A
PLANET IN DISTRESS
“And you
will hear of
wars and rumors
of wars. See that
you are not
troubled; for all
these things must
come to pass,
but the end is
not yet. For
nation will rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and
earthquakes in various
places. All these
are the beginning of sorrows.”(Matt 24:6-8).
How much difference can five years make
in the life of a planet? In the case of
this planet, they make an enormous difference.
What happened on the earth since we published the first edition of The Christian
Herald can only be described in
catastrophic terms.
The
earthquakes have increased in frequency and devastation; the weather has become more unpredictable and
more virulent around the world; the
environment is reeling from the stress of population explosion; disease epidemics are out of control in many
parts of the world; and the greenhouse
gases are already warming the planet.
At
the national and international level, genocidal wars raging out of control from
Africa to the Balkans, and from the Indian subcontinent to the former Soviet
empire. The United Nations, with which
rested the hope of mankind for a better world, has proven that it cannot take
care of itself, let alone of the affairs of the world.
Never
in the history of the world has humanity faced so many dangers from so many
quarters, yet never has there been more ignorance about the real solutions to
the world’s problems. In 1992, in our
No 2 edition of The Christian Herald, we wrote:
“What were considered alarmist predictions a few decades
ago, not only have been fulfilled, but exceeded many times over. We are now learning about world problems
which only a few years ago were unheard of.
A decade ago no one knew about AIDS.
Half a decade ago there was no talk about the thinning of the ozone
layer. These problems alone pose
catastrophic dangers. AIDS is
threatening to destroy the regenerating power of many nations. The thinning of the ozone layer is posing a
threat to the vegetation and the microscopic marine organisms - the very
support of life on earth - in addition to whatever harm they may do directly to
human beings.
In February this year, scientists raised the alarm when they
discovered that the depletion of the ozone layer is much worse than previously
thought. ‘New findings of ozone
depletion were so alarming, the scientists said, that they decided to release them
before completion of the data analysis in late March.’ ‘Everybody should be alarmed about this,’
said Michael Kurylo, a research manager at the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA). ‘We’re seeing conditions primed for ozone destruction. It’s in a far worse way than we thought.’” (Sydney
Morning Herald, Feb. 5, 1992).
Compare
this with the following statement made only three years later in Australia’s
national newspaper:
“If we are to keep the wolf of famine from the world’s door,
a new food source must be found. Slashed
nets, captured ships, loaded guns and international charges of piracy on the
high sees - these are the alarm warnings of the latest world conflict, the
battle over the Earth’s dwindling fish stocks. Fish wars like the recent row between
But 25 years on, the food machine has run down. More people are impoverished and
malnourished, and more children are dying than at any time in history. The
world faces a potential food crisis greater than envisaged in 1966. The reason
is that international political support for raising food output has waned. No where is the crisis more acute than in
the seas: two-thirds of the great fisheries are in trouble. Despite a trebling in the number of fishing
boats, the global catch has stagnated.
Yet fish are the primary source of animal protein for half the world’s
population. The poor half.. . The goal of the international agricultural
research centers is not to provide aid, but to give people the technologies to
fed themselves. Only that can avert a
never-ending sequence of crises. The big
question vexing many researchers and food planners is: where is the next great
leap in food output to come from? The
earth is running out of arable land and fresh water to grow more crops and
livestock.” (The Australian, May 23, 1995).
Julian
Cribb, the author of this article, went on to suggest that large scale fish
farming on coastal areas may be the solution to feeding the world’s population,
but he acknowledged that this could create yet more problems. The fish farms
could “pollute the coastal waters where fish breed or make poor people the
economic losers”.
When
the alarm bells were first heard about the depletion of the ozone layer and the
danger coming from warming of the planet, a number of scientists raised their
voices in protest saying that the earth is not warming, but cooling, and that,
in any case, this is a natural phenomenon no different than the periodic “ice
age” cycles the earth has experienced in the past.
They
were wrong; deadly wrong. There is nothing natural about what is happening in
the world at present. It is all
man-made, it is universal, and it is irreversible. Only God can stop the world from annihilation
now, but He will not do it until humanity has learned its lesson to the
full. It is a lesson humanity did not
need to learn if only the first humans obeyed God’s instruction and
revelation. But they wanted to
experiment and find out the truth for themselves. That started humanity on its current road to
oblivion. For six thousand years, human
beings have been searching for truth, peace and prosperity, yet all they
achieved is universal deception, never ending wars and widespread poverty.
Time magazine wrote:
“CAN JUSTICE EVER BE DONE?”
“Around the world, the horrors of history continue to haunt the present
and act as an engine driving modern politics. Is forgetting possible? The sins of the fathers beget wrath in the
sons. Down the generations, blood exacts blood.
During the Second World War, Serbian Chetniks allied with Fascist Italy
carried out systematic raids across the river
“Whether these Nurenberg-like proceedings will achieve a
semblance of their aims is open to question. International courts are not above
politics. Because France had helped prop up the old Hutu-led regime in Rwanda -
where wholesale massacres last year killed more than 500,000 people, most of
them minority Tutsi - Paris has been lukewarm in its support of the UN panel.
On the other hand, critics of the Ethiopian trials have charged the
Tigrean-dominated government with singling out the country’s traditionally
dominant Amhara people for revenge and ‘victor’s justice.’ “What seems beyond doubt, though, is that
unsettled and unforgotten grievances do not simply go away. They rankle, divide
and remain nearly impossible to put to rest. Amnesties can help wipe the slate clean, but more times than not
the blood stains, like those on Lady Macbeth’s hands, cannot be so easily
scrubbed into invincibility. Says
Mariano Grondona, a prominent Argentine law professor: ‘It’s like a person with
a childhood trauma. It reappears as nightmares and neuroses until he brings it out
in the open and looks at it. That is the therapeutic quality of truth.’” (Time,
May 22, 1995).
It
is as if this passage has been taken from the Bible. Indeed, there is no more therapeutic quality
than truth (and repentance), yet fewer things are more lacking in the world
today than truth (and repentance).
“Your
word is truth” said Jesus Christ referring to the Word of God - the Bible. Yet, this is the most maligned book in the
world today. Why? Why has the academic establishment the world
over targeted this book? What does it
contain that makes them rage with fury when it is mentioned in their
forums? Why are those scientists who are
turning back to the truths of the Bible being ostracized from their midst? What does the Bible contain that your leaders
do not want you to know about it?
You
will be surprised and gladdened to know the whole truth. So stay tune and
prepare yourself for what could be the revelation of your life.
THE
TRINITY - RESTORING THE TRUTH
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free”(John
One
of the most important biblical concepts, which has been a topic of debate among
theologians for nearly two Millennia, is again the focus of major
controversy. In the last few years, a
number of books, booklets and articles have appeared on the market, mainly from
the Churches of God, which claim to “prove” that the view held by traditional
Christianity (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches) about the Trinity -
Father, Son and Holy Spirit - is wrong, that the correct view is Father and Son
only. A Duality, in other words, rather
than a Trinity.
This
controversy can be summarized by the way in which each camp has defined the
Holy Spirit. Traditional churches have
been speaking of hypostases - a
triune God of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or three distinct individuals
sharing a “community of substance”
- three in one and one in three - “unseparated,
uncreated and ungenerated”.
The
Churches of God, on the other hand, have rejected this explanation on the
pretext that not even its proponents understand it, let alone the average
person. But they resolved this mystery
by doing to the Holy Spirit what they have done to the soul long ago - they
dispensed with them both.
It
is a well known fact that the Churches of God resolve difficult theological
concepts by ignoring, discarding or giving them an interpretation which has
little or nothing to do with the Bible.
Unless they have changed again -
they have the habit of changing their doctrines often and unexpectedly, and
incorporating other people’s ideas without due recognition - they hold the view that human beings have no
soul, that their bodies are their “living souls”, that the Holy Spirit is not a
distinct personality within the Trinity, but an undefined “force”, “power” or “will” emanating from the mind of
God which He uses to carry out His purpose.
If
they are right, it means that there are people who are soul-less and
Spirit-less creatures - walking corpses - a frightening prospect. They may well be right for Jesus Christ did say
that there are people who appear to be alive but who are in fact dead.
“Then another of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, let me
first go and bury my father.’
But Jesus said to him,
‘Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’'' (Matt 8:21-22).
Since
the Churches of God still believe in the resurrection, we would like to ask
them what is it that survives the body after death that could be resurrected if
there is no soul apart from the body? We
would also like to know if they have ever read or heard of these Scriptures:
“Then
[Elijah] cried out to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD my God, have You also brought
tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?’ And he stretched himself out on the child
three times, and cried out to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD my God, I pray, let this child's soul come back to him.’ Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to
him, and he revived.” (I King 17:20-22).
“Do
not fear those who kill the body but
cannot kill the soul. But rather
fear Him who is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell.” (Matt
Should
they say that they know these Scriptures well, we won’t ask them to explain
them to us. We know perfectly well that they are capable of explaining
everything - in their own peculiar way.
There
are many examples in the Bible which indicate that the soul and the body are
different entities, but these should be enough to show that the Churches of God
do not let facts get in the way of their preconceived ideas. The fact is, with
all the fanfare about their new theology, they have not been able to produce a
single biblical example to substantiate it. This is not unexpected, for the
Scriptures never portray God as having anything coming out of, or sitting on,
His head except a crown. If what they
say is true, the Holy Spirit is invisible not only to human beings, but to
angels and heavenly personalities too.
The
examples they give indicate that they have confused the Holy Spirit’s personal
characteristics with His manifestations.
In the Bible, He has manifested Himself as a dove, a breeze, a human
being, etc., but that did not prevent
Jesus Christ and His Apostles speaking of Him in personal terms. Their theology says more about their
knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures than what the Bible says about
the Holy Spirit.
“CALLED AND
CHOSEN”
Unlike
other religions, Christianity operates on two levels. First, people are called to
repentance and given a chance to change their way of life, then they are judged and, according to their
achievements, are granted a place in the Kingdom of God. Those who refuse to
repent and continue to live in sin are disposed of in a great lake of fire at
the judgment time. This is what Jesus
Christ meant when He said, “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 20:16;
22:14). We are all called to repentance
once, then wait in hope and expectation that at the judgment time we will also
be chosen. The calling comes before
repentance and the choosing after judgment.
Persistent
effort in overcoming one’s own weaknesses, prayer, study of the Scriptures,
meditation on the law of God, understanding God’s plan for mankind in general
and for oneself in particular and, ultimately, spiritual union with God, are
absolutely necessary if one is to be granted eternal life in the Kingdom of
God.
No
one is assured of salvation simply by being a member of one church or
another. A church can facilitate one’s spiritual
growth, but can never vouch for one’s salvation. No one knows what is in the heart of man
except God. That is why no one can be
said to be “called and chosen” while still in this world. Except, that is, if one is a member of the
modern day Churches of God.
Not
long ago, Garner Ted Armstrong, the most prominent leader in the Churches of
God, told his followers that those who have given “cheerful generous
support” to his church are “called and
chosen”. (The International News, Vol.
XIII, No. 1, Summer 1992, p.1). Thus, he is now able to play God to his
followers.
They
no longer need to worry about tribulations and perseverance, about developing
character, hope and faith, or about waiting to be resurrected and judged by God
- they are already “called and chosen” now.
Like
the Pope, who plays the role of God to his followers by promising them a place
in “heaven” after death, Garner Ted Armstrong is now able to guarantee a place
in the Kingdom of Heaven for his followers too.
And, as one might have expected, all leaders in the Churches of God have
followed suit. All their followers are
“called and chosen”. Which explains why,
in spite of their horrendous burdens, most are fiercely loyal to their
leaders. Wouldn’t you give everything if
one “guaranteed” you eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven?
The
ecumenical spirit of the world has well and truly caught up with the Churches
of God too. All that remains for them now is to sanctify the dead and their
conversion is complete. Some people are
already doing it. For them, Herbert W. Armstrong, the founder of modern day
Churches of God, could do no wrong. He
is their saint and savior, he brought them to the knowledge of the “truth” and,
like his son, he “called and chose” them.
About
two and a half decades ago, I too was among the lucky “called and chosen” ones,
but I blew my chance when I questioned some of their doctrines and
practices. That is a no, no. You cannot question the ministers of the
“Government of God” and still be among their privileged followers.
For
their own private reasons, the leaders
in the Churches of God believe that they are the “Government of God” on
earth. Which, presumably, gives them the
right to take on the prerogatives of God. Yet, while they have no compunction
about playing the role of God to their followers, they fiercely deny them the
right to be called the children of God.
Since
all Governments need income to remain in power, the “Governments of God” have imposed
on their subjects the ancient Israelite taxation system known as the tithing
principle. This on top of their normal obligations to the “Governments of men”
of the countries in which they happen to live.
