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This forum is about “THE HOLY SPIRIT”

The New Testament was written by men who knew Jesus personally.  Although it is possible that Mark and Luke may have never seen Jesus, they both were close companions to the Apostles that did see Jesus and knew Him. For instance, Mark (with Peter) and Luke (with Paul) were all close companions in the Gospel of Christ. They all received divine revelation from Jesus to write scriptures and instruct the church.  The Apostle Peter’s confession of Jesus, that He was the “Son of the Living God,” reciprocated a returned response that, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.”  It was upon the revelation in the identity of Jesus that Christ built His church.  On the birth day of the church, which was the day of Pentecost, it’s beginning was signified by the coming of the Holy Spirit, and indwelt the believers of Christ on the day of Pentecost.  In Peter’s sermon, he emphasized to the people how they must be saved, and the Lord never changed his message.  Peter said repent, and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you will receive the Holy Ghost (Ac. 2:38).  As such, the New Testament church has been responsible to proclaiming the same message as Peter and the Apostles regarding salvation and the new birth experience.  One of the emphasis’ I want to focus in Peter’s message is the Holy Spirit.  The terms Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit are synonymous and mean the same thing; they are used interchangeably. It is significant to understand that everyone that was baptized (born) of the Spirit spoke in tongues as the initial evidence of the indwelling and infilling of the former.  It must also be emphasized that the gift of the Holy Spirit was/is a promise to all who believe on Jesus (Mk. 1:8; Jn. 7:39).  A faith response is required of a believer in Christ along with obedience.  Faith is not a mental accent, but an obedient response to the Word of God.  In other words, if you believe something, you will do it; faith essentially means trust.  And once faith is present, the believer must move toward obeying God’s Word.  Even as the Apostle Peter commanded, that, the people must (1) repent, (2) be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; (3) receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  To refuse to obey God’s Word is disobedience.  And the refusal to believe and receive the Holy Spirit is synonymous to disobedience, which is sin.  Acts 5:32 says that, “…God has given the Holy Spirit to all those who obey Him” (Ac. 5:32).

– Blessings to all of you.

This forum includes all discussions on the topic of “Water Baptism”

Matthew 28:19 and Mark 16:15-16 is Jesus’ Great Commission to His disciples. And from the disciples, they were to commission the church as Jesus instructed. Mark emphasizes the words that the person who believes and is baptized will be saved. Matthew emphasized the baptizing of new disciples in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The commission to baptize people in the Name (singular) not Names (plural) was a command from the Lord. The terms Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is not a Name as referred to in Matthew 28:19. For instance, I’m a father but John Matthew is my name. I’m a son but ‘son’ is not my name. In order to obey His command, we need to know the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost to which the Apostle Matthew is referring. As it was understood by Peter and the other men who were present with Jesus at the time He commissioned them, they understood it to be Jesus Christ. The book of Acts is discipleship put into action when they started carrying out Christ’s command of discipleship. They all quoted the Name Jesus Christ over candidates when they were baptized in the New Testament. Colossians 3:17 says, “Everything you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Let’s consider Matthew 28:19 again. Jesus’ command to make disciples by going, teaching, and baptizing in the “Name” of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is first fulfilled in Acts 2:38, 41. When the Apostle Peter gave this command, Matthew, John, James and all the other Apostles were present to correct him if he was wrong. But Peter wasn’t wrong; he fully and completely obeyed Jesus’ command. The Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost – referred to in Matthew 28:19 – is Jesus Christ. And all instances of Christian water baptism in the New Testament were all done in the Name of Jesus Christ (see Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5; 22:16; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 1:12-15; Gal. 3:27; ), as fulfillment of Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19 and Mark 16:15-16, for water baptism.  For those who are still not convinced by Scripture itself, you should therefore be aware that the Catholic Church admitted that they changed the baptismal formula from the words, “Jesus Christ” to the words, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”1 Prior to the development of the doctrine of the Trinity in the second and third century, the early Church baptized believers in the Name of Jesus Christ.  After the doctrine of the Trinity was developed in the second and third century, the baptismal formula was changed from the Name of Jesus Christ and replaced with the Trinitarian formula: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.2

– Blessings to all of you.

