| The Topics of the Holy Spirit, Biblical Prophets, & the Church |
| All Material Copyright of Robert Tippett with the exception of the obviously stolen stuff Reproduction by Permission Only |
In that section of Nostradamus' Letter of Preface that I just went through, you might have noticed the
introduction of the spiritu prophetico, which is literally, the spirit prophetic. I stated the occurrence of
an ampersand meant that what would follow would be important, such that THE spirit of importance,
especially when connected to one with prophetic abilities, would be the Holy Spirit. This is the same
Holy Spirit that is mentioned in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament. I believe it serves a
positive purpose to discuss just what this Holy Spirit is.
Most Christians (maybe all) profess belief in the Trinity. This, of course, is the Father (God), the Son
(Jesus the Messiah), and the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost). As an Episcopalian, each Sunday we read
aloud an affirmation of faith, reciting the Nicene Creed. Near the end of that affirmation we say, "We
believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With
the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified." Certainly, this personifies the Holy Spirit as
"the Lord who proceeds from" the other two equal deities. This is an equal entity, who is
"worshipped and glorified with" God and Jesus.
Let me say that I have heard many Christians (not just Episcopalians) say they have the hardest time
understanding just what the Holy Spirit is, even though they profess faith that the Holy Spirit is an
equal part of the Holy Trinity. I have sat in bible study classes several times and heard (after a
reading that mentions the Holy Spirit) people say they have a hard time comprehending something
that sounds like a rush of wind actually be worshipped and glorified like someone we have a better
conceptions of: Jesus was a young man with a brown beard, while on earth; and God is pictured as
an elderly man with a white beard, who hangs out in clouds. We just cannot seem to get a firm
grasp on this Holy Spirit.
I went to Italy recently with my wife and her family (brothers, sisters-in-law, and mother). The first full
day we were there, in Rome, we went to tour the Vatican. We went inside the Sistine Chapel and
saw the famous ceiling painting, where Michelangelo depicted the elderly, long white haired and
bearded God, sitting on a cloud, reaching out to his son, Adam. Adam is depicted as being on
earth; and he too is reaching out to God. From the floor of the chapel, it can appear that the two
touch fingertips; but the reality is they do not actually physically touch. There is something like a tiny
invisible lightening bolt, or a spark of electricity, which connects God to Man.
That night in Rome, that painting came up in a discussion around the dinner table. My wife told her
older brother that she saw the spark connecting the two fingertips as the Holy Spirit. Her brother, a
somewhat agnostic version of an Episcopalian, told her that was the best explanation of the Holy
Spirit he had heard, to date. Hopefully, this helps you make more sense of what the Holy Spirit is
also, because understanding Nostradamus requires a minimum of an understanding of the Holy
Spirit.
If you look at the Nicene Creed again, you see it says the Holy Spirit is, the giver of life. As such, the
Latin word used by Nostradamus, spiritu, means (among several uses), the breath of life, or simply,
life, while also translating as, spirit; air; breathing; or soul. This word parallels what humanity has
always seen as representing the life that inhabits our bodies. We are determined to be live born
babies at first breath. Without air to breathe, our bodies cannot sustain life within us. Religions
have long sensed the presence of a soul, which departs the body at the time of death; meaning life
is dependent on a soul. This is then the lower-case spirit, which each of us has, in order to be alive.
In Shelley's Frankenstein, the creature was given life through the power of lightening. This was
almost believable, because our psyches sense life is given to us through God's gift of the spark of
life. Shelley was demonstrating how Man so strongly lusts to possess the power of God; and the
ultimate power that would make Man a deity is the power to create life from dead matter. But, once
life has been given, we are still left trying to understand this higher spirit, above the gift of life, which
is the equal of God and Christ, known as the Holy Spirit.
In Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling painting, Adam appears to have already been created.
The Bible says God breathed life into the dust, which God used to form Adam's body. Therefore,
that spark, the one that begins life, had already been given. The spark Michelangelo depicted,
although the scene is called the creation of Adam, is more like the spark that maintained a
connection between Adam and God. Adam has life; but he still reaches out to his Father for
connection. At the time depicted, they were on two different planes of existence, with God in
Heaven and Adam on the physical plane of Earth.
The power of this painting is not just that God has the power to create and give life. The power is
that it shows how God is always reaching out to mankind, after God has allowed mankind the spark
of life. The problem becomes the gift of free will, where we all get to have our own opinions on
things and ultimately do what we want to do, believing what we want to believe. Those of us who
actually try to extend an arm towards God, for assistance, may find an occasional spark fly through
us, as a dawning, an awareness, or an epiphany. Or, as Nostradamus wrote in Latin, spiritu
prophetico particularia, meaning we receive the spirit to know our future in small parts.
