When the heresy of a feminine Holy Spirit came to my attention, it wasn't too hard to understand this belief must have a notable source. No one jumps out publicly with heresy without strong back-up or a supporting source of belief.
It seems some are prone to heretical dogma. They are pulled away easily at every turn. There is Scripture warning of that, (Ephesian 4:14) so we should not be surprised. In recent, years there has been a turn among some groups back to mysticism and some Catholic rituals. A trend to follow the practices of Catholicism from which Protestants were once freed. They have been led astray by mingling in Catholicism and mysticism of the past with "new age" teaching of the present. Talk of following "ancient paths" instead of pointing to the Holy Bible is becoming more and more common and taking believers off track. I suspect the fallacy of a feminine Holy Spirit has some root here.
A quick Google search will reveal many connections. There are some names that may come up, that are obviously heretical, without a tremendous amount of influence. I won't spend time there. Jack Hyles, once a pastor of a Baptist mega-church may bare some responsibility. He claimed the Trinity is analogous to a family. His point was that in the family the woman would be the Holy Spirit. I suspect that may have been misconstrued (probably not his intent) and reversed - i.e. making the Holy Spirit female. I don't think he is important enough to spend time on here. I simply mention these sources as a warning for those who choose to do more research on their own. Also, there are Catholic sites that tell us the family is a reflection of the Trinity - apparently they need the Spirit to be female and a Mother to carry out this comparison. I suppose in their belief, it gives place for them to put Mother Mary within the Trinity. Just beware. But there are other more dangerous sources than this. The two following people that I want to mention are where I suspect most of the fallacy gained momentum within mainstream Protestant Christianity.
It didn't take too much time searching before I found that Monica Dennington, from "Tic Toc Ministries" is in part responsible for the dissemination of this lie. From the videos I listened to from Tic Toc, I suspect she was too busy preaching about "following the ancient path", rather than rightly dividing the Word of God. Once thought to be accurate in her teaching, she obviously has been led further and further astray. I do not know for fact she was ever accurate. I have read reviews from some who say she was. But personally I have not studied her teachings to that degree. I only have recently become aware of her, and that was through finding her distortion of the gender of the Holy Spirit. Every video I watched from her (and there were several) all contained inaccuracies/heresy. I do know that heretics often follow Scripture, sometimes even with the right heart; but then something causes them to become increasingly off track. Maybe by their own pride, or taking their eyes off Jesus, maybe getting sucked in by the world - I suppose there are many reasons.
Regardless, Monica Dennington now very clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit is feminine. She is also very clearly wrong. I also found a video of Monica Dennington criticizing Calvinism. So it seems everyone is at odds with everyone over different issues. There is Scripture for that too. Surprised, not surprised. Many who have bought into the female Holy Spirit are Calvinists. I suspect Dennington is on the other side of some issues from them to have had much influence on this group. Due to her warnings of Calvinism her influence is probably limited as Calvinism has increased exponentially among millennials and others. But still, she has obviously influenced many Christians, and most of them from the younger generation. In my opinion, Christianity is getting increasingly messy. And we have only ourselves to blame by allowing incorrect doctrine and not following Scripture's admonition to correct it when we find it. We are too kind (note sarcasm, probably more likely gullible) and politically correct for that.
I suspect the greatest source of this teaching, with the most likely degree of influence comes from R.P. Nettelhorst author of several books, two of the most popular being: A Year with God; and A Year with Jesus.
Nettlehorst writes for Ridge Rider News and is a professor of Bible and Biblical languages (Hebrew; Greek; Aramaic) at Quartz Hill School of Theology in Southern California. He also writes for the liberal Jerusalem Post. His resume clearly demonstrates there is no reason for him to not understand the rule of "grammatical gender" within those languages that I wrote about in my previous post. Yet he chooses to ignore it; defining and leading others to define the Holy Spirit as feminine.
