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Do you know God the Holy Spirit?
By Elmer G. Klassen

It was during nights of prayer for worldwide revival at the Moody Church in Chicago that R. A. Torrey received the call to make an around the world preaching tour. This evangelistic trip sparked revivals the beginning of this century in Wales, India, Korea and other places during which time God used Torrey’s series of sermons he preached to Christians during the day. One was on prayer and another was his most famous series of sermons on the Holy Spirit which D. L. Moody repeatedly insisted that Torrey preach to Christians everywhere he went.

Contrary to what we read in books and magazines, Moody and Torrey never retracted anything written in Torrey’s book, "THE HOLY SPIRIT: WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE DOES." It has been documented that the sermons given in this book were what Moody and Torrey believed and what Torrey quite dogmatically insisted was what the Scriptures teach.

On the other hand, there are no series of sermons which Torrey preached that have been so purposely ignored or refuted. Yet they have brought such lasting fruit to those who have believed them that they have permanently taken their place in church history. We have witnessed heaven-sent blessings for the past 90 years because Christians have taken these messages seriously. This is more than we can say of the sermons preached by their critics.

Evangelical leaders who have refused to accept these messages are themselves the losers. The past and the present confirm the working of the Holy Spirit as taught in this book. When the Holy Spirit is ignored we lose God’s Counselor, and the alternative to having the Holy Spirit as our Counselor is to turn to man’s psychology.

The rejection of the Holy Spirit among evangelicals has resulted in exchanging God’s Word and power for man’s psychology and lack of power to resist sin in the churches. The acceptance and dominating influence of "Christian" psychology in our evangelical schools, publishing houses and pulpits is a declaration of war against the Holy Spirit. We are witnessing the devastating effects of a cold war which is now being fought between psychology and the Counselor.

The replacement of "Christian" psychology for the baptism with the Holy Spirit among many of our evangelical leaders forces all evangelicals to make a decision. In our counseling sessions we are using either the Word of the Lord by the Holy Spirit or the word of man that comes from his psychological studies. God will allow no compromise when these do not agree and basically they do not agree.

There will be some brethren who will stumble on the words "baptism with the Holy Spirit," a term Torrey uses repeatedly in this book. Moody said that those who will argue about it are the ones who need the work of the Holy Spirit in their own lives. Let us not permit petty arguments about terminology to rob us of the only hope we have for a worldwide revival and worldwide evangelism.

Unless we see the need of a baptism of the Holy Spirit we will never see a nationwide revival! God expects us to expel all the arguments some of us have learned since childhood against a baptism of the Holy Spirit as the Scripture teaches. The ignorance on the subject and the often direct denial of what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit by evangelicals give us a clear message why our prayers for revival are not heard. The Holy Spirit is being ignored and grieved because of our sin of rejecting Him as our teacher. For this there is no excuse. When the Holy Spirit is grieved, He is not obligated to stay. He does not have to ask to be excused. He just leaves.

We all have access to the Scriptures which the Holy Spirit now on earth is ready to interpret to our hearts. Our Lord Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would be given to them who ask and obey Him.

The Jews knew the Scriptures, yet rejected the Second Person of the Trinity when He came to earth. History tells us of God’s judgment upon them because they rejected Jesus their Messiah. When His work on earth was finished He returned to His Father and sent the Holy Spirit to the Christians on earth who would accept Him. An ignoring of the Third Person of the Trinity by them and organizing an anti-Holy Spirit theology will have no less consequences than what the Jews have suffered for rejecting their Messiah and organizing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ! Blasphemy against Jesus Christ can be forgiven, but not so blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This, we are promised, is a sin that will never be forgiven! "Any one who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come" (Matthew 12:32).

What little we know about the Holy Spirit has been wrapped around with so much confusion by theologians that it may be better to put aside evangelical books for a time and read only what the Scriptures teach about the Holy Spirit. Not until we are baptized in the Holy Spirit as the Scriptures teach will our prayers for revival be heard.

Without the special anointing of the Holy Spirit we can not withstand the wiles of Satan against our nations and our families. Our enemy must be recognized and resisted in the power of the Holy Spirit. Victory will be ours when we do!

We therefore, urge you to order Torrey’s book, "THE HOLY SPIRIT: WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE DOES."
Dr. Torrey tells us how everyone of us can be fully satisfied and satisfied forever. Anyone who receives the Holy Spirit as an indwelling presence will know this to be true.

Torrey says that there is much talk about the baptism with the Holy Spirit and much prayer for the baptism with the Holy Spirit that is altogether vague and indefinite. The baptism with the Holy Spirit is a definite experience of which one may know whether he has received it or not. This work of the Holy Spirit is distinct from and in addition to His regenerating work. It is always connected with and is primarily for the purpose of testimony and service. The Holy Spirit is given to Christians so that we will have the power to do the work God has called us to do. It is the privilege of every believer in every age of the Church’s history to have the baptism with the Holy Spirit. This gives every believer a solemn responsibility to receive Him at any cost as the Scriptures teach.

There is something one must do to obtain the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Torrey promises that after taking a few simple steps anyone can be absolutely certain of having been "baptized with the Holy Spirit."

It has often been said that Torrey is a very dogmatic preacher. To this he answers: "I trust that the charge is true. I aim to be a dogmatic preacher. I aim to be just as dogmatic as the Bible. I do not hesitate to affirm without the slightest fear that my affirmation will prove untrue, that anyone who takes the steps I give in my book will be immediately ‘baptized with the Holy Spirit.’"

Because the Holy Spirit is being ignored and grieved in our churches, because of the lack of authority in our pulpits, because of the lack of changed lives in our churches, because of the lack of response to the Gospel by the young people in our churches we urge you to order the above mentioned book for yourself and other Christians in your church. The lack of power in the pulpit, in the prayer room and in the class rooms makes the need to give this subject serious consideration. The Holy Spirit will not come upon us if we continue to do what other Christians around us are doing.

The Holy Spirit always came upon Christians who refused to accept what powerless Christians believed on the subject. If you will read the biography of Christians who left behind much good and lasting fruit you will always learn that they accepted and experienced a work of the Holy Spirit they had not known before as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.





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