Blog Archives
GOD REFUTES THE TRINITY DOCTRINE
Whatever one believes about the nature of God, one must know that the traditional Christian doctrine explaining Him never emerged until a full three centuries after the ministry of the Lord Jesus.
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For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), “I am the LORD, and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret, in some dark land; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in a waste place;’ I, the LORD, speak righteousness, declaring things that are upright.
“Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, you fugitives of the nations; they have no knowledge, who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot save. Declare and set forth your case; indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD?
“And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. They will say of Me, ‘Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength.’ Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.” [Isaiah 45:18-24] [1]
THE MISSING TRINITY DOCTRINE
The Lord never spoke of any Trinity Doctrine. There is no mention of a Trinity Doctrine throughout the entirety of Old Testament Scripture or even within the many OT apocryphal works. There is no mention of a Trinity Doctrine in the New Testament either, or in any NT apocryphal works, such as the Book of Enoch, for example, which was quoted by New Covenant writers and which appears at least a tad New Agey. There is no mention of a Trinity Doctrine within the vast library of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date to the first century BC and first century AD. The many Jewish sects of that time period, including the Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, Scribes, Essenes, and Zealots never mentioned a Trinity Doctrine. There is not even any mention of a Trinity Doctrine within the Jewish oral law in general—the Mishna, Talmud, etc. Monotheistic Muslims and Jews think the entire idea of God being composed of three persons is preposterous.
But let’s put all that aside for now. Let’s say that when some second century AD Christian philosophers, theorists, and other interpreters began straying from the pure New Covenant writings and the powerful witness of the original believers and began attributing Roman, Greek, and Egyptian triad formulas to the Christian God that they were on the right track. Let’s say they thought they were acting in good faith in order to gain greater cerebral and intellectual understanding of the Christian God and that they attempted to make the New Covenant writings less confusing and more rational.
Let’s also say that as the third century progressed and this idea was latched onto by a greater number of “church fathers” that they were really onto something deep and profound, and that they began finalizing a previously unknown great revelation, a revelation that was even unknown to such OT stalwarts as Adam, Abel, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and David. And which also, incredibly, somehow remained unknown to all the powerfully anointed-by-the-Spirit-of-God OT prophets put together, including Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and especially Isaiah, as quoted above. This proposed, seemingly previous great unknown revelation had also escaped the notice of the Lord’s close associate and forerunner, the powerfully anointed John the Immerser, who never mentioned it or even alluded to it.
And let’s say these early “church fathers” of the second through fourth centuries AD were incredibly brilliant spiritually, so brilliant and receptive that they discovered and formulated something brand new (but was somehow there all along), though no one else had ever had the understanding or the “eyes to see” to see it. Such spiritually blind people who never saw it also included all the apostles, who were never aware of a Trinity Doctrine and never taught it. These included even the apostles Peter and Paul, the latter of whom wrote most of the New Covenant epistles by the inspiration of God and learned the Gospel through direct communication with God all alone out in the desert. He must have somehow missed that particular class. And let’s say when the final rendition of what we know at present as the classic Trinity Doctrine was authorized and finalized at the Council of Constantinople in AD 381 that they had come up with something that the Lord Jesus Himself either did not know about or never taught if He did know about it.
It appears as though their great brilliance and spiritual knowledge had even superseded His. Wow. No wonder they also officially removed His Name from water baptism.
© 2018 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Is God Three People? JESUS IS “I AM,” THE FIRST AND THE LAST (10)
Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]
A CHRISTIAN’S RELATIONAL CLOSENESS TO GOD IS RELATIVE
The concept of relational closeness to God known by the ancient Hebrews remained in effect at the time of the Lord Jesus. Most of the first century Hebrews knew the Lord as a mere man. Some saw Him as a prophet. He was known by most people not according to His real identity but according to different levels of their limited understanding. Most of them certainly did not understand Him to be the Messiah.
The ancient Hebrews had always known that when Messiah came He would not be a mere man. Thus, Messiah had always been understood to be God Himself and a veritable superman. When the Lord arrived He did so in the most humble manner, arriving as a baby just like everyone else. He is the most humble Man who ever lived. Thus, on the surface, he did not look like the Messiah. He did not meet the majority’s expectations. He certainly did not look like God. BUT HE CERTAINLY ACTED LIKE GOD AND DID THE MIRACULOUS WORKS OF GOD.
There were a few, however, who got it. Most were too far away from God relationally to see Jesus for who He was. They only saw him as a man. A few perceived Him as Elohim. A very small percentage actually did see Him as YHWH and this was an incredible received revelation based on their pure hearts. Of these, an extremely small percentage, like Moses, actually saw the Lord Jesus as I AM WHO I AM. Jesus even referred to Himself as “I AM” on many occasions.
GOD IS STILL ONE
Though the Son of God arrived it did not mean that God suddenly changed forms and was mysteriously transformed into three people. Remember, the early community of the Lord never taught anything even closely resembling a “Trinity Doctrine.” They continued referring to God as ONE Person. The difference is that they received the revelation that “I AM” became a human being.
