“We are living in a day in which we find an unparalleled interest in the gifts and power of the Spirit. Indeed, it is hard to find a Christian bookshop that does not have its shelves crammed with books on the subject. I have read as many of these books as is reasonably possible, and I find a strange omission; people seem to be far more interested in what the Holy Spirit does than in who he is.
Like the Corinthian church the more sensational the work, the greater the interest shown. I discover little interest in what the Holy Spirit is like. The neglect no longer surprises me. The church of Christ has for many years been more interested in man than in God, more in the experience of Christians than in the characteristics of God. In a phrase, it is more man-centred than God-centred.
No man, church or religion rises above its concept of God. The reason why there is so frequently shallowness in Holy Spirit-orientated Christians is that they have been more concerned with repeating testimonies of their own experience than with sound teaching about the character of the Holy Spirit.”
Eric S Fife
Rev John James 