Who has the spirit - you, him or her?

In this post I want to raise issues with the concept of 'having the Spirit'. Because 'having the Spirit' appears very important within the pentecostal community. Again, it is important that I limit my observations and therefore critique to the pentecostal community which nurtured my faith and continues to be part of my life. I have indicated elsewhere that I converted to a low class kind of pentecostalism. Most of the people I interacted with in matters of faith almost the whole week at certain stages of my life were mostly unemployed and poor. The were few among the young who had tertiary education and were holding professional posts. Our area was a semi rural, semi urban, otherwise traditional. This I say in the interest of a fuller background into the processes that shaped my earlier spirituality and from which I built my pentecostal conceptual and experiential vocabulary.

 

Growing up then in this community, one sort of gathered the importance of 'having the spirit' as a necessity for life and ministry among this pentecostal community. This concept of 'having the spirit' would be emphasized in sermons, testimonies and in general remarks by worship service facilitators. A picture would be held before one of the person who 'has the spirit'. Here and there one would hear somebody telling another that 'they do not have the spirit'. But the most indicator of whether one 'has the spirit' or not seemed to be preaching. I must indicate that back then (and they might still be continuing the practice), everyone was expected to read the bible, to witness among unbelievers and to preach when asked to. And when one was asked to preach, you could not say no and hope to survive! So preaching was somehow tight to 'having the spirit'.

 

But from the reactions of those listening, it also appeared as if not all preachers 'had the spirit'. Another thing one could pick was that it was seen and accepted as possible that one could have the spirit in one preaching session and the other session not. So, I have been told that I had the spirit in some instances, but I also had my share of not having the spirit. You must be wondering what this 'having the spirit' is, aren't you? Well, I would not claim to know exactly what it is. But I will try to answer from what I gathered in the course of my life and observation of how the concept was being used.

 

As far as I could make it, in the context of preaching, this concept seemed to be tied firstly to the fervour with which one preaches and secondly to the excitement engendered in the listeners. Thus the 'actor' could not give to themselves an appellation of 'having the spirit'. The listeners were the sole judges of whether one had the spirit or not. And it is precisely the role of the listener as judge that unnerves me. The listener turns himself into the determiner and bestower of such an important appellation with great consequence for the bearer. For in the community of the spirit what more would one want than to be known as one who has the spirit. And I say to be known because it is the very people themselves who apparently either bestow the spirit or acknowledge you as having the spirit, who would also spread the word about your having the spirit which in turn conditions them and others who might be meeting with you for the first time to be receptive to you.

 

Now, if they allocate the spirit to you and become even more receptive to your ministry, well and good. But if they judge you as not having the spirit, there is little you can do about it. But what happens when some think that you have the spirit and others do not? I have had the privilege of witnessing such a quarrel about whether I had the spirit or not. Obviously, I could not be part of the exchange. But these dear people were at each others throats for almost the whole day (It was one of those days at seminary when classes ended early). One of the burning questions by those who thought that I had the spirit was this: by what do you know that somebody has or does not have the spirit? Great question, I thought to myself.

 

In the midst of that heated exchange, it became apparent that there was a whole lot of subjectivity made to bear on such an important matter. With persitent questioning, it seemed as if these people could not exactly agree on what criteria to determine the presence or absence of the spirit. They turned on each other. For some it seemed like their prior knowledge of the preacher's habits of prayer and emotional effects in his sermons predisposed them favourably if what they knew fitted their requirements. For others it appeared to be whether the preacher shared a similar view with them and was able to enhance it by further 'revelation' or not. To date, I am not aware that the two camps were able to resolve their impasse. I only know that in my life and ministry as a christian, I have contended and continue to do so  with people whose judgements about me would live me reeling in confusion if I took them serious. Do I have the spirit or not? A man has his detractors and praise singers. But God's judgement is true, after-all he is the bestower of the spirit