Without the Holy Spirit

Without the Holy Spirit, we do have the "inability" to get saved. Without the Holy Spirit is TOTAL DEPRAVITY". The Holy Spirit is the only person that can quicken people to be saved. 1 Corinthians 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. Acts 7:51 "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 1 Thessalonians 4:8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts. Romans 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we will not REPENT. We cannot repent on our own. We are to repent with the help from the Holy Spirit who will help us TRANSFORM us to the image of God. Here's another reference regarding "without the Holy Spirit is TOTAL DEPRAVITY" Reading Mark, something caught my eyes a long time ago when Jesus was asking a question. I always wondered WHY He was asking that question. What question was Jesus asking? Jesus asked, "Which is more difficult, to heal disease or forgive sin?" (Mk. 2:9). Conversion happens when the Holy Spirit convicts people to feel desperate over the disease of sin and start repenting. There's no self-will or self-centeredness, and no acknowledgement of rights or claims involved of mind without the Holy Spirit. We can't be saved without the Holy Spirit and with regard to salvation, we are touched and cleansed from SINS after the Holy Spirit convicts us to repent and come Christ in faith, only in terms of the disease of sin which is worse than the diseases. Can't get much clearer than that. Oh.. there is still freewill... People can either acknowledge the conviction of the Holy Spirit to repent and come to Christ in faith. OR Acts 7:51 "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 1 Thessalonians 4:8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. Are people willing to acknowledge the conviction of the Holy Spirit is the question. Since sin often ignores the Holy Spirit... not many will acknowledge. People will (as 2 Timothy 3:7 says) always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.

More about Government

How many countries today have "Theocracy" type of Government? Theocracy is a form of government in which a religion and the government are allied. America was created with the influence of Christian people as well as non-christians. I think we should be patriotic in the right way. We ought to look at God's providential care in the life of our nation. The Bible has much to say about the nature of human, the world, purpose, and etc. The world who are without Christ also have their own views. More often than not, the secular world view is in conflict with the bible. To Christians, this should NOT be a surprise. To the world who are without Christ, this conflict is not a surprise either. The separation of church and state is also taught in 2 Corinthians 5:20 where the Christian is referred to as an ambassador - "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ." An ambassador is one who represents one country to another. He does not become involved in the government of the other country but seeks the welfare of his own. Likewise, the Christian does not become involved in the affairs of earthly governments but represents the heavenly kingdom to them. He is in this world but is not of this world (John 17:16). His work is spiritual, not political. His responsibility is to help the people of this world to give their allegiance to the heavenly kingdom of Christ. Biblically, there were many governments but Isareal didn't have their "Theocracy" for of Government until Moses came into the picture. From my research, God will not establish another "Theocracy" until Christ RETURNS. Jesus said "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence" (John 18:36). My question is this, regardless whether the Government is godless or not, are we denying that one form of Government is NOT ordained by God even thought the Bible said "ALL"? Remember. God governs the world (Isa. 40:22-24), the nations (Isa. 40:15-17), and us (Proverbs 16:9). God allow some Governments to turn to EVIL but at the same time He will guide the government when needed as Proverbs 21:1 says "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases." Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. If Romans was not in the picture, there would be another government that will put Jesus on the Cross.

Trinity

God created us in HIS IMAGE. God's image is "Father, Son, Holy Spirit" We are Body, Soul and Spirit You can go through the Old Testament and show the Trinity there. The first place to start would be in Genesis. “And God said”--what?--“Let us”--who’s that? Matthew 3:16-17 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. The Hebrew, 'adam meaning man, it means that God created a race rather than an individual. In MAN, there are three in one, as God is, who manifests himself at all times in three different persons. People often will create their own image of God as this verse describe: Romans 1:23 "and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles." We can reason all we want whether we are "so so", or "so so"..... in reality, we are CREATED IN HIS IMAGE.