This did not mean that God did not still fill the Universe. It simply meant that God, who was cut off from a very close relationship with humanity because of sin, entered into a human tabernacle to defeat sin. He came to retake dominion in humanity.
Until He completed His mission He was “God with us” in the process of achieving His mission.
Thus, transforming God into three people is pure heresy. God is not three people and has never been three people. The “Trinity Doctrine” was created by people very far away from God who did not KNOW God in an attempt to define Him in an understandable way to people with no eyes to see and no ears to hear.
THE GREATEST PARABLE
The Lord Jesus never did any such thing. Instead, He basically taught, “If you don’t get it you don’t get it. It’s your problem. My identity is a parable for a reason. Circumcise your heart. Receive the revelation. Figure it out. Open your spiritual eyes. Otherwise, because of your dull heart, you will never KNOW who I really am.”
The Lord Jesus obviously wants to bless us all with abundant life. He suffered and died, giving His perfect life in this cause. But abundant life starts with gaining a very, very close personal relationship with Him. THAT is the secret.
It is up to each one of us to get right with the Lord Jesus and get relationally close to Him. It is never His fault if people insist on idolatry and distance from Him.
In the first century, the Christians who turned the world upside down were those who KNEW the Lord Jesus was I AM WHO I AM. They were extremely relationally close to Him, so close that He did miraculous works through them. All of those who received His Holy Spirit at Pentecost became that way. The evidence of their closeness to God was in what they achieved on the planet.
WE ARE ALL INVITED
“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I AM gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” [Matthew 11:27-30]
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“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.
“I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, THE BEGINNING AND THE END.
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.” [Revelation 22:12-14] [1]
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Is God Three People? THE ONGOING REVELATION OF JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT (9)
Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]
God is not three people. There is no such thing as three persons in a “Godhead.” Most Christians don’t even know what a “Godhead” is. The term derives from a bad translation. It began in the King James Version of the Bible, which is over 400 years old.
“Godhead” only appears three times in the KJV New Testament. The word also appears in other versions. The NASV95, a much better translation, uses the terms “Divine Nature” and “Diety.”
Other versions use the terms, “God,” “that which is divine,” “divine being,” “divinity,” “existence,” and “God’s being.” These terms are derived from only three Greek words. Each word refers to the singular.
THE ONE GOD OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS
The entirety of Old Testament Scripture NEVER teaches anything closely resembling a trinity of persons. To the Hebrews, NOTHING COULD BE MORE HERETICAL. It was the ancient Hebrews, and only the ancient Hebrews, who were originally blessed by the one God with the great revelation that God is one Being. Every other nation on the entire planet believed in a plurality of gods, a sad fact which the Old Testament refers to multiple times. The idea that God was one Being was rejected as heresy by all other nations and the Hebrews paid dearly for the truth God gave them.
But they prevailed. God blessed them. God multiplied them and raised them up. Then the day came when Egypt, the greatest nation on the planet, destroyed itself in attempting to force God’s hand and force His people to remain slaves.
Though Israel later proved itself to be unfaithful and became an adulterous nation which reverted to gross idolatry and a belief in multiple false gods, God remained faithful and there remained a small remnant of faithful believers in His one nation.
THE PROPHETS
No Hebrew prophet ever preached about God being a multiplicity of persons. The entire idea makes absolutely no sense whatsoever anyway. One must remember that when the “Trinity Doctrine” was officially formalized and adopted by Constantine in 325AD, the resultant theology which came much later was superimposed upon Holy Writ in a deceptive attempt to transform truth, and especially the truth of the Lord’s real identity. It is also why the Lord’s powerful Name was eliminated from water baptism.
Wrongheaded theologians began applying Trinitarian theology to a few verses here and there in the attempt to authenticate it upon the minds of their underlings. The OT prophets would have destroyed such theologians in a debate. They would have each insisted and proved that the classic “Trinity Doctrine” was absolutely false and full of holes in that it portrays God as being composed of three people.
“Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none.” [Isaiah 44:8]
“I am the LORD (YHWH): that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. [Isaiah 42:8]
THREE PERSONS IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS THREE PEOPLE
Christians theologians do not use the term “three people” when referring to God. They prefer the term “three persons.” They insist that “people” and “persons” are two completely different words with different meanings. Hence, if one says “God is three persons” one is correct. But if one says “God is three people” one is incorrect. Such a belief is beyond ridiculous and is nothing more than ultra-religious semantic jargon used in the attempt to prove something unprovable.
THE ONGOING REVELATION OF GOD’S REAL IDENTITY
In Genesis 1, God is known primarily by the Hebrew word Elohim. He is always referred to in the singular. ALWAYS.
In Genesis 2:4 a change occurs. It is the actual beginning of the second Genesis creation story. From this point on, God began being known by the words YHWH Elohim:
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD (YHWH) God (Elohim) made earth and heaven. [Genesis 2:4]
The name YHWH was considered so incredibly reverent and holy that is was not even written down by Hebrew scribes in the original OT Scriptures. Instead, the substitute word Adonai was used. Adonai is translated as “LORD” in English versions of the Old Testament and this is why “LORD God” is used in your Bible instead of YHWH God. “LORD God” is translated from YHWH Elohim.
