The Trinity Refuted

By quoting just a few scriptures, the teaching of the trinity can easily be disproved. I will quote five passages, and, if at all necessary, write a short comment to each. We should accept the simple words of scripture, instead of philosophizing around them. I am quoting from the Concordant Literal New Testament. 

John 5:36-38 

Jesus speaks out: "Now I have a testimony greater than John's. For the works which the Father has given Me that I should be perfecting them, the works themselves which I am doing are testifying concerning Me that the Father has commissioned Me. And the Father Who sends Me, He has testified concerning Me. Neither have you ever heard His voice nor a perception of Him have you seen. And His word you do not have remaining in you, for that One Whom He commissions, this One you are not believing." 

God, the Father, commissioned the Son. God the commissioner, Christ the one commissioned. 

1Corinthians 8:4-6

Then, concerning the feeding on the idol sacrifices: We are aware that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God except One. For even if so be that there are those being termed gods, whether in heaven or on earth, even as there are many gods and many lords, nevertheless for us there is one God, the Father, out of Whom all is, and we for (lit. into) Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom all is, and we through Him. But not in all is there this knowledge. 

God the source, Christ the means. 

Philipians 2:5-11

For let this disposition be in you, which is in Christ Jesus also, Who, being inherently in the form of God, deems it not pillaging to be equal with God, nevertheless empties Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming to be in the likeness of humanity, and, being found in fashion as a human, He humbles Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 

Wherefore, also, God highly exalts Him, and graces Him with the name that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should be bowing, celestial and terrestrial and subterranean, and every tongue should be acclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God, the Father.

Supposing the trinity was true, how could Christ be inherently in the form of Himself, or equal with Himself, or how could He exalt Himself, or grace Himself with the name above all names? 

Colossians 1:15 

(Christ), Who is the Image of the invisible God, 

How in the world can we read this to mean that Jesus Christ, the Lord, and God, the Father, are the same "person"? Tell me! Anyone? God, the divinity, is invisible, and Jesus Christ is the perfect image or display of that being, out of Whom all is. 

1Timothy 2:5-7

... there is one God, and one Mediator of God and mankind, a Man (lit. human), Christ Jesus, Who is giving Himself a correspondent Ransom for all (mankind, cp. 2:4) (the testimony in its own eras), for which I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying, a teacher of the nations in knowledge and truth. 

One God and one Mediator of God and mankind. Two, not one. Jesus Christ is the mediator of mankind. He is a species by himself. Not mankind, nor God, the Father, but right in between the two. He is the perfect, flawless mediator, in Whom we can see the Father in a form that we can understand and perceive. 

Now, we may wonder, what about the holy spirit? The Trinity says it is a separate "person" in the Godhead. These are unscriptural terms, first of all, and should be discarded immediately, for they don't help to come closer to God, but rather distract us from Him. Second of all, we need to face the fact that God is spirit (John 4:24). If we are aware of this and then read Luke 1:35 we see that holy spirit and God is the same. 

And answering, the messenger said to her, "Holy spirit shall be coming on you, and the power of the Most High shall be overshadowing you: wherefore also the holy One Who is being generated shall be called the Son of God." 

The messenger that speaks to Miriam, the mother of Christ, doesn't say that the holy spirit comes on her, but holy spirit, without the article. Note the parallelism of Holy spirit and power of the Most High. This verse proves that spirit is the means by which God generates, how He effects things in this world. Spirit is an element, a force or power, not a "person". Also, if God and holy spirit were not the same, how could Jesus Christ be called the Son of God? Is Jesus Christ called the Son of the Holy Spirit anywhere in the scriptures? 

Job's Faithful Words (No.2)

And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. 

(Job 42:7, KJV) 

The book of Job is one of those literary works that deserves close attention. Reading it and believing the parts that pleased God is very deserving and instructive. The quote above is from the end of the book and marks Job's own words as pleasing to God. This is why we can read his words without having to be on the lookout for blasphemous or wrong teachings. Therefore, here is another beautiful bit out of the mouth of our beloved Job: 

A human, born of a woman,

Is short of days and surfeited with disturbance. 

He comes forth like a blossom and is snipped off;

He races away like a shadow and does not stand. 

Indeed, it is on one like this that You focus Your eyes, 

And You bring me into judgment before You. 

Who can make what is clean from the unclean? 

No one. 

Since his days are decided, 

The number of his months are set by You, 

And You have made his statutory time, 

Which he cannot surpass. 

Be heedless of him, and forbear, 

Until like a hireling, he may fill in his days. (Job 14:1-6, CV)

These words should humble us. God is the one in charge, and we are like hirelings fulfilling our duty set by Him on this planet earth. This is truth and a lesson not learned by most people. The days of each individual are already decided, the number of their months are set by God, and He has made the required times for each and everyone. Dear reader, Do you believe all this? You better read and heed if you don't!

