Why Do Some Institutional Churches Reject the Holy Spirit?

 In my earlier years as a believer, I was a voracious reader of Christian books. One of them titled, Revival in Indonesia gave me an insight into the division within the body of Christ over the role of the Holy Spirit. The author disclosed that though thousands of Muslims were converted in that move of God, some institutional churches were not part of that great revival. Since they were not receptive to His operations, the Holy Spirit gave them a wide berth. In a sane world, this would have caused a rethink among those who reject the gifts of the Holy Spirit because of their unfounded and skewed interpretation of Scripture.

Imagine people calling themselves disciples of Jesus Christ and yet would not accept His word on the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit! These are the men of worldly wisdom who draw their strength and inspiration from their theological scholarship rather than the infallible word of God. They are the ones who bandy their doctorate degrees in Theology and edit the Bible to support their devil inspired narratives. These spiritual Lilliputians describe themselves as Cessationists based on their claims that operations and gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased with the early apostles. What is the Scriptural basis for their ridiculous claims?

Jesus introduced us to the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit in John 14:15-17, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. I will pray the Father, and He will give You another Advocate, that He may be with you forever: the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, for it does not see Him, neither does it know Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you, and will be in you”. In the same John chapter 16: 7-14, the Lord gave more revelations about what the Holy Spirit would do for His church. It is a lengthy Scripture but it is needful for us to reproduce it in its entirety to buttress our stance on the satan-induced rejection of the Holy Spirit by some institutional churches:

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I am going to My Father, and you will see Me no more, and of judgment, because the ruler of this world stands condemned. I have yet many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority. But He will speak whatever He hears, and He will tell you things that are to come. He will glory Me, for He will receive from Me and will declare it to you”.

Yeshua (Jesus) did not conceive His Ecclesia (what Bible translators call church) to operate with human wisdom or power. If this were so, He would not have charged His early disciples and Apostles to wait in Jerusalem until they are empowered by the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49). If anybody was qualified to preach the good news in his own strength, it would have been Yeshua Himself. But the Bible tells us that He could not start His ministry until the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the shape of a dove after He was baptised by John (Luke 3:22). If neither Yeshua nor the early Apostles could do without the power of the Holy Spirit, how is it possible for us to save souls in our own strength?

Unfortunately, many church leaders now depend on their scholarship to preach the Gospel. In fact, one of them, a prominent pastor in America unabashedly told his followers that the only way they can know God is to study theology. Little wonder that so many theological institutions have sprung up in the Western world which is also known for its ungodliness. If the study of divinity translates to having a better relationship with God, what has been the spiritual fruits of theology graduates? How many people have they led to the Kingdom of God?

 What is available on YouTube, the preferred platform for spreading of their version of the Gospel tells the world a different story. In the first place, products of the theological institutions have aligned under two different umbrellas, namely Cessationism and Continuationism. This is in relation to the role and operation of the Holy Spirit. While the Continuationists accept the gifts and operations of the Holy Spirit, those who call themselves Cessationists believe that spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophesy and healing ceased with what they term “Apostolic Age”. Essentially, they call Yeshua a liar because He said in Mark 16:17-18, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them, they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well”.

 Was this promise intended to end with the so-called “Apostolic Age”? Certainly not! When Peter addressed the Jews on the Day of Pentecost, he quoted Joel 2:28, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your elders will dream dreams”. Peter concluded the message by telling them that the promise is not only for them (the Jews), but “for all who are far away, as many as our God will call to Himself” (Acts 2:39).

 It is quite amusing that the Cessationists base their ungodly claims on a statement made by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 where he spoke about God’s kind of love. In verse 8-11 he said, But if there are prophecies, they shall fail; if there are tongues, they shall cease; and if there is knowledge, it shall vanish. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect comes, then that which is imperfect shall pass away”. How on earth can one use this Scripture to invalidate what Yeshua said in Mark 16:17-18 except he or she is possessed by the devil? In fact, many of the institutional churches that are under the umbrella of Cessationism ex-communicate members who speak in tongues or operate in the Spirit of prophesy.

          Has the church or anybody attained the perfection that Paul spoke of in this cited text? Did Paul himself attain perfection while he was on earth? He said in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have attained or have already been perfected, but I follow after it so that I may lay hold of that for which I was seized by Messiah Yeshua. Brothers, I do not count myself to have attained, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Messiah Yeshua”.

 It is the same Paul they cite as their source for the cessation of the operations of the Holy Spirit who revealed what Yeshua gave to His church to have victory over the enemy. In Ephesians 4:7, 8, 11-16, Paul said, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the gift of Messiah. Therefore He says, ‘When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men’. He gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, and for the building up of the body of Messiah, until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, into a complete man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Messiah, so we may no longer be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about with every wind of teaching by the trickery of men, by craftiness with deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, Messiah Himself, from whom the whole body is joined together and connected by every joint and ligament, as every part effectively does its work and grows, building itself up in love”.

           Paul asserts here that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for building up the church until each member attains to the measure of the fullness of Messiah. Have all of us attained to that fullness? Is it possible for anybody to attain perfection here on earth while still in the flesh? As noted earlier, even Paul said he was working towards it! Should we not take advantage of the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to us by Messiah Himself to work towards perfection like Paul? If they hinge their argument on what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:8-11, should we delete 1 Corinthians 14:1, 39 from the Bible? In verse 14, Paul charged the Corinthians to “follow after love and desire spiritual gifts”. Why should they desire spiritual gifts if these were only reserved for “Apostles”? Similarly, in verse 39, he said, “Therefore, brothers, eagerly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues”. It is interesting that Paul encouraged “ordinary Christians” at Corinth to desire to prophesy and to speak in tongues! Did he not know that these gifts were only meant for “Apostles” as the Cessationists want us to believe?

             It is hardly surprising that satan’s most virulent attack against the church is in the area of the role and operations of the Holy Spirit. He knows that a church lacking the auction of the Holy Spirit is a playground for him and his demons. He also knows that no soul can be delivered from his kingdom without the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Yeshua had revealed this to His early disciples in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him”. He also explained the role of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of sinners in John 16:18, “And when He comes, He will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment”.

 We can now appreciate why the devil is fighting tooth and nail to expel the Holy Spirit from the church. He has not only blinded some ministers to the truth of the Scriptures on the role of the Holy Spirit, but has used his agents to manifest counterfeit gifts to discourage believers from seeking and accepting genuine ones. Just because many deceived persons are speaking demonic tongues or giving prophecies enabled by the devil does not invalidate the word of God. Yeshua is not intimidated by these lying signs and wonders, neither should we be. It is unfortunate that many believers choose to let others interpret the word of God for them. Just because someone has a PhD in Greek or Hebrew languages does not qualify him to preach the Gospel or to interpret Scripture. The Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible as attested to by 1 Peter 1:21, “For the prophesy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved be the Holy Spirit”.

My candid advice to every believer is that they should stop relying on mere men for interpretation of Scripture. Ignore human credentials. Only the Holy Spirit can lead you into all truth. You know very well that you will not be able to blame anyone for your fate if you end up in hell because you chose man over God. Yeshua said in John 12:48, “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day”. God purposely wrote the Bible in simple English or whatever other languages are available) so that we will not have an excuse on judgment day that we did not understand it. Moreover, He has given us His Spirit to guide us into all truth contained in the Bible. Whatever you do not understand in Scripture, ask Him to give you light and He will do so to glorify Yeshua and prepare you for eternity in God’s presence.