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Second Generation Pentecost

At this time of year in our Pentecostal ranks there is an emphasis on youth camps across the country. Even though our Pentecostal church has its origin in the Book of Acts, the present organization is comparatively young in its second and third generation. It is along this line that I wish to write.

"When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also." (II Timothy 1:5)

Here the apostle Paul is writing to a young man by the name of Timothy, who was the third generation, which possessed unfeigned (pure) faith. Timothy's grandmother was a godly woman of great faith, as was his mother, but what is even more
profound is that after three generations the faith had not weakened or the zeal cooled.

Inherited Religion
There are teeming millions who are attending our North American (or German) churches without a personal experience with God. They are simply attending the churches to which their parents or grandparents went. There is no personal revelation or conviction; it is a matter of inheritance. In many cases, the modern church in no wise resembles the same church of a generation ago.

It is hard for the second generation to appreciate the cost of our freedoms and truths, many of which were paid for with blood, sweat, and tears. It is not unlike a spoiled son squandering the inheritance left by a father. The son did not work and sacrifice to accumulate anything, and consequently he could not know or appreciate the value of these things left by his father. It was simply "easy come, easy go."

The Levitical priesthood was a matter of inheritance, but it was not always what it should nave been. Aaron was the first priest, and his sons after him, and their sons inherited the office. However, godly fathers do not necessarily beget godly sons.

Dangers Ahead
For the past few years we have noticed a gradual but continuous "cooling off" of almost every religious group, and God-fearing leaders everywhere are alarmed at the lukewarmness and the complacency that has gripped American churches. Pentecostal churches have felt it also!

We do not wish our young people to return to the days of brush arbors, leaky tents, and storefront missions, but neither do we wish to see them take this great truth for granted and squander their inheritance.
A young Pentecostal minister was told recently by an elderly minister of another group, "Other churches have cooled off, and you Pentecostals will, too." We want to raise our voices and announce that we will never lose our zeal and enthusiasm, but the danger is there.

Contrast
As you read the Book of Acts carefully you get a good picture of the early church; then lay your church along side the church in Acts. Contrast, if you will, the love, zeal, and conviction with which they lived, preached, and died.

This Pentecostal way is literally stained with the blood of the apostles and the martyrs of the early church. Even more recent is the fact that where each successful church now stands, there was once a tent, brush arbor, or little mission where" prayerful people gathered to worship their God in spirit and in truth.

Many of you are the sons and daughters of Pentecostal saints. Ask yourself this question: "Is the truth as dear to me as it was to my parents?" It should be even more so, as we draw nearer eternity. These truths that we love should take on new meaning and become more valuable with age.
The Bible declares, "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." It is certainly true of many religious groups, but it need not be true of Pentecostal people. For many it is too late to remedy the situation, but for others it is not.
Let it be said of us, as of those blessed saints who have preceded us, that the same "unfeigned faith" that dwelt in them is also in us. (O.C.)