Oftentimes our denominational friends who do not speak with tongues ask us, “Why do you folks give such prominence to speaking with other tongues?”
Well, the answer is that we don’t! However, there are several reasons
that make it seem like we do. One reason is the fact that those outside of
Full Gospel circles are always asking us about the subject and compelling us to discuss it! Here are a few other reasons it seems like we give prominence to speaking in tongues:
1. Speaking with other tongues is always manifested when
one is baptized with the Holy Ghost. It is the supernatural evidence of the Holy Spirit’s infilling in a person’s life. (We’ll
talk further about this later.)
2. The spiritual gifts of tongues and interpretation of tongues are distinctive of this dispensation in which we live (1 Cor. 12:1-11).
3. The Apostle Paul gave prominence to the subject of tongues. In fact, in his first letter to the Corinthian church, he wrote quite a bit about it. (See First Corinthians 14.) Why did Paul give so much prominence to tongues? Because then, as now, the subject was much misunderstood. We’re going to cover a lot of ground as we explore what
God’s Word says about the infilling of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. But first, I want to address some of the common objections people have against this subject
of tongues.
Objection #1: ‘Jesus didn’t speak in tongues, so I don’t have to either.’
It’s true that although you will find all the other seven gifts of the Spirit manifested in the earthly ministry of Jesus, you won’t find tongues and interpretation operating in His ministry. You also won’t find speaking with other tongues or interpretation of tongues in demonstration in the Old Testament (although you will find this gift prophesied about in Isaiah 28:11-12). These two gifts of the Spirit are distinctive of this Holy Spirit Dispensation, or age, which began with the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on
the Day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. Jesus mentioned this new gift that God would give to His people under the New Covenant. In Mark 16:17-18, Jesus
declared that five supernatural signs are to follow believers, and one of them is that “… they shall speak with new tongues” (v. 17). Some folks endeavor to explain that verse away by saying, “Well,
that just means you used to curse and tell vulgar jokes before you were saved, but now you don’t do that anymore. Or you used to lie, but now you don’t lie anymore.” It’s true that you shouldn’t be doing those things, especially once you’re a child of God, but that is not what this
scripture is talking about. All five of these signs listed in Mark 16:17-18 are supernatural. Believers shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover—
supernaturally. They will cast out devils—by the supernatural power of God. If they drink any deadly thing or take up a serpent, it will not harm them—because of God’s supernatural protection. Now, of course, that doesn’t mean you can handle deadly serpents just to prove something. But you can be supernaturally protected like Paul was when he accidentally picked up a deadly viper along with an
armful of wood on the island of Melita (Acts 28:3-5). The serpent bit Paul on the hand, but he just shook it off into the fire, and the poison had no effect on him. If four of these five signs mentioned in Mark 16 are supernatural, does it make sense that God would add one more sign and make it natural? No! Besides, Jesus did not say, “A few believers will speak with other tongues.” He clearly implied that all believers should do so. Why is it, then, that most believers do not speak with other tongues? I’m sure we could find a number of reasons why this is true. Sometimes the reason is pertinent to the individual. In other words, some people have their own personal reasons for not speaking in tongues. However, I’m also sure of the number-one reason: There has been very little sound, logical, and scriptural teaching as to the scope and the value of speaking with tongues. As a result, many folks are not cognizant of this gift that God has made available to them. They just don’t realize the value of speaking in tongues—because if they did, they would all want to do it!
Objection #2: ‘Tongues are of the devil.’
When I was just a young boy preacher, I would fellowship with the Pentecostals because they believed in divine healing. I
had been healed and raised up from a deathbed by the power of God, and it strengthened my faith in healing to fellowship with others of like-precious faith. As a result, my denominational
colleagues were deeply concerned about me, and they would warn me about “those Pentecostal people.” They spoke in all sincerity and honesty, but with minds befuddled with unscriptural theological concepts. I remember in particular the words of one Bible teacher, a graduate of a denominational seminary. He said to me, “I admit that almost everything those Full Gospel people teach and preach is fundamental and right. And I’ll also admit that they live better lives than we do in our church. But that speaking in
tongues is of the devil!”
