In one of his most popular columns, CNN writer John Blake shared his experience going to church as a child with his aunt and brother, and the frequent intensity of the services.
“Sunday worship at a Black Baptist church wasn’t just long. It was scary,” Blake remembered. “Elderly women who “got the Holy Ghost” during worship would thrash so violently in the pews that their wigs flew off. People shouted, wept and fainted.”
After months of not understanding those intense reactions, Blake encountered the “Holy Ghost” for the first time as a 9-year old when worship intensified one Sunday.
“An invisible switch seemed to click on. A wave of heat rippled through the congregation as people beside me threw up their arms and shouted,” said Blake, who remains a practicing Christian. “Suddenly, something seemed to slip inside of me. A tingling raced up my spine. I stood up to clap, scream – I didn’t know what I was about to do.”
Blake’s experiences are like those of many Christians who grew up in churches of various denominations where people are impacted in different ways once they are “filled” with the “Holy Ghost,” which in recent years is being referred to more often as the Holy Spirit.
On any given Sunday, it is easy to find a church where members may stand up, shout, cry, lift their hands, speak in tongues and even run through the aisles of the sanctuary with the Holy Spirit.
“Many people say shouting, dancing and other reactions after ‘getting’ or ‘catching’ the Holy Ghost is based on pure emotion,” said Karen Thomas, an Indianapolis resident and committed churchgoer who studied Christian counseling at Indiana Wesleyan University. “I believe the Holy Spirit comes and lives in you upon accepting Jesus Christ as your savior, and then you develop what is called the fruits of the Spirit.”
Thomas cited Galatians 5:22, which says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
The Holy Spirit is mentioned frequently in Christian Scriptures. Some believe the Holy Spirit is part of the Holy Trinity along with God the heavenly father and Jesus Christ, all as different versions of the one true god. Other Christians believe the three are each separate entities.
Most, however, agree that the Holy Spirit plays a critical role in the basic beliefs of Christianity, and that Christ left it as a gift to encourage, guide and sustain the worldwide church after his physical departure.
“At our church, we believe that God ascended on high, and sent his spirit, the Holy Ghost, which was poured out at Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago,” said Bishop J. Laverne Tyson, pastor of Christ Church Apostolic. “It is this same spirit that fills the hearts of those who diligently seek God today.”
One Scripture that is often mentioned to support that belief is John 16:7 in which Jesus, shortly before departing from the disciples, assures them, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter (some say, Holy Spirit) will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”
Many Christians believe that evidence of the “infilling” or “pouring” of the Holy Spirit is represented by spiritual “gifts” that it provides, such as the ability to speak in tongues (the miraculous ability to talk in a language that the speaker doesn’t understand), or lay hands on the sick and heal them.
This view is often cited by stating Acts 2:4, which details how, on the day of Pentecost 11 “tongues like fire” appeared and descended on the apostles, giving them various spiritual gifts.
While most Christians agree that the Holy Spirit was offered by Jesus to help deliver guidance and truth, denominations disagree as to what role it specifically has in the life of a believer.
Many Apostolic and Pentecostal churches, for example, teach that true spiritual baptism occurs when one is baptized in both water in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, as well baptized in the “fire” of the Holy Ghost.
“This represents the new birth that is actually recorded in the third chapter of the book of John,” said Bishop James Z. Townsend Sr., pastor of Mount Bethel Apostolic Church.
Other denominational groups such as the Baptists, for example, believe that baptism in water by immersion only and partaking in Communion are essential to Christian practice. Most do, according to the Baptist Doctrine, believe that the Holy Spirit lives in Christians and can use its “sanctifying power” to enable a person who has accepted Christ to live an upstanding life.
“At our church, the purpose is to be a ministry that is not bound or restrained by man-made traditions or ideologies,” said Charles H. McClain Jr. pastor of New Haven Missionary Baptist Church. “We want to be a ministry where the anointing and power of the Holy Ghost reigns freely in our praise and worship experiences.”
Phyllis Hampton-Cantrell said that regardless of how Christians may view the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost differently, all can accept that its influence is positive.
“The Holy Ghost is the spirit of God and you receive it, not ‘get’ it,” she said.”When I see people dancing and shouting ‘in the spirit’ at church, I know it is not theatrics. They are simply rejoicing.”
