Experience: (1) Jesus is LORD, Messiah
(2) Husband of a beautiful wife (40-years); Father of three-beautiful children.
(3) United States Marine Corps 1/1 - 0311 - NCO
(4) Retired 31-year veteran of the Houston Police Department (Patrol-Motorcycle Officer-Commercial Helicopter Police Patrol Pilot)
(5) Education: Master's Degree/University of Houston at Clear Lake
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Confusion concerning Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:32)
32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit spoken of by Messiah was ONLY relevant to those who accused Jesus of casting-out demons by the power of the Devil thus equating the work of the Holy Spirit with the work of the Devil…this was only possible while Messiah walked upon this Earth performing signs and wonders by the power of the Holy Spirit in the presence of humanity.
Some theologians rightly suggest that blasphemy against the Spirit today is “unbelief”…that is, rejecting the call of the Spirit to repent and trust in Jesus as Lord; therefore, to die in “unbelief” is the only sin that is beyond God’s grace for if one dies in unbelief they will die in their sin and therefore not enter the Kingdom of God where nothing impure is permitted to enter therein (Revelation 21:27).
What makes Christianity different – don’t Christian’s sin like everyone else?
All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and His righteous standard i.e. perfection (Romans 3:23), but as a Christian, born again by faith in Jesus as my Lord and having received the Holy Spirit as my Tutor, Teacher, Wisdom (John 3), I no longer run after or pursue sin but actively seek to eschew it, avoid it, because the Holy Spirit guides me in the ways of God’s will for my life via the daily process of sanctification (Galatians 5:16) and Jesus’ blood and His imputed righteousness covers my sin, past-present-future (Hebrews 8:12); therefore, I have peace with God because He loves me, God gave Himself for me and I love Him more than life itself and this intimate relationship is greater than anything a man or woman might desire from this World that is passing away in nihilism and futility (1 John 2:15).
Jesus was NOT “created”…Jesus is Spirit, Jesus is Elohim (John 4:24) and Jesus is God eternal, immortal, everlasting (Psalm 90:2; John 1; Hebrews 1). Elohim told you as early as Genesis 3:15 that He would enter the Realm of Time through the virgin womb in order to circumvent the curse on Adam’s seed, a genomic curse resulting in the sin-nature that condemns all of humanity (those having attained an age of reason/accountability) to death in Hell (Romans 5:12); then, Elohim provided you a word picture in Genesis 3:21 concerning His strategy to destroy the works of the Devil and defeat the power of sin, death, Hell, the grave, through the Gospel ordained “before Time began” (1 John 3:8b; 2 Timothy 1:9-10); that battle strategy comprised of the shedding of innocent blood by God Himself to cover the sin of humanity in an imputed robe of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) while rejecting the work of man’s self-righteousness to cover sin as pictured by the fig leaves Adam used to cover his own sin and shame.
Jesus is, was always, will always be, God (Hebrews 13:8); Jesus Christ is Elohim who entered the Realm of Time in a body like ours, void the sin-nature, to make known the true and Living God (Philippians 2:5-11; John 14:9) and ultimately give Himself as blood atonement (Matthew 26:28) as per the mandates of Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22, and subsequently provide humanity a pathway to eternal life through the forgiveness of sin (John 14:6; John 3:16-18) while simultaneously defeating His nemesis, the origin of sin and evil, Satan (1 John 3:8b).
Salvation, Eternal Life. Eternal Security. Performance-based or Faith-based?
Your salvation is a Gift (John 3:16-18) granted you by faith in the Son, Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 10:9-10); you are then sealed by Covenant (Matthew 26:28) by the Holy Spirit who is the “Guarantor” of relationship, forever (Ephesians 1:13-14). Your salvation does not depend upon your performance, if it did, you would never escape Hell (Romans 8; Romans 3:20). If you belong to the Father through Jesus as your Lord, you will endure to the end and the Spirit will ensure that by promise and walk you daily in sanctification in God’s will as He prepares you for service in the New Jerusalem (Galatians 5:15; Jude 1:24; 1 John 2:27). No one will snatch the faithful in Jesus out of God’s hand irrespective of our trials, tribulations, failures, and there is peace in this Truth. We know we belong to God and are secure in Him as the Spirit testifies with our spirit that God is our Father, forever (Romans 8:16).
Hell is the eternal destiny of those who reject Jesus as Lord for the mediation of sin (John 3:16). God desires that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth in Jesus (1 Timothy 2:4). Hell was NOT created for mankind but for Satan and his angels who allied with him in the rebellion (Matthew 25:41). Mankind enters Hell by “choice”…”free will” by rejecting the saving grace God freely offers by faith in Jesus Christ as Lord believing that Jesus died to pay your sin-debt (Romans 10:9-10). There are only two-options in this life concerning eternity,
1) Choose eternal life through the forgiveness of sin by trusting in Jesus as your Lord and receive the imputation of His righteousness into your life by faith (2 Corinthians 5:21).
