When Baptists Speak In Tongues

BY

PHIL SCOVELL

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THE EKKLIESIA

P.O. BOX 19454 DENVER, COLORADO 80219

FORWARD “How did a nice fundamental independent Baptist like you get mixed up

with the Charismatics?” This implies, I suppose, that I am no longer nice, fundamental, independent, or Baptist. That’s why I’m seated at my computer writing this booklet. I want you, especially my Baptist friends, to know why, as a Baptist; I began to believe in speaking in tongues.

This is not My Story, but God’s; how He brought me to what Charismatics call, and as you will see what Jesus called, “The baptism of the Spirit.”

Please read with an open mind. If you’re a Baptist, as I am [once a Baptist- always a Baptist?] and if, because of doctrinal convictions, you find it impossible to read objectively; please read it anyway – then judge. Have I gone beyond Scriptural bounds or, in fact, am I obedient to God’s Holy Word? Either way, you’ll never be sorry you read this story.

COMPLETE IN HIM,

PHILIP L. SCOVELL

THE EKKLESIA

P.O. Box 19454

DENVER, COLORADO 80219

JULY 1989

WHEN BAPTISTS SPEAK IN TONGUES

INTRODUCTION

When I began to speak in tongues as a Baptist, I of course had to leave the Baptist church. My doctrinal beliefs and Scriptural convictions remained the same; but fellowship simply could no longer be managed without conflict. I still believe in the virgin birth of Christ, salvation by confessing Jesus as Lord, the inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures, the deity of Christ [Jesus is God] in His bodily resurrection, His soon return, water baptism by immersion, and the security of the Believer; to name a few. My belief in tongues, however, separated, divided, us. Why? As Baptists, we believed it wrong to fellowship with other Christians that differed with us doctrinally. Besides, if they disagreed doctrinally, “were they really Christians – saved?” Tongues, we felt, was a principal doctrine in Scripture and if wrong in one; there would be doctrinal error elsewhere. I personally believe that fear played a big part in our rejection of Charismatics. Admittedly some Charismatics seem to go out of their way to be weird; but beyond that, as Baptists, we may have secretly been fearful of “tongues simply from a lack of clear Biblical knowledge. This was, of course, because of our own doctrinal bias; but largely do to poor representation by many Charismatics. Tongues is not an experience but a doctrine. A doctrine of choice, however; and if one chooses not to believe in tongues; fine! It is no more required for salvation than being a fundamental independent Baptist. It is, on the other hand, in the Bible; and one must either believe or not believe. “Does speaking in tongues make one more spiritual?” No more than being a Baptist. “Then why do it?” That’s what we are about to discover.

1

Before going into much detail, I think it wise to relate just what kind of a Baptist I was – am?. I was saved, born again, as a young child in an Evangelical Free church. My Father, however, decided to take us to an independent Baptist church when I was about eight years old. This Baptist church was a member of an association called (GARBC); General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. These are fundamental independent Baptist churches – not a denomination; but a collection of independent Baptists who believe alike and support their own GARBC Bible colleges and missionaries. It was to one such Bible college I enrolled upon graduating from high school in 1970 – The name of which, for those reading this story who may be familiar, is Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa.

After getting married in January of 1972, I felt led to move to Denver, Colorado; primarily to join an independent Baptist church not associated with any group or denomination. I was an active member of South Sheridan Baptist Church of Denver for thirteen years and owe much of what God has done for me to Dr. Ed Nelson; the pastor.

What kind of a Baptist was I? I became a deacon in my church at the age of twenty-one. I gave twenty-five percent of my income, at one time, to the church; and rarely missed a church service. I taught Sunday school, read my Bible daily, supported missions, won the lost to Christ, preached the Gospel as a traveling evangelist, prayed, committed hundreds of Scripture verses to memory, and was an anti-ecumenicalist. My Father had been a Baptist pastor as a layman, my sisters went to Baptist colleges, and my Mother was active in all phases of ministry in the Baptist churches we attended. Furthermore, I was a separatist. That means I did not own a television, I did not believe in going to movies, and I did not allow my wife to wear slacks.

I gave up my secular job in 1975 and traveled full time as a Baptist evangelist; holding revival meetings in independent Baptist churches. Later, in 1978, I worked with another pastor as his assistant in a small town in western Colorado. Besides holding revivals, I became the youth pastor, worked in nursing homes, lead the song services, taught Sunday school, did visitation for the church, and nearly anything else I could think of to do. My favorite preachers were: Dr. Jack Hyles, Dr. Bob Jones, Dr. John R. Rice, Dr. Harold Sightler, Dr. J. Harold Smith, and many other such great independent Baptists with which Baptist readers would be familiar. In short, I was a happy Baptist and assiduously practiced what I believed.

Concerning tongues and the Charismatic movement; I preached arduously against all such doctrine. I did not believe tongues was for today, I did not believe in healing as the Charismatics, and I did not believe there was any such Biblical bases for an experience commonly referred to by Charismatics as “The baptism of the Spirit.” I believed if Charismatics were not demon possessed they were, at least, psychologically and emotionally unbalanced.

