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Pillars and Anchors of Life

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Pillars and Anchors of Life

by Donald Ward 8 comments
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Pillars and Anchors of Life

MP3 Audio (57.14 MB)
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The Church has been given the truth of salvation. We live our lives by that truth - spending a lifetime overcoming our sinful nature and sharing the joyful hope we have.

Comments

  • james j
    james j
    I was sitting in church when MR Ward gave His message, Pillars, and anchors in life. I was more then slightly confused when MR ward referred to the Holy Spirit as being masculine in nature. No up to this point I had never heard that from the pulpit before, so I decided to do some research. I would like to point out that Parakletos, the Holy Spirit (pneuma) is not always referred to as masculine in nature. But rather neuter in gender. If we think of the spirit as masculine then we will muddy our own understandings of The Spirit and the Bible itself.
  • Bruno Gebarski
    Bruno Gebarski
    James, the point Dr. Ward makes, is the fact that KJV-bible translators could be misguiding naïve biblical readers because of the sheer technicality of the eccentric Greek grammar which includes 3 genders: masculine, feminine & neutral (just like the awkward German language.) In Greek, the word Comforter, Parakletos is masculine & there ain’t nothing James you can do about it; just like “der Geist” German & “l’esprit” French are also both masculine! No one is trying to point out here that everywhere you (James) take your human body your “James spirit” is walking beside you as “additional person!” Got it? The issue of gender Dr. Ward is raising here is to help typical monolingual Anglo-Saxon readers like yourself hopefully grasp the fact that some languages such as Greek have 3 genders thus this misguiding KJV translation giving Xtian neocons one additional argument for a trinitarian god: A doctrine totally opposed to the material Dr. Ward is here scholarly presenting. BTW James try a study of the Hebrew combination of both words “Holy + Spirit” (קודש| H6844 qodesh: Holy +רוח | H7307 ruach: spirit) you won’t even find one single entry in the whole Hebrew Bible. Continenatl regards
  • dlward
    Donald Ward Author
    I am sorry that you did not understand what I said in the sermon of reference. In passing I noted that “parakletos” is a masculine noun in Greek. Therefore, the translators used masculine referent pronouns. I am very aware that Greek word “pneuma” translated “spirit” is neuter. We, including myself, have taught this clearly for years. The Holy Spirit is not a person. It is the essence of God through which he does works of power. (Zechariah 4:6). An article on UCG website explains the gender of “parakletos.” The article states: "In Greek, both masculine and neuter words are used to refer to the Holy Spirit. The Greek word translated “Counselor,” “Helper,” “Comforter” and “Advocate” in John chapters 14 to 16 is parakletos , a masculine word in Greek and thus referred to in these chapters by Greek pronouns equivalent to the English “he,” “him,” “his,” “himself,” “who” and “whom.” The title of the article is: Why the Holy Spirit Is Sometimes Incorrectly. Here is the link: https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/booklets/is-god-a-trinity/why-the-holy-spirit-is-sometimes-incorrectly-referred-to Hopefully, readers will carefully verify their "research" before they post it.
  • james j
    james j
    I walked away from my computer and I started thinking about how foolish it was for me to post my "research" without really understanding what I was talking about. Reading over it again. I realized that I was in the wrong. Please forgive me.
  • james j
    james j
    Thank you, D.r Ward and Bruno, for the explanation of the subject. my apologies for coming across as hastily as I did. I Completly admit that I have much to learn. we used to have Bible studies for the young adults in our area, which I enjoyed very much. But then the elders decided to change to format from questions that we would come up with and present to them. Because there are subjects that we wanted to talk about. However, that has now changed. which may not be what the young adults want. I need to spend more time in Gods word and less time elsewhere. Maybe I will look into ABC. On a side note, In an effort to further my understanding of the bible I have been writing a few papers on various subjects. Is there a person or a place that I can send these papers to have them looked at the see if they are biblically sound? Is that something that something that either of you would be interested in? I will also see if I can get someone here to look at them. Thank you for your time. Sorry for any trouble I may have caused.
  • Bruno Gebarski
    Bruno Gebarski
    Ground & pillars: foundation upon which a structure is built. Are we pillars? Is our understanding shredded by false religion considerations, human reasoning & science’s empirical knowledge instead of relying on God’s Holy Spirit convicting us of sin? Dr. Ward’s anchors: Word of God, humility & obedience. Just as Christ was begotten by the Father, died for our sins & was resurrected from the dead as the First-Born, we as a royal priesthood are granted, by grace, the potential to enter God’s family as sons & daughters born of spirit. A staggering plan of salvation difficult to wrap our carnal minds around; Dr. Ward wants us to better grasp God’s purpose for man. A plan God & Christ have been working on, in perfect harmony, since the beginning of ages. Why? God & Christ want the joy of sharing with us their Divine Nature: The sheer vision that kept Christ going under the most preternatural ordeal ever been through: torture, agony, abandoned by God the Father & finally dying for our sins. Without Christ’s sacrifice we’d earn death. We are to become Holy just as God id, anchored in the truth & the veracity of God’s word, His gracious & loving purpose for each & every one of us.
  • Lafayette
    Dennis M. Montgomery
    Is it possible for me to receive a manuscript copy via e-mail of this sermon? There were some things Dr. Ward said near the end that caught my interest which I can't remember now, but I knew were important. I want to take the time to study the scriptures he cited.
  • Bruno Gebarski
    Bruno Gebarski
    Dennis, if you want a copy of Dr. Ward's sermon, I could send you my personal copy because I just did a word for word transcript to 98% of my english abilities. Let me know if you are okay with that! Again this is a private transcript so I do not know if we do have Dr. Donald Ward's permission to spread private notes about His sermon? Shoot me an email at brunogebarski@t-onine.de and maybe we should first sk him for his permission! Warm Regards from Hamburg Germany

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