Come Holy Spirit

Rubel Shelly Come Holy Spirit: The Catholic cry is: Thus the Church asks us to often cry out: VENI, SANCTE SPIRITUS! COME, HOLY SPIRIT!

Rubel Shelly: All the commandments and laws of heaven cannot bring us back to life.

Calvinism says that were born dead: Paul will say that we were alive until confronted with the Law, Sin revives and we die (Rom 7:9)

Dr. Shelly attributes all of God's influences to a direct operation of the Holy Spirit as a third member of the "God family."

In his sermon, Dr. Shelly prays:

Come, Holy Spirit! (John 16:4b-33)

Rubel Shelly: When you hear the term "Holy Spirit," what comes to mind? Do you think of noisy Pentecost? Do you think of modern controversies over tongue-speaking? Do you visualize "tongues like fire" over the heads of the apostles?

My fear is that most of us think of the Holy Spirit as a radiating power or influence rather than in personal terms --; a mysterious It rather than a gracious Person. I suspect I know why we think that way.

However, Dr. Shelly believes that certain people can get the power by praying to the Holy Spirit and then WE can do the radiating. Too bad God is deprived of the power to image Himself and radiate His power outward:

Rubel Shelly:

(1) Holy Father, we praise you for calling us out of the darkness of this world and its idolatries
(2) into the glorious light of your Son.
(3) So fill and empower us, Holy Spirit, that we may radiate that light to others.

There is no Biblical evidence to support "praying to the Holy Spirit" if that person is a "person" separated from and superceeding Jesus in this, THE DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. The Name of the Spirit Lord to Paul was: "I am Jesus of Nazareth" and he did not say: "My name is The Holy Spirit" because this is not a name. 

Along with Catholics, Dr. Shelly apparently believes that the Lord's Supper (Holy Communion?) has the supernatural power to heal rather than, as Jesus and Paul insisted, just a way to remember and show forth (preach) the Death of Christ:

(4) The Real Presence of Jesus as a MASS.

Rubel Shelly: Through this cup and its holy power to heal, cure us of the world's infections,

purify us wholly for yourself, and immunize us to the demonic forces that would lure us back into slavery. We ask this in the name of our Great Physician. Amen.

Rubel Shelly: In both Greek and English, "Spirit" is a neuter noun. And we think of a neuter noun as an "it" rather than a he or she.
........... Thus we think of the Holy Trinity of orthodox theology in a peculiar way.

There is nothing in ORTHODIX TRINITARIANISM which ever defines the Godhead cut into three separated "persons." Paul Tillich notes that prior to the Liberal 19th century, to call God a "person" would be heresy. Karen Armstrong calls it "blasphemy." The word is personae and had nothing to do with person.

John Mark Hicks credits Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly with popularizing the Trinity of persons almost universally repudiated. Hicks notes that their INCARNATIONAL THEOLOGY may deny that "Christ came fully in the flesh." Of course, this is the motive for seeing worship as exhilarating and looking for SIGNS to CERTIFY that we are faithful. However, H. Leo Boles and the Gospel Advocate are the fathers of the "family of gods, kith and kin, a committee."

Lets pre-state the reason the Spirit is not seen as a person other than defining God as pure or holy Spirit (Holy means "with nothing but Spirit" defining God):

Hebrew Spirit: Ruwach (h7307) roo'-akh, roo'-akh; from 7306; wind; by resemblance breath, i. e. a sensible (or even violent exhalation; fig. life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extens. a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (includ. its expression and functions): - air, anger, blast, breath, * cool, courage, mind, * quarter, * side, spirit ([-ual]), tempest, * vain, ([whirl-]) wind (-y).

Hebrew Mind: Leb (h3820) labe; a form of 3824; the heart; also used (fig.) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything: - / care for, comfortably, consent, * considered, courag [-eous], friend [-ly], ([broken-], [hard-], [merry-], [stiff-], [stout-], double) heart ([-ed]), * heed, * I, kindly, midst, mind (-ed), * regard ([-ed)], * themselves, * unawares, understanding, * well, willingly, wisdom.

Greek Spirit: Pneuma (g4151) pnyoo'-mah; from 4154; a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze; by anal. or fig. a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul, (by impl.) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, doemon, or (divine) God, Christ's spirit, the Holy Spirit: - ghost, life, spirit (-ual, -ually), mind. Comp. 5590.

Greek Mind: Nous (g3563) nooce; prob. from the base of 1097; the intellect, i.e. mind (divine or human; in thought, feeling, or will); by impl. meaning: - mind, understanding. Comp. 5590.

Rubel Shelly: God the Father we visualize in warm, personal terms.

God the Word (i.e., Logos) we more often speak of as God the Son and think of personal images ranging from Bethlehem to Nazareth to Jerusalem.

Not so, however, with the Holy Spirit.

Why is it that we don't seem to think of the Son in warm, personal terms? Of course, the "three members of the god family" insists that the Son HAS HAD His dispensation and we are living in the "dispensation of the Holy Spirit." However, this is very wrong.

First, the Bible leaves no doubt. The pagan view was almost totally in terms of a triad of gods which came in FAMILY or generational groups. This might mean two, three, four or more with thousands of gods and lords in the pantheon.

Therefore, consistene with the universal practice of the Bible, the One True God is contrasted with the Pagan TRAIDS. If God is THREE Gods then there is no break with pagan superstition:

For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 1 Cor 8:5

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. 1 Cor 8:6

Here is the place where Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly lament that the Bible and most historical theology "has done them wrong" in not defending the blasphemous idea of three members of the God Family.

But, here was the place for God to say:

> one Holy Spirit; He Did Not.

Conclusion: Our spirit according to Walter Scott is the meaning of A holy spirit when it is wholly dedicated to God. But our body, soul and spirit does not make us TRIPLETS.

Full invisible Deity	Manifestations (personae)
	The Father	Of whom are all things	We IN Him
One God
	The Son or Lord	by whom are all things	We BY Him

There is a reason for not seeing the Holy Spirit (the Mind of Christ) as a warm, fuzzy person like "me.? The Father does not express love for the Spirit nor does Jesus. Spirit is personified just as our human spirit is personified as in: "She has a beautiful spirit." But, we do not mean that her spirit is a person. Paul always makes it clear that the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God or the spirit of mankind. Spirit although personified like "wisdom" and lots of other words either means God Who is pure or Only Spirit, or it means the mental disposition of God or of mankind.

There is no familial relationship between the ONE GOD as Father and Son and the Holy Spirit as a "person":

Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Heb 1:4

For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again,

........... I will be to him a Father,
and
........... he shall be to me a Son? Heb 1:5

Full invisible Deity	Manifestations (personae)
I	Will Be	TO Him	A Father
He	Will Be	TO Me	A Son

When you personify SPIRIT it is normally considered a SHE. Therefore, the true Catholic trinity if, like the Babylonian and man others, father, mother and infant son.

The man we know as Jesus Christ WAS FULLY GOD. He laid aside His great Glory and Majesty and came as the One Mediator, Intercessor or RIGHT ARM. As "sender" He is Father, as "sendee" He is the Son. As THOUGHT he is the Father of the Words as Son. Only God in Spirit Dimension and Son in the physical dimension can BRIDGE or be the DOOR between the two. The SON as just flesh could not bridge the gap. However, because He said "the Father is with Me" and "in Me" only as Full Deity could He allow us like "fish" to breath the air (spirit) of a wholly different dimension.

However, Jesus Christ said "the flesh counts for nothing, the Words which I speak are Spirit and Life." Therefore, God Incarnated Himself as flesh and as Jesus then Incarnated Himself in His Word. Paul said that the Holy Spirit is the Mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2).

If this is not the truth then the Bible is in error when either personifying "spirit" or when it assigns a neuter gender to it.

The Nicean Creed repudiates Dr. Shelly

The Nicean Creed speaks of Father and Son in personal terms but simply as an afterthought says. As the Godhead, the Theologians defined it as:

Thus also the declaration that "the Son is consubstantial with the Father" having been discussed,
........... it was agreed that this must not be understood in a corporeal sense,
........... ........... or in any way analogous to mortal creatures;
........... ........... inasmuch as it is neither by division of substance,

As further testimony they agreed that:

[We] also [believe] in the Holy Spirit.

Again, Dr. Shelly is alone with the charismatics!

Paul Tillich Proving Heresy

"The Spirit is sometimes personified in the Bible, as in John 16:7-8, and this has led many to believe that it is a person. They do so because they do not take into account an idiom of the original Greek language. In Greek, inanimate objects which in English would be couched in the neuter gender, are given a masculine or feminine gender, if those objects are identified with any particular individual. ' For example, a chair is described as "it" in English, because it is neuter, being neither masculine nor feminine. But in Greek that chair can be identified with its owner.

"If it belongs to me, the chair is described as he; if it belongs to my wife, as she. Click Here. "This God is never called a person. The word person was never applied to God in the Middle ages. The reason for this is that the three members of the Godhead were called personae (faces or countenances): The Father is persona, the Son is persona, and the Spirit is persona. Persona here means a special characteristic of the divine ground, expressing itself in an independent hypostasis.

"Thus, we can say that it was the nineteenth century which made God into a person, with the result that the greatness of the classical idea of God was destroyed by this way of speaking... but to speak of God as a person would have been heretical for the Middle Ages; it would have been to them a Unitarian heresy, because it would have conflicted with the statement that God has three personae, three expressions of his being. (Tillich, Paul, A History of Christian Thought, p. 190)

Wisdom is defined in much the same way as the Word. Wisdom is Sophia in Greek and her daughter and co-Logos is ZOE. This is why Sophia and ZOE are intimately connected with the notion of a personal Spirit. Wisdom is a "she" as "Spirit" is a "he" but as "God has His Word and His Wisdom with Him" we cannot believe that they are separated persons:

Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: Pr.1:20

WISDOM hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: Pr.9:1

"To our discussion of the Word we may here add the passage, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens rounded,
........... and all the power of them by the breath of His mouth."

