Perversions of the Pentecostal Movement -- Introduction

Unscriptural trends were very popular in the Pentecostal movement many years ago, the excesses of which have scarred and scared off many disillusioned who have chosen to dispense with the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

However, the Holy Spirit is essential to salvation:

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9)

We cannot declare that Jesus Christ is Lord without the Holy Spirit:

"Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." (1 Corinthians 12:3)

So, whether a believer accepts it or not, the Holy Spirit indwells every person who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

Let no one make the claim that one must speak in tongues in order to be saved, for we are saved by the grace of God, which we receive by faith (Ephesians 2:8).

The presence of the Holy Spirit is a gift from God (Acts 2: 38), not something that we merit by works or demonstrations of power.

The manifestations of the Holy Spirit have been subject to great distortion and error.

Many Charismatics took isolated scriptures and drew up Pentecostal doctrine.
"Slaying in the Spirit" was a great perversion of the witness of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer.

Adherents to this controversial practice cite John 18 as proof.

The Pentecostal movement took this one verse and spinned a practice in which believers would stand at the altar of a church and receive an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and then fall on the ground, "slain in the spirit".

The Bible is clear to warn of interpreting one scripture as the sole basis for truth:

"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." (2 Peter 1:20)

All Scripture!

When instructing Cleopas and company on the road to Emmeaus, Jesus demonstrated the blessed necessity of considering every passage in light of the entirety of Scripture:

"The Pentecostal Movement failed to apply the same diligence in justifying outrageous conduct in the name of the Holy Spirit. Without the Word -- Christ in us -- there is no truth, and we lack therefore proper knowledge to walk in the Spirit!