Eph 5:22-33--The Bride vs. The Body

A brother in the faith claimed that Paul calls us believers His bride or wife. This, he said, was in addition to the ecclesia (church--the out called lot of believers today) being called the body of Christ. He founded his argument on Eph 5:22-33, and especially on verse 32. 

But if we look at the passage closely, at best accurately translated, we will soon find out that Paul does not use the figure of the bride for the body of Christ. 

The graphic I inserted here shows the text of Eph 5 and is formated in such a way as to show the corresponding parts of the text. The indented and unindented bits correspond topic-wise respectively. The unindented ones give us the relationship between man and wife (human perspective), whereas the indented lines describe the relationship between Christ and his out-called people ('the church') (divine perspective). 

Throughout the text we learn through the little Greek words for 'as' and 'according as' how the relationship of man and wife relates to the relationship between Christ and His church: 

This is how the two relationships relate, clearly stated in vv. 23, 28, and 30. Please note the fact that the ecclesia is not denoted as the wife of the Christ anywhere here in this passage. Rather, Christ, the head, and the husband correspond, and the ecclesia, the body of Christ, and the wife correspond. 

Now, my friend in the faith claimed that the quote from Gen 2:24 proves that the imagery of the bride/wife is used of the body of Christ as well. But this is not in the text. The whole scope of the passage disproves it. 

If we take even just a brief look at the context of the Genesis text, we will notice that the man leaves his parents because the woman was part of his body once and he wants to be rejoined to her. The body or the flesh is in view, not the fact that the person for whom the man is leaving his parents is a woman or his wife. 

Again, verse 31 corresponds with the other verses that give us the human perspective or relationship. In this sphere, and according to the context of the quoted Genesis verse, the man loves his wife because she was part of his body, and, initially, the man leaves his parents to love and be joined to her for the same reason. In other words, the love, or the desire to become one flesh with the woman, which is an expression of love, of the husband is in view in verse 31, just as it is in verses 25a, 28, 29a, and 33. 

What about verse verse 32 then? 'This secret' seems to refer to the expression of the love of the man towards  the woman. The being one flesh of the man and the woman apparently foreshadows the being one flesh of the Christ and His ecclesia. And exactly here is the point where the relation stops: Only the "one-fleshness" of man and woman corresponds with Christ and His ecclesia. Just as the man is head of the woman, and the woman part of the body of the man, thus also is Christ Head of the ecclesia, and the ecclesia is part of the body of Christ. 

The body (of Christ) is not denoted as bride or wife of Christ in this and no other passage of the bible. The body of Christ is a distinct group of believers; it does not belong to the bride, which is saved and protected Israel in the time of restoration of the Kingdom to Israel on this earth (cp. Isa 49(:18), 61(:10), 62(:5), best read in context! Also Jn 3:29, Rev 19:7, 21:2,9). 

Rotherham vs. The Concordant Version

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/082543601X/sr=1-1/qid=1156419031/ref=sr_1_1/002-5108174-0736800?ie=UTF8&s=books

Check out this link. It is 'Rotherham's Emphasized Bible' on Amazon.com. Scroll down to the 9th review of Nathaniel Merritt and read it! He's got it right on the spot. 

Rotherham's is already an accurate translation, as it appears, I have never put my hands on it, but the CV goes way above it, just as Nathaniel states in his review, and with which I agree. You who are reading this, if you are revering God, the creator of this universe, and want to know about all His thoughts for all of his creatures, get a copy of the Concordant Version at www.concordant.org, if you haven't already! Do it now! You will not regret it! 

The Beauty of God's Will

Jesus declares: 

"All was given up to Me by My Father. 

And no one is recognizing the Son except the Father; 

neither is anyone recognizing the Father except the Son 

and he to whom the Son should be intending to unveil Him." 

(Mt 11:27, CV) 

Have we done anything for our knowledge of the Father? None at all. It was Jesus Himself who unveiled the Father to us, He intended it in the first place, we didn't seek God, the Father (Ro 3:11). Let us always remember that our salvation from death does not spring from our own deserts, our own initial decision, or our own morally good constitution. God alone! All that we are in Christ was the work of God alone (cp. Eph 2:8-10, CV)! 

Psalm 12

A Davidic Psalm 

1 Do save, O Yahweh, for the benign one has reached an end, 

For the faithful ones have disappeared 

from the sons of humanity; 

2 They speak hypocrisy, each one with his associate; 

With a lip of slick words, 

with a double-minded heart they speak. 

