Blasphemy

[lglenwoodc]

Hello Beloved of God;

I`m searching for wisdom from you. Blasphemy seems to be a serious subject in the scriptures and I`m wondering how close I am to crossing this line.

The following is the progression of thoughts as I seek God by opening the bible and asking him to show me what he wants me to know. (Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.)

John 10:33-36

33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

Jesus` definition of blasphemy

Matthew 12:31

31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

Greek Strong's Number: 988

Usage Notes:

English Words used in KJV:
blasphemy 16
railing 2
evil speaking 1
[Total Count: 19]

from <G989> (blasphemos); vilification (especially against God) :- blasphemy, evil speaking, railing.


John 5:18 (KJV)
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Phil 2:6 (KJV)
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God

Jer 3:19 (KJV)
But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, MY FATHER and shalt not turn away from me.

John 8:35 (KJV) And the SERVANT abideth not in the house for ever: but the SON abideth ever. ================================================== =======================

My thoughts;

Righteousness by works is in Adam. (Adam`s fault)
Son of man
Would I make the same choices I have, if not for Adam`s transgression?

Righteousness by faith is in Jesus. (Jesus` fault)
Son of God
Would I make the choices I have, if not for Jesus` obedience?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Old man

Earthly DNA , that came from my earthly mother and father, gave me an earthly body
descendant from Adam. = Human spirit.

Reborn (new creation)

Heavenly DNA , that came from my heavenly father, gave me an heavenly body descendant from God,
the invisible God. = God spirit. Image and character of my father.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesus was born of man and God.
---------------------------------======The last Adam.
I am re - born of man and God.
.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ................

ANY help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[mattfivefour]

I am not sure what you are asking, Glen. If you are asking whether your understanding is correct, based on what you have written, it would appear to be ... with a couple of clarifications needed. first of all, the "old man" is our old nature, our fallen nature, corrupted by sin. It is what we are born with because, as you note, of Adam's fall. Second, when you (I presume rhetorically) ask "Would I make the choices I have, if not for Jesus` obedience?" the short answer is "no" ... but the longer answer is necessary. And that is that while Christ made the provision for you by His obedience to the Father and thus rendered a complete salvation with nothing left for man to do in that regard, it still requires a step of obedience from you to enter into that already completed salvation. It was offered to you by God's grace, but you have to appropriate it to yourself by faith in Christ. The process is that you have realize your need, repent (that is, to have a change of mind about yourself, your life, and God), recognize your hopeless human state, and accept Christ— who He is and what He did. If a person does this in truth of heart, then the Holy Spirit causes the Word of God to penetrate the person's being, separating the spirit from the soul and making that spirit alive; the Holy Spirit instantaneously comes to dwell in that person, and they are born again, made completely new. The Holy Spirit in them then produces the desire to live holy. Note that does not mean that we will be holy in practice in all our ways right at the start. It is a progressive work. But it will happen, bit by bit; faster in some people than in others. You see, the Holy Spirit does not work through some magic to work out the new nature He has implanted in a person; He works through the person's submission and obedience. So, the Christian life begins by making a choice to obey God, and then progresses by daily making choices to obey God.

Does this help?

[WKUHilltopper]

I am not sure what you are asking, Glen.

I wasn't clear on the question(s) either.

[lglenwoodc]

Thanks Matt
Your comments are greatly desired and preciously helpful. I don't know how to respond directly to you in thankfulness (I`m new to computers) but please know you are always helping me with every comment.

My question is simply by acknowledging that God is my father, as Jesus did, would that mean that equality with God is something to be grasped, (John 5:18 , Phil 2:6), initiating true representation of God on earth, exactly as Jesus, or would this move me into blasphemous territory?

ps
I can go to the limits with God, without fear of damnation, because I lay prostrate before him demanding to be sent to hell. After three days I began to realize I wouldn't be able to make him do it. As I was calming down. wondering why he wouldn't send me to hell being the most evil, a thought began to emerge "now do you understand why Jesus had to die on the cross". There is, I believe with every part of my being, therefore no thing that I can or will do to separate myself from my father.(believe me. I`ve tried) That's his jealousy, not my choice. (ask Jonah, there's always another big fish or small worm)

[mattfivefour]

No, WE will NEVER be equal with God. That was Satan's sin. God said: "You (Satan) said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 12:13-14) thus equality with God is not anything we can grasp. Jesus, as immortal and eternal God, was therefore equal with all in the Godhead; yet He chose not to remain in that blessed position but willingly gave it up to take on human form as a lowly servant and come to earth and die on the Cross in order to save all who recognize their need of Him and simply accept His sacrifice as, alone, being sufficient. That, my brother, is LOVE! AS a result, we who believe are servants of His in this life and will be raised to all the privileges of sons in the next.

Incidentally, I absolutely love your final paragraph, Glen! You, too, have wrestled with God.

[WKUHilltopper]

Thanks Matt

He's good with the Scriptural logic and you'll find he doesn't reflect any motivation or "agenda" other than promoting the Gospel. We're all fallible--but he's a genuine and good source.

