One of the promises of the New Testament is that Christians will be, upon accepting Jesus as their Savior, filled with the Holy Spirit which will guide them to all truth. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to those who had faith in him.
John 14:16-17,26
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with
you forever-the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it
neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will
be in you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my
name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to
you.
John 16:13-14
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He
will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell
you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine
and making it known to you.
According to Jesus, this Holy Spirit would guide the believers to all truth. When a person believes in Jesus, repents and is baptized, they receive the "gift" of the Holy Spirit. Christians call this being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit.
Jesus himself prayed that all those who believed in him would represent complete unity of thought.
John 17:20-23This prayer of Jesus has huge implications. Jesus has prayed that those who believe in him will exhibit complete unity. This means believers not only of that time but all believers in the future would exhibit complete unity in thought and doctrine. After all, these believers would have the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit would guide them to ALL truth. If Jesus, who Christians say is the most important being in the universe, prayed this prayer and promised the Holy Spirit would guide his believers to ALL truth then it should be obvious if his power is real or not. If the prayer of Jesus, who is also supposed to be God according to most Christians, fails in any way, then all the claims of Christianity are suspect.
How has this vitally important prayer of Jesus turned out? Has it lived up to expectations? Let's take a look at the New Testament and see if all the advertising about the Holy Spirit and the power of prayer rings true or false.
Jesus declared that Peter would be the "Rock" who would establish his church
Matt 16:18-19
Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the
keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Clearly, Jesus regarded Peter as the leader of his contingent of followers left on earth when Jesus departed for heaven after his resurrection. Peter was most certainly a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit. In fact, the New Testament shows that he was:
Acts 4:8
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit,.etc
From this there can be no doubt that Peter was a genuine believer. He was the real deal. A true Christian.
The New Testament also tells us that Paul(also known as Saul of Tarsus) was commissioned as an apostle of Jesus directly by God. Paul declares that he has divine authority and approval to teach God's holy word. Col 1:25 I(Paul) have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness-
Not only that, but Paul states that he received his gospel DIRECTLY from Jesus in a revelation.
Gal 1:12
I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that
man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I
received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
Paul did not learn his gospel from any man, but from Jesus himself. (Note: revelation = vision.) Clearly, Paul must have also been filled with the Holy Spirit just like Peter was. In fact, the New Testament says he was:
Acts 13:9
Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit,.etc
From this there can be no doubt that Paul was a genuine believer. He was the real deal. A true Christian.
So here we have two Holy Spirit filled apostles of Jesus. What happens next is a scathing indictment of the validity of the New Testament as the word of God. Paul and Peter do not agree on a critical issue of their work for Jesus. Paul accuses Peter of being WRONG and a HYPOCRITE. Apparently Peter found himself having to play politics in order to win converts. The following is Paul's testimony:
Gal 2:7-13
They saw that God had given me(Paul) the responsibility of preaching the Good
News to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching
to the Jews. For the same God who worked through Peter for the benefit of the
Jews worked through me for the benefit of the Gentiles. In fact, James, Peter,
and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had
given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged
us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the
Jews. The only thing they suggested was that we remember to help the poor, and I
have certainly been eager to do that. But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to
oppose him publicly, speaking strongly against what he was doing, for it was
very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who don't
bother with circumcision. But afterward, when some Jewish friends of James came,
Peter wouldn't eat with the Gentiles anymore because he was afraid of what these
legalists would say. Then the other Jewish Christians followed Peter's
hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was influenced to join them in their hypocrisy.
Since Peter's side of the story isn't told, we have no way of knowing if Peter was "wrong" or not. However, because the Bible tells us that the following event happened, it must have actually occurred. After all, the Bible is the word of God. The ramifications of this serious dispute are enormous.
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would guide believers to all truth. Peter was the "Rock" upon who Jesus would build his church. Yet, Paul accused Peter of being wrong, a hypocrite, and in error concerning his policy regarding other Christians. If Paul was right and Peter was wrong, then the Holy Spirit did not guide Peter to all truth. The Holy Spirit did not perform the function that Jesus PROMISED. Either Peter was not filled with the Holy Spirit as the Bible says he was, or the Holy Spirit is incompetent and will not guide believers to all truth as promised. Or, is the Holy Spirit only a part time counselor? Does this Holy Spirit only work on a part time basis and if so, how can anyone tell when a believer has it and when they don't? Even more disturbing and fatal to the Bible, is the fact that Jesus PRAYED for all his followers to be brought to complete UNITY as evidence that Jesus was really from God: Paul and Peter certainly did not display complete unity. The prayer of Jesus failed.
That prayer has produced no better results with the passage of time. There are hundreds of Christian denominations which all claim to be the proper representatives of Jesus and God. These factions cannot even agree on basic items of Christianity. Catholics recognize the Pope as the Vicar of Christ on earth and as the key representative God's authority in the world. However, many Protestant sects say the Pope is the anti-Christ. Eastern Orthodox Christianity denies that Jesus is God himself and do not believe in the "Trinity". Churches cannot agree on other key issues such as ordaining women as pastors, water baptism, divorce, and many other issues. The Mormon Church, which is also Christian, is vilified as "false doctrine" by Catholics and Protestants. Is this the complete unity that Jesus prayed for?
Remember what Jesus prayed: "May they(Christians) be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you(God) sent me." If ever there was a prayer that failed, it was this prayer by Jesus.
It's time to face the facts. The Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus in the Bible is a farce. Christians can claim they have the Holy Spirit all day long, but the facts betray them. While each faction of Christianity asserts to the world that they have the "truth" about God, they have nothing more than hot air. The New Testament itself shows that the Holy Spirit doesn't work all the time as promised and that the prayer of Jesus failed. The next time a zealous Christian tells you that the Bible is God's word and must be believed in order to avoid being sent to hell, tell them you aren't impressed with the promise and prayer of Jesus that failed. That's proof he wasn't really sent from God.