Well, an update is in order although I'm sure it will not be the last for this article.

It turns out that I'm not the only person to go to the minister I spoke about holiness in the first part of this article. I just found out another saint who moved here recently also went to him as well about the holiness issue because their former pastor in another state told them to find another church if her pastor will not preach biblical holiness. I think it's more of a righteousness issue, personally. We've just labeled it incorrectly in Pentecost for the last hundred years, based on what Americans called the "holiness" movement prior to the Azusa Street outpouring.

I attended a service yesterday morning and the minister I had spoken to had taken a swipe in his bulletin against holiness. There are generally quotes in the bulletin, however, this time there was one without an author and read something like this:

How effective is your saltiness? (This individual had told my spouse two weeks ago that I wasn't salt I was acid!) ;)
Does your presence draw people closer to God?
Do you leave a trail of angry people behind you?
Are people glad to see you come or glad to see you go?
Are you growing in grace?
Does your holiness include "peace with all men?"
Are you loving your neighbor as yourself?

Now understand that this individual knows everything there is to know about me from the time I came back to God in 2003 and all the hell that followed at the hands of Pentecost. It is amazing how a man who supported and backed you through everything that came against you can turn against you and try to slant his view the other direction when asked about the one thing that he will not surrender to God. I've found this to be the one thing in Pentecost that is killing us. God has a sense of humor about it though, and if you don't believe me, read on.

Have you ever been in a service where someone with sin in their life has tried to cheerlead during worship? No matter how they press outward in worship, jump up and down, scream, shout and run the aisles, God doesn't seem to respond. (Yes, after telling the new converts that my father was out of line for running the aisles when he visited 5 weeks ago, my friend ran the aisle this week. First time in the 3 1/2 years that I've seen that happen. No, I do not know how he is going to explain that to his new converts at their next service.) I know I won’t be opening or preaching any services there in the next 100 years or so there. Think about it…the last person welcome at Ahab and Jeze’s table at dinner time was Elijah or Micaiah who told it how it is whether they liked it or not. Don’t put anyone up there to feed the sheep who might actually speak what God wants the church to hear. God has too much of a sense of humor.

They had a visiting evangelist that morning and he comes from a under an old pioneer of Pentecost that preached the camp meeting that I received the Holy Ghost in back in 1980 in Illinois. I've attended his church and know how he preaches and he's a holiness preacher through and through. This young man did not fall far from the tree of origin.

(Note to all pastors, if you are going to fight with God about something, DO NOT have an evangelist come to your church unless you know he will not touch on the area you are resisting God in. That's the one Achilles heel we've never managed to fix in the world of Pentecostal Politics. God always seems to have a trump card waiting when men get in the sacred desk to be used as an oracle of God.)

The young evangelist started his message and a few minutes into his sermon God pulled him way off course from his notes. He even announced this to the church and stated that he didn't know why he was saying this but he told us about going to buy cologne at a retails store recently that had had a newer version come out recently and how the clerk had tried to get him to change his mind and go with the NEW version.

He told the clerk he didn't want the new version he wanted the ORIGINAL. She had then sniffed the older fragrance and told him..."I've never smelled this before, but it smells BETTER than the new stuff!"

He then announced to the church "I don't want the new stuff in the church. I want the ORIGINAL PENTECOST." He reiterated this several times fervently.

I could do nothing but shout out and amen him, then burst out laughing, as did my wife and the other sister who had taken a stand for holiness and modesty of dress. It’s a sad day in Pentecost when biblical standards of not cutting hair and not cross-dressing are questioned from our pulpits.

As I told that sister after service, whether what was preached is accepted or rejected will depend on if the one it was intended for turns the message inward...or turns it outward and throws it on the ground as being a "message for the saints, not me." Either way, it showed God had his eyes on the matter and is going to deal with it.

It gets better.

Five o’clock rolled around and my wife woke me to get ready to head out to visit a service in another state. We were watching the sister’s children who had also taken a stand for holiness and she was to meet us there at the other church, which she was dying to visit with us. We headed to service and arrived just as it was starting and found a place to sit, not that there was much sitting going on. The worship service was a breath of fresh air, but unfortunately I thought it would be over before our friend arrived. Fortunately, God had other plans.

There was also a visiting evangelist there at that service, but he never got to preach. The pastor spent some time talking to the children of the church and a question was asked about how many of them 8 years old or older wanted the Holy Ghost. Seven of them raised their hands. Then another 5 raised their hands who were not even 8, also saying they wanted the Holy Ghost. He ended by passing them each out a small present for coming up to participate in their discussion, and asked the praise leader to get a song ready.

I’ve seen that sister lead choir at that church before and she is greatly anointed. Anointing ain’t cheap. I don’t know what she’s been through in her walk with God, but it has produced a great anointing. When the praise singers’ ensemble cranked into “Freedom,” the children all hit the altar and began to worship more actively than the adults. Within seconds the Holy Ghost fell on the altar area. I encouraged my son to go up with them and take his friend. The two boys were only 8 and 6 years old and their mothers went with them while I held the baby back at the pew and kept on worshipping.

Ten minutes later our friend’s six-year-old son returned to the pew and I asked him if he had received the Holy Ghost yet, but he said no. I told him to go on back down there and worship and he would get the Holy Ghost. It didn’t take that long. The evangelist caught him at the edge of the crowd in the altar with his mother. He never even got to lay hands on him before he began speaking in other tongues. Both boys received the Holy Ghost and immediately wanted to be baptized. What followed was a rush of children to the baptistery. I passed the baby off and went to help the boys change.

God has a sense of humor. If you mock worship in your church and you might have to wait a long time to see soul’s filled with the Holy Ghost in your altars. Don’t touch the holy things. Once someone sends something up to God in prayer, praise, worship or consecration, you’d better keep your hands and your nasty tongue off of it! Your saints might just have to attend another church to see a move of God if you do.

Final count last night was 14 children received the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues and 21 were baptized in Jesus name, all in under 30 minutes. The youngest child to be filled with the Holy Ghost was 4 years old! That’s not the first time I’ve seen that happen. I’ve seen this before in my mentor’s church when he was pastoring in North Carolina. It was a total sovereign move of God then as it was last night. I had helped pray children through at my mentor’s church, where the youngest child was 3 years old who received the Holy Ghost. During a minister’s conference I spoke on this subject once and had a minister rebuke me, claiming he did not believe it could happen. I was shocked at the outright resistance that subject drew from some ministers. Still, a friend of mine stood up immediately and said he had never seen it happen but wanted to see it. He’s now pastoring out in Illinois and has seen it happen many times over. God blesses words of faith!

Now whether last night’s events was a product of God honoring the church’s multiple 10 day fasts during the 30 days of fasting and prayer that we just went through, or whether he was drawn to the sincerity of children worshipping in Spirit and in Truth, either way, this is what we need more of in Pentecost!