God sent His Son, Jesus, into the World to personify God and to show us what God Himself is like, in a sense to show us Who God is--to bring God down to our human level of comprehension, our human level of perception so that we could somewhat understand Him.--In other words, to bring Him in a sense out of the Fifth Dimension down to our lowly physical plane to show us what God is like!--And we see Him in Jesus, His Son!

Jesus said, "I and my Father are one."--John 10:30. Prior to His being born and living in a fleshly human body here on Earth, He and the Father were together in a very close personal Heavenly fellowship, which He had to forsake while He was down here on Earth. "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ...And the Word was made flesh, and lived among us."--John 1:1,14. God is a Spirit, unseen by our natural eyes, but Jesus, in coming to Earth and becoming a Man, became "the image of the invisible God. For in Christ all the fullness of God lives in bodily form."--Colossians 1:15; 2:9.
Jesus came down here to our lowly Earthly plane in order to show us God's Love and to die on the cross for our sins. But He didn't leave the Halls of Heaven to come and stay down here forever! Nor is He still asleep in the grave since His crucifixion!--He is risen!--And, having been transformed at His Resurrection, He now lives forever in a glorious and powerful immortal body! (For a description of it see Revelation 1:13-18.) He is now "seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty of God in the Heavens."--Hebrews 8:1. (See also, "The Lover of All Lovers!", pg.21.)

The Holy Spirit!

The third, and perhaps most mysterious member of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit. Shortly before His departure from this life, Jesus told His disciples, "It is for your good that I am going away. For unless I go away, the Comforter will not come to you. But when the Spirit of Truth comes, you will be guided into all Truth!"--John 16:7,13.
There is something about God's communication system that required Jesus' personal presence at the right hand of God, at Headquarters, the Throne of the Father, the main broadcasting and data processing center, the principal communication center--something which required Christ's personal presence there to direct operations in order that all of us might be reached equally, fairly and simultaneously by His power, through the marvellous power and communication of His Holy Spirit!
Jesus had to leave His handful of disciples--the few--that He might send His Holy Spirit to the multitudes--to the many--who have received & believed on Him through the ages! He had to remove His bodily presence from the handful in order that He might be with all of us in the power of the presence of His Own precious Holy Spirit.--With all of us--with the untold millions, even hundreds of millions and billions of His born-again children through the ages!--Something He never could have done in bodily, personal, physical presence!
Another amazing fact that surprises many people is that the Holy Spirit is portrayed in the Bible in the form of a Woman!--As the comforting Spirit of Love, the Mother-figure of the Trinity! In the first chapter of the first Book of the Bible, Genesis 1, the story of Creation, it says, "And God said, `Let Us make Man in Our image, in Our likeness.' So God created Man in His Own image, in the image of God He created him; male & female He created them!"--Genesis 1:26,27. Here we see God the Father obviously speaking with someone as He's talking about making Man in "Our" image, after "Our" likeness. And then to show you what "Our" image & likeness is, it says, "male and female He created them!" So obviously one of the parties of the Trinity must be female! And we know God the Father & Jesus, the Son, are male!--So Who does that leave to be the Female of the Trinity?--The Holy Spirit!
A clear confirmation of this feminine portrayal of the Holy Spirit is also found in the Bible's Book of Proverbs, where God's Spirit is portrayed as "Wisdom": "Does not Wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise Her voice? She cries aloud, `To you, O men, I call; I raise My voice to all mankind. Hear, for I will speak of excellent things, and I open My lips to speak of right things. For My mouth shall speak Truth! The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the Earth existed! When He prepared the Heavens, I was there, when He marked out the foundations of the Earth. Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always in His presence!"--Proverbs 8.
Of course, as with God Himself, the Holy Spirit is just that--a Spirit, which is merely represented or pictured as having a bodily form.--In this case, female, being the Mother-figure of the Trinity, just as God is pictured as a Father-figure. But this does not necessarily mean that God actually looks like most artists have tried to portray Him--as an elderly gentleman with long flowing white hair and beard.--Nor does it mean that the Holy Spirit is an actual woman. These are mere portrayals, representations, illustrations to help our finite, child-like, human minds to somehow grasp and personify our Heavenly Father and His precious Holy Spirit of Love!--But strictly theologically speaking, only Jesus is an actual Person with an actual body like ours! (For more on the Holy Spirit, see "The Spirit of Love!", pg.___.)

