WHAT EXACTLY IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?

The doctine of trinity which most Protestant churches embrace as a tenet of Christianity is never in the Bible. Millions of Christians the world over assume that God is a trinity. But when asked to explain what that means most would reply that they have no clue, even the most learned theologians and preachers. Their most common reply is to 'take it by faith' or 'if I know, I would be God'  - what a response. But God would not want His true disciples to be ignorant of Who He actually is - He wants them to know Him personally. When we fail to get the correct doctrine of Who God is, our faith is built on a wrong foundation and will not stand up to scrutiny when the real tests come!

The true God of the Bible consists of the two Supreme Spirit Personality - God the Father Who is the Head of the God Family and His Son Jesus Christ. The idea of One God is that they are of one mind, united in purpose. The Apostle Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 8:6, 'But to us there is but  one God, the Father of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.'  When asked to show them the Father, Christ replied that when they see Him, they see the Father.

Some may contend that it was the spirit of God that moved upon the face of the waters at creation (Geneses 1:2) and hence has to be a 'Spirit Being'.  But Jeremiah 27:5 explained that while the spirit of God originates from God, it is not a separate distinct spirit personality like the Father and Son. In that verse, it states, 'I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me.'

In his Psalm of repentance, David begged the Lord not to take away the Holy Spirit from him - Psalm 51:11. If the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the trinity, he would have asked the spirit being directly to not leave him!

In the Old and New Testaments, there are many prophecies about the coming of Christ to earth. However, there is not a single prophecy in the Old Testament about the coming of the Holy Spirit. Although Christ told His disciples that He will send His Spirit to them after His departure to heaven, they only understood the Holy Spirit to be some kind of 'breath' that will fall upon them at Pentecost. Throughout Scriptures, the Holy Spirit is typified as the 'anointing oil', 'running water', 'wind' and 'dove' among others, never as a separate distinct personality.

Since Jesus Christ was born of the Holy Spirit, rightfully Christ should be called the Son of the Holy Spirit if the latter is a Spirit Being. Instead, Christ was named the Son of the Heavenly Father - Luke 1:32.

If the Holy Spirit is a spirit being, then it should be called 'Quadnity' and not 'Trinity'. When Christ was on earth, the Spirit of the Heavenly Father was upon Him. When He ascended to heaven the Spirit of Christ is upon all His true believers.

Throughout His ministry on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ only mentioned of the Holy Spirit shortly before His ascension to heaven, stating that He must leave for heaven before the Holy Spirit can come. In addition, He told His hearers that He and the Father are one - John 10:30, equating Himself with God. This is corroborated in John 1:1 when the Apostle John wrote that Christ was known as 'The Word' before His incarnation as Jesus Christ, and that He and the Father together form the God Head - none else!

Just before His crucifixion, Christ prayed to His Father in heaven and the Holy Spirit was never mentioned in His prayer all night (John chapter 17). This is also seen in Hebrew chapter 1, a brief record of the conversation between God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son regarding God's Master Plan for mankind!

In the Lord's prayer, Christ taught His disciples to pray to the Heavenly Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:9-13), there is no mention of praying to the Holy Spirit! If the Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity living in the lives of millions of believers as Trinitarians believe, then He must have been the most neglected spirit personality in all of the universe!

Almost all the epistles written by Apostle Paul begin with the greetings of  'Grace and Peace' from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no mention of the Holy Spirit - Rom 1:7; 1Cor1:3; 2Cor1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph  1:2; Phil 1:2; Col 1:2; 1Thess 1:2; 2Thess 1:2; 1 Tim 1:2; 2Tim 1:2; Tit 1:4; Philemon 1:3. Similar greetings can be found in the epistles of James (James1:1), Peter (1 Pet 1:3; 2 Pet 1:2) and John (1 Jn 1:3; 2 Jn:3) and Jude 1.

In an end-time vision recorded by prophet Daniel (Daniel 7: 13-27), the Ancient of Days (God the Father) handed the kingdom of God over to Jesus Christ to rule and reign as King of kings on earth, together with the resurrected saints (as kings) from the first resurrection, there is no mention  of the participation of the Holy Spirit.

The Book of Revelation reveals the end-time prophecies which God the Father handed to Jesus Christ Who then instructed the holy angel to reveal to the Apostle John to be written down - Rev 1:1. There is no mention of the Holy Spirit's involvement.

The moot point for many is found in Matthew 28:19 when it is stated that true disciples are to be baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This commandment is for true believers to be baptised into the Divine Family that bears the name of the Heavenly Father (Eph 3:14-15). Jesus is the Saviour who died for the sins of man and believers are saved by His life (Rom 5:8-9) when resurrected and born again as immortal spirit beings.

We are baptised in the name of the Holy Spirit because it is by the power of God's Spirit that begettal happens when resurrected saints are born again as immortal sons and daughters into the Family of God (Rom 8:16). When God's Seed - the Holy Spirit - (1 John 3:9) is implanted in a believer upon conversion, he or she is begotten but not yet born, much like human pregnancy with the church as the "Mother" feeding the new believer (Gal 4:26). The believer becomes an heir of God (Rom 8:17) awaiting to inherit God's kingdom when the time comes for Christ to return, resurrection happens and the saint is then born again (1 Cor 15:50-54).

Then again in 1 John 5:7-8, a passage that seem to support the concept of the trinity. However, a closer examination in the NKJV in the margin shows that many of these words were added by trinitarian Bible Translators! The words from verse 7 starting "in heaven" all the way to verse 8 ending "on earth" were not found in the ancient Greek manuscripts and appear in the Latin Vulgate version much later sometime in the eighth century.

