back to kingdomready.org

POWER. Last night, after dinner, sitting around our table, our family had devotions, and this particular lesson was from John 9, the story about Jesus healing the blind man. The disciples were questioning Jesus of why this man was born blind, assuming that someone had sinned and this blindness was the result of that sin. Jesus answers them in John 9:3, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Our family discussion took us on a little detour about how it was God and His amazing power which healed this blind man, through Christ Jesus. Because of this magnificent healing, God would be glorified.

Acts 5:3-4 is often used to prove that the holy spirit is God. Ananias is said to have lied to the holy spirit in verse 3, and it is equated with lying to God in verse 4. The holy spirit refers to the power and authority of God, which in this instance was invested in Peter. Just as “grieving the holy spirit” is another way of saying “grieving God,” saying he “lied to the holy spirit” is another way of saying he lied to God. This is showing the connection between God and His spirit which was working in Peter and the other apostles.

There has been much misunderstanding about the holy spirit. The King James and some other versions of the Bible most often use the phrase “Holy Ghost” but the word “ghost” carries different connotations today, and most Christians generally prefer “Holy Spirit.” Most of mainstream Christendom believes that the holy spirit is a person, specifically the third person of the Trinity. I deal with the Trinity in relation to Who is Messiah in a Closer Look article. Historically the belief in the holy spirit as the third person was even later that the belief that Jesus was God. The deity of Christ became official doctrine in 325, while the holy spirit was not established as the third person of the Trinity until 381.

There is now a schedule for new blog posts, with a different writer each day of the week.  From this point on I will be posting once a week, on Mondays.  Today I will finish the article I started, and continue with another one next week. (Please note I added another passage of Scripture to Part 1 which I had missed before.)

Here’s part THREE of the four part booklet - The Two Adams, by Homer D. Baxter.  This is the first half of Part II - with the last half of it (or the final quarter) to come next week.  A fitting topic (The SECOND Adam) to present here this weekend where we celebrate the Resurrection of our Messiah!

As we read the passage in Galatians 5 and come to these verses:

Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

The context is in admonishing those who are trying to use law to control the passions of the flesh in life’s relationships, but to no true profit. In verse 15 this remarkable opportunity of life is brought forth:

Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Since there has been so much “Trinity” debate here on the kingdomready blog, I thought this week I would cover something on subject. Even more reason since during the debates between us Unitarians and our Trinitarian visitors, we also had a “Oneness” believer join in and several people didn’t really catch his positional stance at first. The following might help with that somewhat.

Historical Christianity has had four main belief views on who is God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Some might say include other views such as the Latter Day Saints and Herbert Armstrong’s Church of God folk that believe in a “God family”. But when it boils right down to it, the following four are the longer term predominant viewpoints. And they are: Trinitarian, Oneness, Arian, and Unitarian. What does each profess? Well here is each one’s primary view of God, Jesus, & the Holy Spirit.

Click here to listen to The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament presented by Jesse Acuff, Apr 29th 2008, Atlanta Georgia. Commentary by John Obelenus

“Whatever holds back a spirit of inquiry is favorable to error, whatever promotes it, to truth. But nothing, it will be acknowledged, has a greater tendency to obstruct the spirit of inquiry, than the spirit and feeling of party. Let a doctrine, however erroneous, become a party distinction, and it is at once entrenched in interests and attachments which make it extremely difficult for the most powerful artillery of reason to dislodge it.” - John Wilson

The subject of the purpose of the gifts of the Holy Spirit has been raised earlier on this blog, but I’d be interested in discussing it further.

Ephesians 4:7-12 explains the reasons why the gifts were first given.

“But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned
it. This is why it says:

“When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men.”

… It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Isaiah 65: 24
It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.

This outstanding indicator of unlimited access to God in prayer is part of the description of future millennial glory of which God declares that He will create “new heavens and a new earth.” This renovation will be a work of gladness to such a degree that there will no longer be heard in Jerusalem “the voice of weeping and the sound of crying.” The time described is not yet the time when death itself will be abolished (I Corinthians 15:26, Revelation 20: 14), but a blessing of extreme longevity seems to anticipate the abolishment of death (Isaiah 65: 20, part of v. 22):