Instead of carefully scrutinizing
what they have been taught in the
light of the Scriptures, many
professed Christians today allow
themselves to be carried away by
every wind of doctrine as long as
such appear to satisfy their
immediate emotional and material
concerns. One of such doctrines is
the teaching that there is something
like "holy ghost fire" which can be
invoked to destroy one's enemies or
whatever obstacles that may lie in
one's way.

Wrong notions
We must point out that the incident in
Acts 2: 1-41 in which the 12 apostles
spoke in tongues in fulfillment of the
Lord's promise cannot be used to
justify holy ghost fire prayers. In the
first place what happened on that day
was that the apostles spokevarious
languages other than their own
Galilean tongue .The testimony by
those who heard the apostles is clear
on this, as it is written: "And they were
all amazed and marvelled, saying one
to another, Behold, are not all these
which speak Galileans? And how hear
we every man in our own tongue,
wherein we were born? Parthians, and
Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers
in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and
Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and
in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and
strangers of Rome, Jews and
proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do
hear them speak in our tongues the
wonderful works of God." - Acts
2:7-11.
From the text above one could see that
the tongues spoken by the apostles
were known languages which were
understood by the people who had
converged at Jerusalem for the
Pentecost, a later name for the feast of
weeks which comes up on the 50th
day after the Passover. The apostles
did not behave in a wild manner. They
were preaching, not praying. What
obtains these days however is that the congregation keep shouting
sometimes for hours on end, uttering
unintelligible sounds (which they call
speaking in tongues) - all in the name
of prayers. This is of course the direct
opposite of what happened on the
day of Pentecost.
What these professed Christians fail to
realize is that speaking in tongues was
necessary when Christianity was at its
infancy so that the gospel could reach
those who were not Jews. After a
while, the gift ceased. The time of
speaking in tongues has passed as St.
Paul himself declared. - 1 Corinthians
13:8.
When Jesus Christ spoke of the
kingdom of heaven suffering
"violence" and the "violent" taking it
by force, he meant that the devil and
his agents use violence to continually
persecute the true servants of God and
make false claims to the kingdom(2
Corinthians 11:13-15) History is
replete with records of atrocities
committed by so-called Church leaders
against those they called "heretics".
Such churches have proved
themselves not to be the servants of
God. - Revelation 2:9; 3:9.

Another place cited by those who
believe and teach the doctrine of holy
ghost fire is Matthew 3:11. In the text
John the Baptist, speaking of Jesus
Christ stated: "I indeed baptize you
with water unto repentance: but he
that cometh after me is mightier than I,
whose shoes I am not worthy to bear:
he shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost, and with fire" It should be
noted that this text does not say one
should pray for fire to destroy one's
enemies. The statement of John the
Baptist meant that the mission of Christ
was of a far higher order than his.
After Christ had been baptized with
water by John the Baptist, the holy
spirit alighted on him in the form of a
dove. (Matthew 3:16-17) Thereafter
he promised the apostles the gift of
the holy spirit (or the spirit of
anointing) which fulfilled on the day of
Pentecost when the spirit descended
on them in the form of cloven tongues
of fire. (Luke 24:47-49; Acts 1:3-8; Acts
2:1-41) This was the baptism with the
holy spirit spoken of by John the
Baptist.

Holy Spirit not Holy Ghost
There is nothing like Holy Ghost. The
word ghost, according to The New
Imperial Reference Dictionary comes
from the archaic English word g'ast
which is derived from the German
word geist, meaning "a spirit
appearing after death". The Oxford
Advanced Learners Dictionary says it
means "the spirit of a dead person
appearing to somebody who is still
living" while the Websters New World
Dictionary defines ghost as among
other things "the supposed
disembodied spirit of a dead person,
conceived of as appearing to the living
as a pale, shadowy apparition"
The word ghost was wrongly used by
the translators of the King James
Version of the Bible to stand for "spirit"
which is the same thing as "breath of
life" - the power of God which is
responsible for the functioning of the
organs. For instance John 19:30 is
rendered in the King James Version as
follows: "When Jesus therefore had
received the vinegar, he said, It is
finished: and he bowed his head, and
gave up the ghost." But the New King
James Version has translated it thus: "
So when Jesus had received the sour
wine, He said, "It is finished!" And
bowing His head, He gave up His
spirit". Other translations such as the
New American Standard Version, the
New International Version, the Revised
Standard Version, The Living Bible, the
Jerusalem Bible and so on have all
changed the word ghost to spirit.
The term Ghost" is also wrongly used
to stand for holy spirit. For instance
Matthew 28:19 is rendered thus in the
King James Version "Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost." But this
has been amended in the New King
James Version to read "Go therefore
and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit."

