The Meaning of “Pentecost” Sunday
by Keith and Mary Hudson
The word Pentecost is derived from the Greek; it means “fifty,” and refers to the counting of the omer (approximately 2.2 liters) of grain (traditionally barley or wheat) each day for forty-nine days from the Sabbath after Passover until the fiftieth day. For Christians, Pentecost occurs 50 days after Easter. It marks the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church. This year, Pentecost Sunday falls on June 8th.
According to Christian scriptures, the work of the Holy Spirit will get you born again to receive eternal life, but there is an experience following salvation called being filled with the Holy Spirit. That is what happened to Jesus’ disciples on the Day of Pentecost; they were not only filled but they also began to speak in an unknown language.
Prayer Languages
The Book of Jude 20 suggests your inner man gets stronger as you pray in tongues.
A brain surgeon who was interested in finding out if there was a relationship between the brain and one’s prayer language discovered that when one prays in the Spirit, those prayers actively stimulate the hypothalamus, which is the part of the brain responsible for: the pituitary gland and all target endocrine glands; the total immune system; the entire autonomic system; the production of brain hormones called endorphins and enkephalins. The body produces these chemicals that are 100-200 times more powerful than morphine.
This suggests that when we pray in tongues, we are stimulating a significant part of the body’s central nervous system, causing the brain to release a large amount of hormones and which – we believe – increases the body’s immune system.
Praying in Tongues
Acts 2:2 TPT describes how “the disciples gathered in one room, and suddenly they heard the sound of a violent blast of wind rushing into the house from out of the heavenly realm. The roar of the wind was so overpowering it was all anyone could bear! Then all at once a pillar of fire appeared before their eyes. it separated into tongues of fire that engulfed each one of them. They were all filled and equipped with the Holy Spirit and were inspired to speak in tongues – empowered by the Spirit to speak in languages they had never learned!”
Interesting that it says “they were all filled and equipped with the Holy Spirit and inspired to speak in tongues…” In other words, the Holy Spirit, and His inspiration to speak in tongues is part of the equipment we need to defeat the enemy in our life. Jude 20 says you build up your most Holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost.
Praying in tongues can be a process. You can pray for it at a church altar or anywhere and end up speaking in tongues at the most random times, like driving in your car or taking a shower. But wherever it comes to you, it is a tool in your heavenly arsenal; it is your prayer language. In other words, your spirit is communicating with the Lord and the enemy cannot understand what you are saying.
We have seen thousands of seekers receive their prayer language in our 45 years of ministry. What is exciting about your prayer language is that you will receive power and boldness to speak the Word. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Acts 1:8 NKJV.
Modern Pentecostalism
The Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost but had a resurgence in 1906 under William Seymour. A blind African American man, who started praying at Los Angeles’ Azusa Street mission with a group of intercessors. Historians would say in years to come that the Azusa Street revival played a major role in modern Pentecostalism – a movement that has changed the religious landscape and became a major force for world evangelization in the 20th century. It continues to this day.
Praying in tongues is the gateway to the gifts of the spirit explained in 1 Cor 12; “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant…” what Paul is talking about here is the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, the gifts of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues. Acts 19:6 says, “And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.” This indicates that speaking in tongues is the gateway to operating in the gifts of the Spirit.
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If you are interested in being filled with the Spirit, July 6-9 evangelist Mario Murillo will be holding a four night tent meeting at Earl Warren showgrounds. Go to Mariomurillo.org for more information. Hundreds regularly get saved at his meetings and miracles abound.
Also, we see people regularly get filled with the Spirit, speaking in other tongues at our Sunday night “Gatherings.” We have been ministering for over four decades as pastors, then evangelists, seeing people receive their prayer language. The Gathering is a group of worshipers meeting at the Montecito Library at 6 pm on Sundays.
Blessings to you,
Keith and Mary Hudson
Keithhudson.org
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I am no expert, just a lay Catholic who is not that well read, but here is how it looks to me.
The Holy Spirit brings gifts that are not of our choosing. The Apostles were chosen by God to spread the witness of Christ to the nations through The Church, founded by Christ who said the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. The early Church fathers wrote about their experience of Christ and their early practice of worship through the celebration of the Eucharist, The Mass. The Catholic Church (now Roman Catholic in The West and Eastern Orthodox in the East) preserved this tradition, the apostolic succession of the training of priests and the deposit of faith throughout the centuries.
I appreciate Mary Hudson's witness to Christ and Holy Scripture as well as her efforts to promote morality and, frankly common sense, in our schools and our community which desperately need such voices. At the same time, I caution everyone to examine how the complete lack of quality control in Protestantism has allowed for many protestant sects to promote degenerate sexuality and the Baptist and Evangelical movements to get caught up in facilitating genocide against Christian and Muslim Palestinians in The Holy Land due to the demonic influence of the Scofield Reference Bible that was produced in 1909, the notes of which written by con man and family abandoner, Cyrus Scofield.
The safest way to protect yourself from the demonic is still to join the apostolic Church Christ founded which is still active all over the world. It is vilified and slandered and its practitioners to this day are persecuted, but I think that is because the demons know its power.
We Americans might be the worst submitters in the world. And that has an important good side. When we are asked to submit to something evil, we often will refuse to go along. For example, that spirit protected a lot of us from the experimental gene therapy dishonestly labeled as a vaccine. But that independent spirit can be a barrier to submitting to Christ's authority. It can cut you off from the accumulated wisdom of your own ancestors and the founders of our civilization. It can separate you from sacraments that Christ created. It can mislead you into conflict with fellow followers of Christ. It can weaken our Church leading to vulnerabilities ready to be exploited by deceivers and demons who want us to submit to vice and addiction and slavery to our passions so we won't even notice their tyrannical control of our society.
Call me crazy, but I think the best chance for saving our community, our country, our civilization and our individual souls is to return to the apostolic Church founded by Christ and work to make it holier through our own witness, sacrifice, service and full submission to He who is perfect love, Jesus Christ.
I know it is impolitic to raise this perspective, but the hour is late as we are face some very dire potentially civilization ending threats. While we still have freedom of speech, why not share how it looks to me? I welcome any sincere comments, criticisms and thoughts provided by people of good will who share the common purpose of serving Christ and the common good for humanity. And if you read this far, thanks for considering. May God protect and guide us all.
Wisdom about the human spirit does speak in "many tongues" - languages and traditions. We gain new insights listening to them all. And then also listening to that still small voice we all have within ourselves. This is the essence of "Unitarianism". (but not always its practice.)