Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is God manifest in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16) and thus Very God of Very God, had this severe warning to state regarding this particular sin: “And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” (Matthew 12:32). This is further verified in the Gospel of St. Mark 3:29: “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:” The Pharisees along with other apostate Jewish religious leaders in the time when our Lord walked the earth were not only guilty of this for their deliberate rejection of Christ and calling Him “Beelzebub”, but throughout history, even within modern times, there have been a number who have been guilty of this unpardonable sin. To begin with, there are many sincere but deluded followers of these following heretics and heresiarchs who follow them to damnation but can be delivered since they did not deliberately come to the blasphemous conclusion on their own but merely followed their leaders. This damnation is issued to those who were deliberate in their motives of denying Christ as being of God but accrediting Him with Satan as well as those who deliberately promoted heresies that denied the Triune Godhead even to the point of actually attacking the Holy Spirit in doctrine or in some other way to deny the Truth. Such is of an antichrist spirit. Let us begin by opening with these firm warnings from the Holy Scripture regarding the difference between what is of the Holy Ghost and what is of the antichrist/Satanic spirit:
“Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” (I Corinthians 12:3) “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.” (I John 2:22, 23)
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” (I John 4:1-6)
From this we gather that: 1) Only the Spirit of God will confess Jesus as Lord (God in the flesh) and to do otherwise is of the satanic, antichrist spirit. 2) An antichrist spirit or a person with an antichrist spirit not only denies Jesus as the Christ (Messiah) but also denies the deity and oneness of the Father and the Son, not to mention the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost. 3) We are to test every spirit in the world and there is a test: if the spirit behind the person confesses that Christ is God in the flesh, then it is of the Holy Spirit of God. If otherwise, then it is of the spirit of antichrist. Also, the antichrist spirit rejects Apostolic Teaching and doctrine too. Is it no wonder then that many heresies and cults often claim they are part of the Apostles and that the real Apostolic Churches (Orthodox and Roman Catholic) “apostatised” altogether only to be restored by their founder or leader?
Before we continue, I would like to make it clear that there are some persons who sincerely believed that they somehow blasphemed the Holy Ghost and were very grieved over it. Such people are actually not guilty of this sin as is evident by their sorrow and grief and wishing for repentance. People who have committed this unpardonable sin do it out of much deliberation and not something that is done overnight. Those guilty of this sin have actually done so out of deliberation and genuine hatred of the Holy Trinity and never feel grief at their actions. To tell a true story, I knew of one person who as a child saw a white bird flying around in the park and due to the depictions in art of the Holy Spirit descending on Christ our God at baptism, actually said: “This must be the Holy Spirit coming down now.” This child automatically felt grief over what he said and went to confess his sin to a godly Anglican minister and also a godly chaplain in the Anglican school he was going to. Thankfully, they advised him correctly that he had not committed such a sin and that this sin was something a lot worse than his imagination playing tricks on him. Today this child is a committed Christian man that is fighting for the cause of Christ against evil. May this be of comfort before we continue our discourse.
It should also be mentioned that the purpose of the Holy Ghost is to convict men of the reality of Christ and His Truth. The Holy Ghost will always point to Christ and the Father as the True God and Eternal Life. Christ stated this regarding the Holy Ghost: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you….But the Comforter, which 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…But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:” (John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26) Hence, for one to reject the Holy Ghost and His revelation regarding the Truth of Christ and the Father, is to reject any possibility of entering into Truth and for that matter, any possibility of seeing everlasting life. It is no wonder therefore that Christ termed blasphemy against the Holy Ghost as unpardonable, since the guilty party is intent on rejecting the Holy Ghost, and for that matter, the whole of the Trinity. Such is the nature of heresiarchs and cultists.
Amongst the character traits to look for in blasphemers of the Holy Ghost, look for the following:
- Rejection of either the Deity of Christ or rejection of the Trinity. Also look for mockery of the Trinity.
- A denial of either the Personality or Deity of the Holy Ghost
- Placing themselves as equally inspired and prophetic as the Holy Scriptures and the Apostles under the Holy Ghost
- Having established this, let us give the brief and dishonourable list of some of the heresiarchs that have blasphemed the Holy Ghost in history even going into modern times. We will be discussing the following briefly:
- Simon Magus
- Cerinthus
- Arius (founder of the Arian heresy)
- Muhammad (founder of Islam)
- Hong Xiuquan (founder of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement)
- Ellen G. White (founder of the Seventh Day Adventist cult)
- Charles Taze Russell (founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, originally known as “Russelites”)
- Joseph Smith (founder of the Mormon sect)
- Madam Blavatsky (founder of the Theosophical Society)
- Mary Baker Eddy (founder of Christian Science cult)
- Brother John Thomas and Robert Roberts (founders of the Christadelphian sect)
- Sun Myung Moon (Founder of the Unification Church. Aka Moonies)
- William Branham
- Victor Paul Wierwille and George Lamsa(founders of the Way International)
- Felix Manalo (founder of Iglesia Ni Cristo cult)
Atheists behind the “Blasphemy Challenge” video.There are more that could be discussed but time and space will only allow me to discuss these few. Once again I must clarify that there are many sincere and deluded followers of these aforementioned who can be saved and are capable of repentance. It is my sincere hope that God will delivers by His grace of the Holy Ghost, a number of these sincere deluded followers before they seal their own damnation for eternity. Nevertheless, let us begin the discussion:
SIMON MAGUS
One of the earliest heresiarchs that the Holy Scriptures bothers to give mention of is found in none other than Simon the Sorcerer (aka Simon Magus) as found in Acts 8:9-24. The passage mentions that not only was he a Samaritan in origin (the half-caste relations of the Jews and apostates), but also that he was well known in his region as someone great. It was even known that he was a practitioner of sorcery and dark arts. Let us look at the passage first: “[9] But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:
[10] To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.
[11] And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
[12] But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
[13] Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
[14] Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:
[15] Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:
[16] (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
[17] Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
[18] And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
[19] Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
[20] But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
[21] Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
[22] Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
[23] For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
[24] Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.” (Acts 8:9-24)
We not only gather that he was a Samaritan sorcerer but on top of that, he was also worshipped by the people as even “the great power of God” (v10). St. Irenaeus of Lyons and St. Justin Martyr, who were direct disciples of the Apostles via Polycarp, even highlight that Simon Magus was known for his powers and was worshipped as such to the point that even a statue was built in his honour by Claudius Caesar for him. What is worse, is that when he was exposed for his evil intent by St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, he not only went so far as to study further the black arts, but even blasphemed the whole of the Trinity, saying that he was a manifestation of all 3 Personalites. Here is the details by St. Irenaeus of Lyons: “Simon the Samaritan was that magician of whom Luke, the disciple and follower of the apostles, says, But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who beforetime used magical arts in that city, and led astray the people of Samaria, declaring that he himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This is the power of God, which is called great. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had driven them mad by his sorceries. Acts 8:9-11 This Simon, then— who feigned faith, supposing that the apostles themselves performed their cures by the art of magic, and not by the power of God; and with respect to their filling with the Holy Ghost, through the imposition of hands, those that believed in God through Him who was preached by them, namely, Christ Jesus— suspecting that even this was done through a kind of greater knowledge of magic, and offering money to the apostles, thought he, too, might receive this power of bestowing the Holy Spirit on whomsoever he would—was addressed in these words by Peter: Your money perish with you, because you have thought that the gift of God can be purchased with money: you have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God; for I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. He, then, not putting faith in God a whit the more, set himself eagerly to contend against the apostles, in order that he himself might seem to be a wonderful being, and applied himself with still greater zeal to the study of the whole magic art, that he might the better bewilder and overpower multitudes of men. Such was his procedure in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, by whom also he is said to have been honoured with a statue, on account of his magical power. This man, then, was glorified by many as if he were a god; and he taught that it was himself who appeared among the Jews as the Son, but descended in Samaria as the Father while he came to other nations in the character of the Holy Spirit. He represented himself, in a word, as being the loftiest of all powers, that is, the Being who is the Father over all, and he allowed himself to be called by whatsoever title men were pleased to address him.” (St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book I, Chapter 23). [Emphasis mine]
As further indication of his blasphemy, St. Justin Martyr had this to reveal: “There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating in him. He was considered a god, and as a god was honoured by you with a statue, which statue was erected on the river Tiber, between the two bridges, and bore this inscription, in the language of Rome:— Simoni Deo Sancto, To Simon the holy God. And almost all the Samaritans, and a few even of other nations, worship him, and acknowledge him as the first god; and a woman, Helena, who went about with him at that time, and had formerly been a prostitute, they say is the first idea generated by him. And a man, Menander, also a Samaritan, of the town Capparetæa, a disciple of Simon, and inspired by devils, we know to have deceived many while he was in Antioch by his magical art. He persuaded those who adhered to him that they should never die, and even now there are some living who hold this opinion of his.” (St. Justin Martyr, First Apology, Chapter 26) [Emphasis mine]
From this, we can also gather that Simon Magus not only blasphemed God by claiming His titles, but also blasphemed the whole Trinity and worse, misled many to believe he had the power over life and death via his sorcery. Even more telling was his attempt at founding heresy, particularly the Gnostic heresy, of which he is considered the main founder. Both Fathers give even more sordid details of his immoral life and his actual heresies but time and space only permits me to mention some of these such as his blasphemies against the Trinity, claiming divinity for himself and founding the Gnostic heresies to rival the Apostles.
The term “simony” was in fact associated with his evil attempt to buy the power of the Holy Ghost with money. St. Peter not only placed a curse on him but highlighted his wicked character stating that he was in the “gall of bitterness” and “bond of iniquity”.(v23) Both phrases indicate that not only was Simon Magus bitter over not getting the glory that God was getting via the Apostles, but also that he was bound in wickedness despite entering the Church and even being baptised. A lesson for the Church: even Satan knows how to get his men and women in there to join the Church via baptism only to attempt to destroy it from within. Such was Simon Magus. Deuteronomy 29:16-18 highlights clearly that this “gall of bitterness” was associated with idolatry and by St. Peter making reference to it, he is highlighting that Simon Magus was clearly an idolater at heart that does not really worship the True God at all. The “bond of iniquity” has to do with a reference in Isaiah 58:6, whereby God rebukes Israel for fasting hypocritically but not loosening the bonds of wickedness and heavy burdens and letting the oppressed go free. Thus by St. Peter using this phrase, he is indicating that not only was Simon Magus a hypocrite, but also a wicked oppressor of the souls of many, which he was. Simon Magus taught many the heresy of Gnosticism, which would deny the reality of Christ as God in the flesh as well as the eternity of Christ, but also would continue to be a foul blasphemer and sorcerer.
This wicked heresiarch and arch enemy of the Apostles, was not content in blaspheming the whole Trinity as shown earlier, but also continued to deceive people into believing that he was divine and able to perform miracles. Not much different from today’s cult leaders and a number of gurus from India, such as the late Sathya Sai Baba, that claimed to be both God the Father and God the Son as well as other deities from different religions. It is recorded that in his final days of his life, he was using the demonic to levitate himself to deceive the people. It was St. Peter and St. Paul that cast out the demons in the name of Christ and thus Simon Magus came crashing down to his death, thus going to the hell he deserved. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, after pointing out that Simon Magus was the father of heretics in the Church, then gave this sobering account: “As the delusion was extending, Peter and Paul, a noble pair, chief rulers of the Church, arrived and set the error right; and when the supposed god Simon wished to shew himself off, they straightway shewed him as a corpse. For Simon promised to rise aloft to heaven, and came riding in a daemons’ chariot on the air; but the servants of God fell on their knees, and having shewn that agreement of which Jesus spoke, that If two of you shall agree concerning anything that they shall ask, it shall be done unto them, they launched the weapon of their concord in prayer against Magus, and struck him down to the earth. And marvellous though it was, yet no marvel. For Peter was there, who carrieth the keys of heaven: and nothing wonderful, for Paul was there, who was caught up to the third heaven, and into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful far a man to utter. These brought the supposed God down from the sky to earth, thence to be taken down to the regions below the earth. In this man first the serpent of wickedness appeared; but when one head had been cut off, the root of wickedness was found again with many heads.” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Jerusalem Catecheses, Lecture VI, 15) [Emphasis mine]
Earlier, St. Cyril of Jerusalem had this statement to make that confirms everything the Apostolic Fathers stated and more: “The inventor of all heresy was Simon Magus: that Simon, who in the Acts of the Apostles thought to purchase with money the unsaleable grace of the Spirit, and heard the words, Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, and the rest: concerning whom also it is written, They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. This man, after he had been cast out by the Apostles, came to Rome, and gaining over one Helena a harlot, was the first that dared with blasphemous mouth to say that it was himself who appeared on Mount Sinai as the Father, and afterwards appeared among the Jews, not in real flesh but in seeming, as Christ Jesus, and afterwards as the Holy Spirit whom Christ promised to send as the Paraclete. And he so deceived the City of Rome that Claudius set up his statue, and wrote beneath it, in the language of the Romans, “Simoni Deo Sancto,” which being interpreted signifies, “To Simon the Holy God.“” (Ibid. Lecture VI, 14) [Emphasis mine]. So here we have it once again, that Simon Magus was indeed a wicked blasphemer against the Holy Ghost via openly claiming to be all 3 Persons of the Holy Trinity and a demonic heresiarch that met an evil end befitting for his evil deeds of not only heresy but also of hypocrisy, sorcery and many other evils. [Interesting Note: After the manner of Simon Magus, the founder of the Valentinian heresy, Manes, also claimed to be the Comforter, thus blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Simon Magus began the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost as a doctrine for founding heresiarchs following after him. This again is noted by St. Cyril of Jerusalem: “For the heretics, who are most profane in all things, have sharpened their tongue against the Holy Ghost also, and have dared to utter impious things; as Irenæus the interpreter has written in his injunctions against heresies. For some of them have dared to say that they were themselves the Holy Ghost—of whom the first was Simon , the sorcerer spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles; for when he was cast out, he presumed to teach such doctrines: and they who are called Gnostics, impious men, have spoken other things against the Spirit , and the wicked Valentinians again something else; and the profane Manes dared to call himself the Paraclete sent by Christ…If he who attaches himself to a thief, and consents with him, is subject to punishment, what hope shall he have, who offends against the Holy Ghost?” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture XVI, 6)]
Heresy knows no bounds as is evidenced with the likes of Simon Magus and other later heresiarchs that time and space does not permit to be discussed here.
CERINTHUS(c.100A.D)
Few in the Evangelical and Protestant circles are aware that one of the reasons that St. John the Apostle penned the Gospel of John as well as First and Second John, was to not only instruct the Church but also to counter the damning heresies of Cerinthus and other early Gnostic heresiarchs, of whom Cerinthus was chief. Cerinthus is accredited to be one of the founding heresiarchs of Gnosticism along with Simon Magus. Amongst his heresies was not only a denial of the Deity of Christ as well as denial of his Virgin Birth, thus agreeing with the Judaizing Ebionites, but more specifically, denying the God of Scripture by teaching that there was a separation between the God of the Old and New Testament, and even then, he blasphemed the Old Testament as coming from angelic beings who created the world in imperfection, thus denying God as Creator. In addition, Cerinthus separated Christ from Jesus in such a way to the point of blaspheming the Holy Ghost. St. Irenaeus of Lyons describes his heresy in this manner:
“Cerinthus, again, a man who was educated in the wisdom of the Egyptians, taught that the world was not made by the primary God, but by a certain Power far separated from him, and at a distance from that Principality who is supreme over the universe, and ignorant of him who is above all. He represented Jesus as having not been born of a virgin, but as being the son of Joseph and Mary according to the ordinary course of human generation, while he nevertheless was more righteous, prudent, and wise than other men. Moreover, after his baptism, Christ descended upon him in the form of a dove from the Supreme Ruler, and that then he proclaimed the unknown Father, and performed miracles. But at last Christ departed from Jesus, and that then Jesus suffered and rose again, while Christ remained impassible, inasmuch as he was a spiritual being. 2. Those who are called Ebionites agree that the world was made by God; but their opinions with respect to the Lord are similar to those of Cerinthus and Carpocrates. They use the Gospel according to Matthew only, and repudiate the Apostle Paul, maintaining that he was an apostate from the law. As to the prophetical writings, they endeavour to expound them in a somewhat singular manner: they practise circumcision, persevere in the observance of those customs which are enjoined by the law, and are so Judaic in their style of life, that they even adore Jerusalem as if it were the house of God,” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book 1, Chapter 26 paragraph 1)
Another Father, Epiphanius of Salamis, stated this regarding his heresy:
“Now Cerinthus in turn, the founder of the so-called Cerinthians, has come from this bestial seed, bringing the world his venom. But almost nothing different from Carpocrates is spouting out into the world, just the same harmful poisons. For he slanderously gives the same account of Christ as Carpocrates, that he was born of Mary and Joseph’s seed, and likewise that the world was made by angels. In the inculcation of his teaching he differs from Carpocrates in no way except only in this, that he adhered in part to Judaism. He, however, claims that the Law and prophets have been given by the angels, and the law-giver is one of the angels who have made the world….I have already said of him that he too preached that the world was not created by the first, supreme power—and that when ‘Jesus,’ the offspring of Mary and the seed of Joseph, had grown up, ‘Christ,’ meaning the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, came down to him in the Jordan from the God on high, revealing the unknowable Father to him, and through him to his companions. And therefore, because a power had come to him from on high, he performed works of power. And when he suffered, the thing that had come from above flew away from Jesus to the heights. Jesus has suffered and risen again but the Christ who had come to him from above flew away without suffering—that is, the thing which had descended in the form of a dove—and Jesus is not Christ. In turn this Cerinthus, fool and teacher of fools that he is, ventures to maintain that Christ has suffered and been crucified but has not risen yet, but he will rise when the general resurrection of the dead comes…” (Panarion, Book I, Chapter 28-On the Cerinthians)
Cerinthus not only taught denial of a good God and Creator in the proper sense, but also even blasphemed the Holy Ghost by even stating that it was the Christ that came as a dove on Jesus at baptism and departed from Him at his Passion and that He did not resurrect but awaits the General Resurrection! What vile blasphemy! Ironically, whilst denying the reality of the Old Testament, Cerinthus insisted on his followers to follow customs of Judaism such as circumcision and only reverenced the Gospel of Matthew whilst rejecting St. Paul. Does this not sound like a mixture of New Age and some of the Hebrew Roots Cultists in today’s terms? There are no new heresies in the end! Cerinthus followed the path of denial of Christ’s deity and Apostolic teaching to the end degree hence he only accepted one Gospel, albeit in a mangled format not even authentic, to the rejection of all the Apostolic Teaching. Is it no wonder therefore that (as it was revealed by St. Polycarp to St. Irenaeus) that the Blessed St. John this situation in relation to Cerinthus:
“There are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, “Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.” (Irenaeus. Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter 3, Verse 4)
Cerinthus was clearly a blasphemer against the Holy Ghost as was Simon Magus, and hence he naturally opposed the correct doctrine of the Triune God and the Deity of Christ. In addition, Cerinthus was an opponent of the Apostles just as the Pharisees and other apostate Jewish religious leaders were opponents of Christ our God, thus being guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which we mentioned a lot earlier.
