Proverbs 8 is Christ speaking to you and I!!!

Did you know some people claim that the Old Testament is not for today; they hate it and try their best to discard and discredit it.

However did you know that proverbs chapter 8 is actually Christ speaking to us? He is giving us an account of himself before time itself existed. This is in support of the genesis creation story by the Trinity, and lays foundation down for John 1:1-5 to be built on.

The Old Testament and the New Testament work hand n’ Glove with one-another. If you take one out, the other loses power and meaning…..

God put them both together for us; let us not then try to take them apart!

There is Proof of the Trinity in the Bible

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17

This is the first New Testament illustration of the Holy Trinity; we see Jesus submitting, the Holy Spirit descending, and the Father declaring. But, it’s not the first time in the Bible. We get our very first glimpse of the Holy Trinity in the very first sentence of the Old Testament, Genesis 1:1:

“In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth”

The word God here (in the Hebrew) is ‘Elohiym; which is a plural form of the word, indicating at the very least, three. Even Deuteronomy 6:4 speaks of God in His Trinity:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!

The word ‘one’ is translated ‘echad’, which speaks of a compound unity , as in, “Those of us who are in Christ Jesus are one.” Although the concept of a Triune God is difficult to grasp for all believers, it does not negate the reality of our singular God manifesting Himself in three Persons; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ

The Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ  

by Evangelist Joe Collins

The proof of Christ Jesus’ deity, can be found all over the scriptures. Not only does the scriptures show that Christ Jesus was the awaited Messiah, but that he was also the Son of God. There are many verses and prophecies in the Bible pointing to Christ Jesus as God and as the Messiah. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is a part of the Trinity. The Trinity is not three different gods working together, but One True God in three distinct, divine Persons. This is evident in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. Genesis 1:1 states that:“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 says God, not gods. Yet, twenty-five verses later in Genesis 1:26 God says:“And God said, Let us make man in our image…”  Here we see God calling Himself in plural form. So from these two verses and many others in the bible, we can see that there is only one true God but also three persons: The Trinity. Jesus Christ is the second part of the Trinity, with the Holy Spirit being the third and God the Father being the first.

Another way that we can see and know that Jesus Christ is God, is that He received and  welcomed worship from mankind. The great thing about Him being worshiped, is when He was worshiped skeptics could say that Christ being an adult could have tricked his followers and fellow men to worship Him with stories, and knowledge of Old Testament scriptures and with miracles (Matthew 14:33 and 28:9), but skeptics can not say that to the accounts found in Matthew 2:2 and Matthew 2:11, where Christ was merely three years of age and was being worshiped as the Messiah and as God.

Even John, one of Christ’s beloved disciples, started his gospel off by calling Christ not only God and connecting Him to the beginning of time in Genesis but also called Him the “Word”, the Living Word (John 1:1-5). John was so close to Jesus and worshiped Him so much that John no longer saw Jesus Christ as merely as a man, but saw the prophecies and scriptures in living flesh, breathing and living among him and the other disciples.     Not only did the disciples call Jesus Christ God, but so did the demons Christ had cast out of people. Matthew 8:28-34 : “And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.” Matthew 8:28-34 is a perfect example of the demons who were in so much fear of Jesus Christ, that they exalted Him and gave Him praise by calling Him the Son of God and then begged for Him not to destroy them but instead to cast them out into livestock until their due time. Jesus Christ allowed the demons to flee into the large herd of pigs that the demons asked for, while the disciples were all watching. If that alone was not enough to prove the deity of Jesus Christ to the disciples; Christ went on to do several more miracles and fulfilled all the prophecies about being the messiah before their eyes, they finally called Christ, “Lord and Son of God”, in Matthew 16:16.

