Gifts of the Spirit Book Report

Randall Q. Lawrence
Faith Bible College
Dr. Z




Book Report: The Holy Spirit and You: A Study Guide to the Spirit-Filled Life by Dennis & Rita Bennett













Gifts of the Spirit
12/6/2011

I finally finished the book The Holy Spirit and You by Dennis & Rita Bennett. In general, I really liked this book for the way that it examined the Gifts of the Spirit grouping them into 3 classes (of 3 gifts to each class):

Inspirational/Fellowship Gifts (Gift of Tongues, Gift of Interpretation, Gift of Prophecy)—“power to say”, Gifts of Power (Gifts of Healings, Working of Miracles, Gift of Faith)—“power to do”, and Gifts of Revelation (Discerning of Spirits, “Word of Knowledge”, “Word of Wisdom”)—“power to know”. (p. 83) The Bennett’s do an excellent job of looking at these gifts, gift by gift, looking at the relevant Scriptural passages, along with bringing up relevant experiences and testimonies regarding the functioning of these Gifts of the Spirit.

The question is asked, “What if I don’t speak in tongues? Can I receive the Holy Spirit without speaking in tongues?” They answer, “It comes with the package!” (p. 64) “You don’t have to speak in tongues in order to be saved. You don’t have to speak in tongues in order to have the Holy Spirit in you. You don’t have to speak in tongues to have times of feeling filled with the Holy Spirit, but if you want the free and full outpouring that is the baptism in the Holy Spirit, you must expect it to happen as in the Scripture, and to do what Peter, James, John, Paul, Mary, Mary Magdalen, Barnabas, and all the rest did!” (p. 65) This is a very good answer to non-believers and to believers questioning the issue of tongues and the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The importance of the Gift of Tongues is discussed in the chapter on consecration in regards to the intellect. “The intellect comes into rest as it is yielded to God, and praying in tongues is one important means of letting the Holy Spirit renew and refresh our minds and souls.” (p. 185) I sought the Gift of Tongues and/or Prayer Language as I came to understand more and more about them. Gift of Tongues is for public use in church with Gift of Interpretation needed also in church while the Prayer Language does not necessarily require interpretation.

This Gift of Prayer Language was opened to me 5 minutes after it was opened to my best friend (& now wife) Peggy, and it was opened after I saw the use of Prayer Language in the rebuking of the spirit of death off Dr. Larry in ministering at a church in Excelsior Springs on Palm Sunday 2010. I was on a long fast and struggled to get my mind out of the way of my heart and spirit. I have greatly enjoyed this Prophetic Gift and its many uses. I did not see in this book where it speaks about Prayer Language (with the Holy Spirit) as turbo-charging the other Gifts of the Spirit along with blessing my interactions with others and even with animals. Many persons claimed that I had a Baptism in the Holy Spirit when this Gift opened up to me. However, I did not have any dramatic experience in the Lord like Pentecost was for the early church and disciples and did not really feel any different afterward. But, in order to have this Gift free flowing, then I needed to some serious deliverance work (in June 2010) because I had a demon trying to “pinch this Gift off of me”. Now, I am free, and it works and flows freely.

The beginning of the book spends an extensive amount of time and chapters in speaking about Baptism in the Spirit, what it is, how to get it, and more prior to a chapter on each of the 9 Gifts of the Spirit! The book also speaks about things that get in the way Baptism in the Spirit—like cults, the occult/New Age stuff, and things of the world not to mention demonic influences.

The end of the book then talks about the Excellent Way (“…balance and interplay between the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.” & centered in the Love of God—p. 176) along with consecration (of lives and material possessions) to the Lord along with use of the charts (Word of God) and the compass (not the Holy Spirit but our response to the Holy Spirit—p. 208) “So it is the Holy Spirit in you that makes you able to respond to God. It follows that your sensitivity will increase as you allow the Holy Spirit to inspire and move you more from within. This you do through praise and prayer, and closer personal fellowship with God and experience of Him. You sensitize your own instruments by using them.” (p. 208) I really liked this book, but I did take exception** to some of the things that they assumed in the writing of this book on the Holy Spirit and Gifts of the Spirit.
 
**From pp. 39-40….”Another powerful “cult”, often accepted as a true variety of Christianity, claims to be the only true “church,” that all others are false. It teaches that God the Father was, and is, a man, a being of “flesh and bone,” who became an almighty god.” It also teaches that men, if they will keep the teachings of the cult, can become “almighty gods,” and have their own planets to rule, which they will people with their “spirit children” that they have begotten by their many “spirit wives”! Rather obviously, one of the first requirements for full salvation in this cult is that you get married Jesus died on the cross, this group tells us, to bring all men to the point where they could save themselves by keeping the teachings of this particular cult. This group, like others, teaches that the Bible is not sufficient to show the way of salvation; it must be supplemented by other books and writings. In fact, the most important teachings of this cult are not drawn from the Bible at all, but from their special books—one of which was supposedly discovered written on “golden plates; and buried, and others written by “prophets” through the years. Many people are drawn to this cult because of a strong social welfare emphasis.”

We, in the RLDS/Community of Christ, have held to the “one true church” concept, but we do not any longer. We have never held to the Adam-God theory that we can become like God which, of course, also begs the question of who then created God if he had been a man. We also as a church were formed and been against polygamy along with the concept of temple sealing and celestial marriage which helped lead the bulk of the Restoration Movement into the apostasy of polygamy out west and an attempt to get out of the U.S.A. The Community of Christ also believes that Jesus is most important—died on the cross and rose again. We do not believe that you are only saved by following the teaching of the church. We do hold to the Book of Mormon, but the Book of Mormon is a Christ-centered and even a Pentecostal/Charismatic book long before there was such groups. It is interesting that there was a deliverance as one of the first miracles along with Gifts of the Spirit including tongues and interpretation in the early Restoration Movement and early Reorganization (R.L.D.S.).