Receive The Baptism: Who Have Received The Baptism Of The Spirit

We must start by addressing a potential elephant in the room, we live in a time of deception, and there are multitudes of outrageous frauds who pervert the gifts of the Holy Spirit and make merchandise of the things of God. Unfortunately, many gullible sheep follow the crazy antics of these false prophets and embrace their teachings. Part of the problem is that many deceived religious people base their faith on personalities, experiences, and excitement and want their ears tickled with false blessings. But they could care less if the scriptures get twisted and perverted from their pulpits.

We should distance ourselves from all non-Biblical practices or teachings. Before we can separate from deception and error, we must first have knowledge, understanding, and discernment regarding the written Biblical accounts. The purpose of this study is to show what the scriptures teach regarding the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We contend that the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit, first given on the day of Pentecost, have not ceased but will continue to function until the rapture when the church gets removed from the earth.

Here we come to a difference of opinions. Many good Christians believe everyone who accepts Christ is automatically baptized in the Holy Spirit when they say a sinner’s prayer. According to them, the original Apostles received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with all the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit to establish the church. They teach that when the last original Apostle died, all the power and the spiritual gifts also died, ceased to operate, and would never return. That may be why they personally have never had any spiritual experiences after they were born again.

They have a one-and-done attitude, so once they accomplish repeating the sinner's prayer, they are set for life. Some of these same people will slander as demonic and deceived other Christian believers who have received the baptism of the Spirit with speaking in tongues and operate in the gifts of the Spirit. We would beg to differ with the anti-Holy Spirit contingent and contend that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still in operation and have not been discontinued or ceased from functioning in the church. And granted, numerous bizarre and flaky quacks fleece the flock, twist the scriptures, and bring great reproach and shame by claiming false gifts in false ministries. But they do not cancel, void, or negate all the legitimate gifts of the Holy Spirit in humble and sincere servants of God. Our position is that all the promises of God are Yes and Amen in Christ. The gifts are still available and will only cease after the rapture, but until then, the church needs them now more than ever.

Because we are in the end times, our world is changing quickly to line up with Bible prophecy. Jesus said the signs of his return would be like birth pangs, growing in intensity and frequency and globally. All those signs happen at once, and we can see them happening in real-time with wars, food shortages, pandemics, shutdowns, and natural disasters, all leading to a one-world government ruled by the antichrist. Also, there will be a great falling away from Christ, with churches becoming perverted, politically woke, and government-controlled. Eventually, all true believers will have to come out of the dead institutional denominations and fake churches. Thank God we have a blessed hope that Jesus will rapture the church before wrath and judgment hit the earth!