The End, Closer Then You Think

31 January 2016

Dear Phyllis,

I am going to stick my neck out today and do something dangerous. I am not a prophet. The vast percentage of my predictions are off the mark. But we are one year away from inaugurating a new president and I am going to offer out my opinion of the way I see things at this point.

It is not idle speculation to suggest Barack Hussein O. (as Rush Limbaugh calls him) is a Muslim. His connection with the Muslim Brotherhood has been well in-controversially documented. I saw a You Tube the other night showing how he has stacked several high government positions with men who are clearly Muslim Brotherhood. It would take several pages to describe all of that.

Hillary's shot at the presidency is clearly in the hands of Obama. and Loretta Lynch at the Justice Department. It is abundantly clear that the FBI has overwhelming evidence of multiple criminal offense that would guarantee Hillary a well fitting orange suit and government housing for several years. The only question is whether or not Obama will give the nod. That is a flip of the coin. Indications at the moment are that he won't. But it is well known that there is extremely bad blood between the Clintons and Obamas. It is also well known that the most influential person in Washington today is Valerie Jarrett who is Obama's closest adviser. Ed Klein is perhaps the best well informed journalist who has reliable information about the inside of the Clinton family. He has written two books defaming Obama, The Amateur and the Blood Feud. Klein says that Valerie Jarrett despises Hillary and has a six point plan to torpedo her. One point obviously was when the leftist New York Times was the news paper that broke the story about Hillary using her private e-mail server. That leak must have come from Valerie Jarrett. If what Ed Klein suggests happens Hillary is toast.

But what will that do to the Democrat presidential candidate? Every one acknowledges that the thing Obama wants the most is someone to continue Obama #3. The best shot for that is Joe Biden. If Hillary is indited, I feel it is a given that Joe Bidden will probably be the one with the golden mantle. The Republicans have never had better men on the agenda, but if the country is too far gone to elect a decent man there is a strong possibility that the Democrat nominee will win.

I say all this as an introduction. A week ago I wrote you a letter explaining my altered eschatology position, but deleted it in favor of writing about John Cathcart. In it I explained that I have changed my position on three major points. Number one is that I am sure Joel Richardson is right about the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar vision (Dan. 2:41-43), who obviously are the ten kings in Dan. 7:20, 24. Rev. 13:1; 17:12, 16. I believe the overwhelming weight of scripture is on the side of an Islamic caliphate rather than the EU. Secondly I now believe that Ez. 38 & 39 is Armageddon rather than at the beginning of the seven year tribulation. I believe Ez. 39:17-20 and Rev. 19:17, 18, 21 settles that argument. And I believe that Gog is clearly the anti-christ (Ez. 38:1). That means that the anti-christ is a Muslim.

The other night I was surfacing You Tube and ran across an interesting video of a 15 year old Israeli boy who died, went to heaven, and came back to life to tell us what he saw. You Tube is full of this non-sense but this one was interesting. This was not some home-done You Tube made in somebody's bedroom or study, but was a well documented recent interview done in a synagogal in Jerusalem. The video was a secular Jewish boy who knew nothing about the Torah or the Bible. I am sure he had never heard a thing about what the Bibles says about end time, but what he shared of the things he saw are like it was taken straight out of the Bible. He said he saw a major war breaking out very soon. It would be World War 3 on steroids. Millions would be killed. He said all the nations of the world would be gathered against Israel. The IDF (Israeli Defense Force) would hold out for two days but then gets over run. The thing that excited me so much was what he was reporting was exactly to what I had written in my deleted PB letter two weeks ago. What I put in that letter was not my opinion but I was quoting Zech. 14:1, 2. The astounding thing was, what this boy was describing is exactly the way it is written in Zech. 14. He said when Israel gets overrun and Jerusalem taken, at the most critical moment, the Messiah will come. And when He comes He will land on the Mt. of Olives which will split in two, exactly the way that Zech. 14:4 describes. Then Israel will be saved and the Messiah will set up His Kingdom that will rule the world (Dan. 2:44; Zech. 14:9; Rev. 20:4). Sound familiar? And there was no way this boy had ever heard of such things.

But there were two other things that were highly significant. He said that Gog was OBAMA. Gong!!! And he said that this would happen very soon. I have seen a lot of You Tubes declaring that Obama was the anti-christ, all of which I have dismissed as kooks. But this boy is different. I do not believe what he described on the basis of his death-and-return-to-life experience is to be compared with the infallibility of the Word of God. But it is highly possible that the gist of this message is true. He kept saying there were many things he couldn't describe. I believe his time line may be slightly off. But if he is correct that Obama is Gog that is something to seriously consider.

