Living in Denial

Earl Gillespie

A Country In Denial

A Church In Denial

There is a strange feeling of impending doom that permeates the world.  If not by the hands of God, then by the hands of world leaders or even the president.  This country is going through really rough spiritual and economic times.  Prices are up, wages are down.  People are losing their jobs.   Business after business is going bankrupt, cutting back, laying off, reducing hours. Stocks/investments, people’s life savings/retirement funds are tumbling.  Perhaps we’re in a recession, or even worse in a depression.  

Our schools have become a haven for knives, guns and drugs.  Many of our young people are becoming nothing but a drain on society and we keep looking to God to straighten out what our families and community leaders have messed up. The family structure was dismantled by the government long ago and new ideologies are being adopted. Many churches through special funding entered into a partnership with the government, thereby rendering themselves irreverent as a spiritual body.  As in the days of Constantine, the government and the church joined hands as become mired in a rut of self-importance, self-indulgence and false piety.  This relationship created an erosion that was instrumental in the decline of the Roman Empire and it became the catalyst that led to the destruction of the British Empire.  

This country was founded upon a strong belief in God.  In God we trust was printed on currency and documents and the tribe of Judah once more began to call upon the God of Abraham.  The concept of one God, the Hebrew God as the spiritual backbone, was paramount in the establishment of rules of order and conduct.  In our society God was allowed to roam freely as a separate entity without the restraints of the government.  In our schools the Bible was accepted as a guiding light and the bases of our Laws in the Halls of Justice was the Ten Commandments.  Men in their infinitive wisdom, decided that the laws created by this great nation to protect Christian values should be used to destroy Christian values.  

In todays society, God is being stripped out of our everyday activities and cast aside. Whether man likes it or not, his corrupt nature is the cause of the problems the world is experiencing. Man's nature is the cause of conflicts, arguments, dissension, envy, competition, hatred, wars, stress, and unhappiness in life.  Man, by nature, lives by the way of getting. Only when humanity begins to seek God’s help to change their nature, can they begin to find the true ways to peace. The man that God created whose nature was corrupted by the Devil simply does not know the way of peace. This is evidenced in a bloodstained earth through 6,000 years of human history.

It is hard for most of us to believe that this world is about to enter or has already entered the time of destruction that was prophesied in the Book of Revelation,  which will ultimately end 6,000 years of man’s government—man’s self-rule.   God is moving toward the seventh day, a thousand years of rest when he returns and establish his own rule.  When we see the dark clouds rising, strange weather patterns, earthquakes and destruction throughout the land, It should be clear we are dealing with an angry God.

The destruction that God has pronounced upon man-self rule is a stored up wrath, that he is waiting for the proper time to bring forth.  God gives the analogy of a woman in labor pain to show how these events will unfold. As labor begins, the contractions are farther apart and less intense; but as time between contraction decreases, the intensity of those contractions grows. Such is the reality of labor pain, and such will be part of the proof of what is written in the Book of Revelation.  

The church has already entered into its final state of apostasy as depicted in the seventh letter to the churches in the Book of Revelation.  We are definitely in the seventh church age.  Within the last decade a strange transformation began to take place, the God of our salvation was trivialized and now what once was considered unholy is now acceptable as Holy.  Worship services are drifting further and further away from the once acceptable standards, play acting is a part of, "getting our praise on" as the night club atmosphere invaded the church and respect for  the House of God diminishes as showing off and performances take center stage.   

Do we ever find oneself asking the question, "What is the purpose of all of this"?  Maybe we should do a study on the evolution of God.   Is to know God is to have someone to blame all of our failures on?  Better yet, God is a tool that slick motivational preachers use to make you want to give money so you can get more money.  

God’s purpose for creating human life goes far beyond anything man has ever imagined, even in fiction; and so it can be very difficult to believe the truth.  The truth is deeper than  what some obnoxious religious opportunists will tell you about prosperity and walking in God's favor.  God purposed from the beginning that human life was to be temporary. His design and purpose is that we be changed from mortal to immortal, from temporary life to eternal life. This transition is something that God will offer every human as a matter of choice. God’s ultimate purpose for creating man is that he is to become a part of the very Family of God, in the Kingdom of God.   This is not your life, this is the test. 