Some refer this to the Saviour and the Holy Spirit. The passage, however, does not necessarily imply any more than that the heavens were founded by the reason (logos) of God,

as when we say that a house is built by the plan (logos) of the architect, or a ship by the plan (logos) of the shipbuilder.

In the same way the heavens were founded (made solid) by the Word of God, for they are of a more divine substance, which on this account is called solid; it has little fluidity for the most part, nor is it easily melted like other parts of the world, and specially the lower parts. On account of this difference the heavens are said in a special manner to be constituted by the Word of God.

"The saying then stands, first, "In the beginning was the Logos; "we are to place that full in our view; but the testimonies we cited from the Proverbs
........... led us to place wisdom first, and
........... to think of wisdom as preceding the Word which announces her.

"We must observe, then, that the Logos is in the beginning, that is, in wisdom, always. Its being in wisdom, which is called the beginning, does not prevent it from being with God and from being God, and it is not simply with God, but is in the beginning, in wisdom, with God. Origen speaks of personae.

John Mark Hicks attributes the revival of the ORTHODOX (Catholic, really) view of the trinity of separated persons to Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly. Much too late to be orthodox. If a clean or holy spirit means a separated person then does an unclean or unholy spirit means another person?

Scripture says:   Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ, Phil 2:5LIV who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God, Phil 2:6 but laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men. Phil 2:7 And he humbled himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal's death on a cross. Phil 2:8   Paul also wrote:   For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Col 2:9   If Dr. Shelly is correct then Paul is wrong.   John Mark Hicks notes of Shelly and Lucado and Lanier:   "An emergent Trinitarianism is evident among us, not only among Churches of Christ, but also in other branches of the Stone-Campbell Movement.[36] Even though our biblical scholars are somewhat hesitant, this shift comes from several quarters. First, the previous generation's defense of the deity of Christ forced some reflection along this line....   But none of this discussion ever saw God as a tribe or clan.   "Fourth, we have shifted from an emphasis rooted on a common factual confession that Jesus is the Christ to a Trinitarian emphasis on his deity.   Trinitarianism has been (re)born among us. An incarnational theology, represented by Max Lucado in particular, dominates the current climate in our churches. Interestingly, this renewal has primarily developed along ethical and devotional/spiritual lines.   "While, as Doug reminds us, Lucado brilliantly brings Jesus to life for us and reminds us of his humanity, I fear that his incarnational theology undermines the very thing he wants to press--Christ's empathetic humanity.   "His theology seems to lack any significant kenosis. Instead, Mary "knows she is holding God." He is the "infant-God" to whom Mary prays. His Jesus counts the stars as he lies in his crib and remembers his creative work. Mary is tempted to call him "Father."   "This type of incarnational theology tends to undermine the humanity of Jesus because it assumes that Jesus did not really identify with the human psyche. The divine mind informs and empowers the human life of Jesus in such a way that he is no longer a genuine model for struggling Christians. I think his Christology needs a good dose of the incarnation as a participation in fallenness where Jesus assumes fallen human nature, struggles with sin and shares our weaknesses. In other words, Lucado's Johannine Christology needs to be tempered with the Christology of the synoptics and Hebrews. Contrary to Doug's reading, I believe Lucado ultimately subsumes the human under the divine.   Of course, there can only be one conclusion to this mysticism:   Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 1Jn.4:2 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 1Jn.4:3 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 2 Jn.1:7   Quoted from a fuller article on Shamash or Sun worship

The most common Biblical and historical identification of the "trinity" never sees the Godhead as three separated persons able to stand face to face: that is a brand new heresy. Rather, the church fathers speak of GOD the source blowing His BREATH out to deliver His WORDS.

Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: Mark 3: 28

But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: Mark 3: 29
........... Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit. Mark 3: 30

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with
........... the spirit of his mouth,
........... and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 2 Thess 2:8

If "spirit" is a god person then how about "brightness"?

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 2 Thess 2: 9

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 2 Thess 2: 10

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword,

that with it he should smite the nations: and
he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Re.19:15

But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and
........... (1) he shall smite the earth with the
........... (2) rod of his mouth, and with
........... (3) the breath (Spirit) of his lips shall he slay the wicked. Is.11:4

In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them. Pr.14:3

And the (1) Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. Isa 59:20

As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord;

(2) My spirit that is upon thee,
(3) and my words which I have put in thy mouth,
shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever. Is.59:21

The inspired Word of a Spirit God is by definition Spirit.

(1) That thou turnest (2) thy spirit against God, and lettest (3) such words go out of thy mouth Jb.15:13

The Book of Jubilees, Chapter One reads:

And the Lord said unto Moses: 'I know their contrariness and their thoughts and their stiffneckedness, and they will not be obedient till they confess

23 their own sin and the sin of their fathers. And after this they will turn to Me in all uprightness and with all (their) heart and with all (their) soul,

and I will circumcise the foreskin of their heart and the foreskin of the heart of their seed, and I will create in them a holy spirit, and I will cleanse them so that they shall not turn away from Me from that day unto eternity.

JESUS identified His role as SON by the fact that He spoke only what He heard from the Father while the Jews were sons of the devil because they "spoke on their own." Therefore, here is the way to test sonship:

24 And their souls will cleave to Me and to all My commandments, and they will fulfil My

25 commandments, and I will be their Father and they shall be My children.

And they all shall be called children of the living God, and every angel and every spirit shall know, yea, they shall know that these are My children, and that I am their Father in uprightness and righteousness

Family relationships are Father and Son: Spirit is not the name of a familial relatinship. This is why Catholic Trinitarians make the Spirit into the Mother of the Gods so that their trinitarian is identical to the pagan trinitys: Father, Mother and little Son.

Rubel Shelly: Both the neuter noun and the biblical images of fire and anointing tend us away from personal to impersonal imagery, from Spirit as divine personality to Spirit as divine emanation. How unfortunate.

If it is true then it cannot be unfortunate unless there is a trend toward Tritheism or Polytheism or the need to diminish the role of Jesus Christ. Here is the almost universal meaning of "spirit":

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind (Spirit): Ps.104:3

The wind (spirit) hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. Hosea 4:19

Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind (spirit) was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Zec.5:9

Isaial 11 says that the spirit OF traits of knowledge would REST upon Jesus. Now, the Holy Spirit as a "little person" does not rest on top of other people. The symbol of the Spirit was a dove or Rock Pigeon which even in the ark spoke of delivering a message from God.

The word of God burns within us or burns us up. Again, a "person" would not be symbolized as a burning blaze of fire.

And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? Luke 24:32

Why would God use impersonal images if the Spirit did not intend impersonal concepts? Dr. Shelly has prewarned the audience that he will "take liberties" with John as John took liberties with the word of Jesus. However, this has the effect of denying the IMAGES used by the Holy Spirit in inspiring the apostles. But then again Dr. Shelly believes that John's images came from filtering philosophy and his own personal agenda. Narrative Theology holds that these writers intended to minimize the spirit as a third member of the God Family.

Why the Spirit of Christ use impersonal words to universally identify the spirit if the Spirit was a member of the 'God clan" (H. Leo Boles)?

Testimony of Scripture: Here is the meaning of the word Spirit. God is pure or holy Spirit because he is "wholly other" and not made of flesh and blood. Other than that, spirit truly does mean the power, influence, mental disposition, or vital principle.

Hebrew Spirit: Ruwach (h7307) roo'-akh, roo'-akh; from 7306; wind; by resemblance breath, i. e. a sensible (or even violent exhalation; fig. life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extens. a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (includ. its expression and functions): - air, anger, blast, breath, * cool, courage, mind, * quarter, * side, spirit ([-ual]), tempest, * vain, ([whirl-]) wind (-y).

Hebrew Mind: Leb (h3820) labe; a form of 3824; the heart; also used (fig.) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything: - / care for, comfortably, consent, * considered, courag [-eous], friend [-ly], ([broken-], [hard-], [merry-], [stiff-], [stout-], double) heart ([-ed]), * heed, * I, kindly, midst, mind (-ed), * regard ([-ed)], * themselves, * unawares, understanding, * well, willingly, wisdom.

Greek Spirit: Pneuma (g4151) pnyoo'-mah; from 4154; a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze; by anal. or fig. a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul, (by impl.) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, doemon, or (divine) God, Christ's spirit, the Holy Spirit: - ghost, life, spirit (-ual, -ually), mind. Comp. 5590.

Greek Mind: Nous (g3563) nooce; prob. from the base of 1097; the intellect, i.e. mind (divine or human; in thought, feeling, or will); by impl. meaning: - mind, understanding. Comp. 5590.

Testimony of the Classics and Church Fathers

Antiphon (480 - 411 BC)

"Often at such an hour as this,

when the body has given up the struggle,
its salvation is the spirit,
which is ready to fight on in the conscience that it is innocent.

"On the other hand, he whose conscience is guilty has

no worse enemy than that conscience;
for his spirit fails him which his body is still unwearied,
because it feels that what is approaching him
is the punishment of his iniquities.
But it is with no such guilty conscience that I come before you. (Antiphon On the murder or Herodes 5.93)

That was the identical image used by Paul in Romans 7 and 8 where the BODY is in conflict with the HUMAN SPIRIT and not with the HOLY SPIRIT person. Paul does not use the term "the Holy Spirit" in these chapters.

