Passing OutOne very zealous young pastor, was, Mrs Mumford describes, "very controlled and altogether—for a day or two. Then he just soaked in the presence of the Lord. Then after two or three days he started to shake, and to rattle, and to roll, and to twitch ... and to laugh. And he went home to his wife, and she said. There's no way we can sleep in the same bed. She couldn't sleep. He was shaking and twitching [congregation laughs]. He had to take up residence on the couch. Then after several days, he decided it was time to get his act together, and like all good pastors, he decided, Well, we need a bulletin on Sunday, we need a newsletter, we need all these things. So he decided to type out the newsletter and as he got to announcing some hymn, or something which said, 'Come, Holy Spirit'. He typed out Come Holy Spirit—and he was gone—[she then makes a sound as if someone is passing out or collapsing] [again laughter!] Under the power of God—and he was out. Out like a light! And I thought that bizarre. That's emotional. That can't be." Then she immediately relates how it happened to her on the way home as she was writing up her notes of her visit, including relating this incident "I wrote down how he put Come Holy Spirit, and, as I did, the Holy Spirit fell on me in the middle of Air France, and it was most wonderful [laughter and clapping] Wonderful! [Applause]". I simply challenge anyone to prove this Scripturally. It is nothing like the experiences of true revival. True revival certainly doesn't match the flippancy and joviality surrounding these claims. In true revival a person touched by the Holy Spirit comes under the conviction and power of the Holy Spirit, and it is devastating. Every believer is devastated by their sense of sin, and need for repentance. Yes, there is a new joy in a fresh experience of assurance that one's sins are forgiven, but it is joy in humility, not in a superficial and self-orientated merriment.
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Copyright © 2002 Homerton Baptist Church. |
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