One thing that separates Pentecostals from some other Christian sects (in my understanding) is that we believe the human spirit, when connected with God’s Spirit, is more intelligent than the human mind, and operates separately from the human mind.
Pentecostalism believes that such a person will have a prayer language apart from the human mind, and at times will receive messages from God’s Spirit and will announce them in an appropriate setting with a language different from one’s native language.
This scares a lot of people, and many ridicule it.
Acts 19 says:
"While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
7 There were about twelve men in all.
But people who think only with their minds short-sell themselves. We each have a spirit, we have a voluntary mind,
where we use our free wills.
We also have an involuntary mind inside our brains.
This is what controls our heartbeat, makes us gasp when we come up for air from swimming, and makes us sneeze.
Scientists, using their sub-intelligent voluntary minds, are on an impossible quest to understand how our more intelligent, involuntary minds actually work. In many ways, the involuntary side of our minds is much smarter than the voluntarily side.
Am I saying that every Pentecostal Christian becomes an NASA engineer? Not at all. But the greatest knowledge is the knowledge of God, and born-again human spirits know more about God than the smartest secularist - even when our voluntary minds can't grasp who God is.
It is interesting that some denominations refuse to condone the gifts and workings of the Holy Spirit, and at the same time,
preach against alcohol in their midst. Perhaps if their adherents were allowed to pursue the infilling of the Holy Spirit,
they wouldn't crave fermented and distilled spirits.
Eric J. Rose