John of Damascus Book Four

"The book "Concerning the Orthodox Faith" Donatus Veronensis caused to be printed at Verona first in Greek only, and presented it to Clement the Seventh in the year 1531

Now we are baptized into the Holy Trinity because those things which are baptized have need of the Holy Trinity for their maintenance and continuance, and the three subsistences cannot be otherwise than present, the one with the other. For the Holy Trinity is indivisible.

"The Greek theologians, founding on the primary sense of the Greek term Pneuma (spirit), and on certain passages of Scripture in which the word seemed to retain that sense more or less (especially Psalm xxxiii. 6. in the Vulgate rendering, verbo Dei coeli formati sunt: et spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum),

spoke of the Holy Ghost as proceeding from the Father like the breath of His mouth in the utterance or emission of His Word.

so the Holy Spirit is like an impulse and movement within that supernatural essence.

Jonathan Edwards - Unpublished Manuscript [He didn't dare speak his mind]

"There are two more eminent and remarkable images of the triad among the creatures.
(1) The one is in the spiritual creation, the soul of man.

(2) There is the mind, and

the understanding or idea, and

 

(3) the spirit of the mind as it is called in Scripture,

i.e., the disposition, the will or affection.

 

And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Ro.8:27

 

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; Ep.4:23

 

Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ:
that whether I come and see you, or else be absent,
I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit,
with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; Ph.1:27

 

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love,
and of a sound mind. 2Ti.1:7

The other is in the visible creation, viz., the Sun.

In the image of the sun Jonathan Edwards uses the very common image but no one ever uses the Shelly - Lucado image of three persons:

(1) The father is as the substance of the Sun. (By substance I don't mean in a philosophical sense, but the Sun as to its internal constitution.)

(2) The Son is as the brightness and glory of the disk of the Sun or that bright and glorious form under which it appears to our eyes.

(3) The Holy Ghost is the action of the Sun which is within the Sun in its intestine heat, and, being diffusive, enlightens, warms, enlivens and comforts the world.

The Holy Trinity is a Catholic dogma. The early writers of theology and church history never saw the God separated into a Lucado-Shelly "family" or a H. Leo Boles "kith and kin, tribe, committee of separated persons."

This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 1Jn.5:6

The Spirit-Paraclete

Rubel Shelly: In the Gospel of John, Jesus invites us to know about, expect, and experience the Holy Spirit. And he speaks of the third member of the divine family in terms that are personal.

In fact, he challenged his original followers to think of the Holy Spirit in the same personal ways they had experienced him.

This is true because the "another comforter" would be named "Jesus of Nazareth" and therefore would be invisible but otherwise identical. The "Spirit" however would be the Words which Jesus spoke while on earth or that which He would reveal only to chosen, trained and empowered apostles.

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; John 14:16

This was not to be the Holy Spirit as a Family Member but:

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:17

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. John 14:18

When He came to John He said: "I am Jesus of Nazareth." This is exactly what Jesus said about His Word as Spirit:

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63

If your wife shows up at work don't ever introduce her as HOLY SWEETNESS but "Sally."

"...When the apostles were ordained the miraculous SIGNS were promised to them, 3:15 Matt. 10:1...These SIGNS were thus credentials for the apostles and their gospel message, SEALS that proved their message genuine and exhibited the fact that

the living and risen Jesus was present with them and working through them." (Lenski, Commentary on Mark, p. 768).

If this is such a radical departure from the universal meaning of "spirit" why do the disciples not Ask Jesus about how to worship or work with the Holy Spirit Person?

When Paul questioned the Spirit Lord the answer was: "I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you persecute." Since God is pure or Holy Spirit and full Deity dwells in Jesus Christ (Col 2:9) then the word SPIRIT in the first instance stands for God who is pure, holy or wholly Spirit and is not a person. My dog has personality but he is not a person. What Dr. Shelly is preaching has always been considered blasphemy in history:

WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

1John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

Paul Tillich proving Blasphemy

"There is much gnostic Marcionism in them, that is, a dualistic blasphemy of the Creator God. They put the Savior God in such opposition to the Creator God that, although they never fall into any real heresy, they implicitly blaspheme the divine creation by identifying it with the sinful state of reality.

Against this tendency Irenaeus said that God is one; there is no duality in him. Law and gospel, creation and salvation, are derived from the same God." (Tillich, Paul, A History of Christian Thought, p. 42)

"This God is never called a person. The word person was never applied to God in the Middle ages. The reason for this is that the three members of the trinity were called personae (faces or countenances): The Father is persona, the Son is persona, and the Spirit is persona. Persona here means a special characteristic of the divine ground, expressing itself in an independent hypostasis.

"Thus, we can say that it was the nineteenth century which made God into a person, with the result that the greatness of the classical idea of God was destroyed by this way of speaking... but to speak of God as a person would have been heretical for the Middle Ages; it would have been to them a Unitarian heresy, because it would have conflicted with the statement that God has three personae, three expressions of his being. (Tillich, Paul, A History of Christian Thought, p. 190)

John's account of the gospel was written around 100 A. D. and Rubel Shelly claims that John sifted the almost lost Word through philosophy and wrote his gospel account based on his own personal agenda. However, the equivalent Hebrew word, Dabar, appears in Genesis. Contrary to Rubel Shelly's neo-spirit Karen Armstrong, ex nun and professor of three religions wrote:

Try to grasp that God is invisible, incomprehensible to the human mind. Therefore, when the Spirit Deity works within the physical realm He is Water, Spirit, Word, Fire, Arm, Right Hand, Door, Manna and etc. However, there is not a fourth member of the "god clan" named FIRE.

Karen Armstrong Proving Blasphemy

"The author was not using the Greek word logos in the same way as Philo: he appears to have been more in tune with Palestinian than Hellenized Judaism. In the Aramaic translations of the Hebrew scriptures known as the targums, which were being composed at this time, the term Membra (word) is used to describe God's activity in the world. It performs the same function as other technical terms like "glory," "Holy Spirit" and "Shekinah" which

> emphasized the distinction between God's presence in the world,
> and the incomprehensible reality of God itself.

Like the divine Wisdom (Sophia), the "Word" symbolized God's original plan for creation. When Paul and John spoke about Jesus as though he had some kind of preexistent life, they were not suggesting that he was a second divine "person" in the later Trinitarian sense. They were indicating that Jesus had transcended temporal and individual modes of existence. Because the "power" and "Wisdom" that he represented were activities that derived from God, he had in some way expressed "what there was from the beginning." (Karen Armstrong, A History of God, p. 89).

"In his letter To Alabius: That there are not Three Gods, Gregory of Nyssa outlined his important doctrine of the inseparability or coinherence of the three divine persons or hypostases.

One should not think of God splitting himself up into three parts;

that was a grotesque and indeed blasphemous idea.

"God expressed himself wholly and totally in each one of these three manifestations when he wished to reveal himself to the world... the Divine Nature is equally present in each phase of the operation... The three persons do not exist side by side in the divine world." (Armstrong, Karen, History of God, 116-117)

However, to anyone who can read the symbolic language of God working in the physical elements, it is clear that when Christ breathes His Spirit upon People it is in speaking His Word which, He said, is spirit and life;

"The Spirit accompanies the divine Word of the Father, just as the breath (Greek, pneuma; Latin, spiritus) accompanies the word spoken by a man. 

The three persons do not exist side by side in the divine world.  We can compare them to the presence of different fields of knowledge in the mind of an individual: philosophy may be different from medicine,

but it does not inhabit a separate sphere of consciousness. The different sciences pervade one another, fill the whole mind and yet remain distinct. (A History of God, Karen Armstrong, p. 117)

See Boethius on Not Three Gods.

So, we have to put our trust in Rubel Shelly or almost the totality of Scripture and historical scholarship.

Rubel Shelly: He has already told the apostles: "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you" (John 14:25-26).

The Spirit would take Jesus' place in their midst both to "teach" and "remind" them of what had happened during his ministry.

We have noted that "denying that Christ came fully in the flesh" is bound up in the notion that the Father had his work, the Son had His work but the Holy Spirit TOOK THE PLACE of Jesus. If I take the place of John Doe then John Doe is retired from the scene. This is the meaning of being anti-Christian.

If "Casper" is visible in our midst and then manifests himself in an invisible form and comes in the name of Casper as a ghost, then we are not silly enough to say that Casper is twins. Jesus said that He would not pass judgment but that His Words would pass judgment. In the same way Paul wrote in WORDS:

Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 1Co.5:3

When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 1Co.5:4

As the "body of Christ" we do not assemble in the name of The Family of God which exists only in heaven. God has a name. The Spirit has a name. It is Jesus Christ.

While God dwells within our "body" the place is the "spirit" or human mind: He dwells in our heart by faith. Paul made the distinction to show that God dwelling within us means that we are ONE WITH HIM IN SPIRIT because the Holy Spirit does not dwell within the carnal "body" which must be considered "dead" before Christ will live within us;

What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 1 Cor 6:16
........... But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 1Co.6:17

The difference between a beast and Adam who was formed in the sense of being formed in the womb is that God breathed a spirit within him which allowed him to hold God's Spirit or mental disposition in our heart:

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Cor 6:19

Thefore, the Spirit of Christ lives within our spirit when we are ONE WITH HIM IN SPIRIT.

If the Comforter was SENT IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST then we would expect that His NAME would be Jesus and NOT a third person whose first name was "Holy." When Christ appeared to Paul in Spirit form:

And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Ac.22:8

Notice that "things equal to the same things are equal to one another."

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Jn.14:13

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Jn.14:26

Therefore, the Holy Spirit's Name is Jesus: that is why the term is personified.