2) Reject the forgiveness of sin by rejecting Jesus Christ as your Lord and die in your sin and die in Hell as your sin will NOT be permitted to enter the Kingdom subsequent to the death of your body in Time (John 8:24; Revelation 21:27).
Jesus Christ as Lord, believing that Jesus died to pay your sin-debt and that He was resurrected from the dead for your justification, is the only Way to life in the Eternal realm and in the New Jerusalem (Romans 10:9-10).
Why did a “loving” God permit the evil of the Holocaust?
God allows evil to exist because we chose it, self-righteousness and narcissism, over His paradise; also, our entire creation is the resultant of a war initiated in the Spiritual Realm and this Earth is a temporary repository for that war as God is demonstrating to the faithful angelic creation (that He adores beyond human comprehension) the ramifications, the horror, of disobedience and rejection of His law and His love. Truth be told, human beings think far too much of themselves and live and act as if God owes us something as though we’re entitled.
The thousands-of-years of Satan’s limited dominion upon the Earth will ultimately act as a bulwark against future rebellion in the Kingdom of God where free will remains extant out of necessity. Human kind has been given the opportunity by grace to ally with God in this war between good and evil by following and serving Jesus Christ as Lord; you are free to choose victory in Jesus Christ and live eternally; you are free to choose defeat in Satan and die the “second death” in Hell as God’s enemy. You are free to choose your eternal destiny; this is war, you’re a warrior regardless of your station in life; therefore, choose wisely!
A future Tribulation prefacing Messiah’s Millennial Reign. Why?
Our entire creation within the Realm of Time is the resultant of Satan’s rebellion in the Kingdom and God removing that destructive war from His Kingdom and commissioning the Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:35), to create this Earth (John 1; Hebrews 1; Colossians 1) as a repository to deal with Satan’s destructive sin partially constrained by Time and physics (Hebrews 11:3). The previous 6000+ years have been God’s display to the faithful angelic creation, those remaining loyal during the rebellion, of the horrors of sin, disobedience, the ramifications of rejecting God’s authority. The first major “tribulation” period that displayed God’s wrath concerning Satan’s deception on the Earth was the Noahic generation that God ultimately destroyed with water (Genesis 6).
Tribulation #1,
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis 6
Subsequently, wars and rumors of wars have come and gone and many millions if not billions of human lives have succumbed to starvation-murder-torture-hate-suffering families and men and women and children, the Holocaust, abortion…these are examples God has given to the faithful angelic creation relevant to WHY Satan was cast from Heaven (Luke 10:18; Ezekiel 28:11+) and why Satan, the fallen angels, must one-day be sequestered in Hell forever; this, while God has defeated and destroyed the works of the Devil via selfless love through the Gospel (Genesis 3:15; Genesis 3:21; 1 John 3:8b; John 3:16).
The coming Tribulation Era will be another stark display of evil and I believe the Holy Spirit’s restraining power will be at least partially lifted (2 Thessalonians 2:7) and the horror of pure, unrestrained, evil will be witnessed upon the Earth and in the Heavens; at that time, the Nation’s of Russia-China-Iran/Islamic coalition will ally against Jerusalem, Israel and an unconscionable nuclear war will ensue (Zechariah 14:12).
Tribulation #2,
12 And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem:Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths. Zechariah 14:12 (NKJV)
The 2nd-Tribulation Era will culminate with Jesus Christ victorious over the armies who have fought against Israel initiating the 2nd-Advent of Messiah Jesus and the initiation of His Millennial Reign. At the initiation of the Millennial Kingdom, Satan will be bound for 1000-years and perfect peace will reign upon the Earth; this, another stark, experientially relevant, model differentiating Satan’s 6000-years of destruction v. World peace for 1000-years while the rebellious cherub angel is incarcerated.
At the end of the Millennial Reign of Christ, Satan will be loosed once again to deceive the Nations with lies and apostasy and a rebellion against God’s authority will once again manifest; this is a final demonstration to the faithful angelic creation concerning Satan’s horror through deception and the faithful angels will ultimately concur with Jesus Christ that Satan does indeed deserve punishment in Hell, forever (Revelation 20:10).
So then, the coming Tribulation dispensation will be one of the final major demonstrations by God relevant to the horrors of disobedience, the catastrophic consequences of ignoring God and His moral law; the demonstration of Satan’s horror upon the Earth will ultimately act as a bulwark against rebellion in the New Jerusalem for both the resurrected saints and the angels as free will remains extant and uninhibited but controlled via experiential relevance gained through 6000-years of observing Satan’s deception upon the previous Earth that will have been purified by fire (John 8:44; 2 Peter 3:7).
