To make mockery of the person and
power of the Holy Spirit is to make trivial the very throne of God and the
preeminence of Christ himself.
Of all esteemed personas of the
Christian faith, be it kings, martyrs, apostles, disciples, priests, prophets
and pastors of days gone by and the present, who could be trifled with in
thoughts and words, the Holy Spirit certainly doesn’t make the long list.
Modern theology, especially among
young believers, grapples with understanding the apt operations and ministry of
the Holy Spirit. The issue of who He is, how He works and His role in the life
of a Christian have often revolved around dark clouds of human doubts.
I certainly claim not to have
comprehended the mystery of the Spirit but the Scriptures, to an extent, give understanding on the ministry of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is an integral member
of the Triune God and thus, is deserving of reverence allied with the rest of
the Godhead. But pitiably, the Holy Spirit is the most unrecognized, the most
dishonored, the most grieved, the most abused, the most misrepresented and the
most blasphemed of the members of the Trinity.
In the light of this discourse is
a scrutiny of an article brought to the fore titled: “15 Ways to Unleash the Power of the Holy Spirit Right Now”. I
find it rather disturbing to conclude that heresy, I tell you, heresy and utter
misapprehension of the Holy Spirit embellish the claims of this article (click here to read).
If there were ever ways to
unleash the power of the Holy Spirit (a thought not so absurd to conceive) in
the life of a believer of Christ, the road map should unarguably start from a
willful repentance at the Cross; by faith and prayer proceed into
sanctification; and a genuine spiritual longing leading to an eventual – but
continuous experience of – baptism of the Holy Spirit. Hence, the unleashing of
the Spirit’s powers to the glory of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son and
Lord of all.
"You shall receive power when
the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem
and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This
infilling or baptism of the Holy Spirit is God’s promise to His children of grace
through faith in Christ Jesus, and its offering is simply to this end: that
Christ be glorified in and through us being His witnesses in all nations of the
world.
This gives a clearer finality as
to the purpose and ministry of the Spirit of God – the believers’ Helper,
Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener, Standby (John 14:16;
John 15:26; John 16:7 AMP), that Christ may be glorified.
But these heresies by the article
in question suggest, amongst several others, that “when you stand on your head
while speaking in tongues, you will literally feel the power of God activated
within your soul.” It submits also that there is a thing called “Spiritual
mouth-breathing” that should be observed “to the point of near-hyperventilation
which will cause one to become extremely light-headed and dizzy, which always
means you are having a personal experience with God.”
I suppose, at this point, you are
entertaining an innocent chuckle fused with ‘godly grief’ at these erroneous
views of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. What really do we take the Holy
Spirit for? A supernatural force at one’s beck and call triggered by ‘chemical
dumps in the brain resulting from forced emotional highs and lows?’ God
forbids!
One tends to wonder the origin of
such presuppositions that rattle the regenerated mind. This is certainly not
Biblical if the case of the Apostles at Pentecost (see Acts 2:1-47) is anything to
go by. The unleashing of the Holy Spirit’s power witnessed at Pentecost was
preceded by a spiritual longing for the revelation of God’s promise (Joel
2:28-29; Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26-27) as affirmed by Jesus Christ, matched equally
by prayer of faith at the upper room.
The book of Acts 10:1-48 reveals a similar
case of unleashing the Spirit’s power. Cornelius, ‘a devout man and one who
feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and
prayed to God always…’ moved the hands of God to his favour.
We shouldn’t fail to note Cornelius’
spiritual longing and prayer (as it was at Pentecost) before the unleashing of
the Spirit’s power, “So Cornelius said, ‘Four days ago I was fasting until this
hour…’ (Acts 10:30-31). ‘Then Peter opened his mouth and said: In truth I
perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him
and works righteousness is accepted by Him… While Peter was still speaking
these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those
of the circumcision who believed were astonished… For they heard them speak
with tongues and magnify God’ (Acts 10:34-35, 44-46).
Both events of the Apostles at
Pentecost and Cornelius have something in common. We see God-centered souls
with a genuine spiritual longing for God’s manifestation backed by prayer of faith;
and then, the unleashing of the Holy Spirit’s power.
Without exhausting the list of
Scriptural references of how the Holy Spirit’s power was unleashed, it is,
however, flawed to believe that the Spirit’s power could be wrought by mere
mechanisms of human mind and reasoning. Unleashing the power of the Holy Spirit
is not and cannot be about manufacturing and tweaking emotions. To suppose so
is fit for a sacrilege or better still, a blatant blasphemy.
In lending illumination on “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” on his blog, Morgan Guyton, director of the NOLA Wesley
Foundation, defined blasphemy as “falsely attributing the work of the Holy
Spirit to demonic activity.” And if this is Biblically irrefutable (Mark
3:19-30), what shall we then call an outright reversal of this – attributing
the works of diabolic conception to the Holy Spirit?
Whatever coloration related
responses may take in this regard, I leave you to decide as you see fit. But we
could, however, deduce from this an indignity of the Holy Spirit and
consequently, could label such notion as blasphemy.
“Punch yourself in the face as
hard as you can. Your eyes will well up with tears as you encounter the Lord
personally and intensely” or “stick your finger into a light socket. Instant
Holy Spirit power!” What an appalling and heartrending depictions of the Holy
Spirit’s power.
Christ’s urgent appeal to His beloved
is these: “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Mark 14:38) and “…do
not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God;
because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
Should we miss the foundational
knowledge and principles of the Christian faith and our understanding of Scriptural doctrine
be faulty, then have we not the truth and live not in the Spirit. We walk in
darkness still and not in the light of liberty by grace through faith in Christ.
Now must we earnestly content for
the faith once delivered unto the saints, upholding the truth of Christ and
exposing the unfruitful works of darkness. We must not only study to shew
ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth, but must also study to maintain the purity of the
gospel by discerning the truth from concocted falsehood from the pit of hell meant
to lure the very elect.
Finally, brethren, see then that
you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because
the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-17). And since you have been
forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error
of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and
forever! Amen (2 Peter 3:17-18).
*** Written by Michael Olajubu,
alias Jacobs Adewale (Admin) ***
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