Why say all this? I believe my Baptist heritage is important. Most independent Baptists know the Bible well and are not easily fooled. Many Charismatics, on the other hand, are often amenable; because they have learned to believe God. This is no excuse, however, to ignore personal responsibility to God’s Word. As Christians, we are all required to search the Scriptures and to know God through His Word. It was exactly that, God’s Word, which led me to be filled with the Holy Spirit in August of 1982. It is my Baptist heritage, I believe, that made it a reality; without which I doubt I ever would have been filled with the Holy Spirit. The purpose for laying this foundation is to demonstrate how God is able to work in anyone’s heart and life if they are willing to seek Him. If someone would have told me before 1982 that I would some day pastor a Charismatic church, I would have laughed! It isn’t funny now; so Let me show you what happens “When Baptists Speak In Tongues.”

2

This is not an autobiography; Yet I think it important to share enough of my background to allow the reader to see how God worked throughout my life. So please bear with me.

I was born in Des Moines, Iowa on February 29, 1952. Yes! Leap year. I know it is hard to believe but it is true. This would not be the only unique thing to happen in my life in the years to follow; but I must admit, it is not as fun having a birthday only once every four years. You don’t get as many presents.

Des Moines was a good place to be raised and I have many fond memories of life there. It was there that my Father began preaching on weekends in small churches all around central Iowa. Many of them were little churches in farming communities too small to afford full time pastors. We often went with Dad and many of our Sundays were spent on farms as my Dad ministered in rural communities.

I was saved at age five. My Dad and I were home alone while Mom was away camping out at a nearby lake with some of the teenage girls from the church. Billy Gram was on TV that night and preached a message on the Cross of Christ. Later that night, as we went to bed, I asked my Dad what the preacher on the TV had been talking about. He explicated; and when he finished, he asked if I wanted to ask Jesus into my heart. We knelt by the bed and I prayed; asking Jesus to be my Saviour.

No one had ever intimated what it might be like to receive Christ as Lord so there was no way I could have fabricated what happened next. I can only described it now as I did then: It was like a wind blew through me and I felt I had been cleansed from the inside-out. Remember those old “White Tornado” commercials on TV back in the 1950’s? Well, that’s how I felt. Like a white tornado had blown through my body and made me clean – whole. That is what it means to be born again.

Frankly, my life was a simple middle income American boy’s life. I played marbles, road bikes, roller skated, swam, fished, climbed trees, ate popcycles, hated girls – until I got older, of course – caught frogs, played ball, collected worms, flew kites – you get the picture. Quite simply, I was a normal kid, for the most part; but there were events, soon to come, in my life which would have abstruse effect for as long as I would live.

3

In the fall of 1963, my Dad became suddenly ill and was rushed to a local hospital. Numerous test were conducted and even surgery performed to determine the cause of internal bleeding. Three weeks later he Died without any medical explanation. An eleven year old boy, with three sisters, needs a dad; but I was suddenly alone.

Although my Dad was a layman, his relationship with the Lord was the most important, valuable, thing in his life. I often woke early in the morning, ’round 4:00 A.M., and stumbled downstairs to get in bed with my folks. There he was! Seated at the kitchen table studying the Bible. He would not be leaving for his secular job for another two hours or so; yet he believed it important to be in God’s Word daily.

As I grew, my Dad showed me how to win the lost to Christ without ever teaching me. He did so by example. He was always leading people to Christ and as I watched him do so, I learned.

When my Dad died, I knew God was calling me to preach. When I was asked by a man who, by the way, had been won to Christ by my Father, “Do you still feel called to preach?” I replied affirmatively and without hesitation. I was, of course, going to be a (Baptist) preacher; like my Dad.

4

Exactly one year to the date of my Dad’s death, November 13, 1964, I was discharged from the Iowa University Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa and pronounced totally blind. Just six months after my Father’s death in 1963, I began to see dark brown spots floating in my vision and after going to a specialist, it was determined my retinas were beginning to detach. Although such eye surgery is common and generally successful, my retinas, were simply being shredded by the inner eye muscles and after six months and a dozen operations/treatments, I was released and told nothing more could be done. Going blind at the age of twelve was bad enough but there was school to think about.

A month after loosing my sight, I had to leave home and go to a school for the blind nearly fifty miles from my home. We had since moved to Omaha, Nebraska and it was to the Nebraska school for the blind I was sent. I went to school during the week and came home most weekends. It was there I learned Braille and other related techniques needed to communicate with a sighted society.

5

As I entered high school, I began to think about going back to a public school. After all, I would be doing exactly that when I went to college; so why not get it over with now? I finished my junior and senior years in a public high school in Omaha and used volunteer students to help me read my assignments and took oral examines; thus preparing for college.

It was at Benson High in Omaha, a school of 2,600 students and I the only blind student, where I became involved with drugs. I suppose I was angry with God for allowing me to go blind and drugs afforded expression for my anger. It was additionally the result of making new friends. I had grown spiritually cold, as so many young church kids often do, and I made friends with a teenage girl who happened to be a drug user at school. Within a month I was smoking marijuana and doing speed and LSD. It is not intrinsic to detail my drug experiences but it was very dramatic and perhaps I will tell it some day. I will say, however, I was on my ninth LSD trip when God got my attention. It was not a pleasant experience but God won.

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In my final semester of high school, a teacher introduced me to a lady who later became my wife. Every teenager wants to learn to play the drums – I was no different. This teacher had run across a young lady who was also blind and gave drum lessons. My teacher pestered me for a couple of weeks, asking me daily if I had contacted the drum teacher. I did not tell her but frankly I did not want to meet a (blind girl) even if she did play the drums. I already had enough problems of my own, I figured, why add to them? Finally, however, I gave in and called just to get the teacher off my back. To make a long story short, I never got any drum lessons but I did get married to Sandy in my second year of Bible college.