Of course, YHWH is not actually a word in the typical sense but a descriptive Name of God using four Hebrew letters which illustrated a greater relational closeness to His creation. It comes into use just as Adam is created. It is singular. God is always referred to in the singular. ALWAYS.
“JEHOVAH” IS A CORRUPT AND INCORRECT TERM
Thousands of years later, this name of God—YHWH—was corrupted into the form many Christians are familiar with—“Jehovah.” Of course, there is no “J” in the Hebrew and the ancient Hebrews NEVER used this corrupted form. All Christians who use the corrupt term “Jehovah” should cease using it upon learning this truth and begin referring to the real term—the actual OT name of God—YHWH.
I AM WHO I AM
In Exodus 3:14 an even greater revelation of God came forth:
Then Moses said to God (Elohim), “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God (Elohim) of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”
God (Elohim) said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
God (Elohim), furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The LORD (YHWH), the God (Elohim) of your fathers, the God (Elohim) of Abraham, the God (Elohim) of Isaac, and the God (Elohim) of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.” [Exodus 3:13-15]
Only a few people were relationally close enough to God to use and understand this Name. Moses was the first.
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Is God Three People? KNOWING THE REAL IDENTITY OF JESUS (8)
Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]
The Lord Jesus often taught in parables. If one did not have “eyes to see” and “ears to hear” one would not understand. One would not be able to receive revelation knowledge from the Lord. Period.
This parabolic and allegorical teaching approach contrasts sharply with historical and current methods of Christian teaching. The reason why is fairly obvious, though several theories are presented.
One theory consists of the basic difference between Eastern and Western thought. It is said that the Western method of teaching and gaining knowledge consists primarily of using the brain, the intellect, the mind, rational thinking, and the use of facts and figures. The Eastern method of learning primarily uses the heart.
This is a big difference. Since the Lord Jesus used the heart method, we can see that Western Christian thought has diverted from His original approach. This is why the vast majority of Christians are dependent on their brains. They have bypassed the heart. One can never fully know the Lord using the Western method.
REVELATORY KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge from God comes in two principle ways. It comes the way anyone gains knowledge, through what may be termed the regular or standard teaching process in which one learns by receiving facts from teachers and books, and through study of known references and established theories.
Yet, when dealing with the Lord Jesus, one must go beyond such a limited method. Western Christian thought does not and has never felt comfortable with this. The Lord’s original method is perceived as too open-ended. The student is given too much latitude. The student is allowed to be an independent critical thinker. Such allowances are anathema within the confines of limited and structured teachings methods.
In the West facts and figures prevail. People have been trained to receive and deposit facts like little mini-computers or small libraries, and then access such facts when necessary. This takes a lot of work. When one gains a large amount of knowledge and it is all neatly filed away, one has a decided tendency to never check such “facts” for error based on new discoveries. It is a terrible thing when religious institutions and the people thereof become invested in untruth since they refuse new revelation from God.
In the East, since the gaining of knowledge is based on the heart and not the mind, a much different dynamic is relied upon. There is a fluidity in one’s thinking which allows for input from one’s heart, and this is what the Lord was seeking to tap into. He was attempting to relate with others on a heart to heart level.
WHAT IS THE PROOF?
One may wonder, then, how one can prove such facts to be correct. Whereas in Western thought, there need be no actual three-dimensional proof of spiritual facts, in Eastern thought such proofs are demanded. In other words, when the Lord taught about spiritual principles and spiritual cause and effect He had to back it up. Western Christianity in general does not and never has subscribed to this method, largely because it appears too open ended and even spacey. “There must be a foundation!” Its proponents argue, yet they never argue for the real spiritual evidence of the originals.
Such theological brainiacs would have quickly grown exasperated with the Lord’s heart method of teaching. They simply cannot relate to knowing the Lord by revelation, as did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses:
And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders.
“Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.” [Deuteronomy 29:2-4]
Moses spoke these words to the nation of Israel toward the very end of its wanderings in the Sinai. For forty years the Lord took care of them but the entire first generation that left Egypt, save for two men, still did not KNOW Him. They had no heart to KNOW, nor eyes to see, not ears to hear. They did not KNOW and they did not see or hear because the Lord did not give them the ability. They had no revelatory knowledge of God or of spiritual things.
From this we can easily understand that such abilities are GIFTS from God. Like salvation, which can never come by our own works, abilities, or knowledge, no one can gain access to God, no one can KNOW God, and no one can possess eyes to see and ears to hear unless the Lord GIVES a person such revelatory knowledge and ability.
In the above passage we can see that the Lord did not give that first generation of the nation of Israel in the Sinai such ability or knowledge. Why?
The very simple answer is: THEIR HEARTS WERE NOT RIGHT.
Yet subsequent generations of Israelites were blessed by the Lord with the ability to KNOW God according to then present revelation, as well as spiritual eyes and ears. But by the time Messiah arrived such knowledge and ability was largely gone:
“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’” [Matthew 13:13-15]
Their problem was a HEART problem. Their hearts had become “dull.” This word is defined as “thick, fat, stupid, dull, and callous.” Even though their minds might have been sharp as tacks, they were completely oblivious toward spiritual things. And because of that they had NO KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
Like the majority of Western “Christians” they did not know God but only possessed an ill-defined concept of God based on mere human knowledge and mental assent. If one would KNOW God, really KNOW Him, such things will never suffice.
