Do you know what it was like being raised in a Baptist Church? Every Sunday there was lively choir music, hand-clapping, and someone wailing a mournful “praise.” I remember the pastor’s demonstrative preaching: him standing on pews, kicking his leg up in the air, and melodiously crooning the words of his sermon. Although I faithfully attended church, and sang in the youth choir, being a Baptist only introduced me to the concept of God. Something was missing. I recall one-night laying in my bed as a teenager asking God what it was going to take for me to really know him. He did not answer me.
A few years later I went away to college and joined the college’s gospel choir and the Campus Crusade for Christ Bible Study. In my sophomore year, the Bible Study changes focus, and half of the members leave. I stayed. Then it happened, the Bible Study leader began teachings doctrines that I never heard in the Baptist Church. I become skeptical and doubtful. But I stayed. Right before the semester break, the Bible Study leaders invited me to attend an Apostolic church with them when we returned in January. I gave them no reply. Instead, I went home and talked to God once again. I asked Him to convince me of the truth. I was conflicted.
I returned to school and decided to go with them to the Apostolic Church, thinking, “This is it; I’m done with them after this trip.” We left early one Saturday morning, eight of us piling into a rented station wagon. Arriving at the church for a special Saturday service, I was ready to get this over with.
Walking into the church’s sanctuary, I saw a large plaque over the pulpit that read, “You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.” A powerful voice said to me, “This is the truth you are looking for.” I was floored. The service went on, the preacher preached, the invitation was made, and I got baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the removal of my sins. Needless to say, I was convinced of the truth. But my story doesn’t end here…
Six weeks after being baptized, I went to the dorm room of a Bible Study member to speak with her. She asked me if I wanted to pray. I agreed. Then, something miraculous happened. I felt the overwhelming presence of God and began to speak uncontrollably in a language that was totally foreign to me. I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I was filled with the Holy Ghost!
That Pentecostal experience gave me the peace, joy, and power over sin, Satan, and myself, that I had never known. God and the Bible became real to me that day because I experienced the same thing the disciples and others did in the book of Acts. This was the answer to my prayer years earlier.
Furthermore, this life changing experience was foretold in the Bible and is available to you also (Joel 2:28, 29). If you want to know more about this personal Pentecostal experience visit us at 520 Hartford Turnpike in Vernon, CT.
