THE BOOK
The Holy Spirit and People of Various Faiths, Cultures, and Ideologies.
‘When we speak of the Spirit we think of life and its unpredictable growing points, of truth and moments of enlightenment. We also think of inspiration, creativity, and boundless freedom. The ultimate source of these is God himself. Any attempt to understand God’s activity in the world must acknowledge that we are groping after a mystery. (*) Therefore, the limitation of words and the inadequacy of conceptual forms are perhaps nowhere more consciously to be acknowledged than a discussion on the Holy Spirit.
(*) The notion that ‘attempting to understand God’s “activity” in the world’ is to “acknowledge” that we [humans] are ‘groping’ after a “mystery” is nonsense. Any attempt to understand The Creator Himself is certainly forever beyond our very limited abilities, but not His activity ‘in the world’. More precisely, what we need to differentiate here is the vast and insurmountable gulf that lies between Him and us --- one that we cannot ever bridge --- and that His activity in His Creation is therefore not “hands-on personal involvement”. His “activity” is expressed through HIS WILL.
In just a simple, everyday example, the very Laws of Nature reveal to us that actuality, for they are to be regarded as --- in the words of The Spirit of Truth Himself --- “The Expression of The Will of God on Earth”.
It is an inexcusable human tragedy that the leaders, teachers, academics and religious “experts” of global humanity are so blind and obtuse, for they could by now have recognised and embraced what we are actually quoting from --- and will throughout this Work: --- The ALL-TRUTH Itself.
If they could even now “awaken to recognition” of what the world has missed and begin to teach TRUTH instead of a thousand different religious doctrines, the very mind-set of global societies would change so beneficially in every way, for that is the inherent nature of the Whole of The TRUTH. That is what it would do through the recognition!
As we have already “proclaimed”, however, that will not happen because the great prophecy surrounding this unprecedented and monumental Event has already been fulfilled, so that “only the few” did ultimately know. Now, only the associated prophecies from Isaiah and Jesus are left, and they, too, await their fulfilment.
Respectively: “Few men left”, and “If the times were not cut short, not a man would be saved”.
Religious ‘clap-trap’, do you think? Unfortunately, not so, for if it was, I would not have had to write this very difficult, almost overwhelming, book. For despite the finality of its subject matter, we are yet cognisant of the need for utmost respect to all, and the need to similarly hold to the commensurate level of nobleness that The All-Truth inherently demands. In the context of what must be stated, however, not an easy task for one of Paul’s “foolish of the world”.
So even though it may appear that this Work is written as a direct challenge to current religious thought, and perhaps even a “specific challenge” to what is considered by whole populations in 21st century to be the most dangerous religion on earth --- Islam; that is not the case.
Obviously, the content itself is certainly challenging to all religions; but under the inviolable aegis of Divine Truth now on earth that mandates this Work, the same religions can choose to accept it and be free; or reject it and be forever shackled by self-wrought error and distortion. That is the choice.
I am simply a “messenger” tasked with bringing this new knowledge to the notice of “someone”, “anyone”, out there in the world at this precise time in our collective journey.
The fact that my own personal views occasionally break through into what is --- as much as I can make it --- a measured and objective “guided” Work, would be perfectly understandable to anyone fortunate enough to have found and recognised the precious Grace of the Final Truth. For it is a fact that the knowledge therein is so profound, so perfect, so enlightening, that it completely frees one’s spirit from the shackles and constraints of the vast raft of human errors in virtually all areas of human endeavour propounded as some kind of unassailable truth.
So in terms of the subject matter one has to deal with in order to fulfil the “Ordained Mission” clearly elucidated herein: It is the saturating, all-pervading religious element of error after distorted error that sickens and drags down one’s spirit. That is precisely why the great admonishing warnings to us of planet earth, for everything wrong must stand and judge itself before the inviolable Divine Power unassailably-inherent in that great and Final Truth.
Surely there cannot possibly be anything more important for human beings to know about than the entry of He Who has brought The All-Truth to earth. Reader; Take it as read.
So, neither a challenge to, nor condemnation of, any religion, faith, creed, doctrine or belief-system; I once more necessarily restate: Under the aegis of serious and “ordained Spiritual Guidance”, this Work was “Directed” to be written, for it now becomes the “earthly form” of that “Guided Directive”. Precisely because the absolute nature of ‘Ultimate Truth’ simply IS, it has no need to preach, proselytize, subvert, seek millions of converts, attack other faiths --- or beg!