When asked, “Why didn’t God simply create us as spiritual God beings and immediate members of His Divine Family?” The answer is: God does not create righteous character in individual beings because living according to God’s righteousness must be and is a matter of choice.  Remember what happen to Lucifer and a third of God's angels that brought destruction upon the earth?  In Geneses 1:1 God began a restoration process, then he created man.  Man failed the first test, but God so loved man that he gave him another chance.  The testing of man's character has been going on for six millennia, God has been patient toward man’s unwillingness to listen to Him through His prophets. His Son, and His Ministers. 

When God delivered the Children of Israel and established them as a nation God reigned as king in Israel and the people were dissatisfied. They wanted to be like everybody else around them.  That sounds strangely familiar today.  We still have a tendency to want to be like everyone around us, even when that is not a good choice.

God, let  them have their way, and have an earthly king, Saul.  But he was a great disappointment and God replaced him with a man after his own heart, David, who was then followed by Solomon.  At Solomon’s death the Kingdom divided, North and South: Israel, with 10 tribes in the North – all of their kings were bad.  Judah composed of 2 tribes in the South, MOST of their kings were bad, too. 

The Book of Joel can be outlined into 3 easy points,            

The locust plague and drought calling the people to repentance

The Day of the Lord with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit

The glorious future of Judah and Jerusalem

1:1-4 It’s a mighty plague of locusts, of unparalleled magnitude, there were locusts everywhere.  Those then living, have never seen anything like it.  People would be talking about this plague be for generations to come.  Apparently, the plague was contemporary with Joel’s prophecy.  It was then and there, happening, Joel’s eyewitness account: Unimaginable ruin and destruction.

In verse 4, there are 4 different Hebrew terms to describe the invading insects — which probably refers to the various stages of the locust life cycle — each stage being more destructive than the one before.  The female locust deposits her eggs in the moist soil, and when conditions are right millions , billions of eggs are laid — on the order of 70,000 eggs per square meter.  Soon these hatch into grubs or larval stage — and the grubs  eat.  Next comes  the pupa or hopper stage, the nymph stage in which small wings appear — and they eat even more. Finally the full-fledged flying locusts — the swarm — which eat all the vegetation in sight.  All told the maturation process goes through 5 molts, and can take up to 3 years.  All the while devastating the vegetation — stripping the fields bare.

The Dec. 1915 issue of National Geographic recounts a similar plague of locusts which struck against Jerusalem — area wide devastation. 

v. 7  — the grape vines are destroyed, the fig harvest is gone.

v. 8  — once the leaves and fruit are eaten, the locusts are still ravenous and eat the bark right off the trees, leaving them white.

v. 9  — There is no grain for offering before the Lord.  No wine for the drink offering.  The food the gone.

Devastation, famine, hunger.

v. 10 — The wheat is destroyed, the barley fields are bare.

And yet the locusts still come, millions, perhaps billions in huge waves.  The sky turns black (2:10)  as they descend like an army, chap. 2.

2:3 — Though the land was rich, fertile, and green — like the Garden of Eden before the plague.  Once the hungry horde descends, only a desert waste is left behind.  

2:5 — As they descend upon Jerusalem it sounds like a chariot attack, rattle, rumble, and roar — as their wings buzz and they strip the vegetation bare.

2:9  — The insect army run along the city wall, invading the houses.

2:11 The plague not is simply allowed by God— we see here that the Lord himself heads up this army of devouring insects.  He leads the attack upon the city.  It was his way to call the nation to repentance.  Now, as to exactly what their sins were, Joel does not say.  Yet whatever they were, it was time for the nation as a whole to turn back to God. 

