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by Rita Bennett
Why should I write about a personal Pentecost or Empowerment in September when the biblical season is celebrated in May on both the Christian and the Jewish calendars? Christians call it the Feast of Pentecost and Jewish worshippers call it the Festival of Shavuot.
There are two reasons why I choose to do this. At Christian Renewal Association we've had a tradition of writing the Fall newsletter to honor Canon Dennis Joseph Bennett. His main calling on earth was to teach and prepare Christians to have their personal Pentecost. He had a worldwide interdenominational message that reached people of seventeen nations, and no doubt even more. I say even more, because a dozen or so people from underground churches in East Berlin, Russia, and Bulgaria, after communistic rule ended or abated, visited Dennis and me and told us so.
Another reason for speaking of Pentecost blessings in the Fall or Autumn is that there is not simply one particular time of the year when we should pray for the power of the Holy Spirit. On the original Day of Pentecost, which occurred in Jerusalem in the Second Temple period about 2,000 years ago, 3,000 people were saved and filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. Ever since the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost, any day and everyday can be Pentecost to anyone, anywhere in the world, who earnestly seeks to enter into this life changing blessing.
The Holy Spirit indwells the spirit of an individual at the time of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior, and when the Holy Spirit is received for power that same person will be Baptized with the Holy Spirit. These are two powerful actions of the Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh. First, the awesome indwelling of a human's spirit, and second, the transforming overflow of the Holy Spirit as a spring of living water to refresh the individual, then to refresh the world. Both of these experiences were received by the 3,000 Jews who had come to Jerusalem for the required Jewish Festival of Shavuot. The Apostles who had become born again before Pentecost, as told in John 20:22, were now, after ten days of prayerful waiting in the Upper Room with the 120, Baptized in the Spirit (Acts: 2:1-4).
Eleven years after Dennis received his Pentecost empowerment, his classic book Nine O'clock in the Morning was written. Bridge (now Bridge-Logos) published it in 1970, and in July of this year the latest and best updated version, with a great cover, has just been produced. After thirty-four years, Nine O'clock in the Morning is still in print! That is some kind of miracle in itself, especially without a hired publicist to promote it.
It tells how he as a minister sought for and received this equipping spiritual power. The first words Dennis spoke in English, after receiving his prayer in the Spirit language was, "I'm floored and I'll be floored over this the rest of my life!" Dennis never tired of giving his personal testimony. I must have heard it thousands of times over our twenty-five years of marriage (1966 to 1991). From the time he first received back in November 1959 until his death in November 1991, he probably shared his story ten-thousand times or more as he traveled and taught interdenominationally and worldwide. With his books selling over one million copies, plus tapes and videos, television, also newspaper, correspondence, and personal visits, his witness could have been around ten million. It is estimated that a single copy of a good book is read by at least six people. One million times six is six million. And though he's gone, his witness continues through his books, his publisher, ministers and laity touched by his life, and through the organization we co-founded--Christian Renewal Association, Inc.--for which I've been C.E.O. these thirteen years. Will the number of people reach one-hundred million, or more? Only God knows. But isn't it wonderful how one man can make his life count in such a profound way, when he in humility receives gifts from God's treasure chest?
Who knows how many souls your own life can reach for the Lord when you are empowered and focused, as Dennis was. I remember how our family kidded us one summer when we were all going to one of the favorite Northwest spots, Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast of the Pacific Ocean. Dennis and I had just started using our early portable computers created by Radio Shack, the classic Model 100. The Model-T Ford of laptops. It was quite funny for them to see Dennis and me getting ready to work on our writing projects while others would be out on the beach flying kites, taking a walk, or hunting for shells. Water at Northwest beaches is not usually for swimming unless you are a member of the "Polar Bear Club."
Don't worry, we did go out to the beach with the family, but when we had enough of the sun to be healthy, we were ready to come inside and do some other creative activities. To us that was fun also! When you have a calling, it is upbuilding to you, though others may not find it so. Fortunately Dennis and I had the same calling.
Dennis never wanted to be like the man his Anglican hero, theologian C. S. Lewis, described. Lewis said something like, satan doesn't as much like bad witnesses for his kingdom (small k), thieves, drunks, addicts, as he likes the man who sits in front of his fireplace with embers dying, reading yesterday's newspaper,depressed and simply eking out his days.
