Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Testimonies)

[JohnD]

John the Water Baptist said it best:

Matthew 3:11 (AV)
11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

He contrasted his water baptism with the baptisms (plural) of Jesus.

1. The Holy Ghost
2. Fire

Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost in King James English) IS salvation. Baptism with fire IS judgment.

I do not doubt anyone's spiritual experiences, eye opening, tongues of fire, speaking in tongues, etc. which are gifts of the Holy Spirit.

But the baptism John spoke of and that Jesus baptizes with is salvation by our faith in him.

[R. Hartono]

I received Holy Spirit baptism and speak in tongue in 1981 about a year after water baptism, i felt that kind of undescribable "electricity" in my body, no wonder the dead in Christ will rise one day ! Praise Jesus HalleluYah Amen.

[Meerkat]

I was baptized by Spirit of God at time of my salvation/conversion. I believe this to be normative case with believers. 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Meerkat

[Piratematey]

So, this is how I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in tongues: 

I was going to a small Pentecostal church (I now consider myself non-denominational) at the time and was a fairly new Christian.  I had heard of people speaking in tongues before and wanted the gift.  A traveling minister and a couple of his family members visited our church, including an elderly lady who was precious.  She had asked me if I wanted the gift of tongues and I told her I did.  She prayed for me and gently put her hand on my throat.  It was mildly shaking.  She prayed and spoke in tongues.  It didn't take long before I uttered a few words in tongues.  After that day, I would speak in tongues often, even though it was only a few words.  Slowly, more and more words were added, as I let the Holy Spirit give me them.  Now, I speak in tongues fluently, as a language, and I can also interpret tongues.  Tongues have helped me out when I don't know what to pray many times.  

[Deadworm]

The major turning point in my life that I'm about to share is also by far the spiritual and emotional high point in my life. Even now, decades later, I constantly draw spiritual nourishment from the very memory of that fateful day I was "ambushed" by an experience of glossolalia at Manhattan Beach Camp in Manitoba. I was 16 at the time and felt I had lost my faith. I was determined to give it my best shot to find God real, but not to succumb to wishful thinking and emotionalism. That fateful, Tuesday, I went on a 7 mile walk towards Ninette, Manitoba, pleading with God to make Himself real to me. That evening, I did something I'd never done before. I fasted for dinner and put my dinner money in the offering plate. After the service, I stayed at the altar and prayed to be filled with the Spirit as I had previously done in vain. After almost everyone (about 1,000) left the amphitheater, my heart still felt like stone as I tarried in prayer. Then suddenly I felt a warm breeze, but it wasn't the wind from nearby Pelican Lake; it was the Holy Spirit first warming me and then possessing me. I was possessed and felt compelled to speak in tongues at the top of my voice!  More importantly, wave after wave of liquid love surged through my being with ever increasing intensity until I feared it might kill me. My ego seemed on the verge of collapse into the divine presence.

A Lutheran pastor observed me, unseen, and quietly came and knelt beside me. He told me he was not a believer in speaking in tongues and had only come to the camp meeting as an interested observer. He said he could tell God was doing a special work in me and he asked me to pray for him. The moment i touched his forehead, he exploded into tongues like me. Another lady was sitting in the now darkened amphitheater and just staring at me. Self-conscious, I asked her why? She said, "Don't you know? Your face is glowing in the dark!"

When it was all over, I realized that God had said to me clearly: "Son, you long for answers to burning questions. But answers aren't good for you right now. They will make you live in your head, and I want to live in your heart. I want you to live your questions until they lead you to the center of my heart." That is the reason for my long educational pilgrimage from BA (U. of Winnipeg) to MDiv (Princeton) to doctorate in New Testament, Judaism, and Greco-Roman Backgrounds (Harvard). Interestingly, the experience made me a much better student than I had been. And like marijuana, that experience of glossolalia seems to have functioned like a gateway spiritual drug that soon led to other gripping experiences of other spiritual gifts, especially "the word of knowledge" (1 Corinthians 12:8-10).

