Chapter 24
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Charles Fillmore
Dynamics For Living
THE GOSPEL is now universally identified with Jesus' mission and the doctrine
that has grown out of it. When we speak of the gospel we refer to that system of
religious beliefs that has centered about the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
As to what that gospel is in detail, there are many opinions. Many believe
that it is the plan of salvation for men outlined in the dogmas and creeds of
the churches. But those doctrines, creeds, and dogmas were formulated three
hundred years after Jesus taught and demonstrated.
There is no authority from Him or from His immediate disciples attesting the
genuineness of many of these later enunciations interpreting the original
teachings. They are the work of men. These teachings are not the pure
Christianity of Jesus Christ.
It is safe to assert that no one can know the doctrine of Jesus Christ
without going direct to Him for information. The writings of the New Testament
known in the four Gospels are the most reliable external guide. When these are
studied with unbiased mind, it is perceived that Jesus delegated no
ecclesiastical power to anybody. He did not formulate His doctrine or authorize
any other human being to do so.
The Counselor
Jesus appointed one teacher: "The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all that I have said to you."
The Holy Spirit is the only authorized interpreter of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. No man can know what His doctrine is unless he gets it direct from this
one and only custodian. It is not to come secondhand. Each for himself must
receive it from the Holy Spirit, who is sent by the Father in the name of the
Son.
Holy Spirit
The question is frequently asked, "Who is the Holy Spirit, and what relation
does He bear to God and to Christ?"
The early disciples knew the Holy Spirit as the third person in the Trinity.
The Father is always first, the Son second, and the Spirit third. The terms
Father and Son express an eternal, reciprocal relation. The Spirit is the
infinite "breath" of God as the Son is His infinite "Word."
We may understand the relation and office of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit by analyzing our own mind and its apparent subdivisions during
thought action, because each one of us is a perfect copy in miniature of the
great universal first cause--Being.
The Holy Spirit is the executive power of both Father and Son, carrying out
the creative plan. It is the personality of Being. It is the personality of God.
It is neither the all of Being nor the fullness of Christ, but is an emanation,
or breath, sent forth to do a definite work. Thus circumscribed, He may be said
to take on, in a sense, the characteristics of personality, a personality
transcending in its capacity the concept of the intellectual man.
The Holy Spirit is described in Scripture as personality and as not always
existing for the consciousness of humanity in uniform degree. The mission of
Jesus was to open the way for the Holy Spirit to enter into the minds of men.
Function
The function of the Holy Spirit, or Spirit of truth, implies distinct
personal subsistence: He speaks, searches, selects, reveals, reproves,
testifies, leads, comforts, distributes to every man.
The Holy Spirit is the law of God in action; in that action He appears as
having individuality.
The normal condition of man is one of inner communion. It is the mission of
the Holy Spirit to bring all men and all women into this inner communion. He who
is buried in sense limitations must find the way out of them into the place
where the light shines. It is the mission of the Holy Spirit to guide man in
order that he will not mistake the way and wander into the darkness of many
delusive bypaths.
The Holy Spirit comes to men in this day, as in the past, and reveals to them
in various ways how to overcome the erroneous states of consciousness that they
have evolved, or in which they are cast through association. A higher and more
farseeing guide than mere intellect is necessary. That guide has been provided
in the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the one factor that Jesus' disciples and immediate
followers counted absolutely necessary to their success in preaching the gospel
of Jesus Christ. They looked to Him for power and guidance in all their work.
They announced Him as the special gift promised by Jesus, an endowment that
could be given by them to those who believed on His name.
By the laying on of hands they transferred Holy Spirit power to others, who
upon receiving it went about preaching, teaching, prophesying, and healing.
Availability
The Holy Spirit is in the world today with great power and wisdom, ready to
be poured out upon all those who look to Him for guidance. The Holy Spirit is
authority on the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the only authority ever
recognized by Jesus Christ, and whoever attempts to set forth the Christ gospel
from any other standpoint is in the letter and not in the Spirit.
Jesus gave His words into the keeping of this universal receptive agency, the
Spirit of truth, whose mission it is to carry those words directly into the
understanding of everyone who accepts the Christ way into the kingdom of heaven.
The Holy Spirit gave His words to the writers of the New Testament, and they
wrote them out for the comprehension of the intellectual man. This does not
signify that the mission of the Holy Spirit ended there--that after giving this
message He then withdrew from the world. On the contrary, it was just the
beginning, the primary step of that larger, more comprehensive teaching that
Spirit is ever ready to impart to every soul.
