Welcome back, E.O.!! Did you finally get the computer virus issue taken care of?
I'll have every baptist, in the house after me on this one....
Fortunately for you, there seems to be more liberals on this board than conservatives, so you'll probably only have to deal with a few of us.
This area of theology (baptism of the Spirit, spiritual gifts....) is hardly my forte, so I'll need a little time to gather some info and put my thoughts together.
In the mean time, please tell me why your second post (the first long one) seems to contradict your third post (the one from Jack Van Impe). You seemed to say that the baptism of the Spirit is not the same thing as salvation:
The Baptism with the Holy Ghost is often confused with water baptism and initial conversion. Traditional Roman Catholic teaching combines the two in being born again. Many Roman and Anglican Catholics are now being baptized with the Holy Ghost despite tradition. Many churches confuse the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the indwelling of the Spirit; puritan Calvinists especially are guilty of this error. Wesley and Whitefield ignited the Great Awakening with the great truth that justification and sanctification were separate processes. Many preachers of today however, teach the error that all Christians are saints in the broadest sense of the term, include the traditions of men in a fundamentalist teaching and leading their conservative congregations in thinking that they have already been baptized with the Holy Ghost. When Paul was in Ephesus finding certain disciples, did he ask them if they received the Holy Ghost when they believed? No, Paul asked them "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?" If you deny the difference, you are among the five foolish virgins that have yet to trim their lamps with the oil of the Holy Ghost. No matter how that verse is translated, the meaning remains the same.
But then you quote Jack Van Impe as saying:
First, I want to make it unquestionably clear that ALL - ALL - of God's children are born into the family of God and BAPTIZED by the Holy Spirit the moment Christ is received. John 3:5 states: . . . Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. This second birth makes all the newlyborn ones members of the family of God. John 1:12 says: But as many as received [Christ], to them gave he power to become the sons [and daughters] of God. Since one can only be a son or daughter through birth, it is clear that the placing into God's family by a second birth takes place at salvation. However, there is more to it because one is also BAPTIZED into the Body of Christ as the birth occurs. First Corinthians 12:13 states: For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body . . . . This baptism takes place at salvation and happens to every believer.