You can go into any book store and find books on the correct way to interpret scripture. However, if God is more intelligent than us, why does He need us to interpret His words? If God is able to create everything that we can see, and a whole lot that we can't, why is He not able to communicate clearly to us? It seems as though the general consensus is that God's communication skills are behind our own. It seems that He who created language is thought to be verbally challenged. Thank God, He made man. Where would God be if we weren't here to explain His thoughts.
Why is it that what we believe about the words of the Bible takes precedent over the very words themselves? I once pointed out to a praise and worship leader that his method of leading the church into praise and worship did not come close to God's definitions of the words themselves or the pattern presented in Scripture. He responded, "But, I believe." His point was what he believed was important, what God said, not so much. I thought, "Who died and made you God?" But I kept my tongue. I learned long ago, it is hard to move people from what they believe, even the Word of God does not have that power.
The Old Testament priests, who according to the book of Hebrews served as examples for us, served within strict parameters. And when David decided to move the Ark in a way that seemed best to him, a man died. But we believe....
Jesus made this point with the Scribes and Pharisees. He told them that because they said we can see, they were held blind. In other words, the arrogance of what they believed caused them to be blind to the truth. They put more stock in what they believed about God's Word than they did in the Word itself. Because what they believed held more integrity in their eyes than the words of the Almighty God who loved them, they were given over to the lie they believed
God created man an autonomous being, able to make decisions concerning himself, for himself. The problem has been that man has not been satisfied with being the apple of God's eye, man's desire is to be more like God. The temptation Satan offered Eve in the garden was to be more like God. Many Christians today seek to be more like Jesus. This would seem to be a noble pursuit, but somehow the temptation of Satan issues a warning in my heart, a warning to be satisfied with attaining to the fulness God created me to be, and leave God to be who He is. This means that His Word should be reverenced. This means that I don't have the right or the intelligence to interpret it. This means that whenever I hear anyone saying,"Sure, that is what God said, but what He meant was..." I should beware. This means that I must carefully read the book for myself, carefully considering its words, and allow its truths to speak to my heart.
Time and again we read in the Old Testament how the Israelites set up a graven image to worship it. The god they created then held their allegiance and they bowed down to worship it, not the God who created them and loved them. They followed the desires of their made up god and answered to its whims. When we ignore the words of our God to follow the teaching of someone else have we not done the same thing? If we ignore the command of Jesus given to the Church in Acts 1:4, to follow the teaching of a gifted pastor or teacher, who holds our allegiance? If we fear to contradict and go against the teaching of our gifted leaders more than we fear to go against God, who are we serving?
Because Jesus' command to be baptised with the Spirit has been ignored for generations most Christians are unaware of it. They don't even realize that Jesus issued any commands after His resurrection. In somewhere around 95% of churches the emphasis is placed on the great commission, the command is completely passed over. Similarly, the great commission, deemed to be more important than the command, is interpreted to take the gospel out to the masses. Most church leaders point to Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost as the reason 3,000 souls were saved on that fateful day. However, Jesus didn't send His disciples forth with the power of salvation, which is the gospel message (Rom. 1:16), He sent them forth with the power to witness. If you closely consider Acts 2, it was the gift of tongues that caused those men to wonder, all Peter did was to tell them that it was Jesus who had worked the miracle and they should put their hope and trust in Him.
If the power is in the gospel, why do we not see these same numbers saved at the preaching of the gospel today? And don't tell me it's because there are few people today who are not saved. Paul even told us the preaching of the gospel is foolishness to the lost (1Cor.1:18). Paul himself said, "God sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be made of none effect" (1Cor.1:17). This is the problem we have in the Church today. We preach the gospel with the wisdom of words and the cross of Christ has been made of none effect. Why would we try to use the foolishness of preaching when the power to witness is so much more effective? This is what Paul meant when he said, "I don't preach the gospel with the wisdom of words." Jesus sent Paul to preach the gospel with the power to witness.
The correct response for any Christian who learns that Jesus commanded the charter members of His Church to wait for the baptism with the Holy Spirit is to stop and seek obedience to this command with every fiber of their being. The only reason they wouldn't is because their allegiance is held by a different god who does not make this command. Further, Jesus described this experience in John 7:38, "All who believe in me will have rivers of Living Water flowing out of their belly." This indicates that all believers in Christ should have the gift of tongues pouring forth from their lips, and the importance of the baptism with the Spirit is not so much in the receiving of a one time event, but in letting the rivers flow.
Consider this, even with all the abuse of the gift of tongues at the Church of Corinth, Paul, who spoke in tongues more than all of them, commanded that they not hinder anyone who was speaking in tongues (1Cor.14:39). The fact that most churches take an exact opposite viewpoint to the one the Word of God presents is another indication they aren't worshipping the God of the Bible at all, only a close facsimilie.