I was talking to a woman the other day about salvation. She comes from a background that is not Apostolic and was asking about baptism in the name of Yeshua. I gave her the standard verses, Acts 2:38, Mark 16:15-18, Acts 2:4, Acts 10:44-46, and Acts 19:6.
But she was not convinced.
Her hang up? Tongues. She told me that she didn’t believe that tongues was necessary for salvation.
I told her she was correct.
That threw her.
I explained that repentance and baptism in the name of Yeshua are indeed required for salvation, but receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit is like a mark or confirmation.
I told her that according to scripture, speaking in other tongues is the evidence that a person has been filled with the Holy Spirit – thus fulfilling the requirements for salvation.
That is why it is absolutely necessary to be spirit filled.
And that’s where she balked.
Compromise is a Growing Problem
Unfortunately, the compromise of the Word of Yehovah is becoming more and more common. Yes, it has always been around. Look at the Pharisees. It seems though, that it is getting worse with several areas that are very commonly compromised. And tongues as evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is a huge one.
Saints are denying it because they seem to think that by doing so it makes a loved one who hasn’t spoken in tongues OK with Yehovah.
Pastors are turning away from it to draw more people into their congregations. Apparently, saying if you haven’t spoken in tongues then you have not been filled with the Holy Spirit is exclusionary.
We were warned of this in Acts 20.
29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Acts 20:29-30
30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Years ago, I watched a church get torn apart because of this very issue. They had members who had been with them for years who did not speak in tongues. When the youth minister began teaching the necessity of it, those parents threatened to pull their kids out of the youth program.
The pastor at the time acquiesced and today that church is fully charismatic, teaching trinity and baptizing in titles. Holiness is nowhere to be found. It all began because of one compromise in a key area. When you begin taking the biblical structure of salvation apart, the whole thing begins to crumble, leaving room for that other Jesus and other gospel that Paul warned us about in 2 Corinthians 11:4.
And that is not a good place for a church to be.
Those Who Obey
It has been my experience that when people begin compromising the Word when it comes to tongues, they usually haven’t spoken in tongues or someone close to them has not spoken in tongues.
They are trying to bend and twist the Word to make themselves or their loved one OK.
And let’s just put it all out there on the table. Pastors will say it in order to draw larger crowds.
It doesn’t work like that though. You can twist scripture all you want, but it doesn’t change it – at all. Right is still right and wrong is still wrong.
No matter how hard people try to justify not speaking in tongues, it is still the only evidence given for the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
In this case, it was the woman’s son. He had been baptized in the name but had never spoken in tongues. So, she was trying to rearrange scripture to make him OK.
It just doesn’t work like that though. In fact, it is backwards. Instead of trying to pull, manipulate, and stretch scripture to justify his issues, she should have been helping his crucify his flesh, tear down the strongholds, and walk in obedience to Yehovah.
It really is that simple.
Acts 5:32 tells us that Yehovah gives His spirit to those who obey Him.
Humans tend to be inherently rebellious, which is why it is so important to keep that flesh in check. Obedience is not typically our nature, especially when it means sacrifice, especially putting things down that we really like – and picking things up that can be uncomfortable at times.
But Yeshua said that if we love Him then we will obey Him.
It is really a matter of devotion. How much do you really love Him? Do you love Him enough to accept that you must obey Him in order to get that seal which is the infilling of the Holy Spirit?
Most say the word yes, but their actions say no.
Compromise in Divisive
Personally, I think that a very high percentage of people who call themselves “Christians,” or even “believers,” are not meeting the requirements that scripture has laid out.
They still want to do things their way.
They still want to do worldly things and chase after worldly pursuits. They are workaholics who defile the Sabbath and choose to take their kids to sporting events instead of attending Sabbath service. They choose to celebrate the pagan traditions of Christmas and easter instead of keeping the commanded feast days. They dress and conduct themselves in ways that make it impossible to identify them as believers.
They may claim to be separate from the world, but their actions say otherwise. And each action that brings them closer to the world carries them further away from Yehovah.