Jesus Christ Himself, also called Himself God in several ways. First off, He forgave people of their sins and would heal these who placed their faith in Him as Savior and Friend. Mark 2:1-12, Matthew 9:27-34, and Luke 7:1-10 are key verses to prove this. In Mark 2:1-12, Jesus Christ heals a man of palsy and forgives him and others of their sins while being challenged by the Pharisees, with them declaring that only God can forgive sins. In Matthew 9:27-34 Jesus Christ is making the blind see and letting the mute speak for the first time while being challenged by the Pharisees to prove He is God and not the devil by healing people. In Luke 7:1-10 Christ Jesus is traveling with a Roman Centurion towards the Roman Centurions house, when they get news that the Roman Centurions servant has died. Because of the Roman Centurions faith and understanding in Christ’s authority and power, he ask for Jesus Christ to merely speak the word and his servant would live and be healthy. Christ forgave them of their sins and heals the servant. Christ preformed many miracles and fulfilled prophecies. In fact, Christ fulfilled all of the prophecies about who the Son of God and Messiah would be; all thousand plus prophecies. That alone should prove Him as God.

Over six hundred years, one thousand and ninety-three prophecies were prophesied and written in thirty-nine different books and Christ did and fulfilled all of them. Christ was also sinless, making Him the perfect sacrifice for our sins. If everyone on earth was perfect, like Christ was, the chances of any of us fulfilling all of one thousand and ninety-three prophecies and being the savior would be a 1 in a 1 to the 895th power of a chance. Just the odds alone again, proves Christ Jesus as the Messiah and as our Lord God Almighty.

The third thing Christ did that proves that He is God, is that He would tell people He was God, such as in Revelation 1:17-18, and He would agree when people called Him God ( Luke 22:66-71 and Luke 23:1-4 ). But the most powerful ways Christ proved He was God, was when He claimed that He and the Father was One (John 10:30), and when He said “Anyone who has seen me, has seen the Father” ( John 14:9 ) and then proved it to be true by going to the cross and raising from the dead three days later.

God the Father and the Holy Spirit both called Christ Jesus, God in Matthew 3:16-17. In the book of Matthew, in chapter three at verses sixteen and seventeen, Jesus Christ becomes water baptized in the Jordan river by John the Baptist, His cousin. When Christ ascends out of the river, the Holy Spirit descends from the heavens onto Christ’s shoulders as a dove to show His approval and to show the holiness that is in Christ Jesus and God the Father spoke audibly to the crowd about His Son, telling them how well pleased He was in Jesus Christ’s baptism!

In conclusion, it is easy to see why so many around the world and through out the ages of generations, have come to know Christ Jesus as Savior and as Lord, but in the same sense, it is incredibly hard to see why anyone would deny Christ Jesus as God or having Him not be divine in their eyes. Hopefully, with this report, many will come to see that the deity of Jesus Christ is one hundred percent true and give their lives to Him!

Holy Spirit In-Depth Study

Holy Spirit In-Depth Study

By : Evangelist Joe Collins

 

In Christianity, the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost) is the Spirit of God. In mainstream (Trinitarian) Christian beliefs he is the third person of the Trinity. As part of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is equal with God the Father and with God the Son.

 

(Student – We believe in the Trinity, so therefore the theological study word for what we call people who believe in the Trinity is Trinitarian) [ Trin-it-Air-e-an]

 

The Christian theology of the Holy Spirit was the last piece of Trinitarian theology to be fully developed. There is also greater (study of) diversity in Christian theology of the Spirit (Pneumatology – the study of the Holy Spirit) than there is in the theology of the Son (Christology – the study of Jesus Christ) or of the Father.

 

Christian Doctrine

 

Within mainstream Christianity the Holy Spirit is one of the three persons of the Trinity. As such he is personal and also fully God, co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father and God the Son. He is different from the Father and the Son in that he proceeds from the Father (or from the Father and the Son) as described in the Nicene Creed. His sacredness is reflected in the New Testament gospels which proclaim blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as unforgivable.

 

The Holy Spirit is believed to perform specific divine functions in the life of the Christian or the church. These include:

 

1 – Conviction of sin.   The Holy Spirit acts to convince the unredeemed person both of the sinfulness of their actions, and of their moral standing as sinners before God.