The fact of the matter is that the triad deity originated from Babylon when the followers of Nimrod, his wife Semiramis and their son Adonis were being immortalised as deity. The politics of the Roman Empire in the first few centuries after the death of Christ also played a part in conceiving the doctrine of the trinity. But all the arguments for trinity are human concoction and presuppostion that has no biblical basis.

Throughout the centuries since then, different civilisation, culture and language groups have borrowed the idea and created their own triad diety known by different names throughout the history of mankind. God is dishonoured when some truth is mixed with much falsehood and judgement will come upon all who rebelled against His truth. True believers are warned to come out (Rev18:4) of the Babylonian Mystery religion (Rev 17:5) before it is too late!









 

PROPHETIC SIGNS OF CHRIST'S SECOND COMING

In the light of a flurry of events unfolding fast and furious across the world's news in recent years, many may be wondering what on earth is happening. From a Biblical perspective, all these happened for a reason according to God's timeline on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the ushering in of God's kingdom on earth to replace all the governments of man.

According to Christ's teachings on the Olivet Prophecy, the prophetic signs given by Him as recorded for us in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 are in respond to a question from His disciples (Matt 24:3), 'And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world (age)?' Revelation chapter 6 parallels that of Matthew 24, depicting in symbols what to expect of the trends and events set to occur shortly before His return.

With about 750 thousand words and one-third prophecy, the Bible is the only source of news broadcast in advance, well before they are set to happen. Some of these signs in the end times to look for can be summarised below.

First, there is a breakdown of character worldwide. People are getting more violent and immoral. Man's brutality against fellow humans just know no bounds and others are even advocating adultery as a way of life. Protest marches are happening everywhere and some opposing camps are resorting to violence to get what they want. This was recorded for us as a warning in 2 Timothy 3:1-6 about perilous times of the last days - for which we are now living.

Be forewarned for it is written, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." - 2 Tim 3:12-13.

Second, the proliferation of false teachings is going viral with different Christian groups, sub-groups and cults sprouting out everywhere. Each denomination with its sub-groups are not in unity and many are at odds with one another teaching different doctrines and practices - but all proclaiming in the name of Christ - just as He prophesied that it would. "For MANY shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many" (Matthew 24:5). Such trend is set to get worse causing all kinds of confusion - both inside and outside the church fraternity.

The false Christ is portrayed as the first in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Revelation 6:2 - 'And I saw, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.' The true Christ wields a sharp sword that proceeds out of His mouth and not a bow, and has many crowns upon His head (Rev 19:2), not just one. His name is also known as the Word of God (Rev 19:13) - Christ's pre-incarnate name at the very beginning with the Heavenly Father before He became Jesus Christ (John 1:1).

Third, there will be wars and rumours of wars (Matt 24:6). The second horseman riding a red horse symbolises wars and killings which are prevalent in our times. Wars and civil wars, gun and drug violence have become a frequent occurence that it surprises nobody any longer. Such is the scenario when 'power was given to him (the red horse rider) ...to take peace from the earth' . When peace is absent, war and terrorism are inevitable, with many parts of the earth turning into killing fields!

Fourth, the consequences that follow after warfare are famines and pestilences (Matt 24:7) as depicted by the black horseman of the Apocalypse (Rev 6:5) when the third seal was opened. The world is facing food shortage in many parts of the world. Bacteria are mutating faster than ever and that the most powerful antibiotics are losing its potency in the fight against certain diseases.

With shortage of food and under-nurishment, pestilences and diseases inevitably break out. This will spread quickly and engulf nations on a mass scale like those of the Bubonic Plague in the 20th century where one-fourth to one-half of Europe's population were wiped out, an estimated 75 million people died. The fifth seal of the pale horse will gallop along to strike the earth and even wealthy nations of the world are not spared!

Fifth, Christ warned that 'there shall be ...earthquakes in divers places' - Matt 24:7 - and this could apply to tsunamis as well, often caused by earth's movements under the sea bed. Several nations like Indonesia, Japan and recently, Philippines have suffered severely from earthquakes and tsunamis.

Could these be some of the 'beginning of sorrows' (Matt 24:8) as warned by Christ with more to come as the clock ticks towards the midnight hour? Though we can never be absolutely sure, one thing we do know is that all these natural disasters seem to be happening more frequently and with greater intensity than the ones before, with scientists pointing to global warming as the main cause. Whatever the cause, the Olivet Prophecy does provide us the signs to watch and pray (Luke 21:36).

Sixth, while all these are happening, there will come a time of the seventh resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire with a confederation of ten nation states known in the Bible as "The Beast" that will be controlled by a religious organisation headed by a "False Prophet", also known as the "man of sin" - 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. The symbolic Beast is a political union of ten states in Europe controlled by a two-horned religious beast that will set to dominate the world, just before Christ's Second Coming. Daniel chapters 2 and 7 with Revelation chapters 13 and 17 prophesied of the coming Beast and False Prophet at the time of the end - which is quietly taking place right now!

Finally, Christ foretold that when the true Gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached, the end will come - Matthew 24:14. It has not been preached for over 1900 years, otherwise the end of the church age would have been upon us with the ushering in of the kingdom of God - thy kingdom come!

Satan is well aware that his reign as god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) is coming to an end and he knows that he has only a short time left (Rev 12:12) before making way for Jesus Christ to usher in God's kingdom Who will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev 19:16). Hence, he is lashing out on the inhabitants of planet earth with such humongous disasters and problems like never before, for he came to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).