncomfortable and even
painful. I remember crying, “Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!” As the
power continued to intensify, I remember responding with
groans and ouches. My hands had become contorted, my
fingers extended out with the first joints from the fingertips
pointed downward and the middle joints locked. I could not
unlock my fingers’ positions. I was shaking my hands due to
the discomfort in them. Then my fingers began to be drawn
down toward the palms. The index fingers felt separated and
pulled towards the thumbs and there was considerable
discomfort in my hands. Simultaneously, my face felt like
electrical power was coursing through it, almost like some lace
fabric that had been energized was laid on my face. It was as if
an electrical mask had been applied to my face and was not
only drawing electricity as it was drying, but was also emitting
electricity. There was a weight upon my chest that felt like my
chest was in an electric vise grip.
Then, I felt my arms being pulled above my head and my body
being stretched. The current became so strong in my hands
that I lost all feeling of my hands above the wrists. I had
electricity running through my body and I felt as if I was lying
on my side with my feet cramping. (The sensations seemed to
intensify when Ron would pray things pertaining to
evangelism.)
Finally, all the intense electricy gradually began leaving and
normal sensations returned to my hands. My rapid breathing
started slowing down. I had been blowing, like a woman in
labor who was using the Lamaze method. The heat, which I
experienced, that had caused sweat to run down my face, also
left.
I was aware of everything happening to me and around me. I
felt very weak, almost dazed. I know I had been a sobbing
spectacle to the crowd, but I could not help it. Through the
whole experience there had been no fear, but rather an
awesome sense of the power, glory, and love of God. (If I had
never heard or seen similar experiences I probably would have
been very frightened by it.) In the natural, this would have
been a most humiliating experience, but in the Spirit it had been
encouraging and intimate. What C. S. Lewis wrote is true.
Lewis said of the lion that is the Christ figure in his Chronicles
of Narnia, “Aslan is not a tame lion.”
Finally, I got the courage to open my eyes. Robert Stovall and
someone else helped me off the floor. I was weak and
somewhat drunk (i.e., staggering and disoriented). After a
couple of minutes I could walk without help. I had to hold my
hands up because if I let them down to my side they would
“buzz” (feelings of electricity) so strongly that it was very
uncomfortable.
What did all this mean? Was it the confirmation I was looking
for? Were the prophecies really of God? I do not know what it
all means, yet I am grateful for the experience. I do believe it
was God’s confirmation for giving myself to evangelism in my
church and beyond.
The above was written the morning after the experience. Weeks
later I realized I had experienced a deliverance during this
experience. It has been eleven years now (Dec. 2000) and I
have continued to walk in victory (over a specific sin) that,
prior to this experience, seldom lasted eleven weeks.

Steve Stewart - Pastor of Cambridge


Vineyard, Ontario, Canada - March 16, 1994
On Monday, Jan. 24th, in response to an invitation by John
Arnott, I attended one of the meetings led by Randy Clark.
Although I saw a number of people obviously impacted by the
Holy Spirit (i.e., laughing, crying, falling, shaking, etc.), I felt
very much an observer throughout the evening and did not go
forward to receive prayer myself. A week later John Arnott
again urged me to come attend another one of the meetings,
and so on Tues. Feb. 1st I did so, accompanied by all of our
pastoral staff. During the worship three of my children went up
to the front to be with John and Carol Arnott and the Spirit of
God fell upon the two youngest. John and Carol beckoned my
wife and me to the front where we found two of our children on
the floor laughing and seemingly unable to get up while
another of my sons prayed over both of them. A few minutes
later, Randy invited all of the pastors and their wives to receive
prayer in an adjoining meeting room. My wife and I gathered
along with our staff and approximately 50 other people. When I
was prayed for, I felt the presence of the Lord come and rest
upon me, albeit somewhat gently, and I rather quietly slumped
to the ground. A few minutes later I got up and to my surprise
discovered almost all of our staff stretched out on the floor. As
I stood there looking at them, John Arnott came over and,
aware that he had a very sore throat, I offered to pray for him.
Almost as soon as I laid my hands on him and began to pray,
the power of God hit both of us and we both fell almost
violently to the ground. Observers later said we looked like two
bowling pins flying through the air. As soon as I hit the ground
the power of God fell upon me in a way I’ve never known
before and I began to laugh loudly and uncontrollably. This
continued for several minutes, and then I found myself
beginning to weep and feel extremely powerful muscle
contractions around my middle. Frankly, it felt like what I
imagine birth pains to be. For the next couple of hours I
laughed and cried. I was also aware that I was having a great
deal of trouble speaking. I stammered almost uncontrollably
and often I would ‘lock up’ on a single word. I also began to
fall over again and again. Almost invariably, once I felt that I
was under control and could get up and walk, as soon as I tried
to take some steps I would fall over again. This probably
happened somewhere between twelve and twenty times. After
some time I began to pray for other pastors and leaders, and
the power of God fell on many of them. Around 1:00 a.m. some
of the staff helped me out of the building and into our van.
Needless to say, someone else drove!
This began what has been a most remarkable journey for me.
Over the past six weeks the power of God has not only fallen
on me again and again, often without any warning whatsoever,
and often not even in the context of any meeting, but as well, I
have prayed for hundreds and hundreds of people and seen
the Holy Spirit fall upon a very high percentage of them. I have
just returned from Russia where, without me telling them
anything about what has been going on in our own church,
when I prayed for people, manifestations took place in Russia
identical to those which took place here. People in Russia fell
over, shook, laughed, and cried. There has been a significant
amount of demonic manifestation as well. An interesting aspect
of this though, is that the demonic spirits leave almost
immediately upon being addressed. We have been holding
meetings for many weeks now in the Cambridge Vineyard, and
have seen countless hundreds touched by God.
John 15:26 and 1 John 5:7 both state that the Holy Spirit
testifies to Jesus Christ. I would say that one of the most
significant results of this move of God has been that we have
experienced the common testimony of many that the presence
and person of Jesus Christ have become so much more real.
We certainly have seen more people come to Christ in the last
six weeks than at any other six-week period in our history. This
renewal has touched our small groups, children’s ministry,
Junior High teens and young adults’ ministry. As a church we
find ourselves crying out simultaneously, “Thank you Lord”
and “Give us more God, for we are not satisfied.”