This is what we mean by “horrendous burdens” on their followers.
There
never was a “Government of God” on this earth and never will be until Jesus
Christ returns to establish His rulership over the whole world. Such claims are as spurious as the tithing
system they have imposed on the New Testament Churches.
It
was the Catholic Church which popularized the idea that God has a government on
earth and an all powerful, “infallible” leader. Their example proved too
powerful and tempting for the Worldwide Church of God, and so they adopted it
as the model for their hierarchical ministry. Herbert W. Armstrong even assumed
the prerogatives and infallibility of the Pope.
No one dared to tell him that he was wrong in anything he did or said. No one, that is, except this writer.
When
I perceived that he was wasting the church money on expensive and inappropriate
gifts for the world leaders, I sent him a letter suggesting that it would be
more appropriate for him to take along a Bible and preach from it to those
leaders. Not long after that, at their first opportunity, they
disfellowshipped me. What happened with
the WCG afterwards can only be described as an unmitigated disaster. The church simply began falling apart.
They
did not take note of what happened to
ancient Israel when its leaders committed iniquity by condemning an innocent
man. Because they had the numbers they thought that “might is right”. So much so that when Pilate washed his hands
and said he could find no fault in Jesus Christ, they cried out defiantly:
“His blood be on us and on our children” (Matt 27:25). His blood was on them and is on their
children to this day, and will remain so until they get on their knees in
heartfelt repentance and acknowledge their error. Then, and only then, will His blood cease to
be on them and on their children, and their sin will be atoned for.
As
a result of the sin of their leaders, God nullified the covenant He had with
the entire nation of Israel. He did the
same when the leaders of the Churches of God committed iniquity in His name. One cannot break the law of God with impunity
and still retain the guidance, inspiration and protection of the Holy
Spirit. Now the wheel of fortune is
turning again, and those who were once outcasts are about to be grafted in and
become leaders in God’s congregations once more.
When
the leaders of the WCG disfellowshipped innocent people from the church, they
did not realize that in so doing they put themselves out of the Church of
God. But since “all things work together
for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His
purpose” (Rom. 8:28), their lawlessness worked out to the advantage of their
victims. These days, whatever truth and
new insights are revealed, it always comes out through people who were once
members of the Churches of God.
IN THE NAME OF. . .THE HOLY SPIRIT
OR OF A “SPIRITUAL PRESENCE”
One
of the “luminaries” in the Church of God, International, Vance Stinson, wrote
in his recently published booklet “God is Not a Trinity!” that:
“Trinitarians
argue that the phrase “in the name of...the Holy Spirit” proves that the Spirit
is a Person (hypostasis) just as the Father and the Son are Persons
(hypostases), and that “He” is one of three “personal distinctions” within
God...”
“In
There is no fear in these people that
they will incur the wrath of God for twisting the Scripture and for
contradicting the very words of Jesus Christ. This is what Matthew 28:18-20
says:
“And Jesus came and spoke
to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end
of the age.’ Amen.” (Matt. 28:18-20).
And this is what He said about those
who dare to modify the Scriptures:
“For I testify to everyone who hears the words
of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to
him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from
the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the
Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this
book.” (Rev 22:18-19).
They not only added to the
Scriptures, but put words in the mouth of Jesus Christ which entirely changed
the sense of what He said. Vance
Stinson quoted
“Jesus answered and said
to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him,
and We will come to him and make Our home with him.’”
No such words or attributes in this
verse, yet they made it the pivot of their theology. Every single biblical example they give to
justify their denial of the Trinity and personality of the Holy Spirit, is
either a misquotation or an outright modification of the Scriptures. Jesus Christ said that:
“Every sin and blasphemy
will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven
men. Anyone who speaks a word against
the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy
Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”
(Matt 12:31-32).
People cannot commit blasphemy
against an object or an abstract entity.
The reason the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven is
that those who offend Him cannot be “born again” and cannot grow
spiritually. But the Churches of God do
not worry about being “born again” for they tell their members that they will
be “born again” when they are resurrected into the Kingdom of God, again a
contradiction of the words of Jesus Christ: “Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'' (John
3:3). People have to be “born again”
first, before they can “see” the
“To him who overcomes I will grant to
sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His
throne.” (
Those who wait for the resurrection to be
“born again” will never make it into the
The Churches of God have confused being “born again” with being
resurrected. To be “born again” means to
repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit and begin a new life. This is what
Jesus Christ meant when He promised His disciples the “Helper” (
Being immersed into a watery grave at
baptism represents a symbolic death of the old self and the birth of a new person.
After repentance and baptism, people receive the Holy Spirit and are
confirmed into the
Who can baptize you? Those whom you believe to be the servants of
Christ and have the Holy Spirit. Those
who deny the name and personality of the Holy Spirit cannot have the Holy
Spirit, therefore should not be in the
business of preaching and baptizing people.
For them this is indeed a “business” since they are also the ones who
extract a heavy price from those who become victims of their preaching. Is a previous baptism valid? You have to decide that for yourself. If in doubt,
you may need to be baptized again.
The Holy Spirit does not create doubt, but confidence and
understanding. When you are baptized,
you receive the spirit of the church into which you are baptized. That is why being baptized into a church
which does not have the Holy Spirit cannot be regarded as adequate. God knows, there are many of these churches
around.
What if the minister who baptized you
has fallen away? You are not responsible
for the actions of your minister after he baptized you. His falling away does not affect you. What you need to understand is that your
membership into the
“Nevertheless do not
rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice
because your names are written in heaven.'' (Luke 10:20).
“Then I saw a great white
throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled
away. And there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were
opened. And another book was opened,
which is the Book of Life. And the dead
were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the
books.
The sea gave up the dead
who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And
they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake
of fire. This is the second death. And
anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
(Rev 20:11-15).
When you are baptized and your name
is written in God’s Book of Life, you take a great responsibility upon
yourself. You are then embarking on the
struggle of your life, the struggle for salvation. There can be no turning back and no second
chance if you do so. There are powerful
forces against you, some visible some invisible, but if you bear in mind
that “He who is in you is greater than
he who is in the world” (I Jn. 4:4), you never need to worry about the outcome
of your battle.
“Finally, my brethren, be
strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may
be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
heavenly places. Therefore take up the
whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand.” (Eph.
6:10-13).
“He who overcomes shall be
clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of
Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” (Rev
3:5).
Apostle Paul said that it is possible
for people to quench the Spirit.
“Rejoice always, pray
without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you
completely; and may your whole spirit,
soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.” (1Thes.
(Notice how he, like Jesus Christ,
made distinction between spirit, soul
and body). How can one quench the
Spirit? To understand this, consider an
analogy with a pregnant woman. She can
quench the baby in her womb by not providing proper food for herself and her
baby. In like manner, the Holy Spirit -
the seed of God in us - can be quenched if we do not feed Him proper food. What is the proper food for the Holy
Spirit?
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. Against such there is no law.
And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions
and desires. If we live in the Spirit,
let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us
not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Gal
5:22-26).
These are as much the fruits of the
Spirit as are the fruits God expects from us.
It is a reciprocating act: God fills our heart with love and the Holy
Spirit, and expects from us love and the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ received the seed of God - the
Holy Spirit - from conception. As He
grew, the Holy Spirit grew with Him and in Him until it produced a fully grown
Son of God - the very first Son of God.
By the time He was baptized by John the Baptist and began His work of
ministry, He was full of the Holy
Spirit, the mind of God was in Him, He thought like the Father, and His
consciousness was the consciousness of the Father.
After He rose to heaven, the Holy
Spirit became available to all who follow Him and keep His commandments.
“Nevertheless I tell you
the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the
Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” (John
16:7). “If you love Me, keep My
commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper,
that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him,
for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-17).
The difference between Jesus Christ
and us is that while He had the Holy Spirit from conception, we only receive
Him after we are “born again”. The end
result is little different for we too become sons of God just like Him.
“Behold what manner of
love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world
does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Beloved, now we are children of
God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that
when He is revealed, we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (I Jn. 3:1-2).
But the Churches of God deny that we
can become sons of God like Jesus Christ, just as they deny that human beings
have a soul, can be “born again”,
receive the Holy Spirit and become part of the divine Trinity. Yet, while they deny these things, they
insist on observing the Old Testament restrictions about food and marriage.
They unashamedly disregard the teachings of the Apostles of Jesus Christ.
“For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them.
Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh -- who are
called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by
hands -- that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
Apostle Paul equated the law of
“ordinances” with the enmity characteristic of human nature. By abolishing one, Jesus Christ abolished the
power of the other. How did He do it?
Through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Those who insist on observing the Old
Testament “ordinances”, are ruled not by the Spirit, but by the flesh.
“Now when these things had
been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the
tabernacle, performing the services. But
into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood,
which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance;
the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not
yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. “It was symbolic for the present time in
which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed
the service perfect in regard to the conscience -- concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly
ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with
the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of
this creation. Not with the blood of
goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once
for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
“For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer,
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? And for this reason He is
the Mediator of the new covenant, by
means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first
covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal
inheritance.” (Heb. 9:6-15).
Since the law “concerned
only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed
until the time of reformation”
was abolished when Christ offered His blood and His body as a sacrifice once
and for all, anyone who insists on going
back to these “dead works” dishonors His Savior and crucifies Christ again.
“Therefore, leaving the
discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection,
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith
toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection
of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
And this we will do if God permits.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have
tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and
have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they
fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an
open shame.” (Heb. 6:1-6).
During the reign of Herbert W.
Armstrong, the Worldwide Church of God used to be identified with one of the
seven Churches of God from the book of Revelation - the
“I know your works. See, I
have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My
word, and have not denied My name. Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are
Jews and are not, but lie-- indeed I will make them come and worship before
your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from
the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who
dwell on the earth.” (Rev 3:8-10).
The words “I will keep you from the
hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world” indicate that this church
will be in existence at the end of this age just prior to the return of Jesus
Christ. It is then that this “hour of
trial” - the great tribulation - will take place, which means that H.W. Armstrong may well have been right. But what neither he nor anyone else have ever
explained, is who is who in this church.
Who are the people of little strength, who have kept the name of Christ
and persevered to the end, and who are those of the synagogue of Satan who say
they are Jews but lie? Apostle Paul
again:
“Now, brethren, concerning
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask
you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or
by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that
Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is
revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that
is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of
God, showing himself that he is God.” (II Th 2:1-4).
“Now the Spirit expressly
says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to
deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having
their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and
commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with
thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and
nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is
sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”
(1 Tim 4:1-5).
In the end time, the Churches of God
will fall away from the truth of God and be led by a man who acts like God:
“speaking lies in hypocrisy” and “forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain
from foods”. In the Churches of God
they are already doing such things: they do not eat “every creature of God”, do
not allow interracial marriages, do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a
person, do not believe in the Trinity, etc..
They do not believe a lot of things that are in the New Testament, yet
they believe that they must circumcise themselves, keep the Old Testament
dietary laws, keep themselves racially pure, and persecute those who disagree
with them. And still they call
themselves Christians. Any wonder that Jesus Christ says they are liars and a
synagogue of Satan? In regard to the
“son of perdition” who calls himself God, we have proven that this is the
leader of the Catholic Church, the man who has appropriated for himself God’s
title of “Holy Father” (See the No 3 edition of The Christian Herald ). How then do we explain the fact that there
are now two people who play the role of God, two “men of perdition” - one in
“And I saw three unclean
spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of
the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” (
The dragon is Satan, the “beast”
refers to the one who has been identified with the “beasts” of Revelation (See
the No 4 edition of The Christian Herald), and the false
prophet is the one who makes his appearance in the last days in the Churches of
God.
THE POWER
OF GOD
Since
the Churches of God say that the Holy Spirit is the “power of God”, let us see how God exercises His power. A revealing incident occurred in the life of
Jesus Christ just prior to His crucifixion:
“Then
they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.
And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand
and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
But Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword
will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father,
and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could
the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?’” (Matt. 26:50-54).
More
than twelve legions of angels? Why did He not say, “My Father could use the
power of His mind and crash My enemies”?
The Father uses His angels to carry out His purpose, not some ethereal
mind power.
In
the Old Testament times, when the king
of
“And
when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army,
surrounding the city with horses and chariots.
And his servant said to him, ‘Alas, my master! What shall we do?’ So he answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who
are with us are more than those who are with them.’ And Elisha prayed, and said, ‘LORD, I pray,
open his eyes that he may see.’ Then the
LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses
and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:15-17).
How
clear and how wonderful: human beings are surrounded by the angels of God at
all times. They protect us, guide us,
teach us, communicate with our Father in heaven about our condition, etc. The angels are God’s eyes and ears on the
earth. Jesus Christ said that every
child has his own angel:
"Take
heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in
heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” (Matt
Now,
what happens to the angels of God when children grow into adulthood, do they
abandon them? Of course not! But because people like to exercise their
“freedom”, they loose the protection and guidance of God’s angels and expose
themselves to the influence of Satan’s angels.
