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At Ephesus Paul laid his hands upon the disciples and:
"The Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied"
(Acts.xix.56).
But again, there is no mention of "cloven tongues like as of fire". Thus the overall
evidence of Scripture is that, whereas the baptism and the filling of the Holy Ghost occur
on many occasions, the accompaniments of the "rushing mighty wind" and the "cloven
tongues like as of fire" were unique features of the Day of Pentecost, not repeated
anywhere else in the N.T. and certainly not applicable to us in this dispensation. If
anyone is tempted to look for such things he would do well to study these passages of
Scripture relating to the days leading up to the return of Christ:
(1)
Matt. 24: 1-33 and note verse 24 where the Lord speaks about false Christs and
false prophets which "shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it
were possible, they shall deceive the very elect".
(2)
II Thess. 2: 1-12 and note verse 9 where Paul speaks about "the workings of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders".
(3)
Rev. 13: 1-18 and note verse 14 where John speaks about being deceived "by
means of those miracles which he had power to do", and one of those miracles
is, according to verse 13, "he maketh fire to come down from heaven on earth
in the sight of men". It may have been a sign from God in the past but then it
will be a sign from Satan.
No.8.
Baptized with the Holy Ghost
(Acts 1: 5)
Part 1.
pp. 45 - 50
In Acts 1: 5 the Lord Jesus Christ told the disciples that they were to be "baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" and this was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost
described so dramatically in Acts 2: 1-4:
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
What exactly happened is perhaps not clear to those who were not present, but two
separate things seemed to have occurred at the same time, first the promise of Acts 1: 5
was fulfilled: they were baptized with the Holy Ghost, and secondly they were also filled
with the Holy Ghost. Scripture exhorts us to "rightly divide the word of truth"
(II.Tim.ii.15) and to "test things that differ" (Phil. 1: 10 K.J.5: margin); to ignore such
commands is detrimental to spiritual growth. Some believers refuse even to consider if
there is a difference between being baptized and being filled with the Holy Ghost. As
two different Greek verbs are used it is necessary to test the occurrence of each