Before this can happen I believe several things are necessary. I believe Armageddon is at least seven years off. But here is a strong possibility that Obama will remain in high profile even after 2017. He could easily be the main political figure to unite the Sunnis and Shiites as the Quran predicts the Mahdi will do. He might get assassinated and come back to life (Rev. 13:3, 12, 14). Before things get real noisy I believe we must first see the first four horses of Rev. 6:1-8. The White horse may well be Obama. The Red horse is world war. The Black horse is economic collapse and the Pale horse is disease.

But the main point is this: we are not waiting for the anti-christ but for Jesus to come and set up His Kingdom. I am not waiting for an escape but for His Kingdom. Then He will receive the glory, honor, power, praise, might, majesty, dominion, dignity, love, worship, admiration, obedience, etc of which He is so utterly worthy. (I cannot write words to express the worthiness of Jesus.) It might cost us a little blood before then, but that is alright. If we suffer with Him perhaps that might make us qualified to reign with Him.

Let's do it.

                         bill

Foolishness

24 January 2016

Dear Phyllis,

You've got to be a little bit crazy to effectively serve the Lord. By that I do not mean it is meritorious to be dumb. There are some things that are just plain dumb and there is no virtue in being stupid. But one of the most ridiculous acts I know of in the Bible was the five women who went to the tomb Sunday morning to anoint Jesus. With all due respect to femininity, no man would have ever done that. Had Mary and the other women talked with the disciples the night before saying, “We want to go anoint Jesus' body tomorrow. Will you go with us?”. Unquestionably, they would have got a cynical response, “Impossible!”. What are they going to do with the imperial seal on the tomb? What are they going to do with the two guards? How are they going to move a one ton rock from the mouth of the tomb? Perhaps they could say to the guards, “Excuse us sir, but could you help us move this rock?”. It is to their credit that they did think about the rock and, on their way they did discuss, “Who shall roll away the stone?” (Mk. 16:3). That attempt to anoint Jesus' body was about as foolish as it gets. But they got the greatest reward in being the first to see Jesus.

I was on a Bible run taking Bibles into Laos one time. We missed our contact and I was confronted with a difficult decision what to do. Early in the morning of the day we had to leave the Holy Spirit spoke to me and gave me one of the best words I ever had. He said, “Don't do anything dumb.”. That saved us. We carried the Bibles back to Thailand with us rather than endangering someone else there by leaving them behind. That was one of the better moves I have made.

John Cathcart is one of the most child-like foolish missionaries I ever met. Tenri City is the spookiest city I know in Japan. It is the headquarters for Tenri Kyo religion and it is one weird town. Until 1983 no one had the courage to go in there and raise the flag for Jesus. John and Gloria were new missionaries to Japan and felt the Lord had called them to evangelize Tenri City. At first he rented a room over Mr. Donuts and started teaching English and having services. That lasted about a year and then they got put out. After getting closed down in two or three different places John decided his only hope was to build his own church. That was about as realistic as considering building a rocket space ship. But John started walking around asking farmers to rent him a rice field so he could build a Christian church on it. Lots of luck. It took a measure of grace on my part to keep from being cynical. But one day John asked me to go with him to talk to a man he found that had a rice field. Fujita san had a small pharmacy store but did own a small rice field that was in a good location. When we first went in there to ask him if he would rent his field to build a church on it, I wondered at the ludicrous scenario, but was surprised at his reaction when he said, “Please give me a couple of weeks to think about it.” That was amazing. But the truly astounding thing was when John went back two weeks later, Fujita san said John could have it for $50 a month. That was a gift. It wasn't until three months later when we were framing up the building that we heard the rest of the miracle story.

Forty years before then Fujita san had been a young man working as a civilian in public works in what had been the Japanese colonization of Manchuria. Two weeks before the war was over Russia declared war on Japan and came pouring into Manchuria and Korea like gang busters. The civilians who were trapped there were desperate to get out, but for the Russians it was slaughter trail. The Russian soldiers thought nothing of killing a Japanese on sight. Fujita despaired for his life, but a very kind Korean family took him in, hiding him, housing him, and helping him get to the port where he was eventually successful in getting back to Japan. The Japanese have a thing called “giri” that is extremely strong. If someone does something special for you, you are under heavy obligation to reciprocate with something special for them. This is “giri”- moral obligation; and it is extremely serious. Fujita had had this heavy burden on his heart for forty years wondering how he could repay his giri to the Korean family that helped him. That was in what is now North Korea, and there was no way Fujita san could ever get there to thank them. Then one day a blue eyed gaijin (foreigner) walked in his store asking if he could rent his rice field. Fujita san saw that as the answer to his dilemma. He was a gaijin to the Koreans and if he helped another gaijin with his problem that would balance it out. The Lord used the bestiality of the Russian soldiers to make it possible for John to get the land for his church.