Angels!

Besides God the Father, His Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, there are countless multitudes of other good spirits who are serving the Lord and helping us in the Spirit Realm. Speaking of His Heavenly Hosts, His Word asks us: "Are they not all Angels, ministering spirits, sent to serve and minister to them who shall inherit Salvation?"--Hebrews 1:14. Indeed they are! The word "Angel" means "messenger", and they are frequently mentioned in the Scriptures as ministering to and giving Heavenly messages to Men. Angels are usually invisible, but can materialise and appear in human form, and even frequently walk among us without our being aware of it!--Genesis 19:1-2; Judges 6:11-22; 13:2-21; Hebrews 13:2.
Angels are powerful immortal spiritual beings (Psalm 103:20; 2Peter 2:11a) who were present at Creation (Job 38:4-7), and whom the Lord has assigned to watch over Men, to protect them (2Kings 6:15-18) and to minister to the Lord's children! Thank God for His Angels, who are watching over us and guard and protect us continually, even your personal Guardian Angel, whose job is you!
"The Angel of the Lord encamps round about those that fear Him, and delivers them! He will command His Angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. The Lord makes His Angels spirits; His ministers flames of fire, ministering spirits."--Psalm 34:7; 91:11,12; 104:4; Hebrews 1:7,14.

Departed Saints and Holy Ghosts!

In several cases in the Bible, the spiritual messengers sent to convey a message to a Prophet or a man or woman of God were not Angels, but the spirits of some former men of God! One example of this is when the Prophet Samuel, who had died, appeared to Saul to give him a message from the Lord!--1Samuel 28:13-20.
In the Book of Revelation, when the Apostle John was astonished by the great mysteries of God that a "ministering spirit" was showing him, he wrote, "And when I had heard and seen these things, I fell down to worship at the feet of the Angel which had been showing them to me. But he said to me, `Do not do it! For I am a fellow servant, with you, of your brethren the Prophets. Worship God!'"--Revelation 22:8,9. This messenger whom John mistakenly thought was an "Angel" was not an Angel at all, but a departed Prophet, in a supernatural spiritual body!

Two departed Saints even appeared and ministered to Jesus, God's Own Son! Shortly before His crucifixion, "Jesus went up into a mountain to pray. And as He prayed, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning! Then two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendour, talking with Jesus, and spoke of His death."--Luke 9:28-33. These two former Prophets, Moses and Elijah, had departed from this life many centuries previously, yet God sent them to counsel and confer with His Son! So God can and does use His human servants who have already passed on from this life to minister to and help those of us who are still here!
The Holy Spirit uses these holy spirits, these departed saintly spirits, to lead and guide God's children. In fact, I believe that one or more of them are assigned to each of us who receive the anointing or empowerment of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When we are filled with the Spirit of God, we also receive, at the same time, specific good spirits who have specific gifts, hence, the "gifts of the Spirit" described in 1Corinthians 12:4-11. In other words, God uses these spirits as His agents in imparting not only messages but also the particular spiritual gifts that each of us are given when we receive the Holy Spirit.
This makes it easy to understand how a person receives a gift of tongues, for example: The ability to fluently speak in an unlearned language. God lets another spirit, a departed Saint, speak through you in another language, the native tongue of that particular individual departed Saint. This is what Paul meant when he wrote, "I speak with the tongues of men and of Angels"!--1Corinthians 13:1.
These departed saints are they of whom Paul speaks in Hebrews 12:1 "as a great cloud of witnesses" which surround us--here and now! "We are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses!" So thank God for His Spirit & for all of His good spirits who are helping us!
God's Word welcomes and introduces His born-again children to this marvellous Spirit World, saying: "You have come to the City of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of Angels, to the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn, whose names are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant."--Hebrews 12:22-24. Hallelujah!

