Magyar Egyház, 1957 (36. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1957-01-01 / 1. szám
12 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT Who is God the Holy Spirit? This question should turn our attention again to the mysterious being of God. The Holy Spirit, together with the Father and the Son, is the One Eternal God. The Holy Spirit as well as the Father and the Son is an eternal, divine and worshipful Person. He is inseparably together with the Father and the Son, yet a distinct Person in the ONE GOD. In the Bible the Holy Spirit is called by different names. Once He is called the Spirit of God, then the Spirit of Christ. Evidently, these names refer to the unbreakable union between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Christian religion teaches that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son from all eternity. Jesus Christ calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter. By this name Jesus makes us understand that after his ascension into heaven the Holy Sprit took his place in the lives of the disciples. Through the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Christ, Jesus remained with his disciples invisibly evermore. The disciples received the Holy Spirit ten days after the ascension of Jesus, at Pentecost in Jerusalem. The second chapter of the book of Acts describes in great detail how the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples happened. “When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven . . . and there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:1-4. Of course, the Holy Spirit even before Pentecost manifested himself on certain occasions. For instance, the Bible says that at the time of creation “the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” Gen. 1:2. The Virgin Mary became the mother of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Since Pentecost, however, the Holy Spirit dwells and works in the lives of those who truly believe in Jesus Christ and thereby received the forgiveness of their sins from God and will obtain their eternal lives in heaven. Thus we reached this question: What is the work of the Holy Spirit for our benefit? He sanctifies us. It means that the Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts, He enables us to truly believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. In our preceding articles we tried to explain that Jesus through His sacrifice paid the penalty for our sins, obtained the forgiveness of God for us, then through his resurrection and ascension prepared and secured a place for us in heaven. No matter how well we know all this, if we do not believe that all this is true our sins will not be forgiven and we never can go to heaven. The blessed work of the Holy Spirit is in that He creates and preserves our true faith. In our next article we shall see how the Holy Spirit creates our true faith and how He preserves it. STEPHEN KOVÁCS CHURCH WORLD SERVICE EXTENDS RELIEF IN HUNGARY From the moment the Hungarian situation reached the headlines, when special funds were made available and food and clothing supplies already in Austria were released for emergency use, to the patient interviewing of refugees who fled across the border, CWS representatives have been alert to the need for emergency service. Factually the story is one of food, clothing, medicines, vitamins, and the all-important personal counseling by Christian workers in the agencies on the field, which include the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, and Evangelical Hilfswerk. A nine-truck convoy of church relief supplies, which entered Hungary on November 2, the day the border was closed, carried into Hungary under auspices of the International Red Cross supplies of food and clothing which CWS had sent to Austria for use among refugees already there. CWS made available ten thousand dollars, for the purchase of food concentrates and other items. One million vitamins, successive shipments of anti-biotics, surgical sutures, and eleven tons of blankets were shipped by air through the generous services of Trans World Airlines and Pan American Airways. Shipments of clothing on the high seas were diverted from other programs in Europe for use in Hungary. The refugees in Vienna have been taken to reception centers. Traiskirchen, south of Vienna, is a large educational institution surrounded by an iron railing fence which children stared through at sympathetic Austrian crowds. The center, with a capacity of 4500 people, has no running water. Its toilets are inadequate, and the refugees sleep on straw. Blankets sent from America are welcome to those who otherwise would shiver in the cold nights. John Taylor, World Council of Churches staff photographer, reports that among the refugees there is an amazing spirit, and pride in the courage of the youth of Hungary. The second reception center is at Judenau, north of Vienna, where there are accommodations for 900 in a gaunt institutional building which was gutted by occupying troops before the withdrawal of Russian occupation forces from Austria. Here there also is no water, and the high school age young people have made straw mattresses for their fellow refugees. Food, including American surplus milk, cheese, butter, butteroil, and rice, made possible by the Share Our Surplus program of the churches, has kept alive these refugees from tyranny. Much of the assistance given in these emergencies has also been made possible through response to the “One Great Hour of Sharing” appeal as well as efforts of CROP. Other refugees have been housed temporarily at Villach and Salzburg. All of the assistance distributed by church agencies and coordinated by the World Council of Churches has not come from America. The small evangelical communities in Austria have responded immediately to this situation placed at their doorstep. Other help has come from Sweden, Canada, Great Britain, France, West Germany, and Switzerland,