After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. Acts 16:7

When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. Acts 16:7NIV

NO, the Spirit of Truth, righteousness and judgment would NOT TAKE THE PLACE of Jesus: the Spirit is Jesus living in another Spiritual dimension and yet "not far from all of us."

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Mt.18:20

By saying that "The Spirit would take Jesus' place in their midst both to "teach" and "remind" them of what had happened during his ministry isn't there a reluctance to PERMIT Jesus to be the total Lord of this the dispensation of full Deity?

T. W. Brents wrote:

The work of Christ is the work of God. Christ is not a 'delegate' whom God sent, nor is the Holy Spirit an external agent sent by the Father and the Son. The work of Christ and the Holy Spirit is as much the work of God as is the work of the Father.

Strong wrote:

The Father is not God as such; for God is not only Father, but also Son and Holy Spirit. The Son is not God as such; for God is not only Son, but also Father and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not God as such because God is also Father and Son.

The following table shows that the Godhead is not God, Jesus and Spirit person. Rather God as invisible, incomprehensible Being living in the dimension of Spirit, manifests Himself in HUMAN TERMS as Father, Son and Spirit. Paul said that we are body, soul and spirit but we are not triplets, and the Spirit is the Mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2).

	Father
God as Full Deity	Son
	Spirit

Rubel Shelly: In our text for today, Jesus returns to his promise of Holy Spirit presence, teaching, and guidance among those disciples. He told them:

"I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

I have emphasized some words proving that the words Dr. Shelly speak prove that it was Jesus who would return as the Comforter and teacher:

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for

he will not speak on his own, [My spirit must speak what my mind speaks]

but will speak whatever he hears, [Jesus had no independent words: what the Son heard the Father speak, He spoke]

and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. [Again the Spirit has no separated existence with new words which the Father and Son were unable to speak]

All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you" (16:4b-15).

THESE words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: Jn.17:1

My spirit or breath does not speak on its on. My words are not a separated person. In the same way the most common explanation of the trinity is that of a Spirit Being Who has his Word and Wisdom with Him. Dr. Shelly is out on a limb with pure charismatics.

Jesus had said:

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; John 14:16

Look at the whole verse 4 where Dr. Shelly omits verse 4a

"But these things I have spoken to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. John 16:4

Jesus the Spirit does not promise to bring to OUR memory that which He did not speak in OUR presence. This promise was limited to the Apostles and the Apostles were convinced by being eyewitnesses that their record was true and final.

As John 14:16 proves that Jesus would be the One and Only Comforter as Full Deity, the things Jesus did not teach in person HE would continue to teach through His Spirit whose name is Jesus Christ:

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. John 16:12

As the Spirit of Truth (which is not another person) Jesus would SPEAK to them in the same breathing or inspiring process which He, as the Spirit of Christ, spoke to the prophets (1 Pet. 1:11)

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. John 16:13

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2Co.3:17

The Apostles used that to validate the Scripture which they left us so that OUR memory would be refreshed in the Bible because WE were not there with Jesus in person and therefore WE have nothing of that event to REMEMBER.

God is manifested as Father, Son and Spirit: The Son validated His Sonship by speaking only what He heard from the Father. He identified the Devil as a liar because "he speaks on his own." The Spirit, in turn, would speak only what He heard from the Son. Therefore, God functions in human-like terms by being the Speaker, the Repeater and The Breath which propels the Word into the world.

Notice that this new, invisible COMFORTER would be the same One who dwelt with the Apostles in clear sight:

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:17

The Seven Spirits of God:

If Dr. Shelly is correct then why did Isaiah promise the seven Spirits of God in impersonal terms related the human MIND which is the human SPIRIT? If there are SEVEN SPIRITS then there would have to be SEVEN MORE PERSONS.

We can understand the nature of the Holy Spirit by looking at the prophecy of what would rest upon Messiah. The menorah or seven candlesticks is a visible manifestation of Jesus as the LIGHT OF THE WORLD as the Seven Spirits of God. These were not seven little persons but seven qualities of knowing about God.

AND there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: Isaiah 11:1

And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; Isaiah 11: 2

And shall make him of quick understanding (spiritual) in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: Isaiah 11: 3

But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath (Holy Spirit h7307) of his lips shall he slay the wicked. Isaiah 11: 4

When the IMAGE rested on Jesus it was not the image of a little person: it was the image of a dove or Rock Pigeon which is the carrier of information from one place to another. The Dove does not make up its own "sermons" and "hymns" and steal the glory from the sender.

Here is a supernatural sign: I have never heard anyone who teaches that the Holy Spirit is a third person of the GOD FAMILY literally living inside of a carnal body ever able to even put this verse into print:

I will not leave you comfortless (bereaved orphans): I will come to you. John 14:18

A third person called the Holy Spirit is never identified as a father and therefore when we cease to be orphans it is because we are adopted to and by Jesus Christ.

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, Ep.1:5

And as FULL DEITY (Col 2:9) with nothing left over to make a THIRD MEMBER OF THE GOD FAMILY:

And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jn.20:28
........... I and my Father are one. Jn.10:30

Only God can mediate between man and God: assuredly no "musical worship team can lead you into the presence of God."

MY little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 1Jn.2:1

Therefore, the ANOTHER COMFORTER is named Jesus Christ just as Jesus holds all of the authority of Father, Son and Spirit as ONE NAME (singular) and therefore Peter baptized in the name of Jesus Christ or he would have fractionated the Godhead into three persons. Later, when the Catholics did that they logically baptized THREE TIMES.

You will notice that Father, Son and Spirit are not names. Therefore, you had better quit worshiping the "holy trinity" by worship three names:

	Father
God as Full Deity	Son
	Spirit

All authority of Father, Son and Spirit is vested in Jesus Christ in Whom dwelled full Deity. Therefore, Peter baptized in the name of Jesus Christ because name is singular and Father, Son and Spirit are not names.

Furthermore, "god" is a generic name for all kinds of gods. If we want to be part of the Family of God then we had better wear His Name which is Jesus Christ.

Rubel Shelly: Notice what the version I am using calls the Holy Spirit in the two texts we have read. The New Revised Standard Version has Jesus calling him "the Advocate" --; as opposed to the King James Version's "Comforter" or the New International Version's "Counselor." The original term in John's text is parakletos. Because of its background in court settings, I suspect "Comforter" is too passive a rendering.

The Holy Spirit represents our interests, stands in for us, and goes to bat for us (cf. 1 John 2:1).

But, my version is not fearful of naming the Paraklete:

MY little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 1 John 2:1

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 1Ti.2:5

"Christian writers have seen in various references to the Spirit of Yahweh in the Old Testament an anticipation of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The Hebrew word ruah (usually translated "spirit") is often found in texts referring to the free and unhindered activity of God, either in creating or in revitalizing creation, especially in connection with the prophetic word or messianic expectation.

There was, however, no explicit belief in a separate divine person in biblical Judaism; in fact, the New Testament itself is not entirely clear in this regard. One suggestion of such belief is the promise of another helper, or intercessor (paraclete), that is found in the Gospel According to John.

"The definition that the Holy Spirit was a distinct divine Person equal in substance to the Father and the Son and not subordinate to them came at the Council of Constantinople in AD 381, following challenges to its divinity. Britannica on Paraclete

The idea of the Paraclete is not represented as a defense lawyer. Rather, Christ is the Atonement and propitiation of sin ONLY BECAUSE He is full Deity:

38. Christ as Paraclete, as Propitiation, and as the Power of God. Origen on John

"But none of the names we have mentioned expresses His representation of us with the Father, as He pleads for human nature,

and makes atonement for it; the Paraclete, and the propitiation, and the atonement. He has the name Paraclete in the Epistle of John: [John 2:1, 2.]
........... "If any man sin, we have a Paraclete with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

"And He is said in the same epistle to be the atonement [ ilasmoj ] for our sins. Similarly, in the Epistle to the Romans, He is called a propitiation: [Rom. iii. 25' "Whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith."

Of this proportion there was a type in the inmost part of the temple, the Holy of Holies, namely, the golden mercy-seat placed upon the two cherubim.

"But how could He ever be the Paraclete, and the atonement, and the propitiation without the power of God, which makes an end of our weakness, flows over the souls of believers, and is administered by Jesus, who indeed is prior to it and Himself the power of God, who enables a man to say: [ Philipp. iv. 13.] "I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengtheneth me." Whence we know that Simon Magus, who gave himself the title of "The power of God, which is called great," was consigned to perdition and destruction, he and his money with him. We, on the contrary, who confess Christ as the true power of God, believe that we share with Him, inasmuch as He is that power, all things in which any energy resides.

God's nature as a human is like a DOOR which connects between the physical realm and the Spiritual realm. Jesus could not be such a mediator without also being Full Deity.

So, why is Jesus Christ--and not a "third member of the god family"--competent to be our advocate?

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2

And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 1 John 2:3

He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 1 John 2:4

But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 1 John 2:5

He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. 1 John 2:6

Only One who has experienced death can be the Mediator:

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. Hebrews 9:22

It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. Hebrews 9:23

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Hebrews 9:24

Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; Hebrews 9:25

For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 9:26

Dr. Shelly teaches that the musical worship team can help "lead the worshipers into the presence of God." This is another way of repudiating Jesus Christ as the One and Only Mediator between man and God. He gained that power and authority by offering up his body to be our sacrifice while the TEMPLE MUSICIANS mocked Him.

The pattern of the New Testament church is the Tabernacle which had no singers or musicians. The pattern of the Monarchy "like the nation's" temple had animal sacrifices as the only rationale for playing loud sounds with instruments. By adding music to the church one moves leftward beyond the Laver of cleansing and back beyond offering Lord Jesus Christ over and over.

