Friday, September 9, 2016

The Holy Spirit is Christ Himself

Compare 2 Peter 1:21 with 1 Peter 1:10,11.

“Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” (1Pet. 1:10,11).

“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.” (2Pet. 1:21).

According to Peter, the Spirit of Christ is the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit. Revelation makes this clear in its introduction.

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John.” (Rev. 1:1).

The light of heaven originated from God, to His Son, to Gabriel, to John. Paul agreed. He defined the Spirit as the union of Father and Son, Their infinitely united Spirit.

 “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” (Rom. 8:9).

According to Paul, the Spirit is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. It is Christ’s Spirit that must dwell in us, or we are none of the Father’s.

“And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Rom. 8:10,11).

The Spirit of God is not another person beside the Father and Son, but it seems like it to the one that Christ is inhabiting. Here the Spirit is described as the power of God to resurrect Jesus. The Spirit of God is God’s Spirit, as Romans 8:11 calls it, “His Spirit”, God’s Spirit.

But, the Spirit comes through Christ from the Father. Hence, it is called “The Spirit of His Son” who enters “into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” (Gal. 4:6).

The Spirit is Christ Himself, as the Father empowered His Son. Paul was very bold to explain the Spirit as something like we have since we are made in God’s image.

“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” (1Cor. 2:9-12).

1 Corinthians 2:10 says that we have our own spirit just like God has His own Spirit. As I sit here, no one knows what I’m going to write next, except me. Paul wrote that no one can know what I think except me, and no one can know what God thinks except Himself. But He will reveal His thoughts and plans to His Son and His Son only; and His Son searches His Father’s face and His Spirit to know what is in His Father’s Spirit.

“At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because 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.
All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:25-27).

Because the Son seeks to know all His Father’s heart, He finds Him out. And then Jesus reveals His Father’s Spirit to all who need a Saviour from sin, and search for Him and His truth as for hidden treasure.

“Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.” (Isa. 50:10).

The Spirit is “the spirit which is of God” (1Co 2:12), and also “His Spirit” (1Co 2:10). It’s not a third person, any more than my spirit is an independence person from myself. My spirit does not leavesmy body after death and travels around the land. The immortal soul came from paganism and the darkest errors of Satan’s spiritualism, which must have resulted in the pre-Christianity God having a separate Spirit, and thus gave rise to Christianity’s Godhead having the third person of a Trinity.

The Spirit is God, God who “is a Spirit” (John 4:24), and is also Christ, who is the fullness of His Father bodily. Jesus is our only way to God and our only intercessor. Jesus searches our hearts and sees how Their Spirit has power upon our spirit, and then the Son of God makes intercession for us that is in tune with what God should hear in our prayers.

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 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.” (Rom. 8:26,27).

God’s Spirit comes from God to Christ to us. It also translates to the power of possession by the heavenly agencies to all who desire victory over sin and Satan. They come to Christ and receive power to do His work.

“Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before Me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.” (Jer. 15:19).

“And he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of My Father. And I will give him the morning star.” (Rev. 2:26-28).

Every human has a spirit; and all who have surrendered to God have a new spirit that is re-empowered to restore in them the spirit that Adam originally had—one fully under the control of God’s Spirit.

“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” (1Cor. 15:45).

Adam was made a living soul. “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.” (Gen. 2:7). Adam was a living soul, and therefore Adam had a living soul.

“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” (Ps. 42:1-3).

But, even the many who have not surrendered are still in the image of God to a degree, unless they have committed the unpardonable sin, living off the sparks receiving the mark of the Beast and seek to destroy God’s redeemed children. Short of the unpardonable sin, they still have a spirit that can choose to adopt the divine Spirit of their Creator. The Spirit of His Son is the only path back to the Spirit of God through repentance and renunciation of living independently of the Son and His Spirit. Then the glory of God’s Spirit will replace the sputtering sparks of our own spirit.

“Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of Mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.” (Isa. 50:11).

Ellen White was not a Trinitarian. The subject of the Spirit was a touchy one and one that needed gentle and careful explanation.

“For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;
Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.
Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.” (Act 19:24-27).

The whole world worships the third person of the Trinity, which is Diana of the ancient world. I know a woman from India whose maiden name was Arumagum, “the god with five heads.” Many paintings of the Christian Trinity were no different from the Trinities of the pagans—the heads of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit look identical, like identical triplets on one body. It all came from paganism. But, such a deeply rooted paradigm will not be easily removed. Only those who need a Saviour in the Father and Son, and see the self-sacrificing love that was revealed from both of Them, will realize that the Father and Son are the only Saviours. The “Holy Spirit” third person of a trinity never suffered the chastisement of our peace. It is no other than Azazel, the scapegoat who never knew the pains of death, but was presented alive before the Lord.

“And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat [H5799 ‘āzâ’zêl].
And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.” (Lev. 16:8-10).

