Bible Believers' Newsletter #628
"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660
Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are pleased you could join us in fellowship around God's unchanging Word.
In Newsletter #627, we found that heaven is a Trinity-free zone. Our main article this week is related in that it has to do with names, the Name of God and His new Name, proving that the Word interpreted is the manifestation of the Name of God.
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
God bless you, Brethren.
Your brother-in-Christ, Anthony Grigor-Scott
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Chaos Continues as Ash Drifts across Europe
April 17, 2010 — Europe's airports could remain closed for another day or two as ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland continues to drift across the continent. But experts say the fallout from the Iceland volcano, which has caused the most extensive shutdown of airspace since the September 11 [false flag - Ed] terrorist attacks in 2001, will be felt for a long time. While the majority of flights may be back in the air by the beginning of next week, it will be many more days before the airlines get their schedules back on track. . . Full story: abc.net.au
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China Cremates Victims of Earthquake
April 17, 2010 — Buddhist monks cremated hundreds of earthquake victims Saturday on a huge funeral pyre near the epicenter of the disaster in a remote part of northwestern China. . . official death toll from this week's earthquake has risen to 1,144, as the search for survivors continues. China's Health Ministry said Friday more than 1,000 of the critically injured have been taken out of the devastated region to hospitals with better medical facilities. More than 11,000 were injured in Wednesday's 6.9 magnitude quake in the Yushu region of Qinghai province. Some 300 are still missing. . . large cracks have appeared on many of the buildings that remain standing. A crack that appeared in a reservoir in the area is causing concern, with workers racing to prevent a potential flood. . . Full story: voanews.com
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7.2 Earthquake on Mexicali Baja Laguna Salada Fault
The accompanying video graphically displays dust rising from mountains at Baja on the Mexicali border shaken by the "Easter Earthquake" that struck on Resurrection Sunday, 2010. This brings to mind the "Easter Earthquake" that almost sunk Alaska on Good Friday, 1964, three days after it was spoken by the Prophet William Branham at Sunset Mountain, and just over a year after the close of the Laodicean Church Age. There in 1963 he was caught up into a constellation of the theophanies of the Messengers to previous six Church Ages. God said, "Return to Jeffersonville where I will reveal the mystery of the Seven Seals. This is explained and illustrated in our free PowerPoint presentation, "The Second Coming of Christ," available for the asking—just advise your postal address).
God never sends judgment without first providing warning and a way of escape (Amos 3:7; Matthew 24). Might the 2010 Earthquake be God's last sign warning the world of the earthquake prophesied to sink Los Angeles and a 1,500 x 300-400 mile segment of earth's crust earth, marking the end of the Gentile dispensation and calling the first resurrection . . . one Easter very soon? Full story: youtube.com
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Evolution Exposed as Atheist Scam for Lucifer's Global Hegemony
At the 2010 Global Atheist Convention on Melbourne, Australia, Richard Dawkins was applauded by a group of supporters as the world's most famous living atheist. In his book "The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution," Dawkins writes, "I challenge anyone to submit 'out-of-sequence' fossil finds that disprove evolution." And in the January issue of "Investigate," NZ follower Warwick Don said, "evolution would be falsified if even one out-of-sequence fossil were ever found in the fossil record. For example, a fossil 'human' in the Carboniferous. . . No such anachronistic fossils have ever been found."
Richard and Don theorise that life forms evolved from simple to complex, ending in man. But what if human remains were to turn up in the "oldest" strata? Would that mean that man was here at the beginning of life on earth?
A fossil human skull has been found in Carboniferous strata near Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. Specimens of this skull were taken by Chinese scientist Lin Liangtai to the geology department of National Taiwan University, then on March 28, 2008 it was scanned by the Computed Tomography system of Alberta Research Council in Canada.
This and more than 20 other fossils from the same Carboniferous strata have been thin-sectioned and more than 1,000 microscopic pictures taken. Examinations have been made not only through a stereo-microscope, but also through a digital microscope, a transmitted-light microscope and a scanning electron microscope. Images of the object show numerous remains of:
(1) bone cells (osteocytes);
(2) branching blood vessel remains, Haversian canals and osteons;
(3) transverse section remains of blood vessels;
(4) red blood cells;
(5) degraded remains of neurons, neuroglial cells and nerve fibers;
(6) muscle fibres;
(7) various fossilized tissues.