There is no role for musical mediators "leading the worshipers into the presence of God." They would have been killed if they tried and to try it now is to be run through with the Sword of the Spirit:

Jesus stands between the people who are no longer strangers and is sacrificed and baptized. However, it is the clergy "musicians" who played the music to mock or triumph over Jesus as prophesied in Psalm 41.

The people on the left of this image were "strangers" because of the musical idolatry at Mount Sinai. Paul in 2 Cor. 3 shows that the Jews remained strangers until they turned away from legalistic worship and turned to Christ as their One and Only Mediator.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 1Ti.2:5

And came and preached peace (quiet rest) to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. Ep 2:17

For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Ep.2:18 [The spirit of unity or oneness and not the Holy Spirit]

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; Ep 2:19

And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; Ep 2:20

Because we are no longer strangers, no singer, sacrificial priest or incense priest dare stand between believers who can now "come boldly before the throne of Grace" which is the most holy place.

Rubel Shelly: So what does the text mean when it quotes Jesus saying, "But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' " (v.5). Hadn't they asked? Hadn't Peter asked to go with him? Hadn't they all been troubled by his announcement? Well, yes. So what did Jesus mean? It gets clear if you read the verse with an emphasis on one word: "But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, 'Where are YOU going?' " They had reacted to his earlier announcement with shock, concern, and confusion about what his departure meant for them (cf. v.6). Jesus' answer was to say that their fears could be diminished if they would ask what he was going to do in his absence. Abandon them? Forget about them? Hardly!

The story is told very clearly by the LIV. The Word was With God and Was God and Paul said that God "laid aside" His majesty and Glory as GOD and dwelled in a human as the Image of the invisible God. When Jesus died there was both King and Priest on the throne but there were not two family members on the Throne: Jesus put back on the "clothing" if the Invisible Spirit God.

Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ, Phil 2:5

who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God, Phil 2:6
but laid aside his mighty power and glory (as garments), taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men. Phil 2:7
And he humbled himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal's death on a cross. Phil 2:8
Yet it was because of this that God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name which is above every other name, Phil 2:9

that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, Phil 2:10

Rubel Shelly: As soon as Jesus returned to heaven, he was going to send the Holy Spirit. That would be --; so Jesus assured them --; "to your advantage" (v.7b). How could the Spirit's presence be more helpful than Jesus' presence had been? Jesus could only be present with them at one place in any given moment, but Holy Spirit presence would fill them all and simultaneously accompany each of them at every moment. There would be an advantage to God's presence with them through the Holy Spirit. He would be an ever-present Defense Advocate, Burden-Bearer, and Strength-Provider.

The "burden" Jesus died to remove was laded on the backs of people used by the clergy as pack animals. It is defined as "spiritual anxiety created by religious ritual." If all of the clergy which included noise makers (not music) have been fired by Jesus and obsoleted by His once sacrifice with clergy mocking, then there is nothing which stands between we who were once strangers and the entrance into the Holy Place where Jesus is our One Teacher, Bread of Life and acceptor of our incense of prayers. The way is also free to enter the Most Holy Place where no clergy worship professional would dare to go.

Paul thought that the strength came from Jesus:

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; 1Ti.1:12

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Ph.4:13

Let's put it this way:

There would be an advantage to God's presence with them AS the Holy Spirit.

Well, let's say it again:

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 1Ti.2:5

And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. Ep 2:17

For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Ep.2:18 [The spirit of unity or oneness and not the Holy Spirit]

Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; Ph.1:27

The word "another" does not mean someone different but more of the same kind. We quoted the unquotable verse above:

I will not leave you comfortless (bereaved orphans): I will come to you. John 14:18

In order to build the Tabernacle according to God's pattern, God put the Spirit of God in certain men who were "wise hearted." This "spirit" was the spirit OF certain kinds of skills and knowledge:

AND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Exod 31:1

See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: Exod 31: 2

And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, Exod 31: 3

To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, Exod 31: 4

And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. Exod 31: 5

And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee; Exod 31: 6

The argument is made that God and the Spirit of God are two different persons. However, Paul wrote that:

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Cor 3: 17

By rejecting The Book of the Covenant in returning to musical idolatry at Mount Sinai, the Jews were blinded and remained blinded until Christ Came:

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. 2 Cor 3:14
........... But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; 2 Cor 3: 15
........... ........... but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 2 Cor 3: 16

> Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Cor 3: 17

But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
........... just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 2 Cor 3: 18

> seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 1 Peter 1:11

> And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Rev 19:10

Because God is pure or holy (wholly) Spirit and has no parts of flesh, the Spirit OF God is God The Spirit. 3:18 says that "the Lord IS the Spirit." Therefore, the Spirit does not represent Christ as a more suitable AGENT of family member: where the Spirit is present the Lord is present. His name is not "Holy Spirit" but Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth.

Rubel Shelly: More specifically still, he would empower the apostles and the church they founded on Pentecost for its mission. "When he comes," said Jesus, "he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment" (16:8). In other words, the believer's Defense Counsel would become the unbelieving world's Prosecuting Attorney! As he would on Pentecost and in so many other settings, he would prove the world had sinned in its failure to receive Christ (16:9); that rejecting him in the name of its own self-serving righteousness had been wrong-headed (16:10); that it had placed itself under divine judgment with its unbelief (16:11).

Sure enough, when the Spirit came on that first Pentecost Day following the resurrection of Jesus, he glorified him as the Son of God and caused thousands to be pricked in their hearts, turn to Jesus, and be baptized in his name (Acts 2:36ff).

The Apostles "laid the foundation" of the church but THE founder and foundation is Lord Jesus Christ.

Calvinism teaches that the Spirit pricks the heart to ENABLE the elect to believe and be saved. However, the "spirit" which pricked was the Words of Christ which are Spirit and Life:

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Acts 2:36

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Ac.2:37

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 2:38

This same Peter wrote:

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 1 Pet 3:21

In Baptism Peter says that we receive the remission of sins. Only then does he later say that the gift of the Spirit is asking God for a clear conscience which is a clear consciousness or the ability as a co-perceiver to understand the Mind of Christ--the Spirit of God.

Therefore, the Spirit as Word preached gives believer the power to "becomes sons of God." After baptism the Spirit Word can be perceived fully.

Rubel Shelly: And the same Holy Spirit has been doing that same redemptive work from that day until this one. I am a Christian because the continuing ministry of the gospel

1. by the power of the Holy Spirit
2. convicted me of my sin,
3. showed me the impossibility of creating my own righteous path to God,
4. and made me sense the guilty verdict that had been pronounced on me.
5. Then he glorified Christ before my eyes,
6. convinced me that he was the only way to eternal life,
7. and invited me to open my mind, heart, and life to him
   so I could be saved.

John Calvin couldn't have said it better.

However, the Incarnated Jesus who AS God laid aside His majesty and glory to become fully human has a much less legalistic scheme of redemption of faith leading to repentance and baptism.

Therefore, as John Mark Hicks has warned, Dr. Shelly has his own "vision" of a Spirit person more exhalted than The Man Jesus Christ, removes his trust from the simple commandment of Jesus and looks for a superior experience IN ORDER that he could be saved.

And this seems to explicitely deny that Jesus came fully in the flesh and that is the sin of Anti-Christ.

But Jesus defined baptism as a discipling process and He opened the heart through preaching of the gospel. The apostles had been personally equipped by the personal ministry of Jesus Christ. The Divine method Jesus prescribed was not a DIRECT OPERATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT but my Jesus said:

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. mark 16:16

Just why wouldn't Jesus have said, "The Spirit as one of US will do" what Dr. Shelly claims that the Spirit has done to him?

What Dr. Shelly got as a direct VISUAL IMAGE Peter displayed by preaching:

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Ac.2:36

Jesus didn't think that it was necessary for the ordinary breed to totally understand that they could not save themselves.

And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? Lu.2 4:32

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Luke 24:44 [Peter said that this was by the Spirit of Christ or Christ the Spirit 1 Pe 1:11]

Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. Luke 24: 45

How did Jesus open their ears?

And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: Luke 24: 46

And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Luke 24: 47
........... And ye are witnesses of these things. Luke 24: 48

The way Christ the Spirit opens hearts is through the Gospel which is the power of God to salvation. That is not something you EXPERIENCE to prove your spiritual superiority to lord it over the flock but something you understand.

The Gospel in Philippi - Lydia

Lydia was John Calvin's example of what Dr. Shelly is teaching. However, here heart was opened the way everyone's heart is opened--if it is opened.

The "gospel" includes remission of sins by God's grace: it is the gift of God. Remember, however, that food, clothing and even wealth is the free gift of God because we cannot make the creative process work. Can a person cause a wheat seed to germinate and produce life? Of course not, it is the gift of God. Can any person remove sins from their soul which they cannot even see? Of course not. It is the gift of God. Paul has been sent out to preach the gospel and has specifically been called into Macedonia through a vision. The "man" turned out to be a "woman" who was a God-seeker whom God does not disappoint.

And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days. Acts 16:12

And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. Acts 16:13

And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God,
........... heard us:
........... whose heart the Lord opened (figurative: to expound),
........... that she attended
........... ........... unto the things which were spoken of Paul. Acts 16:14
........... ........... And when she was baptized

Paul commanded Lydia to do something; Lydia adhered to that command; Lydia was baptized.

Remember, that we saw above that Jesus created spiritual "heart burn" when He opened the Scriptures to them by preaching the gospel. Now, Lydia's heart is opened in the same way.