3 May Yahweh cut off all lips of slick words, 

The tongue speaking great things: 

4 Who say, With our tongue we shall have mastery; 

Our lips are our own; who is lord over us? 

5 Because of the devastation of the humbled, 

Because of the groaning of the needy, 

Now I shall arise, says Yahweh; 

I shall set him in safety; 

I shall shine forth for him. 

6 The words of Yahweh are clean words, 

Silver refined in a kiln, 

Fine gold cupelled seven times. 

7 You O Yahweh, You shall guard them; 

You shall preserve us from this generation for the eon. 

8 The wicked walk round about, 

As the squanderings of the sons of humanity are exalted. 

Permanent 

This psalm is beautiful if studied in its entirety. Quite common is the practice among believers to take scriptures out of its immediate or remote context, which has lamentable consequences. There are buckets full of erroneous teachings among Christians - so many that you can't be wary enough when reading or listening to sermons or talk with believers. Let us, therefore, give the structure of these few lines in order to get an idea of the scope of this psalm: 

A1 | 1. The faithful one calls for salvation (General)

B1 | 2. The unfaithful

A2 | 3. The faithful one calls for salvation (Specific) 

B2 | 4. The unfaithful 

A3 | 5-7. Yahweh (answer) and the faithful one (reaction)

B3 | 8. The unfaithful 

From this we can see that the psalm follows an extended alternation. There are only two topics in this psalm, faithfulness and unfaithfulness. These are treated in an alternating manner; in the diagram indicated by the indented B and the letter A, which respectively correspond with each other in topic. 

Let us note the unfaithful one's traits: hypocrisy, double-mindedness, denial of God's lordship. These are common traits of those who are unfamiliar with God, who have no faith, and live in the world. The Psalm juxtaposes the wicked and the faithfulness of Yahweh in such a way that especially the words in v. 6 shine out. The words of Yahweh - clean, refined, and cupelled seven times - are the exact opposite of the impure, hypocritical, and boastful words of those who don't know God. God holds on to what He says, there is no lie or impurity in a single one of His utterances, He doesn't say the one thing in one instance and the other or complete opposite in another. 

All this wouldn't be too bad, as long as we are only speaking of unbelievers in verses 2, 4, and 8, and not about believers, or the righteous or faithful one's. But scripture also declares, with a special view to us, the body of Christ, that even among believers such practices would be common: 

Now the spirit is saying explicitly, that in subsequent eras some will be withdrawing from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons, in the hypocrisy of false expressions, their own conscience having been cauterized (1Tim 4:1,2) 

Certainly, the unbelievers described in Psalm 12 have a cauterized conscience; else, how could they speak hypocritical? Just as they, so the believers. As I have already mentioned, a lot of erroneous teaching among Christians has arisen because of taking scripture out of context. But that is not the only means by which false teachings are introduced into the body of Christ. 

If we consult christian commentaries, many expressions are used that are unscriptural, expressions that are not found in the scriptures anywhere. This isn't surprising because God Himself predicted such confusion and heeding of demonic teachings. One source of wrong doctrinal teaching is mistranslation. Many translations are either inconsistent or simply incorrectly translated. These false expressions, which are put upon the original (Hebrew or Greek) text, lead to many teachings that are contrary to God's revelation. The idea about humanity having a free will is a good example for that. 

In the light of the original texts, we must say that teachings of demons have found entrance into many commonly used translations. This is a fact verifiable by studying the scriptures faithfully, preferably with an accurate translation (e.g. the Concordant Version). 

O Soul WHAT art thou? (No. 2)

The soul is not immortal. A further fact that helps to establish this truth is the coming into existence of the soul by spirit. The account of the forming of humanity in Genesis 2 gives us an enlightening view of it:

And forming is Yahweh Alueim the human of soil from the ground, and He is blowing into his nostrils the breath of the living, and becoming is the human a living soul. (v.7)

Note that the article in front of 'breath' and 'living' is missing (that is why I put it down in light face type). There is no breath imparted into the human that has a separate personality, or is a separate entity. It is simply breath, the element, that is imparted and makes the human a living and moving soul.

In this account, we have the three basic elements of humanity: body, spirit, and soul. That 'breath of living' is associated with spirit can we learn from Gen 7:22:

Everyone which has the breath of the spirit of the living in his nostrils, of all that were in the drained area, dies.

This statement comprises humans as well as animals. All have spirit in them that makes them living souls. We have the same phrase like in Gen 2 here, but with the little addition of the Hebrew word for 'spirit', and again without any article.

