Another distinctive of Pentecostals is we believe in the initial physical evidence. What does that mean? It means that a person does not have to wonder if they have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, God lets them know by giving them a wonderful gift. What is that gift? It is speaking in tongues. I know that there is a lot of controversy around speaking in tongues today in the church in America. It was not controversial in scripture and it is not controversial overseas. It really is only an issue here in the states. Why do we believe in speaking in tongues? We believe in it because speaking in tongues was the initial physical evidence of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts. If you study the times when someone received the baptism in the Book of Acts, the pattern of scripture is they spoke in tongues. It was not controversial. It was not debated. It was accepted as an act of God. We believe as it was in the Book of Acts, so should it be today. Pentecostals pattern themselves not after a modern day model but after the record of the first church in Acts.
What do I mean by initial physical evidence?1) Initial- it is the first evidence but no the only.
2) Physical- it was outward, something that could be tested and proven
3) Evidence- it is how you know you got it.
A distinctive of Pentecostals is we believe that speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