Everything about that church was miraculous. In early December John went to the states to buy the material for the church. He had no organization behind him and didn't even have enough money for a return trip to Japan. But he purposed he would not return home until the church was paid in full. He first went to the Bible school where he had graduated who gave him a generous offering. Then his father-in-law emptied the building fund they had been saving for their own church. But that was only a fraction of what was necessary. His mother suggested, “Why don't you talk to your uncle?”. He did call his uncle who lived a couple hours away from Boise and said he would fly down. They had a nice day together but it was getting late and no one had said a word about the need for the church. His uncle was a good friend of Wirt Edmonds who had promised to go to Japan to bump up the church, and asked him how much was still outstanding. Wirt said, “We still need another $20,000.”. His uncle reached in his pocket, pulled out a check book, and paid for the church in full, and John's ticket back to Japan. John was home for Christmas. In June they had the dedication of Kami no Ai (God's Love) church in Tenri – debt free.

That was in 1987. Kami no Ai church was the first witness for Jesus in Tenri City. It has been there for 29 years and John's son Joseph is ministering there today. You don't have to be nuts to be a good servant of God but it does help if you are just crazy enough to do foolish things.

Lord Jesus may we love You like the women at the tomb and let our love carry us beyond what makes sense to do impossible things for You.

                                                                                                                bill

Tree of Life

17 January 2016

Dear Phyllis,

Oh my goodness, did I have a good time with the Lord last week! Ezekiel 40 – 48 has been a great mystery to me for many years. There is quite a bit of discussion among scholars as to what that means. The Lord showed me incontroversially what it is. There is no question but what it is the New Jerusalem. Ezek. 40-48 is identical to Rev. 21 and parts of 22. The New Jerusalem is, of course, the Bride of Christ which is the Body of Christ or the Church. But the thing that stood out the most to me was the Tree of Life and the River of Life. The Lord showed me so much that I can't begin to discuss all here but I will try to mention a few points in passing.

Along with blazing scripture in Ezek. 47:12 and Rev. 22:2 two other passages that stood out to me were the Psalm 1:4 and Jer. 17:8. Those two passages are nearly identical and have a serious reflection on the Tree of Life. I feel it is farily safe to suggest that the River of Life is the Holy Spirit. There are several references in the Bible where water is used to express the Holy Spirit. One is Isa. 44:3 – “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty... I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed...”. And Jesus discussion with the woman at the well in John 4 and His cry at the Feast of the Tabernacles in John 7:37-39 - “If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink...This spake He of the Spirit...” It is fairly safe to say the River is the Holy Spirit. And I believe that most conservative scholars would agree that Jesus is the Tree of Life.

We know that Jesus came to be more than just a model to show us how to live. He came primarily to give His life as a ransom for us. But it is also true that He certainly is our model and He lived the life that He expects us to live. One of the most difficult passages in the entire Bible is Jesus remark that unless we eat His flesh and drink His Blood we have no life in us (Jn. 6:53), but He did give us some light on that remark four verses later when He said, “As I live by the Father, even he that eateth Me shall live by Me”. How did Jesus live by the Father? May I suggest that, partially, the answer to that is in Ps. 1:4, Jer. 17:8, Ez. 47:12, and Rev. 22:2. In all four of these passages we see that the Tree is planted by the River. This speaks volumes.

In traveling across the Taklamakan desert in west China, you can travel for hours and see nothing but dry sand. And then suddenly there will be rich green vegetation and many trees. The answer to that is obvious – water. With no water there is no life. Where there is water there will be life. The best trees grow by rivers. Their life is not dependent upon rain. They get their life from the river.

