A Puzzling Phenomenon
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Important messages
It is a phenomenon these
days, I think, that men of God can be lauded, quoted, and used as examples from
many pulpits, while the experience, which they themselves credit for their
success, is heatedly denied and rejected. I don’t know what you call this, but
I see it as somewhat hypocritical; certainly something that lacks consistency.
These outstanding men are like David in Saul’s court, appreciated for their
usefulness, but feared, because of the powerful anointing of God that rests
upon them.
Puritans, Edwards, Spurgeon, Moody and
Tozer
How many read Puritan literature
and quote the Puritans from the pulpit? Allow me to quote a famous Puritan,
John Owens: “(The Holy Spirit) so sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts…
by an immediate act… filling (the soul) with gladness, exultations and
sometimes with unspeakable raptures of the mind.”
It is the Spirit of God, who
takes the things of Christ, and reveals them to us. Jonathan Edwards spoke of a
walk in the woods: “The Person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent with an
excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and conceptions, which
continued, as near as I can judge, about an hour; such as to keep me a greater
part of the time in a flood of tears, and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of
soul… to be full of Christ alone; to love Him with a holy and pure love, to
trust in Him; to live upon Him; to serve Him and to be perfectly sanctified and
made pure, with a divine and heavenly purity.” For her part, Mrs. Edwards,
meditating upon the virtues of Christ, would at times be so overcome, that
someone would have to help her to her bedroom.
Edwards was for a time
president of Princeton University, a great theologian and dignified
personality, to the extent that some misjudged his emphasis on Christian
experience. The faculty of Yale University did so, when they brought in Edwards
to calm the intense fervor among the students (including David Brainerd),
caused by the visit from George Whitefield. Jonathan Edwards only fanned the
flames. Many do not know that David Brainerd was expelled from Yale shortly
thereafter, for questioning loudly, whether the University staff were really
authentic Christians.
There are few places where
C. H. Spurgeon is not appreciated. He challenged his congregation: “(The
disciples) were to tarry at Jerusalem for a little while, and the Spirit would
come upon them, and clothe them with a mysterious power… If now we were to be
filled with the Holy Ghost, there are enough of us to evangelize London… Jesus
promised that signs should follow, and so they did follow, and so they will.
But we must get back to apostolic practice and to apostolic preaching.”
Possibly D. L. Moody is not
so widely admired as Spurgeon and yet, he has many who appreciate the fact that
he saw tens of thousands come to Christ. He said: “I kept on crying all the
time that God would fill me with His Spirit.” He was walking down Wall Street
one day in New York City and his prayer was answered. In the midst of all the
hurried flurry, he felt the power of God coming upon him. He rushed to a friend’s
house nearby and asked to have a room to himself. He stayed in that room for
hours while the Holy Spirit was “filling my soul with such joy that at last I
had to ask God to withhold His hand, lest I die on the spot from very joy. Oh,
what a day!”
From that time on, Moody
insisted that R. A. Torrey would follow his campaigns to preach to the new
converts on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Torrey writes: “I don’t know how
many times he asked me to speak on the subject. One time we met with some
teachers – fine men all of them, but they believed that every child of God was
baptized with the Holy Ghost. Moody was in deep thought after they left, then
he said ‘They are wonderful teachers, but why will they not see that the
Baptism with the Holy Ghost is just the one touch that they themselves need?’” In
his biography of Moody, Torrey writes, “The secret of why God used D. L. Moody
was that he had a very definite enduement with power from on high, a very clear
and definite Baptism with the Holy Ghost.’”
Ian Murray mentions, in his
biography of John MacArthur, the influence of the books of A. W. Tozer upon
his life. Tozer’s books are reaching far more people today than he ever reached
in his lifetime and have powerfully impacted many ministers in this century. I
now quote A. W. Tozer: “I was 19 years old, earnestly in prayer, kneeling in
the front room of my mother-in-law’s home, when I received a mighty infusion of
the Holy Ghost… ANY WORK THAT GOD HAS EVER DONE THROUGH ME... DATES BACK TO THAT HOUR."
Finney, John and Charles Wesley, Whitefield
and Lloyd-Jones
Charles Finney is not so
loved by the Reformists, because of his sharp criticism of what he called
hyper-Calvinism, but if you will read his autobiography, you will find that he
was much kinder to those, with whom he disagreed, than many modern Calvinists
are to him. Finney was actually a peacemaker, seeking peace with his own
opponents, as well as bringing peace between factious brethren in his day, insisting
on unity before he would hold meetings in certain places. Through Finney’s
evangelism, it is estimated that a half million people, not only found Christ,
but continued as Christians throughout their lives.