Helpful to bear in mind is the literal meaning of this word for 'spirit' in Hebrew. Literally, it denotes wind and is even in a few cases translated thus. The word, therefore, is used figuratively, to denote the element in humanity that imparts life to the body, makes him a living soul. Spirit, just as wind, is invisible, and we can only see the effects of it, just as we can only see the wind moving the trees (cp. Joh 3:8). Spirit is a principle, an element, just, for example, as water or gas. More to that later.

Again, then, imagine you die. What happens? God gathers back the spirit he imparted into the body (Eccl. 12:7; Lk 23:46; Joh 19:30), and, logically, the soul stops being a living soul. It stops functioning, if you will. Without spirit no life.

All of this overwhelmingly proves that the soul is not immortal!

O Soul WHAT art thou? (No. 1)

Is the soul immortal? Christianity would say 'yes, of course', and I believe too many believers would chime in. This view, however, is far from the truth. The sacred scriptures do not in any place testify to us that our soul lives on after we die.

There is an ample number of passages that speak of the soul dying. Here is just a selection of the many:

'and live may my soul' (Gen 12:13, Abram was afraid of being killed by the Egyptians)

'May my soul die the death of the upright' (Num 23:10)

'rescue our souls from death' (Joshua 2:13)

'Let my soul die with the Philistines' (Judges 16:30)

These few verses prove that the soul cannot be living after death. There is nothing more that needs to be said concerning these verses. It should discard any teaching about the immortality of the soul!

Another fact that we need to bear in mind is that the soul is in the blood. This we read in Gen 9:4, Lev 17:10-16, Deut 12:23.

'Yea, only flesh with its soul, its blood, you shall not eat.'

'for the soul of the flesh, it is in the blood'

'But be steadfast by no means to eat the blood, for the blood, it is the soul, and you shall not eat the soul (blood) with the flesh.'

Now, imagine you die. What happens, your blood stops flowing through your body and it coagulates, clots, and finally decays. Consequently, how can the soul be still alive or functional if the blood, which is the soul, stops to flow and decays? Blood and soul cannot be separated. Blood equals soul. If the blood stops, the soul stops to be soul. Simple really.

Job's Faithful Words (No.1)

And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. (Job 42:7, KJV) 

This is after the long dialogues between Job and his friends, and the final replies by God to Job. Simply put, we learn, directly from God, that Job's words were pleasing to Him. So we can happily read and accept the words out of Job's mouth as truthful, ready for our faith. Let me, then, quote a longer passage from Job's reply to one of His friend's remarks (what Job says here is almost too good to take out of context; please, also, read the context, ch 11:1-20, to get a even better understanding of Job's words): 

So Job answered, saying: 

Truly, you are the people, 

And with you wisdom shall die! 

However, I have heart understanding as well as you; 

I am not falling behind you; 

For who is there not knowing such things as these? 

As the sport of his associates am I becoming, 

Who was calling on Eloah, and He answered him, 

Made sport of, though righteous and flawless. 

Contempt for misfortune is in the reflections 

of the self-satisfied one, 

Readied for those of tottering feet. 

The tents of devastators are at ease, 

And for those disturbing El there is serenity, 

For him who brings along an eloah in his hand. (Job 12:1-6, CV) 

Isn't this exactly how it is around us? Those who live immorally, despising and not knowing God, they get on in live, they achieve things, they attain to a live that is more than desirable despite their destructive behavior in so many respects. They even tend to live in serenity. People may spit in the face of God, but still live a normal live without apparent difficulties. 'This is unjust', we may easily think, those of us who try to live a life of devoutness and piety. 'Why don't these godless ones perish, fall, or trip?' Amazingly, contrary to many an explanation for the reason of the behavior of such people, Job goes on: 

Nevertheless, ask, I pray, one of the beasts, 

and let it direct you, 

And the flyer of the heavens, and let it tell you, 

Or importune (ask pressingly) to the earth, and it shall direct you, 

And let the fish of the sea recount it to you. 

Who among all these does not know 

That the hand of Eloah, it has done this? 

In whose hand is the soul of every living creature 

And the spirit in all flesh of man. 

Does not the ear test declarations 

As the palate tastes its food? 

Does wisdom come with being hoary headed, 

And understanding with length of days? 

With Him are wisdom and mastery; 

His are counsel and understanding. 

If He demolishes, it shall not be rebuilt, 

Or He locks up a man, it shall not be opened. 

If he restrains the waters, they shall dry up, 

Or He sends them forth, they shall overrun the earth. 

With Him are strength and prosperity; 

Both the erring one and the one causing error are His. 

Causing counselors to go forth looted, 

He also makes judges rave as fools. 

He unlooses the disciplining authority of kings, 

And He binds a belt about their waists. 