REFERENCES

1 Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Page 263

2 Canney Encyclopedia of Religion, Page 53

3 Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Pages 365-366

This Forum Is A Discussion About “WHAT COLOR WAS JESUS”

All of us have been taught all of our lives that Jesus was a white male. White Europeans, such as Michael Angelo, and many Americans have not only taught that Jesus was a white male, but everything that is good, such as God, Angels, and everything in heaven – have been associated with the white race. The devil and everything that is evil has been associated with the black race. It has not been much of a quarrel or outcry over the white-Jesus theory until people (white and black) began questioning the validity of this claim. If we can be honest with ourselves, the teaching of Jesus being a white male never mattered much to anyone until the validity of the claim has been brought into question. The offense to the challenge has often risen up with the confession, “It doesn’t matter what color Jesus was” which is completely false. The truth is that it does matter what color Jesus was on earth, because he has been given a racial status in the minds of many that don’t line up with the Scriptures. And for reasons as such, it has placed a stumbling block before many, and has hindered countless others from coming to Jesus. The white-Jesus theory has been the status quo in America for centuries. The people manifesting seeds of offense to the challenge of the theory are often offended by those who trend upon a theory they believed all their lives. It matters to those who are offended, and it matters to everyone. The reason it matters is that the white-Jesus theory is false. And if we care about truth we would seek it out, and therefore debunk all false theories that do not line up with the Scriptures. Jesus was not born in Europe or in the United States. The truth about Jesus is that He was a Hebraic-Jew from the land of Israel, whose descendants came out of Egypt in Africa (De. 10:22); and not a white male of European descent. In the Bible, Jacob’s household of seventy-people relocated to Egypt because there was a severe famine in their homeland, and there was food in Egypt. They moved to the section of Egypt called Goshen. And when Moses was eighty, God sent him back into Egypt to lead all the Israelites out; where they eventually settled in what became known as the land of Judea. Jesus was born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth.

– Blessings to all of you.

This discussion forum is on the doctrine of “SALVATION”

Salvation, from the Greek term Soter, means save, deliver, or set-free.  It is a byproduct of redemption Jesus paid on the cross for all humanity.  It is not something a person can earn, or can anyone give to you.  It is something that only Jesus can give to a person, in accordance to their obedience to His Word. A person’s response to the Gospel message of Salvation comes from he or she hearing the Gospel; and placing their personal faith in Him as their one and only savior of their soul.  The Gospel message of Salvation was proclaimed by the Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost.  It was/is specifically based on Acts 2:38, and not Romans 10:9-10.  Biblical faith has always been associated with a person doing something.  Simply believing something mentally is not faith.  Doing what you believe is faith.  For example, Noah believed God and his faith moved him to build an Ark. If he would have just believed God’s Word mentally and not build the ark, he would have died in the flood.  Abraham believed God and attempted to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering to God.  The angel then said to Abraham, “Now I know you believe God…” The presence of faith has always been, and will always be associated with the actions of the individual.  A person’s actions justify the measure of their faith.  In regards to Romans 10:9-10, it is not possible to simply confess with your mouth and believe in your heart in the absence of Repentance from sin, Water and Spirit baptism.  A person cannot simply save you by telling you to repeat words that they say (and then supposedly after a person repeated your words they have then been granted salvation).  While many churches are telling people to believe in their heart and confess Jesus with their mouth – and viola, welcome to the Kingdom of God!  Jesus said, “Unless a person is born again, he or she cannot see the His kingdom.  And unless you are born of Water and the Spirit, you cannot enter His Kingdom” (Jn. 3:3-5).  Peter took Jesus’ Words and preached them on the day of Pentecost – Repentance, Water Baptism, and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost – which all equal Salvation.  The Blood, Water, and Spirit all agree in One. Salvation requires a made up mind and commitment to turn away from sin in repentance to Jesus Christ.  The message of salvation proclaimed by Jesus and preached by the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost is mostly foreign to many so-called Bible believing churches in the world.  These movements claim to be Bible believing but they, in essence, don’t believe in the Bible; nor do they preach it or teach it to people.  It is because many false prophets have entered the churches and planted false doctrines while so-called pastors are still counting their money, and working so hard to please people. The Gospel comes before an Epistle.  A person has to come through the Gospel before being instructed in the Word as a believer.  And if you are living a life of sin, you are on your way straight to hell; regardless of what you claim to confess.

– Blessings to all of you.

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