Hi, Mike,

This is simply a straight forward question. Have you had a conversion just like the apostles did on the day of Pentecost, and I don’t mean cloven tongues of fire or a sound like a rushing mighty wind or speaking in other tongues, etc? Thanks.

Yours in Christ,
T____

Hi T____,

Thank you for your question. You ask if I have had the same experience that the apostles experienced on the day of Pentecost?
Yes, I certainly have. One day I was nothing more than a beast ruled by his passions and lusts, and the next day I realized that I would never again, Lord willing, go back to all that vomit. I was just as changed as the apostles who one day fled from and denied their Lord, and fifty days later were endowed with the power to be willing to go to prison and even die for their Lord.
The New Testament is just as full of types and shadows as the Old Testament. Christ taught in types and shadows which He called parables. The days of unleavened bread came fifty days prior to the day of Pentecost, as a shadow of the spiritual fact that our conversion takes seven times seven plus one. Pentecost is interpreted ‘count fifty’. Our conversion takes place only after we have “fallen seven times” and we come face to face with the undeniable fact that we can do nothing of ourselves but to deny and curse the name of our Lord. Jacob bowed himself before Esau seven times as a type and a shadow of how we all must acknowledge our own helplessness before our flesh. But just like Peter who already knew Christ, this acknowledgment of the power of his flesh over his life, was not given to Jacob until after he had wrestled all night long with Christ and had become a physical cripple. It was as a physical cripple that Jacob became a symbol of a spiritually strong man who had “prevailed with God”.
Eventually we come to see that not even our sins and submitting ourselves to Esau is of ourselves.

Gen 33:3  And he himself [ Jacob] passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.[ Esau]

No man yet has ever been truly converted until he, like Jacob, like King David, like Peter and like the apostle Paul, comes to realize that he is a complete slave to his own flesh and blood. Only after that acknowledgment can the miracle of conversion that took place on the day of Pentecost be worked within any of us.

Mat 26:69  Now Peter was sitting without in the court: and a maid came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus the Galilaean.
Mat 26:70  But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
Mat 26:71  And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and saith unto them that were there, This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth.
Mat 26:72  And again he denied with an oath, I know not the man.
Mat 26:73  And after a little while they that stood by came and said to Peter, Of a truth thou also art one of them; for thy speech maketh thee known.
Mat 26:74  Then began he to curse and to swear, I know not the man. And straightway the cock crew.
Mat 26:75  And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.
Pro 24:16  For a righteous man falleth seven times, and riseth up again; But the wicked are overthrown by calamity.

As all the examples above prove, we are all “the wicked… overthrown by calamity.” We all “fall seven times”, meaning we come to see that we are of ourselves, a complete failure. We all “bow seven times” to our own flesh, and then in God’s sovereign mercy, we “rise again” as “a righteous man”.

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [ how] to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

It was both a literal and a figurative sevens of days after denying and cursing that he did not know Christ, that Peter was given the mind and spirit of Christ, and he was then, for the first time, able to see and to say the things he saw and said on the day of Pentecost.
Have I had this experience? “Simply and straightforwardly” I can honestly say, emphatically yes, I certainly have. I first had a false Pentecostal experience with a false tongue, and many years later I was given a tongue, which speaks of the “hidden wisdom… in demonstration of the spirit and power” and a tongue which never “thinks above what is written”, just as Peter was given on the day of Pentecost.

1Co 2:4  And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdo m, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known [ it], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 4:6  And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think [ of men] above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

Christ said that “His words were spirit and life.”

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth [ Greek, gives life]; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life

So verse 10 of 1Co 2 explains the meaning of “the demonstration of the spirit” in verse 4. Peter was quoting the written words of God in Act 2 on the day of Pentecost, and those who were given eyes to see and ears to hear received those words and began the process of conversion that had already been working in Peter and the other apostles.

Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon [ Peter], behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Those for whom Christ prays “before His Father” will not fail. It is all His work, but we are still to admonish one another and “provoke one another unto love and to good works”.

Mat 10:32  Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:33  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Heb 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

I thank God that He is doing that very thing to me through brothers like you. Christ’s words are the tongues of fire that are resting on our lives, and they are also the rushing of His mighty spirit in our lives.
I hope this has answered your question about my ‘day of Pentecost’ experience. If not, then please let me know.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike