The Bible Evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

By Kenneth E. Hagin

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

—Acts 2:1-4

Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money.

—Acts 8:14-18

And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

—Acts 9:17

While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.

—Acts 10:44-46

And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. And all the men were about twelve.

—Acts 19:1-7

Here are five recorded instances of from one to many individuals receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit over a period of 20 years. Saul was one; there also were 120 who received on the Day of Pentecost.

Three times out of these five instances it is recorded that they spoke with tongues when they received the Spirit. The other two passages infer that they did.

Paul himself said, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all" (1 Cor. 14:18).

We know he didn't start speaking in tongues before he received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, it is logical to assume that he received the Holy Spirit the same as everybody else—with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.

The Bible says, "In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established" (Matt. 18:16). We have three Scripture "witnesses." They should be sufficient to cause any thinking person to believe that speaking with tongues is an evidence or sign that you are filled with the Holy Spirit.

What Did Simon See?

Bible students know that the Samaritan believers spoke with tongues, for every one of the Early Church fathers says they did. One does not need to be a student of Church history to realize this. The Word says, "When Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money"

(Acts 8:18). There had to be some kind of a sign or evidence that registered on Simon's physical senses for him to know that the Samaritans had received the Holy Spirit. It had to be more than the fact that the people were joyous, because in the first verses in that chapter we find that "there was great joy in that city." Likewise, the sign couldn't have been devils being cast out or healings taking place, because these things also had occurred previous to the outpouring, according to this same chapter.

We cannot see the Holy Spirit with our physical eyes, for He is a spirit. Therefore, there had to be a physical evidence that registered on Simon's physical senses for him to know that the Samaritans had received the Holy Spirit. It is only logical to assume that it was the same evidence that was registered elsewhere. It was the same sign or evidence that convinced the six Jewish brethren who went with Peter to Cornelius' house.

These brethren of the circumcision were astonished because on the Gentiles was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit: "For they heard them speak

with tongues, and magnify God" (Acts 10:46).

To answer the question, "Is it necessary to speak in tongues?" let's put it this way: If you want a New Testament experience and want to make sure you have the same Holy Spirit that the apostles and the Early Church had, then you want to speak with tongues.

I once heard a minister say on the radio, "You will not need anyone to tell you when you receive the Holy Ghost. If you are in doubt, then you've not received it." I can't agree with that, however. We just read that someone else—those of the circumcision—knew that the members of Cornelius'

household had received the Holy Spirit. The thing that convinced them was hearing them speak with other tongues. You Needn't Doubt

The devil would try to get people to doubt any experience they have had. It doesn't mean that you didn't believe just because you later doubt. People often believe that they have, or have not, received certain experiences from God on the basis of what they have been taught to expect the accompanying evidence to be. Many times they have listened to others and not to the Bible. Or they have drawn their own conclusions concerning what the evidence of salvation or receiving the Holy Spirit should be, or how to prove their experiences. They want to accept their own conclusions instead of accepting what the Bible says.

In a meeting I preached in Texas, we had both day and night services for a number of months, and people came daily from over a hundred miles away.

After we taught them for seven weeks, no one came without receiving. People received the Holy Spirit in every service for three months.

We spent a week talking about the laying on of hands, and you can see from Scriptures we have just read that the laying on of hands was very prominent in receiving the Holy Spirit in New Testament times.

Notice "When Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money" (Acts 8:18-20). Some have thought that Simon was trying to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit. He wasn't. He was trying to buy the gift or the ability of laying hands on people and having them receive the Holy Spirit.

Instructed in a Vision

In 1950, the Lord Jesus appeared to me in a vision in which He told me to go forth and lay hands on believers to receive the Holy Spirit. When I hesitated, not wanting to do it, the Lord took me to this 8th chapter of Acts and called my attention to the fact that the apostles who lived in Jerusalem sent Peter and John to Samaria to lay hands on people to receive the Holy Spirit. Philip had a wonderful ministry there—he got people saved by the hundreds and healed by the scores. But he didn't get anyone filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Early Church believed in special ministries. They sent Peter and John to Samaria because they had a special ministry of getting people filled with the Holy Spirit. They had a ministry of laying on of hands. In fact, Peter said what he and John had was a gift from God. He called being able to lay hands on people to receive the Holy Spirit a "gift of God."

In my vision Jesus said to me, "I have given you that gift." I can't explain it. I never had it before, but I know when it is working (and it is not working all of the time, but only as the Lord wills. There is no such thing as anyone carrying around with them some kind of spiritual gift, or any other kind of gift that works when they want it to work. It is as the Lord wills).