ARIUS (256-336A.D)
Amongst the very serious heretics that challenged the Apostolic Church in a very formidable way second to the Gnostics and Ebionites, was none other than the Arian heresy, of which Arius was its founder. Arius was a presbyter (elder) in Alexandria, Egypt during the 4th century that taught that only God the Father was true God who is uncreated and the Son/Word/Logos was created and is not God along with teaching that the Holy Ghost is neither a Personality nor is he God but an illuming power. This vile anti-Trinitarian belief is held today by a number of heretical groups, of which the Jehovah’s Witnesses are a part of. (More on that heretical group later). Arius despite learning correct theology, chose to come up with his own vile imagination. When he was challenged by many Fathers and Saints, (many of whom had experienced persecution for their Faith in Christ our God in the most adverse of Roman persecutions, and had wounds to show for it) Arius could only resort to mockery and distortion of the Scriptures with very little Apostolic evidence. There are many notable Fathers and Saints that challenged Arius for his heresy of denying the Trinity, (particularly denying the Deity of the Son and the Holy Ghost), amongst whom we have St. Athanasius of Alexandria (aka St Athanasius the Great) and St. Nicholas of Myra. In fact, the heretical influence was such that not only were some Emperors in the Byzantine empire persuaded to adopt Arianism, but also caused the persecution of Orthodox Christians in many instances. St. Athanasius of Alexandria was in exile when he wrote many defences of the Deity of Christ and the Holy Ghost and was influential in the Council of Nicea along with many other bishops in maintaining Orthodoxy against the heresy of Arius. When Arius was called to explain his position before the Council at Nicea, he resorted to a mocking song that blasphemed the Deity of the Son as well as the Deity of the Holy Ghost. St. Nicholas of Myra, a bishop that is associated with the founding of “Santa Claus”, was incensed at his blasphemy that he punched Arius in the mouth. Although temporarily deposed for punching that vile heretic, St. Nicholas was reinstated after the other bishops had received a dream of Christ our God and the Blessed Virgin Mary awarding St. Nicholas a crown for defending Christ against blasphemy. In addition, he was miraculously released from his cell too, which thus confirmed the support of both Christ and the Blessed Virgin on this matter. Arius was not content in deceiving many with his heresies. Despite the fact that Emperor St. Constantine called for a Council to be held to resolve the dispute that was dividing both the Church and the Empire, Arius was very adamant in spreading his heresies throughout the Empire. Arius was also intent on deceiving the Church by pretending to be reconciled with the Church. This was also done through a number of wicked friends of Arius in the Church who allowed him to swear on oath to the Emperor Constantine that he had not committed heresy. Although St. Constantine gave him some benefit of the doubt, he also gave this stern warning: “If thy Faith be right, thou hast done well to swear; but if thy Faith be impious, and thou hast sworn, God judge of thee according to thy oath.” These wicked friends of Arius who had made him appear before St. Constantine now intended to make him appear before Bishop Alexander to be received in Communion with the Church. They even resorted to blackmail and threats stating: “As we have caused him to be invited by the Emperor, in opposition to your wishes, so to-morrow, though it be contrary to your desire, Arius shall have communion with us in this Church.” Bishop Alexander was thus grieved that he prayed to God either to remove him from the earth or to remove Arius from the earth in judgment: “If Arius is brought to communion to-morrow, let me Thy servant depart, and destroy not the pious with the impious; but if Thou wilt spare Thy Church (and I know that Thou wilt spare), look upon the words of Eusebius and his fellows, and give not thine inheritance to destruction and reproach and take off Arius, lest if he enter into the Church, the heresy also may seem to enter with him, and henceforward impiety be accounted for piety.” God answered this prayer in the most extraordinary manner. Whilst Arius was proud and glorifying his evil, he felt the need to go to the bathroom to relieve himself. As he went to the bathroom, his insides literally exploded and thus he died such an unceremonious death. The judgment of God had struck this vile heretic and the friends of Arius were in a state of embarrassment and shock over what to do that they had the area in which this incident occurred destroyed not long after.
Tragically, the blasphemer against the Holy Ghost may be gone, but his heresies continued to plague others in more ways than one. The heretics do not seem to learn from such a horrid death that these heresiarchs faced. This reminds me of how the late Ahmad Deedat, the infamous Muslim apologist from South Africa, was constantly distorting and mocking the Holy Scriptures and after many years of his evil, experienced the judgment of God whereby he was struck with a severe stroke which made him unable to speak ever again whilst living on earth. This wicked character faced eternity on his deathbed with a horrified look and thus passed away. This is confirmed in a video featuring his last hours. Like Arius, Deedat’s evil works still persist despite the horrendous judgment that he faced for not only his heresy but constant mockery and blasphemy against the Holy Ghost too. If only their blind followers could take heed and repent! The heresy of Arius has now penetrated into many groups, amongst which we are now going to move into discussion over.
MUHAMMAD (FOUNDER OF ISLAM)-570-632A.D
Of all the blasphemers against the Holy Ghost, none have caused great damage to the whole world like Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Muhammad was born into a world in the 6th century, whereby Arabia had been a den for all manner of heretics that were exiled by the Byzantine Empire. Amongst the many heresies that found its way into Arabia in the time of Muhammad’s birth was none other than the aforementioned Arianism. St. John of Damascus, who himself witnessed the takeover of Syria by Islam in the 7th century, made note of the fact that it was an Arian monk that came to deceive Muhammad in his childhood. This is discussed in his book, Fount of Knowledge, in the chapter on “The Heresy of the Hagarenes/Ishamaelites”. It is already wicked enough that Muhammad rejected the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ and also rejected the Holy Trinity as is evidenced in the Qu’ran (Surah 3:51, 59; 5:17, 18, 72-77, 116,117), but even worse was his evil attempt to make it appear that the Torah and the Gospels were pointing to him as well as calling himself the equivalent of the Comforter and Holy Ghost in the Qu’ran and saying that Christians should look to him. This is evidenced in these verses in the Qu’ran:
“Those who follow the messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write, whom they will find described in the Torah and the Gospel (which are) with them. He will enjoin on them that which is right and forbid them that which is wrong. He will make lawful for them all good things and prohibit for them only the foul; and he will relieve them of their burden and the fetters that they used to wear. Then those who believe in him, and honour him, and help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him: they are the successful.” (Surah 7:157)
“And when Jesus son of Mary said: O Children of Israel! Lo! I am the messenger of Allah unto you, confirming that which was (revealed) before me in the Torah, and bringing good tidings of a messenger who cometh after me, whose name is the Praised One. Yet when he hath come unto them with clear proofs, they say: This is mere magic.” (Surah 61:6) [Note: The Islamic “Jesus” speaks of a “Praised One” to come after him. This is where the term for “Muhammad” in Arabic is derived from the word “Ahmad” meaning “Praised One”. This is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and mockery of the text in the Gospels relating to the Holy Ghost! What satanic mockery indeed!] Islamic apologists are keen to state that the Greek in the Gospels relating to John 14:16, 26 should not read “Parakletos” or “Comforter” but rather “Periklitos” or “Praised One”. Not only does that fly in the most obvious within the text itself but even more importantly there is no manuscript nor evidence for such a ludicrous suggestion in Apostolic Tradition either. We need to ask the most obvious question to Muslims who attempt to use the Gospel text to “prove” their blasphemy: “The Gospel states clearly that the Comforter/Paraclete will dwell inside the believer of Christ and will teach them all the things that Christ has taught. Can Muhammad actually physically dwell inside a person and teach them? If you are saying that, then you yourself have committed blasphemy by both Islamic and Christian standards. By Islamic standards, you have committed shirk since you have made Muhammad almost on the level of the Divine. By Christian standards, you have committed blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Both ways, you lose O Muslim!” Whilst it is possible for Muslims to be saved and repent, Muhammad, who started this heresy has most definitely committed the unpardonable sin. Muhammad was guilty not only according to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ but also in the words of St. Ambrose of Milan: “But if any one should deny the dignity, majesty, and eternal power of the Holy Spirit… there is fullness of sacrilege.” (St. Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit, 3:54)
Just as the Pharisees and apostate Jewish religious leaders denied the Deity of Christ and ascribed Christ as being of the devil and hence were guilty of the unpardonable in light of their deliberate rejection despite clear evidence, so too was Muhammad guilty of the unpardonable in the face of clear evidence too. In the same manner in which these apostate Jewish religious leaders sought the death of Christ and His Apostles and followers, so too did Muhammad do the same. Due to the fact that Muhammad had committed the unpardonable sin, it only stood to logic that he would seek to persecute those who were of Christ. Not only that, he also sought the elimination of the Jewish people too, in the same way that Satan has always sought the elimination of both Jews and Christians (Apocalypse/Revelation 12:13-17) There are many references in the Hadiths of Muhammad eliminating whole tribes of both Christians and Jews in Arabia which time and space will not allow to delve into depth. What should be pointed out is that Muhammad was clearly devil possessed due to his obvious delving into spirits, or jinn as he referenced them as, and was clearly demonically deceived into believing that a demonic entity passing off as the “angel Gabriel” gave him the revelations which Muslims accept as the Qu’ran. Not only is it evident that it is devilish from the viewpoint of St. Paul in II Corinthians 11:12-14, and Galatians 1:8, 9; it is also clear that Muhammad engaged in the forbidden practices of the Law of Moses as stated in Leviticus 19:31. Is it no wonder therefore that Muhammad in the Qu’ran stated that amongst the jinn, there would be “Muslims”(Surah 72:14) and when Muhammad’s armies were conquering Arabia and other places, they were to execute the monks and priests that were orthodox (Surah 9:34. Abu Bakr, the successor of Muhammad also issued the same order. This can be found in the History of Al-Tabari, Vol. 10). As a result of Muhammad blaspheming the Holy Ghost and thus blaspheming the Holy Trinity in the process of so doing, he was not only devilish in his actions from cold blooded murder to stealing wives of others amongst whom were Zaynab and Safiya, but also even on his death bed cursed Christians and Jews and was even fearful of eternity. Amongst his last words was:
“Narrated ‘Aisha and ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abbas:
When the last moment of the life of Allah’s Apostle came he started putting his ‘Khamisa’ on his face and when he felt hot and short of breath he took it off his face and said, “May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for they built the places of worship at the graves of their Prophets.” The Prophet was warning (Muslims) of what those had done.” (Sahih Bukhari, Vol 1, Book 8, No. 427)
“Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah’s Apostle said, “May Allah’s curse be on the Jews for they built the places of worship at the graves of their Prophets.” (Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 1, Book 8, No. 428)
In fact, Muhammad often feared demonic attacks and deception even from his demonic deity, Allah. Many Hadiths discuss his constant fear of insanity, demonic attack and even uncertainty of whether Allah was deliberately deceiving him or not. So much for the Muslim’s claim that Muhammad was the best and greatest of prophets! Muhammad had no solution for dealing with the devils when attacked unlike our Lord Jesus Christ. This can only be expected of a heresiarch, especially one that has blasphemed the Holy Ghost and deliberately rejected the Trinity. The greatest tragedy of all is the fact that even after his death, his wicked heresy not only continued to grow, but grew to the extent of destroying kingdoms and nations, creating wars and dissensions, even to this very day. What evil heresy Islam is! Is it no wonder then that St. John of Damascus referred to Muhammad and his filthy religion as: “the forerunner of the Antichrist”? What can one honestly conclude about a man who lived his life not only in rejecting the Trinity and the Holy Scriptures as well as the Church, but who lived a life of brigandry, cold blooded murder, stealing of wives of others, pedophilia at the end of his life only to meet his due by being poisoned by a Jewish woman and suffering the severe effects of it on his death bed? Shall we say that this is a prophet of God or a prophet of Satan and a blasphemer of the Holy Ghost? I will conclude this section with the words of St. Gregory Palamas in a debate with a Turkish nobleman whilst he was under captivity: “It is true that Muhammad started from the east and came to the west, as the sun travels from east to west. Nevertheless he came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil. Consider now, in times past, did not Alexander (the Great) prove victorious from the West to the East? There have also been many others, in many other times, who set out on military campaigns and dominated the world. Yet none of the peoples believed in their leaders as you revere Muhammad. Though Muhammad may employ violence and offer pleasures, he cannot secure the approval of the world. Albeit, the teaching of Christ, though it turns away from (worldly) pleasures, it has taken hold to the ends of the world, without violence, since it is opposed to it. This phenomenon is the victory that overcomes the world. [I John 5:4]”
And regarding the behaviour of the followers of such a blasphemer of the Holy Ghost:
“they live a reproachful, inhuman, and God-hating life ….to live a prodigal life in swords and knives, indulging in slavery, murder, plundering, rape, licentiousness, adultery and homosexuality.”
What evil legacy has this blasphemer against the Holy Ghost left today for the world that remains unchanged! No wonder Dante in the Divine Comedy saw Muhammad being torn apart and cut asunder by the devils in hell!
HONG XIUQUAN (1814-1864)
If there was a blasphemer against the Holy Ghost from China, then one cannot help but think of Hong Xiuquan, the founder of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in the 1860s. I plan to give more details of this man’s evil at a later date, however, for now, I shall give a brief summary regarding this vile heretic. Hong Xiuquan was a failed scholar that sought to sit for Confucian scholarship exams in order to enter an official’s post in China. However, since he failed, he was about to return to his home village in the Hakka region but chanced upon a book by a Protestant preacher, Liang Afa. After reading this book, which contained nothing more than summarised biblical accounts, instead of bowing his knees to the Lord Jesus Christ and repenting of his sins, he was given a demonic based dream. He dreamt that he was anointed by Jehovah to be the “Second Son of God” and thus the younger brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that it was his mission to eradicate China from superstition and to cause the whole world to come under his rule as that Second Son. That does not sound much different from Muhammad in his lifetime too of attempting to purge Arabia from the idols and also to “correct” the Jews and Christians as well as rule the whole world too under the “Prophethood” of Muhammad! In fact, this is no different than the Antichrist in terms of the goal of world domination and worship of the self ultimately. Hong Xiuquan was keen on getting followers and when successful, he managed to create communes not dissimilar to Mormon communes. In a heretical vein, Hong Xiuquan not only created a “corrected” version of the Holy Scriptures (not dissimilar to the Mormons having the “Inspired Version” from Joseph Smith and the Jehovah’s Witnesses having the “New World Translation”), but also denied the Holy Trinity as would be expected of a heretic. Hong openly rejected the deity of Christ, which should have already been tell tale sign of an antichrist spirit, but he was not satisfied with that. It was already seriously blasphemous enough to claim to be the “Second Son of God” but the next blasphemy was even worse. He told his deceived followers that one of his underlings, Yang Xiuqing, was the Holy Ghost! In fact, it became a doctrine for the Taipings that Hong was the Second Son of God and Yang Xiuquing was the Holy Ghost! In vain did an American Baptist Missionary to China attempt to approach him and correct him of his heresies, only to return to America in disappointment. As a sign of a blasphemer of the Holy Ghost, Hong not only became brazen in his heresies, but even stated that he was Melchizedek as discussed in Hebrews 7:3, in a wicked attempt to make himself as great as Christ our God.