So we see in Scripture that hard times, bad times, hungry times — are used by God [even sent by God / led by God] — to call a nation back to its senses.  And maybe — in fact, I think very likely, that’s what our current economic crisis is all about: Maybe God is calling our churches and nation back to its spiritual senses.   Then agan, maybe we are running out of time.

If you can accept the God is love concept, then you must accept the angry God concept. 

And yet throughout it all, God is in control.  And if we (as Christians) really believe that our citizenship is in heaven (Phil.3 :20), that we’re only strangers on the earth, just passing through (Heb. 11:13), then the trauma of economy doesn’t affect us nearly so.

Are We Playing With God.

Earl Gillespie

Are We Playing With God?

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

God is a spirit. This is one of the reason men should worship God in spirit and in truth. By this it is meant that God is without a body; that he is not material or composed of parts; that he is invisible, in every place, pure and holy. This is one of the first truths of religion, and one of the sublimest ever presented to the mind of man. Almost all nations have had some idea of God as gross or material, but the Bible declares that God is a pure spirit. As he is such a spirit, he dwells not in temples made with hands (Act 7:48), neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Act 17:25. A pure, a holy, a spiritual worship, therefore, is such as he seeks--the offering of the soul rather than the formal offering of the body--the homage of the heart rather than that of the lips.

The seriousness of religion and true worship has been offset by what many members of generation x refer to as play acting.  Spiritual emotions have been merged with natural emotions.   If we can accept that God is a spirit, we also must accept that man is composed of two natures. There is the natural man and there is the spiritual man.  There are two types of emotions, there is the natural emotions and there are the spiritual emotions.   It has been said, what God does in the spiritual, the devil mimics in the natural.  The devil seeks to control the natural man through his natural emotions and the natural environment, but God deals with man on a spiritual level, he looks at the heart.  1 Corinthians 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  The line that separated the natural from the spiritual has been blurred and worship services have taken on all of the elements of natural expressions and natural emotions are are being redefined as the Spirit of God. 

There is this picture of a suitcase full of money making its way around the social media.  The caption says, "believe and click "like, God will give me the money."  Sadly, many people buy into this concept of God.   Based upon the successes of giant pyramid schemes and multi-level-marketing scheme is proof that a promise of money sets the stage for indoctrination and manipulation, whether in or out of the church. 

Despite having one foot in Generation X, I tend to identify most strongly with the attitudes and the ethos of the millennial generation, and because of this, I am not impressed with the play acting that is taking place in the religious arena.  The natural emotions that are displayed and expressed in the entertainment arena such as the nightclubs, the football games and those things that we react to through the five senses are finding their way into the sanctuary.  These new ideas are accepted as a new form of worship designed to draw the millennial generation, that lost generation  back into the church.   The pious elites are praying, but our young people are not rushing to church.  

What is the driving force of getting up in the morning and going to work?  The driving force behind Christian worship is getting a blessing.  Wants and excess have become tools of indoctrination within the Church of God.  The emphasis is, God is going to dump wads of money in your lap.  This is to sustain a natural belief that a blessing is coming our way.  This creates a natural high that will sustain most believers for a whole week, then we rush back to church on Sunday praying for that same blessing.   God is a spirit, maybe we should be praying for the fruit of the Spirit.  Throughout the week we are praying for money, jobs, cars better working conditions and other natural wants.  If we believe in God, what do these things have to do with the Kingdom of God?  The indoctrination  and the programming of the believers once was effective because we were told, "You can have this, all you got to do is...", and blindly we followed in search of the Gold, then the indoctrination failed and the millennial generation began to walk away from God.   Generation X has become guilty of making a play toy out of the God of our Salvation. 

The spiritual aspect of Christianity has taken a back seat and the natural desires of humanity are amplified. There is a question that I struggle with from day to day.  "Why is God changing." The one thing in life that was supposed to stay the same is changing and many remain in a state of denial as sacred services take on a whole new flair and flavor.  The performers and the participants are impressed but there are those lost sheep who are standing outside, they are not impressed.  

