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Blasphemy against the Holy GhostBy: Joseph H. Murray“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. 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” (Matt. 12:31–32). In this passage of Scripture, Jesus came nearer than any other time, telling what was blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. He had, in the presence of the Pharisees, cast out a blind and dumb devil. The dumb and blind one was so miraculously healed that he “both spake and saw” according to the scripture in Matthew 12:22. The Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out devils by the prince of devils, Beelzebub. Surely these Pharisees were treading on blaspheming ground, and not only they but all today who attribute anything that is of God as being of the devil. We have many over–zealous persons today who through their lack of knowledge of God are doing the same thing and don’t know it. We who have experienced the manifestations of the Holy Spirit coming upon us know that many who speak loosely about the evidence of the Spirit have not yet experienced these wonderful thrills that we feel when it comes upon us such as speaking in tongues, casting out devils, taking up serpents, being delivered from all deadly poisons, and having the anointing of God coming upon us to lay hands upon the sick and diseased and seeing them healed and delivered. Those who make fun and ridicule these manifestations have only one hope and that is that God will overlook and excuse them their sins on grounds of their ignorance and lack of knowledge of what they do. Stephen spoke appropriately in his day of the hardness of men’s hearts, and I’m sure they are adequate for the modern Pharisees of today, when he said, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51). To resist, according to Mr. Webster, is to oppose, withstand, strive against, to make opposition or resistance. To resist or oppose the Holy Ghost will surely keep him out of your life. There is little difference in the results of this sin and blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. Blasphemy is to have an impious, profane or mocking speech concerning God or sacred things; expressed contempt or contumely for the personality or authority of God. The authorities of God are the manifestations of the power of God (Rom. 13:1). |
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