Shelvy, the missionary, spoke for a short period of time telling stories from her experiences out on the mission field, about praying demons out of people and praying health and life into the sick, seeing them walk away miraculously healed. I was floored. She spoke for two nights and at the end of each night she invited people forward to be prayed for, to receive the Spirit. It seemed that each time someone went forward to receive prayer that they ended up on the ground, filled with peace, and sometimes speaking in tongues.
She called it baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Now I had seen things like this before watching it on television or reading it in books, but I always passed it off as fake… not real… a mere fantasy. I always thought that Benny Hinn was pushing people over, not God.
But Benny Hinn wasn’t with us under that tent!
There are all kinds of baptisms scattered throughout Scripture, particularly in the New Testament. There is a baptism of repentance, done in water most notably by John the Baptist (Matt. 3.6); there is a baptism of suffering, such as the one endured by Jesus Christ on the cross (John 19); and there’s also a baptism of the Holy Spirit, received by the disciples and many thereafter (Jn. 14.15, 18; Acts 2.3-4).
Now the phrase “baptism of the Holy Spirit” is found in Scripture. While all believers are temples of the living God where the Holy Spirit does dwell, baptism of the Holy Spirit is referencing to a particular experience where the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit. Does that make sense?
This isn’t necessarily identical to conversion because at conversion a filling of the Spirit doesn’t always take place (i.e. Acts 10.44). But baptism of the Holy Spirit is oftentimes a very memorable experience and, typically, accompanied by speaking in tongues, which we can find referenced in Scripture: a) Pentecost (Acts 2.4); b) baptism in Cornelius’ household (Acts 10.46); c) individuals in Ephesus (Acts 19.6).
So should we all be baptized in the Holy Spirit? My gut-reaction is, yes, we should all be baptized in the Holy Spirit at some point in our lives. Maybe I’m biased, but I think it’s a significant experience we should all have as Christians. The disciples received this baptism under the direction of Christ, as did thousands after them. They didn’t just baptize people in water in Jesus’ name; they also made a point to baptize them in the Holy Spirit (Acts 19.2).
I have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. I went up on the second night that Shelvy was speaking under the big blue and white tent. She walked up to me, placed her hands on me, and immediately I felt a calming warmth come over my body. She simply said to me, “open your mouth and start praising God.” As I did, I began speaking in tongues immediately – without effort. I fell backwards into someone’s arms and laid there for 20 minutes consumed with an immense peace, with a presence dwelling over me that I knew was the presence of God.
I’ll address speaking in tongues tomorrow, but I want to leave you with some words from John Piper on the baptism of the Holy Spirit:
Receiving the Spirit Is a Life-Changing Experience: This is why Paul can say in Acts 19:2 when he meets the confused disciples of John the Baptist, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” What would a contemporary Protestant evangelical say in response to that question? I think we would say something like, “I thought we automatically received the Holy Spirit when we believed. I don’t understand how you can even ask the question.” How could Paul ask that question? He could ask it, I think, because receiving the Holy Spirit is a real experience. There are marks of it in your life. And the best way to test the faith of these so-called disciples is to ask them about their experience of the Spirit.
Do you still have more questions? Write them below in the comments section, I’ll address them in a follow-up post or you can interact with one another.