Causing priests to go forth looted, 

He also overthrows the well-established. 

Putting away the eloquence of the sure, 

He also takes away the discretion of elders. 

Pouring out contempt on patrons, 

He also makes the cordon of the mighty repressors 

fall slack. 

Exposing the deep things out of darkness, 

He also brings forth the blackest shadow to light. 

Making nations grow great, He also destroys them; 

Spreading out nations, He also guides them away. 

Putting away heart understanding from the heads 

of the people of the earth, 

He also causes them to stray in a wayless wasteland. 

They grope in darkness with no light, 

And He makes them stray like a drunkard. (Job 12:1-25, CV) 

Evil or Darkness is accredited to God. The erring one and the on causing error are his. God is in charge! Glorious! He pursues a purpose with everything. He is in control of all creation, the complete physical and spiritual realm! He stirs His universe into the one direction, to reconcile all to Himself through Christ (Col 1:18-20), after He has lead it through confusion and evil! What is a better prerequisite for perfect bliss?  Good is never appreciated without evil. Good cannot be experienced without evil! 

God, The Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth

At that season, answering, Jesus said,

"I am acclaiming Thee, Father, 

Lord of heaven and earth, 

for Thou hidest these things from the wise

and intelligent and Thou dost reveal them 

to minors. Yea, Father, 

seeing that thus it became a delight in front of Thee. 

(Mt 11:25,26, CLV)

A lord has authority over something, be it slaves or a piece of land. Whatever the lord pleases he may do with whatever he has authority over. This is the simple meaning of the word lord, even in the Greek language. 

Jesus declares that His Father is Lord of heaven and earth. Heaven (sing.), the visible atmosphere around the earth, earth, that on which we walk and live. Now God is the owner of both, and He may do with it as it pleases Him. 

God's Lordship over heaven and earth goes even so far that He has total control over those walking on it. He locks up comprehension. He hides. Those who had heard Jesus speaking about the kingdom did only those understand to whom God intended to reveal it. None else! Jesus Himself confirms this simple truth. Can we grasp it? Can we believe it? Can we fully acknowledge that even Judas went against Messiah because God made him to? Too hard to believe? Or that all that were involved in the assassination of our dear and innocent Lord Jesus Christ acted in accord with our Creator's counsel? Too hard to believe? Read Acts 4:27,28: 

both Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the nations and the peoples of Israel, [...] do whatever Thy hand and Thy counsel designates beforehand to occur. 

Amazing indeed! None of the events recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were anywhere outside of God's hand. Everything was designated before to occur. Truly, God is in charge! God does as it pleases Him with His creation! 

The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. (Prov16:4) 

Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. (Jer 10:23)

All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or tell him, What do you? (Dan 4:35)

For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. (Ro 9:15,16)

Which God Do We Believe?

THE GOD OF CHRISTENDOM 

God, in the beginning, created a perfect Angel called the "Anointed Cherub" whose name was Lucifer.

 

This perfect Angel one day fell in sin, and became a devil, ruining much of God's universe, and is the cause of all sin and evil, and also the cause of ruin and sin in other perfect angels, now called demons.

 

Author's note: This reminds one of a man who invents a machine or creates something for the good of himself and humanity, and then this machine goes out of his control and ruins all, against the original will and intention of the inventor.

 

God then was fortunate to have a son who, being purposed to die on Calvary, could at least salvage part of the ruin.

 

God then wanted human beings by the millions to love and serve and worship Him, and He "willed all mankind to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth."

 

But alas, the newly created Adam and Eve also went bad on God, and again God's intention with the human race failed. Again He blundered.

 

The best that God can now do since Adam, is to appeal and beg and plead with sinners so He at least gets some in heaven, otherwise the Devil gets them all in hell.

 

The Devil is also appealing to sinners not to accept Christ, and thus He is trying to get as many as He can into an endless hell. God is trying to get as many as He can into heaven.

"God's" Failure and Satan's Victory

Author's note: Thus the conclusion must be reached that the Devil's will is more powerful and successful than God's. Hell must then be forever and ever a monument to God's failure and to Satan's victory.

 

God foresaw all of these millions and billions of human beings when He created Adam and Eve, and He must have seen what an expensive proposition it would be; what a gamble; for He would have to send about 500 or more to an eternal hell for each one which He gets in heaven.

 

Then at the Tower of Babel, He deliberately upsets the one language of the world, and makes it that much more difficult for heathens and sinners to get saved. For, when viewed from present day missionary appeals, what a boon one language in the world would have been! Now the student must study two years or so to learn a dialect or language, and in the meantime thousands of heathens die and are eternally lost.