 

2 – Bringing to conversion. The action of the Holy Spirit is seen as an essential part of the bringing of the person to the Christian faith. The new believer is “born again of the Spirit”.

 

3 – Enabling the Christian life. The Holy Spirit is believed to dwell in the individual believers and enable them to live a righteous and faithful life. As a comforter or Paraclete (one who intercedes), or supports or acts as an advocate, particularly in times of trial.

 

4 – Inspiration and interpretation of scripture. The Holy Spirit both inspires the writing of the scriptures and interprets them to the Christian and/or church.

 

The Holy Spirit is also believed to be active especially in the life of Jesus Christ, enabling him to fulfill his work on earth. Particular actions of the Holy Spirit include:

 

5 – Cause of His birth. According to the gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus, the “beginning of His incarnate existence (physical body)“, was due to the Holy Spirit.

 

6 – Anointing him at his baptism.

 

7 – Empowerment of his ministry. The ministry of Jesus following his baptism (in which the Holy Spirit is described in the gospels as “descending on Him like a dove”) is conducted in the power and at the direction of the Holy Spirit.

 

Symbols of the Holy Spirit

 

The Holy Spirit is frequently referred to by metaphors and symbols, both doctrinally and Biblically. Theologically speaking, these symbols are a key to understanding of the Holy Spirit and his actions, and are not mere artistic representations.

 

(Student – Because we can NOT know anything about God unless He reveals it to us, like the Bible, we can not understand anything about Him, unless He reveals it to us. Since God can NOT be completely understood by our mere wimpy physical minds, He will use examples, like the ones below, to show us how He is and what HE thinks about what we do and say and such. Below are examples in the Bible, God used to help us try to understand Him (Holy Spirit) better.)

 

Water – signifies the Holy Spirit’s action in Baptism, such that in the manner that “by one Spirit [believers] were all baptized”, so they are “made to drink of one Spirit”. Thus the Spirit is also personally the living water welling up from Christ crucified as its source and welling up in Christians to eternal life.

 

Anointing / Oil – The symbolism of anointing with oil also signifies the Holy Spirit, to the point of becoming a synonym for the Holy Spirit. The coming of the Spirit is referred to as his “anointing”. Its full force can be grasped only in relation to the primary anointing accomplished by the Holy Spirit, that of Jesus. Christ (in Hebrew Christ means messiah) means the one “anointed” by God’s Spirit.

 

Fire – symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit’s actions. In the form of tongues “as of fire”, the Holy Spirit rested on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost.

 

Cloud and light – The Spirit comes upon the Virgin Mary and “overshadows” her, so that she might conceive and give birth to Jesus. On the mountain of transfiguration, the Spirit in the “cloud came and overshadowed” Jesus, Moses and Elijah, Peter, James and John, and “a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!'”

 

The dove – When Christ comes up from the water of his baptism, the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes down upon him and remains with him.

 

Wind – The Spirit is likened to the “wind that blows where it will” (John 3:8), and described as “a sound from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind” (Acts 2:2-4).

 

Differences in Doctrine

 

Catholicism– what Catholics believe –

According to Roman Catholic theology the primary work of the Holy Spirit is through the church. According to the Catechism: “The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. […] Through the Church’s sacraments, Christ communicates his Holy and sanctifying Spirit to the members of his Body.”

 

Protestantism– those who are christians & are not Catholic are called this –

The majority of mainstream Protestantism hold similar views on the theology of the Holy Spirit as the Roman Catholic Church, as described above. The chiefdifference is the belief that the Holy Spirit interacts with the individual Christian and through the church, instead of just the church and its leaders (Pope and Priests). There are significant variations in belief within the Protestant movement, especially between Pentecostalism and the rest of Protestantism.

 

Pentecostalism

While the Holy Spirit is acknowledged as God in all mainstream denominations, he is given particular emphasis in Pentecostal churches. In those churches he is seen as the giver of natural and supernatural gifts, such as tongues and prophecy, to Christians.