We saw earlier how, “we do not
wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12). The Bible gives us the following revealing
examples:
“[God]
makes His angels spirits, his ministers a flame of fire.” (Ps. 104:4).
“Plead
my cause, O LORD, with those who strive with me; fight against those who fight
against me... Let them be like chaff before the wind, and let the angel of the LORD chase them. Let their way be dark and
slippery, and let the angel of the LORD
pursue them. For without cause they
have hidden their net for me in a pit, which they have dug without cause for my
life.” (Ps 35:1-7)
“And
of the angels He says: ‘Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame
of fire.’
Are
they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will
inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:7,14).
It is the “angel of the Lord” who protects
God’s people and chases their enemies. The Bible gives us other examples in
which God discusses the fate of human beings with His angels (1 Kings
“Now
prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. ‘Where were you when I laid the foundations
of the earth? Tell Me, if you have
understanding. Who determined its
measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and
all the sons of God shouted for
joy?’” (Job 38:3-7).
The
expressions “the morning stars” and
“the sons of God”, in this case, denote God’s angels for
there were no human beings in existence then. The angels are as much the sons
of God as we are, only on a different plane.
Even Satan was called the son of God (Job 1:6-7), and rightly so for he was created by God
too. Not as Satan, but as a beautiful
and powerful angel - a “covering cherub” in charge of one third of God’s
angels. But he rebelled against God and
became Satan (Ez. 28:12-19; Rev. 12:4).
God
used the power of His mind to devise and plan the creation of the world, just
as we humans use the power of our minds to devise and create things. We are, after all, made in the image of God
(Churches of God preaching notwithstanding):
we have body, heart, mind and will,
the same as God has body, heart, mind and will.
"Then
I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is
in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My
anointed forever” (1 Sam
“Then
the LORD said to me, ‘Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward
this people. Cast them out of My sight,
and let them go forth’” (Jer. 15:1).
“And
when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He
gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will’”
(Acts
The
will of God is being carried out by the
angels at present and it will be carried out by them and us when we are
resurrected as God’s children in His Kingdom.
At present, God’s angels carry out His will for our benefit. That is why human beings ought to be
respectful towards them. Respectful not
worshipful. But the Churches of God have
excelled themselves again by speaking of God’s angels in terms that we would
rather not print. Take note of what
God’s angel told Apostle John when he wanted to worship him, and do like
wise:
“Then
he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and
of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book.
Worship God.’” (Rev. 22:9).
THE IMPORTANCE OF
RIGHT BELIEF
Apostle
Paul urged his followers to, “Let this mind
be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5). Now, what mind was in Jesus Christ? The mind of God, obviously! What does it mean to have the mind of God? It
means to think and react like Jesus Christ would, if faced with similar
circumstances.
The
Bible encourages us to let the Holy Spirit take over our thought processes so
that we can be molded into a God-like creature. God will not entrust human beings with eternal
life in His Kingdom until they have the right character. He cannot allow them to do in heaven what
they have done on earth. The current
emphasis in the world on absolute freedom and “human rights” is not compatible
with the Christian way of life. One
cannot be a Christian and still be free to do
what he wants. As Jesus Christ
said, one cannot serve God and mammon (riches) at the same time (Matt.
We
are required to “come out of the world” (Rev. 18:4; 1John
“Then
they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the
disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
But Jesus called them to Him and said, ‘Let the little children come to
Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the
Throughout
history, people have attempted to create utopia on earth, but without exception
they have failed. Even the early
Christians began by living in a utopian commune:
“And
when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken;
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God
with boldness. Now the multitude of
those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that
any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in
common. And with great power the
Apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace
was upon them all. Nor was there anyone
among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold
them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at
the Apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.” (Acts
4:31-35).
The
reason all such attempts have failed is that internal harmony is not enough to
create a lasting utopia. You also need a world free from outside threat and
interference, and that cannot be achieved in a world ruled by Satan. He is not renowned for love and tolerance
towards his neighbors, or for humility, love and submission towards God. He likes to think that he himself is
God. He even tried to entice Jesus
Christ to worship him.
“Then
the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the
world in a moment of time. And the devil
said to Him, ‘All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has
been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all
will be Yours.’ And Jesus answered and
said to him, “‘Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the
Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”” (Luke 4:5-8).
Jesus
Christ did not deny Satan’s claim that he can do what he wants in this world,
even though He knew that this was not entirely accurate. Satan is responsible to God for what he does
too, although he does not like to admit it. Instead, he decided to compete with
God by creating his own counterfeit utopian kingdom. When I
grew up in communist
When
I studied the Bible later in life, I was struck by the similarities between the
Christian notion of the
What
happened with communism is no different from what happened with religion: Satan
caused people to hate them both by creating obnoxious counterfeits. During the 17 years that I spent in
communist institutions - primary, secondary and vocational education, plus army
and navy - not a year passed in which I was not subjected to a heavy dose of
communist propaganda and indoctrination. They were creating in me a “new man”
for a new society. That meant acquiring
the thoughts (the mind!) of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and other communist
luminaries. Several times a year, we
were put on parade and told to sing odes to them, and to praise the “glorious
achievements of triumphant communism”.
When
I was conscripted into the army, I had to swear that I would hate the enemies
of communism and fight to death to defend the fatherland. Their utopia was to be built on people full
of hatred. How ironic that after all
that atheist indoctrination, I should find myself now preaching not the gospel
of Marx, but the Gospel of Christ. If this is not a miracle, I’d like to know
what it is? If my communist teachers could see what I am doing now, they would
squirm in their graves.
It
has been my luck, if I may call it that, to know the rigors of both Satan’s
counterfeit kingdom and Jesus’
Was
I set aside from my mother’s womb, like Jeremiah, for a purpose which was to
expose me first to the horrors of communism then those of religious
exploitation and brainwashing, before I
was placed on a collision course with the religious leaders of this
world? God knows! All I know is that my
life took a course which is contrary to what I
planned and expected.
Communism
collapsed because its leaders had total disregard for human life and because
its edifice was built on deception, hatred and exploitation. What else could one expect from the father of
lies?
“You
are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He
was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own
resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not
believe Me.” (John 8:44-45).
Do
people know why there is so much strife and suffering in the world today? Do they know
who is the lord of this world?
“But
even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of
the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God,
should shine on them.” (2 Cor. 4:3-4).
People
no longer know what it would be like to live in a world that values honesty,
meekness, love, peace, charity , cooperation, etc. Nor do they believe that a society built on
such virtues will ever be established.
But establish it will, but only for those who believe in it. That is why it is so important that people
hold on to right beliefs. Jesus Christ
and the Apostles never tired of telling people about the importance of right
belief. The word “belief” is found nearly
one hundred and fifty times in the New Testament. Jesus Christ began His ministry by urging
people to believe in the Gospel:
“Now
after John was put in prison, Jesus came to
The
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God,
a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
(2 Tim 2:15).
“But
without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a
rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Heb. 11:6).
“Beloved,
do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God;
because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (I Jn. 4:1).
These
days most people do not even believe that there is a God, let alone believe
that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Our leaders and educators have done a good
job in making people believe that there is no God. Jesus Christ could perform no miracles among
the people who did not believe in the power of God.
“Then one of the crowd answered and said,
‘Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever he seizes
him, he throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes
rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast him out, but they
could not.’ “He answered him and said,
O faithless generation, how long
shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to
When
the father of the child realized that he could miss out on the only opportunity
he had to save his child from that horrible torment because his faith was weak,
he cried out, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief!” How many people are prepared to get on their
knees before God and pray: “Lord, help my unbelief”.
Few know that faith and belief do not come
naturally to human beings, that they are gifts from God. “For by grace you have been saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). God grants faith to those who are willing to
let Him work with them and create in them a
real “new man.”
“For
He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle
wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law
of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making
peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the
cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” (Eph. 2:14-16).
So,
believe in God and in His power of salvation, and let Him create a new man in
you as He crated in Jesus Christ.
THE
TRINITY - HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
Mircea Eliade, the famous academic
theologian, wrote in his Encyclopedia of
Religions that:
"Trinity touches on virtually every
aspect of Christian faith, theology, and piety, including Christology and
pneumatology, theological epistology (faith, revelation, theological methodology),
spirituality and mystical theology, and ecclesiastical life (sacraments,
community, ethics)... The doctrine of the Trinity is the summary of Christian
faith in God, who out of love creates humanity for union with God, who through
Jesus Christ redeems the world, and in the power of the Holy Spirit transforms
and divinises (2 Cor. 3:18).”
An excellent summary of the doctrine
of the Trinity, yet in the very next breath he wrote:
"Exegetes and theologians today
are in agreement that the Hebrew Bible does not contain a doctrine of the
Trinity, even though it was customary in past dogmatic tracts on the Trinity to
cite texts like Genesis 1:26, ‘Let us make humanity in our image, after our
likeness’ (see also Gn. 3:22, 11:7; Is. 6:2-3) as proof of plurality in
God. Although the Hebrew Bible depicts
God as the Father of Israel and employs personifications of God such as Word
(davar), Spirit (ruah), Wisdom (hokhmah), and Presence (shekhinah), it would go
beyond the intentions and spirit of the Old Testament to correlate these
notions with later trinitarian doctrine.
Further, exegetes and theologians agree that the New Testament also does
not contain an explicit doctrine of the Trinity.” (Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 15, Trinity, p.53).
How could this doctrine have such an
important bearing on every aspect of "Christian faith, theology and
piety" if it is not contained in either the Old or the New
Testaments? To be sure, the word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible,
but just because the term is not there it does not mean that the concept is
not there either. The New Catholic Encyclopedia says this
about the Trinity ( Vol. XIV, p. 295 ff.):
“It is difficult, in the second half
of the 20th century, to offer a clear, objective, and straightforward account
of the revelation, doctrinal evolution, and theological elaboration of the
mystery of the Trinity."
Why should it be more difficult in
this “age of enlightenment” to find an “objective and straightforward” answer
to this question? One would have thought
that with the passage of time and the understanding gained through centuries of
Christian dialectics, we would be in a better position to understand this
doctrine now than at any other time.
"Trinitarian discussion, Roman
Catholic as well as other, presents a somewhat unsteady silhouette [a what?]. Two things have happened.
There is the recognition on the part of the exegetes and Biblical theologians,
including a constantly growing number of Roman Catholics, that one should not speak
of Trinitarianism in the New Testament without serious qualification. There is
also the closely parallel recognition on the part of historians of dogma and
systematic theologians that when one does speak of an unqualified
Trinitarianism, one has moved from the period of Christian origins to, say, the
last quadrant of the 4th century.”
The Trinity became a major point of
controversy after the Romans became dominant in the church. They found it
difficult to reconcile their pagan concept of the Trinity, common to virtually
all ancient religions, with the Christian Gospel. The difficulty came from
their failure to understand the position and role of the Holy Spirit. In all
other Trinities there is a major figure in the middle, playing more or less a
neutral role, and two opposing personalities: one on the right and one on the
left, representing the positive and negative forces of the world. In the Christian Trinity, all three members - Father, Son and Holy
Spirit - play positive roles.
“But current preoccupation and
current emphasis is far less preoccupied with the subsequent development of
Christian dogma than with the primitive sources, chiefly Biblical. It is this
contemporary return to the sources that is ultimately responsible for the
unsteady silhouette...”
They call the Bible a “primitive
source” and the “contemporary return to the sources”, an “unsteady
silhouette”. Any wonder that their
followers are scripturally illiterate?
“This blurring of the focus, moreover, is by
no means solely a phenomenon of theological academics. On the strictly pastoral
level of instruction in Christian doctrine, there is likewise something to
record. From the highly authoritative 16th-century Catechism of the Council of
Trent (1.1.4) to the early-20th-century Catechism of Cardinal Gaspary (3.3.31),
the 4th-century dogmatic formulation "one God in three Persons" stood
forth as the central datum of Christian revelation and the point of departure
for the exposition of Christian doctrine. Besides, Catholics the world over are
still familiar with the prayer, the summational act of faith: "O my God, I
believe that you are one God in three Divine Persons."
Their
“highly authoritative” source is not the Bible, but the 16th and 20th-century
“Catechisms”. Catholics the world over
may be familiar with their summation of faith:
“O my God, I believe that you are one God in three Divine Persons”, but
the true Christians are not, because it is not biblical. Not in the sense that
the Catholic Church preaches it.