Dennis had plentyof spiritual battles that would at times loom up on the horizon,but though he sometimes got discouraged, he never let it totally get him down or cause him to give up. Sometimes we'd fast and pray two or three days until we had a sense of victory. God always seemed to use our fasts. One of those times on the third day of fasting and prayer, a lady made her way up to our door and said she just had to come and ask us to pray for her to receive the power of the Holy Spirit! Dennis and I smiled knowingly at one another, as we then realized our fasting had a duel purpose. Yes, she received her empowerment that very night.
Every time we got on a plane, at take off and landing, we would always softly "pray in the Spirit." And we flew millions of miles together and separately. One time our plane was hit by lightning and all the lights went out for about ten seconds. You can be sure we prayed in our Holy Spirit languages, not at all concerned about what the passenger across the aisle would think.
One time while we were flying high in the clouds on a jet airplane, Dennis led a blind man, our seatmate, to the Lord. The middle aged man had decided that very day to start listening to the Bible on tape. He was a "preacher's kid" and thought he couldn't be saved because he smoked! Dennis broke through this theological block and his spiritual blindness was cured permanently. We consistently witnessed on airplanes, in restaurants, and of course to hundreds of congregations. None of these things would have happened to the extent they did, until we were Baptised with the Holy Spirit. For Dennis this occurred in 1959 in California, and for me in Florida in 1960. We didn't know one another at that time. To read more about how we met you'll have to read Dennis's book beginning in chapter Seventeen called "A New Chapter."
The Rev. John Roddam, and St. Luke's Church in Ballard, Dennis's former church&endash;recently purchased over four-hundred copies of this newest edition. Of course my office always has Dennis's books available, as does our publisher Bridge-Logos in Florida. It's easy to order through our Christian Renewal Association Order Page, shown on our web site.
I receive such wonderful letters and e-mails giving testimonies of people whose lives were transformed through Dennis's ministry personally, and through his writing. In this issue you will see a recent inspiring testimony. And if you need more help in living a victorious life in Christ, the Messiah, read Nine O'clock in the Morning and follow it up with The Holy Spirit and You and for further help read How to Receive the Release of the Holy Spirit. I'm also writing a new study syllabus with overhead transparencies as helpful teaching tools.
Who knows how many lives you may reach for God's Kingdom as you ask Him to empower you for the call on your life? Perhaps it won't be as much quantity as quality, yet you may reach one who could have become a Saddam Hussein. Or maybe you'll reach one individual who could become our future president, or maybe the next Billy Graham, or the next Mother Theresa, or an author like Catherine Marshall.
This is the purpose of the Power of the Spirit. To be God's witness. "You shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you shall be My witnesses . . ." (Acts 1:8 KJV mod). A witness is someone who is willing to say I believe this happened and stake my life on it.
Are you confident enough, if need be, to stand up in court and be tried for your faith? That's not likely to happen, but Jesus' Apostles were all tried for their faith. Fortunately they were all believers who were empowered with the Holy Spirit on the original fulfillment of the Day of Pentecost. In fear they had left Jesus when He was arrested by Roman soldiers, but after His Resurrection they came back and received the power to be witnesses.
Who were they? Simon Peter, the rock; Andrew, Peter's brother, the first disciple Jesus called; James the Greater, son of Zebedee, first martyr; John, son of Zebedee, named beloved (not martyred); Philip, who brought his brother Bartholomew to Christ; Bartholomew, called by a family name &endash; Nathanael&endash; described as guileless; James the Less ("the Little"), not Jesus' half brother; Judas, surnamed Thaddaeus &endash; little James' brother (not Iscariot); Simon Zelotes, zealous for God; Matthew Levi, former tax collector; Thomas, the twin - from doubter to faithful; Matthias, chosen Apostle during the ten days wait for the initial Pentecost outpouring. These twelve Apostle's names are written on the foundation stones to the twelve gates of Heaven's entrance! Their faithfulness will be forever remembered.
The
purpose of the power is to fill you with "joy unspeakable
and full of glory." And the purpose is for you to bring
others into this life-changing relationship with God. This
is your one and only journey; your one opportunity of a
lifetime to take a stand for our Lord. Make it count.
The material published in the CRA Newsletter is protected by copyright. Please contact Rita Bennett for permission to use it. © 2004 Copyrighted by Rita Bennett.