A few decades ago, secular
college students, surveying cities across America for their philanthropy and
various other positive traits, settled on Syracuse, New York, as the
prize-winning metropolis. A secular writer, curious as to why this eastern U.
S. city should be so honored, traced the benevolence discovered there 100 years
back to a Finney revival. The same afternoon, in which he was converted, Finney
“turned and was about to take a seat by the fire… the Holy Spirit descended
upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me body and soul." He spoke
of those, who had been converted to Christ, who fell short of receiving an
enduement of power that, he said, “is indispensable to ministerial success.”
Charles Wesley’s songs are
sung universally in the evangelical churches across the world. John Wesley is
often credited with saving England from moral ruin in his day. Months after
their conversion, John and Charles, along with George Whitefield, were in a
meeting described by John: “About three in the morning as we were continuing
instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many
cried out for exulting joy and many fell to the ground.”
We can end with the very
interesting case of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I have a DVD right here in my office,
in which various well-known Christian leaders, including some prominent
reformist advocates, sit down and praise the life and ministry of this great
man of God. They speak freely of an unusual anointing in his preaching, noting
that, on an average, 30 people a week came into his office, seeking salvation.
The same people, who so admire this wonderful Welsh pastor of Westminster Chapel,
successor of G. Campbell Morgan, oppose vehemently the possibility of the
Baptism in the Holy Spirit as a second experience after conversion.
 |
| Westminster Chapel near Buckingham palace, London |
Many do not know that
Lloyd-Jones wrote an entire book on the subject and denounced the cessation
teaching of his day, a little over a generation ago, as a relatively modern
doctrine. He requested that the book be published only after his death, as it
would cause serious controversy among the trustees of the Christian publishing
company THAT HE CO-FOUNDED! There you have it… he was praised by many and yet
feared, because of an experience, which would demand a drastic change in the
theology of his admirers and even his co-workers. They were not willing to pay
that price and so his book was finally published by another company.
I have not exhausted the
examples by any means. No, no, these are not outstanding exceptions, but are the
testimonies of men throughout church history, who were equipped by God for the
work, to which He had called them. There can be no question, according to the
Scriptures, that every believer has the Holy Spirit: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Ro.8:9).
However, there were those in the book of Acts, who were singled out as being “full of the Holy Spirit” (Ac.6:3, 5;
7:55, for example).
Apparently, then, not every
Christian could be described in that way. Does that mean that some had less of
the Spirit of God? Of course not. You either have the Holy Spirit or you do not
have Him. I like to think that the term, “full of the Holy Spirit”, rather than
describing how much someone has of the Spirit, is showing how much the Holy Spirit
has of that person. However, the book of Acts also shows that it was normal that
the Baptism in the Holy Spirit followed conversion, and the promise was to “you and to your children (to the Jew
first), and to all who are afar off, as
many as the Lord, our God will call” (Ac.2:39: Jew or Gentile, wherever and
whenever).
A small, personal example and a few words of
advice
Please, I am not at all
putting myself in the same category with these great men. But I want to
interject a similar experience, from my meager standpoint, to illustrate the
theme of this short article. Just last year, I enjoyed
being able to observe the activities of a certain mission and to become
acquainted with the wonderful people, working under their auspices. I was asked
to speak to the staff and also invited to preach at a nearby church. I would still
like to promote interest in the mission, among the people that I know. I was so
happy for the inroads they had made in the community, in which they serve, and
the backing that they enjoy from the officials in the area.
However, somehow they
learned of my doctrinal position, concerning the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and
discussed, whether I should ever be asked to return. They feared that, if
fellowship with me would continue, the mission supporters might go to my
blogspot and learn of my convictions. They thought that, perhaps, these
supporters would be offended by them and withdraw their financial help, Ah,
money often enters into the equation and creates its own problems.
I hope that you have read
this article carefully and with an open heart. I would be so bold, in the light
of the immense effect of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit upon the lives of these
epic soul winners, that you would reconsider your position on the subject. The
Christian must always recognize that he might not have every doctrine right and
in its proper place. To be absolutely fixed in our present state is not spiritually
healthy for us or the people, to whom we minister. There are too many
differences of opinion among good brethren for us to arrogantly suppose that we
are right on all points and those who differ are wrong. It is truth that
matters, far above our opinions.
God certainly does not
demand an immediate change in views that we may have held for years. He does
ask that we be open to the teaching of the Spirit, and as we ask for greater
light, He will lead us from Scripture to Scripture, and from one providential
circumstance to another. Then, we may see the need to adjust our stand in order
that we might better serve Him and give Him greater glory through our lives. We need to be willing to do that, whatever the
cost.
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