The Advantage of Having a Pentecostal Background. In my spiritual journey I have the advantage of having a Pentecostal background, something many would not understand. Allow me to try and explain what I mean.
Thee Pentecostal Church-I now consider the 12 years I spent in a Pentecostal church as an advantage. Probably more than any other type of Christianity, Pentecostal groups put much emphasis on the individual having his/her own direct, personal spiritual experiences. I had my first experience of this kind the very first time I went to a Pentecostal service, and I continued having them almost daily for those 12 years.
I now see that what I was actually doing was learning to focus on my own inner Source energy, and feeling it in a profound way. (The Pentecostals, of course, call it the Holy Spirit). Many Pentecostals become very good at this, to the point where it’s almost instant and automatic. We got much practice through our worship in church services, and also in our own private prayer time.
And while I certainly don’t subscribe to the doctrinal beliefs of Pentecostals any more, or of any group’s traditional/orthodox Christian dogma, (which after much research I concluded was entirely man-made), I am grateful for those years because the genuine spiritual/mystical experiences are of enormous value to me today.
When I hear teachers like Abraham-Hicks talk about connecting to Source energy, getting in the vortex, or doing whatever feels good to you, I have the advantage of knowing precisely what they’re talking about.
Absolutely nothing feels any better than tapping into your Inner Being/Source energy. I knew from my very first experience in my old church that I’d discovered the source of all happiness and joy.
It took me many years to realize that direct experience and dogma were the two separate components found in many organized religions. One can have genuine spiritual/mystical experiences in any of the world’s religions (or without any religion at all), but these experiences do not validate whatever dogma the group happens to embrace.
I’ve written about this quite extensively on my previous blog, so won’t go into further detail here.
Though I left the Christian religion over 20 years ago, I do not view my time spent there as wasted. Any genuine spiritual experience is of value, regardless of where it may have occurred.
[This article was previously Having A Pentecostal Church Background published by the same author in]