I didn’t answer this man right then, but I thought to myself, How in the world can people get something from the devil that makes them better? I thought it was always the other way around! Isn’t it the
devil that tries to make people do bad things and the Holy Ghost who helps them to do right? That unscriptural thinking reminds me about something that happened to a fellow from east Texas who was wild before he got saved
in his early thirties. As a boy, he had attended a denominational church,
although he had never gotten saved. But once he hit his teenage years, the young man went wild and began to frequent bars every night. Any sin you want to mention, this man did it in his younger years, from drinking and cussing to brawling and fighting. In fact, there were
some nights when he’d whip everyone who challenged him and clear out the bar! They’d have to call in two or three squad cars to come and take him to jail. This young man was tough!
Years later, some Full Gospel people started witnessing to this man,
and he got saved, baptized in the Holy Ghost, and spoke with other tongues. The church he’d attended as a child just left him alone during the more than 20 years he’d been so wild. The pastor hadn’t bothered to visit him even once. But all of a sudden, the pastor who had ignored
him for all those years came to visit the man with deep concern—because he’d “gotten something from the devil.”
It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic! That man told me personally what happened during the pastor’s
visit. He said, “I let the pastor talk for a while, but when he said, ‘That
speaking in tongues is of the devil,’ I stopped him and said, ‘Wait a minute, Pastor. I know that tongues isn’t of the devil, because I had everything the devil could give me when I was a sinner. If tongues were of the devil, I would have had it long ago! But I didn’t receive this
gift until I turned my back on the devil and got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost!'” No matter how much the pastor tried, he couldn’t talk that man out of speaking in tongues. The man knew he had received that gift from God.
As for me, the moment I was filled with the Holy Ghost and began speaking with other tongues, I went looking for that Bible teacher who had told me that tongues were of the devil. In times
past, he would always bring up the subject, but this time I brought it up because I wanted to get something over to him. Once again, the Bible teacher warned me about “those Pentecostal folks.” Again he told me, “That speaking with tongues is of the devil!”
I replied, “Now wait a minute—stop right there. You say that speaking with tongues is of the devil?” “That’s right!” “Well,” I said, “if tongues is of the devil, then so is our entire denomination!”
The man’s eyes got as big as saucers. He looked like he’d seen a ghost! Finally he sputtered, “What are you talking about?”
I said, “You know I’ve been filled with the Holy Ghost and speak with other tongues. Well, the same Holy Spirit I got
acquainted with in our denomination, the same Spirit who recreated my spirit and witnessed to my spirit that I am a child of God—that’s the same Holy Spirit who gave me utterance in other tongues down at the Full Gospel church when I was filled with the Spirit!
“The Pentecostals don’t have a different Holy Spirit than we have. He isn’t twins or triplets or quadruplets or quintuplets.
There is only one Holy Ghost! It’s identically the same Spirit— just a different dimension.” “Oh no, no!” he protested. “That isn’t right.” I said, “You’re a Bible scholar, aren’t you?” “Oh yes, I’m a seminary graduate and have taught the Bible for 25 years.” “So let me ask you something,” I said. “Have you ever spoken with other tongues?” “No, of course not,” the man said. “Then how do you know what Spirit is behind it?” I asked. “You say you know the Bible. Then you must know the proverb that says a man who answers a matter before he hears it is a fool [Prov. 18:13].
According to that proverb, you’re being foolish right now! “I’m the only one qualified to speak on the subject of tongues in this conversation,” I continued. “You’re not qualified to comment unless you’ve spoken with tongues. If you had, you could tell me what Spirit gave you that utterance. But I can tell you right now that it’s the same
Holy Ghost. I didn’t receive any strange or new spirit. He is identically the same Spirit I had all the time. When I got filled with the Spirit, I just experienced a greater measure of the Holy Ghost. So if speaking with tongues is of the devil, our entire denomination is of the devil!”
My words shocked this Bible teacher so much that he opened his mouth a time or two but couldn’t think of anything to say!
Of course, that denomination is not of the devil, and neither is speaking with tongues! It’s all of the Holy Ghost. Speaking in tongues just opens you up to a deeper dimension of the same Spirit. You can go deeper in God if you want to!
Now, here’s something I want to get over to you along this line: If you’re a child of God and ask to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit, you’re not going to get something else.