According to a recent survey, conducted by the Barna group on behalf of the American Bible Society, young adults, between the ages of 18 to 29, (Millennials) are becoming more disrespectful and hostile towards Biblical teachings than ever before.

Is the millennial generation losing its religion?  This is a question that is often asked by the media as the attendance drop and the number of church closings skyrocket.  The so-called effective pastor now must explore new methods of attracting this new generation who is attracted to the new morality.  

The survey showed that while 79% of all adults believe the Bible should be regarded as being sacred, only 64% of Millennials felt the same way and although only 13% of all adults believe that there is no sacred book, more than 19% of Millennials, believe this to be true.

Time and again, the assumption among Christian leaders, and evangelical leaders in particular, is that the key to drawing Millennials back to church is to make a few style updates, crossover music with a big beat, more casual services, come as you are, a pastor who wears skinny jeans.  But here’s the big thing: Having been advertised to our whole lives, we as members of the Generation X and Millennials group have highly sensitive "BS" meters, and we’re not easily impressed with consumerism or performances.

I would agree and argue that church performances is just one more thing driving many away from the church, and evangelicalism in particular.  Many of us, myself included, are finding ourselves increasingly drawn to high church traditions – Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Episcopal Church, etc. –Precisely because the ancient forms of worship seem so unpretentious, so unconcerned with being “cool,” and from a spiritual aspect, we find that refreshingly authentic.  I mean God is a Spirit.


What Millennials really want from the church is not a change in style, but a change in substance  
The indoctrination has failed, our young people are not running to the church, they are leaving in droves

What Is The Spirit of God Part #3

Earl Gillespie

What Is The Spirit Of God
"The Two Spirits"
Part 3 of 3

Genesis 1:3-5  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.  

Please note in the above verse, God did not say, "let there be day and night". God commanded the light to come forth, thereby amplifying the opposite, which he later dealt with.  From the creative aspects of God, there were certain rules that were followed.  For every action, attribute or entity, there is an opposite.  One is created and the other is the effect of the creation.  For the light to be effective there had to be a division or separation between the light and the darkness.  Good cannot exist without evil, nor can day exist if there is no night. Imagine trying to define love in an environment free from hate.  Man is composed of two natures that are opposite of each other.   The Bible speaks of and define the Natural man and the Spiritual man.  There is the Spirit  of God and there is the spirit of man.  The Spirit of God modifies the Spiritual nature of man and is controlled by God, whereas the Spirit of man is subjective to the control worly influences.  
There is a thin veil that separates the Holy from the unholy, it is the knowledge of good and evil that seeks to define this separation.  It was the God intent to protect man, his prized creation from this strange malady, when he warned him to abstain from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  The knowledge of good and evil allows humanity to analyze and debate the thin line that separates what is good from that which is evil.  The very presence of this knowledge allows the evil to masquerade as good and it also causes our good deeds to be accepted as evil.  

A simple analogy, using day and night, the day was once set aside for work and the night was for resting and bonding with  family.  The knowledge of good and evil, of day and night allowed mankind to extend the working hours and reshape the waking and sleeping habits of humanity.  In many instances this was not good for the family structure.   Many children grew up hearing these words, "be quiet, your father is sleeping", setting the stage for the single family syndrome.

As the possessor of the knowledge of good and evil, mankind under the tutelage of an evil spirit gained the ability to manipulate the abstracts.  The line that separated the truth from a lie was defined as a thin gray area and the definition of truth became relative to what side of the line you choose to stand.  As knowledge began to increase God's creation began to question the things it could not see and touch.  Lies began to masquerade as the truth.  The ambitious professor then stated, "Truth is that which is formed within a person's mind that bring peace to his inner longing."  That thin gray area is expanding and things that society once abhorred is now declared acceptable.  