“Oringen, Clement's successor,
envisioned the universe of being along Neoplatonist lines of hierarchical
extrapolation. At the utterly transcendent apex, there is God the Father (De
princ. 1.1.6), alone source without source or, to use Oringen's favourite term
(e.g., In Ioan. 2.10.75), ungenerate. But (De princ. 1.2.3) the Father has from
all eternity generated a Son, and (In Ioan. 2.10.75) through this Son, the
Word, He has brought forth the Holy Spirit.
“The three, Oringen maintains in the same passage, are three distinct
individuals or hypostases. “On the
other hand (Frag. in Hebr.), with explicit reference here to Father and Son,
they share together a community of substance. For the Son, he adds a moment
later, is of the same substance
(homoousious) as the Father."
“At this point, however, a problem
arises, and it sets the stage for a 100 years' distance for the decision at
They engaged in lengthy debates about
the nature of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, yet, as this quotation
shows, they never once referred to the Bible.
None of their quotations and references are from the Bible, but from
their church “fathers” or from other Catholic sources. Inevitably, this had to lead to
blasphemy. Their definition of the Son
and of the [Holy] Spirit as “essentially
inferior”, “secondary deities”
and “creatures” is nothing short of
blasphemy. Such downgrading of the Son
and the Holy Spirit strikes at the very heart of the New Testament Gospel. For unless Jesus Christ was a true God, on a
par with the Father, the New Testament is not valid. But more on this later.
Now, have a look at the following
statements and see if you can guess where they might come from.
“Various sources acknowledge that the
Bible does not support the idea that the holy spirit is the third person of a
Trinity. For example:
“The Catholic Encyclopedia: ‘Nowhere in the Old
Testament do we find any clear indication of a Third Person.’
“Catholic theologian Fortman: ‘The Jews never
regarded the spirit as a third person; nor is there any solid evidence that any
Old Testament writer held this view... The holy spirit is usually presented in
the Synoptics [Gospels] and in Acts as a divine force or power.’
“The New Catholic Encyclopedia: ‘The Old Testament clearly does not
envisage God’s spirit as a person... God’s spirit is simply God’s power. If it is sometimes represented as being
distinct from God, it is because the breath of Yahweh acts exteriorly.’ [A breathtaking statement in its absurdity.]. It also says: ‘The majority of New Testament
texts reveal God’s spirit in the parallelism between the spirit and the power
of God.’ “A Catholic Dictionary: ‘On
the whole, the New Testament, like the Old, speaks of the spirit as a divine
energy or power.’ Hence, neither the
Jews nor the early Christians viewed the holy spirit as part of a Trinity. That teaching came centuries later. As A
Catholic Dictionary notes: ‘The third Person was asserted at a Council of
Alexandria in 362... and finally by the Council of Constantinople of 381’ -
some three and a half centuries after holy spirit (sic) filled the disciples at
Pentecost!
“No, the holy spirit is not a person
and it is not part of a Trinity. The holy spirit is God’s active force that he
uses to accomplish his will. It is not equal to God, but is always at his
disposition and subordination to him.”
This author listed no less than four
Catholic sources to “prove” that the Holy Spirit “is not a person and not part
of the Trinity,” but “God’s force that he uses to accomplish his will.” Familiar words. The
“When we express the biblical truth that God is one and at the same time
three, it is helpful to use words that do not imply three Gods, or three
separate God Beings. God’s oneness cannot be compromised. The problem is, all
words that refer to created things tend to mislead by their very context in
ordinary language. Most words, including the word Persons, tend to confuse God’s
nature with the created order... So it is important to know what we do mean,
and what we do not mean, when we use any word in reference to God ...
“Hypostasis,
or in plural form, hypostases, is a
good word to use of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is a biblical
term, and it does not so easily confuse God’s nature with the created order. Of
course, the word Person is also a good word to use if (and the if must be
strongly stressed) one understands that Person must not be confused with the
way humans are persons... God is personal, but he is not a person in the way
humans are persons.” (God Is..., WCG, 1993, pp. 40, 43).
Remember, we found the concept
of hypostasis
in the New Catholic Encyclopedia. Now it
is also part of the WCG theology too.
During the reign of Herbert W Armstrong, the WCG, like the CGI, was
fully in tune with the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ view, but lately they have also
incorporated the Catholic notion of hypostases
in their theology. Then they
go on to say that:
“Since God is one, and not three
separate beings, the Holy Spirit is not a separate God doing separate things on
its own. God has one will, the will of
the Father, which is also the will of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It is
not a matter of two or three separate God Beings deciding to be in perfect
agreement with each other. It is a matter of one God, one will. The Son is the very expression of the will of
the Father. Similarly, the Holy Spirit constitutes the will of the Father at
work in the world.”
Not very different from Stinson’s
notion that, “the Holy Spirit is the
power of God as well as [His] spiritual presence... in the natural world”, or
Jehovah’s Witnesses’ concept that, “the holy spirit is God’s active force that
he uses to accomplish his will in the world”, only that this time God is “one
will”, Jesus Christ is “the very expression of the will of the Father”, and the
Holy Spirit is “the will of the Father at work in the world”. A lot of “wills”, but no separate beings. The
New Catholic Encyc. also said this about the relationship between the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit:
“The Father alone, Arius argued (apud Athan.,
De syn.16), up to this point echoing the best Oringenist tradition, is
ungenerate, source without source, self existent. Therefore the Father alone is
truly eternal, all-wise, all-good. The divine being, moreover, utterly
immaterial and indivisible, cannot be communicated. Hence it follows that
whatever else has come into existence from this uniquely transcendent source,
beginning with the Word, is necessarily made, created. In short, there was a
time when He was not. And if He is yet to be called God (apud Athan., Or.I C.
Arian. 6), this is in the improper, extended sense based on His extraordinary
prerogatives of creation and grace. The
plurality, the real otherness of Father, Son and Spirit, was considered beyond
challenge. But so also was the unique transcendence of God the Father... If the Son and Spirit can be called
"God," therefore, it must be an improper sense; or to put it bluntly,
they must be creatures.” (Vol. XIV, pp.
295, 297).
They turned Jesus Christ into an
“improper” God because He was “created,” and downgraded the position of both
the Son and the [Holy] Spirit to the status of
“creatures” because “the Father alone is truly eternal, all-wise,
all-good.” Now, if Jesus Christ
Himself is not a “proper” God, then neither could His followers be gods in the
“proper” sense. This is exactly the
position of the Worldwide Church of God too.
Should we be surprised then that Jehovah’s Witnesses hold similar
views?
“The Bible is clear and
consistent about the relationship of God to Jesus. Jehovah God alone is
Almighty. He created the prehuman Jesus directly. Thus, Jesus had a beginning
and could never be coequal with God in power or eternity... “The fact is that Jesus is not God and never
claimed to be. This is being recognized
by an increasing number of scholars. As
the Rylands Bulletin states: ‘The
fact has to be faced that New Testament research over, say, the last thirty or
forty years has been leading an increasing number of reputable New Testament
scholars to the conclusion that Jesus... certainly never believed himself to be
God.” (Should you believe in the
Trinity, pp. 16, 20).
No doubt you have all heard about the
“Rylands Bulletin” and the increasing
number of “reputable New Testament scholars” who found no proof in the New
Testament that Jesus believed He was God?
We will prove to you otherwise, but before that let us go again to the
Worldwide Church of God:
“Many people have only a hazy idea of what the
Bible teaches about the oneness of God.
Most do not really think about it.
Some imagine three separate Beings. Some picture one Being with three
heads. Others think of one Being who changes from Father to Son to Holy Spirit
whenever he wills. It is easy to make such mistakes.” “Many people use the word Trinity as a definition of the biblical teaching about God.
However, if asked, most would not be able to explain what the Bible actually
teaches about how God is one. In other words, what many people envision
when they speak of the Trinity is not really biblical. Some of the confusion
lies in the use of the word Persons ...
The word Persons, which is normally included in English-language definitions of
the Trinity, causes people to think of three Beings. “One God who is three
Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” is a common way the Trinity is
explained. But the ordinary meaning of
the word Person is misleading when it is applied to God. It
gives the impression that God has limits [It
does not give us that impression], and that his threeness lies in his being
three separate individuals [Wasn’t Jesus
separate from the Father?] - which is not the case... [which it is]” . “When most
English-speaking people think of one God who is three Persons, they cannot help but think in some way of three separate
divine Beings. In other words, the terms persons
and beings are usually thought of, in
English, as meaning the same thing. But
that is not how God is revealed in the Bible. There is only one God, not
three.”
What Bible do these people read that
does not show the Father and the Son as separate divine Beings? They say that the word “Person” as applied to
God, “must not be confused with the way humans are persons.” Why not?
Doesn’t their Bible show that human beings have been created in the
image of God? Or have they also adopted
the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible? (The
Jehovah’s Witnesses have produced their own Bible - a most astonishing document
which has little in common with the accepted translations of the original
Scriptures).
Now, what happens when people take
away the personalities of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, what
are they left with? Nothing! That’s right, they are left with nothing. Or, better said, they are left with
evolution.
“But we are not like God in every
respect. ‘Certainly not in bodily form,
the upright position, or commanding aspect of the man, since God has no bodily
form... Adam and Eve’s bodies did not
image God... Adam and Eve’s bodies were
what they had in common with animals.” (The
Plain Truth, May/June, 1994).
This is the new theology which runs
through the Worldwide Church of God and virtually through all other churches in
the world today. The Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit are no longer identifiable personalities, the Son and the Holy
Spirit are secondary, inferior “creatures” or undefinable, unfathomable “wills”
or “forces”, and human beings are not
created in the image of God, but in the image of animals.
Why the Churches of God should have
embraced such a theology lately is difficult to understand - aside from the
fact that the Bible speaks of a great falling away. In the early 1970s, when I was a member of that
church, there were still many errors in their theology, but they had a genuine
spirit of enthusiasm for the Word of God and a desire to search out for the
truth of God, but everything has changed now.
They seem to be more preoccupied with synchronizing their beliefs and
doctrines with those of other churches than with remaining faithful to the
teachings of the Bible. Since the
establishment of the first New Testament Churches, no one has had the whole
truth of God. All churches had as much
truth as they needed to maintain their momentum and spiritual growth. God does not condemn people for not knowing
everything, unless they willingly choose to be ignorant. Once in the Spirit,
people cannot remain stagnant: they either grow with the Spirit, or loose Him
and go backwards. The Worldwide Church
of God has fallen so deeply into Satan’s clutches, it has now become a “heaven
for homosexuals.” Do you know why the
sin of homosexuality was not mentioned among the Ten Commandments? It is
because God regards this as such an abomination that those who practice it
place themselves outside of the human realm.
Apostle Peter simply called them “brute beasts”:
“But there were also false
prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who
will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought
them [denying that Jesus Christ is God and Lord, that He has an image and
identifiable personality, etc.], and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways,
because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. “By covetousness they will exploit you with
deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their
destruction does not slumber. “For if
God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and
delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did
not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of
righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction,
making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered
righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that
righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to
day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) -- then the Lord knows how to
deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment
for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh
in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous,
self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels,
who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against
them before the Lord. “But these, like
natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things
they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and
will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to
carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own
deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that
cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls. They have a heart trained in
covetous practices, and are accursed children.
“They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of
Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was
rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained
the madness of the prophet. These are
wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the
blackness of darkness forever. For when
they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of
the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who
live in error. While they promise them
liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is
overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. “For if, after they have escaped the
pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse
for them than the beginning.
“For it would have been
better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known
it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the
true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and, ‘a sow, having washed, to
her wallowing in the mire.’'' (2 Peter
2).
Yet, Jesus Christ gave hope to those
who truly want to free themselves from this sin:
“Then He began to rebuke
the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did
not repent: ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe
to you,
If Jesus Christ said that it would
have been possible for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to repent of their sins
if they had known the truth and seen His miracles, then it is certainly
possible for individual beings to turn to God, change their way of life,
repent, be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit, when they know the truth of
God and are called to repentance. We
give them that chance. But the leaders
of the Worldwide Church of God preach a different gospel these days. After
turning their church into a “heaven” for homosexuals, they have been asking
other churches to do the same. These are the people who say that human beings
are not created in the image of God, but the image of animals, that Jesus
Christ and the Father are not distinct personalities within the Godhead, but
undefinable “wills” or “forces”.
The denigration of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - in
its various forms - is a common theme running from the theology of the Catholic
Church to that of Jehovah’s Witnesses and that of the Churches of God.
Let us now see what the Bible says
about the images of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
THE
IMAGE OF THE FATHER, OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Our readers may remember the
controversy we had in the past with the evangelists of the Worldwide Church of
God over the question of the images of the Father and of Jesus Christ. They wrote: “We do not believe that the Bible
teaches that the Father and the Son are persons. Neither do we believe that the
Father created Jesus” (The Plain Truth, Jan. 1993).
