Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

Strong’s Dictionary defines Blasphemy as vilification. Therefore, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is…  The vilification of the Holy Spirit! When the Pharisees stated that Jesus was casing out demons by the spirit of demons they made the ultimate vilification of the Holy Spirit of God. They took the authority of the deepest most sensitive part of God, His Spirit, which is Holy and the absolute plumb line of goodness, righteousness, and truth, and they stated this Spirit was the enemy. This resulted in calling “Immanuel”, or “God with us”, Beelzebub, who is the lord of flies, Satan!  

Mat 12:30-32 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.  Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

We are taught that all sins are forgivable. No matter how despicable or notorious all sins are very forgivable, but this one form of blasphemy is NOT!

I grew up in a family that was not really interested in any aspect of religion. I was not a Christian and was not taught anything aside from the “Christmas and Easter story” which was basically a fairy tale to make us feel good about getting gifts from a fictional fat man whom our parents lied about or a Rabbit that lays eggs to prove Jesus was resurrected. In my early 20’s I began going to church. I went because the girl I liked was a Christian, and for me to move forward with her it was something that needed to be done to sway her and her parents. It was a “non-denominational” congregation which was fine with me, I was not challenged by them for the truth in my life, and was never really confronted with the power of God, or manifestations of the Holy Spirit. As I look back it was a good place to hide and have members tell me stories that would justify my sin by eliminating consequences to my actions in their teachings. “It’s not my place to judge…we are all sinners… blah, blah, blah… They spoke this to me all the while they were lying to themselves about how “good” they were because they were Christian. Some of these are potentially true statements when made in the correct context, but the God I know is changing His children’s thoughts and behaviors every day! He is confronting them on their sins, pushing them to be more like Him, and He continues to set the example by raising the bar very high. The God I know is also a God of power! He has been a God of power from the very beginning and did not suddenly stop after the first century church. The Bible states in Joh 14:12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” What works was Jesus doing? Read the Gospels and see for yourself! If you think it was just Jesus, then read when He sent the 70 out healing and casting out demons in Matthew 10 and Luke 10. Read the entire Book of Acts and see what the believers did…remember there were 120 men and some women in that upper room in Acts 1, not just the original 11 (Judas is dead and Matthias became 12). When the Holy Spirit came to them the ministry exploded! Then Paul comes along and in Corinthians describes what the Spirit of God does with His people. They speak in tongues! They have gifts that are SPIRITUAL not flesh! 1 Corinthians 12 Speaks of Prophecy and of Tongues. Acts 11 speaks of a group of believers who had given themselves over to following Christ and had NOT received the Holy Spirit! When they did, Peter stated they received it like the original 120 did on the day of Pentecost! In the Gospel of Mark chapter 16 it states… “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

So these are a small taste of the signs and wonders and actions that God Himself stated would happen through His children. It is written in the Bible! I am not making this up! When I was in that time of my life where I was hiding in church, I was hiding from God! I was unwilling to accept what I thought was “weirdness” as Christianity. I was looking at outward signs of people who spoke in tongues and danced at church services and wanted nothing to do with those crazy people. Then, one day, by supernatural means God revealed Himself to me! Up to this point I had been avoiding the Spirit of God, I did not believe and I was uneducated in the truth because the non-denominational churches I was hiding in did not have the power or courage to deal with me. God made it clear that He was supernatural and that His children must walk in the supernatural as well. If we do not walk in the supernatural then our ability to actually perform the Word of God is not possible. How do we battle the enemy forces written about in Ephesian 6:12 if we don’t walk in the Spirit? The Bible states that God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth! (John 4:24) We can NOT cast a demon out of someone if we do not have the authority or the faith to do so. We can NOT heal the sick, especially if we don’t even consider it an option because we don’t believe it can happen. We are unlikely have visions, dreams from God, revelations, or the ability to prophesy if we refuse to believe the Word of God for telling us to do it! When the Bible speaks of great signs and wonders what will they look like when they show up if we don’t believe in the Spirit of God? What if God showed up and made people laugh? What if the Spirit caused people to fall over, or dance like there is no tomorrow? How about causing gold flakes to grow or feathers to fall in a room? Can some of these be faked? Absolutely, and those people best beware and read the story of Ananias and Sapphira. Just like them they are treading on thin ice! However, what if the Spirit of God just likes to do some of this stuff because He said He would in the Word? If you don’t like it, that is fine but be careful that you don’t cross the line and begin to vilify this Spirit that makes this stuff happen. Please understand that I am in no way endorsing the belief that you are not saved if this stuff is not happening to you, and I am also not endorsing that because this stuff is happening to you that you are saved either! Our salvation comes by God’s grace through our faith in Jesus, PERIOD! You will be recognized by the fruit that you produce. I am asking you to be very careful…love God with everything and seek Him with everything. Do not grieve His Spirit and do NOT, and I mean DO NOT make that Spirit your enemy!