The Origin of the Gifts of the Spirit Church
A Key to Knowingness
Gifts of the Spirit Church was founded in 1977 by Rev. Carl R. Hewitt, fulfilling his previous vision. On July 3, 1954, as Rev. Hewitt and a friend were driving south along the Blue Ridge Highway, they stopped at a scenic overlook near Lowgap, just below the northern border of North Carolina. Carl took a hike alone and began climbing to the top of the hill, about 45 feet above the parking lot. As he admired the spectacular view, a man dressed in a long white robe began talking with Carl. During the conversation, this stranger told Carl he should build a church to become a teaching and healing ministry. At that point in his life, Carl was only beginning to learn the truth about his mediumistic gifts and was not yet an ordained minister. Naturally, Carl was confused by this instruction and was even more puzzled when the man instantly disappeared! After Carl returned to the car, his friend kept asking him if he was all right because Carl’s face had changed and was shining white. (Luke 9:28-36, Ex. 34:29). This event was even more significant because another unusual event happened to him two weeks before this conversation.
While working in the backyard of his home in Connecticut, a white dove suddenly appeared on the roof of Carl’s house. Suddenly, the dove flew down and landed on Carl’s shoulder. The bird eventually walked along Car’s left arm. Carl desperately tried to take his right hand and pet the bird but couldn’t move his arm. The bird remained at his house for two weeks, leaving just before Carl left for his road trip south.
Carl had a long, arduous journey to learn and accept his mediumistic abilities. Even though he was born with the gifts of clairaudience and clairvoyance and often prophesied to his childhood neighbors and friends, the community where he was born was stanched Baptist. The community as a whole believed that the devil possessed Carl because he could foretell future events and treated Carl as an outcast. It wasn’t until 1951, when Carl was 23 years old, that he first met another medium who explained to Carl the work he would do in the future. Still, it was difficult for Carl to accept, and it was a long process for Carl to use his mediumistic abilities to assist people. Eventually, Carl studied to become a Spiritualist minister and was ordained on June 2, 1972.
In 1977, Carl was finally ready to begin his own church, as he had been instructed to do twenty-three years earlier. When considering a name, he heard a voice tell him it was to be “the Gifts of the Spirit Church,” as discussed in the twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians.
Like Saint Paul’s, Rev. Hewitt’s mission is to educate the public by expanding their belief system beyond orthodox religions. Most religions want their members to believe their doctrines; we at the Gifts of the Spirit Church strive for a knowingness system. Most of what we learn at Gifts of the Spirit Church can be demonstrated by mediumship or proven by historical sources. Therefore, we go beyond believing doctrines into experiencing and knowing facts. Through mediumship, Spirit is constantly able to bring forth new and more complex spiritual truths, making the body of knowledge we acquire, dynamic and continually growing and evolving. Our increased knowledge releases the heavy bonds of the dogmas and creeds, liberating us to live a spiritually fulfilled life. As Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” [John 8:32 [DARBY].
Spirit, not Rev. Hewitt, chose our Church's name, The Gifts of the Spirit Church. The KJV Bible states that Jesus taught: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” [John 4:24 [KJV]]. According to the original Greek and Latin translations, Jesus said, “Spirit is God.” Throughout the entire New Testament, Jesus never sanctioned establishing a new religion. In fact, the opposite is true. Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the [Jewish] law, or the [Jewish] prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” [Matthew 5:17 [KJV]]. Jesus said: God is Spirit. [John 4:24 RSV] He did not say God is Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian Presbyterian, Mormon, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, or any other religion. The only religion on the planet that comes close to the type of religion Jesus even mentioned is Spiritualism.
We at Gifts of the Spirit Church study what Jesus taught: the Gifts of the Spirit. We study the Bible carefully to learn about the hundreds of psychic events recorded in the Book of Books. The patriarchs, matriarchs, prophets, seers, and men of God recorded in the Bible were mediums who practiced the various types of Gifts of the Spirit. Furthermore, we have discovered a wealth of psychic information retained in the original Hebrew wording of the Old Testament that does not exist in the English translations.
Jesus came to the world to educate the people about the Gifts of the Spirit. This is why he demonstrated all of them to as many people as possible. However, the priests silenced Jesus before he could teach the "science" behind the phenomena. Therefore, after he arrived in the Spirit World, Jesus chose Paul as his medium and taught psychic science through Paul. This is why it appeared that Paul said, "Fellow Christians, I want you to know about the gifts of the Spirit." [1 Corinthians 12: 1 BECK]. Jesus also taught that we have two bodies: a physical body for the physical world and a spiritual body for the Spirit World. [1 Corinthians 15:40, 44.] Our soul is the spiritual body, which is located in the middle of our chest behind the breastbone. This is why Jesus taught: "For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." [Luke 17:21 [KJV]].
Gifts of the Spirit Church does not intend to convert anyone’s beliefs. We only ask that you have an open mind to digest our alternative theories and use them as an accessory to whatever belief system you may have. Although every lesson the Gifts of the Spirit Church teaches is from the Bible, not everyone is prepared to hear and accept these truths.