What happens to them? Discernment is decreased or lost completely. Spiritual gifts get weaker instead of more powerful. Prayer becomes a chore and is eventually minimized or removed altogether.
I need to point out here, if your church is not teaching on prayer and having a prayer service at some point during the week, every week, you are likely in a church that has already compromised its way out of the Word of Yehovah, or it isn’t far off. It already has at least one foot in the world.
Prayer should be taught often. It may be part of the message or the whole message, but it must be taught regularly. And it should definitely be the whole message from time to time.
The word “pray” appears 508 times in the King James Bible. The word “prayer” appears 128 times. You can’t deny its importance in a believer’s life and growth.
You can’t have a relationship with anyone if you aren’t talking to them. Prayer and obedience are paramount to your relationship with Yehovah.
We are told to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), yet churches are not reinforcing that. It isn’t being taught which means it isn’t being reinforced in the minds of believers and they are not being taught it’s fundamental importance in living a life in pursuit of holiness. It is instrumental in living a holy life and receiving the blessings and promises for believers that are described throughout scripture.
And if you are “too busy” to pray, then Yehovah does not have the prominent place in your life that He should. He said to put Him FIRST (Exodus 20:3). Anything that you put before Him is a god.
My husband is such a blessing to me, our family, and the people we minister to. That man can pray! He teaches prayer on a regular basis and you can find several of his teachings on prayer on our YouTube channel. He also works with people one on one to help them enrich their prayer life.
He teaches the importance of having a prayer life – and he practices what he preaches. He prays several times a day. He starts his day with prayer and then throughout the day he will stop and pray. It keeps him grounded and connected to Yehovah.
It makes him a better human, a better husband, and a better pastor.
When you don’t have a strong prayer life it leaves the door open for deception to enter and that will infect you, your family, your church, everyone. That’s when compromise seeps in and begins to twist and pervert scripture.
You can’t twist scripture to make it fit some deficit in your spiritual life or someone else’s.
Tongues as Evidence of the Infilling of the Holy Spirit
So, let’s deal with this.
When you look at scripture, the only evidence given for the infilling of the Holy Spirit is tongues.
You don’t see any verse that says, “They were filled with the spirit and they got really nice” or “they knew they knew they had received the gift of the Holy Spirit because they changed.”
Look at the House of Cornelius, the disciples on the road to Ephesus. They spoke in tongues and what happened? It prompted Peter to baptize the entire house. It was a sign to Paul that the disciples needed to be baptized.
What if the evidence had been that suddenly they were good people?
Well that doesn’t work because the disciples on the road to Ephesus were supposedly already “good people.” They had just not been baptized in the name and, wait for it, had not been filled with the Holy Spirit and spoken in tongues.
Changing is the result of being filled with Yehovah’s spirit and living in it over time. It is never used as evidence of the initial infilling.
Nope. It’s nowhere.
Still, desperate people with their worldly minds try to shoehorn the fruits of the spirit into the initial infilling of the Holy Spirit and say that is evidence.
But that does not make sense. It is the difference between a whisper and a roar.
I have known a lot of really nice atheists and some very generous people who were entertaining some pretty nasty devils. They may have been nice or generous, but that does not mean they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Can a person be filled with the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues, and exhibit the works of the flesh? Of course!
It is the will of Yehovah that everyone be filled with His spirit though. He desires it and He wants to give everyone the chance. So, when they yield to Him, He will fill them. It doesn’t mean that they won’t squander that precious gift and turn away from Him.
But He will give them a chance – and in many cases, more than one chance.
Built on Faulty Logic
If we are going to employ the faulty logic that tongues is not the only evidence because it is not “clearly” explained, then we also have to look at other areas of scripture that are as ambiguous as that seems to be.
Baptism is a great one. Apostolics baptize in the name of Yeshua – because that is what is demonstrated over and over in scripture. It is commanded in Acts 2 (along with the promise of the infilling of the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues) and we see the disciples baptizing people in the name.
But in Matthew 28:19 Yeshua said something different, didn’t He? He said, “Baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and Holy Ghost.”