Still, if you take a closer look at the Nicene Creed, after it goes through all of the elements of the
Holy Spirit, as an entity with the Father and the Son, we profess our faith that, He had spoken
through the prophets. That "He" (one more capitalized word having particular importance, such that
not just any "he") is the one just read aloud about, for four lines. He is the Holy Spirit, who acts as
and with God and Christ, as that lightening bolt (or rush of wind) that has spoken through the
prophets.
The prophets have not spoken, as such, rather the Holy Spirit of God-Jesus has spoken through
these people who reach up through devout faith, offering themselves to the higher spirit as servants.
If you believe the Holy Spirit acts in this way, as, with, and from the power of God (as Nostradamus
claimed was his experience), then you have to at least take a serious look at what I claim
Nostradamus has provided for your benefit, from Jesus Christ.
Now, as I have mentioned before, the Holy Spirit is not only about making someone able to
prophesy. Paul listed several gifts from God, or gifts from Jesus Christ (in the Spirit form), which
come to us through the Holy Spirit. One of these other gifts is the gift of being able to heal, others or
ourselves, depending on the need this gift serves. In the Book of Acts, all of the disciples of Jesus
(who had repeatedly been nothing more than sheep, following their shepherd, and completely bone-
headed about Jesus' references to his Father) are suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit, and that made
them all instantly speak fluently in foreign languages, languages none of them had ever learned or
knew before. That, therefore, was another gift sent from Jesus Christ to those disciples, who had
raised their hands as willing to serve God and Christ.
If you read the New Testament books, especially the ones that tell of the earliest spreading of the
Church of Christ, Christianity spread because of completely dedicated people coming to know
Jesus. These people were so moved with the proof that Jesus was the true Messiah, because they
believed strongly in God (as ritualistic devout Jews) and had their eyes opened by these men and
women who were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were able to see how the words they had
memorized and spoken for years had new meaning, which jumped out at them. This was meaning
they had never seen before. They saw the Magic Eye of the Torah (and/or Talmud) held up, where
so much written was prophecy come true with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
This awareness was due to the spark of the Holy Spirit filling them, allowing them to see a little more
than they had seen before.
This led to more and more people, who were almost exclusively Jews at first, becoming dedicated
followers of Jesus, sacrificing all of their worldly possessions, while receiving their hearts full of the
Holy Spirit. This spirit that created the Church of Christ (Christianity) was the Holy Spirit within many
people. However, as we read in the epistles of the Apostles, some people found it hard to maintain
this connection to Jesus and God, such that when the Holy Spirit left them, they began to doubt their
commitment to Christ and the complete sacrifice of worldly goods to the commune that was the
Church. Infighting and bickering between church members threatened to break everything apart.
The letters of the Apostles were attempts at maintaining their dedication to Christ's Gospel.
As we can see, based on present conditions and past history, that dedication to Jesus Christ was
not maintained. The original model for one Church, which is the true essence of the meaning of the
Nicene Creed statement, In one (unified) holy (sanctity) catholic (universality) and apostolic (of
apostles) Church (spiritual body), representing "the Four Marks of the Church", became an
increasing number of splits, with an increasing number of names, of churches and designated
spiritual leaders. The Church, the one begun by the Apostles who were filled with the Holy Spirit, is
no longer anywhere to be found. It has become so corrupted (defined as, changed from the original
form) that the people have lowered their arms, so much they are no longer offering to be sacrificial
servants to the Lord they profess faith in.
Going to a church has replaced living as one, of or in a Church, as an integral part of that Church's
body. If we were living as one of a Church, we would be maintaining our contact with God and
Christ, through the Holy Spirit being a part of our decision-making, action-creating selves. We
would not ever think that some other human being could spark our souls the way God or Jesus can
spark them, via the Holy Spirit. We would know, through the enlightening powers of the Holy Spirit,
what we must do for our own soul's safety and for the welfare of those close to us, and for the
betterment of the greater whole of our environment. Knowing would be the motivation for acting; and
our actions would be for the glory of God and Christ, meaning we would do them as pleasing
servants to them. However, by simply going to church, we are losing touch with God and Jesus.
Before Jesus came, Israel and Judah had been defeated, exiled, and then partially regrouped
around the lands that were formerly Israel and Judah. By then, the Romans had assumed control of
the region; but in Jerusalem, they depended on the Temple priests and their guards to keep law and
order. As such, when Jesus did come, he found the Jewish people, the ones who devoutly and
ritualistically maintained their acts of “going to church, lacking in true leadership, leadership of
people truly dedicated to serving God, and likewise the people. The people were said to be
metaphorically sheep, with the Temple walls the sheep pen, with no gate through which the sheep
could leave to follow their shepherd. In essence, the Temple priests, Sadducees, and Pharisees,
were the hired hands, or prison wardens and keepers, who lorded over the sheep.
introduction of the spiritu prophetico, which is literally, the spirit prophetic. I stated the occurrence of
an ampersand meant that what would follow would be important, such that THE spirit of importance,
especially when connected to one with prophetic abilities, would be the Holy Spirit. This is the same
Holy Spirit that is mentioned in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament. I believe it serves a
positive purpose to discuss just what this Holy Spirit is.
