A brief introduction to the Person and Work of The Holy Spirit.

I produced this some years ago as a beginner's guide. It can be used as a basis for Bible Studies, Sermon series, overviews... the Symbols are particularly useful with children and for all-age services. You'll have to do your own research to use it properly. It is intended as a guide.

A brief introduction to the Person and Work of The Holy Spirit.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Christ’s Promises of the Holy Spirit’s coming	Luke 11:13. The Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him	John 4:10-14 The promise of Living Water to the Samaritan Woman.	John 7:37 – 39 The promise of Living Water at the Temple	John 14:16-17 The Counsellor and Spirit of Truth	John 14:25-26 The Paraclete and Teacher	John 15:26-27 The Counsellor, Spirit of Truth and witness	John 16:7-11The Advocate who convinces	John16:13 – 15 Spirit of Truth and our Guide	John 20:22-23 Authority to forgive	Luke 24:49 Acts 1:8 Power from on high, power to witness.
Symbols of the Holy Spirit	Dove Luke 3:22	Oil Luke 4:18	Wind John 3:1 - 16  Acts2:2	Water John 7:37- 39	Fire Acts  2:3	Wine Acts 2:15 Eph.5:18	Seal 2 Cor. 1:22	These symbols show aspects of the nature and work of the Holy Spirit. The verses given are by way of example.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit	Words of Wisdom	Words of Knowledge	Faith	Gifts of Healing	Working of Miracles	Prophecy	Discernment of spirits	Various kinds of Tongues	Interpretation of tongues	All in 1 Cor.12:8-11
Aspects of the Fruit of the Spirit	Love	Joy	Peace	Patience Long-suffering	Kindness	Goodness	Faithfulness	Gentleness Meekness	Self-control	All in Galatians 6:22-23
Ministries of the Holy Spirit	Apostles 1 Cor.12:27ff Ephesians 4:11ff	Prophets 1 Cor.12:27ff Ephesians 4:11ff	Pastors  and       Teachers Ephesians           1 Cor.12:27ff 4:11ff.            Ephesians 4:11ff These two are linked ministries.		Evangelists Ephesians 4:11ff	Workers of miracles 1 Cor.12:27ff	Healers 1 Cor.12:27ff	Helpers 1 Cor.12:27ff	Administrators 1 Cor.12:27ff	Speakers in various kinds of tongues 1 Cor.12:27ff
Letters of the Spirit to the Churches	Ephesus I will grant to eat of the tree of life	Smyrna shall not be hurt by the second death	Pergamum Hidden manna and white stone with a new name	Thyatira Authority and power to rule; the morning star	Sardis White garments; confess name in Heaven	Philadelphia Pillar of the Temple; name of God, New City and Messiah	Laodicea To eat with Christ and to sit on his throne	All in Revelation 2 & 3. These are the rewards given to those who conquer. This is what the Holy Spirit wants to do for the Christian; the destiny He intends for the believer.
Names of the Spirit in Isaiah	Spirit of YHWH	Wisdom	Understanding	Counsel	Might	Knowledge	Fear (Awe)	All in Isa.11:2 This reveals the character and nature of the Holy Spirit.
Work of the Spirit in Isaiah	Good news to the afflicted (poor)	Bind up the broken-hearted	Proclaim liberty to the captives; Opening of prison to the bound	Proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour	And the day of vengeance of our God	To comfort all who mourn	To grant a garland, the oil of gladness and a mantle of praise	All in Isa.61:1 – 3 Another aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work. This is not exclusive nor is there a choice for us about what He wants to do in the Church, except to obey or disobey.

© GIG 2009
© Ian G and The Almond Rod 2013

Police ignorance is something to fear.

The days  when the police understood that they and preachers of the gospel were on the same side are long gone. Today's police detective thinks that a simple explanation of the gospel and sin amounts to a confession of a homophobic crime. He was wrong, but it could all change if the Queen is forced into violating her Coronation Oath and signs same-sex 'marriage' into law.

Christian Concern and its sister organisation, the Christian Legal Centre have been closely involved with defending the U.S. street preacher and former US cop (!) against his persecution  by our excuse for what used to be the best police force in the world.