I never lay hands on people more than two or three times before I will know what is wrong with them. It goes along with the gift. I can't tell you how I know; I just know on the inside of me exactly what is wrong with them. I can tell them what they are thinking. I can tell them if there is something in their lives that shouldn't be there. When this gift is operating and I lay hands on people, I can tell whether they have received the Holy Spirit or not without their telling me.

In this meeting in Texas we were praying with people for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. I had laid hands on several, and they all received. Then I laid hands on a certain man and the minute I did so I knew by the manifestation the Lord had told me I would have that he had received the Holy Spirit sometime in the past. I took my hands off of him, stopped praying, and said, "You have received the Holy Spirit sometime in your life. You already have been filled."

He said, "No, no, I haven't.

"Perhaps I am wrong, then," I said. "I am human." (If I do miss it, it won't be because God has missed it. It will because I have somehow failed to listen or respond to Him as I ought.) No human is ever going to get to the place of perfection. Even the great Apostle Paul said, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.... " (Phil. 3:12). Many times ministers have missed it, but that doesn't mean that God has missed it, or that we don't have the right gift. Sometimes we may just fail to get what God is saying to us. When talking on the telephone we sometimes fail to pick up everything that someone on the other end of the line has said. I don't get everything He is saying to me sometimes.

But that doesn't mean that these things are not real.

The Man Who Doubted

Then I put my hands on this brother and began to pray again. I had the same manifestation again, and I knew he already had been filled with the Holy Spirit. I stopped praying, took my hands off of his head, and with more assurance this time said, "Now, brother, you have received the Holy Spirit sometime or another." He again stated emphatically that he had not, so I started to pray again for the third time.

When I had that manifestation again, I could no longer question it. I said, "Brother, I am not wrong. Open your eyes and look at me. I didn't miss it. You have been filled with the Holy Spirit at some time in your life. Has anyone ever told you that you had received?"

"About 18 months ago at a Full Gospel church, the pastor and two or three of the men praying with me at the altar there told me I had received the Holy Ghost," he replied.

"Then what makes you so sure you didn't receive?" I asked.

He began, "My wife said. . ." His wife, who was standing nearby, spoke up and began to tell me what she had said.

"Wait a minute, sister," I said. "You're not the one wanting the Holy Spirit; he is."

This brother then explained that his wife had said that receiving the Holy Spirit is a far greater experience than being born again. "I doubted it, because to me being born again was the greater experience of the two," he said. "Therefore, I was sure I had not received the Holy Spirit."

I said, "According to your wife, I am not filled with the Holy Spirit either, for becoming a child of God is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. You can go to heaven without being endued with power from on high, but you can't go to heaven without being born again. God did not promise to give you the Holy Spirit according to your wife. You have no right to expect the Holy Spirit according to your wife, or according to anyone else. But you do have a right to expect the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God."

"I guess I did receive the Holy Spirit there then, for I did speak something that wasn't English," he said. "But I have never talked in tongues since then."

I said, "I guess not, doubting what you had received from God. Doubt will paralyze the power of God in your life. You don't need to receive the Holy Spirit again. You just need to claim what you received 18 months ago. You just need to reactivate the Holy Spirit within you."

This is why I cannot agree that some will not need someone to tell them if they have received the Holy Spirit. That man was in doubt about it and needed help, although he actually had received. He had listened to his wife and not to the Word of God.

People have different opinions instead of listening to God's Word on the subject and coming according to the Word. They form their own opinions about what the evidences should be. We should expect the evidence that the Word of God teaches.

Errors in 'Evidence'

One minister said, "I know I received the Holy Spirit, because I fell under the power and lay for three hours in a trance." That is well and good, but it is not evidence that you have been filled with the Spirit. You might fall under the power and fall into a trance before you are filled, and you might do it afterwards, but the Bible didn't say, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and fell into a trance."

It says, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues."

Another error I have seen is when someone comes to receive the Holy Spirit, does speak a few words in tongues, and then someone slaps him on the back and says, "Well, too bad you didn't receive that time. Better luck next time." You don't get the Holy Spirit by luck. If that person spoke only two words in tongues, he received the Holy Spirit just as much as anyone else. I don't encourage people to stop there, of course, but they have received. Acts 2:4 says, "They . . . began to speak."

Others have said, "I don't have the joy I think I should have. I expected to receive great joy."

Reading again in this 8th chapter of Acts, we find, "And there was great joy in that city." This is in the 8th verse. Not until the 17th verse do we read that they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Although you should be joyous if you are a Christian, great joy is not an evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. There was great joy in Samaria because healings were taking place and devils were being cast out. Joy is a natural human reaction to faith. If you will believe God, the joy will take care of itself.