Most Christians (maybe all) profess belief in the Trinity. This, of course, is the Father (God), the Son
(Jesus the Messiah), and the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost). As an Episcopalian, each Sunday we read
aloud an affirmation of faith, reciting the Nicene Creed. Near the end of that affirmation we say, "We
believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With
the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified." Certainly, this personifies the Holy Spirit as
"the Lord who proceeds from" the other two equal deities. This is an equal entity, who is
"worshipped and glorified with" God and Jesus.
Let me say that I have heard many Christians (not just Episcopalians) say they have the hardest time
understanding just what the Holy Spirit is, even though they profess faith that the Holy Spirit is an
equal part of the Holy Trinity. I have sat in bible study classes several times and heard (after a
reading that mentions the Holy Spirit) people say they have a hard time comprehending something
that sounds like a rush of wind actually be worshipped and glorified like someone we have a better
conceptions of: Jesus was a young man with a brown beard, while on earth; and God is pictured as
an elderly man with a white beard, who hangs out in clouds. We just cannot seem to get a firm
grasp on this Holy Spirit.
I went to Italy recently with my wife and her family (brothers, sisters-in-law, and mother). The first full
day we were there, in Rome, we went to tour the Vatican. We went inside the Sistine Chapel and
saw the famous ceiling painting, where Michelangelo depicted the elderly, long white haired and
bearded God, sitting on a cloud, reaching out to his son, Adam. Adam is depicted as being on
earth; and he too is reaching out to God. From the floor of the chapel, it can appear that the two
touch fingertips; but the reality is they do not actually physically touch. There is something like a tiny
invisible lightening bolt, or a spark of electricity, which connects God to Man.
That night in Rome, that painting came up in a discussion around the dinner table. My wife told her
older brother that she saw the spark connecting the two fingertips as the Holy Spirit. Her brother, a
somewhat agnostic version of an Episcopalian, told her that was the best explanation of the Holy
Spirit he had heard, to date. Hopefully, this helps you make more sense of what the Holy Spirit is
also, because understanding Nostradamus requires a minimum of an understanding of the Holy
Spirit.
If you look at the Nicene Creed again, you see it says the Holy Spirit is, the giver of life. As such, the
Latin word used by Nostradamus, spiritu, means (among several uses), the breath of life, or simply,
life, while also translating as, spirit; air; breathing; or soul. This word parallels what humanity has
always seen as representing the life that inhabits our bodies. We are determined to be live born
babies at first breath. Without air to breathe, our bodies cannot sustain life within us. Religions
have long sensed the presence of a soul, which departs the body at the time of death; meaning life
is dependent on a soul. This is then the lower-case spirit, which each of us has, in order to be alive.
In Shelley's Frankenstein, the creature was given life through the power of lightening. This was
almost believable, because our psyches sense life is given to us through God's gift of the spark of
life. Shelley was demonstrating how Man so strongly lusts to possess the power of God; and the
ultimate power that would make Man a deity is the power to create life from dead matter. But, once
life has been given, we are still left trying to understand this higher spirit, above the gift of life, which
is the equal of God and Christ, known as the Holy Spirit.
In Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling painting, Adam appears to have already been created.
The Bible says God breathed life into the dust, which God used to form Adam's body. Therefore,
that spark, the one that begins life, had already been given. The spark Michelangelo depicted,
although the scene is called the creation of Adam, is more like the spark that maintained a
connection between Adam and God. Adam has life; but he still reaches out to his Father for
connection. At the time depicted, they were on two different planes of existence, with God in
Heaven and Adam on the physical plane of Earth.
The power of this painting is not just that God has the power to create and give life. The power is
that it shows how God is always reaching out to mankind, after God has allowed mankind the spark
of life. The problem becomes the gift of free will, where we all get to have our own opinions on
things and ultimately do what we want to do, believing what we want to believe. Those of us who
actually try to extend an arm towards God, for assistance, may find an occasional spark fly through
us, as a dawning, an awareness, or an epiphany. Or, as Nostradamus wrote in Latin, spiritu
prophetico particularia, meaning we receive the spirit to know our future in small parts.
