PENTECOSTAL LIFE.

PENTECOSTAL LIFE.

I read from the internet where A Pentecostal Minister was confronted by a woman who wanted to see Jesus at one of his meets. Slaying in the spirit was not good enough for her, she wanted to witness Jesus preferably on stage? So I thought why not write something from my own personal encounter with T.H.S. on this very delicate subject.  

It happened like this.

An extract:

The following few lines are from my blog: holyspiritunavec.org posted January 8^th 2012

6. If you are a Catholic then the following is for you. (I have posted this extract before but it is included here for emphasis and also as a suitable reminder.)

One does get bored doing the same task and living in the same home months on end, so once a year at vacation time, one wants to go abroad to get refreshed. Think of attending a Pentecostal meeting like it is vacation time for a change and catch up with T.H.S.

I got grounded from a shipping vessel -Unigoolnar. (24^th July 1972.) It was the third time in my shipping career as a radio-man. I was sick, dis-oriented and remained jobless for almost 9 years.  I did not know what to do with my time. I got into reading from scriptures of other religions. Thereafter I got nudged into attending these Pentecostal meets that were going pretty strong during my enforced grounding. There were quite a few foreign preachers coming and going from Mumbai where I live. I must confess initially, I used to dislike going to these meets; everything was foreign to me. Scripture reading was normal but the hymns were definitely foreign to my ears and one particular one where participants had to mime “his banner over me is love” by making a MacDonald’s arc by touching the fingertips of both hands overhead and then bringing both hands down to touch each corresponding shoulder to signify “me” and then make a cross or X with both hands touching opposite shoulders signifying “love”. It was too much for me. I told THS this Act is OK for woman I can’t do it. I left it at that. There were many such disputes between THS and me. To change from a staunch Roman Catholic into a Pentecostal was a bit too much to ask? Things like that used to rankle me and then there was glossolalia. What the heck is going on here I said to myself.  I had not witnessed things like this before in our church. And I remember once at a life in the Spirit meet at St.  Peter’s church grounds Mumbai, a young lady came on stage in front of the mike saying she had a message from God and she spoke it out low but what made it pathetic was that she was trying to pitch her voice to ground level signifying God? Come ON! From my personal experience nowadays, I can tell you for sure that if THS wants to tell you something, he can do it out of the mouth of a child if you are intelligent, to read the signs you’ll get it because the child has not understood what it has said.

But all in all I came to terms with the THS church. The REAL CHURCH as it existed in the time of the Apostles.

I still follow the goings on of Pentecostal preachers on You Tube. What amazes me is all those people being floored like 9 pins at preacher Benny Hinn’s gatherings. Wow! the power of THS. That for you who are skeptical is baptism in The Holy Spirit. You must cherish it when God has floored you like that. It is the “real” Baptism, the same one the apostles received, the one Yeshua told us about. That kind of Baptism you must all receive with both hands.

Acts 1:  5

“John baptized with water but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit”’.

I have often wondered why this kind of performance by THS was not happening in the church I was attending? Are we missing out on something? The answer is yes and no.

At some of the life in the spirit meetings I used to attend, I am talking of the smaller ones at parish level, it used to be quite a refreshing experience. By then I had got into the spirit of singing Pentecostal hymns and even loved some of them like “It only takes a spark to set a fire going”, and I would sing my own pop songs with a few changes here and there to bring Yeshua into the picture and it was a novel way of worshiping in the spirit for me. For example the Simon and Garfunkel song  “ Bridge over troubled waters,” I would imagine it was Jesus singing  it or  the Seekers Lyrics” I’ll never find another you” Goes like this. “There’s a new world some where they call the  promised land and I’ll lead you somewhere if you will take my hand. “Of course words and lines must be modified here and there. It is I quite a good way to build up your love for Yeshua and then El-Shaddai. Etc. I was into pop culture then and loved to change whatever was a hit into a Jesus or THS or God the Father songs just cut for my personal use only. There is nothing new under the sun and many of you might already be into it. You can do it too. If it helps you and if you are that kind of a romantic like I am, anyway to come back to the point I am trying to make, why not in our church? All these flooring by THS. I am sure many of you catholic priests too must wonder  why they and not us?

Since I was dragged to these life in the spirit meets by T.H.S. I once queried him as to why this was not happening in church only out here in the open and that too at times when the Holy Eucharist was not exposed. It seems he does not like that kind of worship. That’s why no miracles either lest the congregation feel that these miracles are attributed to the Eucharist in mass. The Eucharist is a separate form of worship the Holy Spirit is another form of worship the two don’t mix. He will NOT endorse transubstantiation especially when priest say they have the power to pray to God to convert the Eucharist into the body of Christ. It’s quite a bit complicated for some of you but that will keep. There is a heated fight going on this elsewhere. Real presence or Commemorative one.

Now on prosperity gospel. One thing though I must warn you that anyone can turn and twist scriptures to hammer the message they want to pass on to you and you will agree by nodding your head because it is written in the book. The Old Testament is a HISTORY book for some of us... The Old Testament modified i.e. sans Genesis, Kings 1 and 2, Lamentations, and Chronicles but left in out of respect for Yeshua, is for the Jews of today. Granted we Christians are all spiritual Jews but then we follow Yeshua not Moses. Mathew 9:17 Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins.

 Moses is for the Jews and for some who want Prosperity Gospel. For those of us who were born poor, it’s a pie in the sky Christianity. And of course the Living Testament which you are now quite familiar with.

If you want to contribute 1000 dollars in seed money in the hope that you will get more than ten times that amount it is quite possible if you are a business man but if you are working at a checkout counter in some dept. store, it less than likely ,unless you were to hit a jackpot in some lottery. In which case do contribute to your favorite charity. It takes a lot of money to sow good seed nowadays. If you are in business shell out and if you are ordinary every day guy doing two shifts to make ends meet give whatever you can give without hurting yourself or your family.  God does not want you to be a poor man unless you want to enter the Priesthood, or The Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth, wherein it becomes a priori. The Jesus Christ brand of Priest hood quite opposite the Old Order Priesthood which usurped immeasurable wealth for themselves and their children. That was the main reason why they were kicked out.

S.R.T. 4^th January 2016.