The soul needs instruction. The Father has provided a perfect way for us to
get it. That way is the Jesus Christ way. Whoever follows the steps outlined in
the gospel, now brought to each of us by the Holy Spirit, will finally reach the
same place that Jesus reached.
Shortcoming of Language
Everyone has a soul to save, not from the hypothetical hell after death, but
from the sin and the delusions of the sense consciousness that make hell here
and now. There is a way to bring that salvation about. It is the mission of the
Holy Spirit to reveal that way to every one of us.
The revelation begins the moment we turn from the letter of the gospel and
seek for its spirit. To know that every word and sentence of Scripture veils a
spiritual truth is the first step in unraveling the gospel. Spiritual truths
cannot be expressed in language that will carry correct concepts to the mind. No
attempt to describe the Holy Spirit is made in Scripture, because language might
be expanded indefinitely, description and illustration fill volumes. The Holy
Spirit would not be compassed or apprehended on the intellectual plane where
human language passes current. The Holy Spirit is the whole Spirit of God. He
can be known by man only through his spiritual nature. When he tries to bring
Spirit down to the plane of things, he always falls short.
So those who attempt to learn of the Holy Spirit by reading about Him, or
from the teachings of others, will fail. The Holy Spirit comes only to those who
earnestly seek Him. If you are depending for spiritual enlightenment on some
book or on church ritual and doctrine or on some teacher or leader, you need not
expect to have the Holy Spirit fall upon you. It is the prayer of the soul alone
in its upper room that brings the Holy Spirit.
The Interpreter
The doctrine of Jesus Christ is so intimately associated with the Holy Spirit
that they are inseparable. The Holy Spirit is the interpreter of the Christ, and
the Christ is the thing interpreted. They are omnipresent and cannot be
separated in spirit or in works. Hence, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ is
to set forth that the Holy Spirit of God is ready and willing to bring all men
and all women into the kingdom.
All down the ages it was assumed that the requirements are met when men have
been persuaded to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of their souls,
and to keep believing this until they pass out of their bodies; then, the
teaching runs, believers are received into the arms of the Lord. But the Holy
Spirit does not endorse this assumption, neither does the letter of the
Scriptures.
Open Door
Jesus opened the door of unity with the Father to all who believe on Him. It
is thought by nearly everybody that Jesus was the only Son of God. Jesus wants
companions in power, dominion, and glory, that it may be demonstrated to the
world, this world, that what He claimed about his relation to God is true.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is that all men shall become God incarnate. It is
not alone a gospel of right living. It shows the way into dominion and power
equal to and surpassing that of Jesus of Nazareth. If we have a sense of
inferiority, if we believe that He has greater wisdom, or power, or love, then
we are not fulfilling the requirements. So long as we feel any difference
between ourself in the Father and Jesus in the Father, we have fallen short of
that "mind. . . which you have in Christ Jesus."
The cry goes up: "This is foolish, sacrilegious, to put man beside Jesus
Christ and claim that they are equals." The claim is not that humans, in their
present consciousness, are equal with Jesus, but that they must be equal with
Him before they will emerge from the sense of delusion in which they now wander.
Health Is Normal
We know that health is the normal condition of man and that it is a condition
true to his real being. We claim and declare this truth right in the face of
appearances to the contrary. We have proved by experience many times repeated
that our words in this way reveal that health is potential in Being.
If man is the son of God, he must be that son right now. Sonship must be just
as real, just as omnipresent, as the health that God has revealed through His
Word. How shall man reveal his sonship to himself and to others except by
claiming it? He does so by declaring that he is not a son of mortality, but a
son of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in him and is now shining through
him.
Your word is the power through which you make your belief manifest. Simple
belief in or assent to the truth of a proposition never gave understanding to
anyone. There must be mental action. Organic changes in the mind are necessary
before the new state of consciousness takes up its abode in you.
If you can convince yourself that you are a son of God, your next step is to
declare it in word and to carry it out in the acts of your daily life. After
declaring this, if you fall short in demonstrating yourself to be a son of God,
you are to find out why. You have neglected some of your spiritual powers. You
may be dissipating the energy given you by the Father.
Mission
Here is the mission of the Holy Spirit. When you ask in the silence of Spirit
to be shown why you do not manifest the power that Jesus of Nazareth manifested,
the Holy Spirit will in some way reveal to you the lack. How that revealment
will come about no one can tell you. But if you are patient and trustful you
will be guided and directed so that all the links in the chain of your being
will be brought together and harmoniously joined, and the Son of God will be
revealed in you.