Still, if you take a closer look at the Nicene Creed, after it goes through all of the elements of the
Holy Spirit, as an entity with the Father and the Son, we profess our faith that, He had spoken
through the prophets. That "He" (one more capitalized word having particular importance, such that
not just any "he") is the one just read aloud about, for four lines. He is the Holy Spirit, who acts as
and with God and Christ, as that lightening bolt (or rush of wind) that has spoken through the
prophets.
The prophets have not spoken, as such, rather the Holy Spirit of God-Jesus has spoken through
these people who reach up through devout faith, offering themselves to the higher spirit as servants.
If you believe the Holy Spirit acts in this way, as, with, and from the power of God (as Nostradamus
claimed was his experience), then you have to at least take a serious look at what I claim
Nostradamus has provided for your benefit, from Jesus Christ.
Now, as I have mentioned before, the Holy Spirit is not only about making someone able to
prophesy. Paul listed several gifts from God, or gifts from Jesus Christ (in the Spirit form), which
come to us through the Holy Spirit. One of these other gifts is the gift of being able to heal, others or
ourselves, depending on the need this gift serves. In the Book of Acts, all of the disciples of Jesus
(who had repeatedly been nothing more than sheep, following their shepherd, and completely bone-
headed about Jesus' references to his Father) are suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit, and that made
them all instantly speak fluently in foreign languages, languages none of them had ever learned or
knew before. That, therefore, was another gift sent from Jesus Christ to those disciples, who had
raised their hands as willing to serve God and Christ.
If you read the New Testament books, especially the ones that tell of the earliest spreading of the
Church of Christ, Christianity spread because of completely dedicated people coming to know
Jesus. These people were so moved with the proof that Jesus was the true Messiah, because they
believed strongly in God (as ritualistic devout Jews) and had their eyes opened by these men and
women who were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were able to see how the words they had
memorized and spoken for years had new meaning, which jumped out at them. This was meaning
they had never seen before. They saw the Magic Eye of the Torah (and/or Talmud) held up, where
so much written was prophecy come true with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
This awareness was due to the spark of the Holy Spirit filling them, allowing them to see a little more
than they had seen before.
This led to more and more people, who were almost exclusively Jews at first, becoming dedicated
followers of Jesus, sacrificing all of their worldly possessions, while receiving their hearts full of the
Holy Spirit. This spirit that created the Church of Christ (Christianity) was the Holy Spirit within many
people. However, as we read in the epistles of the Apostles, some people found it hard to maintain
this connection to Jesus and God, such that when the Holy Spirit left them, they began to doubt their
commitment to Christ and the complete sacrifice of worldly goods to the commune that was the
Church. Infighting and bickering between church members threatened to break everything apart.
The letters of the Apostles were attempts at maintaining their dedication to Christ's Gospel.
As we can see, based on present conditions and past history, that dedication to Jesus Christ was
not maintained. The original model for one Church, which is the true essence of the meaning of the
Nicene Creed statement, In one (unified) holy (sanctity) catholic (universality) and apostolic (of
apostles) Church (spiritual body), representing "the Four Marks of the Church", became an
increasing number of splits, with an increasing number of names, of churches and designated
spiritual leaders. The Church, the one begun by the Apostles who were filled with the Holy Spirit, is
no longer anywhere to be found. It has become so corrupted (defined as, changed from the original
form) that the people have lowered their arms, so much they are no longer offering to be sacrificial
servants to the Lord they profess faith in.
Going to a church has replaced living as one, of or in a Church, as an integral part of that Church's
body. If we were living as one of a Church, we would be maintaining our contact with God and
Christ, through the Holy Spirit being a part of our decision-making, action-creating selves. We
would not ever think that some other human being could spark our souls the way God or Jesus can
spark them, via the Holy Spirit. We would know, through the enlightening powers of the Holy Spirit,
what we must do for our own soul's safety and for the welfare of those close to us, and for the
betterment of the greater whole of our environment. Knowing would be the motivation for acting; and
our actions would be for the glory of God and Christ, meaning we would do them as pleasing
servants to them. However, by simply going to church, we are losing touch with God and Jesus.
Before Jesus came, Israel and Judah had been defeated, exiled, and then partially regrouped
around the lands that were formerly Israel and Judah. By then, the Romans had assumed control of
the region; but in Jerusalem, they depended on the Temple priests and their guards to keep law and
order. As such, when Jesus did come, he found the Jewish people, the ones who devoutly and
ritualistically maintained their acts of “going to church, lacking in true leadership, leadership of
people truly dedicated to serving God, and likewise the people. The people were said to be
metaphorically sheep, with the Temple walls the sheep pen, with no gate through which the sheep
could leave to follow their shepherd. In essence, the Temple priests, Sadducees, and Pharisees,
were the hired hands, or prison wardens and keepers, who lorded over the sheep.
