What is the Holy Ghost ?

[mfblume]

I believe the Holy Ghost in us is absolutely essential to Kingdom living. Paul said that there was no good thing in his flesh, and he could not do the good he desired to do. Then he said at the end of Rom 7 that with the flesh he cannot serve the law of God. Chapter 8 says to not walk after the flesh but after the Spirit. This shows us that the Spirit of God in us is meant to be relied upon instead of our own fleshly abilities!

Unfortunately, there is not that knowledge in every one, as Romans 6 relates. You can have the Holy Ghost in you and not realize you are meant to rely upon it for empowerment to do the will of God. Most Pentecostals think walking after the Spirit ids simply HAVING or getting the baptism of the Holy Ghost. They think it is simply obeying Acts 2:38. Not so. Unless we realize that the Spirit in us is to be consciously relied upon after we receive Him, we will instinctively rely upon fleshly power to do the will of God and will fail.

We must learn to walk after this Spirit by prayer to God For His Spirit in us to strengthen us with might in the inner man. We are relying on the Holy Ghost when we follow through with Rom 6:13.

Rom 6:13 KJV Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

The Spirit of God in us is power over sin! It is power to fulfill the will of God.

Zec 4:6 KJV Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Zechariah was told these words after seeing a vision of the GOLDEN OIL pouring from Olive Trees into the Seven Golden candlesticks.

Zec 4:2-3 KJV And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: (3) And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.

The Spirit and the Word agree. The OIL coming forth from the olive trees obviously speaks of SPIRIT. ANOINTING OIL . But there is WORD involved as well. The two olive trees were Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor. They PROPHESIED as two witnesses, similar to Rev 11. WORD AND SPIRIT are always vital. The Spirit is given to empower, but without the Word of truth concerning that purpose, we have the Spirit and do not benefit from it.

Genesis 1 shows SPIRIT hovering over the earth, and WORD spoken to work together with the Spirit and CAUSE LIGHT, etc.

The Word reacts with the Spirit in us as our understanding is endowed with truth, and the Holy Ghost is no longer DORMANT in us, except for speaking in tongues occasionally, and is there to then do what He is there to do! EMPOWER US!

[mfblume]

Gideon's clay jars held torches in them. The idea was to crack open the clay jars and allow the light to shine out and destroy the enemy.

2 Cor 4 teaches that our humanity is like earthen vessels. Clay jars. The LIGHT of the knowledge of the glory of God in us is the torch, and with the combined glory of the Holy Ghost in us, lighting our candles (Prov 20:27), when our humanity is denied and we carry our crosses, the clay jars break open and the light shines to destroy the enemy!

That is the purpose of the Holy Ghost in us.

Jesus was God in the flesh. God is in our flesh as well when we have the Holy Ghost. And the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. We destroy the works of the devil also when the Spirit in us leads us and due to our faith empowers us. This is KINGDOM living.

Had Adam gotten the fruit of life inside him, he would have possessed God's SPIRIT. ETERNAL LIFE. And God through Adam would destroy the devil and see kingdom dominion in the earth! Jesus came that we might have that SAME LIFE, and He brought the Kingdom 2000 years ago, and we need to rule by being led by the Spirit for empowerment and dominating sin, satan and the flesh!

The Holy Ghost actually overrides the fleshliness that drags us down into defeat, and the fleshliness that the devil capitalizes on to defeat us. But without understanding as to how to yield to the Spirit, it does us no good. Romans 8 says the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death. That law is the understanding of how we allow the Spirit in us to work and do the purpose He is in us to do.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by onefaith2

Amen Sam, the SPirit is the spirit of God.

Not to derail but Sam why do you think Trinitarians say Jesus was called the Son prior to the incarnation? All I see if prophecies. What do you see?

I'm not a theologian or don't know much about trinitarian beliefs, but.....

John 1:1-18 and 1 John 1:1-3 speaks about the Word/Logos/Memra/Angel who was with God and was God at the beginning and says that the Word became flesh and manifested or displayed the Father. 1 John 1:1-4 equates that Word with the Son. 1 John 5:8 (not in some Bibles) says there are three that bear witness in heaven --the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost--and these are one. So, if the Word was with God in the beginning, some believe the Son was with God in the beginning. Other trinitarians believe He was the Word in the beginning and became the Son at incarnation.

[onefaith2]

Originally Posted by Sam

I'm not a theologian or don't know much about trinitarian beliefs, but.....

.

Thanks for reply but aren't you licensed with a local trinity church? Do they not have strong teaching on the trinity?

[Sam]

Originally Posted by onefaith2

Thanks for reply but aren't you licensed with a local trinity church? Do they not have strong teaching on the trinity?