As would be anticipated of a heretic, never mind his attacks on Confucianism and Buddhism, but rather consider his open attacks on orthodox Christianity to the point when the Taiping followers approached the capital, Peking, they would destroy Catholic churches but would tolerate Islamic mosques. In fact, when the whole movement died, many of the remnants actually joined forces with Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang to rebel against the Imperial government, only to fail, thank God. This vile heretic was not content with deceiving others, but also in a very similar situation to David Koresh and Jim Jones, led his followers to their deaths by eating poisonous weeds made into balls and calling them “manna”, a clear mockery of the Scriptures, as Satan is the master mocker. Is it no wonder then that 2 committed Christians, Queen Elizabeth and General Gordon, committed their forces to help defeat the Taiping rebels? Thankfully, the Taipings were soundly defeated or else there would be no telling what damage would have occurred to China under a heresy. A blasphemer of the Holy Ghost such as Hong Xiuquan died on his own sword rather than surrender. His movement ended in utter heresy and failure, yet it also left a very damaging mark on the history of Christianity in China, since it gave inspiration for the Communists nearly a century later to draw inspiration from him and his movement for their vile takeover of China. In fact, a Chinese Communist publication even mentioned the Taiping Rebellion in a positive, glowing light despite its pseudo-Christian doctrines. O what evil impact such blasphemers of the Holy Ghost leave on the world! (For the best information on this, please read Jonathan Spence, God’s Chinese Son (1997), Flamingo, London).
ELLEN G. WHITE (1827-1915)
One of the biggest Jezebels of heresiarchs is none other than the founder of the Seventh Day Adventist movement, Ellen G White. As Brother Shoebat has already discussed some of the objectionable teachings, I will not go over that area. However, what needs mentioning is that Ellen G White was a wicked Jezebel that saw herself as the equivalent of the Holy Ghost in inspiration of revelation and truth. This is clear in her writings and also by the fact that anyone who is baptised into the Seventh Day Adventist cult, must confess that Ellen G. White was a prophetess inspired by God. It is in fact a point of doctrine in Seventh Day Adventism to believe such. She stated:
“In ancient times God spoke through the mouths of prophets and apostles. In these days he speaks to them by the Testimonies of his Spirit.” (Testimonies, Volume 4, p.148; Volume 5, p.661).
And even more blasphemously in reference to her own words:
“It is God, and not an erring mortal, that has spoken.” (Testimonies, Volume 3, p.257).
Putting oneself on the level of the Holy Ghost is tantamount to blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. As a further reflection on her blasphemy, she taught that not only was Christ Michael the Archangel that became God by declaration but even that Satan was the equal to Christ in rank and ability. Consider these words:
“Among the inhabitants of heaven, Satan, next to Christ, was at one time most honored of God, and highest in power and glory.” — (Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, July 23, 1902) [Emphasis mine. This is blasphemous to assert that Satan was equivalent to Christ in power and glory!]
“Michael, or Christ, with the angels that buried Moses” (Jude 9, Spiritual Gifts, IV a, p. 158)
“And before the context closed Christ Himself came to Gabriel’s aid—Gabriel declares ‘But lo, Michael, one of the Chief Princes came to help me” (Dan 10:13, Prophets & Kings, p.572)
“There is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael (Christ) your prince.” (Desire of Ages p.99)
“Moses passed under the dominion of death – but Christ the Savior brought him forth from the grave. (Jude 9, (ibid 379)
However, as real proof of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, since Ellen G White rejected the standard Trinitarian doctrine held by all orthodox Christians, she not only denied that the Holy Spirit was the Third Person in the Trinity but even stated that the Holy Spirit is simply an extension of the Personality of Christ Himself. Hence in the mind of this confused heretic Holy Spirit equals to Christ. Consider these quotes:
“We want the Holy Spirit, which is Jesus Christ. If we commune with God, we shall have strength and grace and efficiency.” (Ellen G. White, Lt66, April 10, 1894)
“Let them be thankful to God for His manifold mercies and be kind to one another. They have one God and one Saviour; and one Spirit–the Spirit of Christ–is to bring unity into their ranks.” (Ellen G. White, Testimonies Volume 9, p. 189, 1909)
“Christ is to be known by the blessed name of Comforter. “The Comforter,” said Christ to His disciples, “which 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 quoted]” (E.G. White, Ms7-1902, January 26, 1902)
“The Saviour is our Comforter. This I have proved Him to be.” (Ellen G. White, 8MR 49.3)
Equally blasphemous, was Ellen G White’s assertion that the Holy Spirit was a “Divine Power” which is not dissimilar to the New Agers and for that matter other heretical cults that deny the personality of the Holy Ghost as well as His Deity.
“Christ has given HIS Spirit as a divine POWER.”(Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, November 19, 1908)
“The divine Spirit that the world’s Redeemer promised to send, is the presence and POWER of God.” (Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, November 23)
Any orthodox Christian can see that Ellen G. White has denied the Holy Trinity and is a blasphemer against the Holy Ghost. As was typical of such heretics, she attacked the real Holy Trinity as being a “Papist” or Catholic doctrine, which she so despised. It was already bad enough that Ellen G White made numerous prophecies that never came to pass beginning with the failed teaching of William Miller (whom she was associated with) that Christ would return in 1844 to failed prophecies regarding the Civil War of the United States, of which she said England would get involved and America would fall, which never came to pass. (Please see details here: http://biblebelievers.com/SDA/SDA3.html#3-g ) Even worse is that she had the gall to blaspheme the Holy Trinity too by claiming that Christ and Satan were equal in power along with stating that Christ was also Michael the Archangel and that there is no Third Person of the Trinity, since the Holy Ghost=Christ and even that the Holy Spirit was also a “Divine Power”. All this is enough to merit Ellen G White as a heretic. But equally damning is her teaching that Satan is the Sin Bearer in Leviticus 16:4:
“It was seen, also, that while the sin offering pointed to Christ as a sacrifice, and the high priest represented Christ as a mediator, the scapegoat typified Satan, the author of sin, upon whom the sins of the truly penitent will finally be placed. Christ will place all these sins upon Satan, … so Satan, …will at last suffer the full penalty of sin.” (Great Controversy, p.422,485,486).
A question to ask Seventh Day Adventists: “If Satan was a sin bearer for the atonement of the sins of Israel in Leviticus 16:4, then did God decide to have 2 saviours?” Any honest student of the Scriptures can see that passage was clearly nothing to do with Satan being a sin bearer for humanity, but rather, since both goats were slain for the sins of Israel, both typified Christ. Ellen G White was clearly unschooled and unlearned in the Holy Scriptures to the point of wresting it to her destruction.
There is more that would be worth discussing in terms of her heresies such as investigative judgment heresy, soul sleep heresy (annihilationism), enforced Sabbath keeping and enforced vegetarianism on the members, but they have already been discussed at length by others. Nevertheless, from this matriarch of heretics came other heretics that followed which will also be discussed. Nevertheless, Ellen G White was clearly a blasphemer of the Holy Ghost for the above reasons and for even daring to associate Christ with Satan even in salvation! May God save Seventh Day Adventists from such deviancies. What should finally be concluded is that Ellen G White was a blasphemer of the Holy Ghost and rejected the Holy Trinity as is clearly admitted by Ellen G White here:
“The man Christ Jesus was not the Lord God Almighty, yet Christ and the Father are one. The Deity did not sink under the agonizing torture of Calvary, yet it is none the less true that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”(Ellen G. White, Ms140, September 27, 1903) [This is not only self contradictory, but equally blasphemous. I suppose Ellen G White never considered Revelation/Apocalypse 1:8-11, where the Son is called the Almighty too!]
James White, the husband of Ellen G White, made this damning statement confirming Ellen G White did not believe in the Trinity and for that matter, the whole of unbroken Apostolic Doctrine: “As fundamental errors, we might class with this counterfeit sabbath other errors which Protestants have brought away from the Catholic church, such as sprinkling for baptism, the trinity, the consciousness of the dead and eternal life in misery. The mass who have held these fundamental errors, have doubtless done it ignorantly; but can it be supposed that the church of Christ will carry along with her these errors till the judgment scenes burst upon the world? We think not.” (James White, Review and Herald, September 12, 1854, p. 36) [Emphasis mine]
Very sadly, many Seventh Day Adventists in their sincere deception to uphold Ellen G White, would insist on following her over proper Apostolic Doctrine as taught by both Holy Scripture and the Fathers, and thus are placing their souls in mortal danger eternally. I urge Seventh Day Adventists and other cultists not to follow in the way of their founders, who blasphemed the Holy Ghost and urge them to sincerely repent towards the Holy Trinity. Amen.
CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL (1852-1916)
Many remember this man as the founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which were once called “Russellites”. So much for the claim by this particular heretical group that they are named after Jehovah whilst all the others are named after men! What few remember is that not only were his followers called Russellites but that after a split amongst the heretics, those that followed Judge Joseph Rutherford officially took on the name: “Jehovah’s Witnesses”, whilst the others went by various titles such as “International Bible Students”, “Dawn Bible Students”, etc. However, what should be discussed here are not only his foul heresies and blasphemies, but also more importantly, how he blasphemed the Holy Ghost. To Russell, the Holy Ghost was not even a Person let alone actually God but an emanation of the mind of God, and is even an impersonal force. This is made clear here:
“There is consistency in the Scripture teaching that the Father and Son are in full harmony and oneness of purpose and operation, as we have just seen. And equally consistent is the Scripture teaching respecting the holy Spirit-that it is not another God, but the spirit, influence or power exercised by the one God, our Father, and by his Only Begotten Son-in absolute oneness, therefore, with both of these, who also are at one or in full accord.” (Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 5, p165)
As a further indication of such blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, Russell was also content to blaspheme the whole Trinity too in these words:
“This view [the Trinity] suited well ‘the dark ages’ it helped to produce” (Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. V, p166)
“…this theory [a reference to the Trinity]…is as unscriptural as it is unreasonable” (Ibid.)
“…if it were not for the fact that this Trinitarian nonsense was drilled into us from earliest infancy, and the fact that it is so soberly taught in Theological Seminaries by gray haired professors…nobody would give it a moment’s serious consideration.” (Ibid.)
“How the great Adversary [Satan] ever succeeded in foisting it [The Trinity] upon the Lord’s people to bewilder and mystify them, and render much of the Word of God of none effect, is the real mystery…” (Ibid.)
As a further indication of his damnable doctrines, Russell went so far as to state these blasphemies regarding our Lord Jesus Christ, all of which are held today as standard doctrine for both the break of sects of Russellites and Jehovah’s Witnesses alike:
- Denial of the Deity of Christ and teaching that he was “a god” and that he was the first created along with being Michael the Archangel.
“…our Lord Jesus Christ is a God…still the united voice of the Scriptures most emphatically asserts that there is but one Almighty God, the Father of all.” (Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. V, p 55) [Although Russell did not start up the New World Translation, yet this became the basis for the New World Translation in 1950 for the New Testament, whereby the rendering of John 1:1 became: “the Word was a god”, instead of the correct reading in all translations: “the Word was God”. This combined with inspiration from a spiritist known as Johannes Greber, who did a similar translation before this came to being. Funny how one heretical notion can not only resort to distortion but even use someone involved in the occult for inspiration! This is embarrassing for Jehovah’s Witnesses!] “Our Redeemer existed as a spirit being before he was made flesh and dwelt amongst men. At that time, as well as subsequently, he was properly known as ‘a god’-a mighty one” (Ibid., p84)
“…the Logos [Christ] himself was ‘the beginning of the creation of God’” (Ibid. p86) [A very poor attempt to distort the words of both Revelation/Apocalypse 3:14 and Colossians 1:15. The context of the quotes clarify that “beginning of the creation of God” has to do with the fact that Christ is the Creator and thus is the beginning of it. Cultists and heretics never care for context!]
“As chief of the angels and next to the Father, he [Christ] was known as the Archangel (highest angel or messenger), whose name, Michael, signifies, ‘Who as God’ or God’s Representative”. (Ibid. p84) [Note: Since Russell was once associated with the Adventist movement, where else could he have got such an idea from, albeit at variance with the Adventist teaching on the matter?]
- Denial of the physical resurrection of Christ and stating that Christ was resurrected as a spirit
“…our Lord was put to death in flesh, but was made alive in spirit; he was put to death a man, but was raised from the dead a spirit being of the highest order of the divine nature…” (Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. V, p 453) [This is also the teaching of many occultists and spiritists too! Russell could well have had his ideas from them, considering he was also involved with Freemasonry as well].
- Denial of hell and everlasting punishment:
“Many have imbibed the erroneous idea that God placed our race on trial for life with the alternative of eternal torture, whereas nothing of the kind is even hinted at in the penalty” (Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. I, p127)
“Eternal torture is nowhere suggested in the Old Testament Scriptures, and only a few statements in the New Testament can be so misconstrued as to appear to teach it.” (Ibid., p128) [This is so typical of all these heretics and cultists. Denial of eternal bliss and eternal punishment. Let us not forget that Russell was also associated with the Adventist movement that taught the same damnable heresy too.]
Charles Taze Russell was not only known for such heresies but for attempting to deceive others too. Many are familiar with his attempt at predicting the Battle of Armageddon would arrive in 1874 which would then bring in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ, only to be proven wrong but then have another attempt at it in 1914. The Watchtower Society (aka Jehovah’s Witnesses) continued in that vein of thought many times over, and instead of admitting that they have committed the sin of false prophecy, simply tried to brush it over by saying that these were all miscalculations. Russell and the Watchtower Society that would come later not only held their followers on to such delusion and heresy on pain of being “disfellowshipped”, but continued to make such embarrassing false prophecies. Worst of all, was that they were claiming to be under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost as either a “prophet” or even as a “prophet organisation” that speaks as the “mouthpiece of Jehovah”.
What is disheartening is his poor attempt to convince others that he was skilled in both Hebrew and Greek. This was contested in a court of law and he was proven to not only be ignorant of the Hebrew and the Greek, but also to have committed fraud. What else can we expect from a blasphemer of the Holy Ghost, a son of Belial, and a heretic? As a very embarrassing monument to Charles Taze Russell, he was buried with a pyramid on his gravesite, attesting to the fact that he believed that the Great Pyramid of Egypt were inspired by God for revelation, and in fact, he used that idea in his Studies of the Scriptures, to base his failed calculations as to when Armageddon would take place. [Does this not sound like Freemasonry again? Freemasonry loves the Egyptian mysteries.]
Not so surprisingly, Russell in his publications, not only called himself the “faithful and wise servant” in Luke 12:42, 43, which later on, the Watchtower Society attributed to themselves, but on top of that, had the gall to attribute himself as one of the 7 messengers in Revelation/Apocalypse, calling himself the messenger for the Laodicean Age. Demonic pride has no bounds. Interestingly enough, he attributed the heretic and blasphemer against the Holy Ghost, Arius from the 4th century to be one of the 7 messengers. This is not so surprising, considering that Russell looked to Arius’ heretical ideas for his theology and doctrine. Therefore we can only conclude that Russell was indeed a blasphemer against the Holy Ghost and in not so surprising a vein, hated the Apostolic Churches, particularly the Roman Catholic Church. May the deluded followers of this blasphemer repent and reconsider their ways or else they will land up in damnation as their founder has done. [Side note: Russell also saw a kin not only in Arius, but also in the blasphemous Reformers, Luther and Tyndale, both of whom he saw as amongst the 7 messengers in Revelation].
