The Godhead – The Holy Spirit
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The Holy Ghost is a Personage of Spirit, who is not the Spirit of
truth and is not omnipresent |
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Mormons
teach that the Holy Ghost is a Personage of Spirit, thus He can’t be in every
place at one time: ‘The Holy Ghost
is the third member of the Godhead. He is a Personage of Spirit, a Spirit
Person, a Spirit Man, a Spirit Entity. He can be in
only one place at one time, and he does not and cannot transform himself into
any other form or image than that of the Man whom he is, though his power and
influence can be manifest at one and the same time through all immensity’
(Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine,
1993, page 359). The Encyclopedia of
Mormonism affirms that “the Holy Ghost is a spirit man, a spirit son of
God the Father’ (Encyclopedia of Mormonism,
New York-Toronto 1992, vol. 2, page 649). Furthermore Mormons teach that the
Holy Ghost is not the Spirit of truth; here is what president Joseph F. Smith
said: ‘The Holy Ghost as a personage of Spirit can no more be omnipresent in
person than can the Father or the Son, but by his intelligence, his
knowledge, his power and influence, over and through the laws of nature, he
is and can be omnipresent throughout all the works of God. It is not the Holy
Ghost who in person lighteth every man who is born into the world, but it is
the light of Christ, the Spirit of truth which proceeds from the source of
intelligence, which permeates all nature, which lighteth every man and fills
the immensity of space. You may call it the Spirit of God,
you may call it the influence of God’s intelligence ….’ (Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, page 752); as you can
see the Spirit of truth or the light of Christ is not the Holy Ghost. That is
confirmed by these other Mormon statements: ‘The light of Christ is the agency or power used by the Holy Ghost in
administering his affairs and in sending forth his gifts’ (Mormon Doctrine, page 753), ‘The light
of Christ refers to the spiritual power that emanates from God to fill the
immensity of space and enlightens every man, woman and child. Other terms
sometimes used to denote this same phenomenon, are Holy Spirit, ‘Spirit of
the Lord’ and ‘Spirit of truth’, but it is different from the Holy Ghost’ (Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol. 2,
page 835). |
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That’s why
Mormons cannot conceive of the Holy Spirit as being universally resident in
believers: ‘In a figurative sense, the Holy Ghost dwells in the hearts of the
righteous Saints of all dispensations’ (Encyclopedia
of Mormonism, vol. 2, 649), ‘How can a personal Holy Spirit be indwelling
separate people at the same time?’ (Orson Pratt, Absurdities of Materialism, page 24) |
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Confutation |
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First of
all, I will show you from the Scripture that the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is
God. |
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The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says to the saints: “How much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God?” (Hebrews |
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David said to God: “Where can I go from Your Spirit?” (Psalm 139:7 - NKJV),
while God said to Jeremiah: “Can any hide himself in secret places that I
shall not see him? saith the LORD” (Jeremiah |
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Paul said: “The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1
Corinthians |
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Elihu said: “The Spirit of God hath made me” (Job 33:4), while David said to
God: “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's
womb” (Psalm 139:13 – The NIV reads: “For you created my inmost being; you
knit me together in my mother’s womb”). Therefore the Spirit creates as God
does, thus He is omnipotent like God. |
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Jesus said: “Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the |
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Peter said to Ananias: “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to
the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?” (Acts 5:3)
and also: “Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God” (Acts 5:4). Therefore
to lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God. |
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the book of the Acts of the apostles it is written that Paul said these words
to those Jews in Rome who refused to accept the Gospel: “Well spake the Holy
Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and
say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall
see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their
ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Acts 28:25-27). As
you can see, it was the Holy Spirit who spoke those words through the prophet
Isaiah. However, according to the book of the prophet Isaiah, it was God who
spoke those words, as it is written: “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw
also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled
the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain
he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he
did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD
of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door
moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I
am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of
the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said,
Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin
purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and
who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and
tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but
perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy,
and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed” (Isaiah 6:1-10).
Therefore it was both the Holy Spirit and God who sent Isaiah to prophesy
against the people of |
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● In
the book of the Acts of the apostles it is written: “Now there were in the
church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and
Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had
been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the
Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the
work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and
laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by
the Holy Ghost, departed unto |
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Jesus called the Holy Spirit “the Comforter” (John |
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the book of the prophet Isaiah it is written: “But they [the Israelites]
rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an
enemy, and He fought against them” (Isaiah 63:10 - NKJV), while in the book
of Psalms it is written: “How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and
grieved Him in the desert!” (Psalm 78:40 - NKJV). Therefore to grieve the
Holy Spirit is to grieve God. |
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Paul said to the Corinthians: “Know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God,
and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19) and also: “Know ye not that ye
are the |
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Jesus said: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name, he shall teach you all things” (John 14:26), but He said
also: “And they shall be all taught of God” (John 6:45), and David said: “The
meek will he [God] guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way”
(Psalm 25:9). Therefore the Holy Spirit teaches as God does. |
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Jesus said about the Holy Spirit: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth” (John |
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As you can
see, according to the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit possesses
attributes which belong only to Deity (for He is eternal, omnipresent,
omniscient and omnipotent like God); He is equated with God and does work
that only God does. |
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However,
He is not a spirit son of God the Father: such a teaching about the Holy
Ghost is unbiblical. As for the difference between the Holy Ghost and the
Spirit of truth (called also the light of Christ), the Scripture does not support
it, for according to the Scripture “there is … one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:4 –
NKJV), that is, the Spirit of God, who is called also Holy Ghost (or Holy
Spirit), Spirit of Christ and Spirit of truth and He is omnipresent because
David says: “Where can I go from Your Spirit?” (Psalm 139:7 – NKJV), and
consequently He can dwell in the hearts of all those who are born of God. Is
it not written: “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of
His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" (Galatians
4:6 -NKJV)? The Spirit’s omnipresence was confirmed by Jesus when He said
about the Comforter: “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin,
and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8), for how could the Holy
Ghost convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement, if He
were not omnipresent? Someone may say that Jesus was not speaking of the Holy
Ghost but of the Spirit of truth? That’s not right. Because a few moments
later He said: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John
16:13), and a short time before He had said: “But the Comforter, which [who]
is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you
all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
unto you” (John 14:26) |
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In the
light of the Scripture, therefore, the doctrine about the Holy Spirit taught
by Mormons is false. |