, he would receive the gift of an evangelist. I had
read the story of D. L. Moody, of Charles G. Finney and of others who were
baptized with the Holy Spirit, and of the power that came to them as
evangelists, and the thought was suggested that if any one is baptized
with the Holy Spirit will not he also obtain power as an evangelist? But
this was also unscriptural. If God has called a man to be an evangelist
and he is baptized with the Holy Spirit, he will receive power as an
evangelist, but if God has called him to be something else, he will
receive power to become something else. Three great evils come from the
error of thinking that every one who is baptized with the Holy Spirit will
receive power as an evangelist.

(1) The evil of disappointment. There are many who seek the baptism with
the Holy Spirit expecting power as an evangelist, but God has not called
them to that work, and though they really meet the conditions of receiving
the baptism with the Spirit, and do receive the baptism with the Spirit,
power as an evangelist does not come. In many cases this results in bitter
disappointment and sometimes even in despair. The one who has expected the
power of an evangelist and has not received it sometimes even questions
whether he is a child of God. But if he had properly understood the
matter, he would have known that the fact that he had not received power
as an evangelist is no proof that he has not received the baptism with the
Spirit, and much less is it a proof that he is not a child of God.

(2) The second evil is graver still, namely, the evil of presumption. A
man whom God has not called to the work of an evangelist or a minister
oftentimes rushes into it because he has received, or imagines he has
received, the baptism with the Holy Spirit. He thinks all a man needs to
become a preacher is the baptism with the Holy Spirit. This is not true.
In order to succeed as a minister a man needs a call to that specific
work, and furthermore, he needs that knowledge of God's Word that will
prepare him for the work. If a man is called to the ministry and studies
the Word until he has something to preach, if then he is baptized with the
Holy Spirit, he will have success as a preacher, but if he is not called
to that work, or if he has not the knowledge of the Word of God that is
necessary, he will not succeed in the work, even though he receives the
baptism with the Holy Spirit.

(3) The third evil is greater still,