SPIRIT-FILLED and EMPOWERED FORERUNNERS 

A NEW BLOG POST SERIES HIGHLIGHTING SOME OF THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE PIONEERED LAST DAYS HOLY-SPIRIT EMPOWERED MINISTRY WITH SIGNS AND WONDERS FOLLOWING THEIR MINISTRY

LET'S START AT THE BEGINNING

It is widely recognized that the Christian Church began on the Day of Pentecost, fifty days after the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus had told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for "the Promise of the Father" when they would be "endued with power from on high." For forty days after His resurrection, the Bible tells us that Jesus presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.                                                                                                 Acts 1:3

For ten days, around 120 of His disciples waited in the Upper Room in Jerusalem praying, and waiting in eager anticipation for "the Promise of the Father" to be given to them. THEN, on the Day of Pentecost, IT HAPPENED:

When the Day of Pentecost had 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 the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:1-4

This chapter continues to describe how that there were people in Jerusalem at that time "dwelling there from every nation under heaven." The miracle of God was that all these people from a large number of nations heard them speak the wonderful works of God - in their own languages. The disciples were supernaturally "speaking in tongues" unknown to them, but recognized by those listening as their own languages. How amazing is our God!!

The first apostles chosen by Jesus, together with Matthias who replaced Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus leading to His arrest and subsequent crucifixion, led the early Church starting in Jerusalem and then to other parts of the known world at that time. Thomas, for example is known to have ministered the Gospel to southern India, where he was eventually martyred for his faith. The apostle John was exiled on the isle of Patmos and was the only one of the twelve who was not martyred.

The Book of Acts penned by Luke the Physician, who also wrote the Gospel bearing his name, gives us a window to the beginnings of the early Church era, particularly highlighting the ministries of the apostle Peter, the account of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, and the ministry and missionary journeys of the apostle Paul. The church grew exponentially as the Gospel of Jesus Christ was boldly preached, many times with signs following the preaching of the Word, attested by healings and miracles, and deliverances from demonic oppression. Along with powerful demonstrations of the Holy Spirit's working, the apostles and early Christians also suffered persecution.

As the centuries passed, the pure devotion to the Word of God and full  reliance on the Holy Spirit to empower and lead them gave way increasingly to compromise of Biblical truth, adherence to man-made traditions, and re-interpretation of ministry roles, leading to the church being led by a priestcraft, lacking in spiritual power and Godly authority.

In fact, it would probably be fair to say that many church leaders during quite a number of centuries up until the Protestant Reformation were not even "born again" by the Spirit of God, as Jesus stated in John 3:3, speaking to Nicodemus, saying:"........unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 

With Martin Luther in Germany came the restoration of the truth that: The just shall live by faith. Faith in the atoning work of Christ on the cross of Calvary was seen as the only means to salvation, not by trying to earn one's way to heaven by good deeds, or by paying indulgences to reduce the penalty for already forgiven sins. The Protestant Reformation exposed the corruption in the Catholic Church with reference to the intimidation and fear applied to parishioners relating to the effect non-payment of indulgences would have on their time spent in Purgatory.

Purgatory is supposed to be an intermediate destination for Catholic Christians as a place of punishment to make them ready for their eventual place in heaven. This is not at all Biblical. The Bible instead speaks about only two destinations for people when they die - either Heaven of Hell. There is only ONE WAY to heaven, and that is by being born again by the Spirit of God - repenting of sin, and acknowledging Jesus Christ and His death on the cross in our place, for our sins, and receiving Him into our lives as Saviour and Lord.

The ministry gift of pastor was restored to the church with the Protestant Reformation. 

In the 1700's the ministry gift of evangelist was restored with notable ministries such as John Wesley and George Whitefield pioneering preaching the Gospel to the masses. Up until the start of the twentieth century, though, most of Biblical ministry was restricted to preaching the simple salvation message encapsulated in John 3:16, when Jesus said to Nicodemus: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

With the turn of the century in the first decade of the 1900's, God was about to show Himself to the world and the church in ways that had not been seen in any measure since the first and second centuries of the Christian Church.

NEXT TIME: CHARLES FOX PARHAM (The Father of Pentecost)