If anyone believed that this was an
inadvertent mistake, a statement out of character with their normal preaching,
the following quotations from their new booklet
God Is ..., should dispel that:
“‘When God created man, he made him
in the likeness of God.’ [Genesis 5:1].
How, then, are we to understand what God means when he tells us we are
made in his image and likeness? God’s
creation of humans in his image and likeness, recorded in Genesis 1:26-27, may
be linked with the dominion God gave humans over the earth. In a sense, we act for God on earth when we
exercise responsible lordship over the creation. “‘The context suggests that humanity is the
image of God in the dominion it exercises over the result of creation,’ notes Harper’s Bible Commentary on
Genesis 1:3-31.” (God Is..., p.14).
The Worldwide Church of God evangelists again rely on other people’s
commentaries to tell them what is in the Bible.
You may remember how, in their May/June, 1994 edition of the Plain
Truth, they quoted Keil and Delitzsch as saying that we are not like God in
every respect because “God has no bodily form.” Now, they quote Harper’s Bible Commentary to support the statement that
we have the image of God only in the sense that we exercise dominion “over the
result of creation.” And what might the
“result of creation” be according to the wise men of the Worldwide Church of
God? For this, they quote the ABC’s of the Bible:
“Before undertaking his supreme
creation, God announced his intention to make man in his image and
likeness. The Hebrew word for ‘image’
usually refers to a statue...”
What more can one say? God did not
create Adam and Eve, He created statues.
By this we know that the end cannot be too far away. God certainly must find it difficult to
tolerate such blasphemies for much longer.
Now, take a look at the following biblical passage and see if you can
distinguish individual personalities for the Father and the Son:
“But when He again brings the
firstborn into the world, He says: ‘Let all the angels of God worship
Him.’ And of the angels He says: ‘Who
makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.’ But to the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a sceptre of
righteousness is the sceptre of Your Kingdom.
“You have loved righteousness and
hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your
God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your
companions.’ And: ‘You, Lord, in the beginning
laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your
hands. They will perish, but You remain;
and they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up,
and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not
fail.’ “But to which of the angels has
He ever said: ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your
footstool'‘? Are they not all
ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit
salvation?” (Heb. 1:6-14).
The words “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever” refers to
Jesus Christ and His throne. God the
Father calls Jesus Christ “God”. Then, in the expression “Your God, has anointed You”, the term is applied to the Father. So,
both the Son and the Father are referred to as “God”. The fact that Jesus Christ sits at the right
hand of God indicates that God the Father is a person with hands, and that God
the Son is separate from Him.
The image of Jesus Christ is vividly
described in the following passage from the book of Revelation:
“Then I turned to see the voice that
spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the
midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment
down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as
white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined
in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of
His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun
shining in its strength. And when I saw
Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to
me, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was
dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades
and of Death. Write the things which you
have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after
this. The mystery of the seven stars
which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven
stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you
saw are the seven churches.” (Rev 1:12-20).
In the Old Testament, the prophet Micah gave
us this description of God:
“Then Micaiah said, ‘Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw
the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His
right hand and on His left. And the LORD
said, "Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth
Gilead?” So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. Then a spirit came forward and stood before
the LORD, and said, ‘I will persuade him.'
The LORD said to him, ‘In what way?' So he said, ‘I will go out and be a
lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And the LORD said, ‘You shall
persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.' Therefore look! The LORD has put a lying
spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has declared
disaster against you.’” (I King 22:19-23).
And the prophet Isaiah gave us this
description of God and His throne:
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I
saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe
filled the temple. Above it stood
seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he
covered his feet, and with two he flew.
And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of
hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’
And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out,
and the house was filled with smoke. “So
I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King,
the LORD of hosts.’ Then one of the
seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the
tongs from the altar. And he touched my
mouth with it, and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is
taken away, and your sin purged.’ “Also
I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for
Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’
And He said, ‘Go, and tell this people: "Keep on hearing, but do
not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their
ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with
their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.''‘ “Then I said, ‘Lord, how long?’ And He
answered: ‘Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses
are without a man, the land is utterly desolate, the LORD has removed men far
away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. But yet a tenth will be in it, and will return
and be for consuming, as a terebinth tree or as an oak, whose stump remains
when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump.’'' (Isa. 6:1-13).
Aside from the fact that this passage
gives us the image of God and His throne, it also has a great significance for
the end of this age - the times in which we live. The desolation which will take place during
the great tribulation will leave behind only a tenth of the world’s population.
The “stump” representing the “holy seed” refers to the people who have repented
and are allowed to survive into the
“And above the firmament over their
heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the
likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above
it. Also from the appearance of His
waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of
fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I
saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud
on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was
the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. So when I saw it, I
fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking. And He said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your
feet, and I will speak to you.’
Then the Spirit entered me when He
spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me. And He said to me: ‘Son of man, I am sending
you to the children of
Almost every time God makes His
appearance in the Scriptures He calls in a prophet to deliver a message to His
people. There are many other examples in
the Bible which show that God has our image, yet, in spite of all this the
Worldwide Church of God continue to spread its convoluted theology of
denial.
“A helpful word, and one that was
used by Greek-speaking Christians in expressing the oneness and threenes of
God, is found in Hebrew 1:3. This
passage is helpful in several ways. It states: ‘The Son is the radiance of
God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by
his powerful word.’ From the
description of the Son as ‘the radiance of God’s glory,’ we learn a number of
things. The Son is not a separate Being [How,
pray tell, would one learn this from that verse?]. The Son is not less divine than the
Father. The Son is eternal, just as the
Father is [You learned all these things
from that verse? Imagine what you could have learned if you read the whole
Bible]. In other words, the Son is
to the Father as radiance or brightness is to glory ... “Now, let us look at the Greek word
translated ‘being’ in this passage. Other versions translate it ‘person’. The word from which ‘being’ and ‘person’ in
this passage are translated is hypostasis”... “Hypostasis,
or in plural form, hypostases, is a
good word to use of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit [Why? Because no one understands it?]. It is a biblical term, and it does not so
easily confuse God’s nature with the created order. Of course, the word Person is also a good
word to use if (and the if must be strongly stressed) one understands that Person must not be confused with the way
humans are persons.” (God Is..., WCG, 1993, pp. 39, 40, 43).
See how devious they are? They use a
Greek word instead of a plain English one because they don’t like its
translation. When the word is correctly translated to reflect the meaning
required by the context as intended by the original writers, and as virtually all
Bible translators have done, people have no problem understanding the nature of
God. But in its Greek form, they can
give it whatever meaning they want, no one can argue with them. Then they have the gall to say that “it is a
biblical term”. For people who use Greek
translations of the Bible it may be biblical, but for those who use English or
other translations it is certainly not biblical. When I read my English or Romanian Bibles,
I have no difficulty understanding that I have been created in the image of
God, that God has my image and I His,
that Jesus Christ was a man like I am, and that now He lives in heaven with the
Father, the angels and other heavenly personalities.
Jesus Christ is no longer a human
being, He is a Spirit Being, but a Being nevertheless. Being a Spirit Being
means that He is made of a different substance, one that no longer ages and
decays. The Scriptures tell us that we
shall be like Him when we are resurrected to eternal life, if we believe in
God’s promises. But Satan does not want
us to believe God. He knows that if he
can deceive people to believe the blasphemies preached by the Churches of God,
Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Catholic Church and virtually all other churches,
denominations and religions, they lose their salvation. Never forget the importance of the right
belief.
One of Jesus’ disciples once asked
Him to show them the Father. This is what He replied:
“Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us
the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with
you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show
us the Father”?’’” (John 14:8-9).
Since the image of God the Father is
the same as that of Jesus Christ, and
since Jesus was a human being, is it
really all that difficult to understand that God has the image of human
beings? This is to put it in reverse,
because the right way is to say that we have the image of God just as the book
of Genesis says:
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in
Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of
the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and
over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and
female He created them.” (Gen. 1:26-27).
This brings us to the final question
on this topic. We know what the images
of the Father and the Son are, but what
is the image of the Holy Spirit? We
already pointed out that when we repent and are baptized, we receive God’s Holy
Spirit, who then grows in us and brings us to spiritual maturity. Since human beings resemble God, what could
the Holy Spirit resemble if not God also?
Why else do the Scriptures say that the Holy Spirit transforms us into
children of God and heirs to the promise of eternal life?
“But this He spoke concerning the
Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not
yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. “(
If you want to see what the Holy
Spirit looks like, look in a mirror. If He dwells in you, then you see the
image of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is not in you, then you see the
image of the Adversary. Externally, you
could not tell the difference, they are identical, but on the inside they are poles apart. One is kind, loving, sharing and helpful,
while the other is egotistical, hateful, lustful and aggressive. Sometimes both co-habit in the same
person. Notice:
“When Jesus came into the region of
Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man,
am?’ So they said, ‘Some say John the
Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ “He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I
am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You
are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’
Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for
flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My
church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give
you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven.’ “Then He commanded His
disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. From that time Jesus began to show to His
disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders
and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke
Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offence to
Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’”(Matt
16:13-23).
One moment Peter was inspired by the
Holy Spirit, and the next by Satan. One
moment he was in heaven, and the next in hell. First he must have felt like a
holy man, then like a piece of dirt.
When we, humans, embark on the road to holiness, an intense battle takes
place inside us between the forces of good and the forces of evil. The forces of evil have an advantage because
our very nature strays away from God.
But through the power of the Holy Spirit, we bring under control our
impulses and are able to withstand Satan’s temptations.
DIVINE MARRIAGE
Few
people know or understand that the notion of salvation is connected with a
mystery of which Apostle Paul said has been kept secret since the beginning of
the world.
“Now
to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of
Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now has been made
manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations,
according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the
faith--to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.” (
“For
we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. For this reason a
man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two
shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak
concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in
particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she
respects her husband.” (Eph. 5:30-33).
Elsewhere he said:
“For
as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body,
being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we
were all baptized into one body--
whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free-- and have all been made to
drink into one Spirit. For in fact the
body is not one member but many.
If
the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,’ is it
therefore not of the body? And if the
ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,’ is it
therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the
hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of
them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where
would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.” (1
Cor. 12:12-20).
Those
who have been baptized and received the Holy Spirit are forming the body of the
true
“Then a voice came from the throne, saying,
‘Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and
great!’ And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of
mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him
glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself
ready.’ And to her it was granted to be
arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous
acts of the saints. Then he said to me, ‘Write: “Blessed are those who are
called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”’ And he said to me, ‘These are the
true sayings of God.’” (Rev. 19:5-9).
To
be a member of the true Church of God, the Spirit of Christ must be in you,
which means that you must make a commitment to Christ and be baptized in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (not in the name of a “will”, a “force” or of
a “spiritual presence”).
“For
those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the
flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to
the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then,
those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but
in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of
God dwells in you. Now if anyone
does not have the Spirit of Christ,
he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but
the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors -- not to the flesh, to live
according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die;
but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
these are sons of God.” (
Notice
how the terms “Spirit of God” and “Spirit of Christ” are interchangeable. Notice also that those in whom the Spirit of
God dwells are the sons of God. Now, if the Spirit of God
in us forms the
“Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of
God, did not consider it robbery to be equal
with God.” (Phil 2:5-6).
“But
Jesus answered them, ‘My Father has been
working until now, and I have been working.’
Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only
broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.” (John 5:17-18).
He
also elevated the Holy Spirit to equality with Him and the Father by revealing that
both He and the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father:
“But
when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father,
He will testify of Me.” “I came forth from the Father and have come into the
world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.'' (John
The
Christian Trinity therefore will be a family affair formed by three equal
members - Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit being God’s daughter and
Christ’s wife. How then do we explain
the following statement?
“You
have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.' If you
loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28).
When
Jesus Christ made that statement, He was in this world and He was a human
being. In that condition, the Father was
infinitely greater than Him. But when He
rose to heaven and received the honor which He had with the Father before the
world was, He regained His position of equality with God. “And now, O Father,
glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before
the world was.” (John 17:5). A son can
be equal with his father but that does not mean he does not honor his father.
Jesus Christ and His bride are equal with the Father, but They will still honor
Him as Their Father. Yet, there is more
to the relationship of the three members of the Trinity. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ was
the very God of the Old Testament.
JESUS CHRIST - THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The
book of Hebrews tells us that both the Old and the New Testaments had the same
author:
“But
now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator
of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been
faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says:
‘Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My
covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.
For
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
The
author of the book of Hebrews knew of the promises God made to ancient
“Behold,
the days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah--not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day
that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant
which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is
the covenant that I will make with the house of
Notice
that the Person who made the Old Covenant, who promised to make a New Covenant,
identified Himself as “the Lord” and “God”.
Since we know that Jesus Christ was the author of the New Testament, it
means that He was the God of the Old Testament too. Jesus Christ had to die in order to nullify
the Old Covenant. Why? Because that was a marriage covenant:
“For
where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the
testator.