I am ordained in a OP organization, The Church of Jesus Christ, that goes back to 1927 and I am ordained in a local trinity church, Hamilton Dream Center, which is part of WME (Worldwide Missionary Evangelism). The statement of faith for WME says: "We believe in one God who reveals Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit." My pastor offered ordination to me. I did not request it. I accepted it because I considered it an honor. He knows my background and I told him that I was going to maintain my ordination in my current organization. He sees emails I put out. The "godhead" is just not an issue.

I taught a series of lessons in midweek services a couple of years ago on the names of God i.e. Elohim, Adonai, and the YHWH compound names finishing up with God's covenant name for the New Testament being "Jesus." There is a book written by Dale Yerton, former chairman of the WME, called "Foundation Truth" with a 1984 copyright. Lesson 29 is titled "The Godhead." On page 156 he says:
It is obvious from the Scriptures that there is only one God.Deuteronomy 4:35, 39 and 6:4. The great truth that Israel gave the world is the oneness of God. Isaisah 44:6, 8; 43:10; 45:18 Psalmss 86:10; 83:18
This is a New Testament doctrine as well. Mark 12:29, 32 I Corinthians 8:4, Ephesians 4:6 1 Timothy 1:17; 2:5 James 2:19.
However, a close study shows this is a compound unity of oneness Genesis 1:26

The Hebrew word "yachead" speaks of an absolute unity of one, such as the number one. This word is never used to describe God.

The Hebrew word "echad" speaks of a compound unity of oneness such as one people, one nation. Genesis 2:24. This is the word that is used to describe God in Deuteronomy 6:4 and Zechariah 14:9. The New Testament continues to show this compound unity of three in one.

On page 157 under What Are The Names Of God? he says:
"Throughout the Old Testament God continued to reveal Himself in an unfolding revelation. Much of that revelation comes by the names that God revealed of Himself." He then lists Elohim, El-Elyon, etc (same as I had done when I taught on this before I ever saw that book).

He continues on page 157 and says "In the New Testament there is revealed a new compound name for God." He then goes on and says that that New Testament compound name for God is "Lord Jesus Christ." He goes on to say, "The name Lord Jesus Christ is not found once in the Gospels, but is found in some form fifty-five times throughout the rest of the New Testament."

He does not use the word "trinity" but on page 158 he does use the word "TRi-UNITY."

Now, some folks would say this is oneness and some would say it is trinity. I say it doesn't matter what we call it, that our oneness and trinity arguments are just "godhead gobbledy gook" and just our poor work of trying to take an infinite God and bring Him down to some explanation that we can wrap our puny human minds around.

I'll leave the godhead theology to those who want to argue about persons, roles, masks, manifestations, personas, kenoomas, or personalities and to other weighty themes such as how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

[TGBTG]

Originally Posted by onefaith2

Thanks for reply but aren't you licensed with a local trinity church? Do they not have strong teaching on the trinity?

I know this question's not for me, but I've attended a couple of trinity churches in the past and I still currently go to a trinity church.

It has been my experience, that these churches mention only in passing that they believe in the trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the HolySprirt. However, they spend little or no time at all talking about the Godhead. Most of the time when they mention it (it's come up in sunday school), it usually bordelines on tritheism, so it gets quite uncomfortable talking about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holyspirit. I think the reason why trinity is not taught in depth in the trinity churches is 'cause it sometimes becomes tritheism. The pastors themselves then succumb and say "The trinity is a great mystery which no one understands."

There was a time my Pastor taught on the power in the name of Jesus Christ. There was a slight confusion in the sermon when "in the name of the Father, Son, and HolyGhost" was mentioned somewhere in the sermon because in the same sermon, he had stated that the "in the name of Jesus Christ" is the name above all names. (Not sure if I'm explaining myself right...)

[onefaith2]

Originally Posted by TGBTG

I know this question's not for me, but I've attended a couple of trinity churches in the past and I still currently go to a trinity church.

It has been my experience, that these churches mention only in passing that they believe in the trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the HolySprirt. However, they spend little or no time at all talking about the Godhead. Most of the time when they mention it (it's come up in sunday school), it usually bordelines on tritheism, so it gets quite uncomfortable talking about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holyspirit. I think the reason why trinity is not taught in depth in the trinity churches is 'cause it sometimes becomes tritheism. The pastors themselves then succumb and say "The trinity is a great mystery which no one understands."

There was a time my Pastor taught on the power in the name of Jesus Christ. There was a slight confusion in the sermon when "in the name of the Father, Son, and HolyGhost" was mentioned somewhere in the sermon because in the same sermon, he had stated that the "in the name of Jesus Christ" is the name above all names. (Not sure if I'm explaining myself right...)

It seems the Catholic dogma is the only really in depth teaching of the trinity as far as an organization goes. I know there are written works out there, but this is my experience to, that in trinity churches the range goes from tritheists to modalists.