Cooling Twilight

Tag: charismatic

  • A Brief Response to Anti-Charismatics

    A Brief Response to Anti-Charismatics

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    John MacArthur’s Strange Fire conference wrapped up yesterday. This three-day conference centered around the work of the Holy Spirit — or more accurately the lack of the work of the Holy Spirit. MacArthur is a hard cessationist when it comes to the charismata, believing that miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit such as speaking in tongues, healing and prophecy are no longer operative in the Christian church today. Not surprisingly, the conference was surrounded by controversy and heated debate — even Mark Driscoll managed to get in on the action.
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  • The Johannine Pentecost

    The Johannine Pentecost

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    In my post Baptism in the Holy Spirit, I discussed the Biblical basis for understanding Spirit baptism as an initial experience that occurs at conversion. In this post, I’d like to briefly discuss the passage that Pentecostals often refer to first when defending their understanding of baptism in the Holy Spirit:

    On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the disciples had gathered together and locked the doors of the place because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.” And after he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.” (John 20.19−23)

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  • Baptism in the Holy Spirit

    Baptism in the Holy Spirit

    Perhaps the primary doctrinal difference separating Pentecostals and most Charismatics from the rest of Christendom is the doctrine of Baptism in the Holy Spirit. According to their view, Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a singular milestone in the Christian life that occurs subsequent to salvation and is evidenced by speaking in tongues. The Assemblies of God considers Baptism in the Holy Spirit one of their four Core Doctrines and one of their 16 Fundamental Truths:

    All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian Church. With it comes the enduement of power for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry.

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