7

After graduating from high school in 1970, I went to Bible college to prepare for the ministry. The problem was, however, I suddenly realized, while in Bible college; that I was not at all sure if I could make it in a sighted world. I knew I could graduate from college without any difficulty, but could I make it in a sighted society? Because of this concern, I left Bible college after my second year and married Sandy in January 1972.

Shortly after our marriage, I got a job in the Welfare department in Omaha as an assistant to a social worker. I had about thirty-five to forty blind clients and it was my responsibility to find jobs for them. I learned a lot in a short period of time but quickly recognized the influence of the world upon my life as a Christian. The pestiferous hippy culture of the late 1960’s still had a strong pull on my life as a young married man and the sinuous philosophy of my fellow social workers did not help. I decided I needed some authoritative Biblical influence in my life and thus we moved to Denver, Colorado to join a strong fundamental independent Baptist church where some of my family already attended.

8

In Denver I began to mature spiritually and as I worked a secular job – operating a snackbar lunch counter sponsored by the state agency for the blind – I became involved in every area of church work I could. I spent thirteen years in South Sheridan Baptist Church. It was in this church that I finally submitted myself to the call of God for ministry.

9

Giving up my job in February 1975, I went full-time into the ministry as a traveling Baptist evangelist; preaching revival meetings throughout the midwest and along the west coast. Sandy traveled with me in the early days and sang in all my meetings. Meetings were typically a week long and I traveled and spoke wherever God open doors.

One summer, while preaching in camps in western Colorado, I made friends with a pastor who encouraged me greatly in the ministry. Sandy and I had been praying about leaving Denver for a smaller community and less than a year later we found ourselves moving to a small town in western Colorado with a population of just eight hundred.

I became the assistant pastor in a Baptist church of about sixty people and it was there God began to prepare me for the pastorate. The pastor taught me much about the ministry and allowed me to do everything available in a local church ministry.

As I began to scrutinize my life and call to the ministry, I realized I was called; but I myself had personally chosen to become an evangelist. Why? I had regarded myself incapable of pastoring a church due to my blindness. I could – anyone could – be an evangelist and that must have been what God wanted me to do; I concluded. My experience as an assistant pastor taught me otherwise. Thus I was ordained and began to look for a church to pastor.

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In the summer of 1978 the pastor I was working with felt God calling him elsewhere. He called me into his office one Sunday evening and told me what he was planning. He, and I both, felt sure the church would call me as their next pastor. We were wrong! As soon as a three-man pulpit committee was chosen, I was immediately rejected. Not because of my doctrine or teaching, but, I was told, I was blind – “How could a blind man pastor a church alone?”

After the pastor’s resignation, I was asked to fill in as an interim pastor until a new man could be found. Following the examination of three candidates, one was chosen. I stayed to help out with the new pastor until it became financially impossible to remain. After selling our home, we returned to live in Denver.

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Upon returning to Denver, I began to call pastors to try and regain my ministry as an evangelist. I did preach a few times but by this time the rejection I had experienced was beginning to spiritually exacerbate. Money ran out and so did my desire to go on. I began to experience deep depression, severe headaches, sleepless nights, and low self-esteem. My headaches became so severe that I occasionally vomited from the pain. I seemed to have lost everything and God’s Word was no longer working for me. I did the only thing left to do; I learned to pray.

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On June 1, 1982, I decided there must be an answer for me and I knew it would be found in God’s Word. That day I promised God I would pray a certain amount of time each day to seek Him for the answers to two major questions: “What did it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit and how could I get my prayers answered?” Each day I studied my Bible and prayed looking in Scripture for the answers to these two questions. I studied and restudied over-and-over again Romans 8, Galatians 5, and Ephesians 5; looking for the key to the Spirit filled life. I honestly did not believe someone like me could, or would, ever be filled with the Holy Spirit; but I would, at least, find out the answer to what it meant to be filled.

I could write a book on the things that happened during the summer of 1982 but I will save that for another time. I did pray daily, however, seeking God for the truth about the Spirit filled life and although a number of financial blessings occurred during that time and other dramatic answers to prayer were experienced, my prayer concerning the filling of the Spirit was left unanswered until the first week of August 1982.

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One day I said to my wife, “I feel like something is going to happen and I can’t explain what I mean.” Something did!

As I continued to pray in my little office in the basement of the rented house we were living in, I suddenly became keenly aware of the presence of God. I began to understand the Scriptures on what it meant to be filled with the Spirit. I suddenly, for the first time in my life, loved to pray and could not get enough of it. It was like a drug and I was addicted. God was everywhere in my life and for nine long months I knew God personally and intimately as I had never dreamed possible. The Holy Spirit during this time became a real person to me and I amerced myself in God.

Charismatics may find it interesting to hear that at this time I still did not believe in speaking in tongues. In fact, I was convinced in my heart that speaking in tongues had nothing to do with being filled with the Holy Spirit and indeed had passed away. I was nearly right. Acts 1:8 says, “And ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” The evidence of one filled with the Spirit is not tongues but power. Tongues is, however, the sign – evidence – of that power; for no one can speak in tongues except the Holy Spirit give them utterance (Acts 2:4). I had been filled with the Spirit, however, but we must always remember: God will never give us anything unless we first believe.