Satan, The Fallen Archangel

Sad to say, there is also a dark side of the picture which we don't care to talk too much about, because when people do, it tends to glorify the Enemy. However, God's Word does tell us not to be ignorant of the Devil's schemes and devices.--2Corinthians 2:11. It doesn't pay to try and say that there's no Devil or no demons or no such thing as evil, and just try to ignore the facts!--Especially when God's Book, the Bible, warns us explicitly against such demons and evil spiritual forces.
These wicked spiritual powers are led by a fallen archangel, Satan, whom the Bible calls "Baalzebub, the Prince of the devils" (Matthew 12:24) and "the god of this World".--2Corinthians 4:4. (See also Luke 4:5-7.) Jude speaks of his demonic forces as "the angels which abandoned their original positions in Heaven, and left their habitation."--Jude 6.
Before becoming the Devil, Satan had been Lucifer, the Light-Bearer, the mightiest of all archangels! He was the right hand of God. He ruled the Universe, second only unto God! But he wasn't satisfied with that. He wanted to be the Light!--To be God! So in pride he rebelled against God and lost it all! He wanted to be God! He did not have to fall--he chose to, because of his lust for power! You can read the account of his downfall in Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:13-17.
Obviously the majority of the Angelic forces are opposed to his rebellion, for when he is finally cast out of Heaven at the start of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21; Revelation 12:4), he'll only take one-third of them with him! So he and his demons are in the minority, thank God!
Unlike God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit, the Devil is not omnipresent. He's limited in his scope of operation, because he is merely one of God's creations and is bound to being in one place at any one given time. Therefore, he has to carry on most of his worldwide business through his demons, fallen angels; and through these--his various Satanic princes--he manages to rule much of the World. (See Daniel 10; Luke 4:5-7.)
He and his evil spiritual forces are bent on trying to stop, interfere or hinder the Lord's Will and work of winning souls into God's Kingdom of Light. Therefore, we--and all active Christians--are engaged in a perpetual warfare with Satan and his dirty demons. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the authorities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this World, against wicked spirits in Heavenly realms!"--Ephesians 6:12.
But we have nothing to fear from Satan and all of his forces, for he has already been defeated by Christ on the cross (1John 3:8), and through the name of Jesus we have absolute power and authority over him! Jesus told us, "Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the Enemy: And nothing shall by any means hurt you."--Luke 10:19. (See also "How To Fight The Devil!", page 174.)

Spooks, Ghosts and Familiar Spirits!

Just as the good spirits of departed Saints of God continue to serve Him in the Spirit World after they die, there are also billions of people who die without the Lord's Salvation. As is brought out in our lesson, "Heaven, Hell and In-between" (See page 783.), such folks do not go straight to Hell when they die, but they await their final judgement in "Hades", the Ghostly state, the unseen Spirit World!
Some of them, because of their previous bad deeds & evil lives, suffer by being assigned to remain at the scene of their death or the house where they lived. Down through the centuries many people have reported encounters with ghosts in haunted houses. These ghosts are not necessarily all evil--although some no doubt are--but, as a form of punishment, are simply not allowed to leave the place where they are confined.

However, there are other departed human spirits which are definitely evil!--People who were in rebellion against God and serving the Devil in this life, who, after they die, continue to serve Satan and do evil! This is why the Bible warns us: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but try (test) the spirits whether they are of God, because many (spirits of) false prophets have gone out into the World!"--1John 4:1-4. These are "seducing spirits" or "familiar spirits" against which the Bible clearly warns!--1Timothy 4:1; Acts 16:16; Leviticus 20:6,27: Deuteronomy 18:10-12. If they do not freely confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He has come in the flesh, rebuke them and have nothing to do with them!
Christians who love the Lord should also have nothing to do with witchcraft, wizardry, the occult, using magical arts or participating in such things as seances, "divining" to know the future, or dabbling with Ouija boards etc. All of these are avenues for the Devil that can result in demon-possession (if you're not saved) or at least in you being "haunted" and troubled by an unclean familiar spirit. Hypnosis, where you yield your will and spirit to another, as well as so-called "transcendental meditation" where you open your mind wide to spiritual influences, are also very dangerous! As God's saved children, we should be filled with His Holy Spirit, satisfied with Christ's Kingdom of Light, & should "give no place to the Devil" by dabbling in or being curious about any doubtful spiritual influences.--Ephesians 4:27.

