Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, and the Sin Unto Death

BETH EZRA TEACHING ............................ he that has ears to hear, let him hear................................ Volume Two, Issue 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ November-December1997 Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, and the Sin Unto Death

Mark 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

1 John 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

Many Christians read the above first verse and come under the condemnation that they have committed the worst of all possible sins-- blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Satanic spirits torment their minds with this doubt, and the believer becomes unstable in his/her faith and relationship to the Lord, thus producing more seeming evidence that they have gone beyond the parameters of grace.

The second verse, although more apropos for believers, is little understood (if known at all) and therefore buzzed over without so much as a curious, backward thought. We need to understand how and why Satan gets believers greatly distraught over things that do not apply to them, and ignorant of the things that do. How he does it is simple: disseminate false information, i.e. false teaching and/or shallow interpretations of Scripture. This causes confusion and a lack of knowing the Lord's will, and thereby prevents one from doing the Lord's will. Whenever believers are threatened as to their own security they are abiding in the soulish realm and not the Spirit. They are filled with their own thoughts and worries about their future. This lack of trusting in the Lord's goodness and love shows up as impotence to be obedient to Him, stifling their ability to be confidant witnesses to the resurrection life. Satan spreads such confusion among believers making them fearful and even despairing that they have finally gone too far and sinned the 'Unpardonable Sin'. The silence of the Lord's lambs works then to Satan's advantage. Who can be a glowing light before the world when he is in doubt about his own standing with the Lord?

The other problem is that believers actually do endanger their lives by unknowingly risking the sin unto death, as John mentions. They go off in a haze of invincibility, walking in their soul, doing and saying whatever they please. Their very lives will be in the balance if they commit this 'Sin Unto Death', but most believers are ignorant of what that actually is, and how it differs from other sins, and in particular the Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. By following their own soulish mind, often assuming it to be the leading of the Holy Spirit, the name of Christ is spouted, not according to the Spirit of God, but deceiving spirits, mocking the cause of Christ, advancing the cause of our spiritual enemy.

Let us delve into a proper understanding of what each of these sins encompasses, and how it applies to whom. Then we can each see if we have been connived into any inappropriate beliefs or false confidences, and how to disentangle ourselves from the miasma wherewith Satan has interrupted the true witness of the Church.

The Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

Mark 3:22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.

23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?

24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.

27 No man can enter into a strong mans house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.

28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:

29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

Jesus was upsetting the proverbial pomegranate cart with His teachings; and the miracles backing up His authority were no less unsettling to some minds. The religious leaders had to disqualify Him lest they lose their influence over the populace, and with it their coveted incomes and positions of power. Jesus was a threat to the established order. He did not bargain with the power brokers; He did not compromise truth for personal gain; He did not let any issue slide that needed addressing, and most maddening of all, He did not need the politically powerful to sanction Him. If He were allowed to continue in this vein, all Jerusalem, indeed, all Jewry, would be encouraged to break free of the grip of the Roman-Herodian coalition and the priesthood in league with them. Rebellion would ensue and the collective heads of the priesthood would roll at Caesar's command. Jesus must be stopped. But how? The multitudes loved Him-- who wouldn't love someone that freed them from disease and demonic powers? But those miracles, wonderful as they were, were not His most dangerous aspect. His teaching was the most perturbing of all, for it sparked a new kind of knowledge of God--an intimate, insider look at the Person of the Godhead. He presented the Deity as a caring, loving Father, longing to be reunited to mankind, extending Himself to achieve that goal. The priesthood, if they even were aware of these attributes of God, had managed to keep those facets of God out of their religious instruction lest the masses become too independent and walk in truth as God intended, rather than what was convenient.