What we see in the struggle of the secular philosophers, the ambitious professors, throughout time is the quest for knowledge through logic and discussions.  This is good, but this type of search for knowledge provide no real answers.  Many have come to realize that debates and discussions among philosophers seems to produce mostly more discussions and debates.  Those who escape the pitfall of an evil society are easily drawn into the philosophers creed seeking to prove or disprove the existence of God.  Paul should have put this quest to rest when he stated in 1 Corinthians 2:14 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

There are many grandfather today remember growing up listening to their grandfathers tell ghost stories.  They heard the stories and they believed and were afraid.  As a grandfather today try telling your grandchildren about ghosts, a wink from a parent would indicate that granddaddy was getting old and senile.  Our belief in the spiritual world has suffered because of our increased knowledge.  This brings us to the Holy Spirit, verses the evil spirit.  Once our belief in the evil spirit diminishes, it began to masquerade as the true spirit.  The devil's plan from the beginning of creation was to destroy the believability of God.

There are those who claim to possess the Spirit of God, yet they cannot get along with their brothers and sisters.      There are many who claim to speak with the voice of the Holy Spirit, yet they do not agree.  Those that ask the hard question, (Why?) are quickly silenced and left with the impression that they are fortunate to be a part of the only group of believers in the whole world.  The question of what is the Spirit of God, even though it is answerable, might not be able to be seen by those who ask the question because much of what we hear and see is detrimental to the building of our individual faith.  On any given Sunday, tune in to the Christian Television broadcast, listen to the radio, observe and hear how the Holy Spirit act and what it has to say.   The entertainment aspect of worship, the prosperity gospel, to a person living with cancer, there is one word that will describe it, 'confusing'.

Two thousand years ago God existed, but did he change?  The Holy Spirit was in existence in the beginning, but was it seems to have been a different type of Holy Spirt that the one we have today? Did our increase in knowledge of good and evil cause God to change?   What is understanding the so-call  "rising and setting of the sun" prove or changes?  We can debate the rising and setting of the sun or the earth revolving around the sun to the infinite degree, but it will not change the properties of day and night.  We can move our clocks forward or we can move them backward, what have we changed?   

Acts 9:16-18  for I* will show to him how much he must suffer for my name. And Ananias went and entered into the house; and laying his hands upon him he said, Saul, brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus that appeared to thee in the way in which thou camest, that thou mightest see, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he saw, and rising up was baptized;

There are two interesting points to be made in this scripture, (1) There was a promise that Saul would suffer, (2) The laying of hands and how Saul instantly received the Holy Ghost.  For I will show him, this seems to be added to encourage Ananias. He had feared Saul. The Lord now informs him that Saul, who once was his enemy, would ever after be his friend. He would not merely profess repentance, but would manifest the sincerity of it by encountering trials and reproaches for his sake.  

When Paul set out opn his journey he was controlled by the natural lust of man.  He was ruled by his quest for power and wealth.  Paul was a highly educated man, therefore he understood the realities of life.  By todays standards we could say he was blessed. As he traveled to the road to bring pain and grief to the church, he was confronted and convicted by a simple question, "Saul, why dost thou persecute me?"   The persecution of the church was to suppress the workings of the Holy Spirit and allow the spirit of man to flourish.  This was to allow for the creation of a religion that was alien to the Word of God.  

The Holy Spirit prepared Paul to suffer in the flesh for Christ sake.  In today's Christian environment, we are not prepared to suffer. We want, and we beg for the goodness of Heaven here on earth. Our prayers are a request for blessings and miracles.   


Romans 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control: against such things there is no law.

The thin line that separate the Holy from the unholy has been expanded and that which is unholy is now accepted as Holy. 

What is the Spirit of God, Part 2

Earl Gillespie

What Is The Spirit Of God
Part 2 of 3

–In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spoke he of the Spirit, whom they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:37-39). 

This verse seems to indicate that the Holy Spirit would cause some sort of a spiritual outpouring.  The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit, which God compared it to living water.  Ponder for a moment the phrase, ‘living water’, visualize water that is alive.  God also compares it to his breath.  Can you tell when someone is breathing on you, even with your eyes closed? The Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of Jesus.  Jesus promised to send his Holy Spirit with power to his disciples after his return to the Father in Heaven. 