A Plea to seek Life – to the Islamist, the Jew, the Israelite, the Legalist, the Atheist… (Response to an Islamist who blasphemed Jesus as Messiah)
The Torah’s specific purpose is to point you to Jesus as your Messiah and if you reject Jesus, you reject Torah (John 5:46). If you die in Torah, you will perish in Hell as well (Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:10; James 2:10).
The Quran is a work of the Devil as Islam’s Allah is Satan masquerading as an angel of light via the Arabic Moon god (2 Corinthians 11:14). Islam is born of adultery between Abraham – Hagar producing the “wild donkey” named Ishmael (Genesis 16:12) who is the progenitor of the Ishmaelites who are the progenitors of a 7th-Century demon possessed pedophile, murderer, thief, named Muhammad who plagiarized the Torah to construct the Quran in an effort to convince the Jews in Media to follow the ways of the book-or Islam…there is no life in the Quran or the Torah…neither provide atonement for your sin (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 10:4)…
Only the shed innocent blood of Jesus will atone for your sin and without Jesus as your Lord to Mediate that sin before the Father, you have no hope (John 3:16-19; 14:6; 8:24). You are on a path of darkness and hopeless headed to Perdition in nihilism and meaninglessness…repent, trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior…LIVE!
24 Seeing the man’s sadness, Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus was not using hyperbole but His audience understood the import of His statement and analogy as they could relate to the “eye of the needle” and the camel in an experiential way we cannot in modern times. In ancient cities, there was a wall around them to provide security for the citizenry within and these walls had rather large main gates at various positions to allow ingress/egress during the daylight hours; during the night hours, security was a concern; therefore, a small gate was constructed adjacent to the large gate or at a strategic place in the wall sufficiently large for a person to pass through and enter the city after dark to access protection and shelter…this small gate was referred to as the “eye of the needle” and only required one or two guards to maintain security.
Jesus is teaching that it’s NOT impossible for a camel to pass through the “eye of a needle” but that a laden camel must first be unloaded, its possessions, its cargo, removed and the camel would most likely have to get on its knees and scoot through the narrow opening with much difficulty. Jesus is teaching that one must place their wealth, their possessions, in the proper perspective in order to enter the Kingdom of God…lay aside all encumbrances and make God and His Kingdom your number-one priority…then you can return and take possession of your wealth, your property, and use them for God’s glory with thanksgiving.
In the New Covenant of Grace as opposed to the Covenant of Law, the Holy Spirit is given as an eternal Gift to the one who believes with a sincere heart that Jesus is Lord who died to pay their sin-debt and it is the Holy Spirit who is the seal and Guarantor of covenant relationship with the Father, forever (Ephesians 1:13-14; John 14:16); contrast this work of the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant with the Spirit’s work in the Covenant of Law where the Holy Spirit was only given to specific individuals who were tasked by God with a Kingdom responsibility that mandated specific anointing and the Holy Spirit, in the Covenant of Law, could be taken away – removed for disobedience to God’s will (Psalm 51:11).
When one believes that Jesus is Lord and receives the Holy Spirit of Promise in the New Covenant, they receive every ounce of the Spirit’s presence, omnipotence, gifts, they will ever receive; unfortunately, there are those in the world of “charismata” that believe a filling of the Holy Spirit manifests subsequent to salvation but this is an error that often times leads to heresy and apostasy through works of self-righteousness or a works salvation doctrine e.g. tongues mandated to verify salvation, the “filling of the Spirit” as in some factions of Pentecostalism. This charismatic heresy leads to schisms in the Church body, self-righteousness, pride, arrogance, fear and doubt over one’s salvation status if they don’t participate in the pagan practice of gibberish – ecstatic utterance in an “unknown tongue.”
When the Holy Spirit is given as the Guarantor of our relationship with God by faith in Jesus as Lord, the power and the work of the Holy Spirit within us is wholly dependent and contingent upon the individual surrendering to the will and work of the Spirit in their life through obedience and study of the Scriptures and diligence in prayer and one’s desire to be pleasing to the Father using the gifts that have been given them (1 Corinthians 12:8-10) through the Spirit’s leadership in the daily process of sanctification (Galatians 5:16). Apart from the Holy Spirit’s work in your life, you can do nothing that positively impacts the Kingdom of God and only those works done through the Holy Spirit’s power and guidance will successfully pass judgment at the BEMA Seat Judgment of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:10-14; 2 Corinthians 5:10).
In conclusion, it’s NOT about how much of the Spirit you possess…it’s about how much of yourself are you willing to give to the work of God and how much are you willing to commit to God’s will for your life? The Holy Spirit is completely capable of using your life to impact the Kingdom of God for good but the question is, are you willing to step-out in faith with courage and allow the Holy Spirit to work through you to accomplish His will in Time and Eternity in this wicked and adulterous generation?
"RickeyD" Holtsclaw 