For
a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while
the testator lives.” (Heb. 9:16-17).
‘Return, O backsliding children,’ says the
LORD; ‘for I am married to you.”
(Jer. 3:14).
If
Jesus Christ was not the God of the Old Testament, then we are still under the
Old Covenant. If that is the case, then the Holy Spirit is not available and we
are still under sin and not under grace.
But we know that the Holy Spirit is available to those who believe in
Jesus Christ.
“Nevertheless
I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not
go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to
you. And when He has come, He will convict
the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they
do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see
Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but
you cannot bear them now. However, when
He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He
will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He
will tell you things to come. He will
glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine.
Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” (John
16:7-15).
The
prophet Isaiah wrote:
“For
unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be
upon His shoulder. And His name will be called wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace. Of the increase of His
government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over
His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that
time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”
(Isa. 9:6-7).
To
whom do these words refer to if not to Jesus Christ? The “Child” is none other than the “mighty God”, the “everlasting Father”, the very God of the Old Testament. Consider also the meaning of the following
passages:
“Therefore
the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and
bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and
choose the good. For before the Child
shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will
be forsaken by both her kings.” (Isa 7:14-16).
“Now
the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed
to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy
Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her
a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things,
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son
of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for
He will save His people from their sins.’
So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
Lord through the prophet, saying:
‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall
call His name Immanuel,’ which is
translated, ‘God with us.’
Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord
commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had
brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.” (Matt.
1:18-25).
The
prophet Isaiah also expanded on the theme of God’s marriage to
“‘Sing,
O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you
who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than
the children of the married woman,’ says the LORD. ‘Enlarge the place of your
tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare;
Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the
right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make
the desolate cities inhabited. Do not
fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced, for you will not be
put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and will not
remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. For your Maker is your husband,
the LORD of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of
How
remarkable that after divorcing “backsliding”
ETERNAL, CREATED, OR BOTH
As
we’ve seen, contrary to the views held by the Catholic Church, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, the Churches of God and other churches, the Bible says not only that
Jesus Christ was God, but that He was the very God of the Old Testament. In the book of Revelation, He made these
statements after He rose to heaven:
“I
am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is
and who was and who is to come, the Almighty’'' (Rev 1:8).
“I
am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last'' (
"These
things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the
creation of God.” (
Since
Jesus Christ was the “Beginning of the creation of God”, the “Beginning and the
End” and the “First and the Last”, it
means that although He was the First spiritual Son of God in this particular
world, He was the Beginning of everything that ever existed long before this
world was brought into existence. In a discussion with the Jews, He said that
He existed long before this world was created and before He became a human
being:
“‘Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’ Then the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet
fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’
Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I
AM.’” (John 8:56-58).
Before
He was crucified, He prayed, "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with
Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was". How then can we explain the apparent
contradiction between the fact that Jesus believed He was both created and
eternal? Simple. When the mind of God becomes our mind and we
begin to think like God, His consciousness becomes our consciousness too.
Jesus’
consciousness transcended human existence.
As a human being He was created, but the Holy Spirit in Him gave Him the
consciousness the Father who had no beginning of time nor end of days. It is for this reason that He told the Jews,
“before Abraham was, I AM”. Clearly, He
linked Himself with the One who said to Moses:
“‘I
AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of
From
the moment of conception - the time He received the Holy Spirit - there was a
spiritual element in Him which linked Him to the Father and a time before the
world was. But as a human being, His genealogy took Him back to the time of
Adam (See
When
we repent and are baptized, God implants His seed - His Holy Spirit - in
ourselves and we begin to grow spiritually until the mind of God takes over our
thought processes just as it took over Jesus’ thought processes.
This is how we grow to become not only sons of God, but one with God
too.
“I
do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should
keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the
world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your
word is truth. As You sent Me into the
world, I also have sent them into the world.
And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified
by the truth. I do not pray for these
alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father,
are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may
believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have
given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in
them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the
world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Father,
I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they
may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the
foundation of the world. O righteous
Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known
that You sent Me. And I have declared to
them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may
be in them, and I in them.'' (John 17:15-26).
It
is in this context that Jesus Christ attributed personal characteristics to the
Holy Spirit. It is through His presence that we can become one with the Father
and the Son. It is through His presence
also that we inherit eternal life.
“And
I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of
truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows
Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17).
HEAVENLY IMAGES
One of the best known biblical parables is that of
Lazarus and the rich man. It may surprise many people to know this, but the
message it conveys is the very opposite of the one most people think it does.
Let us have a look at it.
“There was a
certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously
every day. But there was a certain
beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be
fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs
came and licked his sores. So it was
that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The
rich man also died and was buried. And
being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and
said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the
tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this
flame.' But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember
that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil
things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you
there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you
cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.” (Luke 16:19-26).
This parable is often used to justify the belief that when people die
they go to heaven or to hell. But this
is not what Jesus Christ wanted to convey because elsewhere He said something
which nullified this belief:
“If I have told
you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you
heavenly things? No one has ascended to
heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in
heaven.” (John 3:12-13).
Neither Lazarus nor Abraham were in heaven
because if they were, they would have gone there before Jesus Christ
Himself. What message then did He want
to convey through this parable? When He
said that Lazarus went to “Abraham’s bosom”, He put Abraham in God’s
place. The question is why? Why did He not say “God’s bosom” when this
would have been far more accurate and to the point? This is one of many
heavenly images in the Bible which direct people to the Scriptures to search
and find out the truth about their meaning.
Lazarus was an imaginary person, but Abraham was not. He lived in the past and his life is well
documented in the Bible. We should
therefore be able to discover the symbolism behind this parable by looking at
his life. Before we do that, we will
have a look at another incident in Jesus’ life which also directs us to
Abraham. Before He was crucified, Jesus
prayed to the Father and said:
"O My
Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I
will, but as You will.'' (Matt. 26:39).
“And He was
withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, He knelt down and prayed, saying,
‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My
will, but Yours, be done.’'' (Luke 22:41, 42).
It is generally assumed that
Jesus Christ knew all the time that He would be crucified. The Bible tells us that He was ordained to
die for our sins before the world was created (1 Pet
“Now it came to
pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’
And he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the
“Then they came
to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and
placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar,
upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out
his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham,
Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ And
He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I
know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son,
from Me.’ “Then Abraham lifted his eyes
and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So
Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead
of his son. And Abraham called the name
of the place, THE-LORD-WILL-PROVIDE; as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount
of The LORD it shall be provided.’
“Then the Angel
of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: ‘By Myself
I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not
withheld your son, your only son--blessing
I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the
stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your
descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the
nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.’''
(Gen. 22:1-18).
Now compare this with the following statement in the New Testament:
“By faith
Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the
promises offered up his only begotten
son, of whom it was said, In Isaac
your seed shall be called.” (Heb.
11:17-18).
“For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting
life. For God did not send His Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
(John 3:16-17).
There is an obvious
parallelism between the sacrifice required of Abraham and Issac, and the one
God performed in Jesus Christ. Issac was
Abraham’s “only begotten son”, Jesus
Christ was God’s “only begotten Son”. Abraham was to offer Isaac as a “burnt
offering” for sin, Jesus Christ was offered as a type of “burnt offering” for
our sins.
But once Abraham showed
willingness to go on with the sacrifice, God put an end to it and spared
Issac’s life. There was no longer a need
for Issac to die. That was the beginning
of God’s marital covenant with Abraham and his descendants.
When that covenant was
broken, there arose a need for a new covenant.
This time Jesus Christ was to become the sacrificial “burnt offering” for a new covenant. But because He never sinned, He did not need
to die for His sins and so He qualified to atone for the sins of the whole
world. This is what He did when He showed willingness to die on the cross.
The knowledge that Issac’s life was spared gave Him hope that His life
might be spared at the last minute too. That is why He prayed “if it be
possible, let this cup pass from Me.”
But, as an obedient Son, He added, “nevertheless not My will, but Yours,
be done”.
It would have been too much of a burden to carry all His life knowing
that there was no escape for Him from that horrible death. Jesus was the Son of God, but He was also a
human being and, as such, He had to cope with all the human frailties and
weaknesses. He needed reassurance that everything will be fine in the end,
though He did not know how. As it
happened, the Father’s will was that He go on with the sacrifice, but sent an
angel to strengthen Him. Then, for a brief moment, as He was hanging on the
cross, pouring out His life, God abandoned Him altogether. In His deepest
agony, He cried, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'' (Mark
“And the people
spoke against God and against Moses: ‘Why have you brought us up out of
“And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:14-17).
By taking the sins of the
world upon Himself, Jesus Christ became the symbolic serpent on the pole. Since
God hates sin, Jesus endured God’s wrath for a brief moment of time before He
died.
Another symbolic heavenly image is found in
the lives of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.
“Therefore say to the children of
“And I say to you
that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons
of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 8:11-12).
In the first example,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were named in connection with
Here again, Jesus placed
Abraham in God’s place. From the previous example, we know that Issac
represented Jesus Christ, but who did Jacob represent? In order to find this out, we need to look
first at Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael.
This is because Jacob was not Abraham’s son, he was Isaac’s son. The natural representative trio should have
been Abraham, Ishmael, and Issac.
Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn, not Issac. Why then was Ishmael sidetracked in favor of
Jacob? It is clear that there has been a
realignment in the position and power relationship between these people. But why?
To find this out, again we must look at the life of the respective
personalities. We begin with Ishmael:
“Now Sarai,
Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant
whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to
Abram, ‘See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go
in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.’ And Abram heeded the
voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian,
and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten
years in the
“Now the Angel of
the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the
way to Shur. And He said, ‘Hagar,
Sarai's maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?’ She said, ‘I
am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.’ The Angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Return to
your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.’ Then the Angel of the LORD said to her, ‘I
will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted
for multitude.’
“And the Angel of
the LORD said to her: ‘Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your affliction. He
shall be a wild man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand
against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.’'' (Gen.
16:1-12).
Being a “wild” man, Ishmael represented a “wild” heavenly creature whose
“hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him”. Who might that be? Satan, obviously! Now take a look at what Apostle Paul said
about Hagar and Ishmael:
“For it is
written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a
freewoman. But he who was of the
bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through
promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one
from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar-- for this Hagar
is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in
bondage with her children-- but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the
mother of us all. “For it is written:
‘Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who are not
in labor! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a
husband.’ Now we, brethren, as Isaac
was, are children of promise. But, as he
who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according
to the Spirit, even so it is now.
Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the
son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.’ So then,
brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.” (Gal. 4:22-31).
Putting the first trio
together, we come to the first representation of a heavenly Trinity in which
Abraham stood for God, Ishmael for the Adversary, and Issac for the Word.
Remember, there were at least three heavenly figures present at the moment of
creation: God, the Word, and the Adversary.
“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26),
tells us that there was more than one person.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God” (John 1:1-3), tells us that the
second person was the Word. “And the
woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me,
and I ate’” (Gen. 3:13b), tells us that
the third person was the “serpent” - Satan, the Adversary.
But Ishmael lost his
position in favor of Jacob in the second representation of the Trinity. Abraham, Issac and Jacob are listed together
nearly one hundred and fifty times in the Bible. It is an extremely important and meaningful
biblical combination. Which forces the
question, since Jacob replaced Ishmael in the heavenly representation of the
Trinity, who did he stand for? The
answer is, whoever replaces Satan after he is cast out of heaven.
Is it not remarkable that at the precise time when Satan will be cast
out of heaven, immediately afterwards the bride of Christ - the Church of God -
will be resurrected to take her place alongside Him and the Father in the new
heaven and the new earth? (Rev. 21). In other words, the Holy Spirit will
replace Satan in the new Trinity. Jacob
stood for the Holy Spirit. This is what
differentiates the Christian Trinity from all other Trinities. While the biblical Trinity began as all the
others, with a hostile figure in its midst, it will end up with three figures
bound by a relationship of love and harmony.
There are several representations of the heavenly Trinity in the
Bible. We cannot discuss them all here,
but there is another one which has a particular relevance for our case:
“For I brought
you up from the
When God sent Moses to free
his brethren from the Egyptian slavery, he complained that he was not a good
speaker.
“Then Moses said
to the LORD, ‘O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have
spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’ So the LORD said to him, ‘Who has made man's
mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I,
the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will
be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.’ But he said,
‘O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.’ So the anger of the LORD was kindled against
Moses, and He said: ‘Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can
speak well. And look, he is also coming
out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. Now you shall speak to him and put the words
in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will
teach you what you shall do. So he shall be your spokesman to the
people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as
God.” (Exod. 4:10-16).