In most cases in scripture the arrival of the Spirit is followed immediately by someone speaking God’s word or prophesying.  The Spirit of God brings God’s word, and when the Spirit inspires, it feels impossible to keep quiet about the Word.

The Spirit is, truly and literally, God within us.  Sometimes a person can sense the presence of a Being far greater than can be imagined; I’m sure when the Spirit touches us, He holds back a great deal otherwise we’d be completely overwhelmed.  We must conclude that the spirit world has many ways of interacting with the natural elements of this world. 

In conjunction with healing and other miracles, the presence of the Spirit is often described as “warm”, “a tingling sensation”, “electrical” or “breathtaking”.  These sensations do exist (and they’re quite pleasant) but they should not be looked for as “proof” that a person is feeling the Spirit.  Every believer receives the Holy Spirit when becoming a Christian, and always has the Spirit in him or her whether His presence is felt or not.  What the Spirit does give daily is deeper insight — eyes to see and ears to hear — or as Jesus said “I have come that they may have life, and more abundantly”.   If we take away the embellishment of the word ‘abundantly’ we would realize that there are things that Jesus promised and there are things that Jesus did not promise.  It was never a promise of the Holy Spirit to enrich our natural life. The Spirit works on a spiritual level and its promise to give a deeper, more meaningful spiritual life in every sense of the word.

Pragmatism as a philosophical movement began in the United States in the 1870s, and has played a great role in the reinterpretation of the scripture especially as pertaining to the Holy Spirit. Its objective was and is to separate what is real from what exist. Great minds began to investigate the role religion could play in a contemporary society and sought to make a distinction between God’s "existence" and "reality". The term "exists" is used only for those things which adequately exhibit brute physical resistance to our movements. In this way, such things which affect us, like numbers, may be said to be "real", although they do not "exist". According to the pragmatist, God, in such a linguistic usage, might very well be "real", causing believers to act in such and such a way, but might not "exist". This attack on the foundation of faith and God was not met with a uniform protest or action by the defenders of the Christian faith.

This strange philosophical approach has advanced the knowledge of good and evil, allowing mankind to feel as if he has control of the Holy Spirit.   Rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to speak, we speak for the Holy Spirit.  Rather than allowing God to carry out his plan, we pray for God to empower us in our daily life. This new philosophical approach to God has allowed us to sanitize the scripture by removing the blood and gore.  There is no message in the killing sprees and the suffering of the Old Testiment.   We are so pumped up on all of the good things that God is supposed to be doing, that when disaster strikes the first words out of our mouth is, "Why"  Why didn't Peter, Jame and John open up a fish market and get rich  selling fish while Jesus stood on the corner preaching the Kingdom message?    

We cannot prove the existence of the Spirit world through natural means, the Spiritual world must be addressed through faith. It is through faith, our connection and experiences with the Holy Spirit is able to grow. If our faith is weak, then our connection to the Spiritual world is weak. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6 ).   

One of the things the Holy spirit does is give us new power over sin in our lives when we surrender those areas to God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). But another work of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of sin (John 16:9). There are times when we are blind to some of our real sins or have not fully let go of them. Part of the preparation for being baptized with the Holy Spirit or receiving a fresh infilling is to ask the LORD to show us by his Spirit, if there is an area that we are not surrendering to him or if there are hidden sins we do not recognize. Examples are from the letters to the churches in Revelation. Jesus told the church in Ephesus that they did many things well, but had lost their first love for him, (Revelation 2:44) and he told the church in Laodicea that they were lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, and both needed to repent. (Revelation 3:14) 

Some results those among us have experienced from the Holy Spirit is a new sense of God's presence, more experience of the Lord, new power over sin in our lives because the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (John 16:9). Bible reading coming more alive and our ability or freedom to talk to others about Jesus increases. There are gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit such as the fruits of the Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23) Fruit does not grow overnight and Paul talks in 1 Corinthians 13 about the importance of having the fruit of the Spirit when using the gifts of the Spirit.

