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Special Portuguese Spanish    

Year 4 - N° 180 – October 17, 2010

AMÉRICO DOMINGOS NUNES FILHO

amecgs@terra.com.br

Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brasil)
Translation
Leonardo Azzalin – leonardoazzalin@btinternet.com

 

Is the Holy Spirit the Comforter promised by Jesus?

 

The Comforter promised came so that the understanding of Spiritual things would not get stagnated in time and space, trapped in the retouched webs of the biblical letters

 

According to the spiritual entity Emmanuel, the Holy Spirit is "the spark of the divine spirit that lies at the heart of all creatures" ("The Comforter", question 303). Herculano Pires says that "the Spirit that the Bible refers to in numerous topics in the Gospels and that receives the name of the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God in his universal manifestation" (Book "Agony of the Religions, chap. VII). Therefore, each creature houses the  Light   of   God,  "The   Kingdom  of  God"   within   itself

(Immanent Divinity). In truth, the Holy Spirit is the presence of God in every one of us and everything.


Catholicism brought to light in the seventh century that the Holy Spirit would be the third element in the named "Holy Trinity" and for that texts were added to the scripture aiming to make scriptural the dogmatic assertion, as it was first reported by Origen, then by Pastor Leblois in his book "The Bible and the Religious Initiators of Humanity," in which he reported having seen in some libraries manuscripts where the dogma of the Trinity is only added to the margin. Later the additions were interspersed in the text, where they still remain.

 

Leblois' discovery was announced by the philosopher Léon Denis in his own book "Christianity and Spiritism," in additional note 3. Besides that information, Denis cites as an example of such modifications, verses 7 and 8 of Chapter 5 of the 1st Epistle of John: "Because there are three that bear witness (in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one; and there are three that bear witness on Earth): the  spirit,  the  water  and  the  blood,  and  these  three  are

one."The text in parentheses appears to have been introduced later (marginal glosses), as listed in the footnote of the Jerusalem Bible, a Catholic publication. Therefore, the beloved disciple said nothing about the Trinity.

 

It is important to mention that the professor of Greek and Latin Carlos Torres Pastorino in "Wisdom of the Gospel" teaches us that in Greek, the words "tò pneuma tò hagion" mean "The Spirit, the Holy," while "pneuma hagion" without the definite article "tò", refers to "a holy spirit." The indefinite article does not exist in Greek. When there is no

definite article one should read in English with the indefinite article. Consequently, in this case, it is right to say "a Holy Spirit" and not "the Holy Spirit." In fact, a "holy spirit" is referring to a superior Spirit, a good spirit, either embodied or disembodied. When the biblical letters bring in Greek the word "tò pneuma tò hagion" there is reference to the presence of God in every one of us and everything, the divine spark or emanation that enables us to eternal life.


The identity of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth is, according to Pastorino, a farce

 

Paul explains that He dwells in us: we are temples of the Holy Spirit. Solomon in the Old Testament in the book "The Wisdom" reports that the spirit of God is in everything, "Thy immortal spirit is in all things" (12:1), since it is clearly the archetype of immanent perfection in all creation. If this divine spark in us is already much improved, in case of mistakes made knowingly, we will experience an urgent need to atone for the grave error committed, which symbolically is called "blasphemy against the holy spirit." According to the translation from Greek made by Pastorino, the offender is guilty of the cycle error and his sentence will not be relieved, i.e., it must be rectified. In Ephesians, Paul urges not to grieve the Holy Spirit with whom we were sealed for the day of redemption (4:30). In fact, in Jesus the divine spark, the Holy Spirit, is fully fructified, for He is a pure spirit par excellence.


As for being the "Holy Spirit" the "Spirit of Truth" or "Comforter" Himself, it should be noted that the erudite professor Pastorino categorically denies this possibility, based on the Gospel of John 14:26, reporting that the Greek expression "tò pneuma tò hagion" (the Holy Spirit") appears only once in the Gospel of John, and he said "even so, in just a few late manuscripts, with a strong suspicion of having been added later (" Wisdom of the Gospel " , 5th vol. Preach with no Fear).


The text above is as follows: "(...) that Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and shall remind you of everything I have said.”


The identity of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of truth or Comforter is, therefore, according Pastorino, a farce and said that in the text of John there is not the expression "Holy Spirit" or even less, the words "a holy spirit."


The presence of the "Comforter" has not been verified in the day of Pentecost, because the Greek word "tò pneuma tò hagion" ("Holy Spirit") is not found in the Greek texts of the Acts of the Apostles, "while "pneuma hagion" with no definite article, corresponding to a "holy spirit" is found. Therefore, the apostles were not, as it is written: "filled with the Holy Spirit," because the correct is "filled with a holy spirit", featuring thus a large mediumistic phenomenon, indicating the conspicuous presence of Jesus in spirit.