Mark records the beginning of the hostilities between Jesus and the religious rulers. Jesus had been ministering powerfully, delivering people from demonic bondages and infirmities. The people were awed that a real prophet of God was among them again. The multitudes were ready to follow Him anywhere-- even as some rumored, into a war against Rome. The scribes-- those responsible for copying the Scriptures by hand, teaching the basics of Judaism, along with rendering politically correct interpretations-- noted how popular Jesus had become. But to contradict what He was teaching would have been foolhardy since He was doing miracles that were obviously of a supernatural nature, proving He had God's, if not the Sanhedrin's, sanction. Indeed, the people just naturally accepted that such miracles were God's affirmation on Jesus' profound interpretations of the Scriptures. If He were a deceiver, how could He lie and then draw on God's power to perform such miraculous ministry? God would not let His name be used in support of deception. Any deceiver would be unable to draw on God's power. And the miracles He did were above and beyond the mystical physical manipulations of pagan shamans. As Jannes and Jambres' 'miracles' came to a halt in the face of the miracles Moses produced, it was clear that no satanic magician could make one born blind see, or raise the dead. No one could do the works Jesus did except he had God's approval. Were the Scribes to interrupt and announce to the people that His teachings were false, they would have been laughed off the hillside.

More than this, the scribes and Pharisees themselves knew that Jesus was, indeed, sent from God. John records a conversation Jesus had with one of the Sanhedrin rulers one night under the anonymity of darkness. The full impact of what Nicodemus said is often overlooked due to the powerful presentation of the Gospel in this passage. But his confession at the outset of their dialogue has a great bearing on our discussion here.

John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Nicodemus' candid admission that he and the other rulers knew that God was with Jesus by the very miracles they later condemned in Mark 3 as being of Beelzebub. This reveals what the scribes and Pharisees privately discussed and thought about Him. But they could never admit to that publicly, for it would spell the end of their corrupt control over the people. Jesus was a living demonstration of incorruptibility. He would never 'play the game', trading favors for political support. Their comfortable system of quid pro quo was doomed if He ascended to leadership, as it began to appear He might.

What to do? Jesus was gaining popularity and an ever-increasing following everywhere He went. Soon He would gain too much momentum to be stopped. Apparently the scribes that arrived on the scene in Mark 3 were sent from Jerusalem with a misinformation package calculated to play on the suspicions of the uneducated masses. The scribes did not just shoot from the hip as they stood witnessing what Jesus was doing, but rather they were fresh from a war council about how to deal with this clear and present danger. They had the consent-- even the abetting-- of the Jewish leadership to fire their first salvo of accusation, stating that Jesus was in complicity with Satan-- even though, by Nicodemus' testimony, they all knew He was of God. In effect, they were forswearing themselves, declaring what they knew to be false as truth, for their own gain. In other words, the scribes who accused Jesus of employing satanic powers to deceive people knew full well that He was not doing that at all. They merely did so to protect their own private interests at the cost of truth! They did not reckon on the enormity and eternal consequences of their insult, however. It was true that there was more at work in Jesus than the human eye could behold. If they could impugn this force at work in Him, they might cause the people to become suspicious and abandon Him. That was their plan.

There was a supernatural power at work in Him, but it was not a mystical, magic force of tricks and physical manipulation that just would shrug off a false accusation, but rather a Person. The third Person of the Trinity, to be precise. He is the very Spirit of Truth. Everything this Spiritual Person does is connected with truth, and squares perfectly with God's Word, will and doings in earth and heaven. He will not be, in any way, compromised with less than truth in perfection. Not only was the Holy Spirit active in Jesus, showing Him what to teach and how to help and heal the needy, but He was simultaneously whispering to the multitudes' hearts that Jesus was of God and had come to meet their deepest needs, encouraging them to trust themselves totally to Jesus. The Holy Spirit's job is to bear witness to the truth, first in Jesus, and also in those Jesus commissions with the Gospel. So, the Father was giving testimony of Jesus' faithfulness by sending the Holy Spirit to confirm everything Jesus said with miraculous power.