Above all, the relationship between the believer and the Spirit is just that — a relationship, a community of two, in which the Spirit feels like the embrace of a friend, brother, or soul-mate. One then becomes aware that the Holy Spirit has the same community-of-two relationship with every believer on the planet, which defines the family of God, the community of faith, the true Church. And in that sense, the Spirit feels like home.

In any attempt to understand the Spirit of God, it is just as important to understand what is not the Spirit of God. There is the Spirt of God and there is the spirit of the devil. There is the Holy Spirit and there is the evil (unholy) spirit. John cautions us not to believe every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1) 

Satan is real and not a guy in a red suit with horns. Peter warns us "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith."(1 Peter 5:8-9) Jesus was tempted in every way as we are yet without sin. The devil came to Jesus quoting scriptures and promoting a Gospel of prosperity (Matthew 4:8-9)."Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." (Hebrews 2:18 & 4:15).. We are told about the armor God has for us to put on daily in Ephesians 6: 10-18. 

Matthew 4:1  Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Mt 4:1

Led of of the Spirit; by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.--To be tempted of the devil. There is a certain mystery enveloping the subject Of the Savior's temptation, which all the efforts of commentators and theologians have not been able to remove. Attempts have been made to give the whole passage a metaphorical interpretation; but such an interpertation can hardly be given, without shaping the Word of God, to a passage like this, occurring in regular course, as a part of a plain, simple, historical narrative. The sacred writer undoubtedly meant for it to be understood as it was spoken, and must have been understood at the time, as asserting literally that Jesus was assailed by an evil spirit, not human, but yet having a distinct personal existence.

Next

Part #3

The Two Spirits

What is the Spirit of God, Part 1

Earl Gillespie

What Is The Spirit Of God

Part 1 of 3

–And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2)

The old Baptist church at the edge of the clearing was where most members of the community assemble on Sunday to hear the Word of the Lord.  Located across the road from the graveyard gave it the eerie feeling that the spirit world was active in and around the church.  First, there was Sunday School, where the stories of the ancient prophets and their message was told and retold.  Next on the agenda was Prayer and Worship Service, the name was later changed to Praise Service,  then we were ready to receive the Word.   Everyone would sit attentively, even the younger children were trying not to go to sleep as the preacher droned on and on.  Everyone was waiting for that glorious moment when the preacher would begin to ‘tone up  and moan’. 

There were certain ladies in the congregation that knew when to shout back at the preacher, urging him on.  The  ‘amen corner’ was where the Holy Spirit seems to reside and the pastor was often said to be preaching to the ‘amen corner’.   When the desired emotional response was not forthcoming, the pastor was often accused of , ‘going in the graveyard and digging someone up’.  The phrase, “I got a mother gone on”, would bring the church to tears.  When a certain level of emotional tension was reached, some of the ladies would scream, arms flaying and jumping around in their seats,  only to be restrained by the ushers.  Some of the men would begin to cry and make strange noise. One Sunday on the way home from church I asked my mother what was going on, she said, “that was the way people acted when the spirit of God hit them”.

That conversation left me with a desire to experience the Spirit of God.  That desire was like saying I believe in ghost, wanting to see one so I would know, but afraid of how I would react when I came face to face with a ghost.  Needing to know what to expect when the Spirit of God hit you,  I asked my aunt who was the most experience person I knew when it came to being ‘hit’ by the Spirit.   Her answer was, “when the Spirit hits you, you will know it”.  That did not satisfy my quest for the knowledge of the Spirit of God.  Because of my inquisitive nature concerning the Spirit of God, my mother tried to satisfy my quest for knowledge by telling me that I would understand it when I was old enough to get religion.

 At the age of eight I convince my mother that I was old enough to  get religion. During the Fall revival that year, I made my way to the front bench in the church that was known as the Mourners Bench.  Friends and family would sing and pray for you, and the pastor explained the process of getting religion.  He said, If you believed, the Spirit would hit you, and you were supposed to get up and give the preacher your hand.

