“But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Acts 1:8 AMP
In the previous post, I shared about Pastor David Wilkerson’s growing realization that leading teenage, drug addicted, gang members to faith in Christ’s salvation for them in his Teen Challenge ministry in New York City was all important but it was not all sufficient in helping them stay sober and out of trouble.
They also needed the promise of the Father – the Holy Spirit.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit essential
David tells what led him to realize the importance of the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Chapter 20 of his book, The Cross and the Switchblade. Joe’s story is in this chapter.
Through a work accident, Joe suffered a great fall and ended up in the hospital for many months due to severe injury and tremendous pain. (This, of course, is another pathway to drug abuse – injury and/or chronic pain. I will share about that in the future.)
Failure to help Joe
Joe left the hospital addicted to narcotics and soon found his way, through friends, to cheaper and more accessible heroin. He had tried cough syrup with narcotics in it, going from store to store so as to be undetected, but this didn’t satisfy his need for drugs. And so, heroin became his drug of choice. By the time he had been on it for eight months, he found Teen Challenge, and was desperate for help.
The staff at David Wilkerson’s center tried hard to help Joe. They had him quit completely, praying for him around the clock, reading scripture to him, someone always near to encourage and help him through the overwhelming physical symptoms of sudden withdrawal. Young people were in the chapel, praying around the clock twenty four hours.
Others taught Joe Psalm 31, which David Wilkerson referred to as the “Song of the Drug Addict.”
Psalm 31:9-12
Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress,
my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
my soul and body with grief.
My life is consumed by anguish
and my years by groaning;
my strength fails because of my affliction,
and my bones grow weak.
Because of all my enemies,
I am the utter contempt of my neighbors,
and an object of dread to my closest friends –
those who see me on the street flee from me.
I am forgotten as though I were dead;
I have become like broken pottery.
Joe stayed in his room, suffering through agonizing withdrawal from heroin. “Sweat poured off him in little rivers that left the bed soaked through to the mattress. He cried out in his pain and pounded his head with his hands. He wanted water, then threw it up.”
Finally, on the fourth day, he was better. He walked about the Center with a faint smile, telling others he thought the worst was over. He asked if he could go home to briefly see his parents. Permission was given because there was no legal right to keep him there. When he was due back, he didn’t appear.
He had been arrested for “robbery and possession of narcotics.”
“When I Was Baptized in the Holy Spirit”
It is difficult to go through physical withdrawal, but it can be done. It is the mental escape from drugs that is so much harder. Something profound is needed for that escape.
At the Center, they were crushed at their failure to help Joe and retain him. David Wilkerson began to ask the residents who had been successful in getting and remaining free from drugs what had been the answer for them.
He spoke to Nicky Cruz, one of the recovered addicts. Nicky’s answer was that “something tremendous had happened to him…at the time of his conversion on the street corner. [When he expressed faith in Jesus Christ] he had been introduced at that time to the love of God. But it wasn’t until later that he knew he had complete victory.” (my emphasis)
Nicky Cruz & the Baptism of the Spirit
‘And when was that, Nicky?’ [David Wilkerson asked him.]
‘At the time of my baptism in the Holy Spirit.”’ (p. 154-155 Cross and the Switchblade)
This question was repeated again and again. “When did you feel you had real victory over addiction?”
The answer kept coming back, “When I was baptized in the Holy Spirit.”
Pastor Wilkerson said that hearing this answer again and again made him feel that he “was on the verge of something tremendous.” (p. 155)
Resources:
What is the Benefit of Holiness?
I would like to share a deeply transformative experience that occurred after I had been away from church and faith for nearly twenty years. I was baptized when I was 7 and was saved but fell away from the faith for a long time. About 3 months ago I was at my great aunt’s funeral, which was nearing its end, I was sitting quietly at the back of the congregation. As I was reflecting on my own absence from faith over the years, I was unexpectedly touched by the Holy Spirit in a manner I had never anticipated or believed possible.
Suddenly, I felt a sensation like lightning striking my chest, followed by an overwhelming flood of divine love that surged through me. I can only describe it as liquid light, almost pouring over me like honey. Tears were pouring out of me like never before, feelings of pure peace and contentment and joy. It felt like my heart would explode from love if it kept growing in strength. This was so intense that my wife had to assist me to the bathroom because I was unable to feel my body and needed to completely surrender. If it had been a normal church service I would’ve been at the altar. Despite my concerns about how others might view me at the funeral, I could not resist the power of what was happening to me, I was receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Once in the bathroom, lying on the floor and fully surrendering to this experience, a vision began to unfold….I was enveloped by a brilliant, golden-white light, and I saw cathedral-like windows stretching endlessly upwards into the distance…the golden white light pouring into the room. Within this light, a throne appeared covered in jewels of all kinds, and to the right of the throne was a lamb gazing at me. Above the throne, three golden crowns adorned with red jewels emerged, which I later was told by the Holy Spirit was the promises and inheritance God has made to me and my family. Our crowns of life.
The next morning, the Holy Spirit instructed me to share my testimony with every church in my county. I have been following this guidance, speaking to a few people at times and, at other times, addressing entire congregations. I still feel his presence daily as there are times there is a warm fuzzy fire like sensation in my chest when I need soothing or directing. Jesus referred to this as the living water springing forth from within. I have learned to pay attention to this as often it’s him getting my attention to something happening around me or guiding me.
This experience has served as a profound reminder of God’s presence and promises, despite my long absence from church and scripture. I share this testimony to highlight the transformative power of divine love and grace and to affirm that even after a significant period away from faith, God’s presence can reach us in the most unexpected and profound ways.
Andrew, I am so glad you shared this experience here on the website. More importantly, I am so glad you had the experience – that you discovered that God knows exactly what we need and breaks through our lonely indifference and confusion. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a very real and vital experience that should be had by EVERY Christian, not just a few in certain denominations. This is the huge problem in Christianity – that far too many congregations give lip service to the Holy Spirit but don’t honor the fact that this is the age of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “It is good that I go away, for if I do, I will send Another, to be your Advocate.” He was speaking of the Holy Spirit who now fills anyone and everyone who is a believer. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon particular people for particular tasks. But now the Holy Spirit is available to all post-Pentecost. And He fills people even when they are not seeking Him because Jesus knows what we need. That was your situation – a person who’d been absent from the faith for some time, but Jesus knew your need and the deeper desire of your heart and you were baptized in the Spirit. Now, you’re an utterly different person. Praise God. Know that the enemy may try to steal this from you. Keep your heart filled with Word & Spirit all the time so that you recognize potential attacks and resist them. God bless you. Read as much as you can from the Bible about the Holy Spirit and find authors who give Him great honor and centrality in their writings about Christianity. Bless you, Andrew.