Is it necessary to prepare for baptism with the Holy Spirit for those who already have Spiritual gifts?! We have already spoken about this: there are two different states in the Holy Spirit – Old Testament and New Testament. Miracle workers included pagans and our brother Judas, who betrayed Christ, fell into despair, and killed himself! The main thing is not to have spiritual gifts (prophecies, healings, miracles…), but to be a Christian, to be a Spirit Bearer, Christ’s – TO LOVE GOD AND THE IMAGE OF GOD! Therefore, many who performed no miracle were saved, and many miracle workers perished! Be vigilant, be careful not to be tempted and not to stray from the True, Orthodox path that leads to Eternal Life, to knowing the Father in the Son through the Holy Spirit! Therefore, it is necessary to be vigilant, especially in these last days (the closer to the end of history, to the Parousia, the more vices, temptations; love grows cold, heresies multiply, the number of false prophets, false teachers, false apostles, antichrists increases), and to know these simple facts (the Lord has warned us all and now testifies in Christians through the Holy Spirit that enemies of the Truth will perform signs and wonders) so that, witnessing a sign or miracle once performed (by God’s mercy, by God’s providence, by God’s inscrutable judgments and care for each living soul) by heretics, or pagans, or unbelievers, the Orthodox faith (trust) within you (the catechumen) does not waver because of the seen signs and wonders. Everything that comes to me from outside is a manifestation of God’s Love and care for me, pedagogy and education for me, therefore, it happens that God performs signs and miracles (allows demonic temptations and appearances in the form of angels of light, to test, temper the ascetic; remember Job the long-suffering, who suffered from demons, was tested by the Lord – see Job 1-2), testing me. It happens that the faith of the one who approaches (with faith in the Lord) performs a sign (“according to your faith it will be to you”), and not the worthiness or holiness of the one who performs the miracle, through whom the miracle or prophecy is performed… In a word, miracles, signs, prophecies by themselves do not say anything – test the spirits (the criterion of testing (whom to trust) for the catechumens – is Truth (Orthodox faith, Orthodox catholic worldview, pointing to the Truth, to the Goal without contradictions) and Love (Humility, service, obedience, responsibility…); if something is missing – either Truth or Love – you cannot trust: before you is this miracle worker, seer, exorcist, strange person… – not a Christian and not a catechumen of the Orthodox Church, Christians! – see in Part II). And how many now in robes, in miters, decorated with ranks, scientific degrees… heretics, miracle workers, seers, exorcists… who are in satanic delusion, prelest, who, being pagans, present themselves as Christians (antichrists; who have not even become catechumens yet, have not started preparing for baptism with the Holy Spirit), apostolic successors (false apostles), fathers, teachers (false teachers), mentors, prophets, preachers of the truth (false prophets) – we testified about this in detail in Part III.
When the catechumen struggles for prayer to be correct (attention, reverence, repentance – that is, everything in the mind (thoughts), is also on the tongue, is also in the heart (feelings corresponding to the thought-meaning-word of the prayer), is also in actions, deeds (I do what I say, live as I think, according to the conviction, faith-trust, which I confess in the words of prayer)), then this is already a prayer that in due time will become, by God’s gift in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Prayer! God gives prayer (the Holy Spirit) to the catechumen who prays correctly, that is, who reverently in the fear of God, in obedience with humility fulfills God’s will, God’s commandments, and constantly repents of his sins (in breaking God’s commandments and failing to fulfill them)! Prayer is the science of sciences, the art of arts! Be vigilant, be careful not to fall into delusion with self-willed catechesis!
To pray is to carry thoughts. To carry a thought – to live by it with the mind, heart, and will, that is, to understand it with the mind, remember it, feel it with the heart (have feelings corresponding to the thought), and act according to this thought. For example, let’s take such a thought: the neighbor is Christ! I always remember this (!), or at least as often as possible (fulfilling the commandment “pray often, pray unceasingly” – everything according to strength, with prudence, with the advice of a friend-advisor, with humility, so as not to harm oneself, not to fall into delusion, not to lose one’s mind, not to perish from imprudence and proud self-will) I stay in reverence, humility before every person, as before Christ, and act towards the neighbor as to the Lord, to God (fulfill God’s will! Truth! Do good – for Christ, in Christ!). How many are capable of carrying this thought?! Units per generation! Not just thinking about something (or even writing a doctoral dissertation on some theological topic, for example: “The Neighbor is Christ!”) or remembering something (for example, that the neighbor is Christ!), but living chastely (mind, will, feelings must be united, about the same thing – I think (contemplate), feel, act according to a certain prayerful thought-meaning-truth), prayerfully (every moment of my life is a conscious, attentive, free, responsible communion with God, with the Person, with the Faces-Hypostases of the Holy Trinity: receiving the Gift and thanking God for the Gift-Love)! Therefore, if a person takes a thought not of their measure, or begins to carry it without measure, imprudently, self-willed (without advice), then they, if they do not come to their senses and do not stop this deadly undertaking, will perish, lose their mind, break their soul, fall into demonic delusion, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, kill themselves! Be vigilant! No self-treatment, imprudent, self-willed asceticism!