I remember a Bible teacher from another church who had come to my meeting to get filled with the Holy Spirit. Before I
prayed for him, he said to me, “Now, Brother Hagin, I’ll just be honest with you ahead of time. I’ve been studying the Bible, and I’ve begun to see that tongues are not of the devil. But I’m still having trouble with it. I guess it’s the way I’ve been taught against tongues for so long. Can you tell me how I can know that
I won’t receive the wrong spirit when we pray?” This man had heard all kinds of stories about people receiving false spirits when they prayed for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. As a young denominational preacher, I had heard
all those tales myself before I received the baptism in the Holy Ghost in 1937. But since then, in more than 65 years of preaching among Full Gospel people, I never once saw someone receive a
wrong spirit when the person asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit—not one single time. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’ve seen some Spirit-filled folks get in the flesh. But I’d rather have a little wildfire while God is moving than no fire at all! I’d rather have a little disorder than to have the order of a graveyard with nothing happening! This man wanted to be sure he would receive the Holy Spirit
and not some other spirit when we prayed, so I simply read Luke 11:11-13 to him.
LUKE 11:11-13
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT TO THEM THAT ASK HIM? I asked the man, “Do you have any children?”—to which he replied,
“Yes.” Then I asked him, “If your son asked you for a fish, would you give him a serpent? Or if he asked you for an egg, would you offer him a scorpion?”
The man replied, “No, of course not.”
“Neither would God,” I told him. “I want to show you what Jesus was actually talking about in this passage. We can find the answer one chapter earlier in Luke 10:19, where it says, ‘Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.'”
I continued, “You see, Jesus wasn’t talking about literal snakes or actual scorpions here. He was talking about the power of the enemy! He was talking about demons and evil spirits, and that’s what He called
serpents and scorpions.” This lets us know that Jesus was actually saying, “If a son asks for a fish, will his father give him a serpent (an evil spirit)? Or if he asks for an egg, will his father offer him a scorpion (an evil spirit)?” Then I said to the man, “You’re a child of God, and that means God is your Father, right?” “Yes,” he said. “Well,” I said, “Just as you would never give something evil to your children, do you think your Heavenly Father would give you, His child, an evil spirit when you ask Him for His Spirit?”
Do you know what that fellow did when I said that to him? He started laughing—and then he immediately began to speak
in tongues! Once he was released from his fear, I didn’t even have to pray with him to receive the Holy Spirit!
He said, “Brother Hagin, if I’d known what you just told me, I could have been talking in tongues long ago!” That man had been bound up as a result of what he’d heard, missing out on the blessings God had for him. The devil had bombarded his mind with fearful thoughts that he might get the wrong spirit if he prayed for the Holy Spirit’s infilling. That never has to happen to you, friend. You never have to be
afraid to receive the Holy Ghost. But here is what you must always keep in mind: The Word of God will always set you free!
JOHN 8:32
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Jesus didn’t say the truth will bind you. He said the truth of God’s Word will make you free. There is absolutely no danger—none whatsoever—of a
believer receiving the wrong spirit when he asks God to fill him with the Holy Spirit. In fact, I’ll be even plainer about it and say this: If anyone claims he received the wrong spirit when he
asked for the Holy Ghost, he lied about it!
To say that Christians can receive a wrong spirit when they ask for the Holy Spirit is saying that Jesus Christ is a partner to a lie. And I would much rather call a person a liar than to call Jesus a liar. As Romans 3:4 says, ” . . Let God be true, but EVERY man a liar. . .”!
Jesus said, ” . . How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy
Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13). In other words, if you ask for
the infilling of the Holy Spirit, that is exactly what you will get!
Objection #3: ‘Tongues have ceased.’
One time a person came to me and said, “Why, don’t you know that the Bible said tongues have ceased?” I answered, “No, I don’t know that, and you don’t either!” “Oh, yes, I read it in the Bible!”
“All right,” I replied, “if you can give me chapter and verse, I’ll give you a thousand-dollar reward!” Now, I didn’t have the thousand dollars, but I wasn’t afraid. I knew I wouldn’t have to pay the money, because I knew that person couldn’t find any scripture in the Bible
saying tongues have ceased!
The man looked and looked and looked, trying to find a verse that
proved his point. Finally, he gave up searching, and I decided to help
him out. I said, “The verse you’re hunting for is First Corinthians 13:8.”
“Oh, so I’m right that the Bible really does say tongues have ceased!”
I said, “Oh, no. Let’s read it, and I’ll show you what this verse really says.”
