“Will the Real Charismatic Please Stand?”
"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them."
Acts 2:4
I wrote the article, but it never got published. The editor told me that he thought it would be too controversial. "Really?" I asked. I will admit to trying to pique interest by titling the article "Will the Real Charismatic Please Stand." Nevertheless, it was not the title but the content of the article that made my editor friend nervous. Are you getting nervous? Regardless, I'm forging ahead with no editor to keep me in line this time.
Three-letter words can be as potent as four and the three-letter word I point out to you is "all." "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit." Although it may appear differently, no denomination, no church has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit. He, the Spirit, is accessible to all and we are all supposed to be filled with the Spirit. While He can be "quenched" and silenced by our sin, still, wherever He is allowed, He fills the church with spiritual power including gifts like healing, knowledge, mercy, leadership, faith and yes, even tongues. Have we forgotten that just after Paul said, "Follow the way of love," he added, "and earnestly desire spiritual gifts."?
Have we allowed so-called "charismatics" to monopolize the Holy Spirit? Let it not be so! Seek God. Then stand up and be counted as a Spirit-filled Christian.