Moses was to be as God to Aaron, and Aaron was to be his spokesman. Isn’t this a remarkable similarity with God
and Jesus Christ, Jesus having been the Word - the spokesman - for God at the
moment of creation? Since Moses stood
for God, and Aaron for Jesus Christ, who do you think Miriam stood for if not the
Holy Spirit, the
“Then Miriam and
Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married;
for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
So they said, ‘Has the LORD
indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?’ And the LORD heard it. (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than
all men who were on the face of the earth.)
Suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, ‘Come out, you three,
to the tabernacle of meeting!’ So the three came out. Then the LORD came down in the pillar of
cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And
they both went forward. “Then He said,
‘Hear now My words: if there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself
known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful
in all My house. I speak with him face
to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the
LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?’ So the
anger of the LORD was aroused against them, and He departed. “And when the cloud departed from above the
tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned
toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper.
So Aaron said to Moses, ‘Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us,
in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned. Please do not let her be as one dead, whose
flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb!’ So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying,
‘Please heal her, O God, I pray!’ Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘If her father
had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut
out of the camp seven days, and after that she may be received again.’ So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven
days, and the people did not journey on till Miriam was brought in again.”
(Num. 12:1-15).
Miriam was to spend seven
days outside the camp as a leper. In
biblical prophecies, a day stands for a thousand years (Ps. 90:4; 2 Pet.
3:8). The seven days represent seven
thousand years during which the world would be isolated from God because of
rebellion. Miriam represented the first wife of God, the sinful rebellious world.
But in the end she is transformed into a new person. She becomes a new wife, a holy wife - the
Holy Spirit. The people of Israel, as
in fact all people of the world, are about to be granted repentance and
converted to God’s true religion, and become part of the Church of God, the
bride of Christ. We need to point out
that the symbolic representations which Ishmael and Jacob stood for have
nothing to do with the way their descendants evolved in this world. The descendants of Ishmael are no more and no
less good or evil than the descendants of Jacob. If that representation was true in real life
then all children of Jacob would have been godly and holy people, but notice
what Jesus Christ told the Jews who sought to kill Him:
“Then Jesus said
to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples
indeed. And you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free.’ They
answered Him, ‘We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to
anyone. How can you say, “You will be made free?”’ Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say
to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides
forever. Therefore if the Son makes you
free, you shall be free indeed. ‘I know
that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word
has no place in you. I speak what I have
seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.’ They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is
our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham's children, you would do
the works of Abraham. But now you seek
to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham
did not do this. You do the deeds of
your father.’ Then they said to Him, ‘We
were not born of fornication; we have one Father – God.’
Jesus said to
them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and
came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because
you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and
the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and
the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I
tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?
He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because
you are not of God.’'' (John 8:31-47).
Now, let us have a look at another powerful heavenly image - the twelve
tribes of
“And Abraham said
to God, ‘Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!’ Then God said: ‘No, Sarah
your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will
establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his
descendants after him. And as for
Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him
fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a
great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall
bear to you at this set time next year.’'' (Gen. 17:18-21).
Ishmael begat twelve princes, just as Jacob begat twelve tribal leaders. From this we can conclude that the figure
twelve represents the twelve spiritual tribes of the new
From the book of Revelation,
we learn that Satan drew one third of God’s angels after him.
“Now a great sign
appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out
in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven:
behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven
diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw
them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give
birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. She bore a male Child who was to rule all
nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.”
(Rev. 12:1-5).
The Devil had rulership over one third of God’s angels, which is what we
would expect if he were part of the Trinity. Since Ishmael, who represented
him, had twelve princes and consequently twelve tribes, Satan must have had
twelve legions of angels under him too. But how many legions of angels did
Jesus Christ have rulership over? We saw
this earlier when we quoted this passage for a different purpose.
“Then they came
and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.
And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand
and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his
ear. But Jesus said to him, ‘Put your
sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My
Father, and He will provide Me with more
than twelve legions of angels? How
then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?’'' (Matt. 26:50-54)
More than twelve legions of angels?
This causes a problem. Why more
than twelve legions, and how many more?
Here is the astonishing answer.
Satan tipped the balance in his favor by surreptitiously adding one
extra legion to his rebellious angels.
We know this from another symbolic representation of the Trinity: Issac,
Esau and Jacob, where Issac represented the Father, Esau represented Satan and
Jacob represented Jesus Christ. Notice
the relationship between the brothers Isaac and Jacob:
“And the LORD
said to [Rebekah]: ‘Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be
separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the
older shall serve the younger.’ So when
her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her
womb. And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they
called his name Esau. Afterward his
brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau's heel; so his name was called
Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. So the boys grew. And Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in
tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he
ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was
weary. And Esau said to Jacob, ‘Please feed me with that same red stew, for I
am weary.’ Therefore his name was called
Esau, the first born, lost
his birthright to his brother Jacob in the same way Satan lost his birthright
to Jesus Christ. Although the older
brother was stronger, the younger brother was smarter. That is why the older brother ended up
serving the younger one.
In the contest between Satan and Jesus Christ,
Satan was stronger and older, but God decreed that their contest should not be
one of muscles, but one of minds. After
forty days of fasting, Jesus could hardly have been in a position to fight a
physical battle. But their battle came
down to who knew the Scriptures better and who showed the correct relationship
with the Father. In this regard, Jesus’ mind was sharper than ever, not the
least because fasting and prayer provide spiritual nourishment and wisdom, and
He passed everything Satan threw at Him with flying colors. In the end, when Satan promised Jesus the
world if He worshiped him, Jesus said:
“Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your
God, and Him only you shall serve.' '' (Luke 4:8). From then on, Jesus became ruler over Satan,
and Satan began to obey Him. In the heavenly representation of the
Trinity, formed by Issac, Esau and Jacob, where Esau stood for Satan and Jacob
for Christ, we would expect to find a balance in the number of children and
tribes, just as there was a balance between Ishmael’s and Jacob’s children and
tribes. But here comes the surprise:
Genesis 36:9-19, lists thirteen “chiefs” of Esau.
He himself had only five sons: Eliphaz, Reuel Jeush, Jaalam and Korah,
but for reasons which are not explained, presumably because Eliphaz and Reuel
died early, their sons are listed as Esau’s sons. The result is that Esau ended
up with thirteen tribal “chiefs”: Amalek, Teman, Omar, Zeph, Gatam, Kenaz,
Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, Mizzah, Jeush, Jaalam and Korah. Faced with the new reality, Jacob had to do
something to restore the balance. So what did he do? He split one of his tribes
in two - Joseph became Ephraim and Manaseh.
This answers the question of why Jesus said “more than twelve tribes”
instead of just twelve tribes. But what
about the twelve Apostles? Jesus Christ selected twelve of His disciples to
become Apostles and leaders over the twelve tribes of the new
“Then Peter
answered and said to Him, ‘See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore
what shall we have?'‘ So Jesus said to
them, ‘Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man
sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’” (Matt. 19:27-28).
Now where does the thirteenth
tribe stand in this scheme of things and who is their Apostle? Here is the
astonishing answer:
“Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in
“For I speak to
you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my
ministry.” (Rom.
Apostle Paul became the thirteenth major Apostle of
Jesus Christ. He is not going to be
ruler over a tribe of
In conclusion, the Trinity is
not only a fact, but one that permeates the Bible throughout. Belief in the correct Trinity is essential
for one’s salvation. Denying the
Trinity, means denying the Holy Spirit, means denying one’s own salvation.
When Jesus Christ gave His
disciples the command to go out into the world and make disciples of all
nations, He sealed that command with the authority that God gave Him in heaven.
“And Jesus came
and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on
earth. Go therefore and make disciples
of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded
you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen” (Matt. 28:18-20).
Jesus Christ acknowledged that the Holy Spirit has a name and authority
which His disciples can use and rely upon.
You would be making a grave mistake by believing those who tell you
otherwise.
ON BEING A WITNESS OF GOD
“And
I will give
power to my
two witnesses, and
they will prophesy
one thousand two hundred and
sixty days, clothed in
sackcloth. These are the two
olive trees and the two lampstands standing
before the God of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire
proceeds from their
mouth and devours their
enemies. And if
anyone wants to
harm them, he must
be killed in
this manner.” (Rev. 11:3-5).
In most people’s minds the word
“witness” conjures up a person who gives testimony in a court of law. Funk & Wagnals International Edition
Dictionary gives the following definition of “witness”: “A person who has seen or knows something,
and is therefore competent to give evidence concerning it; One who has knowledge of facts relating to a
given cause and is subpoenaed to testify.”
What then does it mean to be a
witness of God? It means to know
something about God and to be competent to give evidence concerning Him; it
means to have knowledge of facts about the
There are many ways by which people
obtain knowledge about God and His Kingdom.
Ancient people had visions and dreams or, as in the case of Moses and
many prophets of ancient
For most people this is determined by
their birth. The religion in which they
have been born, the religion of their parents, is the right religion and its
books are the inspired ones. Thus, we have
all been born in the right religion. My
religion is right, your religion is right, everyone’s religion is right; so why
bother with other people’s books and religions when all are right and
inspired? The problem is, God does not
think that way. He says that there is only one Book that is inspired by Him and
only one religion that is right.
“There is one body and one
Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one
faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through
all, and in you all. “But to each one of
us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.” (Eph. 4:4-7).
To find out which religion is that,
you are guided by the words of Jesus Christ.
“Your word is truth” (John
The right religion then is the one
that follows the teachings of the Bible. Yes, but other people make similar
claims about their books and religions. That is true, except that there is one
big difference: fulfilled prophecy.
Biblical prophecies that have been written thousands of years ago have been
fulfilled exactly as the Bible said they would.
Some are being fulfilled right before our eyes, as our readers would
very well know. No other book in the
world and no religion can make such a claim.
How important then is it that people
follow the right religion, and what chances do people who follow other
religions have of being saved? Jesus Christ gave us the answer when He spoke to
a Samaritan woman:
“The woman said to Him,
‘Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this
mountain, and you Jews say that in
The woman said to Him, ‘I
know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will
tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her,
‘I who speak to you am He.’'' (John 4:19-26).
“You worship
what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.” Could anything be clearer?
Later, Jesus and His Apostles qualified this statement by pointing out
that there are two kinds of Jews in the world: those who are Jews by birth, and
those who are Jews by faith. It is to
the Jews by faith that salvation belongs to. Here is the passage that describes
the Jews by birth:
“I know that you are
Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in
you. I speak what I have seen with My
Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.’ They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is
our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham's children, you would do
the works of Abraham. But now you seek
to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.’
Then they said to Him, ‘We
were not born of fornication; we have one Father -- God.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father,
you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of
Myself, but He sent Me.
Why do you not understand
My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the
desires of your father you want to do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own
resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not
believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of
sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore
you do not hear, because you are not of God.’'' (John 8:37-47).
And here is a passage that describes
the Jews by faith:
“For you are all sons of
God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into
Christ have put on Christ. There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male
nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:26-29).
What does it mean to belong to
Christ, to be the seed of Abraham and have God as our Father? It means to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior, to be faithful to God as was Abraham, to love and fear God, to keep His
commandments, to repent, be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit, and to wait
patiently for God’s salvation. This is
what Jesus Christ told His followers:
“If you love Me, keep My
commandments. And I will pray the
Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you
forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither
sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in
you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
A little while longer and
the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will
live also. At that day you will know
that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments
and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My
Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.'' (John 14:15-21).
The presence of the Holy Spirit is
the major difference between the Jews by faith and the Jews by birth. The first have the law of God written in
their heart; the second have it written on parchments. You may have seen the
Jews at worship wearing little boxes on their forehead or tied around their
arms. It is a custom retained by them
from Old Testament times. It was a command given to them by God.
“Now this is the
commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God
has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are
crossing over to possess, that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His
statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your
grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be
prolonged...” “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets
between your eyes.”(Deut. 6:1-2, 8).
The Jews failed to understand that there would be a time when God’s laws
would be written in their hearts.
“But I had concern for My
holy name, which the house of
The Jews who accepted Jesus as their
Lord, received the Holy Spirit and had the law of God written in their
hearts. Those who did not, still carry
it on their arms and as “frontlets between their eyes.” They blame Jesus for supposedly destroying
the laws God gave Moses, when He did no such thing. They failed to understand the difference
between the law of commandments, which both Jesus and His Apostles fulfilled
and preached, and the ritualistic law that became redundant after Jesus’
sacrifice.
“Do not think that I came
to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to
fulfil. For assuredly, I say to you,
till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass
from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least
of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom
of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven. For I say to you,
that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:17-20).
“Render therefore to all
their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom
fear, honor to whom honor. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for
he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery’, ‘You shall not
murder’, ‘You shall not steal’, ‘You shall not bear false witness’, ‘You shall
not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this
saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore
love is the fulfillment of the law” (
“For the law, having a
shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can
never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year,
make those who approach perfect. For
then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified,
would have had no more consciousness of sins.