Heavenly Councils and Court Sessions

It is far beyond our comprehension to fully understand how God runs the Government of the Universe, but we do know that He conducts some kind of Councils in Heaven, report sessions, according to Job 1:6, 1Kings 22:19-22 and other passages. There are Court Sessions in which Jesus Himself is called a Counsellor (Isaiah 9:6; Romans 8:34), and Satan, "the Accuser of the Saints".--Revelation 12:10; Job 1:9-11; 2:4-5.
In these Court sessions, God apparently hears cases and representations, witnesses for both the Prosecution and the Defense, and makes Judgements accordingly. We are not just referring to the final Great Judgement of the World of Revelation 20:11-12.--The Lord conducts current Court Sessions in which He judges the living now, like He did Job and others.
We also know that God calls in His chief counsellors and spirits and Angels and asks them their opinion and counsel on different situations. He listens to their different plans and suggestions, and then He makes the final judgements and decisions!--1Kings 22:19-22; Job 1:6-12, etc.
In these sessions when the Devil accuses us to God, God is the Judge, Jesus is the Defense Lawyer and the Devil is the Prosecuting Attorney who constantly reminds the Judge of the law. In fact, the Devil is the most legalistic creature in the Universe! Anybody that breaks the law, he wants God to crack down on them and punish them! The Devil is all for justice and the law! He provokes people to do evil, then comes before God's Throne and condemns them for doing it!--See Revelation 12:10, Zechariah 3:1, Job 1:9-12.
But it's God--Who even made the laws and the rules--Who wants to show mercy to you and give you forgiveness and Salvation! "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those that fear Him. For He knows how we are formed; He remembers that we are dust."--Psalm 103:13,14.--And this is why He sent Jesus, so that Jesus could know how it is to be human, and therefore could understand us better and have more mercy on us and could be our Intercessor and Mediator. Jesus defends us, He intercedes for us and He pleads to God for mercy.--Hebrews 2:17-18, 4:14-16; 7:25. He sits at the right hand of the Father, pleading our cause with sympathy, empathy and understanding.

War in the Spirit!

Another dramatic occurrence that is taking place behind the veil of the Fifth Dimension is an all-out War of the Worlds!--A war between good and evil, God and the Devil, goodness and wickedness, Angels and devils--a constant conflict between the good spirits of Heaven and the evil spirits of Hell, contending for the souls as well as the bodies of men!
As we've already seen, multitudes of Heavenly helpers--both God's good Angels as well as the spirits of Saints who have already gone on to be with the Lord--are at our disposal to inspire, strengthen and enable us to do the Lord's work here on Earth. We have also seen how the Devil and all of his demons seek to oppose, obstruct and stop our work for the Lord.
Of course, we who have received Jesus into our hearts are God's eternally-saved children, and the Devil can never lay claim on us, we're the Lord's forever! But he tries hard to keep us from serving the Lord and accomplishing God's purposes. So there is a great battle being waged in the Spiritual Realm between the good forces of God who are trying to inspire, empower and help us to go the right way, and the evil forces of Satan who are trying to tempt, hinder and influence us to go the wrong way!
The battle is over us!--And the outcome of the battle is entirely dependent upon us and our decisions and the way we go! It is not the spiritual forces of Heaven nor the spiritual forces of Hell who are deciding the outcome of this battle. They are merely fighting either for us or against us, helping us or hindering us! It is what we do and how we do it and the choices we make--the right or wrong that we do--that unleashes either force!
Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven! And whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven!"--Matthew 18:18. He did not say that what is loosed in Heaven will be loosed on Earth, or what is bound in Heaven would be bound on Earth.--What Heaven does is dependent upon us and what we do!