It contains fossilized nerve cells, dendrites and somas of brain cells, that exist only in the central nervous system and which are not found in any organ except brains. The remains point to a calvarium fossil that once contained brain tissue. The blood vessels in the brain have carbonized into shiny bituminous coal/anthracite.
No rocks or plants contain the remains of neurons, neuroglial cells, bone cells, red blood cells, Haversian canals, osteons and blood vessels all at the same time. Pictures of the other Carboniferous fossils likewise show Haversian canals and osteons, which are distinguishing features of fossil bone micro-structures. They include organs such as human liver, fingers, penises, testes, kidneys, limb, etc.
All crania have distinctive shapes among different animal orders. Human skull caps have a unique shape from mammalian skull caps. The skull's inner cavity has a capacity of 1,025cc – 1,665cc. The main distinction of human skulls lies in their large cranial capacity. No animal has a skull that remotely matches human skulls in cranial capacity, cranial shape and cranial size.
The analysis shows that this subject fossil matches human skull caps in cranial size, cranial capacity, and cranial shape. Thus, it can be identified as a human calvarium fossil by forensic experts on human skulls. One such expert is Wilton Krogman, who has physically examined the fossil and confirmed it to be a human calvarium fossil.
Portions of the fossil, including some of the fossil's blood vessels have turned into coal. The skull was discovered near Mahanoy City between the coal veins. The Pennsylvania state government's geological unit has confirmed in writing to Lin Liangtai that fossils found near Mahanoy City are all 305 (+/- 7) million years old. For over 27 years, the owner of the fossils, Ed Conrad, has attested that all his fossils were found between anthracite coal veins near Shenandoah and Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. Any animal fossil must have lived there in the Carboniferous age.
Among Conrad's other fossils are:
(a) a coalified axe handle as well-made as those sold on e-bay.
(b) a coalified piece of limb cut flatly across soft flesh and hard bone, as if with a sharp knife, and
(c) a fossilized human finger complete with skin tissue, finger nail, ligaments, and the middle phalanx.
Twenty medical experts have pronounced this as a genuine human finger. This is not good news for the evolution theory. Not only have numerous other human remains been discovered in Carboniferous strata—such as a complete skeleton in Carboniferous (Macoupin County, Illinois—The Geologist), but also in EVERY other so-called geological age—for example a human skeleton in Silurian rock (Franklin County, Missouri—Scientific American); and tools, inscriptions and physical human remains in Cretaceous, Triassic, Devonian, Ordovacian and Cambrian. Hundreds of reports have appeared in Scientific American.
This is not about the age of the earth—a increasingly debatable topic—but about the evolutionary succession-of-life blunder. Even one man found in the Carboniferous exposes evolution as a scam! Because they have not sought truth about man's origin and ancestry, many honest but misinformed scientists are caught up in the system—while their mentors suppress this information because careers, reputations and funding are at stake.
Full story and images: photokb.com edconrad.com
Comment: Evolution is a lie like the mythology that oil is formed from the remains of prehistoric creatures, because both theories require death. There was no death prior to the fall: Life comes from God (John 6:63; 14:6), whereas death emanates from Satan (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-14; Romans 6:23).
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The Secret History of the Atomic Bomb
April 4, 2010 — The Prophet said, "The Tree of Knowledge produced death. Cain killed his brother, Abel. The wicked killed the righteous. It set a pattern. It will keep that pattern until the restoration of all things as spoken by the prophets.
The Tree of Knowledge produced clever men; men of renown. But their ways are the ways of death. God's people are simple but spiritual minded, leaning toward God and nature, calmly tilling the soil, caring for truth rather than wealth. The seed of the serpent has brought tremendous commerce, wonderful inventions, but with it all comes death. Their gunpowder and atomic bombs kill in war; and in peace time their mechanical inventions, such as the car, kill even more in a time of peace than do the inventions of war destroy in times of trouble. Death and destruction are the fruits of her labors.
But they are religious. They believe in God. They are like their father, the devil, and their ancestor, Cain. Both of them believed in God. They go to church. They mingle with the righteous as do tares mingle with the wheat. In so doing they corrupt and produce a Nicolaitane religion. They spread their poison in every effort to destroy the seed of God even as Cain killed Abel. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
But God loses none of His own. He keeps them even in death, and has promised that in the last day He will raise them up" (An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages p.107:2-4; Matthew 23:33-35).
