The strength of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church is not in a centuries-old hierarchical structure. Its strength is not in guilded, stained-glass cathedrals, lettered seminarians, heavily-endowed institutions, or in pipe organs and choirs.
Furthermore, the strength of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church is not in worldly-wise prelates, in its international diplomatic corps, or in its priesthood consecrated to celibacy or poverty. Neither is the strength of the true Church in its material, earthly wealth.
The strength of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church is in its authentic Apostolic message. The Word of God accompanied by the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost indwelling consecrated men and women of God has always been and will always be the forte of Pentecost. It is "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts."
Paul said, "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God," 1 Corinthians 2:4-5.
If there is any weakness in today's Apostolic Church, it is due to a departure from the fundamental essence of what the Church of Jesus Christ was from the beginning. Ordinary but supremely godly men, enflamed by the Word of God, preached with passion and anointing in the highways and byways; casting out devils, healing the sick, speaking with new tongues. Praying, fasting, reading their Bibles, living holy, separated, consecrated lives unto the Lord - without robes, chalices, censers, crucifixes, cathedrals, or any such pomp, ceremony, or other excesses.
They were perceived to be "ignorant and unlearned men." But don't be fooled. They were the wisest men who ever lived. Their revelation of God far exceeded that of modern ecclesiasticals. Today's "high Church" is in reality not Church at all. It is a sham, a mockery, and vaudeville stage-show compared to the original New Testament Church.
Peter, James and John did not wear cassocks or clerical collars. They didn't blow smoke with censers. They didn't parade around in pompous processionals. They didn't read mind-numbing homilies in Latin out of dusty old books full of dead, powerless platitudes.
They were men on fire. They preached extemporaneously. They shouted. They rebuked. They fearlessly denounced sin and sinners. They shamelessly called men to repent openly of their sins, go to the waters and be baptized from head to toe by full immersion in the name of Jesus for the remission of their sins, and COMMANDED them to be filled with the Holy Ghost. They laid hands on them and they spoke with other tongues as the Spirit of God gave the utterance. They had supernatural dreams and visions, angelic visitations and an endless parade of miracles.
A dead church lays hands on them and nothing whatsoever happens.
The ONLY FUTURE of Pentecost, in fact, the only future of the TRUE CHURCH, is in returning to the Bible, and the absolute rejection of all phony churchisms. We must get back to reading the Bible, praying, fasting, speaking in tongues, casting out devils, healing the sick, performing miracles, living holy and godly lives to the glory of God.
All of the phony stuff is going to rot in Hell. You'd better believe it.
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