To introduce this book, I would say that in these pages, there is good news and I am in charge of announcing it to you. Yes! However, just like the coins that have two sides, I also have some not so good news for you, because it will shake all your certainties. What about it?

Rest assured, it is nothing more or less than new biblical knowledge, which I have had access to and which I want to share. Don't see anything proud in this. You will understand, when you read what follows! To begin, I ask you these questions:

Do you have the ability to see events before they happen and do you work to channel them for good? Do you have the ability to dominate a demonic person who is inhabited by a legion of demons? Have you, without studying, acquired the ability to speak a new language? Etc.

 

These questions are meant to demonstrate that the spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit gives are still accessible today, even if they seem extraordinary! For some, these words could be assimilated to those of an “enlightened person”, cherishing arguities (quibbles). It is not so! If you read on, you will realize.

However, as I mentioned earlier, this good news comes with a bad news because in order to obtain these gifts, we have to deny many of the bases inculcated by our respective religions.

Let's take the example of the religion I know best, the Seventh-day Adventists.

 

This book is, Bible in hand, a real tidal wave that comes down on the foundations of your faith, because it is above all intended for the reformation of this religion.

To continue, the sealing of God's people by the Holy Spirit is central to the preaching of all Christian religions, and even the backbone of the Seventh-day Adventist religion.

Yet, although this concept is mastered, for all know that it is the Spirit of God who seals and gives spiritual gifts, the reality of this sealing is not. What are the repercussions of this?

 

In this century, unfortunately, few people are in the situation of Cornelius and his family [Acts 10], to receive, like the disciples of Christ, the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

At this point, it is necessary to clarify what I am saying.

 

I am not referring to those among God's people who have mastered several languages, after having studied for this, but to those who receive this gift of the Holy Spirit and speak in new, previously unknown languages [Acts 2 verses 1-18] or by prophesying, as it is written in [Acts 19 verses 1-7].

Nor am I referring to those who claim to have the gift of casting out demons, but who, as described in [Acts 19 verses 13-17], may one day find themselves beaten by one of them and have to flee naked.

One of the realities we live in this century is that the spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to work powerfully for the Lord are almost non-existent.

I deliberately use the term “almost non-existent” because it is not unlikely that one of you would have received the Holy Spirit in another way and acquired the ability, like Paul, to heal the sick with a simple touch, to prophesy [Acts 19 verses 11-12], [Acts 27 verses 9-44] or to speak a new language, like Peter and the disciples [Acts 2 verses 1-16], etc. Nothing is impossible for God!

If not, I invite all the others who wish to receive spiritual gifts to come with me on this biblical walk which, in my opinion, will be enriching.

I'll let you judge by the verses in this book that promise that “the gates of the heavenly locks will be opened and the Spirit of God will come to live in us”.

 

Of course, there are conditions to be fulfilled for that, we will discover them in all the parts that make up this book. To continue I would say that often we hope for something that is already at our side for a long time, but we do not manage to embrace it because we are blinded.

This is what is happening in this century within Christian religions, which, like the Seventh-day Adventist Church, are waiting with hope for the Holy Spirit to pour out upon their church members like “the latter rain”. This hope lies in the Lord's promise to his people through the prophet Joel [Joel 2 verses 23], [Joel 3 verses 1-5].

Many of God's children long for this promise, some spend a lifetime hoping to live out this prophecy and end up going down to the grave without having experienced it. Unfortunately, all those who hope in it do so in vain. Why is this so?

Unfortunately, this reality is manifest in the text of [Acts 2 verses 1-4, 16-18], where we discover the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit, like the latter rain, made by the Lord to his people, through the prophet Joel.

This prophecy has been fully fulfilled, in that Jesus promised us that once given, the Holy Spirit will abide with us forever [John 14 verses 16-18].

Therefore, he is already within God's people, yet our unfaithfulness prevents him from living in us.

 

The reason for this is that the Holy Spirit cannot live in those who are not faithful to the Scriptures, their sins separating them from the Lord [Acts 5 verse 32], [Isaiah 59 verses 1-2].

So, the Holy Spirit is there and, with him, the promised spiritual gifts, like the latter rain, but there is a snag, it is that when he pours out on the people of God, our sins are a barrier, like an umbrella that prevents this heavenly and life-giving water to arrive on us.

In order to change things, we must turn away from evil and stop practicing the doctrines of men to the detriment of the word of God. We must also resist the devil, while submitting to God, so that we will have victory over the devil and he will eventually flee from us [James 4 verses 7-10].

Once these foundations are in place, we must make a new covenant with Jesus, through the bonds of baptism. We find this reality in [Acts 19 verses 1-7].

Here we see that those who had been baptized but had not received the Holy Spirit were rebaptized.

In fact, it was only after praying for them and laying on hands, among other things, that the Holy Spirit was given to them.

When one has just been baptized and no spiritual gift is received, it is a symbol that the Lord has not accepted him and therefore the Spirit of God cannot be received. The reason is that not all the steps of baptism have been put in place, we find this reality in the text of [Acts 19 verses 1-7].

The fact that the Holy Spirit was not given, can also mean that the one who was baptized practiced an iniquity during his baptism. This act can be the fact of confessing doctrines of Man, in doing so, he loses the blessing that is attached to baptism, that of receiving the Spirit of God.

In this book, we will first discover the doctrines that transgress the word of God and that prevent those who are baptized from receiving the Holy Spirit.

These highlighted customs are those practiced by the Seventh-day Adventist religion, this book being intended for its reformation, we will therefore decipher them, Bible in hand, in order to achieve its reformation. Then, in a second time, we will study the seven steps of the baptism, allowing to receive the Holy Spirit and at least a spiritual gift.

As you will see, the reality of receiving spiritual gifts is that we must first obey the word of God, and only then can we receive them from the Holy Spirit.