Jesus' Example
That God is opposed to the practice of
praying for fire to burn people is
eloquently attested to by the
statement of Christ when he was to
pass through some Samaritan villages
and they would not let him pass as it is
written: "And it came to pass, when the
time was come that he should be
received up, he stedfastly set his face
to go to Jerusalem. And sent
messengers before his face: and they
went, and entered into a village of the
Samaritans, to make ready for him. And
they did not receive him, because his
face was as though he would go to
Jerusalem. And when his disciples
James and John saw this, they said,
Lord, wilt thou that we command fire
to come down from heaven, and
consume them, even as Elias did? But
he turned, and rebuked them, and
said, "Ye know not what manner of
spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is
not come to destroy men's lives, but
to save them. And they went to
another village." - Luke 9:51-56
It could be seen that when prompted
by his enraged disciples to pray for fire
to destroy the Samaritans for their
slight on him, Jesus Christ rebuked
them. But the professed Christians of
today would readily call for fire to
burn their enemies. God will not
answer such prayers. In the light of
the above, it is also wrong to use the
incident in which the prophet Elijah
commanded fire to come from heaven
to destroy or consume two captains
and their bands (2 Kings 1) as basis
for holy ghost fire prayers. The
incident was an isolated one in the
ministry of the prophet and should not
be applied in this time of grace. - John
1:17; 2 Corinthians 3:17.
Jesus Christ during his sermon on the
mount exhorted: "Ye have heard that it
hath been said, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But
I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, and pray for them
which despitefully use you, and
persecute you; That ye may be the
children of your Father which is in
heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise
on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the
unjust. For if ye love them which love
you, what reward have ye? do not
even the publicans the same? And if ye
salute your brethren only, what do ye
more than others? do not even the
publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect." - Matthew 5:43-48. See also
Luke 6:27,28.

Manner of Prayer
The Bible says that by their fruits ye
shall know them. (Matthew 7:16,20) It
is noteworthy that in the course of
prayers, some Christians today behave
like the worshippers of Baal in their
encounter with Elijah as described in 1
Kings 18. They scream or shout
repeatedly at the top of their voices;
they engage in outlandish gestures
like vigorously waving their hands,
stamping their feet, rolling on the
floor, pounding the wall with their
hands; running helter-skelter, uttering
incomprehensible sounds in the name
of speaking in tongues and so on.
These are not the manifestations of the
spirit of God which is "first pure, then
peaceable, gentle, and easy to be
intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without
hypocrisy." (James 3:17) The spirit of
God does not operate in such a way
that the person will lose control of
himself and behave in a wild manner
for, the spirit of the prophet is "subject
to the prophets." - 1 Corinthians 14:32

too long is ur post. I cant read it. Can u make it terse

^^
read it through it is not that long, i tried modifiying with with ma phone. But it's still showing this way. Be patient it's quit insightful.

SHALOM!

EMILO2STAY:
^^
read it through it is not that long, i tried modifiying with with ma phone. But it's still showing this way. Be patient it's quit insightful.

You need to learn HTML: it is invaluable.

In Forum lingo, what you have done is called "BLOCK-OF-TEXT," and it is usually replied with the abbreviation, TLDR- that is, "TOO LONG, DIDN'T READ."

Whom do you expect to be so conscientious to bother to try to read such an ugly essay?

. MATTHEW 5:38-48.

38. "Ye have heard that it hath been said,

'AN EYE FOR AN EYE,
AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.'

39. "But I Say unto you,

'THAT YE RESIST NOT EVIL:
BUT WHOSOEVER SHALL
SMITE THEE ON THY RIGHT CHEEK,
TURN TO HIM
THE OTHER ALSO.'