1 CORINTHIANS 13:8
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
“When you read the whole verse,” I told this man, “it gives a different understanding to it. You see, it says that tongues shall cease, not that they have ceased. It also says that prophecies shall
fail and that knowledge shall vanish away. All of these things are
future tense. So tongues haven’t ceased yet anymore than knowledge has vanished away!”
Then I showed the man the next few verses so he could learn more about what Paul is actually saying about tongues in this passage.
1 CORINTHIANS 13:9-10
9 For we know i n part, and we prophesy i n part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that
which is i n part shall be done away.
Some people use verse 10 to try to forbid tongues. In error
they claim, “When Paul said, ‘when that which is perfect is come,’ he was talking about the Bible. So now that we have the
Bible in its complete form, we no longer need the supernatural gift of tongues!”
But that interpretation of verse 10 doesn’t hold water when you
combine it with verse 12.
1 CORINTHIANS 13:12
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know i n part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. It is obvious that we do not yet see face to face and that we still do see “through a glass, darkly.” It is therefore also evident that prophecies
have not failed, that knowledge has not vanished away, and that tongues have not ceased! The people who try to forbid tongues based on this passage of
Scripture would do well to also read First Corinthians 14:39: “Wherefore,
brethren, covet to prophesy, and FORBID NOT TO SPEAK WITH TONGUES.” The Apostle Paul and the Early Church certainly didn’t forbid people to speak in tongues. In fact, Paul gave a number of
reasons in this chapter to encourage people to speak with tongues, which
is the subject of a later discussion.
Objection #4: ‘Only the apostles could pray for people to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit.’ Some people use Acts 8:14-17 to prove that the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues was only available for
the Early Church as long as the original apostles were still alive. These people mistakenly maintain that only the apostles could minister the baptism in the Holy Spirit to people.
However, this passage in Acts proves the contrary is true.
ACTS 8:14-17
14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem
heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they
sent unto them Peter and John:
15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:
16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized i n the name of the Lord Jesus.)
17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
People who hold to the argument that tongues ceased with the last apostle say, “The apostles received the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost, and then they were able to pass on the Holy Ghost to others. But those folks in turn couldn’t pass the Holy Ghost on to anyone else.
These people contend, “That’s the reason Philip didn’t try to pass the Holy Ghost on to the Samaritans after he got them
saved. Philip couldn’t minister the baptism in the Holy Spirit because he wasn’t one of the original apostles. So Peter and John had to come down to Samaria to lay hands on the new believers to receive the Holy Ghost. But when the last apostle died, the
ability to minister the baptism in the Holy Spirit to others ceased!”
But that argument just isn’t in line with the Word. We are going to
talk at length later about the five recorded instances in the Book of Acts
where people were filled with the Holy Spirit. But I want to make this
particular point here: In two of the five instances where believers
received the Holy Ghost, they received without the laying on of hands.
And on one of the other three occasions, the person who ministered the
baptism in the Holy Spirit wasn’t even an apostle! I’m talking about the
“certain disciple at Damascus” named Ananias (Acts 9:10) who went to
Saul of Tarsus (soon to be called Paul) and laid hands on him that he
might be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17).
Once after preaching at a meeting, I sat down on a chair on the platform and began laying hands on folks as they came by me in a line to be healed and to receive the Holy Spirit.
As I asked each person why he or she had come forward for prayer,
a certain man in the line spoke up and asked, “Do you claim to be an
apostle?” Everyone could hear this man’s question over the
microphone.
“No, I’m not an apostle,” I replied, “and I don’t claim to be one. I’m
sure I don’t have the qualifications.”
“Well, then, what are you doing laying hands on folks to receive the
Holy Ghost?” the man asked me.
Of course, the minute the man said that, I had him located. So I said,
“Oh, I see that you really know your New Testament.”
“Oh, yes! We speak where the New Testament speaks, and we are
silent where it’s silent.”
“All right,” I said. “Now, do you say that the New Testament teaches
that no one but the original apostles could minister the infilling of the
Holy Spirit to people? In other words, do you believe that only the 12
apostles received the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, and not the
120?” “Yes!” the man replied.
“And you also believe that these apostles had the power to
pass the ability to minister the Holy Ghost on to someone else by
laying on of hands—but that when the last apostle died, all of
that ceased?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Well,” I said, “the only difference between me and you is that
you claim to speak where the New Testament speaks and to be
silent where it is silent, but you’re lying about it. On the other
hand, I do speak where it speaks, and I’m silent where it is
silent.”