For many months I enjoyed my new relationship with my Heavenly Father through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I began to teach on the subject and found others beginning to enquire as to my change. Some Christian men invited me to breakfast to discuss this new understanding of God’s Word on the subject of the Holy Spirit which I had personally experienced. I was even asked to come and teach in one Brother’s Baptist church on the subject of the Spirit filled life for several days. Two years later, however, I began to realized God had only answered my question on the Spirit filled life. What about prayer?

14

In the fall of 1983, we moved into a home which the Lord made possible for us to buy. After settling in, I began to think about what had happened a little more than a year earlier. Yes, I had been filled with the Spirit but I suddenly realized I had not received an answer to my question on the subject of prayer. I decided to go back to God and ask Him to teach me how to get my prayers answered.

Several months passed and I felt no wiser on the subject. It just would not come. As I sought the Lord, a number of things began to happen. I lost a large portion of my business and after a couple of months of trying to figure out what to do, I solicited a business loan and expanded. My life became very busy as my business began to grow. I began making more money than I ever dreamed possible; but somehow something did not seem right.

As the months went by, I became more and more concerned about my finances and business. There was definitely something that did not feel right and the only way I knew of solving that problem was to inquire of God.

One evening, as I prayed in my office, I asked the Lord to give me wisdom concerning my finances. I was still seeking the Lord on answered prayer, too, but the finances were my greatest concern. Suddenly the Lord spoke to me! It was not an audible voice but was that still small voice from within that we often fail to hear because we simply have not been listening. The Lord, through the Holy Spirit, told me three things in quick succession. As I enquired as to the needed wisdom, the Lord said,

“You can have this wisdom for which you ask; but you must first have a prayer language.”

This, as a Fundamental Independent Baptist, disturbed me greatly. I did not believe in speaking in tongues nor did I wish to believe. I knew what that would mean for a Baptist. My problem was, however, I understood what God was telling me. I had been doing business with Charismatics for a number of years. Plus, I often listened to the radio as I worked and many times I chose to listen to Charismatic Bible teachers because they taught so much on prayer. I ignored them, however, when they taught on tongues and healing. I was familiar therefore with the term (prayer language). Thus, when the Holy Spirit used that term, I knew exactly what God was saying.

The second thing the Lord revealed to me that evening out in my office had to do with money, I thought. It was only some time later, a couple of years later to be exact; that I realized He had not been referring to money at all. The Lord said, “I have a treasure in Heaven reserved for you.” Since I assumed that referred to money, I figured my problems were over. When I filed for bankruptcy, however, a year later; I knew I had been wrong.

The third thing the Lord revealed to me that night had to do with His will for my life. When I accepted the first two revelations as God’s will, I then enquired as to what I would do in the area of ministry. He immediately revealed, “You will be an intercessor.” I understood the word, of course but I did not know what an intercessor really was; but I figured it had something to do with prayer.

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This prayer meeting I had with the Lord took place in May of 1985. Finally, on July 8, 1985, I began to fast for three days to gain a better understanding of what God wanted me to do with my business. I was doing well but something was not right. I began to fast; asking the Lord more about my business and on the side I additionally questioned Him concerning speaking in tongues.

I had been doing high speed cassette duplication for a number of churches and evangelist around the country for several years. Many Charismatics came to me for such work and I made many friends that way. There were two women I came to know very well since they came weekly to bring master tapes of their pastor’s Sunday messages for duplication. The quality of these lady’s personal testimonies was impeccable. Plus they always seemed to believe God and they seemed to understand prayer.

As I began my three day fast, I asked the Lord to help me find someone I could trust concerning the subject of tongues. These two ladies I believed were honest and although I perhaps would not agree with everything they might say on the subject, I believed God’s will was for me to talk with one of them. The problem was, I did not know how to get in touch with either one. One was living with her husband and family in Saudi Arabia where they worked for an American company. I tried calling her pastor but I had the wrong name of their church and could not locate him. The second lady I tried calling but I had an old number in my file.

To make a very long story short, the lady living in town was located through someone I had only recently met. I spoke with her on the telephone one afternoon and told her of my fast and for what I was seeking. We prayed together over the phone that God would show me the answers to my questions and that was it.

On the second day of my fast, the lady from Saudi Arabia called me on the telephone. They were back in the states for a couple of weeks on personal business and she wanted me to copy a few cassettes for her. I quickly told her of my desire to speak with her and we made arrangements to get together.

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On the third day of my fast, I got out my Bible and read I Corinthians 12, 13, and 14 for the umpteenth time and concluded that I most certainly did not understand those chapters. I told the Lord, however, that if Paul was trying to tell us that tongues was not for today, and that in fact tongues would pass away, he negated a lot of the Holy Spirit’s time telling the Corinthians how tongues were to be used both in their personal life and in the church. [Forbid not to speak with tongues, I Cor. 14:39]. When? Until the last apostle died? I made a commitment with the Lord that I would receive this gift of tongues if indeed it was for today and if He would make it real in my life.

Late that evening, my friend who now lived and worked in Saudi Arabia came for her cassettes and took time to pray and lay hands on me. Nothing happened! Absolutely nothing! After she left, I locked up the house and went to bed at 11:00 P.M. more baffled than ever before.