We are the ones whom God has given the power to unleash the forces of Heaven against the Enemy's forces of Hell according to our decisions, our choices, our prayers and actions! What they do is entirely dependent upon what we do! If we do the right things & make the right choices and go the right direction, then we have the power to literally call in the forces of Heaven to assist us, to literally command them to overcome and overpower the forces of evil!--Isaiah 45:11.
But if we make the wrong choices and go the wrong direction and do the wrong things, then the Enemy has the power to defeat us, in spite of all that the forces of Heaven would like to do to help us!--Those are the Rules of the Game!
The Bible gives us an amazing glimpse behind the scenes in the Spirit World in Daniel chapter 10, where we read how one of God's "ministering spirits" or messengers was commissioned to deliver a vitally-important prophetic message to God's Prophet, Daniel, but was delayed by one of Satan's demon princes, "the prince of Persia", who resisted and fought against him. But because of Daniel's faithful and persistent prayers, the powers of Heaven moved on his behalf, and the great Archangel Michael himself was sent to defeat the hindering demonic spiritual prince of Persia, thus the ministering spirit reached Daniel with God's important message! (See Daniel 10.)--So the warfare depends upon us and our prayers and our willingness to "fight the good fight of faith"!--1Timothy 6:12.
If we are doing the right thing, going the right direction, praying and making the right choices, then we can use the spiritual weapons which God has given us to overcome and defeat the Enemy completely! "For the weapons of our warfare are not physical weapons, but they are mighty through God, for the overthrow and destruction of spiritual strongholds!"--2Corinthians 10:4. If we stay close to Jesus, prayerful, obedient and doing our best to please and serve Him, the Bible tells us that, "The God of peace shall crush Satan under our feet!"--Romans 16:20.
God's Word assures us, "Greater is He (Jesus) that is in you than he (the Devil) that is in the World!"--1John 4:4. So we don't have to worry about or fear Satan's puny power because we are protected by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is far greater than the power of the Enemy! If we have Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we are overshadowed and protected by God's supernatural protection which is just like a force field around us and the Enemy cannot penetrate it!--Which God likens to a "strong tower wherein the righteous run in and hide"!--See Psalm 91:1-4,9,10; Proverbs 18:10; Psalm 144:2.
So stay close to Jesus and full of God's Holy Spirit and you'll have nothing to fear! With God's mighty Angels and departed Saints watching over you, guiding you and giving you messages from Heaven, you can constantly stay in close communication with the Lord!--And enjoy all the wonderful experiences of God's good Spirit World! Hallelujah!

In Conclusion...

A lot of people seem to think that God's spiritual kingdom is some faraway place in outer space called Heaven, only to be reached when you die! But Jesus Himself proved that this was not so when He said, "The Kingdom of God is within you!"--Luke 17:20,21. You don't have to wait till you die to enter it! In fact, it has already entered you if you have Jesus and are filled with His Holy Spirit!--And right now, you can experience all of its exciting sights, sounds, visions, voices and even resultant physical thrills in the wonderful World of His Spirit, where God Himself dwells!
In that wonderful Realm, everything is much more real, more beautiful and more lasting than the World that you can now see with your natural eyes! "For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal! Therefore set your affection on things Above and not on things on the Earth! For no eye has seen, nor any ear heard, nor has any mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.--But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit!"--2Corinthians 4:18; Colossians 3:1,2; 1Corinthians 2:9,10.
The wonders of the wonderful World of the Spirit are all for you, and you can personally experience their thrilling and ecstatic joys right now, and even take a trip into that World with Jesus' Own Holy Spirit as your Guide, as did the Prophets of old! Enjoy it! Experience it! "Be filled with the Spirit!"--Ephesians 5:18.--And then you're safe to make the trip!
Would you like to take a trip "Out of this World"?! Then receive Jesus and His Holy Spirit right now!--Just pray this little prayer: "Dear Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God and that You died to save me. Please forgive me for all my sins and come into my heart and give me Your free gift of Eternal Life.--And please fill me with Your Holy Spirit and help me to always love and follow You!--In Jesus' name I pray, amen."