“What do you mean?” the man asked. “What about Ananias in
Acts 9?” I asked. “Ananias wasn’t an apostle.”
This man said, “I don’t exactly know what you’re talking
about.”
I opened my Bible to Acts 9 and read the following verses:
ACTS 9:10-12,17
10 And there was A CERTAIN DISCIPLE at
Damascus, named Ananias; and to h i m said the Lord
i n a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here,
Lord.
11 And the Lord said unto h i m , Arise, and go into
the street which is called Straight, and inquire i n the
house of judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for,
behold, h e prayeth,
12 And hath seen i n a vision a man named
Ananias coming i n , and PUTTING HIS
HAND ON H I M , that he might receive his
sight. . . .
17 And Ananias went his way, and entered
into the house; and PUTTING H I S HANDS
ON H I M said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even
Jesus, that appeared unto thee i n the way as
thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest
receive thy sight, and BE FILLED WITH THE
HOLY GHOST.
“Now answer me please,” I said to the man, “was Ananias an
apostle?”
“I didn’t know that was in there,” the man said.
“You see, you’d better be careful when you say that you speak where
the New Testament speaks! Nowhere in the Bible does it say that only
apostles can minister the baptism in the Holy Spirit.”
As the man started to walk away, I said, “Wait a minute! Before you
leave, you asked me if I was an apostle and tried to prove that I had no
right to lay hands on folks to receive the Holy Ghost because I am not
an apostle. But I just proved to you from the Word that people who are
not apostles can lay hands on others to receive the Holy Spirit.”
I continued, “You wanted to know by what authority I minister by
the laying on of hands, and I want to tell you. I lay hands on folks to
receive the Holy Ghost by the same authority by which the ‘certain
disciple at Damascus’ named Ananias laid hands on Saul of Tarsus. It
says in verse 10:’… to him [Ananias] said the Lord in a vision
The word disciple just means “a follower of the Lord.” This man Ananias was not an apostle. He was not a prophet. He was not an evangelist. He was not a pastor. He was not a teacher. He was just what you and I would call a “layperson,” and he was directed by the Lord Jesus Himself, the Head of the Church, to
go lay his hands on Saul to receive the Holy Ghost.
I believe God put this account in the Bible because He knew
we’d face this argument from some folks—that only the apostles
could minister the baptism in the Holy Spirit and that when the last apostle died, that was the end of it. People who argue that way are left speechless when they find out what the New Testament actually does say! So I said to the man, “I lay hands on folks to receive the Holy
Ghost because the same Jesus who appeared to Ananias in Damascus told me, ‘I want you to go lay hands on believers to receive the Holy Ghost.’
“That is the authority by which I minister by the laying on of hands—the Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church! If you want to argue and fuss about it, I suggest that you go argue and fuss with Jesus, because He’s the One who told me to do it.” With that, I sent the man on his way.
I want to make one more point about what happened when Jesus told me that He had given me the ministry of laying on of hands for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. I wasn’t necessarily happy about that news. I said to Jesus, “Dear Lord, I get enough criticism just from folks getting filled with the Holy Spirit in my church. As sure as I start laying
hands on people to receive the Holy Spirit, I’ll get criticized even
more! Lord, I don’t believe I want to do that. I just wish You’d give this
ministry to someone else.”
Well, Jesus sure did let me have it on that one! He asked me, “Who
called you? Did I or did people?”
“Well,” I said, “You did!”
Then He asked me, “To whom shall you give an account for your
ministry—unto Me or unto people?” “Why, unto You, Lord!” I said.
Then the Lord said, “It is written that all must stand before the
Judgment Seat of Christ to give an account of the deeds done in the
body [2 Cor. 5:10]. On that day, you will stand before Me and give an
account unto Mel And all those who have criticized your ministry will
also give an account unto Me for what they said about it. After all, it is
My ministry, and when people criticize your ministry of laying on of
hands, they are criticizing Me.”
Jesus continued, “So you leave those people in My hands. They will
have to give an account to Me for what they said. Meanwhile, I have
given this ministry to you, and you’re going to have to give an account
unto Me as to whether you have or have not fulfilled this ministry I
have given to you.”
“Well, Lord, I guess I better do something about it then.”
“Yes, you certainly had,” Jesus replied.
“But what do I tell people?” I asked.