As I lay in bed thinking of all that had happened, I confessed to the Lord that I simply did not understand. Just before drifting off, I remember telling the Lord that as I was physically blind, perhaps I was spiritually blind to the truth? I requested He open those spiritual eyes that I might see clearly and fell asleep. Paul prayed: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe” (Eph. 1:17-19). I fell asleep thinking these thoughts and I believed God to reveal His truth to me as I requested. 17 Less than thirty minutes later, I awoke, laying on my stomach, propped

up on my elbows; gasping for breath. I was on fire! “Hey! You’re having a heart attack,” I thought. The second that thought entered my mind, a voice clearly said, “No you aren’t.” I lowered myself to the bed and tossed and turned wondering why I was so restless. My frustration was again present but I quickly drifted back into sleep.

Less than thirty minutes again passed and I awoke but this time because I heard someone talking in the room. “One of the children?” As I brought, forced, myself to awareness to see who was speaking in my bedroom in the middle of the night; I suddenly realized it was my own voice. I tried coming awake quickly so I could hear what I was saying. It was not English! The more awake I became, however, the less I spoke and by the time I had fully awakened, I was no longer speaking.

I lay in bed wondering if I simply had gone off the deep end psychologically; or was this something spiritual? A few weeks later I would be accused of that very thing, going off the deep end psychologically, but at the time I wondered myself if it were not indeed true. Had I become so emotionally worked up over this whole issue that I was now talking in my sleep? But I had heard something, hadn’t I?

Getting out of bed, I went to the living room and knelt at the couch. I prayed. “God, if that was you, if it was real, let it return.” Moments past again and nothing happened. I returned to bed after a few minutes and lay thinking/praying. Again I jumped from bed and returned to the living room to pray. I repeated this process numerous times until 1:30 A.M. when I finally returned to bed for the last time. Dropping to the bed, I pulled the covers around me and told God how spiritually frustrating He was.

As I lay in bed retracing the events of recent days, for the umpteenth time, I suddenly became aware of musical notes being played; as though someone was playing an instrument far off in the distance. I stopped to listen. Yes, they were there alright but where were they? I listened closely. Were they coming from outdoors? “Oh, the next door neighbor was coming home late again. It was his car radio playing…that was it.” They grew louder and more distinct. Suddenly I realized they were not coming from outside but inside…inside me! It was as though I were singing or humming to myself. Funny though…I wasn’t singing or humming.

As I lay listening, the notes; perhaps thirty or so in number, continued playing the same song, pattern, over-and-over again. Before long, the sound filled my mind and fully captured my attention. They were so clear, so well formed, and were somehow comforting.

As I listened closely, I suddenly realized they were not musical notes but…words! As though someone were speaking a foreign language and repeating the same sentence over and over again. I listened, not understanding, but fascinated by the sounds.

Eventually, after hearing these words, sounds, again-and-again; I realized I could probably say them myself. They were clear and distinct and although foreign to me, I knew I could say them. I opened my mouth, as I lay in bed, and repeated what I heard a few times word-for-word. Yes! I could say them and as I did, the words being spoken in my thoughts began to fade. My voice fell silent and I lay wondering at what had happened. Was it real? As I fell asleep once again, I wondered if I would be able to remember the words I had heard in the morning.

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When I awoke, I had forgotten the words…forgotten, that is, all but the first couple of words; which, I might add, totalled perhaps seven or eight syllables. I said them once and awhile during the day; feeling silly, of course, whenever I did so; but I still wondered.

Finally I picked up the telephone and called a Charismatic counseling ministry with which I was familiar from radio programs. I related my story to the Christian Brother on the phone and he, of course, said he believed I had been filled with the Spirit and had received the gift of tongues. I explained I had been filled with the Spirit three years earlier but had not believed in the gift of tongues until now. I now know that God never gives us anything unless we first believe Him for it.

The counsel I received over the telephone convinced me what I had was real. After hanging up, I sat at my office desk and opened my mouth in praise – expecting to speak this language – and did so through my tears of joy for fifteen minutes without stopping.

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I knew this tongues thing was going to be a problem for me as a Baptist. I couldn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t share the blessings of God with Brethren. I had no one with which to share this beatific joy. I couldn’t let it be known how God had worked in my life over a three year period to bring spiritual fruition; and I certainly could not ask any questions. I began to worry about what I would do.

Less than two months after receiving my prayer language, I picked up the telephone once again to call area churches to see if any of them had home Bible study groups in my part of town. I was afraid to go to a Charismatic church itself and perhaps a Bible study would help me gain answers to many questions before getting in too deep. I was still fearful of Charismatics and did not want to be influenced by anyone with false doctrine.

Hanging up the phone, after speaking to another church and running into a dead end, I prayed and simply told God there had to be somebody around with which I could fellowship. I told the Lord, “I don’t know whom to trust or where to go; so you bring them to me.” Twenty-four hours later they came.

I had been in the cassette duplicating business for a number of years and did so, not only for my own church, but for others as well. Often individuals called our church and were referred to me so the copies could be mailed to them directly. After receiving one such call, I began to write the address given to me by the church’s secretary who was ordering the tapes. It was not a Baptist church! I thought that was strange; thus I inquired as of their nature – doctrine. They were Charismatic! To make a long story short, I was invited to one of their monthly Saturday night mens meetings and six months later felt God leading me to leave the Baptist church.