The downgrading of religious education in schools has led to a blanket ignorance of Christianity and of the Gospel. The sins of Rome have tarred every Church with the same brush and the Press parade their colossal ignorance with every article they write about religion.

Today's Police haven't got a clue. They think that silencing the Gospel is the right thing to do. Jesus warned us this would happen.

The Christian Legal Centre have provided links to a video of the arrest and a transcript of the arresting officer's  interview with Tony Miano. What is painfully evident is the utter ignorance of the detective.

You can read the transcript here.

And here's the video:

A moving and powerful testimony.

The video that follows is not some second or third hand account or something from somewhere else of doubtful authenticity. This man is known to Holy Trinity Church West Bromwich (HTWB). The Rev. Neil Robbie was an engineer before he was a vicar and is not given to gullibility. I know him and have met Harjit Kumar. All of which is to say that you can trust what you are going to see.

And it will bless you. Share it.

This is the Vicar's account of how he first heard the testimony taken from his blog 'Transforming Grace'.

We held our last session of the SOUL course this afternoon at Holy Trinity West Bromwich. 15 minutes before we were due to start I was praying for the guy who we’d asked to share his testimony, he was late. Just then one of the course members, Harjit, approached me and said “Can I share my testimony tonight?” I wasn’t sure but as I had been praying I wondered if this was the answer. I phoned the guy who was meant to share, he was stuck somewhere. Then the next surprise. Harjit said, “my testimony is on YouTube. I can’t give it live without a translator.” So we downloaded the clip and here’s the great surprise and blessing which moved half the room to tears of joy.

And in Texas... Blood-sucking parasites

That's babies to you and me. What follows is upsetting. If it isn't, you aren't human.



Notice the age of the children and the language in the posters.

But it get's better - or worse - depending on how you see it.

In a previous post: "They shoot horses, don't they?" I dealt with the Gosnell case. He was not alone.

Pro-abortionists actually prevented a vote in the Texas senate by mob action. They also declared who their real boss was :

http://www.wnd.com/2013/07/texas-abortion-supporters-chant-hail-satan/

http://www.wnd.com/2013/05/video-triggers-calls-for-investigation-of-abortionist/

Authorities in Texas are calling for a formal investigation of an abortionist after reports surfaced that he was in the practice of killing babies born alive by twisting off their heads or shoving a surgical instrument into their brains.

And the bad news from the UK...

Probably Britain's most-read Christian blogger, Archbishop Cranmer has published three scarey stories in the past two days.

1) He has blogged on Channel 4's proposal to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer during Ramadan.

2) He has posted a comment on the Welsh Assembly's desire to make Organ Donation virtually compulsory.

3) and most recently on Police persecution of Christians. The video with this latter blog is worth watching as it is very pertinent for the UK Church.

It's all recommended reading but I've included the video for the rest of its content.

We desperately need a revival.

Good news from the Arab world

Israel Today have published a story which is heartening when most of the news from the Arab world is either bad or worse. They have picked this up from Ma'ariv. For those, like me, who wonder what Ma'ariv is. It is a Hebrew language evening paper, which is why I am not linking to their site! 

It seems that young Israeli Arab Christians are joining the IDF and are proud of it. The centre of this recruitment is Nazareth!

They see Israel as a bastion of freedom for Christians in the Middle East and one potential recruit has reminded the readers of Ma'ariv that Jesus and His disciples are Jewish. There are many Christians in the West who need to hear this, some, like me, to be encouraged and others who need to be ashamed and repent of their attitude to Israel.

These bold Christians have shamed their elders and so-called superiors in the Eastern Orthodox Church and earned the wrath of non-Christian Arab MKs (Members of the Knesset - equivalent to MPs).

You can read the full article here. 
It's worth reading and it's worth sharing.

Caroline Glick – Israel Should Apply Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria

Here's a controversial viewpoint. But is Caroline Glick wrong? Consider this:

The prophet Ezekiel foresaw today's situation and wrote:

Ezekiel 47:21-23

²¹ “So you shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. ²² You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. They shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. ²³ In whatever tribe the sojourner resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord God.



