by G.K. Wallace (deceased)
In telling what the baptism of the Holy Spirit did for him, Pastor A. G. Ward says, “Another
blessed result of the coming of the Comforter to my heart has been that I have learned to cultivate
the faculty of sacred imagination and to realize the unseen.” We believe that the gentleman is right
in one respect, and that is about his imagination. However, it is not the Spirit that creates this
imagination; his imagination creates what he believes to be the baptism of the Spirit in his mind
and heart. Since the Bible plainly teaches that the baptism of the Spirit was for a specific purpose
and that purpose having been fulfilled, it, of necessity, ceased, we know then that the gentleman
is overworking his imagination.
To further show you that this is a matter of a perverted brain, please notice the following:
- Joseph Smith, the father of Mormonism, got the Holy Spirit and imagined the angel Moroni
gave him some plates on which was written the Book of Mormon. - The Spiritualists claim they talk to the dead by the power of the Spirit. The dead are called
up, and with them, they converse face to face. It looks as if someone’s imagination is working
overtime here. - Mr. Nazarene gets the Holy Spirit and jumps and shouts but cannot talk in tongues. He has
the same Holy Spirit as Mr. Pentecostal but no tongues. He also says that Mr. Pentecostal cannot
speak in tongues. - Mr. Quaker gets the Holy Spirit and neither jumps nor shouts but only sits quietly. He says
all the noise and talking in tongues is not of the Holy Spirit. - Through what she claims was the Spirit of God, Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, gave to the world
Christian Science. This so-called science denies that there is anything that is material. Sickness
and death, it says, do not exist. This is all an illusion. It seems that when folk get their imagination
started, there is no end to what they may say and do. - Charles T. Russell [founder of the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” -ed.] imagined that God had
called him to give us his materialistic doctrine. - R. H. Boll, Charles M. Neal, et al. imagined this was all true and have taken up with the
same. Jorgenson, Boll, and others say that their theory is not that of Russell, but we are prepared
to show that their theories are as much alike as two boys born of the same mother. The theories
are that closely akin. Only their fathers can tell them apart. - Mrs. White says she was called by God by the Spirit to give us Adventism.
- But, alas, our missionaries begin to work their imagination. After using his imagination to
understand what the Bible teaches on the question of the Holy Spirit, Virgil Smith got one of his
converts—namely Joano Nunes—to the point where he imagined he had the Spirit. This unusual
occurrence came after they had spent some time repeating, “The Lord is good—the Lord is good.”
Then, some of them talked in tongues. We wish some of these fellows with such good imaginations
would show us the Scriptures where God authorized anyone to agonize in prayer for the Holy
Spirit. Where is an example of anyone getting down and crying, “The Lord
is good—the Lord is good,” or as the Pentecostals do, “Thank you, Jesus, Thank you, Jesus.”
All the above testimonies of the Holy Ghost folk contradict, yet each can prove his point
because he has the witness within himself. He feels it therefore, he knows it.
Well, somehow, we believe the pastor mentioned above is right. It is a work of imagination. God destroyed the antediluvians for the free use of their imaginations. “And God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually,” (Gen. 6:5). Moral: Stick to the work of God and quit following your
imagination. —The Beacon
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Editor’s Note: Brother G.K. Wallace had an amazing talent for showing at once the seriousness
and the silliness of false doctrines. Sadly, this article, written a generation ago, is still very much
needed, and speaks to errors still common today. —RCV