Robert Martin - Christian Missionary


Alliance Pastor
I am a pastor in the Christian and Missionary Alliance and
have a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary. I mention the Ph.D. simply to
emphasize that the experiences, which are recounted below,
and other of my experiences of the last two years have been
carefully thought through biblically, theologically, and
historically. The work of the Holy Spirit in my life has been a
developing, progressive experience with several specific crisis
points. Gordon Fee, the respected Pentecostal New Testament
scholar, has written a book entitled God’s Empowering
Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul. In speaking of
the debate over whether there is an experience subsequent to
conversion called “baptism in the Holy Spirit,” Fee writes that
“perhaps too much is made on both sides of single
experiences. For Paul life in the Spirit begins at conversion; at
the same time that experience is both dynamic and renewable”
(Fee 1994, 864). Keeping the fact in mind that the work of the
Holy Spirit in our lives is a continuing and dynamic process, let
me briefly relate three significant experiences that I have had.
Rather than trying to distinguish any one as my “baptism in
the Holy Spirit” or my being “filled with the Spirit,” I see each
of them as examples of the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in
my life.
In April of 1994, I went to Arlington, TX, to attend a
conference on the Holy Spirit. Just preceding this conference
was a meeting of Vineyard pastors in Plano, TX, which a friend
and I also attended. Several of these pastors had recently been
to the Toronto Airport Vineyard and had been touched by the
Holy Spirit there.
I come out of a very traditional evangelical background and
had never seen anything like the falling, laughing and shaking
that I saw in these meetings. I quickly sensed, however, that
God was somehow in this. I heard of lives drastically changed
and I saw peace and joy in these people. Even though I was
somewhat apprehensive, I finally went forward for prayer. As I
was walking forward, I told the Lord that I hoped I wasn’t
being hard-hearted, but if I fell down it would have to be he
that did it. As these Vineyard leaders began to pray for me,
they prayed very quietly and they certainly were not trying to
push me over because they did not even touch me. Suddenly, I
felt a heat rising up my legs and I had to struggle just to stand
up. I began to stumble around like a drunken man. The next
thing I knew, I was lying on the floor. There was no great
emotion as I lay there, but I had a great sense of peace. I also
realized that my life would never be the same! In the next
couple of days there was more prayer and I cried tears of
repentance and brokenness. As I returned home, I could tell
that something had happened and I knew that the Holy Spirit
had touched me. As I prayed for people in my own church God
began to touch them in a new way too.
In June of 1994, my family and I went to some meetings in Ft.
Wayne, IN, where Randy Clark was speaking. I took my wife
and two children and God also powerfully touched them. (I am
writing this almost two years later and their lives have never
been the same.) We got acquainted with Randy Clark in Ft.
Wayne and in the next several months attended several other
of his meetings in different places.
In November of 1994, we attended a series of meetings in
Greensboro, NC. It was a Monday night meeting and we were
still there at about 2:00 a.m. Only a few people remained. We
prayed for the pastor of the Vineyard, Lee O’Hare, and he was
powerfully touched by God and began to shake. My wife,
Debbie, turned to me and said, “Let us pray for you.” I had had
almost no physical manifestations in the months since God
started this new work in me. I think that she hoped something
might happen to me so I would have a better understanding of
those who did have these manifestations. It was so late and I
was so tired that I just lay down on the carpet and told them to
pray for me. As I lay there, my feet began to tingle and the
thought came to me that someone should grasp my feet and
pray for me. All of a sudden I felt someone grab my feet and I
heard Randy Clark begin to pray. Then Randy moved up to my
head and Lee went to my feet and they began to pray. My wife