 It was common knowledge to most that after a week of praying and preaching, no one was supposed to be left on the mourners bench.   Those that were left were considered to be less than heathens.  The  night before the close of the revival I grew weary of waiting, the question was simple, “Do you believe in God”, yes, I believe, so I walked up to the preacher and gave him my hand.  I realized too late that I had allowed myself to be drawn into a situation where I no longer could ask what is the Spirit of God, because if I had good religion, I knew what the Spirit of God was and I knew what it felt like.

Years later, I attended what was called a Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost filled revival.  The preacher would, ‘tone and moan’ and the congregation would leap to their feet and dance. Those were the days when the Holy Spirit became the Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost was a strange phenomenal, it made you jump up and down, fall out on the floor, roll, kick and foam at the mouth, it even made you talk funny.  There were no ushers to restrain you, and you were supposed to dance and shout for joy.  These physical expressions were a clear indicator that you was filled with the Holy Ghost.  Those that were standing on the sideline believing and praying were often left wondering why their reaction to the Holy Spirit wasn’t as physical and profound as the next person.

“What does the Holy Ghost feel like?” It seems somewhat strange that the scripture never mentions this. The Holy Scripture speaks a good deal about what the Spirit inspires people to do, such as prophesying or preaching, but the spotlight always falls on the Spirit-inspired action and not of the Spirit Himself. Thus, when the preacher said, it makes you want to dance, the Church said, “Amen”, and praise dancing became in vogue.

Ask any Holy Ghost inspired preacher or teacher and you will be told that the Holy Ghost feels like, “… fire shut up in my bones...”, quoting from Jeremiah 20:9. That seems to be quite a bit of embellishment because the prophet was not speaking of the Holy Spirit. He was speaking of his reluctance to deliver the word of God because of the hardship he had to endure. Embellishment or scriptures out of context has become a common occurrence when interpreting the scripture. 

Growing up in the 50’s my grandfather would tell stories of seeing ghosts. If he said he saw a ghost, we believed him, but today we look back with a wink and wonder, if it was just his imagination. Not to say that ghost or spirits don’t exist, but when the description was left to a fertile imagination, sometimes the storyteller got very creative. I can’t help but wonder if the same holds true for the Spirit of God. 

There are many passages in the Bible that include the words “… and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him/her/them…”. However, this quotation is never followed by anything like “… and the people said, ‘whoa, what was THAT?’” When the spirit speaks we are supposed to recognize the message as coming from God. So there must be a special feeling about the Holy Spirit that feels like the truth. This statement is true, but it is not definitive, because if the consciousness is seared then a lie will seem like the truth. There are many that claim to be a Holy Ghost filled person that are guilty of flat out lying and there are those who profess to be filled with the Holy Ghost, believe those lies. 

As I grew older I began to wonder why or if there were many different Holy Spirits. Each denomination had its own guidelines as pertaining to the operation of the Holy Spirit, yet this could not be if we are all working toward the same goal. Jesus said, 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 show you things to come, (John 16:13). 

Let's take a look at the definition of spirit as provided by Wikipedia Encyclopedia. The English word spirit (from Latin Spiritus "breath") has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body. The word spirit is often used metaphysically to refer to the consciousness or personality. The notions of a person's spirit and soul often also overlap, as both contrast with the body and both are understood as surviving the bodily death in religion and occultism, and "spirit" can also have the sense of "ghost", i.e. a manifestation of the spirit of a deceased person.

The term may also refer to any incorporeal or immaterial being, such as demons or deities. In Christianity "the Spirit" (with a capital "S") specifically denotes the Holy Spirit.  So the question remains, and I think the question is answerable within the scripture and from seasoned believers. Spirit is described in various parts of scripture as fire, power, faith, peace, joy, fullness, or holiness (the seal of God’s promise in and on us). All these things come from God and when the Spirit makes His presence known we usually feel at least some of these things in some way or another. Even the least of us can relate to the feeling of joy, peace and fullness, the feeling of fire and power speak for themselves.

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The Spirit of God

Part 2