 

What happened at Pentecost was the powerful
mediumship of the Disciples of Christ

 

It is important to note that the "Comforter" would come to teach all things and to remind us all that the Master had said. What happened at Pentecost was the powerful mediumship of the Disciples of Christ, not finding any trace of separate teaching or special doctrine. Indeed, the prevailing confusion in Christianity of men, making the teachings of Jesus a real patchwork quilt, is a sure proof that the presence of the "Comforter" is still unknown to the dogmatic religious.


Completely ignoring that in most texts, the right term is "a holy spirit" (Greek "pneuma hagion" without the definite article), the brothers of the Protestant belief insist in asserting that Spiritism is not the "promised Comforter" and cite some biblical texts, then explained:


Acts 5:32:
"And we are witnesses of these things; and so is a holy spirit (a superior spiritual entity), whom God hath given to them that obey him."


Acts 8:15:
"When they arrived, Peter and John prayed for the Samaritans, so that they received a holy spirit."


Acts 8:18:
"Simon saw that a holy spirit (a superior spiritual entity) was given through the laying on of hands ...”


Acts 10:44-48:
"While Peter yet spake, a holy spirit (a superior spiritual entity) fell upon all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of a holy spirit (a superior spirit). In fact, they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Spirit (superior spiritual entities) as well as we? Then Peter commanded them to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ."


Acts 19:2:
"Have ye received a holy spirit (a superior spiritual entity) since ye believed? ?


Mark 1:8,
John the Baptist said, "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with a holy spirit.” i.e., making them tune with the superior spirits."


Luke 12:12:
"For a holy spirit (a superior spiritual entity) shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say."

 

Spiritism will become the great redeemer of
mankind; a beacon of light

 

It is very clear that one of the basic principles of Spiritism, mediumship, is highlighted here. In Ephesus, Paul developed the mediumistic exchange in the disciples who had already been baptised by John the Baptist: "Laying on them with the hands, there came upon them a holy spirit" (superior spiritual entities)). The text is quite enlightening, "and they spoke in tongues (a phenomenon known as xenoglossy) and prophesied" (Acts 19:1-7). There was the embodiment of spiritual entities who, in mediumistic trance, discoursed at some foreign language unknown by those men. That also happened on the day of Pentecost with all the Disciples of Christ.


The Promised Comforter has come,
therefore, so that the understanding of spiritual things would not get stagnated in time and space, trapped in webs of retouched biblical letters ("the letter kills"). In Ezekiel 37:1, for example, a valley full of bones is described. Actually, it is a symbolic reference to the people of Israel dominated, destroyed and banished. Then Ezekiel is summoned to educate the people of their dignity, eventually obtaining their organization and uplift, forming a huge army and building a new history ("I shall put my spirit upon you").


After all, Jesus would still say many things about the Father (John 16:12) and at the right time no longer using parables (the spirit testifies), but openly (John 16:25). "Christ's Doctrine is no longer a prisoner of Scripture, but the echo of voices from Heaven" ("The Gospel
According to Spiritism", Introduction, item I).


The Master himself said he would return to the glory of his Father, accompanied by his angels (superior spirits) to restore all things. Now Kardec says that "one can only restore what has been undone.”Initially, the testimony of Jesus had many things to teach but humanity then was not spiritually evolved enough (thou cannot bear them now "). However, He left one hope behind: Men would no longer be orphans; the horizon of human liberation will be opened through the knowledge of the truth that liberates and by removing the tight shackles of spiritual ignorance. Léon Denis, the spiritist philosopher, said: "(...) after centuries of silence the invisible world opens up; it lights and shakes itself up to its lowest depths. The legions of the Christ and Christ himself are active. The time of the new dispensation has sounded" ("Christianity and Spiritism", conclusion).


In a cultural environment hostile to mysticism and conducive to the ideas of reform, Spiritism arises as a deep synthesis of Science, Philosophy and Religion with the primal scope to fertilize all faiths, uniting them under the aegis of the great and true shepherd, Jesus, and burying for good the scientific and religious obscurantism that stands against reason and progress.


We are already living the time in which "God will put His law in men's inward parts and write in their hearts and everyone know him, from the smallest to the greatest" (Jeremiah 31:33).


Spiritism will become the great redeemer of the mankind; a beacon of light that will cast away the darkness of disappointment and disbelief and will represent the dawn of a new era.
 

 


 


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