This change was perhaps one of the most difficult decisions in my entire life. All I knew was Baptist everything. I also knew, from past testimonies, that leaving the Baptist church for a Charismatic church, insured loss of friends, ridicule, and suspicion of one’s salvation. Although some Baptist friends remained, it was different now. Some concluded, I had gone to the other side. I had forsaken the Word. I no longer was a fundamentalist; so fellowship simply was not possible.

During the six months I sought to determine God’s will, I studied my new found Christian friends arduously. I examined their Christian testimonies. Were they genuine? Were they just positive thinkers? Were they spiritual extremists? Were they hiding what they really were – fakes? I likewise put them through the mill doctrinally. I was amazed and shocked! I was unable to find a single doctrine that we disagreed upon; except, of course, the doctrine of tongues; if you count tongues. How could this be? I had always been taught, and believed it, too, that if you were wrong in one doctrine, you were no doubt wrong in others. I could not find this to be true with these Christians. Indeed, after six months of examination, I found nothing different in what they believed as independent Charismatics and what I believed as an independent Baptist.

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I feel the necessity to make reference to the greatest and most significant change which occurred as a result of receiving the gift of tongues. I began, immediately, to get answers to my prayers. In fact, within six months, after beginning to speak in tongues; I received more answers to my prayers than since I had been born again. I’m not exaggerating! Prayer began to work and work consistently.

While visiting with one of my older sisters on the telephone one day, shortly after receiving my prayer language, she asked me, “What is the greatest benefit gain from being filled with the Spirit and speaking in tongues? Why do we need it?” I, without hesitation, said, “Answered prayer.” The greatest blessing, the greatest benefit, the most rewarding aspect, of receiving the gift of tongues is, for me, indeed answered prayer. I am not taking the time now to Biblically examine this aspect of tongues but it is certainly noteworthy. If you are not getting your prayers answered on a regular, consistent, and perpetual bases, something is wrong.

21

While still sitting in the Baptist Sunday school one morning in my Pastor’s adult Bible class, I began to write down things that came to mind on the subject of prayer. I had been praying for nearly two years asking God what it met to ask, believe, have faith, and to receive answers to my prayers. I felt these were the intrinsic elements to understanding prayer. As I meditated that morning during Sunday School, God began to reveal the meanings of those four words. I took notes all during Sunday School and the service to follow. I ran home and sat down at my desk and began to take more notes. I took notes off-and-on for hours until late that night. Seven messages came from those notes as God revealed to me how to pray and more importantly, how to pray to get my prayers answered.

As I began to study prayer, the Spirit revealed prayer is “Breathing in the Spirit.” That is, as natural as physical breathing is to the body; so should prayer be to every Believer. The messages, seven in all, which the Lord gave me on prayer; I have called exactly that: “Breathing In The Spirit.” If prayer is not this natural, begin to seek God and while you are seeking Him, be filled with the Spirit, too.

22

I mentioned earlier that God had revealed I was to be one of His intercessors. Although I will not take time to address this subject now, this ministry; revealed to me as God’s will, began to take shape after receiving the gift of tongues. In a few short weeks, God began to reveal, both through His Word and through others, just exactly what an intercessor was and what they do. The primary job of an intercessor is to help others get prayers answered – Matthew 18:19. This wonderful privilege began to take an important aspect in my life as I began to minister to and for others.

23

Three years after the Lord revealed to me His will, I was given opportunity to pastor. God had revealed three things to me in May of 1985; of which the first and third revelations had come true: I was speaking in tongues and I was beginning my ministry as an intercessor. The third revelation, however; that God had a “treasure in Heaven in reserve for me,” had not come to pass. After waiting for about a year for the second revelation to come true, I suddenly realized that perhaps the Lord had not been referring to money at all.

In the fall of 1987, the Lord moved me from the church to which He had led me. I felt uncomfortable about leaving. I loved the new Brothers and Sisters in the Lord that God had given me and indeed had no desire to leave them. God clearly revealed to me, however, that He had me on a different path and I was to depart.

Less than a year after joining another Fellowship, the Lord allowed me to pastor some of His people. After a few months of such ministry, I suddenly recalled His promise: “I have a treasure in Heaven reserved for you.” Could this possibly be it? It was so. I had felt the call to be a pastor in mid 1979 and after three years of trying to find a church, I gave up. No one seemed to want a blind pastor. Now that had changed. God had given me a “treasure” – a group of Brothers and Sisters in the Lord who all wanted the same thing I wanted – to serve God together.

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Now, before concluding, we need to study doctrine. This booklet is primarily for Baptists, or anyone, who has questioned the validity of tongues as a doctrine for today’s New Testament church. We, as baptists, had always been taught that the sign of tongues was restricted to the days of the apostles and that, in fact, tongues passed away with the last apostle. We had been taught that those who spoke in tongues today were not only doctrinally in error but were possibly demon possessed. If not possessed; certainly demonically influenced. Some Baptists, over the years, have wisely refrained from accusing Charismatics of being demon possessed. After all, who wants to be guilty of committing the unpardonable sin – attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to the Devil: (See Matt. 12:22-32). We changed such opinion, therefore, to simply accusing Charismatics of being emotionally and psychologically confused. We said they spoke in tongues after being hyped in a service. Funny…I was sound asleep when I began to speak in tongues; not in a church service. Hype?