Preaching the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus does not call for any action whatsoever: it is just the statement of facts.
God opened Lydia's heard by having Paul preach the gospel to her.
As a result, Lydia applied herself to, or adhered to what Paul told her to do.
What did Lydia do? "And when she was baptized"
Her applying herself to or adhering to the teaching by being baptized proves that Paul preached baptism.
What was Lydia's first question? "If you have judged me faithful."
How had she been faithful? She was trustworthy because of her obedience to what Paul told her to do!

When Paul preached the gospel he was obedient to Jesus in Mark 16:16 and commanded her to be baptized. She was faithful because she attended to what Paul told her to do and she "did not reject the counsel of God for her life" -- she honored God by being baptized.

To attend to Paul's preaching means more than just listening: it means to become an adherent to his gospel teaching. Attend is:

Prosecho (g4337) pros-ekh'-o; from 4314 and 2192; (fig.) to hold the mind (3563 impl.) towards, i.e. pay attention to, be cautious about, apply oneself to, adhere to: - (give) attend (-ance, - ance at, -ance to, unto), beware, be given to, give (take) heed (to, unto) have regard.

And said unto them, Ye men of Israel,
........... take heed to yourselves
........... what ye intend to do as touching these men. Acts 5:35

Lydia took heed to what Paul told her to do and she was baptized.

And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us. Acts 16:15 Only then could Paul judge Lydia as faithful to the command of the Great Commission by being baptized.

Rubel Shelly: In retrospect, I didn't become a Christian under the most favorable of circumstances. The church in the part of the country where I grew up was legalistic. Much of the preaching was of the hell-fire-and-brimstone variety that evoked more fear than faith.

But we refer you to the message above where the preacher's method of salvation was (I would bet on it) to believe, repent, confess and be baptized. He didn't tell Dr. Shelly that he must have VISUAL OR AUDIBLE proof of his salvation which would assuredly be legalistic.

However, Dr. Shelly's plan of salvation demands so many things that on the wild frontier revivals such as at Cane Ridge were calculated to break the people down mentally and emotionally to manufacture these signs which seem to have come too easily to Dr. Shelly.

Only then would the Calvinists, and apparently Dr. Shelly, accept their salvation as genuine.

Part of the Post-Modern world has decided that the first thing you have to do is label all that came before "me" as legalistic or decadent and deleterious. This sets people up to believe that ALL of the OLD was legalistic and therefore I am delivering to you the latest, most gracious Word of God.

To preach about hell is legalistic. If hell is real then why not be fearful of falling into the hands of an angry God?

I don't play in the freeway almost totally because I am afraid of being run over. I don't jump off tall buildings totally because of fear. We put the fear of rattlesnakes and copperheads into our children's heads so they don't try to drag them back when they are fleeing the yard.

Next, after declaring all of the old theology as wrong (including most of the Bible) then you are ready to teach a new Bible, a new Christ and a new gospel which has been stripped of all but seven facts about Jesus.

One doubts that Dr. Shelly heard many sermons about hell and of course teaching that the commandments from heaven have authority, or that God teaches through direct commands and examples is automatically labeled as LEGALISTIC. However, legalistic means that the preachers believed and preached that Rubel could be saved by his own effort and we can almost guarantee that midlife memory often gets confused and ALWAYS means "at least once."

Rubel Shelly: And I was being explicitly taught that the Holy Spirit had nothing to do with anything that was going on, for he functioned exclusively through the written message he had left in Scripture.

We suspect that what Dr. Shelly was taught along with all of the church Fathers, most of the Restoration Movement leaders and most others until the liberal 19th century was that the Holy Spirit WAS NOT a SEPARATED, THIRD MEMBER OF THE "GOD FAMILY." Therefore, HE didn't exist separated from full Deity and therefore did not tell people to do something not revealed in the Word. Most of the world still believes that so don't let anyone PUT FEAR into your heart.

Unless the Holy Spirit is the "GOD OF THIS HIS DISPENSATION" but is the Mind or Spirit OF the Lord then the Spirit of Mind of Christ does not do anything outside of the written word unless one receives A DIRECT REVELATION FROM GOD. Otherwise, what the Spirit of the Lord does had better be attributed to The Lord the Spirit or you are again seeking ways of minimizing the present, perfect tense work of Jesus Christ as Full Deity.

It is easy to believe that the Spirit speaks through the Word if you believe in the Holy Spirit as either God Who is pure or Holy Spirit, or that Spirit means the Words of Jesus Christ.

No one in Dr. Shelly's past ever equated the Holy Spirit as a third member of the godhead family as the Bible. They may have read and been able to speak something like what Jesus taught:

> It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63

Is Dr. Shelly right or is Jesus right?

> Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. Jn.6:68

> Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. Ac.5:20

> Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. Ph.2:16

> And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Re.22:19

> This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 1Jn.5:6

If the Words of Jesus are "Spirit and Life" and the Spirit is not a person but the Spirit of Truth then then Jesus is correct.

Being filled with the Spirit is to be filled with the Words of Christ and it all gangs up against Dr. Shelly.

> And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit Eph 5:18

> Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Col 3:16

You may get upset if you have a latter-day revelation that the Spirit of Christ is "another person" and if you follow the notion of a family of gods which John Mark Hicks attributes to Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly in their "incarnational" views which John warns may deny that Jesus came fully IN THE FLESH.

Those early preachers would rarely come in contact with anyone who believed that the Holy Spirit was a separated, third member of the God family. This view got its main push by The Gospel Advocate and H. Leo Boles in about 1942. The version of Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly got its start among snake handling, poison drinking mountain people.

"Again--Some will say, What does the expression Holy Spirit mean?
........... Well, in scripture it stands first for God the Holy Spirit,
........... and secondly for the holy mind or spirit of a believer-

-for illustration, take Peter's words to Ananias, "Why has Satan tempted you to lie to the Holy Spirit; you have not lied to men, but to God," (the Holy Spirit.) And the Saviour says, How much more will your heavenly Father give a holy spirit (as it should be translated) to those that ask him. Again--Praying in a holy spirit. Again--Paul says he approved himself God's servant "by knowledge, by long sufferings, by kindness, by a holy spirit'" by a mind innocent of the love of gain, or commerce, or sensuality. Walter Scott Early Restoration Movement leader.

The Book of Jubilees, Chapter One reads:

And the Lord said unto Moses: 'I know their contrariness and their thoughts and their stiffneckedness, and they will not be obedient till they confess

23 their own sin and the sin of their fathers. And after this they will turn to Me in all uprightness and with all (their) heart and with all (their) soul,

and I will circumcise the foreskin of their heart and the foreskin of the heart of their seed, and I will create in them a holy spirit, and I will cleanse them so that they shall not turn away from Me from that day unto eternity.

24 And their souls will cleave to Me and to all My commandments, and they will fulfil My

25 commandments, and I will be their Father and they shall be My children.

And they all shall be called children of the living God, and every angel and every spirit shall know, yea, they shall know that these are My children, and that I am their Father in uprightness and righteousness, and that

26 I love them. And do thou write down for thyself all these words which I declare unto thee on this mountain, the first and the last, which shall come to pass in all the divisions of the days in the law and in the testimony and in the weeks and the jubilees unto eternity, until I descend and dwell

"But an old Hubris tends to bring forth in evil men, sooner or later, at the fated hour of birth, a young Hubris and that irresistible, unconquerable, unholy spirit, Recklessness, and for the household black Curses, which resemble their parents. (Aeschylus Agamemnon 765)

All scholarship is aware that Paul treats the Holy Spirit as the Spirit or Mind of Jesus Christ:

Rubel Shelly: But the Spirit worked through less-than-the-best circumstances to reach me, just as he has since functioned through a woefully inadequate me to reach even more! The glory is God's that he can save any one of us in spite of all we do to get in his way.

Paul told Timothy to "give attendance to the public reading of the Word." Now, you don't have to be a super preacher to be able to read the Word and let the Word of God as Spirit and Life do its work without depending on human agents or experience failure.

Since the world's pre-Calvinistic or pre-neo-pentecostal view was that God convicts through preaching and preaching through the Word "as it has been taught" then Dr. Shelly must blame himself and not the old, rotten and destructive and legalistic preachers Pre-Me.

Is He Among Us?

Rubel Shelly: People did not have the relationship with the Holy Spirit believers experience now prior to the resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the Spirit had existed from eternity past with the Father and the Son. He had been active in creation and at other times in the history of heaven's dealings with humankind. He was certainly at work in the supernatural conception, miraculous signs, and brilliant teachings of the Son of Man. But late in the life and ministry of Jesus, we are told:

"Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39).

Can you tell the difference between: THERE WAS NO SPIRIT and THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS NOT YET GIVEN?

Jesus returned to his glory in heaven as FULL DEITY. He then worked with the apostles as pure or holy SPIRIT rather than in the flesh.

However, the SPIRIT was always with Jesus Christ

Well, Jesus said that the Spirit Commforter had been living with the Apostles.

All of the version I know about reads:

(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) John 7:39

The Spirit was given as the revealing of the taught and remembered Words which Christ had taught in preparing the Apostles. Having the giving of the Spirit of Christ in a unique way on the day of Pentecost does not mean THAT THERE WAS NO SPIRIT.

The Holy Spirit according to Jesus would be Jesus as the One Invisible Spirit Deity. Jesus was the Spirit of creation, of the prophets and of the craftsmen of the Tabernacle expressed in the Mind of God.

Jesus as the Arm of God and Only Intercessor sat down beside the Glory He had laid aside to put on the garments or tabernacle of a human. Only after He returned to His Glory as the Word of God would He, as the One and Only Spirit, return to fill the whole world. How about this one:

> Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law,

and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 7:12
Therefore it is come to pass, that
........... as he cried, and they would not hear;
........... so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts: Zechariah 7:13

> > seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 1 Peter 1:11

> And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Rev 19:10

Rubel Shelly: The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in human beings would be initiated only after Jesus arrived safely home at the right hand of the Father.