Azazel comes from two Hebrew words, H5795 ‘êz or H5810 ‘âzaz (a strong, hardened, stout, proud, female goat) and H235 ‘âzal (to disappear and wander to and fro)

All of God’s creatures, including the god of this world, Jesus says, “have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” (Ps. 50:5).

Self-sacrifice is the very foundation of God’s eternal kingdom of love. He and His Son have buttressed their kingdom with self-sacrifice because of the great controversy. Self-sacrifice will remain forever the eternal quays that keep sin from every rising again. And self-sacrifice had nothing to do with Azazel, therefore the scapegoat, which escaped the sacrifice, represented Satan who, for a millennium, would wander among the carcasses that he hoped in. Because the third person never suffered with the Father and Son for the redemption of our transgression, Azazel, who never suffered for the redemption of the children of Israel, also represented the third person of the pagan trinities: Mary in a trinity with God and Jesus (or Satan in a trinity with Jesus and Mary?); Set in a trinity with Osiris, Isis; Tammuz in a trinity with Baal, Ashtoreth. The trinities had two gods that were polar opposites in nature—brutal, domineering, and sexually abusive Baal/Osiris/Bel; and pretentious to revere her husband god, supportive, and sexually seductive Ashtoreth/Isis/Astarte—and the third god who was a threat and kept the worshippers filled with sympathy toward the first two gods. Prayers went up from all over the earth to discourage the third god from hurting the dysfunctional husband/wife favorites.

But the early Church fathers having assumed all the trappings of pagan religion, now the Christian Trinity gets first billing in every creed, beginning with the Nicene. And 1500 years of repeating the creed had dug into Christendom too deeply to be removed, even for the Reformers. The human tradition continued during the Reformation and the Puritanical denominations to this day. A century ago, as the time of the end neared and the investigative judgment was in full swing, the need arose to bring all the truth out from the rubbish of the Dark Ages. The world needed to know all the truth of God, the great controversy, and the science of salvation. But, the move away from the rubbish of error needed to be gradual but systematic.

However, Satan was able to get into the last movement of God on Earth—the Advent movement. “The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.” (Rev. 11:7). Among other doctrines affected, such as righteousness by faith and keeping the commandments of the Spirit of Prophecy, was the trinity doctrine. The Adventist forefathers were unanimously anti-Trinitarian, and the next generation was also. But Satan had changed the heart of Adventism from a self-sacrificing leadership and body to a combative/ debating leadership and a Laodicean body. We were under attack by the beast from the bottomless pit, and we were being overcome, according to the prophecy. Today we are killed. We are not at all what we were at the beginning. Self-sacrifice is rare and found only among a few Adventist Enochs. We are repeating the history of Israel.

We could not present the truth of the Father and His only begotten Son in distinction from the Trinity with its co-equal triplets, and have Their Spirit for power to give the Latter Rain gospel preaching for a witness to “they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations” (Rev. 11:9). even if we had a shell of the truth concerning the Father and Son Godhead, we were greatly deficient in the experience of Their Spirit. Despite Ellen White’s constant plea to be spiritual, we were losing ground. We were returning to the world, and Jesus had to let us go, along with the truth of the Godhead. We would be taken captive to the spirit of the world, filled with worldliness, unbelief, serve the gods of commercialism and soul corruption. And we would serve the gods of the Trinity and the Mass. Spiritual Formation is but an extension of the Mass. Together with the corrupted relationship with Jesus that comes out of the Trinity dogma, and the excitement of coming into God’s presence without being humbled by the Law of the Spirit of Prophecy, as Spiritual Formation allows, we are joining the Catholic church in a grand Mass. Such a Mass is so large and spread out that we don’t recognize it as the Mass, but the Trinity and Spiritual Formation do the same to the Protestant world that the Mass does to the Catholic world.

But, we would not be given over to the world without rebuke and warning.

“I am filled with sadness when I think of our condition as a people. The Lord has not closed heaven to us, but our own course of continual backsliding has separated us from God. Pride, covetousness, and love of the world have lived in the heart without fear of banishment or condemnation. Grievous and presumptuous sins have dwelt among us. And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourishing and that peace and spiritual prosperity are in all her borders.

The church has turned back from following Christ her Leader and is steadily retreating toward Egypt. Yet few are alarmed or astonished at their want of spiritual power. Doubt, and even disbelief of the testimonies of the Spirit of God, is leavening our churches everywhere. Satan would have it thus. Ministers who preach self instead of Christ would have it thus. The testimonies are unread and unappreciated. God has spoken to you. Light has been shining from His word and from the testimonies, and both have been slighted and disregarded. The result is apparent in the lack of purity and devotion and earnest faith among us.” Testimonies for the church, vol. 5, p. 217.