40. "And if any man
will sue thee at The Law,
and take away thy coat,
let him have (thy) cloke also.
41. "And whosoever shall compel thee
to go a mile,
go with him twain.
42. "Give to him
that asketh thee,
and from him that would borrow of thee
turn not thou away.
43. "Ye have heard
that it hath been said,

[color =#006600]'THOU SHALT LOVE
THY NEIGHBOUR
AND HATE
THINE ENEMY.'[/color]

44. "But I say unto you,

'LOVE YOUR ENEMIES,
BLESS THEM THAT CURSE YOU,
DO GOOD TO THEM
THAT HATE YOU,
AND PRAY FOR THEM WHICH DESPITEFULLY USE YOU
AND PERSECUTE YOU.'

45. "That ye may be
the Children of your Father
Which is in Heaven:
for He maketh His Sun
to rise on the Evil
and on the Good,
and sendeth Rain
on the Just
and on the Unjust.
46. "For if ye love them
which love you,
what Reward have ye?
Do not even the Publicans
the same?
47. "And if ye salute
your Brethren only,
what do ye more (than others)
Do not even the Publicans so?
48. "Be ye therefore Perfect,
even as your Father
Which is in Heaven
is Perfect."

YOU KNOW THAT A TRUE CHRISTIAN, OR OTHER PERSON WHO HAS ANY INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT, WOULD NOT CARE ABOUT HOW POORLY YOUR POST WAS FORMATTED, BUT TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT, ANYWAY, OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE AUTHOR, THE EFFORT OF THE AUTHOR, THE INTERESTINGNESS OF THE SUBJECT, AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT.

That everyone has ignored your Post for SIX YEARS shows the fake immature, unworthy nature of people on this forum, in particular, and this country in general.

It is a certainty that many of the contributors to this Forum are among those "Whooping and Hollering" "HOLY GHOST FIRE! HOLY GHOST FIRE!" in Church, but It has no application in their personal lives.

It has not made them better Christians.

It has not increased their love for God, the Things of His Kingdom, nor for their Neighbours and Strangers.

EMILO2STAY:
There is no denying the fact that it is
now common to hear at crusades and
services, church leaders yelling "holy
ghost!" and the congregation
energetically responding, "fire" and
the next line which usually follows,
"Holy Ghost fire" to which they start
screaming "burn them!" "consume
them!" or "destroy them!" as the case
may be.

According to the report by Dr.
Abati the congregants were
hysterically praying:

"Father, destroy
them. Father, bind them. I bind them in
the name of Jesus. Holy Ghost fire,
burn them. I say Burn them! burn
them! Holy Ghost Fire destroy them…"

Whether this type of prayer is in
harmony with the Scriptures or not
they do not care to know. This is of
course contrary to the Bible standard
which requires us to verify the truth of
what we are told before we accept
such as an article of faith. - 1
Thessalonians 5:21; 1 John 4:1; Acts
17:10,11

Wrong notions

We must point out that the incident in
Acts 2: 1-41 in which the 12 apostles
spoke in tongues in fulfillment of the
Lord's promise cannot be used to
justify holy ghost fire prayers. In the
first place what happened on that day
was that the apostles spoke various
languages other than their own
Galilean tongue. The testimony by
those who heard the apostles is clear
on this, as it is written:

"And they were
all amazed and marvelled, saying one
to another, Behold, are not all these
which speak Galileans? And how hear
we every man in our own tongue,
wherein we were born? Parthians, and
Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers
in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and
Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and
in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and
strangers of Rome, Jews and
proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do
hear them speak in our tongues the
wonderful works of God." - Acts
2:7-11.

From the text above one could see that
the tongues spoken by the apostles
were known languages which were
understood by the people who had
converged at Jerusalem for the
Pentecost, a later name for the feast of
weeks which comes up on the 50th
day after the Passover.

The apostles
did not behave in a wild manner. They
were preaching, not praying. What
obtains these days however is that the
congregation keep shouting
sometimes for hours on end, uttering
unintelligible sounds (which they call
speaking in tongues) - all in the name
of prayers. This is of course the direct
opposite of what happened on the
day of Pentecost.

What these professed Christians fail to
realize is that speaking in tongues was
necessary when Christianity was at its
infancy so that the gospel could reach
those who were not Jews. After a
while, the gift ceased. The time of
speaking in tongues has passed as St.
Paul himself declared. - 1 Corinthians
13:8.

