The Acts of the Apostles: Acts of the Holy Spirit

“8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”Act.1. He who worked the Acts of the Apostles is the Holy Ghost.

Before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, there were no Acts of the Apostles, and without the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, there would never have been Acts of the Apostles. These Acts of the Apostles were announced by the Lord himself. After he had suffered, he showed himself alive to his apostles whom he had chosen, told them the things concerning the Kingdom and commanded them to do nothing and wait in Jerusalem until they might receive the Holy Ghost « 4And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” Act.1. “49And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Lc.24.

The Lord, after his resurrection, coached his apostles for forty days, and after His ascension they had to wait in Jerusalem for another fifty days. In Luc 24:48 the Lord said, “And ye are witnesses of these things,” but they made ​​no testimony during these fifty days, they could not go to Galilee, Samaria and Judea to proclaim the good news of the kingdom without the Holy Spirit: such zeal would have been in violation of the instructions of the Lord, and would have bound themselves, not the Lord. That is why before his ascension he clarified things “8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Act.1. They were potential witnesses of what they had seen and experienced with the Lord, but they became real and active witnesses only when they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The Acts of the Apostles are acts of testimony, the Holy Spirit bearing witness to the work of redemption that God has done in His Son Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. God never gives his glory to anyone, and never gives up his work in the hands of anyone. Whoever only sees man's responsibility in the Acts of the Apostles needs to pray that the Lord opens his mind to understand the scriptures, as he did with his holy apostles. The Lord himself chose men; he purified them through His Word to prepare them to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a dove, he can only land on a clean, holy place and purified by the Holy Word of God. The Holy Spirit that we see where God's Word is falsified is not him who descended upon the apostles on Pentecost. The Word must precede and completely clean the heart of every thought that is contrary thereto, and then the heart is pure and qualified to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire from above.

The apostles qualified to receive “3Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.”  Jn.15. And the Holy Spirit came to teach all things, remind the apostles what the Lord had told them (Jn.14 :26), and the Lord added “13Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”  Jn.16. This is why the apostles, when they received him they laid through him the eternal foundation of truth, announced things to come and glorified the Lord.

Reminding all that the Lord has taught and guiding into all Truth: “2Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.”He.2. Without the Holy Spirit, even the apostles would have drifted away from the teachings of the Lord, they would have forgotten them, corrupted them and would not have remained in the Truth. The divine reason why the Holy Spirit is given to us is that we remain committed to the things we have heard from the Lord and that we do not drift away from them. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can stand in the truth, because He himself is the Spirit of Truth. We need to hear the gospel to believe, and we need the Holy Spirit to stand in the Truth.

So on the Acts of the Apostles, here's how things happened: First, the Lord spoke to his apostles the Good Tidings of the Kingdom for three and a half years, and for forty days after his resurrection he still gave them instructions concerning the Ministry that awaited them, all revelations they needed to lay down the foundations of the doctrine in God’s perception, not their own. Second, after giving them all the deposit of heavenly doctrine, he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (Lc.24:45). It was not a question that every apostle understands these teachings and instructions of the Lord from his particular viewpoint, but the Lord gave them a divine intelligence for a unique understanding according to God. The word that comes from one God can only have one meaning. Third, he baptized them with the Holy Spirit and fire, in other words, he came to dwell in them, according to Jn.14:18 +23, Mt.28:20. And then, the Acts of the Apostles were launched.

The Acts of the Apostles are the implementation of the plan of the New Covenant by God as operating through his holy men chosen, prepared and worked by him. Upon launch of Acts, only the name of the Lord Jesus Christ was preached, just as the Lord had said that the Holy Spirit will glorify him and take what belongs to him and announce it. All Acts of the Apostles were done in the name of Jesus Christ according to Col.3:17.

By which spirit does one dare to say that the apostles were wrong in preaching repentance, baptism and the forgiveness of sins in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? By which spirit does one dare to insinuate that the Lord has wrongly revealed the mystery of name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to the apostles for three and a half years teaching in public and private, and for forty days intimate instructions on all matters concerning the kingdom of God? By which spirit does one dare to imply that the Lord who opened the mind of his holy apostles did this to mislead them? By which spirit does one dare to insinuate that the Holy Spirit who opened the mouth of the disciples that they should speak in tongue that everyone understood in their native languages, who set tongues of fire upon each of them, and who opened the mouth of Peter to deliver the first sermon of the covenant, was himself in error and was not the Spirit of Truth?

If Peter under the authority of the Holy Spirit directed the first baptism on the basis of error, which then is the true baptism and where does it come from? If the Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself on Pentecost is built on error, then where is the true church and where does it come from? If all those who believe in God conforming to the Apostles and translate their faith into action (baptism, Lord’s Supper, washing of feet) in accordance with the apostolic practices are wrong, then who are in the truth, according to whom, and where do they come from? The three thousand souls who repented and received their baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, are they lost by the action of the Holy Spirit? Between God and our religions, whom do we give reason and whom do we give wrong?

My brothers and sisters who are reading me, I beg you in God's love, fear God: Saying or thinking that all the apostles were unanimously in error amounts to insulting God who chose, taught, instructed them, opened their minds so that they could understand the Scriptures in God’s perception, and baptized them with the Holy Spirit so that they would labor with God: they were not accountable, but God was. Rejecting God's Word and instructions delivered by the apostles, is to reject God and the Holy Bible. Stating that the foundation of the New Covenant posed by God himself, using his holy apostles, started in heresy is to challenge God face to face, and only the devil can have such audacity. In the New Covenant, the Bible was written by the apostles under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; who will come to God without going through the scriptures of the apostles. For the Lord said of them, “20Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word” Jn 17. You want to believe in God while doing without the apostles’ word? then this is another God than of Abraham, Isaac and Israel.

And the scriptures tell us that “11This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. 13Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” Act.4. Salvation is possible only in a name, not in the titles of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A name has to be called upon, the only name that has been given under heaven, and was revealed to the apostles: « 26And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it » Jn.17. And Paul summarizes “17And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”Col.3

He who saves is God, and he knows how he saves. Those who are saved are those who accept the salvation of God as God applies it. Those who are lost are those who want to correct the ways of God, giving themselves reason and God wrong. There is salvation in no other name than the name of the Lord Jesus. A baptism without the name of the Lord Jesus does not refer to salvation, but is a simple rite of a particular religion. The last question each and everyone should ask himself: Do I really need the salvation of my soul, or simply remain a member of a church?

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