Research Paper on God's Charismatic Gift: Jesus Christ and the Christian Moral

Introduction

The word charismatic comes from the Greek word Charisma, which means gift. Basing on the New Testament, the gift implies the grace that God gives us through His son Jesus Christ. Although the word charisma was mainly used to show how the Holy Spirit manifested in the Christian community or ministry, it was vital to the Christian moral living. For instance, when Apostle Paul incorporates the picture of the body in his writings, he was implying the spiritual gifts where he showed that Jesus is the head while Christians are the parts of the body. The way every part of the body have specific functions, so Christians have different gifts which are given through the holy spirit to strengthen the body of Christ in his gospel or worship (Zivadinovic, 2016). Hence, being charismatic Christian is necessary considering the application of the Spirit baptism, as well as spiritual gifts in our ministries today.

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Historically, the charismatic movement began in 1960 where it flew to the Roman Catholic churches. Its conferences enabled Christians to commit to Christ via the power of the Holy Spirit. The movement had impacts where Roman Catholic, Orthodox churches, and Protestant begin evangelizing God's word, which changed millions of people. The charismatic movement showed that spiritual gifts were meant to give strength to the body of Christ for service, witness, and worship (Togarasei, 2015).

Today, the charismatic movement is relevant as it offers a variety of spiritual gifts to members in the ministry where they use them to heal the sick, prophesy, and to speak in tongues. In the charismatic fellowship, all the spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament are used in churches today. For example, the church members pray for the Holy Spirit to guide them in offering the praises where they focus on Christ as the head of the body as they rejoice for his presence and the power of Holy Spirit they witness during worship.

Besides, the Charismatic movement applies to our ministries today where the priest or pastors baptize the church members through the Holy Spirit. It is the reflection of death and resurrection of Christ where he dies with Christian under the water and arises with them hence when we are baptized we bury our old life or sin and resurrect with Jesus as a new creature. The baptism creates a connection with Jesus Christ, the giver of the Holy Spirit, miracles, and spiritual gifts. Also, the charismatic Christians use the gifts of healing to heal the sick in our ministries where most believers who are possessed by demons are relieved. It is through the Holy Spirit that Paul used in his writing that enables charismatic Christians to cast out the demons. Accordingly, many ministries are using the gifts of prophecy to warn against the natural calamities like floods, earth quark or droughts and calling for repentance where they use prayers as a tool to prevent the severe occurrences in the future. Also, I consider spiritual gifts as beneficial to me because, when I speak in tongues, I get closer to God where I can deliver my worries, and finally, I get help. Hence, being charismatic has been crucial to me because through prayers, I have been able to overcome temptations.

Three Distinctive Features of the Charismatic Movement

1. Baptism through Holy Spirit

The baptism with the Holy Spirit is what Christian experiences today. It is an occasion where the power and presence of the Holy Spirit fill Christians since the spirit is poured out, endures and anoints the believers with power from high. The Spirit baptism is known to occur either during the time of conversion (forgiveness and repentance) although it may be viewed as an act of pouring of the holy spirit through the witnessing the power of Jesus Christ (Shaw & Eichbaum, 2017). Therefore, through the Spirit baptism, Christ continues with his ministry in the world's churches.

The gift of Holy Spirit which fills us after baptism is known as the act of sovereign God's grace where it may be acquired only via faith in Christ who is the mediator of the baptism. The charismatic movement participants reiterate the centrality of Christ and not the Holy Spirit and his unique instruments of faith. It is the similar Christ where through his death, life and resurrection forgives and saves the lost who are exalted to the right hand of the God through Holy Ghost redemption. It is by the similar faith that Jesus brings salvation and empowers his ministry the way the Old Testament prophecy prophesied it. Thus charismatic adheres to that conversion and spiritual gifts received by faith to run the Christ ministry. For instance, the book of Act talked about how the gospel can do wonders as seen in the situation of Centurion homestead in Caesarea, the Samaritans, Ephesian twelve and Saul of Tarsus (Sanders, 2017).

Besides, the Charismatic movement participants also point the pattern of Christ Jesus in his personal life, such as his conception through Holy Spirit since he was born and anointed with the spirit where he began his ministry. These scenarios enable the charismatic to adhere to matters of expectancy, commitment, and prayers as the context of the spiritual gifts received via the power of the Holy Ghost. It is through the life of Jesus that the Holy Spirit surrounded disciples during the day of Pentecost, as seen in the book of Acts. Also, through the ministry of Christ, early church and original disciples, various charismatic confirms that in the spirit of prayer, expectancy and commitment were experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit. Such events were only happening to those who received Jesus as their savior and have faith in him. Lastly, the role of the spirit baptism is the power for service and ministry where charismatic speaks its impacts since the Holy Ghost enables many to have a sense of reality about God, as they bore witness to Christ and glorifies father. Various charismatic also affirms the joy, salvation assurance, and witness of Jesus through fellowshipping with other Christians. Hence, baptism through the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of God's prayer (John 17-12).