"There was a nation called the Medes and Persians. They'd got some scientific work too. Which is now the Medo-Persians are the Indians, the Hindus, in India as our brother just spoke. They finally wound up in India as the Hindu. And they had scientifically found a way that they could by-pass the river Euphrates. They couldn't get through the walls, but they by-passed the river and was coming under the gates. Science is working somewhere, a great ungodly, heathen nation at that time.
And God put a sign on the wall to let them know that their days were finished. And God's put a sign on our wall and our great rock-and-roll party. And there's a sputnik flying through the skies. Oh, we thought we had it all, didn't we? We thought we knowed it all. But Russia according to our own science is five years ahead of us. And when we're caught up in five years, they'll be ten years farther the other way. God's letting an ungodly nation, letting an ungodly people, that took those Jewish scientists up there. . . And they're far ahead of us. We're putting our time to wine, women, and big time, and they're working day and night, how to blow us up. There's not one thing that could keep them from doing it right now. Look the condition we're in, the whole nation.
You remember that army officer. . . Brother Roberson and I were talking yesterday. . . They interviewed him. One of the great scientists said, "I don't want you to scare the people, but I want you to tell us the truth. Is there danger?"
"At any minute it could happen. . . And the Scripture predicts that Russia will do it. . . Oh, we've had a rock-and-roll party. We forgot God. We've went too much for television, too much for the world. And they've been preparing all the time, just like the Medo-Persians. And now the supernatural has come, and the handwriting is on the wall, not on the wall, but in the sky. . . (The Handwriting on the Wall, #29:5, p. 14:120-124).
A very popular movie in Japan was "Pride, The Fateful Moment," which shows Prime Minister General Hideki Tojo in a favorable light. With six others, he was hanged in 1968 as a war criminal. During his trial, his lawyers stated to the International Tribunal for the Far East, the Asian version of Nuremberg Trials, that Tojo's war crimes could not begin to approach the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The prosecutors immediately objected, and censored their statements. That was the last time there was any official recognition of the atomic bomb massacres in Japan. Japanese officials have been effectively prevented from taking any stand on this matter because the American military occupation, which officially ended in 1952 with the Treaty with Japan, was quietly continued. Today, 49,000 American troops are still stationed in Japan, and there is no public discussion of the crimes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. . .
Despite the lack of public interest, the record is clear, and easily available to anyone who is interested. My interest in this subject, dormant for many years was suddenly rekindled during my annual lecture tour in Japan. My hosts had taken me to the city of Nagasaki for the first time. Without telling me their plans, they entered the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. I thought it would be an interesting experience, but, to my surprise, when I walked into the exhibition rooms, I was suddenly overcome by sadness. Realizing that I was about to burst into tears, I moved away from my companions, and stood biting my lip. Even so, it seemed impossible to control myself. I was surrounded by the most gruesome objects, the fingers of a human hand fused with glass, a photograph of the shadow of a man on a brick wall; the man had been vaporized in the explosion. . . It took many weeks of research to uncover what turned out to be the most far-reaching conspiracy of all time, the program of a few dedicated revolutionaries to seize control of the entire world, by inventing the most powerful weapon ever unveiled.
The story begins in Germany. In the 1930s, Germany and Japan had a number of scientists working on the development of nuclear fission. In both of these countries, their leaders sternly forbade them to continue their research. Adolf Hitler said he would never allow anyone in Germany to work to work on such an inhumane weapon.
The Emperor of Japan let his scientists know that he would never approve such a weapon. At that time the United States had no one working on nuclear fission. The disgruntled German scientists contacted friends in the United States, and were told that there was a possibility of government support for their work here. As Don Beyer tells these immigrants to the United States pushed their program. . .