When Jesus Christ spoke of the
kingdom of heaven suffering
"violence" and the "violent" taking it
by force, he meant that the devil and
his agents use violence to continually
persecute the true servants of God and
make false claims to the kingdom. (2
Corinthians 11:13-15) History is
replete with records of atrocities
committed by so-called Church leaders
against those they called "heretics".

Such churches have proved
themselves not to be the servants of
God. - Revelation 2:9; 3:9.Another place cited by those who
believe and teach the doctrine of holy
ghost fire is Matthew 3:11. In the text
John the Baptist, speaking of Jesus
Christ stated:

"I indeed baptize you
with water unto repentance: but he
that cometh after me is mightier than I,
whose shoes I am not worthy to bear:
he shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost, and with fire"

It should be
noted that this text does not say one
should pray for fire to destroy one's
enemies.

The statement of John the
Baptist meant that the mission of Christ
was of a far higher order than his.
After Christ had been baptized with
water by John the Baptist, the holy
spirit alighted on him in the form of a
dove. (Matthew 3:16-17) Thereafter
he promised the apostles the gift of
the holy spirit (or the spirit of
anointing) which fulfilled on the day of
Pentecost when the spirit descended
on them in the form of cloven tongues
of fire. (Luke 24:47-49; Acts 1:3-8; Acts
2:1-41) This was the baptism with the
holy spirit spoken of by John the
Baptist.

For the fact that the holy spirit helps,
strengthens and teaches the servants
of God to withstand the fiery trials that
come their way at the instance of the
devil, it is called the Comforter or the
Teaching Spirit (John 14:26; John
15:26; 1 John 2:27) The holy spirit is
meant to help, not to destroy people.-
Romans 8:26.

The baptism of fire mentioned earlier is
not about retribution but refers to the
suffering which Christ and those of the
heavenly class face in the course of
their ministry on earth. In the Psalms,
the prophet David wrote under the
inspiration of God: "Gather my saints
together unto me; those that have
made a covenant with me by
sacrifice." (Psalms 50:5) The servants
of God are called into a "covenant of
sacrifice" and so they are prepared to
suffer anything including death in the
course of their ministry. Because they
of the heavenly class suffer
tribulations all their days on earth,
Christ declared thus: "Fear none of
those things which thou shalt suffer:
behold, the devil shall cast some of
you into prison, that ye may be tried;
and ye shall have tribulation ten days:
be thou faithful unto death, and I will
give thee a crown of life." - Revelation
2:10.

Holy Spirit not Holy Ghost

There is nothing like Holy Ghost. The
word ghost, according to The New
Imperial Reference Dictionary comes
from the archaic English word g'ast
which is derived from the German
word geist, meaning "a spirit
appearing after death". The Oxford
Advanced Learners Dictionary says it
means "the spirit of a dead person
appearing to somebody who is still
living" while the Websters New World
Dictionary defines ghost as among
other things "the supposed
disembodied spirit of a dead person,
conceived of as appearing to the living
as a pale, shadowy apparition"

The word ghost was wrongly used by
the translators of the King James
Version of the Bible to stand for "spirit"
which is the same thing as "breath of
life" - the power of God which is
responsible for the functioning of the
organs. For instance John 19:30 is
rendered in the King James Version as
follows:

"When Jesus therefore had
received the vinegar, he said, It is
finished: and he bowed his head, and
gave up the ghost."

But the New King
James Version has translated it thus:

"
So when Jesus had received the sour
wine, He said, "It is finished!" And
bowing His head, He gave up His
spirit".

Other translations such as the
New American Standard Version, the
New International Version, the Revised
Standard Version, The Living Bible, the
Jerusalem Bible and so on have all
changed the word ghost to spirit.

The term Ghost" is also wrongly used
to stand for holy spirit. For instance
Matthew 28:19 is rendered thus in the
King James Version

"Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

But this
has been amended in the New King
James Version to read "Go therefore
and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit."

The idea that a person continues to
live after death, which is the meaning
carried by the word ghost is of course
superstitious, devilish and completely
alien to the truth of the Scriptures.
(Genesis 3:1-4) In Hebrews 9:27 St.
Paul declared unequivocally:

"And as it
is appointed unto men once to die, but
after this the judgment".