JOSEPH SMITH (1805-1844)
Amongst the most fanciful of heretics and blasphemers against the Holy Ghost is none other than the founder of the Mormon Church aka Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Joseph Smith. If one was to take his religion and its text, the Book of Mormon, as purely fantasy, then we could simply laugh it off. However, very tragically, this particular sect boasts of having billions of followers, rivalling the Catholic Church and with assets in Utah alone rivalling the Vatican. Worst of all, are the unorthodox and heretical doctrines being espoused that clearly run contrary to both the Holy Scriptures and the Apostolic Faith. All of this stems from none other than a practitioner of Freemasonry (who fell out of grace with them and was eventually murdered by them) and occultist, Joseph Smith. The very poison and blasphemies that Smith believed in were continued further in Brigham Young and other successors in the Mormon “Apostleship”. As space is somewhat limited, I will try and make his blasphemies as brief as possible, and it will become clear that this man blasphemed the Holy Ghost via blaspheming the whole of the Holy Trinity, either collectively or individually. To begin with, Joseph Smith in his state of spiritual deception (prelest) as all heresiarchs and cult founders are in, declared this about the Holy Trinity:
“The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.” (Doctrines and Covenants 130:22; April 2, 1843)
If this blasphemy against the Holy Trinity was not enough, then he went further to state this blasphemous statement against the whole of the Trinity as God in this disgusting mocking statement:
“Many men say there is one God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are only one God. I say that is a strange God anyhow—three in one, and one in three! It is a curious organization. “Father, I pray not for the world, but I pray for them which thou hast given me.” “Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are.” All are to be crammed into one God, according to sectarianism. It would make the biggest God in all the world. He would be a wonderfully big God—he would be a giant or a monster.”(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, June 16, 1844, p372)
Joseph Smith did not stop there either. As continued in the teaching of Brigham Young and other succeeding “Prophets”, he taught that God the Father impregnated the Virgin Mary to produce our Lord Jesus Christ via sexual means, thus blaspheming both Christ and the Holy Ghost, since the Scriptures clearly teach that the Holy Ghost placed the Lord into the Blessed Virgin without any sexual means whatsoever. Since Joseph Smith believed that God the Father was only a man, then the following from Brigham Young and his descendant, Joseph Fielding Smith merely continued the blasphemy:
“The birth of the Savior was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood—was begotten of his Father as we were of our fathers” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, p115)
And also:
“When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, p.50)
“The birth of the Savior was a natural occurrence unattended by any degree of mysticism, and the Father God was the literal parent of Jesus in the flesh as well as in the spirit” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Religious Truths Defined, p.44).
Clearly Joseph Smith and the Mormon “Apostleship” had blasphemed the whole of the Holy Trinity and committed blasphemy against the Holy Ghost via attacking the Holy Ghost’s role in the birth of our Lord. But the evil does not end here. Similar to other blasphemers against the Holy Ghost, Joseph Smith and company believed that Lucifer had some equal footing with Christ, to the point of declaring that both Lucifer and Christ were brothers and that Lucifer was planning to be a “saviour” of mankind, only to be rejected in favour of Christ. Consider this: “The contention in heaven was…Jesus said there would be certain souls that would not be saved; and the Devil said he could save them all, and laid his plans before the grand council, who gave their vote in favour of Jesus Christ. So the Devil rose up in rebellion against God, and was cast down.” (Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p.8) [This is blasphemous to the nth degree! Any honest student of the Scripture will know that Lucifer rebelled out of pride and wanted the throne of God. Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:13-17.]
“And Satan came among them, saying: I am also a son of God” (Pearl of Great Price, Moses, 5:17)
If that is not evil enough, then the fact that Joseph Smith also put himself on equal footing with the Lord Jesus Christ in the following quotes should be self-explanatory: “ [Regarding Joseph Smith] that whatsoever seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven, and whatsoever you shall bind on earth, in my name and by my word, saith the Lord, it shall be eternally bound in the heavens; and whatsoever sins you remit on earth shall be remitted eternally in the heavens; and whatsoever sins you retain on earth shall be retained in heaven. And again, verily I say, whosoever you bless I will bless and whosever you curse I will curse, saith the Lord.” (Doctrines and Covenants, 132:46-47) [Is this nothing short of Joseph Smith attempting to be the equivalent of the Apostles by mimicking the words of Christ in the Gospels? How wicked and blasphemous!]
“What is the root of Jesse spoken of in the 10th verse of the 11th chapter [of Isaiah]? Behold, thus saith the Lord, it is a descendant of Jesse, as well as Joseph, unto whom rightly belongs the priesthood, and the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of my people in the last days.” (Doctrine and Covenants, 113:5, 6) [Emphasis mine. So Joseph Smith wants to claim descent from our Lord Jesus Christ despite not having Jewish blood in himself! Even worse, is to claim the keys of the kingdom, priesthood and everything Apostolic for himself!]
In fact, it gets worse whereby followers of Brigham Young and Joseph Smith had this to state regarding Brigham Young, Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ:
“Some have said that I was very presumptuous to say that Brother Brigham was my God and Saviour, Brother Joseph was his God and the one that gave Joseph the keys of the kingdom was his God which was Peter. Jesus Christ was his God and (the) Father of Jesus Christ was Adam.” (Journal of Wilford Woodruff, April 10, 1852) [This is absolute blasphemy! No further commentary needed here].
As an ultimate blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, Joseph Smith had the following to state regarding the Holy Ghost which any orthodox Christian will reject as outright blasphemy:
“The Holy Ghost is yet a spiritual body and is waiting to take to himself a body, as the Savior did.”[Joseph Smith, Encyclopedia of Joseph Smith’s Teachings, edited by Larry E. Dahl and Donald Q. Cannon (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997)
“The Holy Ghost is now in a state of probation which if he should perform in righteousness he may pass through the same or a similar course of things that the Son has.” (Joseph Smith, The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 245; Sabbath address, Nauvoo, 27 August 1843. Reported by Franklin D. Richards.)
It is already bad enough that there are all these damnable heresies, all of which are an attack on the Holy Trinity, even an attack on the Holy Ghost. However, we should also bear in mind that Joseph Smith also admired another heresiarch and blasphemer of the Holy Ghost and practiced things based on his example such as polygamy and inhabiting the heavens and planets in the after life with wives (not different from Muhammad’s paradise) and the doctrine of Blood Atonement which not only is a blasphemy against the blood of Christ, but stems from an Islamic idea of jihad and killing the infidels and apostates. [This is a very embarrassing episode in Mormon history today!]. However, due to time and space, I will conclude this with a quote by Joseph Smith calling himself another Muhammad:
“I will be to this generation a second Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was ‘the Alcoran [Koran] or the Sword.’ So shall it eventually be with us—‘Joseph Smith or the Sword!’ ” (Joseph Smith is quoted during the Mormon War in 1838. The quote is found in Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History, second edition, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971), p. 230–231 and is also confirmed in History of the [Mormon] Church, p167)
Is it no wonder also that Mormon leadership has continually without pause had nothing but praise for Islam and Muhammad? Nevertheless, it is clear that since one blasphemer of the Holy Ghost is following the example of another, there is nothing short of deception and damnation. Joseph Smith like Muhammad has damned himself for eternity due to such blasphemy and it is my sincere hope that his followers will have their eyes opened and repent to the True God, who is Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and leave this den of heresy and blasphemy which will damn their souls too.
MADAM BLAVATSKY (1831-1891)
Of the many heresiarchs and matriarchs of heresy, Madam Blavatsky has had a great impact on the world for damning souls via the Theosophical Movement. It is noteworthy that she was an apostate from the Russian Orthodox Church and remained rebellious in her whole lifetime against the Christian Faith. She spent a lot of time travelling throughout India and Tibet, and in fact was heavily influenced by both Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism, along with the Gnostics and Egyptian mysteries. It is not surprising to see that one blasphemer against the Holy Ghost would look to other blasphemers of the Holy Ghost for inspiration, namely the Gnostics. She was well known for her works Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine. There were 2 other foul heretics that found their inspiration in her heresies since it pandered to their rejection of the God of Holy Scripture, namely, Leo Tolstoy and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
As with all such heresiarchs, there always is an attack on the Holy Trinity. Madame Blavatsky was no different. In fact, she spends a whole chapter in her book The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 2, Chapter 17, discrediting both Jehovah/Yahweh and the Holy Trinity as being of pagan origin. In this chapter in her book, she not only goes so far as to blaspheme Jehovah/Yahweh by stating that he is a “tribal deity” of the Jews and that the “masculine” Jehovah was forced upon Israel since prior to that they worshipped Ashtoreth, the female goddess, but also goes so far as to state that the Trinity had its origins in the Egyptian deities, Osiris, Isis and Thoth. Without going into lengthy quotes due to space, I will allow the reader to access all the details in this link: http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sd/sd2-2-03.htm
Since she hated the Jehovah/Yahweh of Scripture, then naturally she would detest the Holy Trinity who is the true Jehovah/Yahweh of Scripture. However, it is already very blasphemous as it is to state what has been just mentioned, but to make matters worse, Madam Blavatsky, due to her Gnostic leanings and hatred of all of Christian doctrine, blasphemed the Holy Ghost in 2 ways:
- Advocated a feminine Personality to replace the Holy Ghost, called Sophia. This heresy was repeated by the heretical modernists in the World Council of Churches a century after her death in 1991.
- Sought to exonerate Satan/Lucifer as being the “Enlightened One” and Jehovah as being the malicious Being. This again is a Gnostic teaching.
Notice that not only was the Holy Ghost directly denied but also even Satan was associated with the Divine, something the apostate Jewish religious leaders did that Christ condemned them for. Please notice this blasphemous quote whereby she denies the Holy Ghost and associates instead with Sophia, the feminine Personality of Divine Wisdom, something that Gnostics do:
“The various cosmogonies show that the Archæal Universal Soul was held by every nation as the ‘mind’ of the Demiurgic Creator, the Sophia of the Gnostics, or the Holy Ghost as a female principle.” (Isis Unveiled, Vol. I, Science, 1877, Reprinted by Theosophical University Press (1988), p130)
Please notice the following regarding her attempt to not only exonerate Satan/Lucifer but to associate Satan with God:
“The devil is now called Darkness by the Church, whereas, in the Bible he is called the ‘Son of God’ (see Job), the bright star of early morning, Lucifer (see Isaiah). There is a whole philosophy of dogmatic craft in the reason why the first Archangel, who sprang from the depths of Chaos, was called Lux (Lucifer), the ‘Luminous Son of the Morning,’ or manvantaric Dawn. He was transformed by the Church into Lucifer or Satan, because he is higher and older than Jehovah, and had to be sacrificed to the new dogma.” (The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I-Cosmogenesis, 1888, Reprinted by Theosophical University Press (1999), p515)
“Satan and his rebellious host would thus prove, when the meaning of the allegory is explained, to have refused to create physical man, only to become the direct Saviours and the Creators of ‘divine Man.’ … For, instead of remaining a mere blind, functioning medium, impelled and guided by fathomless Law, the ‘rebellious’ Angel claimed and enforced his right of independent judgment and will, his right of free-agency and responsibility, since man and angel are alike under Karmic Law.” (Ibid., p193-194) [Now doesn’t that sound like something that Joseph Smith and Brigham Young of the Mormon Church taught?]
“In this case it is but natural – even from the dead letter standpoint – to view Satan, the Serpent of Genesis, as the real creator and benefactor, the Father of Spiritual mankind. For it is he who was the ‘Harbinger of Light,’ bright radiant Lucifer, who opened the eyes of the automaton created by Jehovah, as alleged; and he who was the first to whisper: ‘in the day ye eat thereof ye shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil’ – can only be regarded in the light of a Saviour. An ‘adversary’ to Jehovah the ‘personating spirit,’ he still remains in esoteric truth the ever-loving ‘Messenger’ (the angel), the Seraphim and Cherubim who both knew well, and loved still more, and who conferred on us spiritual, instead of physical immortality – the latter a kind of static immortality that would have transformed man into an undying ‘Wandering Jew.’” (The Secret Doctrine, Vol. II-Anthropogenesis, 1888, Reprinted by Theosophical University Press (1999), p237) [This shows that she was a worshipper of Satan too! Such is the fate of heresiarchs!]
As a clear reflection of her hatred for Jehovah who is the Holy Trinity and also the Lord Jesus Christ of Holy Scripture whom we orthodox Christians worship, she has these following blasphemous remarks to make:
“History shows in every race and even tribe, especially in the Semitic nations, the natural impulse to exalt its own tribal deity above all others to the hegemony of the gods; and proves that the god of the Israelites was such a tribal God, and no more, even though the Christian Church, following the lead of the ‘chosen’ people, is pleased to enforce the worship of that one particular deity, and to anathematize all the others.” (Ibid.)[Note: This evil blasphemy is continued by many modernists today in a number of Protestant and sadly, some Catholic seminaries]. “The present volumes have been written to small purpose if they have not shown, 1, that Jesus, the Christ-God, is a myth concocted two centuries after the real Hebrew Jesus died; 2, that, therefore, he never had any authority to give Peter, or anyone else, plenary power; 3, that, even if he had given such authority, the word Petra (rock) referred to the revealed truths of the Petroma, not to him who thrice denied him; and that besides, the apostolic succession is a gross and palpable fraud; 4, that the Gospel according to Matthew is a fabrication based on a wholly different manuscript. The whole thing, therefore, is an imposition alike upon priest and penitent.” (Isis Unveiled, Vol II-Theology, 1877, Reprinted by Theosophical University Press (1988), p544) [Notice that besides modernists and New Agers, that these blasphemous assertions on Christ our God is also taught by a number of Hebrew Roots heretics!]
“In the great Valentian gospel Pistis Sophia (§ 361) it is taught that of the three Powers emanating from the Holy Names of the Three Tridunάmeiς, that of Sophia (the Holy Ghost according to these gnostics – the most cultured of all), resides in the planet Venus or Lucifer.” (The Secret Doctrine, Vol. II, op.cit., p512) [Emphasis mine. Not only is the Holy Trinity blasphemed here but even the heresy of denying the Holy Ghost and associating the Holy Ghost with both Sophia and Lucifer is stated here! This is clear blasphemy against the Holy Ghost!]
Since this Jezebel hated the God of Holy Scripture, Jehovah/Yahweh and for that matter, the Holy Trinity, it is not surprising to not only hear Helena Blavatsky turn against the Jewish people, despite using the Jewish Cabala for some of her distorted conclusions, but also have this abominable teaching called the Root Race Theory, which Hitler advocated too. [Interesting note: both Hitler and Mohandas Gandhi believed in Helena Blavatsky’s teachings and were notable enemies of the Jewish people too!] It was already bad enough that Jehovah was damned by Blavatsky as a “tribal deity”. Even worse is her assertion that the revelation of Scripture was not meant for her “Aryan” peoples.
“History shows in every race and even tribe, especially in the Semitic nations, the natural impulse to exalt its own tribal deity above all others to the hegemony of the gods; and proves that the god of the Israelites was such a tribal God, and no more, even though the Christian Church, following the lead of the ‘chosen’ people, is pleased to enforce the worship of that one particular deity, and to anathematize all the others.” (Ibid. p507-508)
“Jehovah has ever been in antiquity only ‘a god among other Gods,’ (lxxxii. Psalm). The Lord appears to Abraham, and while saying, ‘I am the Almighty God,’ yet adds, ‘I will establish my covenant to be a God unto thee’ (Abraham) and unto his seed after him (Gen. xvii. 7) – not unto Aryan Europeans.” (Ibid. p508) [Note: Does this not sound like something Hitler would advocate since Hitler hated the Jewish people as did Blavatasky? Is it no surprise to find Hitler finding a lot of inspiration from Blavatsky?]
In regards to her abominable “Roots Race Theory” which not only has its basis in Darwinism but also in the Eastern religions that she affiliated with, particularly Hinduism, she has this to state: “Mankind is obviously divided into god-informed men and lower human creatures. The intellectual difference between the Aryan and other civilized nations and such savages as the South Sea Islanders, is inexplicable on any other grounds. No amount of culture, nor generations of training amid civilization, could raise such human specimens as the Bushmen, the Veddhas of Ceylon, and some African tribes, to the same intellectual level as the Aryans, the Semites, and the Turanians so called. The ‘sacred spark’ is missing in them and it is they who are the only inferior races of the globe, now happily – owing to the wise adjustment of nature which ever works in that direction – fast dying out. Verily mankind is ‘of one blood,’ but not of the same essence.” (Ibid. p421) [Note: She is an evolutionary and Hinduistic racist! Hitler found inspiration from her for his “Aryan” superiority theory]
“A process of decimation is taking place all over the globe, among those races, whose ‘time is up’ – among just those stocks, be it remarked, which esoteric philosophy regards as the senile representatives of the archaic nations. It is inaccurate to maintain that the extinction of a lower race is invariably due to cruelties or abuses perpetrated by colonists. … Redskins, Eskimos, Papuans, Australians, Polynesians, etc., etc. – all are dying out. … The tide-wave of incarnating Egos has rolled past them to harvest experience in more developed and less senile stocks; and their extinction is hence a Karmic necessity.” (Ibid. p779-780) [Please note that she views extermination of races as “Karmic necessity” and states that many races are being extinct because “time is up”. Such is also found in Social Darwinism and for that matter, fit into Hitler’s Aryan Race Superiority Theory].