When I was a boy my father and I planted an orchard of 28 fruit trees. It was unusually dry that summer and I was careful to water all the trees every day. Every cotton picken tree died. I was bewildered. I had watered them every day. When I went to college I learned the reason. Trees have a water sensor in the tip of their root that causes the root to seek out the source of water. If there is no water it will cause the root to grow deeper to find a source of water. What I had done was pour water on the surface of the ground. That caused all the roots of the trees to go up to seek that surface water. When they did they got baked by the sun. Had I watered them so that the roots would go down deeper into the soil to seek water they would have lived. This is why the trees planted by rivers are health and their leaf never withers. They are not dependent on surface moisture. Their life is found deep in the soil. This is how Jesus lived. He is the Tree of Life and He lived by the River. He got His life from deep in the ground of His hidden life with His Father. This is the secret that He wants to communicate to us. All the life of the tree is hidden. It is in the deep soil. This is vital to any Christian. If our life is not sustained by the hidden life of our walk with God we cannot survive.

What is the hidden life underground? Basically it is a realistic, sustained, devotional life of meeting with the Lord, preferably early every morning. Mothers with babies are excepted. They have to meet with the Lord when they can. It is feeding much on the written Word everyday. Jesus is the Living Word. When we feed on the written Word it must become the Living Word inside us. If it is not the Living Word inside us it is simply words on paper and ink outside.  It is a life spent in a great deal of time on your knees in the closet.Tozer said that no pastor is worth his salt if he doesn't pray at least two hours a day. I doubt there there is one in a hundred that does. The hidden life is hours spent alone with God. If this is not maintained the tree has no source of life.

Activity is lethal. By definition activity is life above the surface. If we are living off from surface rain our roots will be shallow and our leaf will wither in times of drought. Entertainment, pleasurable things, good food, nice computers, TV, social activity are all surface life. I fear 95% of American Christianity is surface activity. The three deadly F s are Food, Fun, and Fellowship. But without that most churches in America would cease to exist. When it takes, entertainment, lively music, interesting messages, and a lot of church projects to keep a church going you know that the roots of nearly all believers are dependent on this and there is very little depth of a real relationship with Jesus.

My friend Paul tells me there is great emphasis on prayer at Chiang Mai Community Church. They have passed out sheets telling people the different types of prayer, how to pray, and the benefit of prayer. There is great discussion about prayer. BUT THEY DON'T DO IT. Talking about prayer is no substitute for actually doing it. That is like talking about dieting but never losing weight.

Samuel Rutherford had a fruitful ministry in Anwoth but then was consigned to nine years of silent exile in Arberdeen. But he wrote, “In six months in Aberdeen I have prospered more than I did in nine years in Anwoth”. In Anwoth he had a tremendous amount of acticvity in a busy schedule as pastor of his church. But in Arberdeen he was reduced to silence and being alone with Jesus. It was there that he enjoyed such love feasts with Jesus that he was unable to describe. Watchman spent the last 18 years of his life in prison, but the last note that he was able to send out read, “I have learned how to maintain my joy”. AW Tozer was sharing a Bible conference with Joe Carroll at Fort Wayne Bible College. They asked Tozer to preach two times a day and counsel in the afternoon. He said he couldn't do it because he didn't have time enough to pray. So Joe did the counseling. Joe said the students were lined up down the hall coming in for counseling terrified. I asked, “What was Tozer preaching on?” Joe replied, “God”. But Tozer knew the Lord like few men ever did.

The point is this, the Tree of Life is planted beside the River of Life and derives Its life from there. And so should we.

                                                                                                 bill

Return of Christ

If I go and prepare a place for you I will come again... (John 14:3)

10 January 2016

Dear Phyllis,

Looking at the events of the daily news today it is difficult to come to any other conclusion than we are right at the door of the end of this age. I have radically changed my views of several eschatological events but one doctrine that I refuse to move on is the imminent return of Christ. 

That was a tremendous promise that Jesus made to the disciples that night in the upper room. No one disputes His first coming, and if there is any validity to the Words of Christ the one certain promise that He made to them was that He would come back for them so they could be with Him forever in heaven. And as we read His prayer in John 17 we see that what He prayed for and promised was not only for them but for those who would believe on Him through their word (Jn.17:20). That means us. If we would accept Jesus' promise at face value it is difficult to think anything other than He would be back within a few weeks. And as we read the NT we see very clearly that the 1^st century church expected Jesus return during their life time. Obviously, to comment on this problem was the reason why Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians (4:13-17). In the 59 years that I have been following the Lord I don't recall one person that I felt was walking close to Jesus who didn't believe that they would see the return of Christ. And I believe the reason for this is because it is the witness of the Holy Spirit. But for 2000 years millions have believed that they would live to see Christ's return, but haven't. Does that mean the Holy Spirit lied? No, I believe this is one of the most fundamental witnesses of the Holy Spirit in the heart of any Christian. The reason for this is that this is the attitude that every Christian should have every day. Jesus certainly taught this in several parables and repeatedly told us to be ready at any time.

