>>continue.......H
Now, where it concerns the Holy Spirit, there is an interesting case found
in Acts 8.  Here in Acts 8 we find Philip is preaching to the Samaritans.
Please read Acts 8:5-17.
Problem.  We know today that when a person believes on Jesus Christ, he is
automatically baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost.  Here it says these
people believed, so most naturally they should have had the Holy Ghost.  So
does this mean they got it twice?  No.  Verse 16 tells us they never got the
Holy Ghost when they first believed.  For some reason God withheld the Holy
Ghost from those people.  It's an act that was never repeated.  I couldn't
tell you why it was withheld or why God did it, however, I believe there is
a lesson to be learned here because, the book of Acts, as I said, is where a
lot of false doctrines erect. I will give you an example because this is
where the Charismatics get, and therefore practice, the "laying on of hands"
for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Today, in the signs and wonders movement, we are falsely lead to believe
that in order for one to get the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it is best if
there are those who can "lay hands" on them.   Wrong. Nowhere in the Bible
is it insinuated that a New Testament Christian needs to have someone lay
hands on them in order for them to get the baptism of the Holy Ghost.  If
you have been "born again," you don't need any kind of "laying on of hands,"
because you ALREADY HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT.  Remember, "Now if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is NONE OF HIS" (Rom. 8:9).
So if that person doesn't have the Baptism of the Holy Ghost to begin with
(1 Cor. 12:13), he does not belong to Christ at all!  What he or she is going
to get is not the Spirit of God, but "another spirit."
So understanding  that the Book of Acts is a transitional book, we saw what
Peter used in Acts 2 :38 could no longer be used in Acts 10 .  And what
happened in Acts 8 (the withholding of the Holy Ghost) was  never repeated.
There is nothing in there that says a person must lay his hands on another in
order for that person to get the Holy Ghost.  With the "whole counsel of
God" before us, we now know a person has the Holy Spirit the moment he
believes on Jesus Christ as His Lord and Saviour.
The signs and wonders movement, with all its false teachings, are helping
prepare people for the antichrist who also comes with "...all power and
SIGNS and lying wonders..." (2 Thess. 2:9-11).  There is a fixation on the
signs and wonders, with all its goose bumps, rather than the truth stated in
the word of God.
The book of Acts has to do with the Apostolic signs.  It's the Acts of the
Apostles.  What we see in the world today is a group (Charismatics) who
profess they are Apostolic because they claim to have the Apostolic signs,
and then we have the other (Roman Catholicism), who claim they are Apostolic
because they claim their church is built upon the Apostle Peter, and as of
the 1900's have now been involved with the "Tongues and signs" movement.
Now, what is interesting, and fact, is that these people operate under the
false assumption that these signs are still in effect today.  The evidence is
all around.  Just visit any Pentecostal church, or turn the black box on and
start channeling in the right station.  However, what I want to know is,
what happened to the Holy Ghost and all those poor souls down through the
centuries??  The Holy Spirit suddenly decides to awake and take up where
He left off almost 2,000 yeas ago?  Just think of those poor souls who were
burned at the stake who could have cast out devils in the name of Jesus from
those who would light the match.  After all, they could have claimed,
"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper;" (Isa 54:17). Many
could have been healed by the "healing ministry," of the diseases which wiped
out thousands.  These poor souls could have been rich by the teachings of the
"prosperity ministers" by being "seed faith partners."
Back to reality.  Did the Apostolic Signs last?  I remember one particular
evening at a prayer meeting when the wife of an elder was upset.  (Somebody
must have gotten hold of her to tell her the truth about the Charismatic
movement.)  She said to all of us, "Could you imagine the last Apostle dying,
and poof, there goes the Holy Spirit?"  Well the fact is, the Holy Spirit
never left, it was the SIGNS THAT CEASED.
continue....
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