In my early days in ministry, and in every year since, I have come across those members of the Church that can be classified as Pentecostal or Charismatic. Though my views toward them have changed considerably, in those first years I exercised a lot of ridicule on them. I even suggested to some that they were being led by the Enemy, not the Lord.

Whatever your thoughts about the modern experiences of some Christians, it is a dangerous thing to do what I did. Suppose they truly were filled with the Holy Ghost?

Did not Jesus have events like this, and did not His stern warning about the blasphemy of the Spirit come out of these confrontations with religious men who accused the Son of God of being filled with the Devil?

Did not Jesus tell the Pharisees that they searched the Scriptures from cover to cover, but still did not know what they were about?

It was thoughts such as these that began to choke me emotionally, along with everything else that was going on in Korea.

Though what I suggest above is true, there is more truth that needs to be brought to this subject.

1. Jesus claimed that this is the only sin that cannot be forgiven.

2. But in another place we are told that "Whoever has the Son has life, and He that does not have the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him."

3. Taking all the Scriptures that indicate a Christ-less eternity for those not saved in this life, and placing them next to the statement He made about one unforgiveable sin, we are forced to the conclusion that the broader picture is greater than a passing ridicule, a false accusation of the origin of one's spiritual power. Taken as a whole, the issue is hardness of heart. A person who is so hardened as not to be able to recognize that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, filled with God's Spirit, will never be able to come to Him for salvation.

And that can never be forgiven.

Meanwhile, Him that comes to Jesus, He will in no wise cast out. The blasphemer will not come to Jesus as long as He is a blasphemer. His heart will be hardened. But even a blasphemer touched by God's Spirit can be saved, as was Paul.