Truth in unusual places

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Robert J. Brown wrote:
> 
> >>>>> "Kirk" == Kirk Van Ooteghem <vanoo@ecicnet.org> writes:
> 
>     Kirk> If one has spoken in tongues and still hasn't found what
>     Kirk> they are looking for they will never find it.  After all,
>     Kirk> speaking in tongues is the initial evidence that one has
>     Kirk> been filled with the Holy Ghost.  I am assuming of course
>     Kirk> that "tongues of angels" refers to Paul's description of
>     Kirk> speaking in tongues (1 Cor 13 ?).
> 
> This is an area where we fail frequently!  We come to conclusions
> based on falacious reasoning.

Ouch!

> Just because tongues is the evidence of being filled with the Holy
> Ghost does not mean that it is conclusive evidence.  

With all due respect, I never said it was the "conclusive
evidence"...but it is the initial evidence.  

> A mathematician
> like myself would say it is a necessary but not a sufficient
> condition.  Not everyone that goes around speaking in tongues is
> filled with the Holy Ghost, but it is certain that no one who has not
> spoken in tongues is filled with the Holy Ghost.
> 
> Without tongues, you certainly do not have the Holy Ghost, but if
> tongues were sufficient, why did Jesus say we shall know them by their
> fruits?  He never said we shall know them by their tongues, although
> he did say we would speak in new tongues.

We are having great revival in our church right now.  Many have spoken
in tongues for the first time.  When they did so, it was because they
specifically announced that they were praying to receive the Holy
Ghost.  Is it not accurate to say that these folks received the Holy
Ghost?

It is just as fallacious to say that a person can speak in tongues and
not receive the Holy Ghost as it is to say that tongues is the
conclusive evidence of the Holy Ghost (which I never stated).  Who are
we to judge one who has just received this biblical experience?  To be
sure, ones salvation is not eternal secure upon receiving God's Spirit,
we must continue to walk my faith and become a servant of
righteousness.  We must yield to the Spirit and allow God to do the work
of sanctification in our life.  But to say that a person who speaks in
tongues does not necessarily have the Holy Ghost is not scriptural and
is somewhat reactionary.  No one is saved from a one time
experience...but certainly a person can experience justification (the
initial and immediate result of salvation) but later loose his status as
a result of unbelief (which includes disobedience).  

God speed,
Kirk  

-- 
Kirk Van Ooteghem

vanoo@ecicnet.org
http://bsuvc.bsu.edu/~00kmvanooteg/