In
order to gain a better understanding of what it means to commit “blasphemy”, we delved into our trusty 1828 edition of Noah Webster's "American Dictionary of the English Language" ...
BLAS'PHEMY, noun
An indignity offered to God by words or writing; reproachful,
contemptuous or irreverent words uttered impiously against Jehovah.
Blasphemy is an injury offered to God, by denying that which is due
and belonging to Him, or attributing to Him that which is not
agreeable to His nature.
After
reading what Jesus said in Matthew 12:31-32, we immediately began
taking inventory of our own lives, terrified at even the thought of
having blasphemed The Holy Spirit in any way, ever. Stricken with an
urgency to know whether or not I (Keith) could be guilty, I went into my prayer closet and dropped to my knees to
say, "Father, in the Name of Jesus Christ, I would rather die a terrible death than to even think of saying or doing anything against
You that would disrespect or misrepresent You, or Jesus Christ, or The wonder-full Holy Spirit!” I then paused for a moment and asked,
“Precious Holy Spirit, would You please tell me what it means to blaspheme You?”
After
I relaxed and waited on Him, my spirit heard The Holy Spirit say, "To
‘blaspheme’ Me simply means ‘to ignore’ Me."
Suddenly,
my heart was flooded with joy realizing the enormity of The Holy
Spirit in all that God and Jesus Christ have done, are doing, and
will do. He is literally one-third of The Holy Trinity, “The
Three-IN-One” member that completes the circuit between us and the
first two-thirds -Jesus Christ and God- making the process of
“becoming one” possible.
As
The Holy Spirit spoke, I felt as if my heart was going to burst with
the Joy of The Father and Jesus Christ. Several seconds after The
Holy Spirit had answered my question, He continued by saying, "Just
as you cannot get to God without first calling on Jesus Christ, Who
is the Door and The only Way In-to God, one cannot get to Jesus
Christ without God's Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus Christ is the only
way to The Father, The Holy Spirit is the "only" Way that
someone can come to, and be “made one in”, Jesus Christ. It is
The Holy Spirit Who facilitates the will of our Father God and King
Jesus Christ in the earth. Without The Holy Spirit one cannot have
life Who IS Christ."
God
has an order of things in all He and Jesus Christ does... and it is The Holy Spirit
Who leads us there, in-to God's order. When
we say “God’s order of things”, we have an example. When God
wants to speak to us, He relays what He has for us to Jesus Christ,
Who then relays God's message for us to The Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit then relays God's message to us, either directly or through
one of His prophets. That is God's order of things concerning the
way He relays what He has for His saints.
Jesus
Christ explains "God's order of things" in which He relays
what God has for His saints in John 16: 13-16, (Note
how crucially important The Holy Spirit is in this process!)
"Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, has 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. He shall glorify Me: for He shall
receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that The
Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine,
and shall shew it to you. A little while, and ye shall not see Me:
and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to The
Father (John 16:13-16)."
So,
we must not reject or ignore The Holy Spirit. He is the only One in
the entire universe God has authorized to deliver to us what God
gives to Jesus Christ to relay to Him to give to us. In Hosea 4:6,
God gives us a warning,... "My people are destroyed for
lack of knowledge:
because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that
thou shalt be no priest to Me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of
thy God, I will also forget thy children." Know The Holy Spirit, know LIFE! No Holy Spirit, NO LIFE.
The Apostle
Paul further affirms this truth in 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 when he said,"Not
that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of
ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able
ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of The Spirit for
the letter killeth, but (The
Holy) Spirit giveth Life (2 Corinthians 3:5-6)."
We
are convinced that the most deadly blow satan and his wicked hoard
has landed against all of humanity, second only to his distracting
people away from the reality of Jesus Christ, is blinding generation
after generation to the reality of The Holy Spirit, Who He truly IS,
and the infinite part He performs in everything God and Jesus Christ
does, has done, and will do. They are, after all, “The
Three-IN-One” -- "The Holy Trinity!"
The
two of us, along with the rest of our team, are grateful beyond words for our eternally-cherished partnership in
our work assignments and ministry at Toward The Mark. We pray that
this blog of gratitude and encouragement finds you experiencing fulfillment and
full joy in Christ Jesus, knowing we are reaching out with effectual
fervent prayers and Scripture seed from The
LORD and His faithfulness to
provide.
On
behalf of those we are reaching in these trying times, with all that
is chaotic around us, we are humbled and eternally grateful to meet
together with you, here, in the midst of the Great News of Jesus
Christ and the Gospel He teaches, spreading the wonder-full truth of
our Father, King Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit, all that The Holy
Spirit delivers to us from our Father and our Lord as
we, and all who will, simply ask and receive. The greatest Life is in knowing God, through His most precious Gift of Jesus Christ,
following the leading of His Holy Spirit day-by-day, minute-by-minute...
especially during these final remaining hours before our King Jesus
Christ's triumphal return!
Your friends and fellow servants in Christ Jesus,