"I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh"

It appears that many people today seem to think that a person becomes a Christian by being "baptized in the Holy Spirit." The title I used is from the book of Joel. It is an Old Testament book of prophecy. Peter quoted from it on the Day of Pentecost in AD 33. Let us examine the scripture to see if this is the case.

Acts 2:16-21
16“But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. 21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’

I first want to draw your attention to verse 17. Near the end of it, Joel is quoting God. God says "I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh. He again says this in verse 18.Joel continues by saying that your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams and they shall prophesy. God says "I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath. He is speaking of miracles occuring. Now let's look at what Peter says shortly after he quotes this lengthy passage from the book of Joel.

Acts 2:33
33“Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear

In verse 33, Peter explains that Christ received the promise of the Holy Spirit and that Christ "poured out this which you now see and hear." My point is that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit is NOT what people think of as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was a promise that was only bestowed on the apostles (including Paul). If you read Acts chapter 1 it is clear that Jesus was only speaking to the apostles and tells them to wait there in Jerusalem until they are baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:4,5
4And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5“for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Also, in chapter 2, the people hearing the apostles speaking in tongues say in verse 7 "Look, are not all these who speak, Galaleans?" All the apostles on the day of Pentecost were Galaleans.

In conclusion, the pouring out of the Spirit is what was seen and heard and not an expression of all people being baptized by the Holy Spirit. In verse 38, Peter tells them to repent and be baptized every one of them in the name of Jesus Christ FOR the remission of their sins and then they would receive the "gift" of the Holy Spirit...which is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but rather the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is NOT a miraculous measure of the Spirit which makes it possible to perform miracles. No one today is able to do the things that were done in the first century.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Recently, I got involved in a heated debate over this issue of ESCR. I fully believe that I handled myself very well over all and never showed disrespect toward those who disagreed with me nor did I make any personal attacks. Sadly, this can not be said of everyone who disagreed with me. I am okay with people not agreeing with me and sticking to their position so long as they have honestly investigated the subject being debated. Many (but not all) of those who disagreed were not aware of all the facts. I was seeking to educate those and still show respect. I firmly believe that I did this. One person in particular lashed out at me personally. She accused me of being brainwashed. I demanded an apology and got one, but the nasty attitude toward me from this individual was still very evident.

Later, I even got criticized for demanding an apology without even considering that anything I said might require one from me. This was flat out false. One person suggested that I threw some mean shots as well and I responded immediately that although I was not aware of any "mean shots", I apologized and stated that I did not intend to offend anyone and respected everyone there. Even early into this debate I stated how I was not intending to offend anyone and welcomed their point of view.

Anyway, life is sacred to me. I do not think it is right to destroy a fertilized egg either by throwing the unused harvested embyos or by stem cell research. I do not even support the harvesting of these by invitro-fertilization clinics. These fertilized embyos do not have a voice and this is the main reason I jumped into the debate in the first place. A good friend of mine asked me why I couldn't just state my position and ignore the posts of those who disagreed. The reason is because I think it is vitally important to stand up for the preservation of life. This is a moral issue for me and I believe it is important to persuade others to place a high value on life.
Here is a link that I believe really explains why Bush did the right thing in the veto of providing government funding for ESCR. I will show respect to those who disagree with me if they are at least willing to listen to my point of view and consider it and respect me as well. It really bothers me when some people think it is a bad thing for me to be a "white conservative Christian male". I am still quite angry with this person who attacked me and am not sure if I will return to that discussion forum at this point.

Update on School progress

I took a test today on Microsoft Excel and got a 93!!! I was really happy! I also got a 95 on my last Government test. My finals are on Friday and I am pretty sure I will end up with an A in my computer class and if I get a 93 on my final in Government, I'll end up with an A for my final grade too. I am proud of myself for doing this well in Summer classes. I think even if I end up with a B in Government class, I have much to be proud of. God willing, I will continue to do well in college.