I digress slightly yet one can see where heresy and blasphemy against the Holy Ghost will lead to. As no surprise to us, Helena Blavatsky glorified another blasphemer of the Holy Ghost, Simon Magus, due to her leanings to Gnosticism and her rejection of the Faith of Christ. She has this to say regarding Simon Magus:
“[Referring to Simon Magus] “the Great Power of God,” [was] “more wonderful, more varied, and better attested than those either of the apostles or of the Galilean philosopher[Jesus Christ] himself.” (Isis Unveiled, Vol.II, op.cit, p341)
One blasphemer of the Holy Ghost endorsing another. I will conclude this analysis of Blavatsky with her own hatred of the Christian Church:
“To make the point clear once for all: that which the clergy of every dogmatic religion – pre-eminently the Christian – points out as Satan, the enemy of God, is in reality, the highest divine Spirit – (occult Wisdom on Earth) – in its naturally antagonistic character to every worldly, evanescent illusion, dogmatic or ecclesiastical religions included. Thus, the Latin Church, intolerant, bigoted and cruel to all who do not choose to be its slaves; the Church which calls itself the bride of Christ, and the trustee at the same time of Peter, to whom the rebuke of the Master ‘get thee behind me Satan’ was justly addressed; and again the Protestant Church which, while calling itself Christian, paradoxically replaces the New Dispensation by the old ‘Law of Moses’ which Christ openly repudiated: both these Churches are fighting against divine Truth, when repudiating and slandering the Dragon of esoteric (because divine) Wisdom.’” (Secret Doctrine, Vol II, op.cit., p377) [Please note that Blavatsky is not only attacking the Christian Church here but is also advocating worship of the Dragon. Sounds like Revelation 13:4 quite literally here! Notice particularly that she has a special hatred for one of the key Apostolic Churches, the Catholic Church].
Enough said about this blasphemer against the Holy Ghost. What we can point out is that sadly, she has left many damaging effects on the world and when she was given a last chance to repent after supposedly going to a Russian Orthodox Church, which she was originally baptised into, she mocked and particularly rejected the soul of her mother whom she saw, appealing to her to repent to Christ. [Information on this can be found here: http://www.roca.org/OA/94/94p.htm ].
She died in rebellion against the Trinity in 1891 but left a very damaging legacy on many, of which Hitler and Gandhi were by-products, not to mention her successor, Annie Besant, which continued in her blasphemies and heresies. May we urge people in her cult to repent towards Christ and not follow the way of their heresiarch founder.
MARY BAKER EDDY (1821-1910)
Another blasphemer against the Holy Ghost and associate with the above discussed blasphemer, Helena Blavatsky, is none other than the founder of the Gnostic “Christian Science” cult. Similar to Blavatsky, Mary Baker Eddy hated all the doctrines of orthodox Christianity and wrote her own “bible” called Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures based not only on her distorted understanding of the Holy Scriptures, but also on her Gnostic and Freemasonic ideas. In the same manner as Helena Blavatsky and other Gnostic minded heretics, she rejected the Holy Trinity, denied the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, denied His virgin birth, denied His miracles and also denied His physical resurrection. But that is not all. She went further and denied the existence of the Holy Ghost and substituted “Divine Mind” and worse yet, even equated her “Christian Science” with being the Comforter and that “Divine Mind”. Please consider these following blasphemous statements from her which show clearly that she had blasphemed the Holy Trinity, and blasphemed the Holy Ghost ultimately: “The Jewish tribal Jehovah was a man-projected God, liable to wrath, repentance, and human changeableness. The Christian Science God is universal, eternal, divine Love, which changeth not and causeth no evil, disease, nor death. It is indeed mournfully true that the older Scripture is reversed.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Chapter VI, p140.) [This sounds like Blavatsky doesn’t it? Another foul blasphemer indeed]
“God is the Principle of divine metaphysics. As there is but one God, there can be but one divine Principle of all Science; and there must be fixed rules for the demonstration of this divine Principle.” (Ibid. p113) [This is again Gnostic teaching and on par with Blavatsky whereby God is not personal but impersonal and is only a principle of forces.]
“Christian Science strongly emphasizes the thought that God is not corporeal, but incorporeal, — that is, bodiless. Mortals are corporeal, but God is incorporeal.” (Ibid. p116) [Gnostic teaching again. Denying the personality of God not to mention any possibility of God possibly taking on human form for the salvation of mankind].
“Therefore truth is not human, and is not a law of matter, for matter is not a lawgiver. Science is an emanation of divine Mind, and is alone able to interpret God aright. It has a spiritual, and not a material origin. It is a divine utterance, — the Comforter which leadeth into all truth.” (Ibid. p127) [Emphasis mine. This is clear blasphemy against the Holy Ghost by not only denying the Holy Spirit His place but even inserting their twisted thinking as being the “Comforter which leadeth into all truth”! Eddy indeed has damned herself]
“In the words of St. John: “He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.” This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science.” (Ibid. p55) [Is this not blasphemy against the Holy Ghost affirming itself again?]
“In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowed from the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israelites looked upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed that they were healed of the poisonous stings of vipers. In national prosperity, miracles attended the successes of the Hebrews; but when they departed from the true idea, their demoralization began. Even in captivity among foreign nations, the divine Principle wrought wonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and in kings’ palaces.” (Ibid. p133) [This is blasphemous! Not only has Eddy substituted God for “Mind” but also deified her disgusting “divine Principle”, namely her teachings, to the status of God. A foul blasphemer indeed!]
“The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, — not because this Science is supernatural or preternatural, nor because it is an infraction of divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God, good.” (Ibid. p134) [Another blasphemy. Here the true Logos of God, Christ our God, is being substituted by “Christian Science”.]
“The decisions by vote of Church Councils as to what should and should not be considered Holy Writ; the manifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the thirty thousand different readings in the Old Testament, and the three hundred thousand in the New, — these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some extent the inspired pages.” (Ibid. p139) [This is nothing short of open denial of Holy Scripture and rejection of the Truth. She resorts not only to modernist arguments but also denies the Word of God as it is in the Holy Scriptures. A foul blasphemer indeed].
“It was also found among the Israelites, who constantly went after “strange gods.” They called the Supreme Being by the national name of Jehovah. In that name of Jehovah, the true idea of God seems almost lost. God becomes “a man of war,” a tribal god to be worshipped, rather than Love, the divine Principle to be lived and loved. [Commenting further on Genesis 2:7] Did the divine and infinite Principle become a finite deity, that He should now be called Jehovah? With a single command, Mind had made man, both male and female. How then could a material organization become the basis of man? How could the non-intelligent become the medium of Mind, and error be the enunciator of Truth? Matter is not the reflection of Spirit, yet God is reflected in all His creation. Is this addition to His creation real or unreal? Is it the truth, or is it a lie concerning man and God?
It must be a lie, for God presently curses the ground. Could Spirit evolve its opposite, matter, and give matter ability to sin and suffer? Is Spirit, God, injected into dust, and eventually ejected at the demand of matter? Does Spirit enter dust, and lose therein the divine nature and omnipotence? Does Mind, God, enter matter to become there a mortal sinner, animated by the breath of God? In this narrative, the validity of matter is opposed, not the validity of Spirit or Spirit’s creations. Man reflects God; mankind represents the Adamic race, and is a human, not a divine, creation.” (Ibid. p524, 525) [Emphasis mine. It is already very blasphemous that she would attribute evil to Jehovah but to go further and to call Genesis 2:7 “a lie” and then to state that mankind was not a divine creation is absolutely evil! Satan really found a representative in Mary Baker Eddy!]
“All things are created spiritually. Mind, not matter, is the creator. Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and Mother of the universe, including man. The theory of three persons in one God (that is, a personal Trinity or Tri-unity) suggests polytheism, rather than the one ever-present I AM. “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.” The everlasting I AM is not bounded nor compressed within the narrow limits of physical humanity, nor can He be understood aright through mortal concepts. The precise form of God must be of small importance in comparison with the sublime question, What is infinite Mind or divine Love?”(Ibid. p256) [Emphasis mine. It is already very bad to deny a Creator God and then teach that all things were created spiritually. Not only does Eddy teach that God is both Father and Mother that created the universe, but also denies the Trinity openly. Is it not clear now that she is of Antichrist and Satan?]
“The Jew believes that the Messiah or Christ has not yet come; the Christian believes that Christ is God. Here Christian Science intervenes, explains these doctrinal points, cancels the disagreement, and settles the question. Christ, as the true spiritual idea, is the ideal of God now and forever, here and everywhere. The Jew who believes in the First Commandment is a monotheist; he has one omnipresent God. Thus the Jew unites with the Christian’s doctrine that God is come and is present now and forever. The Christian who believes in the First Commandment is a monotheist. Thus he virtually unites with the Jew’s belief in one God, and recognizes that Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus himself declared, but is the Son of God.” (Ibid. p361) [Emphasis mine. Is this not open blasphemy and rejection of the Deity of our Lord and not to mention a distortion of Scriptural understanding? Mary Baker Eddy indeed is of the antichrist spirit predicted in I John2:22, 23].
“Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation. As the apostle expressed it in words which he quoted with approbation from a classic poet: “For we are also His offspring.” (Ibid p332) [Again that heresy of “Father-Mother” god as creator.]
“The Christ is incorporeal, spiritual, — yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses; the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death. As Paul says: “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The corporeal man Jesus was human.” (Ibid.) [Separating the Christ from Jesus. This is one of the traits of Gnosticism. Not only that, the Deity was also denied here too].
“Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ is the divine idea of God — the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle, Love, and leading into all truth.” (Ibid.) [Again the separation of Christ from Jesus again! Even worse is again denying the Personality of the Holy Ghost by calling the Holy Ghost “divine Principle”. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost manifests itself again!]
“Mary’s conception of him was spiritual, for only purity could reflect Truth and Love, which were plainly incarnate in the good and pure Christ Jesus.” (Ibid.) [Denial of the virgin birth and allegorising it!]
“The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, God.” (Ibid. p333) [Again the Gnostic concept shows itself].
“By these sayings Jesus meant, not that the human Jesus was or is eternal, but that the divine idea or Christ was and is so and therefore antedated Abraham; not that the corporeal Jesus was one with the Father, but that the spiritual idea, Christ, dwells forever in the bosom of the Father, God, from which it illumines heaven and earth; not that the Father is greater than Spirit, which is God, but greater, infinitely greater, than the fleshly Jesus, whose earthly career was brief.” (p334) [Another poor attempt to not only deny the Deity of Christ our God, but also to separate Christ from Jesus].
“God is indivisible. A portion of God could not enter man; neither could God’s fulness be reflected by a single man, else God would be manifestly finite, lose the deific character, and become less than God. Allness is the measure of the infinite, and nothing less can express God.” (Ibid. p336) [Denial of any possibility of the Incarnation.]
“His disciples believed Jesus to be dead while he was hidden in the sepulchre, whereas he was alive, demonstrating within the narrow tomb the power of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense….Jesus’ students, not sufficiently advanced fully to understand their Master’s triumph, did not perform many wonderful works, until they saw him after his crucifixion and learned that he had not died.” (Ibid. p44, 46) [Denial of Christ’s physical death and teaching that he did not really die but swooned. This also denies the Resurrection too! Gnostic heresy plus modernism combined].
“The so-called miracles contained in Holy Writ are neither supernatural nor prenatural…Jesus regarded good as the normal state of man, and evil as the abnormal…the so-called pains and pleasures of matter were alike unreal to Jesus; for he regarded matter as only a vagary of mortal belief, and subdued it with this understanding.” (Miscellaneous Writings of Mary Baker Eddy, p199, 200) [Open rejection of the miraculous, especially the miracles of Christ as being supernatural.]
There is more heresy that could be discussed on Mary Baker Eddy’s part that reject orthodox Christian doctrine such as her denial of angels and devils, denial of heaven and hell, rejection of the atonement of Christ’s crucifixion etc. But such is not the main discussion of this work. Mary Baker Eddy was one of the first to attempt to intermarry Gnostic teaching with a “Christian” appearance in modern times, all courtesy of another blasphemer against the Holy Ghost whom she associated with, Helena Blavatsky. It is enough to state that Mary Baker Eddy was not only showing her Theosophical and Masonic leanings, but more importantly her blasphemies against the Holy Ghost which also manifested itself in blasphemy of the Lord Jesus Christ of Scripture. May her deluded followers wake up and not walk in this path of damnation that their founder has set out. May they truly repent and accept the true Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity.
BROTHER JOHN THOMAS (1805-1871) AND ROBERT ROBERTS (1839-1898)
One of the most deceitful of heresies and cults that even has a very thin veneer of Scriptural teaching is none other than the cult of the Christadelphians, founded by Brother John Thomas in the 1830s and formally naming itself as such in the 1860s. His successor, Robert Roberts, formalised his doctrines in a book called Christendom Astray in 1884. John Thomas wrote a book called Elpis Israel, which contains a number of his heresies and blasphemies, amongst which are his denial of eternal damnation and punishment along with eternal reward, annihilation of the soul, etc. However, the most damning of all heresies on the part of these 2 men was not so much their denial of the existence of the Devil/Satan and the devils (albeit that is already heretical), but their open rejection of the Trinity, denial of both the Deity of Christ and His pre-existence from eternity along with the worst being the denial of the existence of the Holy Ghost. These are all signs of a deliberate blasphemer against the Holy Ghost. These deceitful and deluded men followed their prelest to the end and remained unrepentant. Worst of all is that their deluded followers, the Christadelphians, operate using the same deceitful tactics of half quoting Holy Scripture to prove their heretical doctrines, all of which run contrary to orthodox, Apostolic Christian doctrine. Due to their hatred for all that was “Papist” or really, Apostolic doctrine, they resorted to utter rejection of all the Christian doctrines, using the thin veneer of Scripture studies. In addition to this, these men began with both the Millerites (who later went on to be the Seventh Day Adventists) and the Restorationist Movement (another bunch of heretics that denied Apostolic Doctrine) under Alexander Campbell, before splitting with him. John Thomas, formerly a medical doctor, decided to not only follow deception to its logical conclusion by forming his own group based on his subjective revelations, but even got baptised twice to show his rebellious nature. [Read that as a heretical baptism since it was not done in the name of the Holy Trinity as they rejected the Holy Trinity]. Thomas and his successor, Robert Roberts not only went on to found and formally name the “Christadelphian” sect, but also formed the basis of their teaching with a hodgepodge of their inherited heresies stemming from Ebionitism, Judaizing sects, Socianism, along with others. Such indeed is the fruit of rebellion and heresy. For their blasphemies against the Holy Trinity, and particularly their blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, I will quote from both John Thomas and Robert Roberts extensively. Please consider their distorted blasphemies and heresies in their Scripture twisting quotes:
“The Deity, then, in a multitude is a conspicuous element of apostolic, as well as of Old Testament teaching. It is not “One God in three Gods,” and “Three Gods in One;” but one Deity in a countless multitude revealed in the memorial name, and expounded in the mystery of godliness. The knowledge of this mystery was lost sight of by the Babel-builders of the third and fourth centuries; who, as a substitute, invented the Athanasian conceit of three persons in the Divine Essence, coeternal and coequal. They bound up the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, three distinct persons, into one person, or body; and called the fiction “the Triune God.” They did not perceive that the Deity was but one person, and one substance, peculiar to himself. One Deity and not three; that Holy Spirit is an emanation from His substance, intensely radiant and all pervading; and that, when focalized under the fiat of His will, things and persons without limit, as to number or nature, are produced.” (John Thomas, Eureka, 1861, p100) [This is not only distortion and blasphemy against the Holy Trinity, but also blasphemy against the Holy Ghost too! Notice that he denies the Personality of the Holy Ghost by saying that the Holy Ghost is “an emanation from His substance, intensely radiant and all pervading; and that, when focalized under the fiat of His will, things and persons without limit, as to number or nature, are produced.” Could it not be that Thomas may well have had an influence on Charles Taze Russell, seeing that they all began from the same source, the Millerites?] “The testimonies which teach the indivisible unity of the Deity, as the One Father, out of whom ALL things have proceeded, and who is supreme above all, even above Christ (I Cor. xi, 3), are inconsistent with the Trinitarian representation of God. The supremacy and unity of the Father would not be affirmable if there were three co-equal personalities in His One personality–a doctrine which presents us with a contradiction in terms as well as in-sense.” (Robert Roberts, Christendom Astray, Lecture 6, God, Angels, Jesus Christ, and the Crucifixion) [O deceived fool Robert Roberts, the Trinity is not one personality as you so teach. It is 3 distinct Personalities that constitute the One God. One in essence and nature.]
“The endeavour is to show that they are not three co-equal powers in one, but powers of which one is the head and source of the others. The Father is eternal and underived, the Son is the manifestation of the Father in a man begotten by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit is the localisation of the Father’s power.” (Robert Roberts. Ibid.) [So clearly, they reject the Trinity and only see the Son as merely a man and the Spirit as merely “a power”, not a personality].
“When then we read “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” we find Moses teaching the contemporary existence of a plurality of Gods before the creation of man but we do not therefore find him teaching a plurality of Eternities in One Eternity, or Three Gods in one Godhead. This is the notion, not of Moses and the prophets, who positively declare the contrary, but the crotchet of the Old Man of the Flesh, who, professing to be wise, became a fool, “and changed the truth concerning God into a lie.” (John Thomas, Phanerosis, 1869, p65) [This is not only a deliberate attack on the Holy Trinity but also downright distortion of the Holy Scriptures. John Thomas then goes on to say that the Elohim were either merely angels or were men, but he never could accept the fact that angels do not share in the actual creation of man and if anything, angels were made a little lower than man as it states in Hebrews 2:9. Any honest student of the Holy Scriptures can see that God was talking about Himself in the plural, thus giving a very strong hint to the Trinity that he is so keen to reject!]