GOD IS NOT THREE PEOPLE
It is why the official “Trinity Doctrine” was invented 1700 years ago, three centuries after the original teachings of the Lord Jesus. The dull-hearted religious clergyites that created it, based on the ancient concept of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman triads, were high-minded, arrogant, philosophical, spiritual lame brains with absolutely NO KNOWLEDGE of God. They had no revelatory knowledge whatsoever. The Lord Jesus had not granted them that because their hearts were wrong, dull, and fat. And until they got their hearts right before God they would stay spiritually stupid.
This is why they invented teachings that supplanted the Lord’s original teachings. And most of all, it is why they created a brand new “Christian Triad.” It came straight from their polluted brains. In doing this they completely violated the first three commandments:
THEY CREATED A GOD TO SUIT THEMSELVES.
The nation of Israel, in its fallen state, had done the same thing. Rather than get right with God and receive by revelation His real identity, they created their own false concept of God.
The following is the Lord’s response to their idolatry:
What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written,
“GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.”
And David says, “LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM. LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER.”
I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. [Romans 11:7-11]
This exact dynamic is currently taking place with reference to the artificial and dull-hearted lords of Unreal Christianity and their followers who worship a god of their own creation, and the Lord’s real disciples whom the Lord Jesus has raised up to make the clueless Christians jealous.
It is why the socially acceptable proponents of traditional Christianity hate and resist anything the Lord does to bring greater light and power to His people.
It is also why they want no part of the coming Great Awakening in America and will be its greatest resistors: The Lord’s revelatory knowledge will destroy them.
It was the same way in the first century between the Pharisees and the Lord and His followers.
It was exactly the same in the fourth century between the new Christian Pharisees and real Christians.
It is the same today.
Those with dull spiritual hearts do not KNOW the real identity of Jesus.
Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. [Psalm 24:3-5] [1]
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Is God Three People? JESUS IS OUR PERFECT EXAMPLE (5)
Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]
Everything that happens in this world can be judged by what happened to the Lord Jesus.
The Scriptures prove with absolutely no doubt that the Lord Jesus is exactly who He said He was. When collected together, the many Old Testament prophecies regarding the coming Messiah were fulfilled to the exact letter by Him. There is no possible way any of it happened by chance. The odds were impossible that He was not the Messiah.
Therefore, the people who discount the Lord Jesus, His historical reality as vouched for in other historical writings of the time, and the many prophecies which He fulfilled, only proves their lack of knowledge and prejudice against Him.
THE GREATEST WINNER OF ALL TIME
When one adds up everything He achieved, the fact that He never did anything wrong, that He never committed a single sin, that He kept all the commandments, that He possessed great miraculous power doing things no one ever did, that He defeated death, hell, and the grave, and most of all, that He consistently showed a pure heart of love for all by giving His perfect life as a sacrifice for His friends, one would think He would be treated with the honor He deserves.
But they killed Him.
That fact right there tells a person all they need to know about this world. This fallen planet, therefore, must be judged by how God Himself was treated when He came here, because that’s exactly who the Lord Jesus is. He is God Himself.
THE MOST HUMBLE MAN WHO EVER LIVED
He was the most humble Man who ever lived. Most people with a mere miniscule fraction of His resume would be spouting off about their own personal greatness and would use whatever talent they were given toward full self-promotion.
Before we go further, it must be noted that the Lord is obviously not against His people doing well, but only that whatever promotion and blessing we receive must come through Him and not be of ourselves:
“Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” [Matthew 12:12]
GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. [1Peter 5:5-7]
This is why the Lord Jesus did not appear to be God. He didn’t look the part. It is especially why He was rejected by the religion boys and “spiritual leaders.” They didn’t think He was anywhere near as good as them (and regardless of how highly they thought of themselves, they were actually complete hell-bound idiots like so many Christian Pharisees of today).
The Lord’s goal and actual destiny was to eventually be first in all things, but the only way He could achieve that was to first be LAST in all things. Remember that when you think about blessing and promotion. He said whoever would be the greatest must first be the greatest servant.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. [Colossians 1:17-18]
Now, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH HAVING A DESIRE TO ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS. Paul said we must run the race well and finish first. Winning and achieving, in fact, is exactly what the Lord has called His people to do:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” [John 14:12]
We were made to achieve great things. It is a joy to be productive. But our achieving must be in line with the Lord’s will. We must always remember that, for the real disciple, anything done is done in partnership with the Lord Jesus.
This is why He set the humble and obedient example He lived out. He said the only things He did were what the Father had for Him to do. His life was a life of service, obedience, and humility.
But after His resurrection He gained ALL power and authority:
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” [Matthew 28:18] [1]
In other words, YHWH successively added all of His power and authority to within the realm of humanity after it had been removed since the time of Adam’s sin. God Himself reestablished His power and authority within humanity after it had been lost by becoming a human being and living a sinless life.