The hypocritical rulers began spreading their packet of disinformation-- calling the Spirit of Truth that verified Jesus' ministry a liar. How could they ever be amenable to receiving truth themselves since they had called the very Essence of Truth a liar? They had made themselves the enemies of truth. They perjured their very souls for temporary politics and positions, and in so doing condemned themselves without remedy to eternity in the Lake of Fire. It is as if God confined Satan's rebellion to a bubble, this planet. Everything in the world is under the Lie, controlled by the Lie, operates according to the Lie. But Jesus invaded this bubble and mankind again was brought within reach of reality, by the operation of the Holy Spirit affirming Jesus' teachings and sacrifice to us, if we will but reach out and grasp it. Everything is in this world is false except the moving of the Holy Spirit. He is our only contact with the Truth in all the rest of God's created universe. To knowingly, falsely accuse Him as being part of the Lie is to cut oneself off from truth forever, and the only doorway (John 10:7) of hope humanity has.

Jesus was quick to respond to the ridiculousness of their charge, for it even opposed all sound worldly logic. Yet, if He had not responded immediately, the lie would have had opportunity to leaven its way into the minds of the multitudes, seducing them away from the truth back to the lie. Jesus rarely defended Himself when confronted, but now the Spirit prompted Him to expose this fallacy expeditiously. How can Satan cast out Satan? How can a house divided stand? But-- if Satan is cast out by One stronger than him, then they should have taken notice, even if it meant changing their theology and politics. But since they would justify themselves at God's expense, rather than admit to their error and God's truth, they forfeited their very souls. They were among the damned. Jesus boldly asserted that all manner of blasphemy and cursing would be forgiven-- atoned for at the cross, but this sin of knowingly lying about the work of the Holy Spirit is forever unforgivable. It is the Holy Spirit that brings conviction of truth and the ability to repent of sin and the Lie. No one can believe in Jesus except the Father draw him/her, and the agent the Father uses is the Spirit of Truth. If the Spirit of Truth is knowingly called a liar, such an accuser can never again receive truth. Love of the truth is absolutely necessary for salvation (2Thes. 2:10 ). To embrace the Lie is to forsake the truth.

All manner of sins ( including other forms of blasphemy) done under demonic oppression or out of ignorance due to the human condition were atoned at Calvary (1Jn. 2:2), though are not necessarily remitted until genuine repentance is applied (1Jn. 2:3). This reveals the ultimate mercy of God in calling and appealing to mankind to repent and return to Him. To prove genuineness, the penitent must come according to His plan and only His plan. Any alterations, additions or substitutions, no matter how seemingly good, logical or beneficial, indicate a rejection of the Spirit of Truth. This also is tantamount to the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, but such rejection of truth is not accrued to each individual account until after their life is spent, whereas those who knowingly reject the work of the Holy Spirit and lie about it, cross that boundary while still in this life, and are the living damned, unable and unwilling to repent. Their hardened hearts are not vulnerable to the wooing whispers of love that emanate from the Holy Spirit, drawing us to follow truth. Such individuals couldn't care less about their spiritual condition.

The upshot of all this is that one who is worried about committing the unpardonable sin, need only examine if there was ever a time in their life when they knowingly called the work of the Holy Spirit the work of the Devil. Many have ignorantly called the gifts of the Spirit the workings of deceiving spirits, and this is pardonable. But there often comes a time when the Lord supplies the information that is lacking, and a fresh decision is called for. To then persist in denigrating the workings and manifestations of the HG out of pride, or fear of loss of position or influence is to follow in the footsteps of the scribes in Mark 3. If we remain teachable and open to new data, keeping a keen hunger for truth, we can rest assured that the Holy Spirit will supply ample information to keep us safely in the truth. To even be concerned about having done so indicates that one is not hard of heart, and therefore cannot have committed the deed. Nevertheless, those under this satanic attack are paralyzed from moving in the Spirit and growing in grace. All such a one need do is begin to confess the word of God, command condemning spirits to leave in Jesus' name, and persist fighting for the freedom that is theirs in Christ until they come to the full realization of it. Not that it won't be a battle, but armed with the truth of what the sin actually is, the outcome of freedom and restoration is inevitable.

