with tongues.'
In the Church world as a whole, there are those who say no one is really saved unless he or she is baptized with the Holy Ghost and speaks with other tongues. These folks also usually put great emphasis on the belief that a person must be baptized by a certain baptismal formula.
But according to the words of Jesus in John 14, that doesn't bear up under scriptural examination. In fact, if people aren't saved until they receive the Holy Ghost and speak with other tongues, then Jesus told a lie in this passage because He
emphatically declared the unsaved could not receive the Holy Spirit!
JOHN 14:16-17
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another COMFORTER, that he may abide with you for ever.
17 Even THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH; WHOM THE WORLD CANNOT RECEIVE, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Jesus said the world or unsaved people cannot receive the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth—the Holy Spirit in His fullness.
Why can't the world receive the Holy Ghost? "Because it [the world] seeth him not, neither knoweth him . . . ." You see, an unsaved person is recreated by the Holy Spirit in the New Birth when he accepts Jesus. But the world—those who are unsaved—
cannot receive the Holy Ghost because they don't know Jesus.
If an unsaved person prays to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit without accepting Jesus first, he may receive any kind of spirit, because there is more than one spirit in the spirit realm.
There are evil spirits as well!
One of the most dangerous things in the world is to convince sinners to start seeking the baptism in the Holy Ghost. Sinners don't know one spirit from another. And by violating the Word of God and not accepting Jesus first, they may yield to a wrong spirit.
Over the years, I've witnessed this happen to several people. Since they didn't first accept Jesus and get born again, they actually received an evil spirit, and I had to cast that evil spirit out of them. Afterward, I led them to the Lord, they were born again, and then they were filled with the Holy Spirit!
For instance, I remember one meeting where several people came forward to be filled with the Holy Spirit. However, I sensed in my spirit that a certain woman in the prayer line had an evil spirit in her. As I laid hands on her, I asked her, "Are you a Christian?"
She said, "I am. Why, I even have the Holy Ghost. Do you want to hear me speak in tongues?" Before I could say anything, she started rattling off something, but it was just gibberish. I knew it wasn't tongues.
You know, it scares some people to talk about demons or evil spirits.
But believers don't have to be afraid; they just need to read their Bible!
The Bible tells us how to identify evil spirits: "And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist. . ." (1 John 4:3). Thank God, He doesn't leave us in the dark about which spirits are not of God!
If I had dealt with this woman when the evil spirit wasn't in manifestation, she could have said from her mind, "Christ has come in the flesh." That's why I knew I had to deal with it right then, while the evil spirit was in manifestation.
So I said to her, "Say this prayer after me, Sister." I prayed,
"Heavenly Father." She followed me and said, "Heavenly Father."
Then I said, "I acknowledge that You are God."
She repeated after me, "I acknowledge that You are God."
Then I said, "And that the Lord Jesus Christ is Your Son, and He has come in the flesh."
The woman said, "Jesus Christ is not your Son, and He has not come in the flesh." Notice she didn't say "the Lord Jesus Christ." She could not confess that Jesus Christ is God's Son, that He is Lord, and that He had come in the flesh.
It was quite obvious that this woman hadn't received the right spirit. She had associated with those who say a person isn't really saved unless he is filled with the Holy Ghost and speaks with tongues. These people led this woman, still a sinner, into seeking the baptism in the Holy Ghost, and instead she received the wrong spirit!
Finally this woman said to me, "Something here on the inside of me won't let me say what you said."
I said, "I know it. Do you want to be free?"
She said, "I do." So I cast that evil spirit out of her, and before the service was over, she was born again and speaking with other tongues as the Holy Spirit gave her utterance!
Let me say this one more time: It is dangerous for sinners to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They need to be made new creatures in Christ Jesus first. Only then can they be filled with the Holy Ghost.
On the other hand, as I said earlier, when you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, and God becomes your Father in the New Birth, you don't have to be concerned at all about asking the Lord for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. You can know beyond any doubt that when you ask, you absolutely cannot receive the wrong spirit!