2. How Baptism with Holy Spirit apply to our Life and Ministry Today

Spirit baptism is a symbol of Jesus death and resurrection since our entrance in water in the event of baptism identifies us with Jesus suffering on the cross, burial in the tomb as well as overcoming death. For instance, going under the water implies the act of burying of our old life or sin and coming out shows the resurrection (new creature) where God rises with us from the dead as He did to Jesus. Many churches Baptize believers through the power of the Holy Spirit so instill the love, faith, hope, and trust towards Jesus Christ. For example, Romans 6:4, indicate that once Christians are baptized, they bury their sins and resurrect with Jesus as new Christians and became glorifying the name of the father. Hence, today, many churches incorporate the Spirit baptism to remember the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus as they also initiate the holy sacraments in their ministries. Baptism also affirms our position in Jesus and confirms God's blessings to us as his chosen children.

Also, churches incorporate Spirit baptism to show the immersion in the name of the son, the Holy Spirit, and Father. For example, in Matthew 28: 19, Christ says, "Go and make disciples of every nation and Baptist them in the name of Father, son, and Holy Spirit." It shows that baptism is not the only immersion since there must be the presence of the father, son, and the Holy Spirit during the process. Hence, church ministries use Spirit baptism to emphasize the need for mentioning Father, Son, and Holy Spirit when confessing the sins.

Besides, the ministries ensure believers baptism to portray our obedience in Jesus Christ, as indicated in Acts 19:1-4 and Matthew 3:11- 12. Baptism is the act of Christ obedience, as it is the fulfillment of his command. Some denominations baptize the adults and infants, although in scripturally, it should be administered only to believers. Water baptism is the process that shows obedient after salvation because being immersed in water may not save us, but we are supposed to trust Christ Jesus as our savior. For example, Paul emphasis this message when he says that Christ was sent to preach the word of God and not to baptize in 1 Corinthians 1-17.

Baptism also associates us to the church since it assures the importance of involving in the work of God. Some churches today baptize their believers to associate them to their ministries so that they can exercise their spiritual gifts in serving God. Hence, Christ commanded the churches to baptize believers, share the gospel, and teach them the importance of obeying the word of God.

Regarding my life, the Spirit baptism has enabled me to have strong faith since it has brought me closer to Christ. Having buried my sins under the water, which implied the death and resurrection of Jesus, I acquired power in prayer as well as faith. Today I can proudly say that through faith, I can do everything or engage in any activities because I realized God is my strength and maker. Also, through baptism, I acquired the Holy Spirit, who has been teaching, guiding, and protecting me from enemies. During temptation, I pray God through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and overcomes the evil temptations. Therefore, the baptism through the Holy Spirit in my church has helped me to have morals and ethics in whatever I am currently doing.

3. Speaking in Tongues

Basing on the speaking in tongues, the Glossolalia in charismatic movement occupies a crucial position. Speaking in tongues is viewed as communication with Lord in a language that cannot be understood by anyone since when a person is speaking, he/she is using vocal apparatus but is claimed that the power of the Holy Spirit provides the utterance or transcendent speech (Hayford, 2018).

Many charismatics consider speaking in tongues as the miraculous utterances of a foreign language which cannot be learned (classical Pentecostalism). First, in Act 1, the scripture implies that the disciples started speaking in tongues, where everyone heard them when they spoke in their language. It means that the disciples were probably speaking the language the listeners could understand or foreign language different from each other. Secondly, there is testimony given which shows that in many events, we have heard many speaking the unlearned language, which we don't seem to understand the message. It indicates that the act of speaking in tongues is a spiritual gift which can only be received through the power of the Holy Spirit.

However, the various charismatic view that the otherness of speaking in tongues is qualitative and not quantitative in that's tongues are not natural or human language but rather spiritual (Carter, 2018). Accordingly, if we say that we heard one speaking in a foreign language, this is evidenced as occurring since the Holy Spirit interpreted what uttered a situation which indicates it is about understanding in person own language. Hence, no distinction between tongues referred in I Corinthians 12-14 and Act 2 because the former is the ecstatic speech and the latter is not about foreign languages since both are Holy Spirit utterance that one can comprehend through the interpretation of the Holy Spirit. It is clear that charismatics who have emulated the understanding of other tongues may believe that it sustains spirituality of tongues, accords the empirical facts without detailed data of foreign language spoken or unites or harmonizes the biblical witnesses.

Also, the charismatic claim regarding glossolalia is based on the vehicle of communication between God and man because it is the language of transcendent praise and prayer which means in tongues there is God's speech whic...