Yesteryear's Great Soul Winners Write on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit: Pt 1

[Josprel]

   Yesteryear's Great Soul Winners Write on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit
                                                                                                   
                         Researched, Analyzed and Compiled                                                                                             by                                                                                                              Josprel
                                                                                                                                         (Josprel's comment)                                                                                                                                                                                              Part One

Pentecostals/Charismatics are not alone in their belief that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is subsequent to salvation; nor are they the first to hold this view. Many of the great non Pentecostal evangelists and
teachers of yesteryear    spiritual giants whose names are synonymous with soul winning    held to this view of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit long before there was a Pentecostal or a Charismatic movement. It is not recorded that they spoke with other tongues, but they did teach that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is subsequent to salvation.

                                                                                                        DR. R. A. TORRY:

Most evangelicals know of R. A. Torry, a superb teacher and a close friend of D. L. Moody. Torry was the first president of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He also served as co pastor of the Moody church in that same city. In his book "The Baptism With The Holy Spirit," Torry stated: "Religious biography abounds in instances of men who have worked along as best they could until one day they were led to see there was such an experience as the baptism with the Holy Spirit and to seek and obtain it; from that hour there came into their service a new power that utterly transformed its character. Finny, Brainerd, and Moody were cases in point. But cases of this character are not confined to a few exceptional men. The author has personally met and corresponded with those who could testify to the new power that God granted them through the baptism with the Holy Spirit. These hundreds of men and women were from all branches of Christian service. Many of them were ministers, Sunday school teachers, personal workers, fathers and mothers. What we have in promise in the words of Christ many have, and all may have, in glad experience. 'Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.'" ("The Baptism with the Holy Spirit"; Torry, R. A; Bethany Fellowship, Inc.; Minneapolis; 1972, 25).
                                                                                                                                  (Josprel comment)

Torry's position of ". . . what many have. . . all may have" always has been the position of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movements. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is ". . . not something for a select few," as some maintain the Pentecostals/Charismatics teach. The Promise has been made to every believer, but not every believer believes the Promise

Torry also wrote: "We may have a very clear call to service; it may be as clear as the apostles had    but the charge is laid upon us, as upon them, that before we begin that service we must 'tarry until ye be clothed with power from on high.' This enduement (sp. Torry's) with power is through the baptism with the Holy Spirit . . ." (Torry; ibid; 30 31).

Torry precisely summarized the view of modern Pentecostals/Charismatics when he wrote: "It is quite possible to have something, yes much of the Spirit's presence and work in the heart and yet come short of that special fullness and work known in the Bible as the baptism or filling with the Holy Spirit" (ibid; flyleaf page).

In his classic work on the great doctrines of the Bible, Dr. Torry also wrote: "A man may be regenerated by the Holy Spirit and still not be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In regeneration there is an impartation of life, and the one who receives it is saved; in the Baptism with the Holy Spirit there is an impartation of power and the one who receives itis fitted for service. Every true believer has the Holy Spirit. But not every believer has the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, though every believer may have." ("What the Bible Teaches"; Torry, R. A.; Fleming H. Revell Company; Chicago; 1898; 271).

"To be regenerated by the Holy Spirit is one thing; to be baptized with the Holy Spirit is something different, something further. This is evident from Acts 1:5. There Jesus said, 'Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.' They were not then baptized with the Holy Spirit. But they were already regenerated. Jesus himself had pronounced them so. In John 15:3, He said to the same men, 'Now ye are clean through the word' (cf. James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23). And in John 13:10; 'Ye are clean, but not all,' excepting by 'but not all' the one unregenerate man in the apostolic company, Judas Iscariot (See John 13:11). The apostles, excepting Judas Iscariot, were then already regenerate men, but they were not yet baptized with the Holy Spirit.

"From this it is evident that regeneration is one thing and the baptism with the Holy Spirit is something different, something further. One can be regenerated and still not be baptized with the Holy Spirit" ("The Baptism with the Holy Spirit"; R. A. Torry; 16 17 All Bible references Torry's).
                                                                                                                            (Josprel's comment)

More than one hundred years ago -   before 1898 -   Dr. R. A. Torry taught exactly what Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians teach today concerning the difference between the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and the subsequent impartation of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit for service, an impartation available to every believer.

                                                                                                        DR. D. L. MOODY:

Dwight Lyman Moody was one of the greatest evangelists the Church has ever known. It is reported that, in an era of slow travel and a limited media, his ministry took him over one million miles, and that he preached to some 100 million people.

In "Bush Aglow," a biography of Dr. Moody, Richard Day included a chapter titled: "And Copies Pentecostal Strategy." He quoted Moody as saying, with choking voice and tear filled eyes, "'If you think anything of me,
if you love me, pray for me that God may anoint me for the work in Chicago. I want to be filled with the Spirit, that I may preach the Gospel as never before. We want to see the salvation of God as never before.' Thus he began the copying of the Pentecostal strategy with emphases on prayer; prayer for the Holy Spirit." ("Bush Aglow"; Day, Richard E; The Judson Press; Philadelphia: 1936; 311).

R. A. Torry certainly understood what Moody, his close friend and co-worker, meant by the "Pentecostal strategy." He quoted Moody as saying in a discussion on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit: "Oh, why will they split hairs? Why don't they see that this is just the one thing that they themselves need? They are good teachers, they are wonderful teachers, and I am so glad to have them here, but why will they not see that the baptism with the Holy Ghost is just the one touch that they themselves need?" (D. L. Moody, as quoted by R. A. Torry in: "The Baptism with the Holy Spirit"; flyleaf page).

                                                                                                                                (Josprel's comment)
An excellent question, Dr.. Moody! Why, indeed?

                                                                                                                            Continued in Part Two