The only way to do this was by taking the humble road. Why? To illustrate how unregenerate human nature is focused on self-exaltation and personal pride, He showed us the proper example and taught us that—
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. [Proverbs 16:18 NKJ]
Therefore, rather than simply eliminate the desire to do great things, we must keep the desire but put it under the Lord’s authority and His leading so as not to go off on personal me-first tangents which always result in some form of destruction.
One may argue that the Lord’s attitude got Him killed. But this is incorrect. His excellent and proper attitude revealed the evil attitudes of His enemies. If a Christian blends in with the world the world will not have a problem with such a Christian. But to be friends with the world is to be the enemy of God. There were many people, however, who loved the Lord and had no evil intent toward Him. Because He was so humble, approachable, gentle, and kind, such people were able to be His friends.
How else could mere human beings relate to the great and mighty God of the Universe? He had to become one of us.
It was an extremely humble and loving gesture on His part. It was also the only possible way to defeat sin and set us free.
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Is God Three People? JESUS IS YHWH (4)
Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]
Since the vast majority of Christians are Trinitarians, even though the first believers were not, one must address this issue if one wants to arrive at truth.
As I said in Part 2 of this series, …The “Trinity Doctrine” was formulated THREE CENTURIES after the Lord Jesus began His community. One can check any reputable reference book for this fact.
There is obviously a lot of confusion regarding this issue but God is not the author of confusion. The confusion has arisen from the enemies of God.
WHO IS THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE?
The Roman Catholic Church says that “God the Father,” not the Lord Jesus, is the Creator. So do the Jehovah’s Witnesses. So do most “Christian” cults. So do most major Protestant bodies who should know better but still reject the many verses of scripture which state clearly that the Lord Jesus is the Creator. They do this primarily because it violates the teaching of the “Trinity Doctrine.” This is why most Christians believe that the Lord Jesus is not the Creator.
They’re all wrong.
In Part 1 of this series I quoted directly from Paul’s letter to the Colossians that the Lord Jesus is indeed the Creator. So why does almost everyone see it differently? Why do most Christians believe something the New Testament does not teach?
I want all of you to know, especially my long time loyal readers and the supporters of this site that I have no agenda other than expressing the truth revealed in the Gospels and New Covenant writings. I am not here supporting any particular denomination, institution, church, or man-made belief system. I am only an apologist for the Lord’s original teachings.
Anyone who is led by the Spirit of God and reads the written Word will soon discover discrepancies between what the Word says and what the majority of Christians have been taught.
There is a reason for this. There is an enemy. And the enemy often shows up as an angel of light:
But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. [2Corinthians 11:12-15]
The apostle Paul was often exasperated in his own time with fake believers. The Lord Jesus was always being accused by fake believers that they were right and He was wrong. In fact, THE MAJORITY was always wrong and was always accusing the Lord and the original apostles of being heretics.
This is why Paul said such a thing should not be seen as surprising. He knew the Lord had enemies. And he knew such enemies were determined to destroy him and they tried many, many times. They also tried to destroy the Lord Jesus many times. From this all real Christians should know, then, that the enemies of God play for keeps. They don’t mess around. They are intent on destroying the Lord and His people.
THE DEVIL GOES TO CHURCH
Satan understood early on that the best way to do serious damage to the Lord’s community was to infiltrate it by disguising himself and going under cover as a believer and even as an angel. He obviously sent demons on such missions. He had no problem finding human beings to join him. He has achieved incredible success at this over the centuries and especially at present.
It is relatively simple for the devil to deceive sinful human beings who are not in fellowship with the Lord. Hence, he began creating confusion from the very beginning of the Lord’s community. It’s what he does. It is what he has always done. He is liar and a master deceiver.
HE SPECIALIZES PRIMARILY IN THE RELIGIOUS LIE.
It is why he has always had so many people on his side who have been brainwashed into believing his religious garbage.
“Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
“But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.” [John 8:43-45]
The Lord Jesus did not look like the truth. His teachings did not sound like the truth. This is why—
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. [John 1:10-11] [1]
How can this be explained? Easy: The Lord Jesus is the Light. But the people thought they were already dwelling in light. However, they were actually dwelling in darkness. They had become convinced by the devil that their darkness was light. So when the real Light appeared and He shone His great light all over their darkness, to them it looked like the worst form of darkness.
It is ALWAYS that way with false religions, cults, and false belief systems, including Unreal Christianity. The people who embrace the lie and live in darkness are so convinced they are right they see the real light as something wrong and even evil. Also, they are extremely uncomfortable with the Light because it exposes their sin and brings them under conviction. They would rather live comfortably in deception and continue in sin.
This is why so many attempts have been made by false believers to deceive the world with false doctrines IN THE NAME OF CHRISTIANITY. And it is why so many people in the world think Christianity is a joke: Many of them are reacting to Unreal Christianity.
I did the same thing. Then, several decades ago, I saw the Light.
A REVELATION OF TRUTH
I discovered that I had been lied to. I was young and didn’t know any better. I had been the victim of a false “Christian” ideology. For that reason I had rejected “official” Christianity as a belief system.