The Spirit of Christ within the prophets was not another person called the spirit. Rather, the spirit of Christ was the Mind of Christ given to them to prophesy of His work in the future.

Therefore, the Spirit of Christ in the Apostles is the same "breathing" on the Apostles telling them to "receive the Spirit." Luke in Acts says that this was done by teaching the Apostles.

The Spirit of Christ is the Mind or Disposition of both Father and Son living in the heart BY FAITH. Having God the Holy Spirit living in a human body was the meaning of the Incarnation. No, we are not second incarnations to be the "Christ" of our church according to Blackaby-King.

When Stephen was stoned he called upon God and said, "Lord Jesus."

But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, Acts 7:55
........... Which among the deacons meant: "Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 1Ti.3:9

And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Acts 7:56
........... And they stoned Stephen,
........... ........... calling upon God,
........... ........... and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Acts 7:59

And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jn.20:28

Jesus or Joshua means Jehovah-Saves. Jesus was God in the hyphenated sense and therefore when Stephen called on Jehovah-Saves he was calling upon God but His One Name is Lord Jesus. Stephen's "spirit" was his innermost being and not a second person living literally inside of his body.

Conclusion

Rubel Shelly: But some of you still wonder if the Holy Spirit is in this church or --; more particularly still --; in Linda, Al, Paul, Jackie, and you. Am I right? You don't see any of them walking around with flames of fire over their heads. You've never spoken in tongues. You still mess up, and your conscience sometimes gives you more agony over your failures than assurance that the Holy Spirit is in you to guarantee your victory. Am I right?

This, too, is Calvinism: the Holy Spirit "person" does not make it impossible to sin and be lost.

Rubel Shelly: From that holy Pentecost Day until now, the principal proof of the Spirit's presence has not been fire, noise, and miracles. It has been and remains and always will be changed lives that are being brought under the Spirit's control.

While rejection of the authority of Christ by denying that He works through "direct commands and examples" is popular and will keep the paycheck coming, here is what my Bible says about keeping the Law of Christ:

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2
........... And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 1 John 2:3

He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 1 John 2:4

But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 1 John 2:5

He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. 1 John 2:6

A commandment is not a "divine suggestion" but in the Greek is a "law from heaven" which we disparage at the risk of our souls:

Entole (g1785) en-tol-ay'; from 1781; injunction, i.e. an authoritative prescription: - commandment, precept.

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony (Spirit of Christ Re 19:10) of Jesus Christ. Re.12:17

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Re.14:12

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Re.22:14

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. Rev 22:16

The Angel of Christ is the invisible presence of Christ:

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. Mt.14:26

And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel. Ac.12:15

The fruit of the Spirit is also the fruit of Jesus Christ:

Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. Ph.1:11

Rubel Shelly: When a man or woman is baptized in Jesus' name, that person receives the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). His body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19), and her mind begins to be renewed by the Spirit's presence (Rom. 12:2). Selfishness and greed get transformed into generosity. Lust gets purified into love. Anger, pride, and self-absorption are metamorphosed into a forgiving spirit, unpretentious behaviors, and captivation with Jesus Christ.

To Paul, the Holy Spirit is universally the Mind of Christ. In Romans 8 the term "the Holy Spirit" is not mentioned once. Here is the way the mind (spirit) is renewed:

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 2 Peter 1:19

And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Colossians 3:10

Changed is Metamorphoo (g3339) and it is like a "grub" coming out of the cocoon to become a butterfly. Paul showed how this is done on an ongoing basis by Christ's Spirit which is inherent in His Word.

First, you have to sacrifice your body on the altar or "burn it up" before you can live in and worship in the spirit or mind:

And be not conformed to this world: but ye transformed

by the renewing of your mind,
that
ye may prove (discern) what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2

If you can transform a grub into a butterfly then you are at liberty to lead me in worship or worship for me. If you are not able then you had better get out of God's space.

Perfect is the Greek teleios and Paul used it also in First Corinthians:

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 1 Corinthians 13:10

Our holy spirit is our spirit made holy by God purging out the old thoughts and filling our minds with holy thoughts and actions. Our spirit is dead or dying and is unholy if we are so devoted to wine that we lust for a wineskin religion which exhilarates the outward senses.

This same Paul, as he often does, restated the issue to keep us from grabbing verses out of context. He wrote Titus:

Not by works of righteousness which we have done,
........... but according to his mercy he saved us, by the
........... ........... washing of regeneration,
........... and
........... ........... renewing of the Holy Ghost; Titus 3:5

Don't lose the connection above:
........... by the renewing of your mind,
that
........... ye may prove (discern)

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,
........... who walk not after the flesh (path),
........... but (walk) after the Spirit (path). Romans 8:4

For they that are after the flesh (carnal nature)
........... do mind the things of the flesh;

but they that are after the Spirit (mind)
........... (do mind) the things of the Spirit. Romans 8:5

Rubel Shelly: The Holy Spirit within us moves us to worship, drives us to the Word of God, and stirs our consciences.

Does this mean, as in Calvinism, that failure to worship is a failure of the Holy Spirit?

This is true but only if Paul is correct and the Holy Spirit to us is the Mind of Christ (1 Cor 2). Dr. Shelly believes that the primary work of the church is "worship" or "singing praise" as a power device. However, Jesus said that if a "spirit" drives us to restore "music" as a means to "lead the worshipers into the presence of God" then this is not a Holy spirit because Lord Jesus Christ is the One and Only intercessor-mediator.

You don't need a mediating preacher, prayer leader of musical worship team to lead you into worship: all you need is a quiet place and the Bible. You don't even need a Direct Indwelling of a Literal Divine Being living inside of your Carnal Body to be able to go into your closet and pray, give the "collection" to some poor person or to "give heed" to God by giving heed to His Word: church is not a pagan worship center but a synagogue or school of the Bible.

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Acts 17:24

Neither is worshipped with mens hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; Acts 17:25

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; Acts 17:26

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: Acts 17:27

If the "spirit" leads us to external rituals we load the burden Jesus died to remove. That laded burden was "spiritual anxiety created by religious ritual." Undoubtedly people are going to leave this sermon believing that whatever "spirit" prompts their feelings and actions must be a "holy" spirit. If the endorphins (morphine-within) created by modern music of any form is peddled as "spirituality" then the spirit is the spirit of a drug peddler and not The Holy Spirit which is the Mind of Christ or His Words.

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. John 4:21

Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews. John 4:22

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him John 4:23

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24

Zion and Gerezim are physical PLACES. Therefore, to worship IN SPIRIT means to worship in the place of the human mind (nous) which is the holy place (naos) where God meets is in dark silence.

Jesus said "My words are spirit and life." If we want to imbibe the Spirit of Christ then we have to read the Words of Christ FIRST. Teaching that the Holy Spirit family member drives us to read the Word is some more Calvinism.

Rubel Shelly: Do you see this leather glove? It was once alive as a mooing, grass-devouring, cud-chewing, milk-producing cow. Then one day she became somebody's steak and my glove. The glove is dead and can do nothing by itself.

You can command it all you want, but it can't respond. But with my hand inside it, there is nothing I can do that it doesn't participate in or share in some way! True enough. It's not the glove that does those things but my living hand inside it.

Calvinism says that we are "children of the Devil" and therefore unable to read and understand the Word and obey the direct commandments (laws) of Christ and therefore both show our love for Him and prove that we are worthy of eating of the Tree of Life.

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2

And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 1 John 2:3

He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 1 John 2:4

But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 1 John 2:5

He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. 1 John 2:6

Christ as the Word didn't create the Adama class like the Beast class. God created mankind with the ability to listen to Him, follow His commands and live in relationship with Him. Adam's sin did not change the nature of mankind but put Him out of a paradise situation into the world of the beast class. Cain was still judged upon the basis of His faith and Abel is not said to have been infused by the Holy Spirit "person."

Therefore, Dr. Shelly may belittle the Work product of Christ. After all, the "god family" implied in the creation says that Father and Son created an unholy mess. However, the Spirit "person" came along, cleaned it up and issued the laws to make it continue to work. By ascribing all power to the Spirit separated from Father and Son, there is an open denial that Christ came fully in the flesh as full Deity.

Genesis says;

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Ge.2:7

Therefore, Paul told the Romans that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Yes, you are a living, inspirited soul and not just DEAD FLESH. God doesn't make the human soul like a dead cow skin. The "breath" in us is never in the dead cow skin and to deny it is to question the creative power of the Word and the method He prescribed for hearing the message with total ability to understand and act upon it:

Neshamah (h5397) nesh-aw-maw'; fr. 5395; a puff, i. e. wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect. or (concr.) an animal: - blast, (that) breath (-eth), inspiration, soul, spirit.

Now, if you buy the message that you are just a dead skin without intellect then this explains why you would pay such huge wages for the free Word of God (Isa 55).

Rubel Shelly: And that is why Christ sent the Holy Spirit to be in us. We are dead in our trespasses and sins.

All the commandments and laws of heaven cannot bring us back to life.
But we can be quickened and made alive by his indwelling presence --; born from above by the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. We are gloves.

It seems that those who deny that the kingdom HAS COME are still looking for the holy spirit "person" to do something which Jesus Christ has already accomplished. Salvation or the remission of sins which is restored life comes before "the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. Col 2:12

The separated Spirit "family member" did not give us life.

As "little children" they needed no saving because they had not repudiated the commandments of heaven as having any power. These people had died spiritually because of their own personal sins. They were not "born in sins."