was on one side of me and a friend named Greg was on my
other side. They were all praying for me. All of a sudden
something hit me and I began to shake violently. Randy later
said I looked like a frog being electrocuted. At the very moment
that this power hit me, my wife and my friend Greg were
knocked over backwards and began to laugh. After about
twenty seconds the shaking stopped.
I had heard stories of people like D.L. Moody who had been
powerfully touched by the Holy Spirit and they told the Lord to
stay his hand because the experience was too intense. I had
thought that if anything like that ever happened to me I would
just say enlarge the vessel and I would tell the Lord to keep
pouring it on. But after twenty seconds of this experience, I
couldn’t take any more. In fact, Randy started to pray for the
Lord to send another wave and I started saying, “No, no, no.”
Some time later, I got up and I felt physically sick. (Somewhat
like Daniel in Daniel 8:27 when he said he lay ill for several days
after his encounter with the angel.) I walked about 100 feet and
was so weak and felt so overwhelmed that I just lay down on
the floor. I believe that this whole experience was God giving
me a little glimpse of how awesome and powerful he really is.
The final experience I will mention was when Randy Clark was
in Wilmore, KY, for a series of meetings. Jim Goll from Kansas
City was speaking one morning. He was speaking about Peter
walking on the water and how Peter brought Jesus back to
those in the boat who were afraid to step out. I sensed a calling
from God to help people come into a deeper experience of
Christ. As I sat there, I began to weep. I don’t cry like this very
often and when I do it doesn’t last long. But this time I just
kept crying. They opened up the altar for people to come and
pray and I went up and lay there and sobbed for more than two
hours. Randy later commented to me that he had never seen me
so emotional. God had touched something very deep in me. It
seems the Lord was clarifying his call on my life and was
breaking and humbling me to prepare me for what he had for
me.
I could recount many more evidences of the Holy Spirit’s work
in my life over the last two years but I will stop here. These
three experiences show that the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives
is a continuing one and will be expressed in the lives of
different people in different ways. It may also be expressed in
the same person in very different ways over the course of time.
I want to close with the reminder that the greatest work of the
Holy Spirit in our lives is to conform our characters to the
image of Christ. The great aim of the Holy Spirit working in us
is that we might be holy and that we might show forth in our
lives in the purity, passion and power of our Lord.

Bob Balassi - Worship Leader St. Louis


Vineyard
Bob is a successful computer analyst who works in the secular
field. He is not prone to emotion, and is quite the analytical
type. Yet, Bob’s baptism in the Holy Spirit is one of the most
inspiring stories I have heard. Here is his story:
Bob was sick with the stomach flu. Two of his five young
children were also sick with the flu. Bob was hugging the
commode when he heard his children beginning to throw up
also. He said a short prayer about how God could heal his
family. Suddenly his hands began to tingle, then to be
electrified. He felt as if his fingers were going to blow off. Then
he began to experience a gamut of emotions. He was laughing
and then crying as he experienced the glory of God. Kathleen,
his wife, came into the bathroom to observe her husband being
baptized with the Holy Spirit. Bob had a profound sense of the
majesty of God, his glory and splendor filled the bathroom,
where Bob was overwhelmed. Praise and petitions filled his
mouth. He left the bathroom to go pray for his children. Each
was healed as well as Bob.
In this last chapter, I wanted to give you some stories to
encourage your faith and your hunger for a greater baptism in
the Holy Spirit. These stories are not meant to show the only
way that God does empower, but only a way that God can and
does do it. If God can do it for many of these, then don’t you
think that He can do it for you? I want to encourage you to
press in for more intimacy with God and more of His power for
effective evangelism.

