Vol.VII No.V Pg.5
July 1970

The Spirit Said That?

Robert F. Turner

The June 25, Gospel Guardian reprinted an article by Pat Boone entitled I Received the Holy Spirit and Tongues! in which Pat says, We dont have to fear that the Holy Spirit will lead us into doctrinal error: how could Gods Spirit contradict Himself? How indeed! It is obviously consistent with this truth that all these Spirit filled ones (including Dean Dennis, former minister, Northside church, Santa Ana; and Ben J. Franklin, San Diego, Calif. preacher) should now be free from any doctrinal error. Their writing should reflect a marvelous purity, wholly consistent with all the Holy Spirit has ever revealed. But is this so??

The same article by Pat Boone uses witnessing in a sectarian sense. He applies Matt. 3: 11 to his own claimed reception of the Spirit; and his speaking (and singing) with tongues is supposedly justified by a gross misuse of Rom. 8:16. He gets Rom. 8:26 turned around; the H. S. (?) Intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered become the words and melody of a song, composed spontaneously by Gods Spirit which were uttered. He seems to accept the Calvinistic doctrine of spiritual discernment of the Word. (This is a citing of cases only, not intended as an examination of them. See articles in Guardian. )

In the same G.G. article by Dennis it is not hard to see the dead formality of his former preaching. He admits he had read the Bible to prove doctrinal points or to get sermon material, and thought he could answer Pats error with a briefcase filled with books. He applies Acts 19: 2, to himself (with no reference to the laying on of Pauls hands); and accepts Thayers doctrinal commentary on 1 Cor. 13: 10 in place of what I had been taught by my Church doctrine. Doesnt sound like much of a choice for a Spirit filled man.

Franklin says, We Have Miracles In Our Own Church of Christ — and apparently it is their own. He writes of something done by nine of the larger congregations of the non-instrumental branch of the Church of Christ, and of his becoming the Minister for one of the larger Church of Christ congregations. (The Holy Spirit never wrote or spoke like that.) He has discovered that the Church of Christ is just another denomination, and that During Jesus ministry on earth, He moved about in various groups, not joining Himself exclusively to any of them; so the Holy Spirit, today, is moving in various groups, yet not belonging exclusively to any of them. How is that for Holy Spirit truth, free from all doctrinal error, coming from one who is now pastoring Christs Center Church of Christ in downtown San Diego.?

Maybe these men never did know the truth concerning the church of the Lord. But if they did, it is obvious that whatever the now have, it is leading them further away from the truth of God — and this, the Holy Spirit of God would not do.

They are not being led into such error by objective consideration and submission to Gods Spirit, but by subjective faith in the human spirit,