Posted on 10/15/2001 6:54:40 AM PDT by malakhi
| Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue. - John Adams |
We report and you decide.
What did these people do Matthew 12? One who was "...possessed with a devil, blind and dumb (was brought to Jesus) and He healed him insomuch that the blind and the dumb both spake and saw" (verse 22). So Jesus freed one who was possessed by the power the Holy Spirit. Jesus did all of His work and His miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit. When this was done, the people began to say," ...Is not this the son of David" (verse 23)?" What did such a question mean? It meant that they were, because of the miracle, believing that Jesus was the Messiah!!!!
This greatly disturbed the Pharisees. They had seen and heard enough of our Lord's teachings and miracles to be convinced also that he was indeed the Messiah. But they had adamantly rejected Him and were determined not to acknowledge Him as the Messiah. They were frightened by this suggestion of the multitude of people; so they blatantly and blasphemously declared, "...This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils" (verse 24). It is simple enough to see what they did in committing the blasphemy of (against) the Holy Spirit. THEY ATTRIBUTED THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE MINISTRY OF OUR LORD TO THE DEVIL. THAT IS THE BLASPHEMY OF (AGAINST) THE HOLY GHOST!!!!
BigMack
Have you ever lied to the Spirit of God? Never repented from a sin and did it again?
BigMack
There are teachers and preachers who answer, "Yes! And some will give illustrations of those who have committed it. I do not believe that it can be committed today. There are several reasons for this conclusion. In the first place, there is no record of it being committed any time after this in the New Testament. In fact, this is the only place in the Bible where we have a record of its being committed. Evidently, the Apostles, after the Saviour went back to Heaven, met and dealt with the committing of all other sins, but there is no record of them dealing with any who had committed this. Again we do not have an analogy of it. It is true that if God's servant stands, preaches, and does His bidding in the power of the Holy Spirit, and someone says that it is of the Devil, we have similar situation. But really, that is not an analogy because they attribute the work of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ (not some mere preacher's) to the Devil.
BigMack
Sorry, Becky, you must have missed the post I was replying to. Here it is again, with citation:
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, (Colossians 1:24)
At her age, I'd guess a stroke, although there is another condition called Bell's Palsy that can cause the same symptoms.
You can assume whatever you wish. The Tanakh was written in Hebrew. Let's assume for a moment that the oldest Greek text is older than the oldest Hebrew text. The fact remains that it still was a translation from the Hebrew into the Greek. For your argument to hold water, you also have to assume that somehow the translation preserves the accurate meaning, while the Hebrew has become corrupted. But, if you assume the Hebrew has become corrupted, you have no reason to believe that this did not happen prior to the translation into Greek as well. If we cannot have confidence in the accuracy of the original, why should we have confidence in the accuracy of the translation? It is worth noting as well exactly how much importance the scribes put upon accuracy when creating new scrolls.
It is also to assume that God had a hand in the writing of the Hebrew text but not that of the Greek,
There are those who believe that the KJV is an inspired translation, too. Did God have a hand in the writing of the KJV? What evidence can you provide that the Septuagint was a divinely guided translation? Furthermore, to suggest that God guided the translators to create a meaning that was different than that found in the original is to suggest that God made a mistake in the original that needed to be corrected in the translation. Sorry, but I find this absurd.
The SOLE reason you favor the Greek translation over the Hebrew is precisely because the errors and ambiguities of translation conveniently support your theological leanings. If this is okay, then the Proddies can translate the scriptures in such a way as to lend greater support to their beliefs, and you have no grounds for criticism of them for doing so.
which is to say that revelation was "sealed" when the last Hebrew work was written.
Yes, that is what I believe.
Cool! Glad to have him here.
There is NO WAY I'm letting mrs. angelo take a crack at this keyboard. BigMack, you just gotta know how to keep 'em in line. ;o)
I can say this because she doesn't freep, and she's asleep in the other room!)
I just read that the rabbinical authorities of the Palestine Jews around 80 to 90AD, made anyone entering the Jewish Synagogue, repeat this prayer of a curse to come on anyone who attended the Sabbath services who was actually a Christian.
Have you ever heard anything like this?
The Didache has an excellent term for those who preach the gospel for their own gain. It calls them "Christ-peddlers".
On this, I agree with you wholeheartedly.
Coward! :)
BigMack
Now if I could convince you Jesus Christ is your savior. :)
BigMack
I don't get TBN in my area, but I do get INSP. From what I've heard about some of the things on TBN, there is cause for concern. I do not intend my remarks to be taken as a blanket endorsement of all Charismatic ministries, or even of more mainline ministries. Some I will not listen to, because I hear and see things that don't line up with the Word, or minister to me personally. I will not mention names, as I am not the final judge of the rightness or wrongness of their ministries, even where I believe I see serious errors. I adopt the attitude of David, when he had opportunity on more than one occasion to kill King Saul: I will not put forth my hand against, or touch God's anointed. It is not for me to judge whether or not the annointing still remains with them, or was ever there in the first place. It could be either, but I'd rather play it safe, and let God sort it out. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I know that some of these have had miracles happen under their ministries, and they have reached many for Christ. I know people that have gone to some of these ministries' meetings, and have given good report of what they saw. I have not personally gone to any of them, so I have no first-hand knowledge.
In my opinion, consider not only their methods, but the words, the results, and whether or not God's name is lifted up. If the deeds they do (not talking about methods here) can be found in scripture, if they lift up the name of the Lord and glorify Him, if they truly bring people to encounter with God, then isn't the objection really one of personal preference?
The point of blaspheming the Holy Spirit is that the scribes attributed the work of the Holy Spirit through Jesus to be the work of the Devil. That cannot apply only to Jesus Himself, because the Apostles and others also preached and performed miracles under the anointing and power of the same Holy Spirit, and Jesus gave us the same Holy Spirit so we could continue the work. If a person is called to preach the Gospel, or Pastor a church, or be an Evangelist, Prophet, or Apostle, there should be an anointing, an unction of the Holy Spirit on them and in them, otherwise, they shouldn't be doing it. If they are operating under the anointing, and demonstrations of God's power are taking place, then they are doing the same work that Jesus did, and someone calls those demonstrations the work of Satan, they are committing that sin.
This is not a sin that one can do in ignorance, nor is it one that can be committed by one who has no knowledge of supernatural or spiritual power. Someone could commit that sin today, but it would be someone who either (1)was at one time a professing Christian, and had tasted of the power of the Holy Spirit, or (2) one who was familiar with spiritual power, and willfully refused to acknowledge the the true source of the work of the Holy Spirit, but rather called it the power of Satan or Beelzebub.
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