Absolute Truth by its very nature is ‘Perfect’ so it is therefore unchallengeable, unbreakable, inviolate, and unassailable, for ‘It’ is The Living Law of THE ALMIGHTY --- and mercifully is now here on earth for all human beings to embrace.
Let us make no mistake here: This Work stems from that “Perfection of Truth and Knowledge” and is ordained to offer the chance for at least a few more human beings --- including Muslims --- to “find” the greatest gift of all: The Final TRUTH. Through the recognition and embracing of IT, those fortunate ‘few more’ can thereby awaken from what would otherwise have become, for them; the “sleep of spiritual death”: For there is not just one death, but two. The first is only just the exit from the physical shell, the second, however, is the death of self-conscious life; the death of our actual “life-force” --- our spirit.
[Reader, from the knowledge contained in The All-Truth of The Spirit of Truth, in their later individual Discourses we will elucidate for you the great differences in detail between The First Death and The Second Death. You will thereby understand why Christian “leaders” have never publicly acknowledged this Creation-Law reality!]
As I strongly stated in “Author’s Note”, this Work will not follow standard literary-authorship protocols. Whilst it will obviously have a thread of continuity running through it, the book is necessarily more a collection of “Discourses of pronouncements”; on current beliefs and commentary, primarily about the “great questions to life”, as determined by present-day religious and academic beliefs/theory. From the “ALL-TRUTH” --- the most precious and gracious gift to humankind to which we have access [and to which you, too, can also have access] --- we will thus proceed to dissect and open up for keen examination precisely those beliefs which presently hold sway, and which drive the religious and educational paradigms of global societies.
Through the simple process of ‘searching analyses’, those very beliefs will ultimately “expose within their verses and Scriptures”, what does not resonate with The ALL-TRUTH, against which they must thereby measure themselves. We are tasked to simply reveal where Truth lives and whatever else is left will eventually “wither on the vine”.
In the meantime, the long but “spiritually-necessary slog” that this Work will inevitably be must still be taken to its conclusion. ------- Samartha continues:
‘The subject itself has become important for two reasons. First, it is being increasingly recognized that all human life, not just an artificially isolated segment called the “religious” dimension, comes within the purview of God’s activity. Second, there is the essential fact that all human beings, not just Christians but people of all living faiths, cultures and ideologies, share a common future, either for survival or for annihilation. That makes them inter-dependent in their search for the meaning of life and existence. The theological significance of this fact cannot be ignored any longer. That all people are open to the activity of God’s Spirit seriously challenges a legalistic dogmatism which limits the work of the Spirit to a narrow segment of time, to an isolated bit of geographic location, and to the history of a particular people. (**) The Spirit of God cannot be regarded as the monopolistic possession of the Judaeo-Christian tradition imprisoned within the concrete structure of Western dogma and a permanent Atlantic Charter. As Metropolitan Khodr remarks, “It is totally inconceivable that theologians should speak authoritatively of the relation between Christianity and the religions without first, critically yet creatively, integrated the data from outside Christianity into their thinking.”
(**) Samartha is correct in his assertion that the ‘Spirit’, as he terms it, does not belong to a particular people. However, the long “recorded” history of the very first people to ‘divine’ the One God provides the associated narrative and religious thought from which at least some other peoples and religions would eventually open themselves to. Moreover, even preceding the Jewish recognition, the real Symbol of Truth --- the “Equal-Arm Cross” --- is clearly evident in many ancient cultures. ------- More from Samartha:
‘Therefore, what we seek here is not so much to extend the work of the Holy Spirit outside the hedges of the church as a more inclusive doctrine of God himself. A more sensitive recognition of the wider work of the Holy Spirit may also help us to broaden our understanding of God’s saving activity, thus correcting what our Orthodox friends describe as a “Christo- monistic” tendency: that seems to dominate Protestant theology, and preventing our conceptions of God from becoming too small and too static.
Certain observations are necessary at the outset. There is the question of terminology –- the Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of Christ. It would be unwise to attempt a clarification of the terms here on the basis of Biblical exegesis. That is a task for more competent biblical scholars. All these terms refer to the activity of God in the world.’ (***)
(***) What’s in a name? We asked this question earlier, and the answer is everything. Terminology with respect to ‘God’s activity on earth’ is a crucial aspect of Final Truth. This is a classic case -– and one which you will note throughout the Work -– of well-meaning religious scholars proposing their own ideas about what a thing might or might not be or mean. In a nod to our most recent commentary, had Samartha found DIVINE TRUTH, he would not now be promoting puzzlement and uncertainty over the various names and titles that Christianity, primarily, stumbles over.
