Bible Studies/Holy Spirit

Advertisement

Expert: Mr. McClellan - 7/22/2010


Question
Mr. McClellan,

            Hello sir. I am trying to understand the whole whole Holy Spirit thing. Some say speaking in tongues is the evidence, while others say the spirit is given upon conversion. The Apostle Paul speaks about this as if tongues is not important concerning receiving the spirit. Also, if and once the spirit is upon you can it depart from you? I understand we can depart from the spirit as far as how we live, but can the spirit itself depart from you?

Answer
Hello Zacchai,

I know you read the Bible so I won't take time to look up all the passages. I'll just point out what the scriptures say.
There are two ways the apostles used the term "Spirit." One way was when they were speaking about the Holy Spirit itself. The other way was when they were actually speaking about the gifts of the spirit, most of which were miraculous. In Acts 2:38, the word Spirit actually refers to the Spirit itself and not the gifts of the Spirit. Once a person was given the Spirit at the moment they received forgiveness (salvation) for their sins, the Spirit would give them the power to work some kind of miracle as it chose for them and not as chosen by the saved person. Some were given the power to speak a language that was foreign to them without them having to take time to study it. This is what happened with the apostles on the day of Pentecost and it was so that all those people in the crowd who spoke other languages and dialects than the apostles normally used could immediately understand the message they were speaking. "Tongues" were not languages that were "unknown" except to the person who had been given the miraculous ability to speak them or to people in range of hearing them who happened not to speak that language. Speaking in a language that no one understood (unknown to them) was a silly thing to do and Christians were warned to avoid doing that since no one but angels would be able to understand them.
Now, the Spirit can most definitely depart from a Christian who leaves the faith and returns to his old sinful ways. This, however would not take place simply on the commission of a single sin, it would if the Spirit detected a change of heart, however. I mean a change of heart that meant that the Christian had decided to abandon his trust in Jesus on a long term basis. God knows the heart and our every intention so that he can judge justly.
Notice, though, that miraculous abilities are not being given to anyone any more. The reason given in the scriptures is that once they had served their purpose they ceased. Their purpose was to confirm the source and the truthfulness of the message presented by the apostles and other early first century Christians. Since then, nothing was to be added or taken away or changed in any way to what the apostles had taught before they met their deaths, not even if it came from an angel. The apostles had delivered everything that pertains to life and godliness that God had to say to humans and they confirmed it by the miracles they did. No new revelations would be coming, so no miracles. All "speaking in tongues," (made up incoherent words) and other supposed miracles, being done today is fraud to deceive ignorant people into following the false teachings of some false teacher who, of course, does not represent the true Jesus but some form of false Christ that can't save anyone.

I hope this helps. Just read your Bible. It's all right there in plain sight.

Sincerely,
Mr. McClellan

Bible Studies

All Answers

Answers by Expert:

Ask Experts

Volunteer

Mr. McClellan

Expertise

I can answer questions concerning Christian doctrine as well as other kinds of questions relating to religion. One important thing, among many, that needs clearing up is the meaning of religion. Religion is any system of belief that tries to explain how people should think and behave so that life is the best it can be. The definition found in the dictionary is seriously in error being based on popular but wrong ideas. Email me at and.the.truth.is@GMX.com for a free PDF 5 page introduction to my just completed book, "And The Truth Is?" It's uniquely different and interactive, designed to show you that you can actually know the way, the truth, and the life Jesus spoke of and what he expected people to do to participate in it as well as what to expect if they did.

Experience

My education puts me second to none in this area and I have had over forty years experience in the area of teaching Christian theology, doctrine, apologetics, hermeneutics, history, and philosophy. Publications: Among the things that I have written is a summary of the entire Bible that is intended to help people put it all together and quickly understand exactly what the writers of the Bible intended for everyone to understand. By reading it and then reading the Bible, the correct understanding should become quite clear and a sincere student will recognize that they have received an invaluable aid to knowing how to correctly interpret the Bible so that they can know, with certainty, that they are understanding it correctly. At the same time, they will be able to recognize the vast number of false doctirnes that are being called Christian doctrines but are only the teachings of men and have no more authority than any oridinary man can give them.

Organizations
I belong to no officially recognized organizations. I'm simply a person with a deep and lifelong desire to know the truth, a desire so strong that I have, for more than 50 years, poured myself and a lot of money into finding it and making sure of it. I believe that life is too short and valuable to waste it believing a lot of stuff that isn't true. Everyone can't be right and be in disagreement at the same time and the claims made by the writers of the Bible are simply too serious to guess about.

Publications
It's quite obvious that the Bible is not easy to comprehend thus all the divided opinions about what it teaches. I am finalizing a short treatise on the Bible that I believe will help a lot of people who seriously want to get a clear understanding of what the Bible actually has to say to everyone, a treatise that should take the mystery out of it and show that it really makes sense. People deserve help in recognizing the truth about what the Bible says because there is so much false teaching about it that is actually leading people away from God instead of to God. It should be ready to send out by the end of this year, 2011 or before. Now, you can purchase a PDF copy of my book "And The Truth Is?" on CD. It's very unique and it's interactive. If you're tired of living with a best guess and want to learn for certain what the truth is, this, the result of over 50 years of research and serious study, is what you're looking for.

Education/Credentials
I have two degrees in education, including religious belief systems. I also have many years of experience and many thousands of hours of study and research on which I've based my new book, "The Bible Actually Makes Sense."

Awards and Honors
All of my awards and honors are in the form of compliments from people who've read or listened to my attempts to help them understand what the Bible is about and how to comply with what it actually says. So many have said, in one way or another, that I helped them more than anyone they had ever met. It's comforting to know that my efforts to be of value to others is appreciated.

©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.