Also, the
prophet Solomon stated:

"For the
living know that they shall die: but the
dead know not any thing, neither
have they any more a reward; for the
memory of them is forgotten. Also their
love, and their hatred, and their envy,
is now perished; neither have they any
more a portion for ever in any thing
that is done under the sun.
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do
it with thy might; for there is no work,
nor device, nor knowledge, nor
wisdom, in the grave, whither thou
goest." - Ecclesiastes 9:5,6,10. See also
Psalm 146:3,4.

It could be seen therefore that once a
man dies, he becomes unconscious,
lifeless, inactive. He does not become a
"ghost" wandering about but remains
in the grave until the day of
resurrection. - John 5:28,29; Acts
24:14,15.

Jesus' Example

That God is opposed to the practice of
praying for fire to burn people is
eloquently attested to by the
statement of Christ when he was to
pass through some Samaritan villages
and they would not let him pass as it is
written:

"And it came to pass, when the
time was come that he should be
received up, he stedfastly set his face
to go to Jerusalem. And sent
messengers before his face: and they
went, and entered into a village of the
Samaritans, to make ready for him. And
they did not receive him, because his
face was as though he would go to
Jerusalem. And when his disciples
James and John saw this, they said,
Lord, wilt thou that we command fire
to come down from heaven, and
consume them, even as Elias did? But
he turned, and rebuked them, and
said, "Ye know not what manner of
spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is
not come to destroy men's lives, but
to save them. And they went to
another village." - Luke 9:51-56

It could be seen that when prompted
by his enraged disciples to pray for fire
to destroy the Samaritans for their
slight on him, Jesus Christ rebuked
them. But the professed Christians of
today would readily call for fire to
burn their enemies. God will not
answer such prayers. In the light of
the above, it is also wrong to use the
incident in which the prophet Elijah
commanded fire to come from heaven
to destroy or consume two captains
and their bands (2 Kings 1) as basis
for holy ghost fire prayers. The
incident was an isolated one in the
ministry of the prophet and should not
be applied in this time of grace. - John
1:17; 2 Corinthians 3:17.

Jesus Christ during his sermon on the
mount exhorted:

"Ye have heard that it
hath been said, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But
I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, and pray for them
which despitefully use you, and
persecute you; That ye may be the
children of your Father which is in
heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise
on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the
unjust. For if ye love them which love
you, what reward have ye? do not
even the publicans the same? And if ye
salute your brethren only, what do ye
more than others? do not even the
publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect." - Matthew 5:43-48. See also
Luke 6:27,28.

It should be noted that when Christ
said "pray for your enemies" and
those who "despitefully use you and
persecute you", it is to the end that
God will open their eyes to understand
their folly so that they will turn to
righteousness and not for them to be
strengthened in wickedness. St. Paul
also said:

"Bless them which persecute
you: bless, and curse not." (Romans
12:14) He added: "Recompense to no
man evil for evil. Provide things honest
in the sight of all men. If it be possible,
as much as lieth in you, live peaceably
with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge
not yourselves but rather give place
unto wrath: for it is written, vengeance
is mine; I will repay saith the Lord.
Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed
him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in
so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire
on his head," - Romans 12:17-21;
Proverbs 25:21,22.

It would be recalled that one of the
reasons God blessed Solomon richly
was that he did not ask for the lives of
his enemies. (2 Kings 3:5-15) Even
while suffering the pangs of death,
Jesus Christ prayed God Almighty in
this wise: "… father, forgive them; for
they know not what they do." (Luke
23:24) St. Stephen followed the same
example when as he lay dying "he
knelt down and cried with a loud
voice, Lord lay not this sin to their
charge". (Acts 7:60) The Bible warns
against rejoicing when calamities
befall ones enemies as it is written:

"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth,
and let not thine heart be glad when
he stumbleth: Lest the LORD see it and
it displease Him, and He turn away His
wrath from him." (Proverbs 24:17,18)
If it is ungodly to derive pleasure from
the troubles of those who oppose
righteousness, is it prayer for doom to
befall such people that God will
answer? Certainly not!