Previously, I had not been a stellar student in school and was insecure about God's plans for my future.  But shortly after the experience, I suddenly knew that I'd receive the highest GPA in Manitoba in my senior year.  Decades later, my cousin, a psychiatrist, reminded me that I had shared "this word of knowledge" with him when I recounted my tongues experience.   That experience evidently improved my mental capacity.  When Premier Duff Roblyn publicly acknowledged that achievement at my graduation,  I felt that my somewhat awkward attempts at Christian witnessing were rendered more effective and I became more confident in a calling to an academic life.   I was a Theology professor at a Catholic university for several years and recently retired as a United Methodist pastor. 

 

[Paul James]

On 9/8/2017 at 10:27 PM, Lolly said:

Wonderful thread--thank you for starting it! Another in the same vein is A.W. Tozer. 

http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=22632&forum=34

Presently, we are careful to avoid most of the television so-called evangelists, who preach a gospel of wealth. 

Very wise, because many of these are cultish and not Christian, even though they seem to talk the talk.  You will find that in their preaching, the true gospel of Christ is missing.

[Paul James]

On 11/15/2017 at 6:06 PM, Wayne222 said:

I know all Christians receive the spirit of God at the time of salvation.  When they trust christ and believe in him. But I did have something happen to me after I was already saved. I was praising God out loud by myself. And I was one. When I lifted my arms up to God in praise. I felt like oil on top of my head but it filled my body all the way to my feet. And I felt the.most joy and a feeling oh love enter into my heart. I started to praise him and words came out of my mouth I did not understand. It was not English. This lasted about 30 seconds. 

It was the Holy Spirit, who was there from the beginning, flowing out of you.  You can pray in tongues at any time you choose, because you have the ability.

[Paul James]

On 11/28/2017 at 11:40 AM, JohnD said:

John the Water Baptist said it best:

Matthew 3:11 (AV)
11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

He contrasted his water baptism with the baptisms (plural) of Jesus.

1. The Holy Ghost
2. Fire

Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost in King James English) IS salvation. Baptism with fire IS judgment.

I do not doubt anyone's spiritual experiences, eye opening, tongues of fire, speaking in tongues, etc. which are gifts of the Holy Spirit.

But the baptism John spoke of and that Jesus baptizes with is salvation by our faith in him.

This is the way receiving the Holy Spirit at conversion which Paul expressed in Galatians, when he asked, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed, by faith or the works of the Law?"

[Paul James]

Three weeks after I received Christ in an AOG church, I was given a book about the baptism with the Spirit.  One afternoon I was laying on my bed, reading the book.  For the previous three weeks I had pleaded with God for the baptism with the Spirit, and hoped that it would come when I was baptised in water, and was disappointed when it didn't happen.  Halfway through the book a sentence jumped out at me: "Why are you pleading and begging for something I gave you 2000 years ago?  Just accept it!"  So, I said, "Lord, I accept it!"  Then I thought, well, now that I have the baptism with the Spirit I can speak in tongues, so I tried to put syllables and words together.  It was strange and hesitant at first, then after around 10 minutes, the language started to flow out of me.  It has never stopped until this day, 53 years later.

I remember when I became deeply discouraged through things that went on in the Charismatic church I was with in the late 1970s, I decided to leave it, and stop being a Pentecostal.  Two things happened - first, I couldn't stop praying in tongues, and realised that it was Biblical and not church-based, and secondly, I joined an Anglican church and found myself in a group of Anglican Charismatics who were totally different and refreshing because they had a love and joy that was genuine and true.

When I moved to Auckland NZ in 1996, I became an elder of the Presbyterian church and remained there for 23 years until I moved to Christchurch.  Even though they are a middle of the road evangelical church -neither Charismatic or strictly Calvinist and didn't have the gifts of the Spirit on their "menu", that didn't make any difference to how the Holy Spirit flowed through me, because my fellowship with with the Father and Jesus  through the Holy Spirit, and that is not limited to a particular denominational church.

I have had many wonderful and valuable experiences in the prophetic and tongues, and I am very thankful to God that He allowed me to have them over the years.

[Wayne222]

1 hour ago, Paul James said:

It was the Holy Spirit, who was there from the beginning, flowing out of you.  You can pray in tongues at any time you choose, because you have the ability.

I cannot because it happen twice to me. But never again. Tgere is the gift of tongues and there is the experience of speaking in a unknown tongue. I did not receive the g iui ft. But had a experience.