The Sin Unto Death

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

In this most insightful epistle, John details the common experience of the Christian walking in the light. At this point in his letter he is winding down with more specific encouragements to hold fast to truth and not to lose hope in spite of the contradictions of all manner of claims of seemingly religious people. There is the truth, and then there is everything else outside of that truth. The truth, and all it encompasses, is of God, and everything else is not of God. With that in mind, John encourages the believer to pray for specific things in God's will. Of course, he mentions the disclaimer that if something is not in concert with God's will, He is not obligated to answer. John then uses an example to illustrate his point between something in God's will and something that seems like what we ought to pray for, yet it is not in God's will. Suppose a believer sees another believer fall into sin and as a consequence, God brings the discipline of some hurt or an illness to teach the wayward one not to sin. Upon due repentance, the elders of the church were to anoint the penitent, and upon confession of his sin he would be healed (James 5:14-16). But this prayer of faith was not intended to be used for every and all occasions. There is a certain sin which God will not honor the prayer of faith from the elders. This sin is in a class all by itself, and is punishable by the physical death of the believer. That does not mean that the believer under the discipline lost his salvation, but the sin he has committed is severe enough to warrant the Lord removing them from their physical life as a warning for others not to transgress in like manner. No amount of praying the prayer of faith is going to avail in this situation, for it is not God's will. What is this severe sin that will bring about an untimely death to the believer lest they infect the rest of the Church?

To fully understand, we need to examine the account in Scripture of just such a sin. since John gives us no further indication as to what this sin unto death might be, it was obviously something the Church universal of that day was well aware of and needed no explanation. But, as with so many other things over the generations, this too was lost 'in the translation'. We need to go the blueprint for the Church, the Book of the Acts, to find some event which brought a swift retaliation from the Lord for transgression, which also caused great fear and spread alarm and warning through the whole Body of Christ. In Acts 5 we find such a situation.

Acts 5:1 BUT a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,

2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles feet.

3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

4 While it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.

7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.

9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

Ananias and his wife Sapphira plotted together to gain a reputation in the eyes of the faithful. When Ananias presented the gift to the church, Peter had a word of knowledge that the husband and wife were keeping back part of the price they got for the land. Peter confronted Ananias with what the Holy Spirit had shown him via a word of knowledge. Ananias despised the operation of the Spirit in the Church, and Peter in particular, thinking the plot with his wife was unknown. He felt free to lie to Peter, not understanding the powers that were at work. Ananias thought he could lie because the leaders of the Church were just men. Similar to the error the scribes and Pharisees made in lying about the activity of the Holy Spirit, Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit. The Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit resulted in eternal death and damnation. The Sin Unto Death, lying to the Holy Spirit, results in physical death, but not necessarily damnation. Ananias, upon hearing Peter's pronouncement of what the Lord had revealed to him, fell down and died. This sounds harsh, but we must keep in mind what Ananias and Sapphira were being used by Satan to accomplish. Up to this moment the Church was growing both in numerical statistics and spiritual advancement. The Golden Age of the Church was in full swing as we see in Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold...

The Church : was of one heart and soul

individuals possessed things, yet none selfishly kept them, sharing in love

apostles gave witness with great power, and we may assume, great effect

great grace was on them all

no needy person existed among them.

The Church was effectively showing that God's way of love and truth was more excellent than the world's ways, and day by day more and more people were observing the joy of believers, and the peace of mind and heart they all had, and were drawn to seek such a God as could provide that. This was the original call to Israel, to provoke the nations to jealousy by dwelling in God's blessings. The power at work providing this marvelous manifestation of God's blessing was the Holy Spirit, sent by the Lord Jesus, moving freely among the redeemed, finding obedient servants to demonstrate and accomplish the Lord's will through.

