Dr Paul Allen

With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26), therefore, the answer to this question is yes. However, it is a highly qualified yes! I personally know of two people who received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and spoke in English rather than in unknown tongues. Both were exceptionally sensitive, prophetic men, true spiritual giants of our time. One is Dr Frank Laubach, through whom the Holy Spirit manifested Himself supernaturally in English.  The other was Rufus Moseley, who, some months after his baptism in the Holy Spirit, began to speak in tongues and continued to witness faithfully to their value until his death. In a booklet entitled “How to Enter, Abide, and Increase in Union with Jesus Christ,” he makes this excellent statement: My feeling is that we must not be dogmatic and say that no one can have the baptism of the Holy Spirit unless he speaks in tongues. God, of course, can speak in English and in every tongue of men and angels. But He now seems a little more real ...

The New Testament apostles thought so. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (Acts 19:2) seemed to be a kind of watchword with the early church. And Peter’s plea in Acts 2:38 for both the acceptance of Christ as Lord and the receiving of the Holy Spirit is followed by a universal promise: “For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him” (Acts 2:39). When Philip’s preaching in Samaria, as recorded in Acts 8, resulted in the conversion of multitudes to Christ, the apostles in Jerusalem quickly sent down Peter and John to minister to the new converts that they might be filled with the Holy Spirit, “for it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 8:16). It is important to note that while the apostles did not doubt the validity of the conversion of the Samaritans, they were still not content to leave them without this further vital experience...

They were talking about this in the pub. Like, what is this Baptism? The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a second encounter with God (the first is conversion) in which the Christian begins to receive the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit into his life. Jesus promised this power to his disciples when he said, You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8) This promise was fulfilled at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on the one hundred twenty gathered in the upper room. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.(Acts 2:4) This second experience of the power of God, which we call the baptism in the Holy Spirit, is given for the purpose of equipping the Christian with God’s power for service. It is the spiritual baptism from Jesus Himself, in which He begins to exercise His sovereign po...

The Holy Spirit is not distributed by lottery, with a few people selected to receive it. It is not a game of chance. There are no winners or losers. Those whom God calls, He equips. There is more than enough power to go around. No one is left out, and no one gets leftovers. Don’t disqualify yourself when you are already accepted. The Scriptures are clear and without Vagueness. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is not just for a few of “God’s favourites.” No, God has no “favourites.” In fact, we are all His favourites. On the Day of Pentecost, 120 men and women were in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, and we read in Acts 2:3 and 4, “Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit...” It was no coincidence and NO LOTTERY! “Each” of the 120 received and “all” was filled. Their gender was not a consideration; neither was their age nor race or status in life.  Somebody in heaven must have counted the heads si...

When we focus all of our attention on the flesh of Jesus either by a statue etc, then the real significance of Jesus is missed, and the kinds of objections raised both by ‘the Jews’ and by ostensible disciples quickly surface - namely eat my body and drink my blood when misunderstood becomes a misdirection. But if flesh does not give life, what does? One of the clearest characteristics of the Spirit in the Old Testament is the giving of life (e.g. Gn. 1:2; Ezk. 37:1ff.; cf. Barrett, HSGT, pp. 18–23).  The Spirit gives life.  Jesus says in John 6:63 - the words I have spoken to you are spirit (i.e. they are the product of the life-giving Spirit ) and they are life (i.e. Jesus’ words, rightly understood and absorbed, generate life —5:24). To feed on Christ is to feed on Christ’s words, enabled by the Holy Spirit.  Before I was unregenerate unable to hear or understand jesus words and the Spirit gave me life now I can understand and consume Jesus word giving me life Carson...

This subject is one of great controversy because of extreme positions and emotions. We need to develop biblical balance on this issue in order to escape all the false teaching of our day. I.      The Person of the Holy Spirit       A.      The Deity of the Spirit: He is God.  He is called “God” (Acts 5:3, 4; 2 Cor. 3:17). He has the attributes of God (Heb. 9:14).       B.      He is a “Person” and not an impersonal force. He has the attributes and the names of a person (John 14:16–17; 15:26; 16:7–15). He can be lied to (Acts 5:3–4). He has a “will” (1 Cor. 12:7–11). He can be grieved and quenched (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19).       C.      He is distinct from the Father and the Son . We must reject two growing heresies:Sabellianism: The “Jesus Only” cult and heresy. Modalism: One God in three forms or faces. II. The Work of the Holy Spirit       ...