Blasphemy of The Holy Spirit

The one unforgivable sin, according to Jesus, is blaspheming the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 12:24-37)

What does this mean?

As with most things, context is key.

In context, Jesus has just cast out demons. His detractors, the religous leaders of the day (e.g. Phariessees, Saducees, et al) accuse Jesus of doing such signs and wonders by the power of unclean spirits, i.e. demons.

Now one may be tempted to think: "That's it? That is the one, unforgivable sin? Isn't actual, physical murder (e.g. abortion) worse? What about doing drugs? Fornicating? Adultery? What about using the NIV--or not even going to church sometimes?"

Nope, all of that pales in comparison to falsely attributing to demons what the Holy Spirit has done.

This should cuase us to wonder: have we comitted this unpardonable sin? I certainly have attributed some words and actions of other people as having come from the devil, or demons. Thankfully, in the most likely situation of that in my life (to my knowledge), it seems God backed my interpration pretty strongly, but that is a story for another day.

If that's what this is, what does that mean for the church today? Well first and most obviously, we should be careful about slinging around such accusations, especially perhaps in regards to alleged miracles, which is the situation of Jesus and the Pharisees in Matthew 12:24-37. Better just to say "Who knows?" than fire off shots of words with unmerited self confidence and without serious prayer and consideration.

Growing up, I hope I have not seen instances of this when non-charismatic Christians accuse Pentecostals (etc.) of being demonic when they speak in tongues or get "slain in the Spirit" (i.e. fall to the ground under the power of the Holy Ghost).

For these phenomena, it would seem wise to me to heed and apply the principle inherant in Paul's advice regarding the interpretation of prophecies, i.e. those alledging to be speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as in 1 Thes. 5:20-21:

"Do not treat prophecies with contempt. But examine all things; hold fast to what is good."

Likewise, 1 Cor. 14:29: 

"Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said."

charismatic starter pack

Below are some examples of videos and other resources that have encouraged me or otherwise taught me something along the path of embracing the practicing of all the spiritual gifts available to us today, as well as "deliverence" ministry (casting out demons). Some of these teachings are long; I'm not in agreement with every idea spoken therein, of course, but these are some interesting places to launch into further exploration of the charismata.

Shalom.

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Leading New Testment scholar Tom (NT) Wright on why he prays in tongues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sla0T4X-I8o

Dr. Michael Heiser has done extensive, scholarly work on the spiritual realities behind our everday lives, as detailed in his book The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. The key concepts he summarizes in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lLkVlc9xdI

Pastor Dan Mohler on deliverance (casting out demons):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_KrKRg748A

Andrew Cannon's testimony. He's an evangelist who overcame addiction, and he (himself) was the first person he ever heard pray in tongues, the moment he believed. His evangelism stories are inspiring and encouraging:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WH2hSPeYiI&list=PLr5dAEeddoZhpFTtv4mTDFYK2jWhVv_QS&index=13&t=201s

David Wagner on prophecy and his journey of hearing the voice of God (including the tragic misdiagnosis as skizophrenic as a child, although he skims over that in this powerful interview): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EDAqMEKzbk&t=306s

See a young man delivered from addiction, by Holy Spirit and love:
https://youtu.be/qegISunQj5A?t=1077

Dan Mohler in 2021 teaching on healing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vI59SlkW6Q&t=4487s

Dan Mohler on moving past a failed healing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dni0e32rJcI&t=101s

Torben Søndergaard (The Last Reformation) guidance on setting people free in Christ. He presents a sort of three-fold taxonomy of possibilities (obedience to Christ, renewal of mind, deliverance from demons):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3JvxsdU_-A&t=132s

Dan Mohler on why some people manifest more than others in the Spirit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8uL1wIyujQ&t=85s

Another leading New Testament scholar, Craig Keener (famous in Churches of Christ for his heavy-weight, multi-volume, historical commentary on the book of Acts), debunking the ceasing of some of the spiritual gifts (short and long versions):
Short (12 min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWZbaNApGl8
Long (1hr+): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InKAO3x5N5o&t=898s

Dr. Michael Brown and Pastor Doug Wilson debating the continuation (vs. cessation) of all the Spiritual gifts today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmDCl-gMJ3k

Dr. Greg Boyd (PhD from Princeton) on casting out demons. His book God at War is great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wITTLoVCfuw

Blog (a book excerpt) about leading a presence-driven church: https://www.johnpiippo.com/2013/12/leading-presence-driven-church.html

Michael Miller, pastor of UPPERROOM (a charismatic church in Dallas), shares his story of meeting Holy Spirit in an "underground" Church of Christ meeting as a young pastor in Churches of Christ.
Timestamped for the meeting (20:43-33:40 esp.):
https://youtu.be/NHEBse0f3yU?t=1243

Craig Keener discussing the fivefold ministry for today: https://youtu.be/KVqGF5RpyDk