Note to the reader:


This booklet employs the author-date system for text citations
and references. This mode is highly recommended by the
University of Chicago Press. Citations include the author’s last
name and the date of publication. Full bibliographical
information is provided in the References list at the end of the
booklet.
References
Basham, Don. 1969. A Handbook on Holy Spirit Baptism.
Monroeville, Pennsylvania: Whitaker Books.
Bittlinger, Arnold. 1967. Gifts and Graces—A Commentary on I
Corinthians 12-14. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Bruner, Frederick Dale. 1970. A Theology of the Holy Spirit.
Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company.
Choy, Leona Fances. N.d. Powerlines. N.p.: Chariot Publishing
(?).
Crawford, Mary. [1933] 1999. The Shantung Revival.
Republication, St. Louis, Missouri: Global Awakening
Publishing.
Culpepper, Robert H. 1977. Evaluating the Charismatic
Movement—A Theological and Biblical Appraisal. Valley
Forge, Pennsylvania: Judson Press.
Drummond, Lewis, ed. 1975. Reprint. What the Bible Says—A
Systematic Guide to Biblical Doctrines. Nashville:
Abingdon Press (page references are to reprint edition).
Manufactured by Parthenon Press, Nashville, Tennessee.
Original edition, N.p.: Marshall, Morgan, & Scott, 1974.
Dunn, James D.G. 1970. Baptism in the Holy Spirit. London:
SCM Press Ltd.
Ervin, Howard M. 1984. Conversion-Initiation and the Baptism
in the Holy Spirit. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson
Publishers, Inc.
Fee, Gordon D. 1991. Gospel and Spirit—Issues in New
Testament Hermaneutics. Peabody, Massachusetts:
Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.
---------. 1994. God’s Empowering Presence—The Holy Spirit in
the Letters of Paul. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson
Publishers, Inc.
---------. 1996. Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God. Peabody,
Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.
Finney, Charles G. 1978. Revivals of Religion. The Christian
Classics, 700 Club Edition. Virginia Beach, Virginia: CBN
University Press.
Graham, Billy. 1978. The Holy Spirit—Activating God’s Power
in Your Life. Waco, Texas: Word Books Publisher.
Grudem, Wayne. 1994. Systematic Theology—An Introduction
to Biblical Doctrine. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity
Press; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing
House.
Hart, Larry. ~1975-6. A Critique of American Pentecostal
Theology. Ph.D. diss., Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.
Kendall, R.T. 1998. Reprint. Understanding Theology—The
Means of Developing a Healthy Church in the 21st
Century. Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, Great Britain:
Christian Focus Publications. Original edition, Great
Britain: Christian Focus Publications.
Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn. 1984. The Baptism and Gifts of the
Spirit. Edited by Christopher Catherwood. Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Baker Books. Previously published in England
under the title Joy Unspeakable.
Lumpkin. W.L. [1959] revised 1969, reprint 1974 (page
references are to reprint edition). Baptist Confessions of
Faith. Valley Forge, Pennsylvania: Judson Press.
Menzies, William W. [1971] 1980. Anointed to Serve. Reprint,
Springfield, Missouri: Gospel Publishing House.
Nathan, Rich, and Ken Wilson. 1995. Empowered Evangelicals.
Ann Arbor, Michigan: Servant Publications, Vine Books.
Stott, John R. W. 1975. Baptism & Fullness—The Work of the
Holy Spirit Today. Leicester England; Downers Grove,
Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press. Previously published in
England (1964) under the title The Baptism and Fullness of
the Holy Spirit.
Stronstad, Roger. 1984. The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke.
Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.
Suenens, Leon Joseph Cardinal. 1975. A New Pentecost?
Translated by Francis Martin. New York: Seabury Press,
Inc., A Crossroad Book.
Taylor, Jack R. 1983. The Hallelujah Factor. Nashville,
Tennessee: Broadman Press.
Torrey, R. A. 1972. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, Inc., Dimension Books.
Tozer, A. W. N.d. How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit. Camp
Hill, Pennsylvania: Christian Publications, Inc.
Williams, J. Rodman. 1990. Renewal Theology: Salvation, the
Holy Spirit, and Christian Living. Renewal Theology
Series, vol. 2. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan
Publishing House, Academic and Professional Books.
Other books by Randy Clark
Entertaining Angels
There Is More
Power, Holiness and Evangelism
Lighting Fires
God Can Use Little Ole Me
Other Booklets by Randy Clark
Evangelism Unleashed
Healing Ministry and Your Church
Learning to Minister Under the Anointing
Training Manuals Available
Ministry Team Training Manual
Schools of Healing and Impartation Workbooks
Core Message Series
Words of Knowledge
Biblical Basis of Healing
Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Open Heaven
Pressing In
The Thrill of Victory / The Agony of Defeat
Awed by His Grace / Out of the Bunkhouse

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