Along with two others, I tried to visit the revival of the Faith, Hope and Charity Church, Thursday, January 23rd, in hopes of witnessing genuine Bible tongue-speaking. Much to our surprise, the service was canceled when we arrived.
According to Mr. Bowers, the "pastor" of the church, the guest speaker from Columbus could not come because he was suffering from high blood pressure. This incident is unfortunate, but I believe it says some things.
We have received correspondence from individuals who are members of the Faith, Hope and Charity Church, in response to articles we have written in "What Saith the Scripture?" and have documentation to substantiate such, where they claim Holy Spirit baptism and the ability to speak in tongues as the apostles of the New Testament.
Now, if they claim "the gift of tongues," then they ought to have the other 8 gifts of the Holy Spirit as well, which include "the gifts of healing" and "the working of miracles" (1 Cor. 12:8-10). The apostles, who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:2-8, 26; 2:1-4), made the lame to walk, the blind to see, and the dead to raise. If you claim to have what the apostles had, then you ought to be able to do what the apostles did! What I want to know is this: Why couldn't one of their own have gone to the man with high blood pressure and healed him? Why this ought to be a very small thing, compared to making a lame man walk, a blind man see, or a dead man raise. You would think that if a man really has the Holy Spirit as he claims, the Holy Spirit would not have allowed him to miss an opportunity to join himself with some "non-believers" and convince them of the truth!
We are not amazed by this, however, for the chapter, from which they derive their name, shows the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit have failed, ceased and vanished away (1 Cor. 13:8-13). "Physician, heal thyself" (Lk. 4:23).