I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in the early 70’s, and I have always refused to apologize for it.
I had a glorious encounter with Jesus at home by myself when I experienced the liquid fire and love of God overtake me with the evidence of a beautiful prayer language (tongues).
That day changed my life forever. If you want to know more about the baptism of the Spirit, go to my website under the category of “Spiritual” and read what I wrote on this topic in 2020. If you REALLY want to know more, I wrote a book titled Understanding the Holy Spirit: Experience the Power which you can buy on my website. Address is listed at the end of the post.
I grew up in a church who empathically taught against this supernatural encounter with Jesus even though it is in the scripture throughout the four gospels and all through the book of Acts. Throughout the years, I have discovered that most churches take that same theological stand. It is easier to not believe and teach against it than it is to allow the Holy Spirit to take over traditional mainline denominational churches.
Actually, I was baptized in the Spirit on a Thursday morning and went to church on Sunday night like a good Christian. The sermon was about how anyone who believed or experienced something called the baptism in the Spirit and spoke in tongues, had to be “of the devil.” That night I walked out of my childhood church and left for good never to be a part of that nonsense again. I attended with my parents occasionally, but God snatched me out of that unscriptural dogma.
Being one of those hungry prophetic types, I have looked for decades for full-gospel churches who taught the full counsel of God and not only what is easy to preach to those who are asleep. Over the past several years, I started to realize how bad bad was as I watched America taking a nose dive and no one in the pulpit seemed to notice. We went through 9/11 and no mention from the pulpit–no prayer and no mention–it was like it never happened. America went through one crisis after another for the past several decades, and there was no mention of anything in many of the pulpits of America for fear someone might be offended.
Stone silent!
What I have learned in the past year is that this has been status quo church all over America for decades.
The Holy Spirit was shut out decades (centuries) ago, and we wonder why we have experienced dead church for so many years.
I guess the thing that angers me the most is the people of God have been willing to tolerate and put up with this dead religion until America has been destroyed because of our godlessness. I have been as tolerant of it as everyone else. I sat there as well watching the years pass by; however, I have always had the fire of God in my belly and hunger in my heart that could never be satisfied by any church. I have always been a God-seeker and studied and read almost everything I could find to take me deeper in my walk with God. I have read the Word all of my life, so I have never depended on a pastor to teach me much of anything.
We fell asleep in the process of “going to church” as we were anesthetized by programs, church games, and empty sermons.
Over the past year so many things I tolerated “in church” for so many years started making me physically sick. My prophetic bent, the hunger in me driven by the Holy Spirit could no longer stand in church where most of the people in the room still appeared to be asleep.
I left traditional church forever!
If you have been stirred or moved by this writing, please forward to your friends and family, so they can subscribe to www.drbrendaramboauthor.com.
EXCELLENT BRENDA.
SO GLAD TO SEE YOU WRITING AGAIN! YEAH!
TRISH BEVERSTEIN
Trish, thrilled to hear from you. Thanks for sending me an email. I love hearing from my readers. Hope you are recovering and feeling better.
Brenda
I have a different take on organized church. I am Catholic and attend Sunday Mass, however, I see where the over 2000 year old church established on Peter by Christ, has, beyond a doubt, had and still has many failures, one of which is the failure to reach the youth with the powerful message of Jesus on a level that would engage them and lead them towards believing and not turning away in droves. But the beauty and the Eucharist (the real presence of Jesus in holy communion as the Catholic church teaches) and other sacraments, still draw me to lifelong adherence. Another positive aspect for me personally is that I am attending with like believers, all of us flawed (including the priests), but joining together, nevertheless, to praise and worship the King. One could also say that even though the Christian church at large fails in many areas, many of which you mention in the blog, out of that “failed” attempt to spread the Gospel, came you, me and thousands (perhaps millions over the centuries) who are firm and devoted believers still carrying out His message. So, then, can we say the church is an abject failure? No, because the proof is in the pudding, as they say. The Gospel is getting out because the Holy Spirit will not be stopped by inept men or institutions. Millions have been converted to Christ because of these messengers, who mostly and ironically came out of the Christian churches.
Carol, I wrote you a long and thoughtful response and then hit send and the email was rejected. Now I am having to go into the site and rewrite a response. Bottom line is the Catholic faith has been a great blessing to millions of the faithful for hundreds of years. I am so glad you have been able to find peace and draw near to God in the Catholic faith. I am not saying ALL Christian churches have been a failure, but so many of the denominational churches have done little to nothing to teach the truth about the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our churches, few of us come into maturity and we have a form of godliness with no power. I love hearing from my readers. Thanks so much for your time and effort to respond. Blessings, Brenda