The purpose of this story is not to doctrinally address all the avenues of theological controversy on the subject of speaking in tongues. I have written on the subject and, of course, many others have done likewise. I do feel it necessary, however, to spend some time addressing the doctrine directly. As I do so, I have chosen not to refer to I Corinthians 14, the most ostentatious passage on tongues, but rather a passage always over looked by we Baptists. I believe all arguments can be stilled from one text and thus I quote it here: But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and harken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Acts 2:14-21). 25

Every independent Baptist is familiar with Acts 2. The very chapter we referred to for disproving tongues, is also the very one which doctrinally confirms tongues is for today. “How?” Look at the passage again. Peter quoted Joel and the prophet Joel prophesied concerning the “last days” (Acts 2:17), “And it shall come to pass in the last days…” Ask yourself “Are we living in the (last days)?” No Bible believing Baptist would deny we are living in the “last days.” Why, then, do we deny tongues is for today? Joel, and Peter for that matter, both confirmed that this “pouring out of God’s Spirit” is during the “last days.”

The next thing which usually happens when pointing this out in Peters sermon, is that we, as Baptists, would always try to say, “Oh, but this is a reference to the tribulation…See…(blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke…and the sun turning dark and the moon to blood). That’s the tribulation!” Sure it is! Peter, however, was making reference to the entire period, from where he was standing in time, clear down through the tribulation until Jesus comes. In fact, that is exactly what he, Peter, said: “Before that great and notable day of the Lord come” (Acts 2:20). These things, all these things: the sun turning dark, the moon turning red, the fire, the vapor, and the pouring out of God’s Spirit, all will occur before the return of our Lord. Read it! That’s what it says.

Before we attempt to try explaining any of this away, Peter confirms this period of time by saying, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). There it is! Peter confirmed that the period of time to which he was referring would be those days in which it was possible for people to confess Jesus as Lord to receive eternal salvation. Ask yourself this question: “Can people call upon the name of the Lord to be saved today?” If so, we are in the “last days.” We thus are in that period of time whereby the Holy Spirit is poured out.

Peter stood on the edge of spiritual revelation, as he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and looked down through time. He saw what Joel had seen. They both say the days in which the lost can call upon the name of the Lord for their salvation are called the “last days.” They both saw this was the period of time when the Holy Spirit would minister on earth. They both saw this ministry of the Spirit involving salvation, prophesying by both men and women, young and old; visions and dreams. Peter called them “the last days.” We either see it as they did or we deny the power of the Holy Spirit to be in evidence in the “last days.” We are either in the last days as Believers today or we are not. If we are not, Jesus has already come. If we are, the pouring out of the Spirit; and all that means, is still for today and, indeed, we should be expecting and experiencing it.

26

Most of us as Baptist attempted to disproved the teaching of tongues by ridiculing the Charismatics for teaching there was a “Baptism of the Spirit.” We taught, and believed, that no such thing exists in Scripture except that we are all “baptized” by the Spirit into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation. Charismatics believe this, too, of course; but we never bothered to discover this as Baptists.

Ephesians 1:13 confirms that we receive, are born of, the Holy Spirit at the moment of confessing Jesus as Lord; thus are baptized into the Body of Christ. Every Charismatic I know believes we indeed receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. Acts 2, on the other hand, demonstrates that the baptism of the Spirit is something different – the power of God. “Oh, really?” Yes! You see, Jesus told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were filled with the Spirit (Acts 1:8), and they did so. When it happened, they spoke in tongues as one of the signs of this power (Acts 2:4). As you know, they also did many other signs and miracles in the days, weeks, months, and years to follow. Why? They believed what Peter said in Acts 2:14-21 to be true…they were in the last days before the coming of our Lord.

As instructed, Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem for the filling of the Spirit. He, Jesus, called this “filling of the Spirit” the “baptism of the Spirit.” (See Acts 1:1-8.) If Jesus called what happened in Acts 2:4 the “baptism of the Spirit,” is it wrong for us to do so today?

Peter likewise confirmed that our Lord called this the “baptism of the Spirit” when he explained to the Jerusalem leadership as to his reasons why he had preached this Gospel to the Gentiles at Cornelius’s house. [See Acts 11:16]. I suggest you take the time to read Acts chapters 10 and 11 to see the context. The baptism of the Spirit, in this passage, is unequivocally referred to as when the Holy Spirit is poured out as a gift of power upon those who hear and believe the Word.

In short, Ephesians 1:13, when compared with the teaching of Jesus in John 3, is being “born of the Spirit.” Acts 2:4, on the other hand, is being “filled with the Spirit. Are they two different things? Yes – two different things.

27

I wish there were time and room in this booklet to address I Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. This is, however, primarily my personal testimony of how God has worked in my life and thus I simply cannot take the time to address those chapters. I will point out, however, that Paul told the Corinthian Christians: “forbid not to speak in tongues.” He did not say, nor does it say anywhere in Scripture, “Forbid not to speak in tongues until the last apostle dies.” To say, therefore, that tongues is unbiblical and unscriptural is simply not interpreting God’s Word correctly. Those who have interpreted thus must make provision for their interpretation by suggesting such has passed away or simply died with the last apostle. Why not just say, “I refuse to believe.”

