Pentecost is one of the most important Christian feasts. At Pentecost the Holy Ghost came down from heaven (Acts Chapter 2).
What is the main office of the Holy Ghost?
Answer: he brings about the faith.
Let’s have a look on the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). Former times, the RCC was a real Christian Church. Still, the bishop of Rome, Gregory the Great (he was yet called papa, but that meant “dear daddy” and by no means bishop of all bishops), rejected papacy. But after bishop Gregory, the RCC began to spoil by the influence of papacy.
Of course, despite her decline and fall, the RCC has kept a lot of good Christian traditions, and that’s clear because the RCC developed from the Christian Church. The RCC has kept Holy Baptism; she calls Jesus the Lord (regrettably, her true Lord is the pope); she is aware of confession and the power of the keys; she knows that Christianity means love, etc. I have been a Catholic but have converted to Protestantism (also Luther shifted from RCC to Protestantism).
A question emerges: why should someone shift from RCC to the Protestant Church when the RCC obviously keeps a lot of good Christian traditions?
Answer: The triune God is a God of zeal. He cannot stand any false doctrine rejecting the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Every technician knows the smallest failure can stop a big machine. The smallest false doctrine can kill a big Church. The doctrine of papacy (papacy is even a big failure) has killed the RCC. The pope has stolen Christ’s office: being head of the Church. Although the RCC keeps a lot of old traditions, she remains ineffective, is even harmful because God has left her.
The RCC is like a body without soul. She is a dead body.
Imagine the hologram of an apple. It is even three-dimensional. But can you eat it when you feel hungry? No! You will remain hungry. You need a real apple.
The RCC is just the hologram of a Christian Church because the Holy Ghost is not there. People get baptized but finally live like pagans. Their baptism remains ineffective because they have not received it in a sphere of faith. Now comes the crucial statement of this article: the sphere of faith is given by the Holy Spirit. The Early Church practiced infant baptism and it worked. It worked because the infants were baptized in an ambiance of believers. The Holy Ghost was present. By the way, some “modern” people cannot accept infant baptism and claim an infant could not believe because of a lack of consciousness. Bad even an adult with complete consciousness cannot grasp God by his mind or reason but just by the faith which is given by the Holy Ghost. John the Baptist became a believer in the womb of Elisabeth when he meet his Lord Jesus Christ, who was in the womb of Mary when Mary visited her relative Elisabeth (Luke 1: 41). Any questions?
Christianity is sometimes beyond reason. Assumed, it would be just a matter of reason, we would not need any divine revelation and no Bible. Christianity is supernatural. The “faith” of mere reason is theism. Islam is a kind of theism. Theism doesn’t grasp heaven, it stays on earth. The real faith is a downright heavenly thing. True Faith comes from above like Holy Baptism.
Please notice, I have not said the baptism administrated by RCC is not valid; I just said it remains ineffective for a Catholic.
Former times, I was a Catholic. By Bonhoeffer and Luther I came under the influence of the Holy Ghost because they were true believers and what they teach is caused by the Holy Ghost. I received infant baptism by a Catholic priest (I am now 45 years old). 2009 after Christ I have refered to my infant baptism by the faith the Holy Ghost brought about me. Since that event, I am a Protestant.
Dearly beloved Catholic sisters and brothers, surely you have received infant baptism, but it is quite sure that you have not yet the true faith. Just become a believer right now. Jesus calls you to become a disciple right now. Repend your sins and believe that at Holy Baptism the power of the death and ressurection of Jesus Christ was dedicated to you. Your old man of sin has died and you have got a New Life in Jesus Christ. Be filled with the Holy Ghost and live according to God’s commandments (there is no difference between the Old Testament law and the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is simply the divine interpretation of the Old Testament law by Jesus Christ.). Have you failed then confess your sins to a Christian brother.
No we have grasped the meaning of Pentecost. We celebrate the coming of the Holy Ghost, who can bring back to true life every human being. The Christian Church is alive through the Holy Ghost. Without the Holy Ghost a “Church” is merely a dead body.
Note:
I reject the Pentecostal Churches (Benny Hinn), which are lead by people who are greedy for money. That is all a big fraud (Benny Hinn – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). The Pentecostal Churches don’t belong to the real Christian Church. They don’t teach the true gospel.
Addition:
What is the “power of the keys”?
Answer: The Church is allowed to absolve from sins in the name of the triune God (not in her own name). This is just the principle of free grace. All salvation comes from outside to me. I am weak, but my Redeemer is mighty (remember the song “Guide me o thou great Redeemer”). In the sphere of faith which is caused by the Holy Ghost I receive forgivness of sins and deliverance. I am so glad that Jesus set me free. You may read the article “Visitation of the sick”, which you can find in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England (I see the pastor, but it is God, who visits me and heals me).
Look at John 20:
21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace [be] unto you: as [my] Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on [them], and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
Some more:
According to Acts, the Holy Ghost (HG) is given at baptism. It is not important whether the Holy Ghost is given shortly before, after or during baptism. Just notice, the HG is given near-terms to baptism. The baptism, I mean, is the sacramental baptism: Holy Baptism which is administrated according to Christ’s institution.
Acts 2, 38:
Confessing Church 