 

The Christian movement called Pentecostalism derives its name from the event of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit when Jesus’ disciples were gathered in Jerusalem (see Acts 2). Pentecostals believe that when a believer is “baptized in the Holy Spirit”, the gifts of the Spirit (also called the charismata) are activated in the recipient to edify the body of Christ, the church. Some of these gifts are listed in 1 Corinthians 12.

 

The Pentecostal movement places special emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit, and especially on the gifts mentioned above in 1 Corinthians 12, believing that they are still given today. Mainstream Pentecostals believe that the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” is different and are not the same as the action of Salvation, which the Holy Spirit gives through the Blood of Christ from His death and resurrection from the dead! They consider it a usually distinct experience in which the Spirit’s power is received by the Christian in a new way, with the belief that the Christian can be more readily used to perform signs, miracles, and wonders for the sake of evangelism or for ministry within and without the walls of the church.

 

Pentecostal Cults – There are also some Pentecostals who believe that Spirit baptism is a necessary element in salvation, not a “second blessing”. These Pentecostals believe that in the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the power of the Spirit is released in their lives. (Student- These ‘so-called’ pentecostals teach a FALSE idea of Salvation. They teach you need more then just Christ to be Saved, and therefore, even though they call themselves christians and pentecostals, they are actually a cult.)

 

Many Pentecostals believe that the initial evidence of this infilling (baptism) of the Holy Spirit is the ability to speak in other tongues (glossolalia – Theology Study Word for speaking in tongues), and that tongues are one of several spiritual manifestations of the presence of the Holy Spirit in an individual believer’s life.

 

Non-Trinitarian Views –

Those who do not believe in the Trinity

 

Non-Trinitarian views about the Holy Spirit generally fall into one of two categories. Some groups believe that the Holy Spirit is a separate being from God the Father and God the Son, and is ‘one’ with them in some other sense than of being one substance; Latter Day Saint (Mormons) beliefs fall within this category. Others believe that the Holy Spirit refers to some aspect or action of God (i.e., Modalism); Jehovah’s Witness, Christadelphian, Unity Church, and Oneness Pentecostalism beliefs fall within this category.

 

Latter Day Saints (Mormons)   CULT

In the Latter-day Saint movement, the Holy Ghost (usually synonymous with Holy Spirit.) is considered the third distinct member of the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Ghost). The Holy Ghost is considered to be a son of God the Father,  and to have a body of “spirit,” which makes him unlike the Father and the Son who are said to have bodies “as tangible as man’s

 

Jehovah’s Witnesses     CULT

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the Holy Spirit is God’s active force, and do not typically capitalize the term. A Jehovah’s Witness brochure quotes Alvan Lamson: “…the Father, Son, and… Holy Spirit [are] not as co-equal, not as one numerical essence, not as Three in One… The very reverse is the fact

 

Christadelphians          CULT

Christadelphians believe that the phrase Holy Spirit refers to God’s character or mind, depending on the context.

 

Unity Church  CULT

The Unity Church interprets the religious terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit metaphysically, as three aspects of mind action: mind, idea, and expression. They believe this is the process through which all manifestation takes place. God does not exist, only except in metaphor form.

(Student– Just like the Mormons calling their false places of worship ‘churches’, don’t let the word ‘church’ in the name confuse you. They believe that God DOES NOT EXIST. That God is nothing more then an idea that man came-up with to try to encourage others to be more better then they already are. That God is an idea of ours, our mind is God and that when we do good we are being God, since God is nothing more then an idea.)

 

Oneness Pentecostalism      – REAL CHRISTIANS, JUST CONFUSED ONES –

Oneness Pentecostalism, and with other Modalist groups, teach that the Holy Spirit is a mode of God, rather than a distinct individual, and that there is no distinction between God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

 

(Student – Basically they believe God is only one, not trintiy {three-in-one} and that in man’s history, God choose to have different names. Father being the first name He wanted, Christ being the second and Holy Spirit as the last name He wanted for Himself – they are greatly confused!)