BUT I NEVER REJECTED THE LORD JESUS. I had been taught that He was not God and had come to believe it, but I knew He was good. Since He was not God I wanted to find out who was. Who was this unknown mysterious “God the Father” they kept talking about?
In high school I quit attending church. I started searching for truth. I dedicated my life to this goal. I was relentless. I was very hungry for truth. Then the Lord, completely unknown to me, was able to start guiding me out of deception and toward truth by His Holy Spirit. I was not aware that He was doing this. He led me closer and closer toward the truth. While everyone else was getting on with their lives, I kept searching and studying and doing much research. I rejected a lot of stuff I found to be garbage.
Several years later the Lord Jesus had been able to lead me right to the Door and into His very presence.
It was then that I discovered that the Lord Jesus was not just a good guy, kind of a hippie, who taught peace and love. He was not just another wise teacher like so many others who had come before and since. He was not only the Son of God. And He was certainly not some strange second person of a weird Roman religious trinity.
He showed me that He is the Truth. He revealed to me that He is the One God—the same YHWH of the Old Testament that the patriarchs and prophets knew, and the One embraced and loved by the original New Covenant community.
He is who I had been searching for all along… [To Be Continued.]
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Is God Three People? THE FATHER OF JESUS IS THE HOLY SPIRIT (3)
Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]
.
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” [Luke 1:35]
As noted in the last post, the Lord Jesus continually excoriated the Pharisees and other religious leaders for their rebellious insistence on fake religious tradition. By the time He began His ministry, the entire religious structure of the Hebrew people was based on a false adaptation of the truth.
Making it worse, those who comprised the fake leadership insisted that they were strictly following the Law of Moses and meticulously obeying God’s commandments.
The Lord Jesus said they were not.
THE PRESENT
As we travel back to the present while considering the false and rebellious religious structure of that time among the Jewish people, we see the exact structure in America. Next to no one wants to admit this, however, but most Christians know it is true.
What we need is the Lord Jesus to return to our times and expose this false religious structure and the Christian Pharisees running it the same way He did back then. In essence, this is certainly possible, but not in the way most people think.
THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM
He transferred the keys of the kingdom of heaven long ago, first giving them to Peter as the leader of His immediate group after He left.
“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” [Matthew 16:18-19]
Regarding the first use of the keys and the fulfillment of the above, it is found right here:
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
“For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” [Acts 2:38-39]
Peter, of course, transferred ownership of the keys to every other real believer who obeyed what He commanded at Pentecost. That’s where it began. From that point, with a starting kingdom community of a mere 120 people, each filled with the Spirit of the Lord and each holding the keys of the kingdom, the Gospel began flashing across the land.
NAZARETH
To think that it all started in the humble non-descript little town of Nazareth gives us a great clue regarding the insight and plans of God. Rather than choosing the way most people would choose, including most religious people, the Lord did the opposite.
He chose a humble maiden, pure in heart, willing to obey God completely, certainly not pretty in appearance, from a modest and possibly poor family, in a place with a bad reputation in the far north, away from the great religious centers, and especially far away from Jerusalem.
YHWH chose young Mary to be His mother.
Now, think about that. It appears as though He would destroy His reputation from the very beginning. He took the most humble approach possible.
Returning to the present again, we see that most Christian religious leaders would never do such a thing. They’re obviously not doing it now. They refuse to act as the Lord acted. They are far too concerned with reputation, with what people think, and with operating in such a way that increases the odds of gaining funding.
In essence, most are completely fake just like the religious leaders of the Lord’s time that He continually rebuked.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
I will answer that by asking why it was important for God to do what He did in the first century. He obviously rocked that sorry religious boat then, which means He must rock the even sorrier religious boat existing among most Christians in America at present. He must do this because that which is being presented is fake. It is wrong. It is not Biblical. It stomps on the face of the New Covenant. And people have not only grown to accept it, but like it, and therefore are caught fast in its overpowering deception.
People are not free and fake Christians have no power to set people free.
They do not possess the keys of the kingdom.
RELIGIOUS TRADITION RUN AMUCK
Regarding how strange religious tradition can be, consider the following: We are all taught that “God the Father” is the father of “God the Son.” This is what almost every Christian believes. But it is not true.
It is true from the perspective of the traditional “Trinity Doctrine.” But it is not true according to the Word of God, which clearly states that the Holy Spirit is the Father of the Son:
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.
And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” [Matthew 1:18-21] [1]
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Is God Three People? JESUS IS THE ONLY DOOR (2)
Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]
.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
“But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
“A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.
So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP.” [John 10:1-7]
Trinitarian Christianity has taken the Lord Jesus out of the loop. At best, it has relegated Him to second place. The majority of those who profess Christianity see “The Father” as the real God and the Lord Jesus as something or someone else entirely.
Trinitarian Christianity also denies history. It refuses to acknowledge the very clear fact that the “Trinity Doctrine” was formulated THREE CENTURIES after the Lord Jesus began His community. One can check any reputable reference book for this fact.
The establishment of this doctrine was an effort to make sense of the Lord’s teachings with a purely natural mind, an impossible task, through a complete refusal to enter into the fold of the sheep the proper way.
