Upon returning to England, John Wesley became a powerful evangelist. He rejected all the things of the Catholic Church and renounced the practices of the state Church of England as well. He did not preach in church buildings or in the sanctuaries of the Church of England. Rather, he preached the gospel on the streets to the coal miners. I once saw a picture of people with black faces but with two white lines running down from their eyes. They were miners who had just come out of the coal pits. They heard John Wesley’s preaching and could not help shedding tears, producing two white lines on their black faces. It was truly touching.
From that time on, Christians in England were no longer bound by the old religion. While John Wesley was preaching, some were crying while others were laughing. Their shouts of “Amen!” reverberated through the sky. Later on, this practice spread to America. However, some people could not tolerate this, so an “Amen Corner” was reserved in the Wesleyan chapels for the “Amen shouters.” The Quakers were influenced by them. The founder, Mr. George Fox, shook whenever he gave a sermon. In Taiwan there is a chair-shaking group. This proves the great influence that John Wesley had on England and Christianity.
Not only so, the upheaval of the French Revolution in 1789 spread through continental Europe. England was also affected by this revolutionary storm. However, because of John Wesley’s great evangelistic power, the storm was calmed down, and the effect of the French Revolution on England was annulled. Because the royal family was very grateful for this, Wesley is commemorated at Westminster Abbey, thereby affirming his contribution to England.
Due to the influence of John Wesley and George Fox, the Pentecostal movement quickly sprang up. This movement was mainly to break through the old rules and to use the way of shouting to be released. Compared to the early days, the present Pentecostal movement is more orderly. Once Brother Nee and I went to a Pentecostal meeting. We saw that some of them were jumping, some were shouting, some were yelling, some were laughing, and some were rolling. Each one did as he preferred without caring for others. When the pastor was about to speak, no one paid attention to him. It was not until the pastor beat a gong a few times that the congregation calmed down. After the meeting, I was walking home together with Brother Nee, and I said to him, “What way of meeting was that, with shouting, jumping, and rolling?” Brother Nee’s response shocked me. He said the New Testament does not have rules telling us how to have a meeting.
Now fifty years have passed. These movements, from the mystics to the Pentecostals, were all originally reactions by God. Because the church did not pay attention to the Holy Spirit, these reactions came forth. However, these reactions went overboard, eventually producing the Pentecostal movement with shouting, speaking in tongues, interpreting of tongues, predicting, healing, and casting out of demons. I have seen all of these things. Because many of these practices were false, people gradually stopped believing in them. Nonetheless, this was originally God’s reaction with the intent that His children would rise up and pay attention to the power of the Holy Spirit.
What is the power of the gospel? The power of the gospel is the Holy Spirit. I am concerned that even the saints in the Lord’s recovery have not paid adequate attention to the Holy Spirit. Doctrinally, the Holy Spirit is a mystery, just as the Triune God is a mystery. Simply speaking, the Holy Spirit is the third of the Divine Trinity and the ultimate expression of the Triune God. We cannot thoroughly explain the Triune God. He is not the Father apart from the Son; nor is He the Son apart from the Father and the Spirit. This is the wrong traditional doctrine taught in Christianity. According to the Bible, the three of the Triune God are always together.
The Lord’s speaking in Luke 24:49 indicates that the Son would pour out the Holy Spirit as the promise of the Father. When we read the Bible, we often accept everything as a matter of course and therefore do not study to find the reasons behind it. This verse reveals that the Father promised and that the Son poured out. Since the Father could make the promise, could He not also do the pouring out? Since the Son could do the pouring out, could He not also make the promise? Of course, They could do so. This simply shows that the One who promised and the One who poured out are actually the same person, yet with a distinction. The Father promised, and the Son poured out what was promised. According to Acts 1:8, what the Son poured out was the Spirit. However, Luke 24:49 tells us only that what would be sent forth, or poured out, was power and that this power was to be put on as a mantle by the disciples. According to the utterance, it seems there are three: the Father who promised, the Son who poured out, and the Spirit who descended. Actually, They are not merely three but triune: the One who promised was the One who poured out, and the One who poured out was the One who descended. The three are one. Therefore, the Spirit as the descending One is the Triune God.