§188 the holy spirit & divine action 267
[ 7 ] The next discussion focused on the Holy Spirit.First there was a
disclosure of the way many people picture God the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. They picture God the Father sitting on high with the
Son at his right hand. Both of them send out the Holy Spirit to enlighten
people, teach them, justify them, and sanctify them.
Then a voice was heard out of heaven saying, “We do not support
these mental images. Jehovah God is omnipresent. If we know and
acknowledge this, we also acknowledge that Jehovah God is the one who
enlightens us, teaches us, justifies us, and sanctifies us. There is no medi-
ating God who is distinct from him like two separate people, let alone a
God who is distinct from two other gods. That earlier meaningless pic-
ture needs to be removed and this proper picture needs to be accepted.
Then you will see this point clearly.”
[ 8 ] Then we heard a voice from the Roman Catholics. They were
standing next to the altar in the chapel. The voice said, “What then is
the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Word by the Gospel writers and Paul,
by which so many learned clergy say they are led, especially in our
denomination? Surely no one in the Christian world nowadays denies
the existence of the Holy Spirit and its actions.”
One of the clergy in the second row of chairs turned and said, “You
are saying that the Holy Spirit is a person on its own and a God on its
own; but what is a ‘person’ going out and emanating from a person if not
an influence going out and emanating? A person cannot go out and
emanate from another person, but an influence can. To put it another
way, a god going out and emanating from a god is actually a divine influ-
ence going out and emanating. One god cannot go out and emanate
from another through yet another, but a divine influence can go out and
emanate from the one God.”
[ 9 ] After hearing that, the clergy sitting in the chairs unanimously
concluded that the Holy Spirit is not a person on its own or a god on its
own; it is the holy divine influence that goes out and emanates from the
unique and omnipresent God, who is the Lord.
The angels who were standing by the golden table that held the
Word responded to that by saying, “Good! Nowhere in the Old
Covenant does it say that the prophets spoke the Word of the Holy
Spirit. They spoke the Word of Jehovah. When the New Covenant
speaks of the Holy Spirit, it means the divine influence that goes forth
enlightening people, teaching them, bringing them to life, reforming
them, and regenerating them.”