We now have millions of Christians worldwide who profess something they do not understand and who believe something that makes no sense. If one wonders whether or not he has been deceived by heresy regarding the identity of God, here is the test:
IS THE LORD JESUS FIRST? IS THE LORD JESUS ACKNOWLEDGED AS YHWH?
Anything less than this denotes that a person has been deceived by a man-made doctrine in the effort to remove a pure and direct connection to God and thereby render one much less than one should be as a disciple.
MOST CHRISTIANS REFUSE TO SEARCH OUT HISTORICAL ROOTS
Christians prefer to accept things at face value, having been conditioned to believe what they are told through the quashing of all dissent. Christians should know why this is and many do know but refuse to face it, but the answer is otherwise obvious:
Religious controllers cannot gain full control unless they force their followers to believe everything they teach. And the first thing they teach is that they are the boss.
The formulators of the original “Trinity Doctrine” knew this, of course, and created it for that very reason. It is for the same reason that the Lord Jesus was removed from His high place of honor and was replaced with a mythical “Father” completely separate from Him. This replacement “God the Father” is NOT the Father referred to in the New Covenant writings.
This removal of the Lord Jesus from first place also removed His Name from first place. THE SPIRITUAL POWER THAT ALL REAL CHRISTIANS HAVE BEEN GRANTED COMES THROUGH THE PROPER USE OF THE NAME OF JESUS.
When His Name, the Name above every name, was removed, it also removed the power. This is why the majority of “Christians” to this day do not possess the power of God that the early community of the Lord Jesus had. It is why a completely different “Christianity” emerged in later centuries and why this false form of Christianity—Unreal Christianity—has no spiritual power with God, has no miraculous works, and refuses or is unable to use the powerful Name of Jesus properly.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
It is why Unreal Christianity is spiritually dead and completely ineffective. IT HAS BYPASSED THE ONLY DOOR.
And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’
“Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.
…thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.” [Mark 7:6-9, 13] [1]
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Is God Three People? JESUS MUST BE FIRST (1)
Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]
.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. [Colossians 1:15-18]
The Lord Jesus warned us about heresy. When one studies His teachings intently without bias or preconceived religious notions, there is a constant theme running throughout His entire curriculum:
“I AM GOD.”
Now, right off the bat, many Christians have a problem with that. They do not consider the Lord Jesus to be God. But it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks or believes if it disagrees with what the Lord Jesus taught. Consider the following:
“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” [Matthew 10:38]
SELF SACRIFICE
It is impossible to be a real Christian without sacrificing one’s life for Him. The cross points directly to sacrifice. The Lord Jesus calls whoever would be His real follower to self sacrifice on a cross.
The cross He is talking about, though figurative, is absolutely necessary to the new life He desires to give us. Without one’s personal sacrifice upon a cross it is impossible to be a real Christian and have new life in Him.
In essence, unless one takes up his cross, he does not consider the Lord Jesus to be worthy of such a personal sacrifice.
This presents a problem, however, for those who want to be Christians but refuse to sacrifice their lives. The problem is solved by simply changing the rules regarding what it means to be a Christian. Changing the rules is actually changing the Lord’s teachings to suit one’s desires, which is exactly equivalent to denying the Lord Jesus.
And it is this denial of the Lord Jesus by not considering Him worthy that has spawned Unreal Christianity.
UNREAL CHRISTIANITY DENIES THE LORD JESUS
Yet, the majority of “Christians” are still unclear on the concept. They refuse to put the Lord Jesus in first place. There is one predominant reason for this:
When the classic “Trinity Doctrine” was invented and officially established THREE CENTURIES after the Lord Jesus taught His original followers, it established that the Lord Jesus was not Immanuel— “God with us”—but merely the second person of a three person union.
What is even stranger than this concept of a three person union is the belief that the second and third persons are somehow not as worthy or important as the first person, even though the classic trinity doctrine never states such a thing. It states that each of the three persons is completely equal to the other.
It also states that even though there are three persons, it does not mean there are three gods. It states there is only one God.
Later false teachings, however, which gave rise to predominant belief, state that it is only the first person who should be honored the most, who actually has the most power and authority, and who is the actual God. Where does that leave the second and third persons?
The first person then, according to this belief—the Father, or God the Father—is the actual God among the three persons. Thus, the proponents of the classic trinity doctrine break its own rules by giving the implication that the first person is greater than the other two persons, one of which is the Lord Jesus.
Thus, again, the second person—the Lord Jesus—is secondary to the first person, which is a complete destruction of the teachings of the Lord Jesus, who never taught anything even closely resembling a three person union in a “Godhead.”
The Lord Jesus never taught that God is three people.
What He actually taught was that we must give our lives to HIM. We must follow HIM. We must obey HIM. We must be HIS disciples. This obviously means HE must be in first place.
He never taught us to bypass HIM and follow the Father:
And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
“He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.