“Moses and the prophets do not teach that “there are three persons, three essences, three somethings, or three anythings, in the Godhead; and that these three distinct units, or unities, constitute only one unit or one Unity — and that that Tri-Unity is the God of Israel.” They do not teach this. This is the foolishness of the Old Man of the Flesh.” (Thomas, Ibid. p57) [This is a reiteration of the same vile statement made by Thomas].
If these blasphemies against the Holy Trinity is not enough, then the blasphemies of Thomas and Roberts in denying both the pre-existence as well as the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ is equally damning:
“The simple appellation of “Son,” as applied to Christ, is sufficient to prove that his existence is derived, and not eternal. The phrase, “Son of God,” implies that the one God, the eternal Father, was antecedent to the Son, and that the Son had his origin in or “out of” the Father to whom he must therefore be subordinate in a sense inconsistent with Trinitarian representation. “This day have I begotten thee” is the language of Scripture, clearly pointing to a commencement of days. This view is confirmed by the statement of Christ:– “As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (John v, 26) (Robert Roberts, op.cit.) [This is not only distortion of Scripture here but also outright blasphemy and heresy. In fact, it is the heresy of the Socianists, which Thomas was so quick to deny any association with, as well as the heresy of the Ebionites, which Roberts in this lecture tried to appear to disassociate with. Yet clearly both Thomas and Roberts had exactly the same conclusions as both the Socianist and Ebionite heretics, namely, that our Lord Jesus Christ had no pre-existence and was only a man].
“The spirit descended upon him. in bodily shape at his baptism in the Jordan, and took possession of him. This was the anointing which constituted him Christ (or the anointed), and which gave him the superhuman powers of which he showed himself possessed. This is clear from the words of Peter, in his address to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius –(Acts x, 38)–“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed.”
This statement alone is sufficient to disprove the popular view of Christ’s essential Godhead. If he were “very God” in his character as Son, why was it necessary he should be “anointed” with spirit and power? He did no miracles before his anointing. He had no power of himself. This is his own declaration: “I can of mine own sell do nothing” (John v, 30). “The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John xiv, 10).” (Robert Roberts, Ibid.)[Another distortion of the Holy Scriptures to not only deny the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also to teach the ancient heresy of “Adoptionism” and also advocate the Gnostic heresy of separating Christ from Jesus by stating that our Lord only became Christ at baptism when the Spirit descended upon Him. This is utterly heretical and distorted, not to mention blasphemous].
“The Son of Man born out of the flesh was flesh — mortal blood and flesh, but he is no longer so. The same Son of Man has been transformed into incorruptible spirit-substance.” (Thomas, Phanerosis, op.cit. p92) [This is akin to the heresy of the Jehovah’s Witness heresy regarding the resurrected body of Christ, namely, that Christ body was no longer physical but a spirit. Since Thomas predated Charles Taze Russell, has it ever been considered that Thomas was a source of influence for many of Russell’s heresies? Our Lord was resurrected in an incorruptible physical body that was also capable of doing what spirits could do, since this was the body of man before his fall in Eden. Thomas, Russell and other heretics err greatly not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God].
“Jesus Christ did not exist as a person from eternity as one of the triune Godhead. … He did not actually come into being until He was begotten of the Holy Spirit and born in Bethlehem.” (Thomas, Found in The Christadelphian Messenger, No. 46, The Word Made Flesh, p3)
If all this isn’t blasphemous enough, then please consider what both Thomas and Roberts had to say about the Holy Ghost:
“…that Holy Spirit is an emanation from His substance, intensely radiant and all pervading; and that, when focalized under the fiat of His will, things and persons without limit, as to number or nature, are produced” (Thomas, Eureka, op. cit.) [Emphasis mine. We discussed it earlier.]
“Now, it is a fact that in our day, there has been discovered a subtle, unanalysable, incomprehensible principle, which, though inscrutable in its essence, is found to be at the basis of all the phenomena of nature–itself eluding the test of chemistry or the deductions of philosophy. Scientists have called it ELECTRICITY. This is everywhere, and is the foundation of all organisation, in fact, of all substance; whether organised or unorganised. MATTER in every form is but a combination of grosser elements held together by electricity. Electricity governs the laws of an animal’s life and a planet’s motion–omnipotent under the hand of intelligence to destroy or build up.
What is this? The name “Electricity “tells nothing; that really means “amber-icity” (electron being the Greek word for amber), and was adopted as the name of the inscrutable element from the circumstance that its existence was first discovered from the friction of amber. Could a better name be devised than what the Scriptures have given it–SPIRIT? It is one of the highest proofs of the truth of Jewish revelation, that its disclosure of the Deity in His relation to the universe coincides with the facts brought to light by the researches of the human intellect in the field of nature.” (Robert Roberts, op cit.) [Note that he calls the Holy Spirit not a personality but the equivalent of electricity, thus making Him into a force. Possible influence on Russell?]
Because of the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost on the part of Roberts, he thus states that there is no working of the Holy Ghost in this day and age:
“There is no manifestation of the Spirit in these days. The power of continuing the manifestation doubtless died with the apostles; not that God could not have transferred it to others, but that He selected them as the channels of its bestowment in their age, and never, so far as we have any evidence, appointed “successors.“” (Roberts, Ibid.) [So not only do they reject the working of the Holy Ghost in this day and age but also deny any continuation of Apostolic authority too via the Holy Ghost. So typically Protestant, although they claim to be not part of it!]
Bear in mind earlier that Roberts also denied the personality of the Holy Ghost and even stated as earlier quoted: “the Holy Spirit is the localisation of the Father’s power.” So the blasphemers against the Holy Ghost can only follow their blasphemies to its logical conclusion by also rejecting the true power of the Holy Ghost in the world today that convicts men of sin, delivers men to Christ our God and saves people from the grip of Satan, the world and the flesh. The most evil of statements made by Thomas however, was since he rejects that there is Satan and demons and sees them as manifestations merely of sin itself, that God created evil and caused it to come into this world:
“This principle necessitates the existence of evil in the system where the development of God is in progress; for there can be, no trial where evil does not exist. The Eternal Spirit has, therefore, wisely created evil — first as the punishment of sin and secondly, to afford scope for the manifestation of the approved.” (Thomas, Phanerosis, op. cit. p74) [I guess that it never occurred to Thomas that God is not the author of evil. James 1:13, 17. He has committed the logical outcome of those that blaspheme the Holy Ghost, namely, to associate God as being the cause of evil. So he and other cult leaders and heretics see evil as a “necessity” rather than as something that was a result of rebellion. Only logical for someone that rejects the existence of Satan to do this. Proof of prelest is here!]
What more can we say about such heretics but indeed that they are blasphemers against the Holy Ghost? I urge anyone who is unwittingly deceived by these blasphemers against the Holy Ghost, to flee to Christ our God, the Holy Trinity, that can truly save their souls or else they will join their founders in a damnable eternity.
SUN MYUNG MOON (1920-2012)
One of the most damaging heresiarchs and blasphemers against the Holy Ghost can be found in none other than the late Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church a.k.a The Moonies. This self-professed “Messiah” not only called himself the return of our Lord Jesus Christ in a speech given in 1974 in New York, but also wrote a very blasphemous work, which has replaced the Holy Scriptures for his followers, namely: Divine Principle. In this work, not only is God constantly referred to as “Father-Mother” but also Moon himself refers to himself as his wife constantly as “True Father and True Mother” as well as “True Parents”. However, what is evil above all are his blasphemies against the Holy Trinity, against the Lord Jesus Christ and lastly, against the Holy Ghost. Despite the fact that Sun Myung Moon has shown no real signs of any credible miracles, let alone the fact that he tried to impersonate Christ, his followers today are still deluded into worshipping this devil blindly. However, since Moon is of the “father of lies” (John 8:44), it is no surprise then to see that he encouraged his followers to practice “heavenly deception” to attain funds for his cult. In fact, there is no better word to describe the likes of Moon and his followers but “prelest” which we have discussed earlier in another work. Moon admitted to deception whereby he stated that when he was 16 in 1936, he was approached by an entity pertaining to be “Jesus Christ” telling him that he was to continue the work that Jesus Christ did not finish. Later variations of this also state that it was not only Jesus Christ, but also Buddha and Muhammad too. So clearly, even at this early stage, Moon admitted to demonic deception with a demonic entity claiming to be our Lord as well as other false religious founders. Nevertheless, all his peculiar heresies and evil behaviour aside, we will focus on his attacks against the Holy Trinity, against our Lord Jesus Christ and against the Holy Ghost.
Please consider these words from Divine Principle:
“If the Jewish people believed that he was the Messiah, as both God and Jesus wanted, could they have crucified him? From the above, we can see that Jesus’ crucifixion was the result of the ignorance and disbelief of the Jewish people and was not God’s predestination to fulfill the whole purpose of Jesus’ coming as the Messiah. I Corinthians 2:8 says, “None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”. This should be sufficient proof.” (Divine Principle, Part I, Chapter 4) [What deliberate misquoting of Scripture to prove his denial of Christ! I guess he never considered Isaiah Chapter 53 and Psalm 22:14 along with Daniel 9:26 where the word “Messiah” is used in the context of death.]
“Jesus is truly a man of this value. However great his value may be, he cannot assume a value greater than that of a man who has attained the purpose of creation. Therefore, we cannot deny that Jesus was a man who had attained the purpose of creation.
The Principle does not deny the attitude of faith held by many Christians that Jesus is God, since it is true that a perfected man is one body with God. Furthermore, when the Principle asserts that Jesus is a man having attained the purpose of creation, this does not in the least diminish his value.” (Ibid. Part I, Chapter 7) [Here Moon not only denies the Deity of Christ our God, but seeks to diminish it by saying that man can be God too when perfected. This is akin to Mormon heresy as well as New Age teaching].
“The body, as the substantial object which resembles the mind, is one body with the mind, so it may be called a second mind (image of the mind), but the body can by no means be the mind itself. In like manner, Jesus, being one body with God, may be called a second God (image of God), but he can by no means be God Himself. It is true that he who has seen Jesus has seen God (John 14:9-10); but Jesus did not say this to indicate that he was God Himself….Jesus was a descendant of Abraham; but since he came as the human ancestor giving rebirth to all mankind, he would become the forefather of Abraham, in light of the providence of restoration. This is why Jesus said (John 8:58), “…before Abraham was, I am.”. We must understand that this also does not signify that Jesus was God Himself. Jesus, on earth, was a man no different from us except for the fact that he was without original sin. Even in the spirit world after his resurrection, he lives as a spirit man with his disciples. The only difference between them is that Jesus abides as a spirit man of the divine spirit stage, emitting brilliant light, while his disciples are the objects who reflect this light.
Meanwhile, Jesus has been interceding for us before God even in the spirit world after his resurrection (Rom. 8:34), just as he did on earth. If Jesus is God Himself, how could he intercede for us before Himself? Moreover, we see that Jesus also called upon “God” or “Father” for help, which is good evidence that he is not God Himself (Matt. 27:46, John 17:1). If Jesus was God Himself, how could God have been tempted by Satan, and finally crucified by the evil force? Furthermore, when we find that Jesus said on the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” it becomes clear that Jesus is not God Himself.” (Ibid.) [Emphasis mine. This is very clear that Moon is out to distort the Holy Scriptures to exalt himself and his heresy rather than point people to Christ. He not only uses Arian arguments and distortion of the Holy Scriptures, but also calls our Lord simply “a spirit man”, thus indicating he also did not accept the physical bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Irony of ironies is that despite quoting the obvious Scripture whereby Christ identifies clearly with Jehovah in John 8:58, he starts to use other useless arguments which are merely references to Christ’s human nature. Obviously he does not understand the concept that Christ is 100% God and 100% man, which orthodox Christians accept without difficulty. This is what Orthodoxy refers to as the “Hypostatic Union” as defined clearly in not only the Council of Nicea but also more explicitly in the Council of Chalcedon].
“However, a father alone cannot give birth to children. There must be a True Mother with the True Father, in order to give rebirth to fallen children as children of goodness. She is the Holy spirit. This is why Jesus said to Nicodemus that no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born anew through the Holy Spirit (John 3:5).
There are many who receive revelations indicating that the Holy Spirit is a female Spirit; this is because she came as the True Mother, that is, the second Eve. Again, since the Holy Spirit is a female Spirit, we cannot become the “bride” of Jesus unless we receive the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Holy Spirit is a female Spirit, consoling and moving the hearts of the people (I Cor. 12:3). She also cleanses the sins of the people in order to restore them, thus indemnifying the sin committed by Eve. Jesus, being male (positivity), is working in heaven, while the Holy Spirit, being female (negativity), is working on earth….Therefore, Jesus came as the True Father of mankind, with the mission of the Tree of Life (Rev. 22:14); that is, as the second Adam (I Cor. 15:45). Then, it would only be logical that there should come the True Mother of mankind, with the mission of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Rev. 22:17); that is, the second Eve. The Holy Spirit came as the True Mother who would give rebirth to fallen man….A baby is born through the love of his parents. As it is written (I Cor. 12:3), when we come to believe in Jesus as the Savior through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we receive the love of the spiritual True Parents, coming from the give and take action between Jesus, the spiritual True Father, and the Holy Spirit, the spiritual True Mother. Then, through this love, new life is infused into those who believe in Christ, and each is reborn into a new spiritual self. This is called “spiritual rebirth”.” (Ibid.) [Emphasis mine. Here not only is the Holy Ghost called a female but more explicitly, “True Mother”. This Moon has really gone out of his way to blaspheme the Holy Ghost here and worse, twist the Scriptures in order to “prove” his point. Worst of all is his deliberate attempt to mock the new birth from the Holy Ghost. Moon has thus proven himself to be worthy of damnation.]
“According to the principle of creation, God’s purpose of creation can be realized only through the four position foundation which is established by forming the three objective purposes through origin-division-union action. Accordingly, in order to fulfill the purpose of creation, Jesus and the Holy Spirit must establish the four position foundation centered on God, be becoming one body in unity through the action of give and take, each as the object of God, substantially divided from His dual essentialities. In this manner, Jesus and the Holy Spirit become one body centered on God; this is called “Trinity”….If they had perfected themselves without the fall, forming a trinity as the True Parents centered on God, and had multiplied children of goodness, all their descendants would have grown to become married couples of goodness centered on God, each pair forming a trinity with God. Naturally, the Kingdom of Heaven on earth would have been realized centering on the first human couple, in accordance with the realization of God’s three great blessings to them. However, due to the fall, Adam and Eve established the four position foundation centered on Satan, thus resulting in a trinity centered on Satan. Therefore, their descendants have also formed trinities centered on Satan, and have brought about a human society of corruption. Therefore, God must work to have all fallen men born anew through the True Parents of mankind, Jesus and the Holy Spirit–one as the second Adam and the other as the second Eve–and then having all form respectively a trinity centered on God. But because of the undue death of Jesus, he and the Holy Spirit have fulfilled only the mission of spiritual True Parents, by forming the spiritual Trinity centered on God. Since Jesus and the Holy Spirit have undertaken the mission of spiritual rebirth only, the saints still remain in the position of their spiritual children, having been restored through the spiritual Trinity only.” [Emphasis mine. Not only is the Trinity mocked and redefined that is neither Biblical let alone orthodox, but even worse than that Christ is said to have “undue death” and that “mission of spiritual rebirth” is all that was accomplished. Not only has Moon called Christ a failure but has undeniably denied and redefined the whole concept of Trinity here. This indeed is the spirit of antichrist that denies the Holy Trinity and mocks it. I John 2:22, 23].
Sun Myung Moon thus based on his blasphemies against the Holy Ghost and by extension, the whole Trinity, not only sought to bring men to himself but also sought to attack the Christian Church at its foundations and deceive many. What is tragic is to see that a number of professing Christian leaders in USA have fallen for his tactics of convincing them that he was a good “conservative anti-Communist” fighter. We have even had the likes of John MacArthur and Tim LaHaye express support for this antichrist. Lord have mercy! May there be repentance on the part of his deluded followers or else they will join their master in a damnable eternity for his blasphemies against the Holy Ghost and the Holy Trinity.
