Has Pentecost changed?

[seekerman]

Originally Posted by Hoovie

Please give the top few reasons things are differ now than in the 50's...

There is a marked difference between the move of the Spirit when I went to church in the 50s to when I visit an OP church today. Today, it seems there's a lot of mimicking of the move of the Spirit, worship seems forced not free as compared to the past. A wave of the Spirit would just move through the church in which I was raised, almost tangible and visible, a holiness if you will. Today, the preacher is more of a cheerleader telling the people what to do. Jump! Run! Shout! That wasn't the case in the past.

The music back then was purer, not as orchestrated, more spontaneous. Yes, brother so-and-so didn't have a great voice, his timing was off but when he sang it would bring the Spirit down. Sister so-and-so would sing the same song time off key time after time, but it wasn't the entertainment of the singing, it was the moving of the Spirit which followed. Today singing is taught, organized, planned and most of the time little more than secular entertainment. In the past, when the church was in worship and the 'bad' singers would begin singing ..."there is pow-er, pow-er, wonderful working power, in the blood...of the Lamb"....it may not have been pretty but the Spirit moved and worked in the people.

The church in which I was raised was small, most of the time less than 100 people. But there song service included anyone who wished to stand together on the rostrum and sing, men on one side, women on the other. People participated more in worship, a more intimate part of the church. That changed though, now it's a stay in your pew while the 'professionals' sing and entertain you type of service.

Revivals back then would last for weeks sometimes with the power of God moving each and every night. There was an excitement, an expectation, a knowing that the service each night would be a real Spirit filled, shouting, Holy Ghost moving service. I've been in revivals which lasted literally for months, not just weeks. It was amazing to see the workings of God in those services. Healings. Deliverences.

Yes, so much difference between then and now. But, as someone pointed out, it's not limited to oneness pentecostalism, it's throughout the Church. I don't know if we can reclaim the purity of Pentecostalism. I most of the time doubt it.