What do you think?

Another great video from http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/

Herod's Temple

Anyone interested in the Jerusalem Temples will find an assortment of videos available on the internet.

Of particular interest to Christians is Herod's Temple, as this is the one that was built after the return from Babylon and extensively re-vamped by Herod the Great. Herod the Great is the one responsible for the massacre in Bethlehem and 'his' Temple is the one that Jesus knew and visited on many occasions.

The video below is in Hebrew. The music was written by Eyal Ben-Hamoria who has tried to reproduce the sounds of that era. I think that it is well worth a listen.

The video has been produced by Yehuda Vinograd

There is also a longer video in English giving a tour of the Temple.

Published on 26 May 2013

Join us in a virtual tour of a 3D reconstruction of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, as it looked 2000 years ago, at the conclusion of King Herod's expansion project. Based on Flavius' writings, according to the research of Dr. Joshua Peleg, Bar Ilan University.

An app. is available that gives the viewer the freedom to roam around the Temple. I am trying to find out more about that as it is not free.

Built-in bias at the BBC.

Daphne Anson asked me if I could access a link on the BBC's School of Journalism. It isn't accessible in Australia. Whilst I was there, I looked at the style guide. (May not be accessible outside the UK). Some of it is useful. However, I discovered two examples of built-in bias. There may be more elsewhere or not. These are the two I found. It's how they manipulate the journalists let alone the rest of us.

Abortion
Avoid pro-abortion, and use pro-choice instead. Campaigners favour a woman's right to choose, rather than abortion itself. And use anti-abortion rather than pro-life, except where it is part of the title of a group's name.


Notice how the debate is automatically skewed in favour of the abortionists. The positive 'pro-choice' is encouraged. The one person who dies in this exercise has no choice. Notice also how the positive 'pro-life' is disallowed and anyone caring about the unborn child is portrayed as the negative 'anti-abortion'.

Under ' religion' is this:


Supporters of Shariah
(radical Islamic group) Our policy is to run stories about this group and others like it (e.g.: al Muhajiroun) only if we can make it clear that they are regarded by the majority of British Muslims as unrepresentative - ideally, through a quote to that effect from a leading mainstream Muslim group, such as the Muslim Council of Britain. Preachers associated with these groups should not be described simply as ‘Muslim clerics’, but should be labelled as radical, fringe, or something similar. Do not confuse the mainstream Muslim Council of Britain with the more radical Islamic Council of Britain - which should be labelled as self-styled.

I think if I was a devout Muslim, I could find this offensive but, perhaps, for slightly different reasons.

Islam is a religion of law. (I am taking what follows from Islamic publications about Islam. The Muslim Educational Trust published a text-book for Muslim children whose first language is English. It's called, " Islam, Beliefs and Teachings" and is by Ghulam Sarwar.) I have other Islamic publications as well.

Shari'ah law is based on the Qur'an and the example (sunnah) of their founder Muhammad. It is the very heart of Islam. Shari'ah is a complex system that has developed over the centuries, but any Muslim who observes the basic requirements of Islam is observing Shari'ah law. (This is not a quote but it is a fair summary).
 
The Muslim believes that Shari'ah is Allah's law and is superior in every way to human law. It would seem that all Muslims are to be depicted as extremists if they openly call for Shari'ah law. There is a pretence that there is some sort of divide between moderate, devout Muslims and anyone who believes that Shari'ah law should be obeyed.

Alternatively, we could conclude that, at its heart, Islam is extreme.

The BBC does not want us to notice this. As a consequence, intelligent scrutiny of Islam, reasoned refutation or reasoned advocacy are shut down. Scrutiny and refutation are shut down as dealing with extremists and so is unnecessary and misleading. Advocacy is shut down in public, at least, as being extremist. This prevents the rest of us from seeing a true picture of Islamic belief. 

See also my article on "Do we need an Islamic Reformation?" 

Language control is thought control and the BBC are engaged in it. So much for their educational remit.