(Daniel 8:11)
In 193, the bishop of Rome exalted himself as high as Christ by excommunicating the churches of Asia, and the spirit of truth was taken away. The place of God’s sanctuary was cast down. The Church no longer obeyed the teachings of Christ and instead obeyed the teachings of the bishop.
The spirit of God is the spirit of truth. For the Church to receive the spirit of truth, it must obey the commandments of Christ and the teachings of the apostles. The sanctuary of God’s Church is the dwelling place of His spirit.
The spirit of God was first received on the Day of Pentecost, as evidenced by speaking in tongues. The apostle Paul described this in his letter to the Corinthians. In about A.D. 90, Bishop Clement of Rome also wrote to the Corinthians, saying, “A full outpouring of the holy spirit was upon you all.”1The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, Chapter 2
In 180, Irenaeus gave us the last testimony of receiving the holy spirit. He wrote:
“For this reason does the apostle declare, “We speak wisdom among them that are perfect,” terming those persons perfect who have received the spirit of God and who through the spirit of God do speak in all languages…. In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the Church who possess prophetic gifts and who through the spirit speak all kinds of languages.”2Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapter 6, paragraph 1
After Irenaeus wrote this testimony in his book Against Heresies, a false experience of speaking in tongues began with a cult called Montanism.
The mainstream church believed that the Montanists were possessed by evil spirits. In 324, Eusebius quoted the writing of a commentator in the day who said that their founders, Montanus and Maximillia, “died a different death—a mind-destroying spirit driving each to a separate suicide.”3Eusebius Church History 5.16
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