WILLIAM BRANHAM (1909-1965)
Of all the most deceitful blasphemers against the Holy Ghost in the Western Church, is none other than William Branham. Sadly, many Pentecostals and other charismatics have blindly promoted him all because of his purported “faith healing” and supposed miracles. A number of his followers have even gone so far as to almost deify Branham and state that he became sinless as Christ and even show a photo whereby a beam of light like a halo was above his head at the time of Branham baptising someone, similar to Christ’s baptism. Branham even called all the other Christian churches as “mark of the Beast” and stated that he was the last of the 7 angels to the 7 churches in the Apocalypse/Revelation. Sounds similar to Charles Taze Russell doing that to himself, doesn’t it? However, what is more disturbing was due to his heretical belief in Oneness Pentecostalism, he not only denied the Holy Trinity, and taught that the Godhead was only Jesus, and that “Father, Son and Holy Ghost” were merely modes rather than personalities of the Godhead. [Think the ancient heresy of Modalism here]. But equally damning, was in his attempts to deny the Holy Trinity, due to his rejection of the Holy Ghost being the 3rd Personality of the Godhead, he attempts to in a similar vein to Ellen G White, teach that the Holy Ghost is not an actual 3rd Person of the Godhead, but rather is simply Jesus Christ dwelling in the Christian. In fact, after spending a whole sermon preaching on “What is the Holy Ghost?”, he uses many Scriptures, and then makes this clear conclusion, blaspheming the Holy Ghost due to rejection of the Holy Trinity:
“That’s what the Holy Ghost is, is Jesus living in a ignorant fisherman, a carpenter, or whatever: ignorant preacher, whatever it is. It’s a man that wants to be ignorant to the things of the world and let the–Jesus come into him, the Spirit of God, the Seal, the Comforter. He don’t care about prestige; all thing he wants is God.” (What is the Holy Ghost?, 16/12/1959) [Note his denial of the Holy Ghost as being the 3rd Personality of the Trinity here since he rejects the Holy Trinity].
“Not no third person in a trinity, but “the Lord God Almighty, the King of Saints!” (Revelation Chapter Four #3, 8/1/1961) [Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost showing itself again!]
As a natural extension of his blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, Branham also makes not only damning statements against the Trinity but even against the concept accepted by orthodox Christians of the “eternal sonship of Christ”. In fact, he goes so far as to distort this understanding and mock it beyond comprehension. This is due to his hatred for the Apostolic Churches (Catholic and Orthodox), which all these cultists and heretics have in common. Please notice his blasphemous and mocking words following:
“And that’s what God did. It’s the same God all the time. God in the form of the Father, the–the Spirit, the Pillar of Fire, the same God was made flesh and dwelt among us: “En morphe,” brought out so He could be seen. And now, that same God is the Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy–not three Gods, three offices, three acts of the one God. The Bible said there’s one God, not three. But that’s how that they couldn’t… You can’t get this straightened out and have three gods. You’d never sell a Jew that; I tell you that, one who knows better; he knows there’s only one God.” (AND.KNOWETH.IT.NOT_ JEFFERSONVILLE.IN V-2 N-10 SUNDAY, 15/8/1965) [Emphasis mine. What a mocking fool. No orthodox Christian advocates what he has accused us of believing. We believe in One God, Three Distinct Personalities. It is 1X1X1=1, not 1+1+1=3, as that mocking fool Branham would have you think. He also advocates Modalism here as well].
“”Trinitarianism is of the devil!” I say that THUS SAITH THE LORD! Look where it come from. It come from the Nicene Council when the Catholic church become in rulership. The word “trinity” is not even mentioned in the entire Book of the Bible. And as far as three Gods, that’s from hell. There’s one God. That’s exactly right.” (Revelation, Chapter Four #3, 8/1/1961) [Stupid fool that knows nothing about the concept decides to blaspheme it with such open mockery that is not worth the effort refuting here. He obviously is ignorant of the Ante-Nicene Fathers that clearly advocated the Holy Trinity, even without necessarily using the whole word. What mockery and blasphemy Branham advocates here!]
“A trinity of frogs! A frog is an animal that always looks backward. He never looks where he’s going; he looks where he’s come from. See? Don’t you see? Where was trinitarianism born at? Remember, “three unclean spirits,” individual spirits. Are you getting it?” (The Anointed Ones At The End Time, 25/7/1965) [Emphasis mine. This blasphemous fool has the gall to make the Trinity as the 3 unclean spirits in Revelation 13.]
“Now, I do not believe in eternal sonship. That’s even radical to even mention such a thing, eternal sonship. How… He had a eternal sonship…?… way, it’s even eternal sonship, how could He be a Son? He had to have a beginning. See?” (Who is God?, 15/8/1950) [Stupid heretical blasphemer is denying the doctrine of the “eternal sonship of Christ”, thus denying Christ’s pre-existence as the eternal Son of God, God the Son/God the Word.]
“And there He come out. There was nothing. And then here come the Logos. That looked like a halo hanging yonder. No man has seen God at any time now, eye to eye. And here’s the Logos. Looks like It’s a supernatural Being. It’s a Halo. That’s the Son of God. Not eternal Sonship, ’cause the words don’t go good together. That’s Catholic doctrine, but… Eternal, how could it be a Sonship and be eternal? If He’s a Son, he’d had to have a beginning of time. Eternal’s forever. See? So eternal Sonship, there’s no such a word to make that sensible. But it was the Logos that went out of God. And there He was playing out there in space just like a child before the door. I can see Him draw the whole picture in His mind of the Kingdom and what it might be.” (SHOW US THE FATHER AND IT WILL SATISFY US, 11/6/1953) [Stupid heretical fool doesn’t realize that when orthodox Christians speak of the “eternal Sonship”, we are talking about Christ as co-eternal with the Father and Holy Ghost, as the Word/Logos. Then he has the gall to attack the Catholic Church for so believing. Branham has shown himself to be a point blank heretic here!]
“”And at that time Michael shall stand, the great prince.” Michael was Christ, of course, Who fought the angelic wars in heaven with the devil. Satan and Michael fought together, or fought against each other, rather. And now… “And at that time,” He said, “as many was found written in the book was delivered, and those who had done righteous…” Watch at this. And they that — and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and as the — and they that turn away many to righteousness as the stars for ever.” (BEGINNING AND ENDING OF THE GENTILE DISPENSATION, 9/1/1955) [Emphasis mine. Here this fool is advocating that Christ was the Archangel Michael. Where could he have possibly got that from but Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses?]
“And when Jesus, a carpenter’s Son, physically speaking, when He come to the earth here that’s all He was known of, and the day that when John baptized Him, God a vindicated Him. God spoke from the heavens. John saw Him coming in the form a dove, and said, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I’m pleased to dwell.” The right translation there is, “In whom I am pleased to dwell in.” Jesus immediately anointed with God, He was just a man till that time, but now He becomes the God-man. Someone telling me here not long ago, as I many times referred to it in this shiftless day, that He was just a prophet, He was a good man. He was more than that. He was the anointed God. The Bible said, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” God in Christ. Amen.” (JESUS CHRIST THE SAME YESTERDAY TODAY AND FOREVER, 6/8/1955) [Emphasis mine. Here in the same vein as Charles Taze Russell and the Gnostics, Branham advocates that Christ was only God by declaration and acquisition rather than from eternity. In fact, Charles Taze Russell’s works actually had an influence on Branham that he even advocated as Russell did, that the Great Pyramids and the Zodiac was as much the Word of God as the Holy Scripture for ancient times. Blasphemy begets blasphemy and blasphemers indeed!]
Since Branham denied the Holy Trinity and attacked other aspects of orthodox Christian doctrine, is it not surprising therefore to find Branham advocating that the eternal punishment in hell was not forever either, in clear mockery of the Holy Scriptures?
“If you see a man that’s cheating, stealing, lying, just remember, his part is waiting in hell, for him, his place where he’ll be tormented in the Presence of God and the holy Angels, with fire and brimstone. He’ll be tormented there. Not forever, he can’t be tormented forever, forever don’t mean all, for all times. Eternity is forever, Eternity is… has no beginning or end. But forever is “a space of time.” The Bible said, “Forever and,” conjunction, “forever.” Jonah said he was in the belly of the whale “forever.” Is a space of time.” (Hebrews Chapter Four, 1/9/1957)
This is nothing short of mockery since obviously this false prophet was headed there and was struck in judgment on 18 December 1965 in a car accident. His heretical, deluded followers, since they believed he was as sinless as Christ and a healer, anticipated him to rise from the dead as he purportedly had done in his time on earth. However, such did not happen and his deluded heretical followers were forced to bury him on 11 April 1966. There were many other abhorrent teachings that Branham taught too such as hatred of the Jewish people and also the filthy “Serpent Seed” doctrine, whereby he taught as did other filthy heretics, that Eve was seduced by Satan to fornicate with him and thus produce Cain, and from there, came the Jewish people of today. Sounds like a Nazi doctrine? Branham actually had dealings with the Ku Klux Klan too but this is not often mentioned. However, that is not our focus for now. We must thus conclude that Branham was a false heretical prophet that blasphemed the Holy Ghost and also blasphemed the Holy Trinity too. We sincerely hope that his deluded followers repent and come to the True God and Eternal Life, the Holy Trinity. (I John 5:7, 20).
VICTOR PAUL WIERWILLE (1916-1985) AND GEORGE LAMSA(1892-1975)
Amongst the cults and heresiarchs that have been most deceptive are none other than Victor Paul Wierwille and George Lamsa. Many people accredit Victor Paul Wierwille with being the founder of the Way International cult but few realise the role that George Lamsa had in its foundation too. To begin with, it must be pointed out that both men were indeed blasphemers against the Holy Ghost and damnable heresiarchs that were responsible for the damage of many souls, both physically and eternally. Victor Paul Wierwille began his heretical cult in 1957 after first resigning as a Evangelical Reformed pastor and really gained headway in the 1970s through to the 1980s before going to his eternal damnation in 1985. The cause that started his heretical cult was as with most cults and heresies, denial of the Deity of Christ or denial of the Trinity. It all started because of the fact that he was in a state of prelest and was looking for a way to expand his useless ministry in the Evangelical Church. He went through all manner of influences, no matter how heretical they were ranging from Karl Barth (a modernist heretic) to Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christadelphians as well as heretical elements of the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement. In the end, we have a cult with a mish-mash of heresy that teaches 1) Denial of the Deity of Christ and the Trinity. 2) Denial of the Holy Ghost as a Person of the Godhead and made as an impersonal being. 3) Soul sleep annihilationism, whereby there is no heaven or hell for the just or the unjust, but simply soul sleep and resurrection only for the just. 4) Insistence on speaking in tongues as a sign of being born again. 5) Teaching of when one is born again, they no longer are capable of sin and cannot be lost. (Sounds like Nicolatianism and the Protestant heresy of “once saved, always saved”). 6) Rejection of genuine repentance and even baptism, teaching instead that belief in the Way’s teachings is enough. 7) Christ was not crucified on a Cross but on an upright stake. (This clearly came from the Jehovah’s Witnesses). There are others too such as promotion of denying the Jewish people as being Jews and denying the Holocaust. However, we will mainly focus on the first 2, since they are the foundation of all the other heresies. Please note these heresies mainly come from his book Jesus Christ is Not God. The title itself should give the basic thrust of his argument away that he was intent on denying the Deity of Christ and denying the Trinity.
However, the most damaging start is that he began in a state of prelest by believing that “God” was speaking to him telling him that he would show him some signs that he was teaching the truth that the whole Church had strayed from. He even requests for snow as a sign too. (Sounds like trying to test God to prove your own heresy, doesn’t it? What arrogance on his part!)
“I was praying. And I told the Father outright that He could have the whole thing, unless there were real genuine answers that I wouldn’t ever have to back up on. And that’s when He spoke to me audibly, just like I’m talking to you now. He said He would teach me the Word as it had not been known since the first century if I would teach it to others. Well I nearly flew off my chair. I couldn’t believe God would talk to me…But He spoke to me just as plainly as I’m talking now to you….The sky was crystal blue and clear. Not a cloud in sight. It was a beautiful early autumn day, I said, “If that was really you, and you meant what you said, give me a sign. Let me see it snow.” My eyes were tightly shut as I prayed. And then I opened them. The sky was so white and thick with snow, I couldn’t see the tanks at the filling station on the corner not 75 feet away.” (Elena S. Whiteside, The Way: Living in Love, 2nd ed. New Knoxville: American Christian Press, 1974, p178, 180-181)
This is a clearly a state of prelest that the Fathers warned about. However, the greatest tragedy of all was his outcome of denying the Deity of Christ and the Trinity as well as blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Such is the natural end of prelest. Please note that the next lot of quotes will be coming from his most blasphemous work, Jesus Christ is not God.
“Clearly, historians of Church dogma and systematic theologians agree that the idea of a Christian trinity was not a part of the first century Church. The twelve apostles never ascribed to it or received revelation about it. So how then did a Trinitarian doctrine come about? It gradually evolved and gained momentum in the late first, second and third centuries as pagans, who had converted to Christianity, brought to Christianity some of their pagan beliefs and practices. Trinitarianism then was confirmed at Nicaea in 325 by Church bishops out of political expediency.” (Victor Paul Wierwille, Jesus Christ is not God, 1975, p25-26) [No need to comment on his obvious ignorance of the Early Apostolic Fathers not to mention the deliberate ignorance of the Holy Scriptures too.]
“Long before the founding of Christianity the idea of a triune god or a god-in-three persons was a common belief in ancient religions. Although many of these religions had many minor deities, they distinctly acknowledged that there was one supreme God who consisted of three persons or essences. The Babylonians used an equilateral triangle to represent this three-in-one god, now the symbol of the modern three-in-one believers.” “The Hindu trinity was made up of the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The Greek triad was composed of Zeus, Athena and Apollo. These three were said by the pagans to ‘agree in one.’ One of the largest pagan temples built by the Romans was constructed at Ballbek (situated in present day Lebanon) to their trinity of Jupiter, Mercury and Venus. In Babylon the planet Venus was revered as special and was worshipped as a trinity consisting of Venus, the moon and the sun. This triad became the Babylonian holy trinity in the fourteenth century before Christ.” “Although other religions for thousands of years before Christ was born worshipped a triune god, the trinity was not a part of Christian dogma and formal documents of the first three centuries after Christ.” (Ibid.) [Victor Paul Wierwille has nothing better than to resort to the worn out arguments of both Jehovah’s Witnesses and also an anti-Catholic Presbyterian bishop, Alexander Hislop, for his arguments. Even Hislop is half quoted since Hislop actually accepted that Jehovah was indeed a Trinity.]
Please note how in his book, Jesus Christ is not God, he deliberately distorts and adds words to John 1:1-14, in a very blasphemous attempt to not only deny the Deity of Christ but also to teach that Christ our God had no pre-existence, except in the mind of God, which is akin to the Christadelphian heresy of John Thomas and Robert Roberts discussed earlier: “In the beginning was the Word God, and the [revealed] Word was with [pros] God [with Him in His foreknowledge, yet independent of Him], and the Word was God. The same [revealed Word] was in the beginning with pros] God…. All things were made by him God; and without him God was not any thing made that was made…. In him God was life; and the life was the light of men…. And the light God shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not…. There was a man sent [aposteio] from God, whose name was John. The same [John] came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light God, that all men through him [John] might believe. He [John] was not that Light God, but </was sent to bear witness of that Light God…. That was the true Light God, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world…. He God was in the world [by the revealed Word], and the world was made by him God, and the world knew him God not…. He God came unto his own >[Israel], and his own received him not…. But as many [of Israel] as received him God, to them gave he God power [exousia, authority, the right] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on [unto] his name [namesake, Jesus Christ…. Which were [who was] born [conceived], not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God…. And the Word [revealed Word, Jesus Christ was made flesh [the conception], and dwelt among us [his birth].” (Ibid. pp 87, 91, 93-101)
He was not content with this but even stated that Christ had no pre-existence and was only conceived at birth as a sperm in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. In addition, he even denied the Virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ too. Please note also these following blasphemous quotes:
“Jesus Christ’s existence began when God created the sperm with soul-life in Mary.” (p117)
“His position is second only to God.” (p58)
“Jesus Christ was not literally with God in the beginning; neither does he have all the assets of God.” (Ibid. p5)
“Where was Jesus Christ before he was born to Mary? Jesus Christ was with God in His foreknowledge. … Jesus Christ was with God before the foundation of the world, meaning that God foreknew him…. We, as well as Jesus Christ, were with God in His foreknowledge, but not in existence, before the foundation of the world.” (p28-29) [Emphasis mine. This is a Ebionite argument which the Christadelphians held to, which Victor Paul Wierwille also learnt from as well!]
“Why didn’t Jesus come with the spirit upon him when he was born? Because then he could not have redeemed you and me. He had to be born just as we are—a natural man, naturally dead in trespasses and sins, without hope.” (The Way Magazine, March-April 1979, p4) [Please note that he is denying both the Virgin birth of our Lord and also his sinlessness too!]
Please note the unrepentant state of this heretic when he stated: “When my life is over, I think my greatest contribution may prove to be the knowledge and teaching that Jesus Christ is not God.” (J. L. Williams, Victor Paul Wierwille and The Way International (Moody Press, 1979), p. 50; from Mal Miller, “The Way Followers March on New Knoxville Church,” St. Mary’s (Ohio), Evening Leader, October 17, 1977.)