“If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” [John 12:23-26] [1]
REAL DISCIPLESHIP
1. One can never be glorified without first being crucified.
2. In order to be crucified one must take up one’s cross.
3. Unless a seed is planted in the earth and dies it remains merely a seed.
4. Each human being is a seed. A seed is worthless until it is planted.
5. Only seeds that are planted in the ground and die (are crucified) rise to new life and bring forth spiritual fruit.
6. The word “lose” in the above verse means to destroy, which means one who refuses to be planted as a seed in the effort to save his life actually chooses to destroy his life. It is only through destroying one’s old life (undergo real repentance) that one can rise again to new life.
7. The new spiritual birth demands an end to the life created by the first natural birth.
8. One will never serve the Lord Jesus, follow the Lord Jesus, be where the Lord Jesus is, or be worthy of the Lord Jesus without voluntarily submitting to real repentance and undergoing a new spiritual birth, which entails taking up one’s cross, which means sacrificing oneself for HIM.
He is worthy. He is God. He must be first.
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Water Baptism in the Name of Jesus
There’s power in the Name of Jesus.
But apparently not in baptism.
The vast majority of Christians worldwide for the last two-thousand years have absolutely refused to invoke the Name Above Every Name [1] in water baptism.
By this, at the very onset of their Christian walk, they have failed to honor the Lord Jesus though simultaneously claiming a very close walk with Him.
Most are simply unaware. Many have been taught an alternative method and have accepted it, though it violates Scripture. Some simply do not care.
What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.
“Baptism doesn’t matter. So back off.”
“Baptism is very important, of course, but the first Christians obviously got it wrong.”
“Baptism in the Name of Jesus is heresy.”
“Oh that. Yeah, there’s some weird people out there doing some weird stuff, especially those guys. The verse at the end of Matthew is very clear on the right way to baptize.”
Despite the fact that every single reputable Biblical encyclopedia, dictionary, ancient source, and denominational historical record states flatly and clearly that the original water immersion method taught and administered by the apostles included invoking the pure and holy Name of Jesus, about 95% of all Christians continue to refuse to use the Lord’s Name in baptism. And most conduct baptism in a man-made non-Scriptural manner.
This disses the Lord.
If a Christian believes in and honors the Holy Trinity, (a non-Biblical term), his or her water baptism will certainly reflect it. He or she will honor these three distinct Persons by invoking their Biblical titles. He or she will honor the first Person of the heavenly Godhead—the Father. He or she will honor the second Person of the heavenly Godhead—the Son. And he or she will honor the third Person of the heavenly Godhead—the Holy Spirit.
There’s only one little problem.
This is something the first followers of Jesus never did.
And the reason why is simple: They recognized Jesus the Messiah as YHWH Himself. And they honored the one God of the Hebrews and showed their allegiance to Him by invoking His Name, the Name Above Every Name, in water baptism. They were taught by the apostles themselves, who set the precedent, and who were themselves taught directly by the Lord Jesus.
The record in the Book of Acts and throughout the epistles is clear—there is absolutely no Scriptural historical evidence whatsoever for title baptism. It never occurred. It was a much later development.
Now, why does one suppose this happened? Why was it officially changed, though the Word of God continues to loudly declare it openly and exclusively? Who could possibly be responsible for removing the powerful and holy Name of the Lord Jesus from baptism?
Regarding the Word of God, which Christians claim to honor, here is the overwhelming evidence that demands a verdict:
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” [Mark 16:15-18]
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. [Acts 2:38-41]
But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. [Acts 8:12-17]
So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; [Acts 9:17-18]
“A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’” [Acts 22:12-16]
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days. [Acts 10:44-48]
It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. There were in all about twelve men. [Acts 19:1-7]
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. [Romans 6:3-4]
Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. [1 Corinthians 6:11]
There is a reason such verses of Scripture bring strong reactions. If one studies the Book of Acts, one discovers that the enemies of the Lord hated His Name, and they hated His followers’ use of His Name. They knew there was great power in the Name of Jesus, and they knew it greatly superseded their power.
Demons were cast out by the Name of Jesus, not mere titles.
Miraculous healings took place by the Name of Jesus, not mere titles.
People were being made free from the wicked power of sin by the Name of Jesus, not mere titles.
Concerning the command of the Lord regarding water baptism, why have most Christians agreed with the enemy?
“There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” [Acts 4:12]
This is why Peter said what he did at the conclusion of the first prototypical message of the Church Age. Immersion in water in the name of Jesus signified the giving of oneself to Jesus as one’s Lord and Savior. It signified an extremely undignified and all-embracing act—dying completely to self—performed in the open and recorded in public for all to see. It signified the burial of the repentant (dead) person and total surrender to the Lord Jesus.
Instead of dissing the Lord in baptism, it was the highest possible form of praise.
Real Christians are constantly on the move toward greater spiritual growth and maturity, the gaining of more revelatory knowledge, and a closer walk with the Lord. We learn new things all the time. Life with the Lord Jesus is a spiritual adventure. It is productive and fruit-bearing, though there are times of severe struggle and trial.
However, resistance against new revelation is often on the surface, ready to emerge. In light of that:
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. [2 Timothy 2:15]
Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. [Acts 17:10-11]
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. [Colossians 3:17] [2]
© 2012 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Philippians 2:9
[2] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