There are several reasons why this attitude is important. I have thought of a married couple with much different temperaments. The husband is a fastidious melancholic who insists eveything be spotless. And the wife is a sloppy sanguine who always leaves a stack of dirty dishes in the sink and laundry lying on the floor. What should the house look like? Of course it should be clean. Anything less than this would be unchristian. To any husband who has high standards and tells his wife to keep the place neat, and she replies, “Hang you, Jack, I'll wash the dishes when I want, and if you don't like the bed you can make it yourself.”; the kindest thing that could be said about such a woman is that she is defiant and rebellious. And an honest assessment of that attitude is that it is a repudiation of the wedding vow. It would be a stretch to call that woman a Christian. For any Christian woman, her husband is the core of her life and her primary responsibility is to love, obey, follow, and please him. I don't see how anyone could challenge that position.

But if the husband is away on business, what should the wife's attitude be concerning the house? She should live with the anticipation that he might come home at any time. If she did that she would keep the dishes washed and the bed made. She wouldn't want to have him come home and find the place looking like a pig pen. This hope of Jesus' imminent return is a major incentive to live a clean life. I heard of a girl who went to a dance one night and prayed, “Lord Jesus, please don't come right now. I don't want you to find me here”. I knew of a man who went to a bar and had the same problem. He said, “I sure hope Jesus doesn't come when I am in here”. This is a major reason why the Holy Spirit places that hope in our hearts to keep us clean and away for things we shouldn't do. In Matt. 24:42-51 Jesus told us to always live in view of His imminent return and said the servant who said, “My Lord delays His coming”, will have their portion in hell. 

Another reason for this hope of the return of Christ is that it helps us to hold out for a little more. I remember when I was at a horrible time with Rosemary; I couldn't imagine lasting one more day. I recall a couple of times of thinking, “I can't make it through the day but maybe I can make it until noon”. And at noon thinking, “perhaps I can make it 'til supper”. There are times when we can't imagine going any further, but we hope, if Jesus comes today I'll be alright.

But another reason for the anticipation of Jesus coming now is because we love Him. Sometimes when I was a boy I would ride my horse and come home after dark. My mother would stand outside listening for the sound of hoof beats. When she heard the sound of a horse galloping down the road she knew I would be home soon. Sometimes Pammy is out late with friends. I go to bed but, try like I might, I lay there listening for any sound of the car. When I hear traffic on the highway in front of our muban (housing area) my pulse quickens and I wonder, “Is that Pammy?”. If we love Jesus as we should, everyday our hearts should be outside listening for the sound of the hoof beats of His horse or the Trumpet.

There are five positions on the rapture; pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, a-trib (I don't know), and split rapture. I have changed my position on several doctrines or time-lines of the end time events. Hang the time-line of events. I don't care. Recently I moved my position on the time of Ezek. 38, 39. For years I have strongly believed Hal Lindsey's position that this is the Russian invasion of Israel at the beginning of the seven years of tribulation. The other day I noticed that this is God's supper feast for fouls (Ezek. 39:4, 17-20). This is exactly the same thing that we read in Rev. 19:17, 18. If this is the same event– and it sure looks like it is– then Ezek. 38 & 39 is Armageddon. If that is correct then that would identify Gog as the anti-Christ. I have been surprised to discover that there are a number of Christian scholars who are taking the position that the Islamic Mahdi is the anti-Christ. Indeed in reading the Quran, Islamic and Christian eschatology are almost identical except we see the Islamic Messaih as the anti-christ.

There is much to say and I am out of space and time. But, man howdy, we must be close. Oh hallelujah, it isn't far from here!

                                                                                                       bill 

Baptism of the Holy Spirit

My Beloved is mine and I am His (S. of S. 2:16)

I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine (S. of S. 6:3) 

3 January 2016

Dear Phyllis.,

Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu (it has opened, congratulation) It sure has. We're here folks in 2016. Is this the year? Maybe.

There is no message that has caused me more confusion and agony than the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Is there such a thing as a second blessing? This is probably the most controversial message in Christianity today. The answer to that depends radically upon what denomination you belong to. If you are Pentecostal it is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. If you are Nazarene it is Sanctification, If you are C&MA it is the fullness of the Holy Spirit. If you are some groups it is the Abundant life. To Hudson Taylor it was the Exchanged life. If you are Baptist there is no such thing. We get it all with salvation.