Ananias and Sapphira threatened to undo the glory redounding to God for His miraculous work in raising up the Church as a supernatural organism by trying to slip a lie past the Guardian of the Church. No wonder Ananias, and about three hours later his wife, Sapphira, were removed from among the living, for if they had been allowed to continue to live in their lie to the Holy Spirit, the Church would have been shown to be just another organization of mortal men. The reputation of the Church and the Lord who saved her, were at stake. If Ananias and Sapphira had gotten away with their lie, then the integrity of the Church would have been breached, and multitudes of believers would have opted for presenting a part of their lives as the whole (see The Spirit of Truth, chapter 8, by Art Katz and Paul Volk). Ananias and Sapphira did not believe the Church was a supernatural organism raised up by God, so they thought nothing of lying to Peter, an apostle and man full of the Holy Spirit through whom the Church was precedented. But in so doing they did lie to the Spirit of Truth, and so incurred a drastic punishment upon themselves, so others would learn to not to despise the presence and activity of the Spirit in the Church.

The Church today is populated with 'believers' who do not believe in or participate in the supernatural elements of its existence. Because of this, the Church has lost the initiative of leadership, and as a result, the world has lost its example of morality and stability and sensibility, and is headlong in a plunge toward destruction unparalleled in human history. The Church stopped being salt and light when it lost its touch with the supernatural moving of the Holy Spirit. Counterfeit manifestations, however, that discourage critical research of the Scriptures for validation, abound, because there is a hunger for spiritual contact, just not contact with truth. So, spirits come and manifest, but not of the godly sort. Ananias and Sapphira were merely the first attempt Satan used to try to infiltrate and weaken the Church. As such, the Holy Spirit dealt ruthlessly with them. Once the warning was given, He would speak no further word, but would cull out the believers who did not respect the invisible power behind the moving of the visible Church. Illness, sudden accidents, even death for no apparent reason, sometimes happen to believers. That is not to say that all such unusual or untimely deaths are the result of lying to the Holy Spirit. But the caution is given for believers to not try to contend with the All-knowing One.

Paul gives us some further insight into this Sin Unto Death. 1Cor.11:26 - 1Cor.11:31 (KJV)

26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lords death till he come.

27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lords body.

30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

There are many issues addressed in this passage, but our topic concerns lying to the Holy Spirit, and its consequences. Despising the presence and activity of the Spirit of Truth takes many forms, but is recognizable in that the perpetrator is seeking their own reputation above confessing to the truth. In taking communion, we are to examine ourselves, to see if we are being obedient to the Lord, and make sure our relationship to Him is intact. The slightest disobedience or wrong attitude will break the contact, and the believer is living according to the pleasures of the soul and not the Spirit. That is why the Church is to take communion seriously and often, so that believers pause in their hectic schedules and examine themselves to make sure they are in right standing with the Lord. Reflecting on the Lord's sacrifice should bring us to contrition and repentance if needed. Yet so many people offer up shallow prayers, swallow the bread and wine, and go on their own soulish way. They, in effect, are saying all is right with them, when it isn't. The Holy Spirit will not let this hypocrisy go unchallenged. The Church is to be the community of the actively redeemed, not a museum of by-gone philosophies and antiquated ceremonies. If we are in disobedience to God, yet take communion as if we are obedient, are we not lying to Him? No wonder Paul wrote that some were sickly, weak, and others were asleep (dead).

When someone under the anointing pinpoints a specific sin or situation in your life, and you deny it, you are lying to the Holy Spirit. Many would-be prophets plague the Church with their 30% -- 50% accuracy. I'm not saying these pseudo-prognosticators need to be feared. In fact, they are quite possibly trespassing into this territory themselves, saying things as if they were of the Lord when they are not. But when a known and respected leader calls you to account, and everything they say lines up with the facts, you are on thin ice indeed to call his bluff. I dare say many believers have flirted with this issue, and some have not survived.

Had Ananias respected the anointing Peter was under, he and his wife could have made full confession of their sins and avoided the disaster that befell them. But they disrespected the Anointing, and paid the price. Likewise those whom Paul mentions that slept. This is why John said not to pray for someone who lied to the Holy Spirit, for they would not recover. The Lord will not heal someone who will not cooperate with the Holy Spirit.

John clarifies that all unrighteousness is sin, and through sin, death entered upon the whole race of Adam. But there are certain sins that are more severe and demand immediate (or at least swift) judgment.

If you have e-mail, please send me a note and the BET will come to you via e-mail. skyeman@ConnRiver.net