Jesus gave me the three instances in the Book of Acts where people
received the Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands. Then He
simply said to me, “Give people the scriptures.”
So that’s exactly what I’ve done! Thank God for the Word of God! It’s so clear and concise and plain.
Don’t Get in a Pentecostal ‘Rut’
Before Jesus ever gave me the ministry of the laying on of hands, He was using me to get people filled with the Holy Spirit.
In 1939 I was ministering at another pastor’s church, preaching a message on salvation—which, at the time, was the
only message I knew how to preach. Right in the middle of my message, I suddenly began to speak with other tongues. I believe this was only the second or third time I’d ever given a message in tongues in the public assembly. I spoke with tongues three times in succession and interpreted each time. All the interpretations were about the infilling of the Holy Ghost—an entirely different subject than what I was preaching about. God was trying to direct the service in another direction. (We ministers need to sense which way the Holy Spirit is going in our services and just flow with Him!)
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, I found myself doing something I’d never done before. I simply said, “Everyone who has not been filled with the Holy Ghost and wants to be filled, stand to your feet.” Immediately five people leapt to their feet. Standing in the pulpit, I then said to those five people (and it
startled me when I said it!), “Receive the Holy Ghost!” All but one of the five instantly began speaking in tongues. When one woman started speaking in tongues, she was so thrilled that she came out from between the pews and started dancing down the aisle!
The pastor looked at me startled and said, “My, my, my! Why, some
of those people have been seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit for
years! They’ve tarried for hours on end! We’ve struggled with them and
finally just given up on them— particularly this one woman who is so
happy! We’d just given up on her as someone who couldn’t receive the
Holy Ghost. No one would even pray with her anymore.”
No wonder this woman was dancing down the aisles! People had
pulled and tugged and knocked and slapped and cried and hollered for
years, trying to drag this woman into the baptism in the Holy Ghost—and God filled her in a split second! After that service, the pastor asked me to start a week-long revival there—but the revival ended up lasting for a month! God gave us such a powerful revival that the pastor’s Sunday school and church
membership doubled and his finances tripled! I didn’t do all of
that—God did. I just let the Holy Spirit move. I remember one night of that revival in particular. People were
getting filled with the Holy Spirit every night, but on this one night, 12 people came forward to receive the Holy Ghost. That was the largest number to come up for prayer at one time. I wanted to get these 12 out of the spiritual rut they had been stuck in, so I wouldn’t even let them
kneel at the altar. We can all get in certain spiritual ruts, even with scriptural acts such as kneeling to pray. That doesn’t mean kneeling in prayer isn’t good to do. After all, Paul said in Ephesians 3:14, “… I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and I myself like to kneel when I pray.
But we can get in a rut where we seek God only in a certain way, until
eventually we might find ourselves no longer making any spiritual
progress.
That’s what has happened with many in the Pentecostal and Charismatic circles. As people seek God to receive the Holy Spirit, they often get used to “doing it the way our church has always done it,” such as kneeling at the altar to pray. Then too often they start praising God from their heads, parroting what they have heard others say rather than praising Him from their hearts—and that’s as far as they ever get. I call it the “Pentecostal rut.” It’s a rut many people have a very difficult time getting out of! So I instructed these 12 who came forward to receive the Holy Spirit to stand in front of the altar. Then I told them, “Receive the Holy Ghost!”—and every one of them started speaking in tongues all at the same time! It happened at the snap of a finger; they all received. I didn’t touch them or lay hands on them at all.
Throughout the 1940s, this was the primary way the Holy Spirit used me to minister the baptism in the Holy Spirit (and He’s continued to work with me that way at times throughout my ministry). Most of the time I wouldn’t lay hands on the people. I’d just have them come and stand in front of the altar. Then I’d tell them to receive the Holy Ghost, and they would receive. So you can see that biblically and spiritually, you don’t have to be one of the early apostles to lead someone into the baptism in the Holy Spirit. You don’t even have to be a minister. Today believers all over the world are helping people get filled with the Holy Spirit, just as a certain disciple named Ananias did
long ago! These are just four of the most common objections people use to
oppose speaking with other tongues because they don’t know what the
Word says about it. As we go further in our discussion on this subject,
we’ll address other questions and misconceptions that commonly arise.
But here is the bottom line to remember as we study this or any other area of our spiritual walk: The closer we stay with the Word of God, the more correct we will be in whatever we do.