The Body of Christ is indebted to Pentecostalism and the Charismatic movement for convulsing us out of dead orthodoxy. With their advent we were confronted with the presence of spiritual gifts and an unexplainable avalanche of miracles. Suddenly we were confronted with a great deal of phenomenon of the spirit world. Fundamentalism and orthodox Christianity responded very poorly to this. And not without good reason. For with Pentecostalism came a whole lot of horse manure and garbage. The Charismatic movement got invaded by the Kudalini spirit and a great deal of doctrinal error (See You Tube Shocking Documentary by Andrew Strom). For five decades I have wrestled with this issue of a second blessing or the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I am perfectly at ease today.

Is there such a thing as a second blessing or two baptisms? Absolutely. This is clearly expressed in Mt. 3:11. John said, “I baptize you with water but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” Very clearly we have two baptisms here. There are many scriptures clearly showing this. Unfortunately we are restricted to using the mode of inadequate words to express spiritual truth and in using words there is terrible latitude for misunderstanding. May the Holy Spirit explain this to us. There are two baptisms; one by water and the other with the Holy Spirit. Anyone can baptize another person in water but only Jesus can baptize a person with the Holy Spirit. You can't get a clearer illustration of this than what the OT teaches us through Israel passing through the Red Sea and the Jordan. The Red Sea is salvation (water); the Jordan is entering into the Promised land (the Holy Spirit). There you have two baptisms.

I have known this message since the first year I was saved. But how do you get into the Promised Land? The Nazarene taint their Sanctification message by calling it sinless perfection. And amazingly there are thousands of earnest Christians who testify that they have had this experience and are now sinlessly perfect. To my dear Nazarene friends all I can say is, “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1Jn. 1:8). Are there Second Blessing experiences? Man howdy, lots of them. Everybody (most everybody) teaches that the way into the Promised Land is by faith. It is just like salvation – you have to take it by faith. I don't know how many times I have accepted “IT” by faith only to have the devil strip me a few days later with failure.

The Pentecostals have compromised their message by insisting that there must be the manifestation of speaking in tongues. Paul settled that issue with the rhetorical question, “do all speak with tongues?” (1Cor. 12:30). Obviously not. To insist that a person is not filled with the Holy Spirit unless they speak in tongues is error. And to say that a person is filled with the Holy Spirit because they speak in tongues is nonsense. Is there such a thing as the gift of tongues? I refuse to take the scissors to the Word of God and cut out pages. I don't see where the manifestation of the Holy Spirit passed out with the 1^st century. But some of the sorriest Christians I know speak in tongues – and they are anxious to tell you all about it.

If there is such a thing as the baptism of the Holy Spirit and it is the endowment from on high to be filled with the Holy Spirit and lead a better more powerful Christian life, why is it so hard to enter in? Oh the pain this has caused me for decades. One thing that helped me was the understanding that acquiring the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the same as salvation. That is you get the baptism the same way that you got saved. How did you get saved? Flesh will say that it must be in a certain way. But reality is the way people get saved is as varied as there are different shapes of snow flakes. Some have very dramatic experiences. Some have slower more gradual experiences. And some have no idea but they know they are saved now. To say that a person must be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a specific way is as much an error as to say that everybody must have the same salvation experience. Salvation is not an experience. Salvation is a relationship. It is Jesus living in me. And the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience. It is Jesus having all of me.

The story is told of a man who had two young daughters. When he came home one night, he sat down in his chair and the girls came running to him. One girl grabbed her daddy around the neck and boastingly said, “I have all of Daddy.” The other little girl climbed up in her dads lap, wrapped his arms around her and replied, “Daddy has all of me.” This is what we see in the Song of Solomon. In S. of S. 2:30 we see that the greatest thought in the believers heart is that her Beloved is hers. There is nothing wrong with singing, “Blessed assurance Jesus is mine...” That is salvation. But later on we see that the dominant thought in the believer's heart is that she is His (S. of S. 6:3). That is the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Salvation is when I accept Jesus. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is when Jesus accepts me.

Are all Christians filled with the Holy Spirit? Not by any stretch of the imagination. Why? Millions have been baptized by water but never baptized by Jesus in the Holy Spirit.

Lord, please bring us to that place where Christ might live in our hearts by faith and we might be filled with all the fullness of God. Please do it for Your great Names sake. Amen

                                                 bill