But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of
bulls and goats could take away sins.
Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
but a body You have prepared for Me. In
burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said,
‘Behold, I have come-- in the volume of the book it is written of Me-- to do Your will, O God. By that will we have been sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and
offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting
till His enemies are made His footstool.
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being
sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said
before, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says
the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write
them, then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no
more...''
“Now where there is
remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. For if we sin willfully after we have
received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for
sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation
which will devour the adversaries.
Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony
of two or three witnesses. Of how much
worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled
the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was
sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:1-7,
10-18, 26-28).
This then is the right religion: love
God and keep His commandments, love your neighbor as yourself, believe in Jesus
Christ, and believe the Gospel of the
In the last couple of years, after we
published the No 3 edition of The
Christian Herald in 1993, in
which we said that anyone could be a witness of God, a number of people
immediately declared themselves to be witnesses of God. That is wonderful news
except that, for reasons of their own, some decided to keep us in ignorance
about work they do. So we cannot tell whether they preach the right Gospel or
not. But since Apostle Paul did not mind
that his adversaries preached Christ, neither do we.
“Some indeed preach Christ
even from envy and strife, and some also from good will: The former preach Christ from selfish
ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the
latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the
gospel. What then? Only that in every way,
whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice,
yes, and will rejoice.” (Phil. 1:15-18).
Whether they preach Christ in
pretence or in truth, we rejoice that He is being preached. Whether they preach the right Gospel and the
whole truth, is for God to judge.
EYES ON
In
the early 1970s, the members of the Worldwide Church of God were quietly encouraged to believe that the
late Herbert W Armstrong and his son Garner Ted were the two end time witnesses
of God spoken of in the book of Revelation.
Everyone’s eyes were on
Herbert
W Armstrong even committed large sums of the church money on archaeological
diggings at the site of the
Archaeological
diggings were normally undertaken by Universities, but the Worldwide Church of
God was no ordinary church. This was the
only true
A
minister once explained to the assembled church that after we gave our tithes
and offerings to the church, it was no longer up to us to determine how the
money was spent. We did not understand
why that explanation was necessary. We
all knew that “the Government of God” would spend the money wisely, but
apparently some people questioned the wisdom of spending the money on projects
that were better done by academic institutions.
What these people did not understand was that Herbert W Armstrong was
getting on in age, and the Israeli Government was dragging its feet about rebuilding
the
But
God did not seem to appreciate his help and did the unthinkable. He delayed the
return of Jesus Christ, postponed the end of the world, looked for someone less
presumptuous to do His work, and sent a “distressing spirit” on him, as He sent
on Saul, the first king of
“Then
Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed [David] in the midst of his brothers;
and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel
arose and went to Ramah. But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD
troubled him.” “Now the distressing
spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear
in his hand. And David was playing music
with his hand. Then Saul sought to pin
David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul's presence; and
he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night” (1 Sam.
The
result was disastrous for the house of the Armstrongs and for the Worldwide
Church of God. The two leaders fell apart,
Garner Ted was ejected from church, and the church began disintegrating. In a lasting gesture of spiteful defiance and
complete disregard for those who maintained his monarchical lifestyle for so
long, he anointed as heir over his religious empire a little known figure who
proved to be woefully inadequate for the job.
It is as if Herbert W Armstrong avenged himself for not being chosen as
God’s witness by giving over to Satan the church which he had built. In a reversal that must have shaken heaven
itself, never heard of in the history of the world, the church which once
maintained a modicum of decency and pretence of searching for the truth, is now
wholly and openly given over to demonism and homosexuality.
The
hatred which developed between the father and the son grew so strong that
Herbert Armstrong died without reconciling himself with the son “in whom he was [once] well pleased”. The two great leaders, “ministers of Christ” and “witnesses of God”,
could not fulfil in themselves the most basic tenet of Christianity, let alone
the role of God’s witnesses.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall
love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good
to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute
you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise
on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what
reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do
you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you
shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt 5:43-48).
“Therefore
if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has
something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way.
First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matt.
5:23-24).
During
his heyday, H. W Armstrong used to preach that the Worldwide Church of God was
doing the work of Elijah - a prophecy that was to be fulfilled concomitant with
the work of the two witnesses. It was a
convenient arrangement: he and his son were to do the work of the two witnesses
and the church as a whole, the work of Elijah.
Nothing was left to happenstance or for other churches to do. It all belonged to the W. C. G. and to the
Armstrong family. But, once again, the
two leaders could not fulfill in themselves what Elijah is to fulfill in the
world:
“Behold,
I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful
day of the LORD. And he will turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their
fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse'.' (Mal. 4:5-6).
Since
they could not turn their own hearts to each other, it means that if they were
the two witnesses and the church was doing the work of Elijah, the earth will
be struck with a curse. Unless, of
course, they were impostors, and God prepared other people to do His work. It is interesting to note that almost every “
But
something rather distressing has happened lately. Since we indicated that the
Scriptures require that the two witnesses be a husband and wife team, his
fortune nose-dived. He no longer
features as prominently and as often in the church’s literature. Other people
have caught up with him and even surpassed him - Vance Stinson is only one of a
number of rising stars - all thoroughly versed in the Scriptures.
But,
as a man of destiny, Garner Ted Armstrong cannot be faulted in his
judgement. Clearly, he knows what he is
doing and where he’s heading. When, in 1993, we criticized him and his evangelists
for going to
Being
the son of Herbert W. Armstrong, he learned a thing or two about the importance
being a friend of those who count. Like his father, he too gives God no choice
but to choose him and his companion for the work of the two witnesses. His followers must have been thrilled to hear
that their leader is a personal friend of the Jewish Prime Minister, thus being
well positioned to prevent anyone else from doing the job of the two witnesses
from
"Adulterers
and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with
God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy
of God." (James 4:4).
Now
no one is accusing Garner Ted Armstrong of being an adulterer, everyone knows
that he not an “adulterer,” but being a friend of those who persecute the Christians,
takes the notion of “enemy of God” to new heights. Take a look at this:
"An
81-year-old man, sent to jail 31 years ago for refusing to grant his wife a
divorce, could go free soon because he is no longer capable of saying yes, an
Israeli newspaper said. The stubborn
husband, Mr. Yehi Eliahu, has become senile and a rabbinical judge has
recommended his release, the daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported yesterday. He was jailed by a rabbinical court, which
handles divorce in
We
do not know whether this man was a Christian or not, but we do know that
Christians are the only people in the world who do not divorce their wives
because their Lord commanded them not to do so, except in cases of sexual
immorality:
"Furthermore
it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of
divorce.' But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except
sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman
who is divorced commits adultery." (Matt. 5:31-32).
A
Christian in
“Since
Islam is normally painted as such an uncivilized and
backward religion, most journalists cannot understand how
an eligible, intelligent and educated young lady could convert to Islam and
actually consider living in an Islamic society.” (SMH, May 29, 1995).
Who
can say which religion is more “uncivilized and backward”? A true Christian cannot. His chances are equally dismal under both.
WOULD THE REAL WITNESSES PLEASE STAND UP?
This
brings us to the question of who are the real two witnesses and what is
their message? No one wants to deny Garner Ted his ambition,
but if he wants to be God’s witness he will need to have a thorough revision of the gospel he is
preaching. First, he would follow Zacchaeus example of restoring to the people
what he obtained with those phony tithing doctrines:
“Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord, I
give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by
false accusation, I restore fourfold.’
And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because
he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save
that which was lost’.'' (Luke 19:8-10).
Then
he would get himself a decent job and follow Apostle Paul’s example:
“I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands
have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. I have shown you in every way, by laboring
like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord
Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts
20:33-35).
He would stop playing the role of God to his
followers by telling them that they are already “chosen” for the
As
people realize that the end is near, they begin to panic, cash in their assets,
quit their jobs, and live their life in abandon. As the panic spreads, more people do the
same, the financial institutions collapse,
industry and communications come to a standstill, governments loose
authority, and chaos and lawlessness become the norm. In a final act of madness, a Russian leader,
seeking vengeance on the West for not rescuing his country’s economy from
collapse, thus rendering its nuclear arsenal obsolete, unleashes a preemptive
strike against the “Zionist” West. The
world is plunged in nuclear nightmare which threatens the very survival of life
on earth. Human beings would have
learned the final lesson that without God they can neither survive nor govern
themselves. Jesus’ prophecy that “unless
those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved” would have been
fulfilled. All these things may well be
true, except for one thing. With all the
disasters, the suffering, and the warnings and preaching from the two
witnesses, the Bible says that no one will know when the end comes.
“Now as He sat on the
Now
how could the world be taken by surprise by these events, as it was taken by
the flood of Noah, if everyone is aware of the work of the two witnesses?
Something isn’t right. Could it be that
we have been sold another fib by those who tell us to keep our eyes on
“Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel
stood, saying, ‘Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who
worship there. But leave out the court
which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to
the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two
months. And I will give power to my two
witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days,
clothed in sackcloth. These are the two
olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire
proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to
harm them, he must be killed in this manner.
These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of
their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to
strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.
Now when they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends
out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill
them. And their dead bodies will lie in
the street of the great city which spiritually is called
Did
you notice that the word “
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened,
and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy
Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of
God, and put Him to an open shame.” (Heb. 6:4-6).
Those
who have fallen away after they have “tested the good word of God... crucify again for themselves the Son of God”. They could be anywhere in the world, not just
in
The
“right” of homosexuals to marry and adopt children? Who gave them this “right”,
the United Nations? The Creator says that this is not “right” but wrong, so
wrong that they will pay with their lives for it. Unfortunately, other people suffer as a
result of their abominations too. Our
leaders would never accept that the current disastrous draught, the
astronomical national debt, the unemployment, the epidemic of youth suicides,
the decay of cities and many other social evils, have anything to do with their policies, their attitude to, and especially
their legislation on, homosexuality.
First, it was the law against homosexual “vilification”. Then gay couples received the rights to be
regarded as normal families. Now, our highest office demands that homosexuals
have the right to “marry” and adopt children.
What next? Are they going to pass
a law that everyone become a homosexual?
Thank God they won’t have time to do that. Those who want children should exercise their
“right” to conceive and rear children, not adopt them after other people have
labored with them and inculcate them with their vile ideas. All these “rights” are being granted to
homosexuals while Christians are being denied the right to speak against such
abominations and against the offensive vulgarities that pass as cultural events
in this city. This is how our political
leaders “crucify again” for themselves the Son of God.
Our
religious leaders have also crucified Christ again by supporting the
Government’s legislation on homosexuality.
As
for our academic leaders, you may have heard of a book by Dr Barbara Thiering
about Jesus Christ. It is the most foul,
blasphemous and offensive book ever written about our Lord. The book became a best seller in its category
as soon as it was published. Dr Barbara
Thiering was a lecturer in Religious Studies at
This
is the kind of world from which the two witnesses will conduct their mission: a
world of homosexuality, idolatry, blasphemy, lawlessness, unbelief, violence,
hopelessness – a world that pays little attention to their work and message.
Which means that of all the Christians in the world and of all the preachers,
priests, ministers, evangelists and church leaders, not one will know who the
two witnesses are or when they are fulfilling their mission. The world has been so saturated with false
gospels that when they hear the true Gospel they will neither recognize, nor
believe, it. Not only that, but because
the two witnesses will preach a different Gospel, they will be hated by all
those who “dwell on earth”. In the end,
they will be killed and their enemies will exchange gifts and pleasantries,
thinking perhaps that they have killed the Antichrists. Their joy will be short lived, for after
three-and-a-half days they will see them revive and rise up to heaven.
What
greater witness can there be against a sinful world than the fact that two
people “clothed is sackcloth” (meaning poor people), who are taking the Gospel
of God, the Gospel of love and truth, to the world (God only knows how, seeing
that they are so poor), are hated by the very people whom they try to save from
annihilation. For if the two witnesses,
one of whom also doing the work of Elijah (the other being a female - his wife
- could not preach), are not successful in their mission, the world will be
destroyed.
Jesus
Christ said, “unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but
for the elect's sake those days will be shortened”. What single event could threaten the survival
of life on earth if not nuclear war? But
since 1990, after the collapse of the
They
foolishly seek means of survival when they should seek means of salvation. It will be a long time before this planet
will offer conditions for an enjoyable and meaningful life after the great
tribulation. Therefore seek to be among
the elect who will be saved, rather than among those who will merely survive
for a little while longer. Here is a
good description of what follows after the great tribulation:
“After these things I heard a loud voice of a great
multitude in heaven, saying, ‘Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power
belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because
He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication;
and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.’ Again they
said, ‘Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!’ And the twenty-four elders and the four
living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying,
‘Amen! Alleluia!’
“Then a voice came from the throne, saying, ‘Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!’ And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’ “And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me,