However, we don't receive from God by luck; the Bible says we receive the promises of God by
faith (Heb. 11:6). The gift of the Holy Spirit is one of God's promises that we receive by faith in
God's Word. And if a person spoke only two words in tongues, he has received the Holy Spirit
just as much as anyone else who might speak fluently in other tongues.
Of course, I don't encourage people who only speak a few words in tongues to stop there. But
just because people only speak a few words in tongues doesn't mean they haven't received.
Acts 2:4 says, ". . . [they] BEGAN to speak...."
Many people have gone away discouraged when they actually did receive the Holy Spirit.
Many who should have received the Holy Spirit haven't because of wrong instruction and a
lack of knowledge of God's Word.
An Example of Wrong Instruction For Receiving the Holy Spirit
Through the years, it has been my privilege to help many lawyers, doctors, college professors,
school teachers, and others to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Many of these have related to me
incidents of getting wrong instruction to receive the Holy Spirit, such as the story one man told
me.
He said, "Brother Hagin, I saw this truth in the Bible about receiving the Holy Spirit years ago. I
visited a Full Gospel church and came to the altar to receive the Holy Ghost. The people there
said to me, 'Lift your hands.' I didn't mind lif ting my hands, because I had read something
about that in the Bible, so I lifted my hands.
"Then they told me to say, 'Praise God.' I didn't mind praising God. I knew that's in the Bible
too. But then someone said, 'Say "Glory."'
"So I said, 'Glory.' Someone said, 'Say it faster.' So I said it faster. Then someone said, 'Say it
like this: Glub, glub, glub . . .' So I said, 'Glub, glub, glub . . .'
"Then I got to thinking that I'd never read anything about that in the Bible, so I got up and left
the church building, and I hadn't been back to a Charismatic service since."
Many honest, sincere, intelligent people have been driven away by unscriptural practices and
wrong instruction. We must be simple in our teaching and just teach folks what the Word of
God has to say. We must instruct them according to the Word.
After all, the Bible declares, "The entrance of thy words giveth light. . ." (Ps. 119:130). Proper
instruction in the Word of God will save people hours of needless seeking.
Falling Into a Trance Is Not Biblical Evidence For Receiving the Holy Spirit
One minister said, "I know I received the Holy Ghost because I fell under the power of God and
lay in a trance for three hours."
That is well and good, but that is not the Bible evidence that one has been filled with the Spirit.
You could fall under the power of God and fall into a trance when you are filled, or you could
do that after you were filled.