A list of credentials from his website:
"I’m married with three daughters. I live in southern California and I’m a deacon at Quartz Hill Community Church. I teach Bible, Theology, and languages such as Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac at the small church-based seminary Quartz Hill School of Theology. And I write books. I spent a couple of summers while I was in college working on a kibbutz in Israel. In 2004, I was a volunteer with the Ansari X-Prize at the winning launches of SpaceShipOne. I’m a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the American Academy of Religion, and The Authors Guild."Let that sink in. He writes for the liberal Jerusalem Post. He claims to be a scholar in Greek and Hebrew language. And he has spent time in Israel! He obviously understands the languages. He surely must know he is deceiving.
In an article for the Quartz Hill School of Theology he covers a feminine Holy Spirit in a segment entitled: Is There a Question About the Gender of the Holy Spirit. This is what he says (in part) regarding a feminine Holy Spirit. I will counter them after the quote.
- "A feminine Holy Spirit clarifies how women can also be said to be created in the "image of God". It has long been recognized that he Godhead must include some feminine aspects, since Genesis 1:26-27 explicitly states that both men and women were created in God's image.
- A feminine Holy Spirit explains the identity of the personified wisdom in Proverbs 8:12-31:
- The third benefit of recognizing the femininity of the Holy Spirit is that it explains the subservient role that the Spirit plays. The Bible seems to indicate that the Spirit does not speak for itself or about itself; rather the Spirit only speaks what it hears. The Spirit is said to have come into the world to glorify Christ (See John 16:13-14 and Acts 13:2). In contrast, it should be noted that the Scripture represents both the Father and Son speaking from and of themselves.
- Finally, a feminine Holy Spirit, with a Father and Son as the rest of the Trinity, may help explain why the family is the basic unit of human society."
- Genesis 1:26-27 isn't speaking of both men and women when the pronoun "our" is used. Rather it is speaking of the Trinity. This verse has long been used as proof that God is a Triune God. "Our Image" - the image of the Triune God. The other key is in the word "them". The verse means he would create male and female in the image of a Triune God; NOT man and woman as implied.
- No. The "grammatical gender" rule discussed in my previous post explains "personified wisdom" in Proverbs 8:12-31. Wisdom is a feminine noun, but it does not denote a feminine Holy Spirit or God.
- NO place in Scripture does it identify the Holy Spirit as subservient. Rather that the three are all equal in one. 1 John 5:7 - "For there are three that bear record in Heaven. And these three are one." And there are many more verses to support that: 2 Cor. 3:16-18; 1 Timothy 3:16; John 8:58; John 1:1; Eph. 4:4-6; Isaiah 48:16; Matthew 28:19; John 10:33, 36; and Acts 5:1-4. The role of the Spirit to point to Jesus is to prevent exactly what this author has done. 13 Howbeit 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. ~ John 16:13 That is NOT subservience. That is unity of a 3 in 1 God. And that is what God intended.
- No where are we told the Triune God is to explain the family. That is from a Catholic belief system which I mentioned earlier.
This is simply an old-fashioned "new age" heresy that is making the rounds once again. If one starts down the path of mysticism in any form, one will end up in heresy. Personally, I believe this is a part of the feminism political agenda, which has infiltrated the Church to lead Christians astray.
Heresy and Politics
The ironic thing is, when one finds heresy, one can usually find a liberal political bent. I mention it here as a warning. The Christian left loves to tell us not to be political, but yet they are.
The ironic thing is, when one finds heresy, one can usually find a liberal political bent. I mention it here as a warning. The Christian left loves to tell us not to be political, but yet they are.
Nettlehorst has political leanings even though he advocates against Christians being political. Simply by denial, or by saying that politics have no place within Christianity, he is political. I knew I would find it. If there is distortion of Scripture these days, or heresy, researching the source will almost always reveal a liberal bent. They all tell us not to be political, but then they are. Please prove me wrong, if you don't believe it. I would welcome it. It simply is a consistently consistent narrative I have observed.
From an article of Nettlehorst's at the Jerusalem Post:
With all that being said, I am left to believe and we should all stop to consider that our faith has been infiltrated from a deviant source. I just happen to believe some of it is political. It is all very definitely the enemy.