“For Though I Grieved You” Paper on Homosexuality (PDF)

Click below to download my research on homosexuality, facilitated for myself but also on behalf of congregations who were/are "revisiting" the subject of homosexuality. My conclusion is traditional (one man, one woman), of course, yet there are many points to consider when addressing this topic, some or many of which the average church-goer may not be familiar. This paper thus surveys numerous popular sub-topics and shines a light on some lesser known classical/historical resources that dismantle such ideas as Paul "not knowing" about consensual, monogamous homosexual relationships between adults. That simply is not true. Nor is there a paucity of New Testament passages pertaining to homosexuality. At the same time, the church must be the kind of place where brothers and sisters who struggle with same sex attraction can confide in and talk to other believers about their experiences without being ostracized.  Jesus invite everyone, regardless of their background, to die to themselves, be born again, and learn to walk in His ways. Praise be to God for His grace and mercy and love toward us all. Let us love one another as He loves us.

"For Though I Grieved You: Christian Ethics & Homosexuality" (PDF)

Leroy Garrett’s Church of Christ Wishlist: My Additions

The following list is from Leroy Garrett’s “What I want for Churches of Christ," an addendum in A Lover’s Quarrel, An Autobiograophy: My Pilgrimage of Freedom in Churches of Christ (pp. 267-271). In general I agree with his points and will add mine below his. He writes:

  1. Let us recover our heritage as a unity people.
  2. Let us resolutely and absolutely renounce our more recent sectarian heritage.
  3. Let us, in particular, repudiate our historic position of making instrumental music a test of fellowship and cause for division.
  4. While we are to continue to be Churches of Christ, let us become what Churches of Christ truly ought to be—in the light of Scripture and our own true heritage.
  5. Let us become part of the body of Christ at large, cooperating with other Christians in the work of redeeming the world.

In addition to these ideas, and perhaps even more so, I contend:

  1. Let us refocus our efforts, centering them on discipleship and the great commission.
  2. Let us learn to partner with God via the Holy Spirit.
  3. Let us renounce cessationism, the unbiblical, post-canonical teaching that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit ceased after the formation of the Bible and time of the apostles.

I think if we pursue these last three (well, points 2-3 overlap), Garrett's five will happen naturally.

Sermon Links

2021

12/19/21 Class (Colossians) & Sermon (Rev. 12) - Lumberton Church of Christ http://lumbertonchurch.org/class-worship-12-19-2021/

10/24/21 Class & Sermon - Lumberton Church of Christ - https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=866606247386060

11/28/21 Class (Colossians) & Sermon (John 6) - Lumberton Church of Christ http://lumbertonchurch.org/class-worship-11-28-2021/

8/15/21 Sermon - Southwest Central Church of Christ (Houston) - https://swcentral.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/10000000_954618191935795_8610303073068736640_n-AudioTrimmer.com_.mp3

6/20/21 Sermon - "Gods Mission" (Gen. 12:1-3) - West University Church of Christ (Houston) - https://www.westuchurch.org/2021/06/20/gods-mission-clint-boyd/

 

2020-older

11/22/20 Sermon - "God's Work in Us and on Campus" - West University Church of Christ (Houston) - https://www.westuchurch.org/2020/11/22/gods-work-in-us-and-on-campus-clint-boyd/

9/2/18 Sermon on Acts 16:16-34- Southwest Central Church of Christ (Houston) - https://swcentral.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018.09.02_10.26_01.mp3

10/7/18 Sermon - "A Dwelling Place on Campus" (Psalm 107:1-9) - West University Church of Christ (Houston) - https://www.westuchurch.org/2018/10/07/a-dwelling-place-on-campus-clint-boyd/

Jesus would/will never judge?

John 5:21 Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. 22 The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

Acts 10:41 ...not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.

Acts 17:30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

1Cor. 11:31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

2Tim. 4:1   In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you:

2Tim. 4:8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Heb. 10:30 For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

Matt. 25:31   “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left….45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matt. 16:27   “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.

Rev. 19:11   Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

Rev. 22:12   “See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Little if any wrath of God in Revelation?

Rev. 6:16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Rev. 11:18             The nations raged,

                        but your wrath has come,

                        and the time for judging the dead,

            for rewarding your servants, the prophets

                        and saints and all who fear your name,

                        both small and great,

            and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”

Rev. 14:10 they will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and they will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

Rev. 14:19 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.

Rev. 15:1    Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and amazing: seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is ended.

Rev. 15:7 Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever;

Rev. 16:1   Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

Rev. 16:19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. God remembered great Babylon and gave her the wine-cup of the fury of his wrath.

Rev. 19:11   Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly in midheaven, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and their riders—flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great.” 19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against the rider on the horse and against his army. 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed in its presence the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 And the rest were killed by the sword of the rider on the horse, the sword that came from his mouth; and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.