Control of atomic energy had now given the New World Order clique enormous power, and Eisenhower, in his farewell speech to the American people on leaving the Presidency In Review (Doubleday, 1969), on January 17, 1961, warned, "In the councils of government we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the miliary-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
By failing to name the power behind the military-industrial complex, the international bankers, Eisenhower left the American people in the dark as to whom he was actually warning them against. To this day they do not understand what he was trying to say, that the international bankers, the Zionists and the Freemasons had formed an unholy alliance whose money and power could not be overcome by righteous citizens of the United States. . . Full story: whale.to
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The Jewish Peril and the Catholic Church
Jewish authorities are well aware of the two phases of Martin Luther's ministry: the first wherein he wrote "Jesus Christ was Born a Jew," (an unintentional and unscriptural blasphemy) filled with sympathy for their long unbelief which he laid on the unsympathetic attitude of the Roman Catholic church. His study of the Talmud became the dividing line. His second phase was one of warning against the self-styled Jews as destroyers of Christianity and of Christians. After Luther became conversant with the Babylonian Talmud and the ritual cursings of Judaism, he declared that any one who condones such blasphemies is partaker of their sin (Revelation 18:4).
This partial transcript of an address delivered at the 1936 B'nai B'rith Convention in Paris explains Luther's changed attitude toward the so-called "Jews":
"As long as there remains among the Gentiles any moral conception of the social order, and until all faith, patriotism, and dignity are uprooted, our reign over the world shall not come. We have already fulfilled part of our work, but we cannot yet claim that the whole of our work is done. We have still a long way to go before we can overthrow our main opponent: the Catholic Church. . .
We must always bear in mind that the Catholic Church is the only institution which has stood, and which will, as long as it remains in existence, stand in our way. The Catholic Church, with her methodical work and her edifying and moral teachings, will always keep her children in such a state of mind as to make them too self-respecting to yield to our domination, and to bow before our future king of Israel. . .
That is why we have been striving to discover the best way of shaking the Catholic Church to her very foundations. We have spread the spirit of revolt and false liberalism among the nations of the Gentiles so as to persuade them away from their faith and even to make them ashamed of professing the precepts of their Religion and obeying the Commandments of their Church. We have brought many of them to boast of being atheists, and more than that, to glory in being descendants of the ape! We have given them new theories, impossible of realization, such as Communism, Anarchism, and Socialism, which are now serving our purposes. The stupid Gentiles have accepted them with the greatest enthusiasm, without realizing that those theories are ours, and that they constitute our most powerful instrument against themselves.
We have blackened the Catholic Church with the most ignominious calumnies, we have stained her history and disgraced even her noblest activities. We have imputed to her the wrongs of her enemies, and thus brought these latter to stand more closely by our side. . . So much so, that we are now witnessing to our greatest satisfaction, rebellions against the Church in several countries. . . We have turned her clergy into objects of hatred and ridicule, we have subjected them to the contempt of the crowd. . . We have caused the practice of the Catholic religion to be considered out of date and a mere waste of time. . .
And the Gentiles, in their stupidity, have proved easier dupes than we expected them to be. One would expect more intelligence and more practical common sense, but they are no better than a herd of sheep. Let them graze in our fields till they become fat enough to be worthy of being immolated to our future King of the World . . . We have founded many secret associations, which all work for our purpose, under our orders and our direction. We have made it an honor, a great honor, for the Gentiles to join us in our organizations, which are, thanks to our gold, flourishing now more than ever. Yet it remains our secret that those Gentiles who betray their own and most precious interests, by joining us in our plot, should never know that those associations are of our creation, and that they serve our purpose. One of the many triumphs of our Freemasonry is that those Gentiles who become members of our Lodges, should never suspect that we are using them to build their own jails, upon whose terraces we shall erect the throne of our Universal King of Israel; and should never know that we are commanding them to forge the chains of their own servility to our future King of the World . . .
So far, we have considered our strategy in our attacks upon the Catholic Church from the outside. But this is not all. Let us now explain how we have gone further in our work, to hasten the ruin of the Catholic Church. . . and how we have brought even some of her Clergy to become pioneers of our cause.
Apart altogether from the influence of our philosophy, we have taken other steps to secure a breach in the Catholic Church. Let me explain how this has been done. We have induced some of our children to join the Christian Body, with the explicit intimation that they should work in a still more efficient way for the disintegration of the Christian Church, by creating scandals within her. We have thus followed the advice of our Prince of the Jews, who so wisely said:
"Beloved Brethren in Moses:
We have received your letter in which you tell us of your anxieties and misfortunes which you are enduring. We are pierced by a great pain to hear it as yourselves.