If the "audience" has died spiritually because of their own sinful lives, then this seems to give them permission to wait on a direct operation of the Holy Spirit to quit sinning.

If they had the power to sin without a direct operation of the Spirit then why not believe Jesus that they can believe the preached Word and obey it? Jesus said that the Spirit power of Life resides in His Word and His commandments of laws.

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,

hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Col.2:13

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; Col 2:14

The Holy Spirit "person" cannot replace Jesus Christ as Full Deity in this passage without denying that Christ came fully in the flesh.

The process of getting this life is to hear, believe, repent and be baptized FOR the remission of sins. It is rank Calvinism to suggest that we are dead and unable to do anything until the Holy Spirit does a personal direct operation on us to give us life.

Jesus told the Apostles to (1) preach the Word. (2) Those who believed and were baptized would be saved. In Acts 2:38 Peter said that this meant the remission of sins. Because committing personal sins by violating some law of heaven brought death, having forgiving our sins and TRESPASSES would make us alive once again.

Rubel Shelly: The Holy Spirit is the living hand who works inside and through us. I want to be filled with his presence, animated by his power, and used for God's purposes in the world.

No, Jesus Christ is the Right Hand, Right Arm, Shoulder, Seed, Door.

Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. Isa 48:12

Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together. Isa 48:13

This is the SON who is called "God" is God reaching into the physical world:

But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Heb 1:8

Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Heb 1:9

And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: Heb 1:10

Since there is only one God, when the Lord is "sent" it is God sending His own Divine Presence but not a 'third person.'

For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Heb 6:13

All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The Lord hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans. Isa 48:14

I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. Isa 48:15

Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. Isa 48:16

It did not take two members of the God family: when the Lord God sent Isaiah it was through His Spirit or Word.

OUR hand takes the Word as Sword of the Spirit and we swing it: the Spirit does not swing itself nor does it bring dead leather to life.

Because there was no preacher or priest or "musical worship team" able to be the intercessor, God did not promise to send the Third Member of the God Family:

Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. Isaiah 59:15

And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. Isaiah 59:16

For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. Isaiah 59:17

God "put on" the garments or tabernacle and work of a human. God was manifest as Jesus and not the Holy Spirit "person." Therefore, Lord Jesus Christ is the RIGHT HAND of God. We noted that John Mark Hicks notes that Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly tend to minimize the human work of Jesus. Perhaps the invention of a third person of the "God family" is just a slick way of saying, like H. Leo Boles, that Jesus HAD His dispensation and therefore it is the DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT PERSON. That "denies that Jesus came in the flesh as full Deity" (Col. 2:9)

Since there was only One Lamb on the throne, when Jesus returned to His full Majesty and sat at the RIGHT HAND this means that He had served as God's Right Hand which is symbolic of His power:

So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. Mk.16:19

When Jesus sat down He received what the Spirit had promised. Thereafter, it was Jesus as the Right Hand who "hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear."

Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
........... he (Jesus Christ) hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. Ac.2:33

Who is he that condemneth?
........... It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
........... who also maketh intercession for us. Ro.8:34

Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and
........... powers being made subject unto him. 1Pe.3:22

My right arm or hand is to the right hand of me. However, my right hand is part of ME. Hand is often the symbol of a person's power to do work and exercise his own will. This is why Jesus said that He spoke only what He heard from the Father. He was not an independent "person" of the God family.

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Rubel Shelly: Come, Holy Spirit! Fill this church. Empower us as your people. Make us living witnesses to your illuminating presence in this world so wrapped in darkness.

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"Come Holy Spirit, come, make us truly new creatures in Christ, help us to shine his light where there is darkness; to bring his peace and joy where there is unhappiness.

A Catholic Prayer: A Prayer To The Holy Spirit Who Filled Mary

Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia...where Peter is, there is the Church.

Thus the Church asks us to often cry out:
........... VENI, SANCTE SPIRITUS!
........... COME, HOLY SPIRIT!
........... Fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in us the fire of your Love.

The Church's Hope: A New Pentecost

"Renew your wonders in our day as in a new Pentecost!"

(Pope John XXIII in a prayer prayed throughout the Catholic world in preparation for the Second Vatican Council)

"And you with your devotion, your fervor, your wish to live in the Spirit: it should rejuvenate the world, give it back a spirituality, a soul, a religious thought; it ought to reopen the world's closed lips to prayer and open its mouth to song, to joy, to hymns, to witnessing. It will be very fortunate for our time and for our brethren that there should be a whole generation--your generation of young people, who...
..............shout out to the world the glory and greatness of the God of Pentecost!"
(Pope Paul VI to representatives of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal)

As CHRIST is stripped from the name of the church, He is deprived of His glory because the One name of Father, Son and Spirit is Jesus.

Jesus told the Apostles in the verse Dr. Shelly is not able to quote that He would come on Pentecost as the Comforter where another means "more of the same kind."

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. John 14:18

To pray for the "coming of the Holy Spirit" is to deny that He did come on the day of Pentecost and continues to live as Father and Son in the HEART of those who imbibe the Spirit of Christ which is the mind of Christ.

Finding a connection between the Holy Spirit and Light is pretty hard. And the rule is clear that the Spirit of God or the Mind of Christ is explained by qualities of the mind and not as a separated "member of the god family."

There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; Da.5:11

I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. Da.5:14

On the other hand, the connection between Jesus and light is very common. Therefore, we need to ask why Jesus is discounted as the Spirit while insisting on a third member of the God family who will give us a better deal than the Bible.

To bypass Jesus Christ and do the Catholic Prayer to the Holy Spirit is to repudiate the message that Christ gave us light through His Word which is "spirit and life" (John 6:63)

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Jn.8:12

Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. Jn.11:9

Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. Jn.12:35

While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. Jn.12:36

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2Co.4:6

But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: 2Ti.1:10

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 1 John 1:6

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1Jn.1:7

Is this a way to deny the continuing work of Jesus Christ

It is natural that those who have repudiated the direct statements of men like John and Peter as just their divided opinions written "to fit their personal agenda," to turn away from Christ and the Word of Christ as the Spirit of God. Trying to put everything on the Holy Spirit as the now-working member of the God family causes God to take away the key of knowledge from the "doctors of the law" and all who listen and support them. Here is how Peter denied that he followed Narrative Theology and "took liberties" to construct his own message:

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 1 Peter 1:16

For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 1 Peter 1: 17

And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. 1 Peter 1: 18

Therefore the Catholic prayer for the Holy Spirit to come and give light means that once believing and preaching the Word "as it has been taught" and then denouncing it equals the unforgivable sin.

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 2 Peter 1:19

The primary "worship" word in both the Old and New Testament is to "give heed to" the Word as the Spirit (John 6:63) and the only source of Light Christ is going to give you:

Proserchomai (g4334) pros-er'-khom-ahee; from 4314 and 2064 (includ. its alt.); to approach, i.e. (lit.) come near, visit, or (fig.) worship, assent to: - (as soon as he) come (unto), come thereunto, consent, draw near, go (near, to, unto).

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 1 Peter 1: 20

This is where Dr. Shelly and all doctors of the law lost the key to knowledge: private interpretation means "further expounding." Further expounding as in sermonizing and composing and singing sentimental, often erotic "praise songs" spits in the face of Jesus because Peter said that Jesus said it, Peter heard it and repeated what he heard from heaven and that YOU dare not "further expound it" by the use of Narrative Theology.

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1:21

John the Baptist gave light through preaching and he was strong IN SPIRIT before the day of Pentecost:

> And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; Luke 1:76

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, Luke 1:77
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, Luke 1:78
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Luke 1:79

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel. Luke 1:80

> For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2Co.4:6

> Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. Ep.5:14

It sees that as the church is the "now but not yet Kingdom" Dr. Shelly is still praying for the light which Christ shed on the whole world two thousand years ago.

However, the Core Gospel claims that there are only seven facts about Jesus that we need to be passionate about and all of the rest is derived by the Bible Writers from philosophy and their own personal agenda.

By rejecting the Word as Spirit and Life the only hope for those denying inspiration is to hold out the fantasy that God is going to move into their carnal body and give them a direct operation of the Spirit. This denial is shown is the view that John took liberties with the Word which Jesus claimed came unaltered from the Father. He also gives the audience the authority to also take liberties.

Rubel Shelly: All the commandments and laws of heaven cannot bring us back to life.

An executioner says, "fire" and he has the power of life or death. And if God is powerful enough to incarnate Spirit in the body of flesh the why is it that the Infinite God of the universe is DEPRIVED of incarnating His Power in DIRECT COMMANDMENTS?

And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Mt.19:17

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Re.22:14

But we noted above that we are DEAD not because John Calvin says that we went astray from birth but because once alive we violated the commandments and laws of heaven. Therefore, violating the decrees of heaven certainly produced Death.

We noted that we are MADE ALIVE again only when our sins and trespasses have been forgiven and this occurs in and through Baptism. Since baptism is a commandment of heaven, Jesus would say that obeying this commandment brings us spiritual life again.

Romans 8 does not mention "the Holy Spirit" as a separated member of the God family (a blasphemy) but;

We live in the spirit and worship in the spirit only if the Spirit or Mind of Christ dwells in our heart. Paul discusses a contest between OUR body and OUR spirit and not between our body and the Holy Spirit:

And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Ro.8:10

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 1Jn.3:7

Therefore, we believe that rejecting the Word, that Christ came fully in the flesh, and that not even a commandment of heaven can give us life is a fulfillment of Paul that when we cease to love the truth (as it has been taught) then God sends us strong delusions. Those who believe that their actions are the produce of a Direct Operation of the Spirit as a member of the "god family" are about as deceived as those who believe that "singing praise songs can" be the mediator between man and God.

In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. Lu.10:21

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