Now the Apostolics will focus on that word “name.” and say that the name is Yeshua. But Yeshua did not teach baptism in His name – not directly.
He did, however, tell the disciples that believers (those who follow Him) will speak in other tongues (Mark 16:15-18).
Yes, I know that baptism in the name of Yeshua is the correct baptism formula. But I also know that speaking in other tongues is the only evidence given IN THE BOOK for the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
It takes some discernment though as well as a desire to be obedient to Yehovah, whatever the cost.
You typically see people veering off into these heretical teachings when they are resistant to the level of submission to Yehovah that is required to truly follow Him. Knowing scripture is not enough. Teaching the Bible is not enough. Head knowledge of the things of Yehovah is not enough.
Having an academic understanding of scripture is a good start, but until He has written His word on your heart, and you are living it every single day, it simply is not enough.
You have to be fully submitted to Yehovah which means laying down the things of the world and picking up the things that are of Him. That isn’t always comfortable. It’s worth it, but not always comfortable.
But as long as you are subscribing to the worldly practice of biblical compromise, your house will NEVER stand on the rock it was intended to be built upon.
Compromise is a Death Sentence
Compromise is a gateway sin that leads to the destruction of many, many souls. It infects and destroys families, congregations, and populations.
When Yehovah has had enough of your rebellion, your defiance, your stubborn pride that drives you to do things your way, you won’t grow, and you definitely won’t thrive. You may have shallow increases as other compromisers flock to you because you are tickling their ears, but you will not have the depth and intimacy with Yehovah that you should. And you will pay for it, dearly.
For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Hebrews 10:26
If you have willfully compromised the Word of Yehovah for your own gain or for any reason, it is a sin.
Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
James 4:17
The truth is, if you are claiming to serve Yehovah but compromising His word, you are keeping your foot in the world. You have not come out of Babylon. If your foot is there, so is your heart. And if your heart is there, then the rest of you is there too.
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6:24
Pick a side.
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
1 Kings 18:21
Please, just pick a side.
Compromise is Easier Than Doing the Work
In the end, the woman told me that her son had “done things” in his life, and he had a lot of shame.
Often people struggle to get the Holy Spirit because they have things they haven’t dealt with like shame, unforgiveness, worldliness, and rejection.
Instead of getting her hands dirty and working with her son to get through those things, this woman tried to compromise the Word of Yehovah to create a work around so that her son would be OK.
Sometimes you have to get in the mud with people, get your hands dirty, and help them get to where they need to be. Not everyone is going to come into this pristine and issue free. In fact, most won’t.
No, they are going to have a lot of issues, and you can’t twist the word to avoid dealing with those issues. You have to just dive in.
Personally, I don’t think that there is enough teaching going on in churches today that prepare people for baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit – and definitely not for living a holy life. We’ve already established that they are largely not teaching people to pray, but they aren’t giving them the tools to come out of Babylon. They just tell them to do it – without a map, a guide, or anything.
That is a “Christian” tradition that needs to stop! How are people going to know if they aren’t taught? You can’t expect them to just absorb it. Yes, some thing will come about as a result of pursing Yehovah and trying to live a holy life, but things like what it looks like to come out of the world need to be taught and explained.
Where are the biblical churches?
Holiness needs to be taught.
Prayer needs to be taught.
These things should be the culture of the body of believers. It should be a lifestyle, not a badge they put on once or twice a week.
It starts with leadership. And the church, the leadership, is failing the people.
The problem is, leadership won’t make the changes necessary if someone doesn’t hold their feet to the fire. Believers need to demand more or they need to leave and find a church, find leadership, that will.
Ask about prayer meetings. Ask for teaching on holiness and salvation. Study the scriptures and learn how to have a deeper, more meaningful relationship with your creator.
Remove those golden earrings. You aren’t in Egypt anymore.
Turn away from that golden calf. It offers nothing but death.
Stop settling for lukewarm scripture twisters.
Stop changing the Word to accommodate the person.
Work with the person so that they can fit the Word.
Torah Observant Apostolics 
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