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TITLE: A Symphony of Miracles Book 2 (Part 2) Chapter 31 11/27/14
By Richard McCaw
11/27/14
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Target audience: High School, College, University students or anyone battling with the Existence of God or Evolution. Positive statements are fine, but negative statements to improve the text are encouraged. I improve by constructive criticism. Primarily, this is not a biography, although biographic illustrations are interwoven to flavor the text. Do not forget to point out spelling, punctuation errors, and any text whose style or manner of expression seems awkward. Scripture and other references are at the back of the book. This chapter presents one glimpse of an entire picture and must be taken in context of the books title, A Symphony of Miracles.
Chapter 31 (Part 2)

Preparing the Heart

A certain theologian, who taught at a prestigious seminary for many years, strongly dismissed any connection of tongues to the Baptism in the Spirit. In his book entitled “Holy Spirit Baptism," he wrote that 1 Cor 12 actually denies that tongue-speaking is proof of Spirit-baptism and that the passage teaches that all Christians are Spirit-baptized.

However, upon close examination of the context it will be discovered that Paul was not referring to a baptism in the Hoy Spirit, but rather to an immersion into the universal Body of Christ, that is to say, the Church. He was teaching that each believer should become a functioning part of that body. This is confirmed by the Greek word “en”, which may be translated “by” or “in.”

However, everyone knows that to be baptized by water is to be baptized into water, and any honest Greek scholar will inform you that it is the same Greek word “en” that is used for baptism by water and baptism by the Spirit.

In the same book, the same theologian declared, “Though one search chapters 12 to 14 of 1 Corinthians with a fine-tooth comb, he will not find a single syllable which even remotely suggests that tongue-speaking is evidence of the fullness of the Spirit, or of the Baptism of the Spirit.”

Could this professor have been right? Had I been wrong all this time? I decided therefore to research the subject thoroughly for myself.

I searched the Bible from cover to cover, writing out every verse with the words “Holy Spirit,” “Holy Ghost,’” or simply ‘spirit.’ In the end, I concluded that none of the apostles taught a second experience. I noted that Paul declared in Ephesians that “there is one baptism.”

Where did people get the idea that there was another baptism in the Spirit? I was far from satisfied. I closed the Bible in frustration and prayed, “Lord, if there is another experience beyond the salvation experience, then show me Yourself!” I laid the subject aside and came to no conclusion, until God decided to give me more revelation.

Consider how a chemist carries out an experiment. He studies the text and gathers instruments to perform some test. No doubt he will fail if he employs instruments appropriate for astronomy. He must have test tubes, and liquids that when mixed together produce a chemical reaction. A telescope will not do! Hours studying the stars would be a waste of time!

With any spiritual experiment, earnest seekers must discover principles, and employ prescribed instruments for it to be successful. In my case, all the intellectual reasoning and arguments back and forth could never bring me into the truth of the Spirit’s power. I needed more than anything else what the Bible prescribed: serious research into biblical principles, much prayer and even fasting. If there was a Baptism in the Spirit, Jesus, the Source, would open my eyes to that revelation, if I came to know Him more intimately.

As I searched His Word, I prayed like King David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

In a story Jesus once told, He indicated that He was like a farmer, who planted the good seed of God’s Word in the hearts of men. Our hearts must be well prepared, from which the weeds of sin, selfishness, stubbornness and pride have been removed. Jesus still promises that if we confess our sins today, He will thoroughly prepare our hearts to be filled with the Comforter, the Blessed Holy Spirit.

References:
1. Acts 1:8; 2. Eph 4:5; 3. Psalm 139:23;
4. Matt 13:37; 5. 1 John 1:9; John 16:8-10

Read the next few chapters of this book and continue your personal research on this subject. Let the Spirit of God dispel the mist that hangs over the genuine, miraculous manifestations of His gifts that are lacking in the Church today.
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