Then during the dark ages, either God would not or could not give the world, for hundreds of years, printed Bibles, tracts, radios, printing presses, etc. And even to this day there are millions of heathens not reached, who, for the most part, must be lost, or we would not send missionaries and money to the foreign fields.

 

God is weak enough to get the infants into heaven, but when they mature, the Devil gets most of them. Fortunate for the baby and for God when babies and little children get killed.

Then in conclusion, God miraculously keeps these billions of sinners alive forever and ever so they can undergo their eternal "gnashing of teeth" in fire and miraculously be kept burning. What profit this is to God or to the billions of culprits in Hell we are not told.

And, when we begin to ask a few questions, we are immediately hushed and told that we must not ask such questions; however, we are supposed to believe in this blundering, weak, failing god of protestantism and catholicism, the popular god of Christendom.

 

The thing that amazes the author is that most Christians dare not face the conclusion of their own religious beliefs.

THE GOD OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES

1 Tim.4:10 He is the Saviour of all mankind. (Not of believers and infants only).

1 John 2:2 He is the propitiation for Our sins, and not ours only, but for the whole world. 

John 1:29 He is the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. (Not believers only).

Rom.11:32 He locks all up in stubbornness (Jew and Gentile) that He may be merciful to all. 

1 Tim.1:15 He came into the world to save sinners. (Not to save non-sinners, or lose 90 percent of them).

 

1 Tim.2:3 He wills all mankind to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (cp Eph.1:11).

 

Prov.16:1-4 (Rev.4:11) He has made all for Himself. (Not 90 percent for the Devil eternally).

 

Col.1:20,21 He will in the future reconcile all. (In verse 21, He has reconciled us now. He has made us a "firstfruits" (not "onlyfruits")

 

Rom.8:19-26 He subjects the whole creation, and it waits in hope (vs. 20).

 

1 Cor. 15:22 He is capable of restoring all the damage under the first Adam (cp Rom.5:18,19).

 

1 Cor.15:28 He shall some day be All in all (not all in some).

 

"For all is out of Him, and all is through Him, and all is for Him; to Whom be the glory for the eons." Amen (Romans 11:36). 

Copyright © Saviour of All Fellowship 

P.O. Box 314, Almont, MI 48003, U.S.A. 810-798-3563

(Text by Ray Van Dyke)

http://www.saviour-of-all.org

Is God too Logical?

To Moses He (God) is saying, "I shall be merciful to whomever I may be merciful, and I shall be pitying whomever I may be pitying." Consequently, then, it is not of him who is willing, nor of him who is racing, but of God, the Merciful. (Rom 9:15,16) 

A friend of mine, yesterday, said I would think too logical in respect to God. We talked about believers and unbelievers, and God's responsibility. We reasoned about who of the many people who claim the name of Jesus Christ are actually believers. In conclusion we said that it cannot be finally determined. Eventually God knows. 

But what we then talked about was God's sovereignty and our responsibility for our doings. He said, "Both is true, the responsibility of mankind for his/her acts, and God's absolute control of everything." This is much like saying, "The Free Will of mankind and the deity (or absolute sovereignty) coexist... somehow, in some sort of mysterious, inexplicable way." 

Heck, I don't know, this is adulterating the word of God! I said to my friend, "If you believe that God controls all, you cannot say that mankind is ultimately responsible for his or her acts." It is more than sane thinking to say that the one cancels out the other. And, most important of all, scripture rules out the latter, that mankind is responsible for their acts. 

My Greek - English concordance doesn't even contain the word responsible, responsibility, or the like. My KJV doesn't have it anywhere as well (I have a bible study software that allows me to quickly search the whole text of the bible in just a few clicks). 

Consequently, then, if we read such passages as Ro 9:15,16, which are written for our faith, our simple acceptance in faith, we cannot but say that it is God who just hardened the heart of the person we have been talking to about God and His Christ! It is simple and beautiful, for 

God locks up all together in stubbornness, that He should be merciful to all. (Ro 11:32) 

and

God wills (not wishes!) that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator of God and mankind, a Man, Christ Jesus, Who is giving Himself a correspondent Ransom for all (mankind) (the testimony in its own eras) (2.Tim 2:4-6) 

God is more than logical, and He reveals Himself through the logical word to us. He doesn't say things we cannot understand! 

A simple argument for universalism (the reconciliation of all)

"Suppose that Christ commanded that we love our enemies and love our neighbor even as we love ourselves because such love is an essential condition of blessedness or supreme happiness.  If this is true, as I believe it is, then God could not possibly bring blessedness to one person without also bringing it to all.