[lglenwoodc]

Hi Matt and anyone passing by,

I am emphatically, not even suggesting that I would ever want to boss God nor want his position! His wisdom is past finding out. He is love and that's why creation exists, so he has an outlet to pour his love on, his children. I haven't a clue what I need to make me or anyone else happy. I don't know how to take care of myself let alone others. I wouldn't want to imagine God not being God, it's impossible.
What I am suggesting is that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus as he desired when he prayed that we would be one as he was with his father, meaning to me, it's possible to only do what I see my father doing and only say what I hear my father saying. At the end I would be able to honestly say, as Jesus said, "he that has seen me has seen my father". I'm not even started and I have an impossible way to go, if it's even possible, but my only goal is to know my father. Seems to me it's what Jesus wanted when he pointed out that he was not our destination declaring that he was the way, no one comes to the father but by him.
I had given up on my life when I met God so I told him he could do whatever he wanted with it. I just asked him one thing only, please, don't let me hurt anyone. This website cares what happens to it's readers so I post here knowing you'll point out anything that's harmful to them. If I'm in the wrong place would you direct me to the right one?

Thank you, God bless, glen.

[mattfivefour]

Glen, my brother, from what I can see you are in exactly the right place. If you want to please God, then the only way is to serve Him. It is to willingly allow Him to produce His life in you, so that He may touch others through you. We cannot clean ourselves up. the flesh can never defeat the flesh. But the Holy Spirit placed in us the seed of Christ's nature at the moment of our salvation. He will work that out in us until our life grows up into a tree bearing the fruit of Christ's nature: love joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We can try to manifest these things in our lives, but we will fail more than we succeed and we will not manifest them either all at once or consistently. It is not our human nature to do so. But they are the very nature of Christ. And as we surrender our will to God's every day, and throughout every day, we are allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in us. Read His Word daily; communicate with Him likewise. Through prayer and the reading of His Word, the Holy Spirit will reveal to you His will. And every time He reveals God's will to you on a matter and you choose to obey, the new man (the image of Christ) in you grows stronger, causing the old man (the Adamic nature) to shrivel up a little more. THIS is the road to victory in the Christian life: not self-effort, but self denial. Not fighting to gain the victory by self effort but realizing that Jesus Christ has already won the complete victory for you at Calvary. And if you want to live in that victory then it is done by faith that Christ already won the victory at the Cross and that the Holy Spirit will make it real in your life. All you need to do, as I said above, is to choose to obey when He reveals something to you. And if you find something in your life that seems to have the mastery over you, then confess your inability to God and ask Him to make HIS victory real in you. He will.

[caleb_matthau]

No, WE will NEVER be equal with God. That was Satan's sin. God said: "You (Satan) said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 12:13-14) thus equality with God is not anything we can grasp. Jesus, as immortal and eternal God, was therefore equal with all in the Godhead; yet He chose not to remain in that blessed position but willingly gave it up to take on human form as a lowly servant and come to earth and die on the Cross in order to save all who recognize their need of Him and simply accept His sacrifice as, alone, being sufficient. That, my brother, is LOVE! AS a result, we who believe are servants of His in this life and will be raised to all the privileges of sons in the next.

Incidentally, I absolutely love your final paragraph, Glen! You, too, have wrestled with God.

Are there people today who have this spirit of Satan in them?

[LivnForChrist]

Are there people today who have this spirit of Satan in them?

caleb_matthau, Plenty. They think that they're God or that they're above
God. It's called secular humanism.

[caleb_matthau]

caleb_matthau, Plenty. They think that they're God or that they're above
God. It's called secular humanism.

Secular humanists don't believe in God or His abode. More to what I am thinking of is contained in Romans 10:6-7

But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:

7 *Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.

[mattfivefour]

Romans 10:6-8 are echoes of what Moses said to the people when he transmitted God's first covenant to them.

¹¹ “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. ¹² It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ ¹⁴ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it. ¹⁵ See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; ¹⁶ in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, ²⁰ by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:11-20)

As God through Moses placed this responsibility with its consequences upon the people of that day, God through Paul places the responsibility with its consequences upon the people of this day.

Thus, this passage from Romans has nothing to do with the spirit of Satan in a person in the sense of some satanic possession (although Satan is, by nature, rebellious and, as plainly stated in Ephesians 2:2, does work in all who are unsaved), but it has everything to do with the fallen nature of man seeking to do what man wants rather than submit to what God wants. The Holy Spirit is saying to us as He said to the Israelites, "There is no excuse you can use for not obeying. There is nothing you need to have other than what I have already given you. The consequences of acceptance or rejection are in your own hands."

[dave-o]

Are there people today who have this spirit of Satan in them?

Matthew 12:30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

The bottom line here is that there is no neutrality in this battle. If you have not been born again into the family of God then you remain in the family of Satan.

1 John 2:22
Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

The spirit of antichrist and the spirit of Satan are one and the same. So the answer to your question is: Yes, most people alive today have this spirit. That doesn't mean that they're raving lunatic devil worshipers or even that they're "bad people" as the world judges such.

I don't know if you are aware of this but Christianity is NOT about turning bad people into good people or good people into perfect people. It's about turning dead people into living people.

John 3:18
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already[...]

Think of it this way; Condemned prisoners on death row are often called "Dead men walking". That's exactly what the majority of people walking around here on planet earth are too.