I suggested to a man who was complaining that he didn't have the joy he thought he should have although he was filled with the Spirit, "When you go home tonight, get on your knees and say, 'Thank You, Lord, for filling me with the Holy Spirit. I know I was filled because I spoke with other tongues just as they did in the Acts of the Apostles.' Then when you get into bed, praise yourself to sleep, thanking God because you received the Holy Spirit. The first thing when you wake up in the morning, give praise to the Lord for filling you with the Holy Spirit. Then, throughout the day, praise the Lord because you have received.

If you are working where no one is around, praise Him out loud. Otherwise, just praise Him to yourself."

The next night as I sat on the platform in church, I saw this fellow in the congregation, beaming as if someone had turned on a neon sign in the dark. I knew without asking him that he had the joy. He came to me immediately after the service and said, "Brother Hagin, it worked just as you said!"

Someone will say, "But I don't feel like I think I ought to."

My answer to this is always, "Acts 2:4 didn't say, 'They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and felt like they thought they ought to.' The Bible didn't say, 'And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house: and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus . . . hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, and feel like you think you ought to.'

"The Bible didn't say, 'And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied, and felt like they thought they ought to.' The Bible didn't say, that 'Cornelius and his household spoke with tongues and magnified God, and felt like they thought they ought to.' The Bible didn't say that 'Peter and John laid hands on these Samaritans, and they received the Holy Ghost, and felt like they thought they ought to.'" In fact, there is nothing in any of these Scriptures about how they felt. If it were important how you felt, the Bible would have said so.

The important thing is not what you felt; the important thing is what you did. "They spake with tongues . . . . " If you spoke with tongues, then you received. That is the fullness. I don't care how good you feel. If you didn't speak with tongues, you didn't receive.

Emotions Not Evidence

I was preaching once in Oregon, and a number had come to receive the Holy Spirit, so I laid hands on them. One woman was sitting very calmly speaking with other tongues. I went down the line laying hands on folks, and every one received and spoke with tongues until I came to the last woman.

I laid hands on this woman and the Holy Spirit came on her, but she didn't receive the Holy Spirit and didn't speak with tongues that night. But she jumped up and began to shout and dance a little jig for joy. A woman nearby said, "That is the way I like to see them get it."

I said, "She hasn't got it. These other folks have, but she hasn't." (This woman had assumed that the woman who was shouting and dancing had received while the others who were just sitting there calmly speaking in tongues had not.)

In another one of my meetings, a contractor in the church came to receive the Holy Spirit. I laid hands on him, and he began to speak in tongues.

He talked in tongues for 15 minutes while I laid hands on others to receive. Then I went back to him and said, "Brother, the Lord reveals to me that there is a thought in your mind that is hindering you from accepting the fact that you have received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit told me that you have always thought that when you got the Holy Spirit you would jump or dance or run—just have a time."

He said, "Yes, that is exactly what I thought."

I said, "Well, if you want to run, tear out. It's all right with me. Or if you want to jump, go ahead.

You have the Holy Spirit."

"But if you ever see me shout, it will be God," he said.

"What do you mean that will be God?" I asked.

"That wouldn't be God shouting."

"But I mean it will be because He made me,"

he replied.

"You'll never do it, then, because He'll never make you," I said.

He told us later, "I went home disappointed, mumbling to myself, 'I don't feel like I thought I would. I didn't receive the Holy Spirit. If I had, I would have felt different from this. I am not happy, I am not exuberant, I am not in a state of ecstasy. I have felt better than this, and have gotten a bigger blessing than this many times. I just didn't receive.'

"In the night I couldn't sleep. I got to thinking, After all, how am I going to know? Just what does the Bible say? The Scripture in Acts 2:4

came to me: And [they] began to speak with other tongues.' Then it dawned on me and I said, 'Dear Lord, forgive me for being a doubter. I did receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:4 didn't say they felt better. It didn't say they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and were full of joy and felt like they thought they ought to. It said they spoke with tongues. And I spoke with tongues.' Then I just lay there and talked in tongues and praised the Lord for the rest of the night."

People do need help sometimes. Instruction will help. It is a mistake to tell people that they will be joyous after receiving the Holy Spirit.

Immediately after the Holy Spirit came upon Christ, he was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Sometimes the greatest temptations of life come immediately after we are filled with the Holy Spirit.

We shouldn't ask for any more evidence than what the Bible teaches, but neither should we expect any less. We should expect to speak with tongues as the Word of God teaches.

Table of Contents

The Bible Evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Table of Contents

The Bible Evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

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