Baptism Of The Spirit -- By: A. C. Gaebelein

Journal: Central Bible Quarterly
Volume: CENQ 05:2 (Summer 1962)
Article: Baptism Of The Spirit
Author: A. C. Gaebelein


Baptism Of The Spirit

A. C. Gaebelein

A Christian mechanic once said, “If the Devil cannot get you to stop your car by putting tacks and glass under your tires, he will jump on the running board and tell you to turn on the gas.” The meaning of this illustration is obvious: If Satan cannot retard your spiritual life, he will do his best to make you an extremist and thus ruin your testimony. How very few have as good judgment in spiritual matters as this mechanic!

Modern conditions present not only a denial of fundamental truth on the part of the unbelieving; but they present, as well, a woeful lack of accuracy in Bible doctrine on the part of another group who are sincere and loyal at heart to every fundamental of the faith, but who are so driven with cares—oftentimes ministers burdened with the duties of an up-to-date pastorate—that they have no time for a painstaking study of the Bible.

As to this sincere, over-worked company of ministers, there is little danger that they will fall in with the unbelief of the Modernist; but because of their great desire to see a manifestation of the power of God in their churches—a desire most commendable in itself—some are proving to be easily influenced by those cults which go beyond what is written and assume experiences and positions that are not justified from any teaching of the Word of God.

The yearning of heart on the part of well-meaning people who are turning to various forms of Pentecostalism for a fuller spiritual power is only equaled by the longings of the many who come to the same cults to be healed of their sicknesses. When they thus come, the one class are told that they must assume that they are healed in body, regardless of the apparent facts; while the other class are told that they must assume that they are delivered from the power of sin, regardless of the apparent facts and the plain teaching of the Word of God.

While comparatively few evangelical ministers are fully carried away by Pentecostal errors to the point of forsaking their own denominations, they do, all too often, lend their sanction to those unscriptural teachings which in some localities are doing more to disrupt the work of God than any other satanic agency.

The part a well-meaning minister may take in promoting false doctrine is illustrated by the following which is quoted in a Pentecostal paper from one of the most active evangelical ministers in this country:

“Fire symbolizes power for service (Matt. 3:11): ‘I indeed, baptize you with water unto repentance’: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not wo...

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