When the Holy Ghost gives you a DOPE SLAP

I know the old saw about the "Holy Spirit is a gentleman". I guess they should have mentioned that to Ananias and Sapphira Before, To Paul just before he was de-horsed and to the Jailer at Phillippi before he tried to kill himself.

It is heresy to believe that an encounter with the Creator of the Universe by His Spirit will be a passing innocuous encounter. I have come to the conclusion that this old saw is perpetuated by spiritually flatline Christians who have never felt or seen an explosion of the Presence of Holy Spirit. Perhaps if they did, they wouldn't recognize it.

I have had such an encounter. I have been one of the crowd on the day of Pentecost, as one of the 3000 who got saved that day. I have gone from darkness to light by a dope slap right across the back of my head that got the attention of this hardheaded German. The Story Follows:

My brother in law was getting married. We were invited to the wedding. We heard that he had gotten religious. He had turned in his Lutheran membership. Heresy. If you were born a Lutheran boy, and you will die a Lutheran. You don't get out of it that easy pal. As a good hardhead, I was intent on showing him the error of his ways. To return him to the mother ship.

The wedding was the day before Easter. Saturday. A small Assembly of God Church. Nice wedding. The next day was Easter. The family and the Bride and Groom invited us to church. SO, rather then be a toad and sleep in, we went. Sat in the balcony. There were maybe 100 people there. The service began. Worship songs were sung direct from scripture. You didn't need a hymnal, your KJV (furnished) was all that was required. We sang songs right from the Bible. Never seen that before.

Then things started to move. People got up and danced in the aisles. Some fell out. Some hollered. It got radical. Then there were messages in tongues and interpretations. A few. And prophesies. The hair on my arm stood up. I had never seen nor heard anything like this. The sense of the presence of God in the place was strange yet very inviting. A few people sang songs. The songs sung were not sung with great skill, but with passion and anointing. I was brought to tears. I had never heard anyone sing by the anointing before.

It was amazing. Yes a spirit of ridicule came over me..for a bit. It seemed so strange. But they were not drunk as I supposed since it was about 11 AM PST.

I guess there was a sermon. I don't remember it. It was the least significant thing that took place that day. Yet when the time to respond to the call came... I wondered, "What must I do to be saved". I was right there as if I were in the crowd on Pentecost Sunday with Peter and the 120. I was changed, shocked, stunned.

After the service I spoke to some of the members to see if this was real. I told them I was LUTHERAN. One old gentleman said, "I listen to the Lutheran Hour every week. They preach truth". It should have made me feel better, but it didn't. He was right, but he had something I didn't. I had truth, but he had the Creator of all the Universe living right inside him in fullneess of the Spirit. Biblical Truth without the Spirit of God is powerless to change lives.

From that time on I knew I had to get to this place in God. It came. One sowed, some watered and others reaped the harvest.

35 years later I recognize the power of Pentecost. The impact. The way the Spirit of God hit me so hard to the point where I cried out.

We need more of that, and less of US. People are perishing because of a desire on the part of church to remain in control and stay respectable. I wonder if that same little Assembly of God church is the same today as 35 years ago. I sadly doubt it. Paul said, "Quench NOT the Spirit". I think that has been struck with White Out from most of the western Church's Bibles.

We need to reflect on that old spiritual: "Luckenbach Texas" by Waylon Jennings - M
Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love. ALL the words of that song speak of discarding those things that keeps love from growing.


Sometimes a Holy Ghost dope slap comes in the form of a Country Song.