A Masculine God
"The obvious corruption, both morally and in every other way that is the nature of the political arena should have been the first clue to French or anyone else that the church has no business getting involved in such things. The church’s purpose is something entirely different than politics."........" The church, and its so-called leaders, should just stay out of the political realm altogether."That is a political statement. But they never end it there. They continue with liberal talking points that often include anti-gun; anti-American; as well as attacks on those who take a stand against gay rights, or anyone who argues against pro-choice activists. And I won't even get into some current world-wide missions where the social gospel is encouraged, but not the True Gospel. I have already done that several times in other posts.
With all that being said, I am left to believe and we should all stop to consider that our faith has been infiltrated from a deviant source. I just happen to believe some of it is political. It is all very definitely the enemy.
A Masculine God
All references to God in the entire Bible are masculine. He never uses the feminine gender to identify Himself. Yahweh, Elohim, Adonai, Kurios, Theos, Ekeinos, are all masculine gender.
In the New Testament, the majority of the translation of the word "God" comes from the Greek word Theos - masculine gender.
In the New Testament, the majority of the translation of the word "God" comes from the Greek word Theos - masculine gender.
The Greek word "parakletos" translated “Counselor,” “Helper,” “Comforter”, “Advocate” in the New Testament is a masculine word. Thus masculine pronouns are correctly used. God wanted to be seen as a Male. We do NOT get to question that.
The Greek word "pneuma", translated “spirit”, also translated “wind” or “breath” in the New Testament is neuter or neutral; but when used with "grammatical gender", as well as the full counsel of the Word of God, it is correctly translated as the masculine gender.
The Greek word "pneuma", translated “spirit”, also translated “wind” or “breath” in the New Testament is neuter or neutral; but when used with "grammatical gender", as well as the full counsel of the Word of God, it is correctly translated as the masculine gender.
From GotQuestions.org:
"Linguistically, it is clear that masculine theistic terminology dominates the Scriptures. Throughout both testaments, references to God use masculine pronouns. Specific names for God (e.g., Yahweh, Elohim, Adonai, Kurios, Theos, etc.) are all in the masculine gender. God is never given a feminine name, or referred to using feminine pronouns. The Holy Spirit is referred to in the masculine throughout the New Testament, although the word for "spirit" by itself (pneuma) is actually gender-neutral. The Hebrew word for "spirit" (ruach) is feminine in Genesis 1:2. But the gender of a word in Greek or Hebrew has nothing to do with gender identity."[1]As explained in my first post the gender identity has to do with the rule of "grammatical gender" as well as correct usage of the full counsel of the Word of God. If we follow those two things, as God intended, we will arrive at the right translation and conclusion.
In Summary
One cannot do simple word studies as they do not teach the details or grammar of a language, thus ending in inaccurate translations.
There is almost always a political implication or agenda beneath the surface when one finds heresy.
People that support this false doctrine, in effect, deny the Trinity; they deny the Holy Spirit is a person; they deny HE is God. They will next be able to deny the Virgin Birth. They will even be able to deny Jesus is God, because if the Holy Spirit is not of a Triune God, then Jesus isn't God either because the Bible says that they both are God. Once you head down the wrong path, (new age, mysticism, ancient paths) there is no extremity to where it might end.
One cannot do simple word studies as they do not teach the details or grammar of a language, thus ending in inaccurate translations.
There is almost always a political implication or agenda beneath the surface when one finds heresy.
People that support this false doctrine, in effect, deny the Trinity; they deny the Holy Spirit is a person; they deny HE is God. They will next be able to deny the Virgin Birth. They will even be able to deny Jesus is God, because if the Holy Spirit is not of a Triune God, then Jesus isn't God either because the Bible says that they both are God. Once you head down the wrong path, (new age, mysticism, ancient paths) there is no extremity to where it might end.
I'm sorry, not sorry, this cannot continue. Those spreading this false doctrine must be corrected and silenced. Titus 1:9-16:
9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. 10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. 12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. 13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;* 14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. 15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
"And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you."
This verse isn't talking about unbelievers. It is talking about believers. The Bible is full of warnings. We simply cannot just pick and choose that which tickles our ears or what might seem like "the next big thing". God is clear:Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."
"Take heed that no man deceive you."
[1] https://www.gotquestions.org/Holy-Spirit-gender.html
*Emphasis in bold, mine.
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