Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Apologetics Episode 3 Holy Spirit

"...the prayer was gonna end. The ministers were all returning to their seats. The preacher, too, would have to return to the pulpit soon; but before that, he came to me and laid hands on me again, asking me to be more fervent.

With all my might i prayed, and... all of a sudden, a strange movement emerged and manipulated my tongue, it drove my tongue rolling with sounds. Hot tears streamed down my cheeks. 'YOU RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT!' exclaimed the preacher, and confirmed it with other ministers. Vision blurred with hot tears, I joyously reminded myself, 'GOD DIDN'T FORSAKE ME! GOD DIDN'T FORSAKE ME!' ...
From then on, I began a new life." testimony from HolySpiritMonthly
Dreams do come true!
For God will never make empty promises. The Holy Spirit is promised to be poured on those who beseech Him. In God's time the Spirit will descend on us and experience what this brother experienced. According to his testimony in Holy Spirit Monthly, he prayed earnestly for the Holy Spirit since young, but most of the time prayers ended with disappointment; it was after his marriage only he received the Holy Spirit.

To all who have not received the Holy Spirit, let's not be discouraged, but strive forward with hope and faith in the promise of the Living God. God will not let us down.



Holy Spirit
To a non-TJC-member/truthseekers/non-believer,
it's only normal for them to have a big question mark in their head
about the whole miraculous incident.
The Holy Spirit is the promised gift from Jesus
on everyone who believes in Jesus.
In book of Acts, many received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues.
Hence, speaking in tongues is the evidence
to manifest that one has obtained the Holy Spirit.
However, there are christian denominations
which do not agree with us on this. Some of their arguments are as follows:
1. Most christian denominations persist in their belief that when one believes in Jesus, then he "automatically" receives the Holy Spirit right away.
2. Speaking in tongues is not necessary for Salvation. It is just one of the many gifts of God.
Hence, we do not need to speak in tongues.
3. The bible clearly states that tongues would cease in 1Cor 13:10, this proves that tongues are not necessary. (some deny tongues exist)
4. Some argue, tongues are just human languages. On Pentacost Day, they spoke in other tongues which they never learned. It was a miracle to establish the Gospel at that period of time.
Dear followers and Authors, let's make an effort to give these questions their answers from a biblical perspective in Comment. Thanks for the effort.
If any reader does not find the doctrine of the church and her explanations satisfiable, please leave us a comment and allow us to explain more. Your patience appreciated.
God bless.

4 comments:

  1. I shall answer the 1st question: Believing = Receiving the Holy Spirit right away

    This is a doctrine that almost all other christian denominations(except TrueJesusChurch) are founded on. However, let's take a closer look at the Bible and see what it says.

    - indeed, when one believes in Jesus, he is granted the promise of the Holy Spirit and kinda have the "qualification" to be son of God(Jn1:12) But he has not RECEIVED the promise right away.

    Acts8:15-16 states that the Samarians who ALREADY believed in Jesus, yet have not received the Holy Spirit. This already poses a great challenge to the "believe = receive the Holy Spirit" concept.

    Acts19:1-6 Paul asked the believers, "have you received the Holy Spirit?" If believing=receiving of the H/S, there is no need for such a question, is there?

    Luke11:13 Jesus commanded us to pray and SEEK the Holy Spirit, that means there is an effort to be made to receive the Holy Spirit just as stated in the testimony above(in the post).

    hope the explanations are acceptable.
    aaronccf

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  2. Answer to the 2nd Question: Tongues are not linked to salvation - unimportant:

    - In the original text, it actually states a very clear difference in the common belief of general christians which shows an error that no one bothers to know and change. Most christians believe that speaking in tongues is MERELY a gift, probably of the least importance and it's not neccessary for one's Salvation. Hey, the TrueJesusChurch, does not share the same view, with good biblical support, ofcourse. My church believes that tongues-speaking is directly linked to one's Salvation, and tongues-speaking is the evidence of the Holy Spirit.

    as mentioned "in the original text", the word "gift" is represented by two different words, first the "charismata" and second the "dorea".

    Charismata
    Special spiritual gifts like interpretation, casting out of demons, healing etc are the gift, "CHARISMA", meaning it is not linked to salvation, but for edification in the world.

    Dorea
    However, this word "DOREA", the "gift", is the HOLY SPIRIT HIMSELF, is used to describe every word about speaking in tongues instead. Hence, speaking in tongues is fundamental to every christian. "no one can enter the kingdom of God Unless he is born of Water and the Spirit" (Jn3:5), clearly it means one must undergo Baptism of Water and receive the Holy Spirit, ONLY can he enter the Kingdom of God, Salvation of eternal life.

    Book of Acts also states that the believers spoke in tongues when the Holy Spirit fell. This shows that the Holy Spirit does bring about the effect of tongues in the believers. Since it's proven that tongues-speaking is the gift DOREA, not CHARISMA, the holy spirit IS tongues-speaking itself. refer to www.tjc.org for more info.

    pls do ask if the answers do not satisfy you. hehe. thanks

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  3. Answer to the 3rd question: Tongues have ceased in present era, hence tongues don't exist anymore?

    - The Bible did state that tongues would cease. "Love never fails. BUt where there are prophecies, they will cease;..tongues will be stilled,...knowledge will pass away... when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears." But pls don't misunderstand this verse! In fact, this verse refers to when "perfection" comes --- the Lord Jesus COMES the 2nd time, and all things will cease, no longer do we need Hope, Faith and Love and tongues and knowledge, for we will have already reached our Heavenly Home.

    The Lord Jesus told us that He will give us this Counsellor, the Holy Spirit to be with us while He is physically gone. The Twelve didn't understand but when the Holy Spirit was poured down, they spoke in tongues and understood. Even those who were baptised by them in Jesus' name, they too received the Holy Spirit.

    the bible describes that the early rain would end and there would come a Latter rain, for Spring rain would halt, then Summer falls, and the Autumn rain would come, but Autumn will soon end, and there comes the Winter. Spring Rain and the Early Rain in the Bible describe the first downpour of the Holy Spirit, that is in the Apostolic Time. But Summer came, means the Holy Spirit was withdrawn (the genuine doctrines lost, because paganism and impurities entered the church after death of all apostles, so did Salvation Grace),

    but Autumn Rain, the Latter rain---the second downpour of the Holy Spirit, is now poured, that is in our present era, in True Jesus Church, until Winter falls, that is Jesus' second coming.

    if you do not understand, we sincerely hope you'd ask us anytime. God bless.

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  4. ANSWER TO QUESTION 4: Tongues in the BIBLE are just human languages, it means nothing much, it's not like the "unknown tongues" that some christians proposed?

    it's not correct to say in that way. In the original text of the Eng word "tongue" doesn't actually mean a language, but simply means a "tongue", that is some sounds produced by the tongue, instead of throat and lips.

    It is an unknown sound that only self-edifies, the hearers do not understand, nor the speaker himself, for the Holy Spirit actually prays to God but not to men, and it intercedes for the tongue-speaker.

    "For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit."

    the TrueJesusChurch prays in tongues in a way you might not have seen before; you just need to see it for yourself that it is truly different.

    This tongue is not learned, but it's been given by God and manipulated by the Holy Spirit which is been described in the post above.

    During prayer, those who have received the HOly Spirit has the Spirit to intercede for them, this falls in line with (1Cor14:14) “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.” You may be weak when the congregation is to pray together, and so the mind wanders away and is unfruitful, yet the spirit prays on, in the spiritual tongue.

    Hallelujah.

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