Here is why. If I truly love my daughter even as I love myself, then her interests and my own are so tightly interwoven as to be logically inseparable: any good that befalls her is then a good that befalls me, and any evil that befalls her is likewise an evil that befalls me. I could never be happy, for example, knowing that my daughter is suffering or in a miserable condition--unless, of course, I could somehow believe that all will be well for her in the end. But if I cannot believe this, if I were to believe instead that she had been lost to me forever--even if I were to believe that, by her own will, she had made herself intolerably evil--my own happiness could never be complete. For I would always know what could have been, and I would always experience this as a terrible tragedy and an unacceptable loss, one for which no compensation is even conceivable. Is it any wonder, then, that Paul could say concerning his unbelieving brothers and sisters whom he loved so much: "For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people" (Romans 9:3)? From the perspective of his love, in other words, Paul's own damnation would be no worse an evil, and no greater threat to his own happiness, than the eternal damnation of his loved ones would be.

God could make us "happy" whilst our loved ones suffered in hell only in two possible ways: either by concealing from us the magnitude of the tragedy (blissful ignorance), or by giving us a callous and stony heart, so that we no longer truly loved those who were lost. Both of these possibilities, however, are incompatible with true blessedness. So in the end, it is logically impossible for God to bring blessedness to one person without also bringing it to all." (Tom Talbott, http://www.willamette.edu/~ttalbott/theol.html)

Mac and Scripture

For you mac and scripture buffs out there: I found a nifty software
that will really enhance your bible studies.

http://www.accordancebible.com/

It is incredible what they have included in it. Go and check it out!
At some point, I will own a copy of this exciting aid to dig still deeper into the sacred scriptures.

God And Messengers (Angels)

I read a passage today that illustrates how God, or, to be more precise, the divine, the invisible of whom Jesus is the image, how He dealt with Israel in the past. 

If we believe that the Supreme operates all in accord with the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11), we may sometimes wonder about the details of God's operations. Read Acts 7:35, where Stephan is speaking to the Sanhedrin in defense of false accusations that were leveled against him: 

This Moses, whom they disown, saying, 'Who constitutes you a chief and a justice over us?' this one has God commissioned to be a chief as well as a redeemer, a justice, with the hand of the messenger who was seen by him in the thorn bush. 

Quite clearly, Stephen points out that the apparition in the thorn bush was not God Himself but a messenger through which God, the Supreme, spoke to Moses. 

Can we, now, deduce from this that we, today, who are believers in Christ Jesus, have the same protection by messengers, or that God appears to us through messengers? 

No. 

The account of God's dealings with Abraham's posterity (or the Israelite race) passed on to us through Moses does not speak to us or make any promises to us who are the body of Christ (cp. Eph 1:22,23). The body of Christ is a distinct group of believers who are being called out today, and for which Paul became a dispenser (Col 1:21-27), consisting of Israelites and Gentiles (or people out of any nation other than Israel) (e.g. Gal 3:27,28; Eph 2:11-22). 

The destiny of the body of Christ is not terrestrial, which is Israel's lot (cp. e.g. Gen 12:1-3, Ex 6:2-7), but celestial (Eph 1:3,4; 2:6; Phil 3:20,21; Col 3:1-3). Today, in the ecclesia ('church'), everybody who chases after anything that is terrestrial (e.g. building the kingdom on this earth now, or wanting to see angels or the like), is an enemy of the cross of Christ (Phil 3:17-19). 

We are to display, in the oncoming eons, the transcendent riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus among the celestials (or heavenly realms) (Eph 2:6,7). Through us, God makes known to the sovereignties and the authorities among the celestials the multifarious wisdom of Himself, in accord with the purpose of the eons (Eph 3:10,11). 

Consequently, since we are objects for a display among the celestials, those beings that God used so often to administer to Israel, and our realm is inherent in the heavens, no messenger of God or any other terrestrial apparition will come to us. We walk by faith, not by perception (2.Cor 5:7). If we look out for any terrestrial signs, we are enemies of the cross of Christ. 

Thanking God for Everything?

I am realizing over and over again that man, in his disposition to the flesh, does not naturally thank God for whatever He may send in the way. 

Right now I am feeling pretty elated, having finished and hold my presentation, and am on an extreme hight spiritually. I am thanking God in my spirit. But how often do I go through tough times and then forget God or don't thank Him in Worship? How contrary is this behavior to truth! Read Job 1:20-22: 

Then Job arose, tore his robe and sheared his head. He fell to the earth and worshiped. And he said, Naked I came forth from the belly of my mother, and naked I shall return there. Yahweh, He gives and Yahweh, He takes away. Blessed be the Name of Yahweh. In all this, Job neither sinned nor ascribed anything improper to Elohim. 