 

 

Fruit of the Spirit

 

Christians believe the “Fruit of the Spirit” consists of virtuous characteristics carved in the Christian by the action of the Holy Spirit. They are those listed in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

 

Gifts of the Spirit

 

Christians believe that the Holy Spirit gives ‘gifts’ to Christians. These gifts consist of specific abilities granted to the individual Christian. They are frequently known by the Greek word for gift, Charisma, from which the term charismatic derives. The New Testament provides three different lists of such gifts which range from the supernatural (healing, prophecy, tongues) through those associated with specific callings (teaching) to those expected of all Christians in some degree (faith). Most consider these lists not to be exhaustive, and other have compiled their own lists.

The Manger Points to the Cross and Our Salvation

The Manger Pointed to The Cross and Our Salvation

Author Unknown

The manger in which Jesus was laid has colored our imagery of Christmas. A manger, “[i]s a feeding-trough, crib, or open box in a stable designed to hold fodder for livestock.” Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, page 674. Usually, we associate the manger with the animals in the story of Christmas or with Jesus’ perceived poverty. I have several nativity sets which include the manger, along with barn animals. Although I am a nativity set enthusiast, there is a much deeper meaning in the manger.

The manger is mentioned three times in Luke 2. Mary lays Jesus in the manger, the angels tell the shepherds that they will find the Savior by seeking the baby lying in a manger, and then the shepherds in fact find Jesus lying in a manger. Obviously, the repetitive references to the manger are indicative of its significance in Luke’s narrative. As Bible scholar N.T. Wright comments:

[I]t was the feeding-trough, appropriately enough, which was the sign to the shepherds. It told them which baby they were looking for. And it showed them that the angel knew what he was talking about. To be sure, it’s another wonderful human touch in the story, to think of the young mother finding an animal’s feeding-trough ready to hand as a cot for her newborn one. No doubt there are many sermons waiting to be preached here about God coming down into the mess and muddle of real life. But the reason Luke has mentioned it is because it’s important in giving the shepherds their news and their instructions.

Why is this significant? Because it was the shepherds who were told who this child was. This child is the savior, the Messiah, the Lord. The manger isn’t important in itself. It’s a signpost, a pointing finger, to the identity and task of the baby boy who’s lying in it. The shepherds, summoned in from the fields (like David, the shepherd boy, brought in from the fields to be anointed as king), are made privy to the news, so that Mary and Joseph, hearing it from this unexpected source, will have extra confirmation of what up until now has been their own secret.  Wright, Luke for Everyone, page 22.

Wright’s comments are insightful. The shepherds hurried to Bethlehem and found their Savior just as the angel said – confirmed by the discovery of the baby in the manger. Because of this confirmation, they began telling others that the Savior had come. But Wright’s point that I had not reflected on before, was how this must have been powerful confirmation to Mary and Joseph. As verse 19 states, “Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.” It is revealing that God – on this momentous day – was concerned with providing confirmation that Mary would be able to “treasure.”

But it seems to me that there is yet more significance to the manger than its confirming role. Why did God choose to use the manger as a “sign” of the Savior? Signs are often chosen for a reason. For example, the “blood” of Jesus wiping away our sins alludes to the blood of animal sacrifices in earlier Judaism. So, the question remains, why the manger? The answer, I believe, is found later in Luke (as well as in Mark, Matthew, and 1 Corinthians) at the Last Supper:

And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood .”    Luke 22:19-20. From the day of His birth, Jesus was meant to die on our behalf. He came to offer his own body, his own blood, to accomplish his work as Savior. Jesus offered his body and blood as a sacrifice for us to consume and by consuming that sacrifice we find salvation. As John wrote, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” Thus, it is fitting that the Savior, at the start of his life, would be placed in a feeding-trough as a sign not only of who He is, but of how He will fulfill His purpose and effect our salvation. To me, that is the meaning of the manger.

The manger is a two-fold message. First it points to the fact that Chirst is the food of the world. (Bread and wine // “Eat of me and never go hungery again”- Jesus) also it points that Christ would be crucified on the cross for our sins. He was born into this world and laid on some wood, and he would die in this world laying on some wood!