As typical of blasphemers against the Holy Ghost, Wierwille associated Christ with Lucifer by stating this:
“Clearly, Jesus Christ is presently second only to God in power and authority. Lucifer as the morning star was replaced by Jesus Christ who is now the morning star.”( The Way Magazine, March-April 1979, p. 4)
Not content with blaspheming Christ, His Person, Deity and nature, Wierwille resorts to blaspheming the Holy Ghost by denying His Personality and Nature as the Third Person of the Trinity. In fact, Victor Paul Wierwille actually blasphemes the Holy Ghost by making a distinction between the capital for “Holy Spirit” and “holy spirit”, in his evil attempt to deny the Personality of the Holy Ghost as the Third Person in the Trinity. Please note these blasphemous quotes: “God is holy, and God is spirit. The gift that He gives is holy spirit” (Wierwille, Jesus Christ Is Not God, pp. 27-28).
“Many confuse the Giver, Holy Spirit, with the gift, holy spirit” (Ibid. p. 128).
“In the new birth, man receives spirit from God, who is the Spirit” (Ibid.)
“At Pentecost the speaking in tongues was the external manifestation of the receiving of the gift of holy spirit …. At the conclusion of his (Peter’s) message, he taught them how to receive the new birth and speak in tongues” (Ibid. p. 131).
“The holy spirit field … is the field God raised me up for …. There’s no one I can’t lead into speaking in tongues, if they are Christian and want to do it” (Elena S. Whiteside, The Way – Living in Love, p. 178).
“To worship by the spirit we must operate a manifestation of the holy spirit .. which produces true worship in speaking in tongues” (Wierwille, The New, Dynamic Church, p. 90).
To Wierwille, only the Father is God, and thus the Spirit is only the extension of the Father’s presence, hence the difference in capitals. When in capitals, Wierwille was denoting only the Father as God. When in lower case, Wierwille was speaking of the Holy Ghost as merely an impersonal mind and presence or even force. This again reveals the Jehovah’s Witness influence on Wierwille too. Nevertheless, it is clear that he is indeed a blasphemer against the Holy Ghost and worse, taught others to be blasphemous too. He went to his eternal reward for a heretic in 1985 but his evil legacy continues.
Equally worth noting is George Lamsa, who was of an Assyrian background from Turkey and was responsible for the Lamsa Bible in 1957, based on his distorted understanding and perversion of the Aramaic Peshitta. Like Victor Paul Wierwille, he denied the personality and Deity of the Holy Ghost and also taught a quasi-Nestorian denial of the Holy Trinity. This also reveals that he was indeed a blasphemer of the Holy Ghost too. His 2 greatest endorsers were none other than William Branham, whom we discussed earlier and not so surprisingly, Victor Paul Wierwille. In fact, Victor Paul Wierwille actually asked Lamsa to teach his deceived followers and even helped finance and publish many of his works. Even after that foul heretic went to his eternal reward in 1975, the Way International continually published and endorsed his works even to this present day. George Lamsa was also a promoter of Edgar Cayce’s idea of unity amongst religions. In fact, Lamsa was even responsible for promoting unity with Islam and Christianity in the 1970s. We will focus on his blasphemous quotes on various topics pertaining to Christ, the Trinity and the Holy Ghost as well as other deliberate New Age notions he promoted. Shame on anyone that promoted the blasphemous Lamsa Bible!
George Lamsa was not merely a Nestorian, but an outright denier of the Holy Trinity and a New Ager. This is evident in his Lamsa Bible whereby many key verses are either removed or changed to fit his blasphemous, New Age notions such as in Micah 5:2, Acts 20:28, Revelation/Apocalypse 1:17, 18 when it comes to the Deity of Christ and just as importantly, his changing of the words of Christ alluding to Psalm 22 at his crucifixion in Matthew 27:46 and even removing any hint of Lucifer and the Antichrist in both Isaiah 14:12 and in Daniel 11:38. Lamsa was clearly a New Ager above all since it was his hope that “new world order [in which] the light of the gospel would be shared, racial and class barriers would be eliminated, and national boundaries would be eliminated.” (George M. Lamsa, The Kingdom on Earth (Lee’s Summit, MO: Unity School of Christianity, 1966), pp 106-107). Lamsa in fact believed that Islam was fulfilling just that and in fact called for unity between Christians and Muslims even before the official term by the heretic Rick Warren of “Chrislam” came into existence. He even formed a “Christian Mohammedan Society” in 1921, a precursor for Chrislam in the West as well as wrote a book endorsing the Koran called: “A Short Koran” in 1949.
In regards to the Trinity and the Holy Ghost, George Lamsa as a perverted Nestorian stated that not only called the Trinity in the most perverted manner but also blasphemed the Holy Ghost too when discussing the Holy Spirit in his other works. Lamsa had these distortions to state: “…the Eastern Christians believe in one God with three attributes, instead of three persons.” (Lamsa, Old Testament Light, 39. Cf. The Short Koran (New York: Ziff-Davis, 1949), 15)[This is a blatant distortion. Even many of the Assyrian Church of the East know this is a falsehood and also accept the reality of the Trinity although they may be Nestorian in their understanding of the natures of Christ, both Deity and humanity.]
And also to state when commenting on both the Spirit of God/Holy Ghost and the devils/demons, he has this to state in regards to I Timothy 4:1: “”Spirits” in this case means “prophecies”. When men prophecy, they are said to be moved by the Spirit of God. Jesus when he preached in the synagogue at Nazareth said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”….The “doctrines of devils” in this instance refers to the teaching of devilish men. In the East, doctrines which are not based on the Holy Scriptures are called “doctrines of the devil” and the men who preach them “satans”.” (Lamsa, New Testament Commentary, 1945, Philadelphia: A.J Holman, p415) [This shows his deliberate blasphemy of not only the Holy Ghost but also his denial of demonic and devilish spirits that seek to harm mankind. In fact, the Unity School of Christianity loved using his distorted commentaries since he would deny the actual existence of both the Holy Spirit and the demonic spirits in them]
Elsewhere, when referring to the Holy Ghost, Lamsa blasphemes the Holy Ghost by simply referring to the Holy Ghost as the following: “influence…expansion…effectiveness…hidden power” whilst also totally negating the notion of an actual Comforter by stating that the Comforter is actually an “influence” that Jesus left behind after his dissolution on the cross. (See Lamsa, Gospel Light (Philadelphia: A. J. Holman, 1936, 1939), pp367-68, pp372-73). But that is not all, Lamsa as a blasphemer against the Holy Ghost would naturally blaspheme Christ by stating that Christ did not claim to be God nor want to be worshipped. (Ibid. p353, 369). Lamsa was in reality a modernist, a New Ager and ultimately a blasphemer of the Holy Ghost as was Victor Paul Wierwille. Is it not surprising to see a number of cults (Iglesia Ni Cristo, Christadelphians, Jehovah’s Witnesses) and other blasphemers against the Holy Ghost (eg William Branham) also love using Lamsa’s distorted translation of the Bible along with Wierwille actually helping Lamsa directly in publishing his works and promoting his materials? There is more that could be pointed out about Lamsa and his heresies, but it is sufficient to state that Lamsa and Wierwille were indeed blasphemers against the Holy Ghost and have reaped their damnation. I sincerely hope that the deluded followers of Wierwille and his cult co-created by Lamsa, will repent and actually have their eyes opened regarding the Holy Scriptures and repent to the True God, who is the Holy Trinity.
FELIX MANALO (1886-1963)
One of the most dangerous cults that has penetrated the world from the Philippines is none other than the cult of Felix Manalo. This was a cult that was founded on one premise as are all cults and heresies founded upon: rebellion and pride. Felix Manalo was originally of a Roman Catholic background but converted to the Methodists after listening to a debate between a Roman Catholic priest and a Methodist preacher. However, he was dissatisfied with the Methodists and then moved around various organisations, whether heretical or not, and just before founding his own cult of Iglesia Ni Cristo in 1914, his final stop was Seventh Day Adventism.
In the beginning, despite his heretical foundations, Manalo did not deny the Trinity and even baptised his members in the name of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit”. However, after 1931, a huge change took place and Manalo (possibly due to the influence of either Jehovah’s Witnesses or Christadelphians) denied not only the Trinity, but also the pre-existence of Christ, stating that he was only a man, and also denied the Deity and full personality of the Holy Ghost. This can be found in the first published official magazine called Pasugo in 1939, whereby Manalo deliberately denies the most obvious passages clearly referring to Christ as God in both Old and New Testaments. However, sadly due to my inability to translate from Tagalog into English, I am unable to quote at full length the appropriate pages.[There are websites that quote that publication at this date but not in English but Tagalog]. Nevertheless, we can gather this from various sources, amongst which was a periodical in 1955, when Manalo was still alive until 1963. Joseph J. Kavanagh who was doing an investigation on Iglesia Ni Cristo, had this damning exposure to give regarding their blasphemous doctrine:
“The Iglesia denies the Catholic doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. The Father alone is God. The Holy Ghost is a spiritual creature sent as messenger by God. Christ is not divine, because the Scriptures assert very clearly that He was a man, and inferior to the Father. Yet, though a mere man, He was exalted by God through special gifts and graces to a position high above all other men.” (Joseph J. Kavanagh, Philippine Studies, Vol.3, No. 1, pp29-30) [There is only one very slight change now in Iglesia Ni Cristo doctrine on the Holy Ghost. That is, they believe that the Holy Ghost is an impersonal force sent by God the Father. This again mimics Jehovah’s Witness doctrine, of which Manalo was influenced by. Nevertheless, Manalo has not only blasphemed the Holy Trinity, but more importantly, he has blasphemed the Holy Ghost and the INC top leadership has merely added further to the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, thus damning themselves even further].
5 years after Manalo’s death, we have this translated excerpt confirming the above from their official publication, thus confirming further that Manalo indeed blasphemed the Holy Trinity and also the Holy Ghost:
“Christ and the Apostles are united in teaching how many and who is the real God. Similar to other true Christians, according to Apostle Paul, there is only one God, the Father—not the Son and more so not the Holy Spirit. The Apostles also did not teach that there is one God who has three personas who are also Gods. … It [Trinity] is not found in the Holy Scriptures or the Bible, and if [Catholic] priests ever use the Bible to prove this teaching of theirs, all are based only on suppositions and presumptions.”— trans. from Pasugo (November 1968)[Emphasis mine. Manalo blasphemed the Holy Trinity here and the organisation’s leaders merely followed in his footsteps on this matter. In fact, the Holy Ghost has also been blasphemed by Manalo here].
Today, the cult is continued under the leadership of Eduardo V. Manalo, the grandson of Felix Manalo, and in the footsteps of both his grandfather and father, he and all the top leadership have blasphemed both the Holy Trinity and also the Holy Ghost in this official statement: “Indeed, we do not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, for such doctrine is unbiblical, a man-made-doctrine. There is no single verse of the Bible that states that God has three persons. The Bible teaches that there is only one true God and there is no other God besides Him (Isa 46:9). The belief that the Holy Spirit is God is also against the Bible. No biblical verse supports the doctrine that the Holy Spirit is God and that it is the third person of the so-called Trinity.” (Is The Holy Spirit God? , Iglesia Ni Cristo, 30/3/2014) [No need for much comment here. Obviously, there are many verses that the top leadership deliberately chooses to ignore regarding this whole matter].
Their obvious denial of the Deity of Christ needs no further comment since it was already obvious from the beginning of their official magazine in 1939. Felix Manalo was not content in blaspheming the Trinity, and the Holy Ghost for that matter, but was obsessed with satanic pride to the point of calling himself the Seventh Angel of the Apocalypse in Revelation/Apocalypse 7:2 and making a ridiculous twist of Scripture based firstly on a perverted modernistic translation by Moffat from 1922 using the words “far East”, and applying it to the Philippines. He also used many other titles that were either titles of Christ such as the Good Shepherd in John 10:16, or other Divine titles, and applied them to himself, thus indicating further blasphemy against the Trinity and satanic pride akin to Lucifer. This is not the focus of our discussion, yet nevertheless, it must be mentioned to reveal how being in a state of prelest can lead a man into any depth of delusion and further blasphemy and damnation. My sincere hope to anyone caught up in that cult is to not follow in the footsteps of Felix Manalo, a blasphemer against the Holy Ghost nor to follow in the footsteps of the current top leadership, who are blasphemers against the Holy Ghost, but to sincerely search the True God of Scripture and discover the True God of Scripture as He truly is: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
ATHEISTS BEHIND “BLASPHEMY CHALLENGE” VIDEO (2006)
This section is not one that deserves a huge amount of discussion, nevertheless, it must be mentioned since the authors behind this evil video, the Rational Response Squad, are a bunch of extremely hardened and militant atheists spurned on by their father, Satan, to commit such blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. The worst part is that not only are they content to commit such blasphemy, but also want others to partake in their blasphemy by encouraging others to do the following: “You may damn yourself to Hell however you would like, but somewhere in your video you must say this phrase: “I deny the Holy Spirit.”
Why? Because, according to Mark 3:29 in the Holy Bible, “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” Jesus will forgive you for just about anything, but he won’t forgive you for denying the existence of the Holy Spirit. Ever. This is a one-way road you’re taking here.
Once you have shot your blasphemous video, just follow these two easy steps:
- Go to this linkon YouTube to upload your video as a “Video Response” to the Blasphemy Challenge. (You can log in or register on that page if necessary.) Please put the URL http://www.blasphemychallenge.com somewhere in the text description when you upload your video.
- When the video appears on YouTube, send the URL to this email address: [email protected]. Also include a complete United States mailing address* so we can send your free copy of The God Who Wasn’t There.” (www.blasphemychallenge.com )
These godless reprobates have deliberately damned themselves and have no shame about not only damning themselves, but also in damning others too. Such wicked people are indeed worthy of death, both in this world and in eternity. (Romans 1:32) It is interesting to note that the Rational Response Squad, are so focused on attacking orthodox Christianity more than any other religion. They do not have the courage to do the same to Islam. Never have they put up challenges to atheists to commit the unpardonable according to Islam of shirk (associating partners with Allah) let alone any direct attack on Muhammad, Qu’ran or Allah. I sincerely hope that atheists who encounter this site not partake in such a challenge and genuinely approach God with an open heart and mind, and thus discover Him in truth.
CONCLUSION: Each and every one of these categories of people have all committed the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost in either negation of the personality or Deity of the Holy Ghost; deliberate denial of the Trinity; deliberate rejection of the reality of Christ being fully God and fully man or any aspect of His nature; deliberately associating Christ with Satan or in some other manner that was deliberately designed to malign the Holy Trinity. I sincerely hope and pray that the deluded followers of any of the above will repent and not follow in the footsteps of blaspheming the Holy Ghost as their heresiarch leaders have done.
Interestingly enough, each and every one of them have one common element. It is none other than the same pride that Lucifer had in Isaiah 14:12-15, in coming to their conclusions. They believed that their own private interpretation was the final authority, some of it being disguised as “Scripture only”, and others merely believing that their interpretation was the only correct one based on their own satanic pride in their own “chosen-ness”. It did not matter to these blasphemers of the Holy Ghost if their interpretation ran contrary to the actual Scriptural passages they were misquoting or if they ignored a huge amass of Scripture that was contrary to their diabolical interpretations. Since they regarded themselves as the final authority ultimately, they would not only end up rejecting the Holy Scriptures, but also reject Apostolic Tradition and authority too. Hence it is noteworthy that all the above also have been unashamed in their attacks on both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches in particular, and also on orthodox Evangelicals too. In short, all the above have fallen in a grave state of prelest.
Many times I have made reference to prelest. For the benefit of non-Orthodox readers, I will summarize it simply. It is a Russian translation of the Greek word “plani”, which denotes “cajoling” or deception in some manner. It is of a demonic nature and it also plays on the sinful, Adamic nature of mankind. It has its origins in the father of lies, Satan (John 8:44) and will only lead to its logical end if followed through: destruction and damnation. Even Saints and Fathers have been subject to it before being awakened by the Holy Ghost and repenting before it was too late. If even they who are well revered in the Apostolic Church could be subject to this, how much more could anyone else. May God: Father, Son and Holy Ghost, deliver anyone who is reading this who has fallen in some state of prelest and lead them to everlasting life. This is my sincere prayer along with the sincere prayers of the Blessed Theotokos, the Ever Virgin Mary and all the Blessed Apostles and Saints. Amen. [Please read this article for a further discussion on prelest: http://shoebat.org/2015/10/19/make-no-mistake-about-it-the-whole-idea-of-its-all-about-a-personal-relationship-with-jesus-is-wrong-and-dangerous/ ]
Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is a sin that cannot be taken lightly since not only is it unpardonable in this world and the next, but equally it leads to devastatingly damaging results. It is not only a rejection of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity Who leads one to faith and repentance towards our Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father, but also it is an ultimate rejection of the Holy Trinity by its own virtue. The devastatingly damaging results are evident with the amount of heretical cults in the world that harm both the soul and the body in this world and in eternity. May the discerning reader be delivered from any path leading to such destruction that has at its root: the pride of Lucifer/Satan.
God bless and deliver us to the Kingdom everlasting in fellowship with Him and all the Blessed Saints. Amen.