Consider this! Job had just experienced the worst attack of Satan himself on all his dear possessions. All! All destroyed or dead. But instead of accusing Yahweh initially, he falls down to worship Him! How worthy of imitation. 

Beautiful, it is right on the spot if we say that all Evil and Good comes from our God! He is the ultimate Cause for things! He alone is the King who rules over all, and pursuing a purpose of love with all! 

Now to the King of the eons, the incorruptible, invisible, only and wise God, be honor and glory for the eons of the eons! Amen! (1.Tim 1:17) 

Nifty

Ok, no sleep for at least 20 hours now. Yea, pretty much. I got up at
about eight yesterday and haven't been able to get to sleep until now.

I have a presentation to hold. That accounts for the adrenaline that
is better than any drug. Sometime in my attempted "career" as a
teacher this has to stop, or I'll drop dead at some point soon when I
actually start teaching regularly in front of whole classes.

In my sort of vacuum before the actual day begins, I thought I
actually share a little pic with you, whoever this 'you' may be.

This is actually me crossing a lake in Colorado. I took a one week
back packing trip over there when I was spending ten months as a
German exchange student in Mid-West Wisconsin.

Really, I actually believe that I should at least try to get some
rest. My head starts to hurt, and I don't think that I'll be able to
concentrate much when I am going to hold my presentation at eight
thirty.

So long!

Spiritual Warfare

I have just experienced the most exhilarating thing. A few days ago I
send a link to a friend that contained an article headed 'Death, Dying
and Sin, and Resurrection'. The article proved from the scriptures
that death is not a state of consciousness, but rather a state of
complete oblivion for all mankind, whether believer or not.

(Here is the link in case you are interested: http://
www.fromthescriptures.com/death_dying/death_s1.html)

Today, this friend of mine, who lives in Spain and is of Romanian
background, came online and told me that she had read the article
finding it rather confusing, which is natural because the truths
about what death and sin really is are seldom taught among many
believers nowadays.

I then suggested to her that we could talk about these truths via
skype. We did. But it remained at less then a short conversation.
Suddenly, she had to break it all off because some visitor had
arrived. I thought, at that point, great, now that we want to talk
about the deeper truths of God, Satan is throwing in some nice
distractions, nicely placed.

Oh well, I went on, God, if this is how You want things, go ahead, I
won't resent your doings!

But, surprisingly, she did come back, after a short while, thank God,
and we got the opportunity to talk. Of course, we didn't go into the
topic of Death and Resurrection right on the spot, for she was rather
inclined to read up on it some more, going deeper into the scriptural
references of the text. But I could reassure her that death is a
state of oblivion (until resurrection) and that that is what scripture teaches!

Still, we had a good and long conversation about other scriptural
things, such as spiritual endowments (commonly called gifts), or the
role of man and woman in teaching, or false teachers (healers). It
was all pretty stimulating.

One of those days

Today is a day that didn't go as I reckoned it would go. I still
have a project to finish until Tuesday. It actually is a
presentation, a simple presentation that isn't even hard to prepare.
But somehow, this morning, when I sat in the university trying to get
it all together, I suddenly felt sick, dizzy, and I had to go home
for my bed.

It is one of those days that I sometimes would like to wish away.
Were you feel listless and down because your body just won't do
as you want. What is this for? Why? Again, this one word. Why.

'Our realm is inherent in the heavens, out of which we are awaiting a
Saviour also, the Lord, Jesus Christ, Who will transfigure the body
of our humiliation, to conform it to the body of His glory, in accord
with the operation which enables Him even to subject all to
Himself.' (Phil 3:20,21)

Our bodies here on this earth, in view to God's ideals, constantly
humiliates us because we cannot attain to that which God pleasing.
Our weakness, however, is part of God's plan with His creation. For
'we have this treasure (the light and power of the evangel) in
earthen vessels, that the transcendence of the power may be of God
and not of us' (2.Cor 4:7).

What is that about Hell?

Have you ever wondered whether there is Hell or not? I am sure any
one at some point in life comes up with the big 'Why-Question', and
may turn into a truth or answer seeker. Then, if this person happens
to live in the western world, he or she may encounter people who say
Jesus Christ is the answer to this great question. At the same time,
though, these Christians go on saying that if this person Jesus
Christ is not believed in, including His sacrificial death, eternal
torment is the portion of such a one.

This statement may either drive the seeker away, horrified, or drive
him/her into the arms of Christendom. But what if this isn't the
truth? What if Hell and eternal torment doesn't exist? What if it is
a great lie, perpetuated throughout history by human tradition?

Only the bible, the word of God, can give us answers to this
question. If God created a Hell for the unbelievers, it has to be
written somewhere. If it is not written, however, then it is not true.