So, at this stage in the book, we can really begin to clarify what is correct. By the end of this complete narrative, reader, the Whole will have been revealed for you. For the moment we can reveal that the terms, Holy Spirit and Spirit of Christ, are not one and the same.
For whilst both Brown and Samartha in their very different dissertations but identical terminology attempt to make ‘sense’ of the whole human quandary over a “Spirit of Truth”; for you, reader, let’s hear absolute clarification about that particular aspect in this debate from the actual writings of HE, The Spirit of Truth Himself. This will allow you to better understand this whole debate. --------
From His All-Truth; from His Hand:
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THE REDEEMER
“No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” ------ [Jesus]
FROM: “IN THE LIGHT OF TRUTH”.
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There you have it, reader. An apparent puzzle now firmly clarified after millennia of religious disputation, but not by earthly-human determination. Note that He says of the struggling human spirit; “... he will either here or in the Ethereal World meet the Christ-Spirit”, but not Christ Himself.
Now you have the initial gleanings of “why” we are enjoined to write this elucidatory Work. It is so that you can begin to understand the clear connotation here that One Divine Being is writing about another Divine Being, neither of which is The Creator. A puzzle, do you think? No; not so! [Complete and detailed clarification will be given in its relevant Discourse further on.]
Samartha continues, but his academic dissertation is somewhat negated by what we have just now learned. Even though his ongoing treatise is really now a less-than-convincing exercise in “Holy Spirit knowledge”, we still need to let S. J. Samartha speak:
‘Moreover, we acknowledge that we speak within the community of Christians who believe in God through Christ in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit ... and who therefore seek to recognize, interpret and understand this larger relationship in the light of our faith.’
‘In the Christian understanding of God and his activity, his transcendence is balanced by the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. But there are divergent views regarding the latter. There are those who reserve the use of the term “Holy Spirit” to God’s relationship with personal beings and who emphasize that, strictly speaking, the term Holy Spirit should be reserved exclusively to describe God’s activity in making Christ known (John 7:39) in assuring his continuing presence in the church, and finally presenting them to himself as sons and daughters in Christ. (Galatians 4:6, Romans 8:9-16) Discussing the connection between Spirit and mission, Berkhoff points out that in Roman Catholic theology the Spirit is institutionalized because he is regarded mainly as the soul and sustainer of the church. In Protestant theology the Spirit is individualized because he is regarded mainly as the awakener of individual spiritual life in justification and sanctification. He rightly concludes that both these lead to a “common pattern of an introverted and static pneumatology.” (Emphases mine.)
In many of the more recent books on the Holy Spirit there is no reference at all to the possible work of the Spirit among people of other faiths. The discussion is almost entirely limited to the church and to the “secular” world.’
“...how do Christians clarify to themselves, theologically, the relationship between the work of the Holy Spirit in the church and the activity of God’s Spirit among people of different religious traditions and theological persuasions? Is it the same Spirit that brooded upon the waters over all creation, that spoke through the prophets of the Old Testament, that was with Jesus at the critical points of his life and ministry, that manifested itself in “the outpouring” in Acts which also activated Yajnavalkya, the Buddha, the Prophet Mohammed, and, why not – Mahatma Ghandi, Karl Marx, and Mao Tse Tung? Or is there a qualitative difference? Should we seek a difference? Why? If so, on the basis of what criteria?” (Samartha. All emphases mine.)
Samartha’s analysis and narrative surely typifies the standard ‘position’ of global Christendom on this whole issue. What stands out is almost an anguished plea to really and finally know who and/or what the “Spirit of Truth” actually is. Despite what over 2 billion Christians think they know, there is no real, concrete certainty among them: For Muslims, however, in their eyes absolute certainty in the person of Muhammad. The Jewish situation stands on its own as an insular religion that seems to mostly represent the State of Israel and/or what it means to be Jewish and, ostensibly, God’s “chosen”.
Let’s now look at the second of our two “religious commentators”, Donna M. Brown. From her extensive analysis, we need only the main theme to show why the overall trend of her thesis does not resonate with what we are enjoined to make known to the world.