Consider these questions: Why are Charismatics interested in seeing the lost born again? Why do they believe in the return of Christ as Baptists? Why do Charismatics preach against sin? Why do they practice water baptism by emersion? Why, and how, do Charismatics get their prayers answered? These are all questions which demand answers. If the power of God is not through the filling of the Holy Spirit, why does Acts 1:8 say it is? If speaking in tongues is not for today, why did Peter say it was and should be expected to be in evidence during the “last days?” The only answer is the obvious. You can, and should be, filled with the Spirit today. You can, and should, speak in tongues today. If, on the other hand, you say that being filled with the Spirit is merely by demonstrating your faithfulness to Him through obedience, then you are living by works and not walking by the Spirit. If you say the “baptism of the Spirit” means we are born into the body of Christ, then, where is the promised power we read about in Acts 1:8? The greatest witness of one filled with the Holy Spirit is power. Did tongues reveal the power of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the lives of the apostles in Acts 2? Did the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead, the prophesying, and the salvation of thousands demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit had come upon them? Yes! Then why is it not true for us today? According to Peter and Joel; it is!

I wish I could speak with each of you individually after reading this story. Since this is not possible, I simply encourage you to seek God and to pray concerning this teaching in God’s Word. If the Lord did not ordain the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself in power during the last days, Peter’s interpretation of Joel’s prophecy was incorrect and He misled the hearers of his message on the day of Pentecost; not to mention those of us today who are Bible Believers.

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How is one filled with the Spirit? Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem till they were baptized, filled, with the Spirit. They first had to be in the place He had appointed. Are you born again? If so, you are in the appointed place.

Secondly, they had to believe God’s Word. The Lord never gives us anything without our commitment of belief in His Word. Do you believe God? If you do not believe Acts 2 is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit filling Believers and giving them the gift of tongues in evidence of Holy Spirit power, you cannot be filled with the Spirit with the evidence of tongues.

Being filled with the Spirit is like being born again as far as the action is concerned. First we confess with our mouth and then we believe, commit, in our hearts. If one desires to be filled with the Spirit, first confess with your mouth your desire. Then believe. Believing is nothing more than a commitment to walk in what you have confessed with your mouth.

What should you expect? We should expect power (acts 1:8). Such power was revealed by the speaking in tongues: (languages), the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead, the casting out of demons, and the salvation of many souls – not necessarily in that order. If we claim the power of God, in relationship to the power of the Holy Spirit, for souls to be saved; why ignore, disbelieve, the other?

“Do I have to speak in tongues?” No! You may find this difficult to believe, but many Charismatics do not speak in tongues. “Why do it then?” May I answer that question with a question? Why would you not desire something God is trying to give you? Why refuse something Jesus gave His life for and said He desires us to have as a gift? Why only receive what we think we need or want? Why not receive all that the Holy Spirit was sent to give? Furthermore, what would you say to someone being lead to Christ who said they indeed desired salvation but “Do I really have to go to Heaven if I don’t want to?” Silly, isn’t it? Why, then, not receive all that God has given in the person of His Holy Spirit. God’s power is for today and it is revealed, administered, and manifested by His Holy Spirit. We either have it or we do not. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:17-18). Someone right now is saying, “But what about all those Charismatics who

are doctrinally unsound?” If you are a fundamental independent Baptist, I bet you have bumped into many other Baptists who are not doctrinally sound, have you not? In fact, I have met many Baptists, so called, who I believe were not even born again. Does this somehow negate the truth of Scripture? Nor should any Charismatic, so called, keep you from embracing the truth. Forget looking at others and see Jesus through His Word.

CONCLUSION

A few months before being filled with the Holy Spirit as a Baptist in August 1982, we had a Bible conference in our church with several of the nation’s greatest Baptist preachers. I was anxious to hear these great men and hoped one of them might speak on the topic of the Holy Spirit. I was thrilled, when on the first day of the week long conference, the first speaker announced he would teach that Sunday morning and evening on the subject: “Being filled with the Spirit.”

In his first message, he laid the ground work and emphasized the necessity for every Believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I went home that morning, looking forward to the evening service. I knew I needed to be filled with the Spirit and agreed with everything he had said in his first message. “Finally, I am going to find out what it means to be filled with God’s Spirit.” Returning for the evening service, I took my place in the auditorium and prepared to receive from God’s man.

Finally the message began! I listened closely to every word…I didn’t want to miss a thing…this was vital. Near the end of his second message on “Being filled with the Spirit,” he concluded by telling us that one filled with the Spirit was a Christian who did and did not do a certain number of “things.” In another words, he taught that one filled with the Spirit was one who simply had given his life fully to the Lord as a servant and he outlined the qualities of a servant by listing those things we, as Christians, should do and not do.

I went home that night disappointed. Disappointed because I had been doing, and not doing, all those things; and more, for years; that he had mentioned in his message and yet I knew I was not filled with the Spirit. I believed that night I determined in my heart to discover the true Biblical meaning of what it means to be filled with the Spirit. I told the Lord, as I prayed on my knees, “A person like me, Lord, probably can’t be filled with your Holy Spirit, but I want to know what it means nonetheless.”

If you are born again and know Christ as your personal Saviour, you can be filled with the Spirit. It is not how much you can do for God, however, but rather what God can and will do for you through the manifestation of His Holy Spirit. Believe and be filled. How will you know when you have been filled? “you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (Acts 1:8).

THE EKKLESIA

P.O. Box 19454

Denver, Colorado 80219 UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY EKKLESIA; AND THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT. <MATTHEW 16:18> END OF FILE