Just as salvation was only of the Jews, it is still found only in Adventism. Yet, that Adventism is a sleeping, snoring movement today. As we all have heard, “While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.” (Matt. 25:5). The character of having an ear to hear the Commander and a readiness to preach only what He wants seems beyond all possibility. We lay in the streets of the great city, according to Revelation 11:8. But, a revival will come according to verse 11 and the Lord will bring us up out of our miry pit and put a new song in our mouths, which no man can sing except the 144,000. Our new song will be as different from today’s song as a butterfly is different from its larva caterpillar.

Jesus would not let us go without first leaving hints, hidden in Mrs. White’s writings, that would bring the earnest seekers back to the truth of God and His only Begotten when they were ready to come under the true Spirit experience and take the responsibility that goes with having It. Therefore, the truth of the Spirit remains in the writings of Ellen White, but presented in a way that would not prejudice the people who would read her books.

Being sensitive to the difficulty of our Protestant brethren and of the non-Protestant world with regard to their reception of the truth of anti-Trinitarianism, the Lord through Ellen White drafted the subject of the Spirit so that the presentation of it could sound like Adventism did accept the trinity. But, the reality is that later, as the truth of the Spirit of Prophecy would become known, it would be clear that the Spirit is of the Father and Son.  It is all that we can receive of Them. Writing the truth in such a veiled way is not being dishonest, but gentle and wise. Just as the apostolic church boiled down the requirements of God to four essentials, so did the Lord’s messenger present the Godhead truth without being too pointed and sharply contrary to Protestant understanding.

For example:

“Before offering Himself as the sacrificial victim, Christ sought for the most essential and complete gift to bestow upon His followers, a gift that would bring within their reach the boundless resources of grace. ‘I will pray the Father,’ He said, ‘and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; 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. I will not leave you orphans: I will come to you.’ John 14:16-18, margin.  {DA 668.5}

Before this the Spirit had been in the world; from the very beginning of the work of redemption He had been moving upon men’s hearts. But while Christ was on earth, the disciples had desired no other helper. Not until they were deprived of His presence would they feel their need of the Spirit, and then He would come.  {DA 669.1}

The Holy Spirit is Christ’s representative, but divested of the personality of humanity, and independent thereof. Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally. Therefore it was for their interest that He should go to the Father, and send the Spirit to be His successor on earth. No one could then have any advantage because of his location or his personal contact with Christ. By the Spirit the Saviour would be accessible to all. In this sense He would be nearer to them than if He had not ascended on high.” Desire of Ages, p. 669.

This quotation, written for a large audience, sounds Trinitarian; but it actually is not. The biggest need from the five conflict series books was instruction with regard to the high standard in the areas of character-building and spirituality. The issue against the Trinity was certainly important, but not the priority at that time. So, the truth that Christ was the Spirit remained veiled. Yet it was the truth, as we read below.

“The Pharisees were horrified at this declaration of Christ’s, ‘Before Abraham was, I AM.’ They were beside themselves with rage that [He] should express such awful blasphemy, claiming to be the I AM. They would have stoned Him then and there, but the ‘I am’ blinded their eyes that they should not see Him, although He went out of the temple, passing through their very midst. As Jesus passed through the multitude, He saw a man who had been blind from his youth, and healed him.  {14MR 22.5}

     When Jesus came to our world, He proclaimed Himself, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me’ [John 14:6]. ‘Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man’ [John 1:51].  {14MR 23.1} 

     Although our Lord ascended from earth to heaven, the Holy Spirit was appointed as His representative among men. ‘If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; 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. I will not leave you comfortless’ [John 14:15-18].  {14MR 23.2} 

     Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally; therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He should leave them, go to His father, and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent. ‘But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall (although unseen by you), [THIS PHRASE WAS ADDED BY ELLEN WHITE.] teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you’ [John 14:26]. ‘Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will come not unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you’ [John 16:7].  {14MR 23.3}

     It is not in the order of God that any man, or any class of men, should assume that God has made them conscience for their brethren, or put forth the finite hand in a patronizing manner to control the Lord’s delegated workers, thus endangering the safety of the Lord’s heritage as well as their own, and retarding the work of God. God does not confine Himself to one man, or to a set of men, through whom to accomplish His work, but says of all, Ye ‘are laborers together with God.’ This means that every believing soul should have a part to act in His sacred work, and every individual believer in Jesus Christ is to manifest to the world a symbol of Christ’s sufficiency, to represent to His church the higher laws of the future immortal world, and an obedience to the mandate of Heaven that is without a parallel. They should reveal a depth of knowledge independent of human inventions.  {14MR 24.1} 

     The Lord must be believed and served as the great ‘I AM,’ and we must trust implicitly in Him. Let not men prescribe laws to take the place of God’s law. Never educate men to look to men, to trust in men; for man’s wisdom is not sufficient to decide as to their right to engage in the Lord’s work. When God lays a work upon individuals, men are not to reject His sanction. God must not be impeded in the working out of His plans by man’s interference, but this has been done again and again.  {14MR 24.2}

     If the church on earth is to resemble a temple, let it be built according to the pattern shown in heaven, and not according to man’s genius. The invention of man often counteracts the working out of God’s plans. The golden measuring rod has not been placed in the hands of any finite man or any class of men, whatever their position or calling, but is in the hand of the heavenly Architect. If men will not meddle with God’s plan, and will let Him work upon minds and characters, building them up according to His plan, a work will be accomplished that will stand through the severest of trials.--Letter 119, 1895.
Ellen G. White Estate Washington, D. C. August 16, 1984.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 14 p. 23, 24.


While Sr. White agrees with the metaphical usages of Christ concerning pronouns that He used to explain the Spirit, she also divides pronouns referring to the Spirit between personal and impersonal. She continues to use “what” instead of “who” the Spirit is, and “it” instead of “Him”. Although she speaks against the effort to intellectually figure out the Holy Spirit, she was not against allaying errors that paganism brought into the Godhead truth, and teaching the world about the Spirit’s work on the heart and the life, and especially in the soon expected Latter Rain.


“It is not essential for us to be able to define just what the Holy Spirit is. Christ tells us that the Spirit is the Comforter, “the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father.” It is plainly declared regarding the Holy Spirit that, in His work of guiding men into all truth, “He shall not speak of himself” (John 15:26; 16:13). {YRP 11.2} 

     The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it, because the Lord has not revealed it to them. Men having fanciful views may bring together passages of Scripture and put a human construction on them, but the acceptance of these views will not strengthen the church. Regarding such mysteries, which are too deep for human understanding, silence is golden. {YRP 11.3} 

     The office of the Holy Spirit is distinctly specified in the words of Christ: “When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). It is the Holy Spirit that convicts of sin. If the sinner responds to the quickening influence of the Spirit, he will be brought to repentance and aroused to the importance of obeying the divine requirements. {YRP 11.4} 

     To the repentant sinner, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, the Holy Spirit reveals the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. “He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you,” Christ said. “He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 16:14; 14:26). {YRP 11.5} 

     The Spirit is given as a regenerating agency, to make effectual the salvation wrought by the death of our Redeemer. The Spirit is constantly seeking to draw the attention of men to the great offering that was made on the cross of Calvary, to unfold to the world the love of God, and to open to the convicted soul the precious things of the Scriptures.--The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 51, 52.” Ye Shall Receive Power, p. 11.
 
Below are examples of her use of It for the Spirit. The Bible writers and Ellen White never referred to the Father and Son, who are definite persons, as an It.

“Would that every one whose name is written in the church books could from the heart utter these words. The church-members need to know from experience what the Holy Spirit will do for them. It will bless the receiver, and make him a blessing. It is sad that every soul is not praying for the vital breathe of the Spirit; for we are ready to die if it breath not on us.  {PH154 4.1} 

     We are to pray for the impartation of the Spirit as the remedy for sin-sick souls. The church needs to be converted, and why should we not prostrate ourselves at the throne of grace, as representatives of the church, and from a broken heart and contrite spirit make earnest supplication that the Holy Spirit shall be poured out upon us from on high? Let us pray that when it shall be graciously bestowed, our cold hearts may be revived, and we may have discernment to understand that it is from God, and receive it with joy. Some have treated the Spirit as an unwelcome guest, refusing to receive the rich gift, refusing to acknowledge it, turning from it, and condemning it as fanaticism. When the Holy Spirit works the human agent, it does not ask us in what way it shall operate. Often it moves in unexpected ways. Christ did not come as the Jews expected. He did not come in a manner to glorify them as a nation. His forerunner came to prepare the way for him, by calling upon the people to repent of their sins, and be converted, and be baptized. Christ’s message was, “The kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” The Jews refused to receive Christ, because he did not come in accordance with their expectations. The ideas of finite men were held as infallible, because hoary with age. This is the danger to which the church is now exposed,--that the inventions of finite men shall mark out the precise way for the Holy Spirit to come. Though they would not care to acknowledge it, some have already done this. And because the Spirit is to come, not to praise men or to build up their erroneous theories, but to reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, many turn away from it. They are not willing to be deprived of the garments of their own self-righteousness. They are not willing to exchange their own righteousness, which is unrighteousness, for the righteousness of Christ, which is pure, unadulterated truth. The Holy Spirit flatters no man, neither does it work according to the devising of any man. Finite, sinful men are not to work the Holy Spirit. When it shall come as a reprover, through any human agent whom God shall choose, it is man’s place to hear and obey its voice.” Special Testimony to Battle Creek, vol. 154, p. 4,5 (1896).

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