The advice of the Grand Satraps and Rabbis is the following:
1. As for what you say that the King of Spain obliges you to become Christians: do it, since you cannot do otherwise.
2. As for what you say about the command to despoil you of your property: make your sons merchants that they may despoil, little by little, the Christians of theirs.
3. As for what you say about making attempts on your lives: make your sons doctors and apothecaries, that they may take away Christians lives.
4. As for what you say of their destroying your synagogues: make your sons canons and clerics in order that they may destroy their churches.
5. As for the many other vexations you complain of arrange for your sons to become advocates and lawyers and see that they always mix in affairs of State, that by putting Christians under your yoke you may dominate the world and be avenged on them.
6. Do not swerve from this order we give you, because you will find by experience that humiliated as you are, you will reach the actuality of power.
[Signed] The Prince of the Jews of Constantinople."
Unfortunately, not all among the 'convert' Jews have proved faithful to their mission. Many of them have even betrayed us! But, on the other hand, others have kept their promise and honored their word. Thus the counsel of our Elders has proved successful.
We are the Fathers of all Revolutions, even of those which sometimes happen to turn against us. We are the supreme Masters of Peace and War. We can boast of being the Creators of the Reformation! Calvin was one of our Children; he was of Jewish descent, and was entrusted by Jewish authority and encouraged with Jewish finance to draft his scheme in the Reformation. [Calvin's real name was "Cohen." Known in France as "Jean Cauvin" (Noyons, "A Cabalistic Jew," in England he became John Calvin. William Thomas Walsh, "Phillip II," p. 248 "The origin of Calvin" (whose real name was Chauvin). Lucin Wolf, "Transactions, Jewish Historical Society of England," Vol. XI, p. 8; Goris, "Les Colonies Marchandes Meridionales Anvers"; Lea, "History of the Inquisition of Spain," Vol. III, p. 413. Juir Lina, "Architects of Deception," The Jewish religious Reformer Johann Calvin (born Cauin, 1509 - 1564) of Switzerland allowed interest, and the freemason Henry VIII of England reduced the laws against usury. The money-changers were once again able to assert themselves. David Icke, "The Biggest Secret," Calvin was educated at College du Montagu, the same college in which Ignatius Loyola was educated].
Martin Luther yielded to the influence of his Jewish friends [Manie Maritz, "My Iewe en strew," p. 20], and again, by Jewish authority, and with Jewish finance, his plot against the Catholic Church met with success. But unfortunately he discovered the deception, and became a threat to us, so we disposed of him as we have so many others who dare to oppose us. . .
Thanks to our propaganda, to our theories of Liberalism (Protocol 9:9) and to our misrepresentations of freedom, the minds of many among the Gentiles were ready to welcome the Reformation. They separated from the Church to fall into our snare. And thus the Catholic Church has been sensibly weakened, and her authority over the Kings of the Gentiles has been reduced to almost naught.
We are grateful to Protestants for their loyalty to our wishes, although most of them are, in the sincerity of their faith, unaware of their loyalty to us. We are grateful to them for the wonderful help they are giving us in our fight against the stronghold of Christian Civilization, and in our preparations for the advent of our supremacy over the whole world and over the Kingdoms of the Gentiles.
So far we have succeeded in overthrowing most of the Thrones of Europe. The rest will follow in the near future. Russia has already worshiped our rule, France, with her Masonic Government, is under our thumb. England, in her dependence upon our finance is under our heel; and in her Protestantism is our hope for the destruction of the Catholic Church. Spain and Mexico are but toys in our hands. And many other countries, including the United States, have already fallen before our scheming.
But the Catholic Church is still alive . . .
We must destroy her without the least delay and without the slightest mercy. Most of the Press in the world is under our Control (Protocol 7:5); let us therefore encourage in a still more violent way the hatred of the world against the Christian Church. Let us intensify our activities in poisoning the morality of the Gentiles. Let us spread the spirit of revolution (Protocol 11:3) in the minds of the people. They must be made to despise Patriotism and the love of their family, to consider their faith as a humbug, their obedience to their Christ as a degrading servility, so that they become deaf to the appeal of the Church and blind to her warnings against us. Let us, above all, make it impossible for Christians to be reunited, or for non-Christians to join the Church; otherwise the greatest obstruction to our domination will be strengthened and all our work undone. Our plot will be unveiled, the Gentiles will turn against us, in the spirit of revenge, and our domination over them will never be realized.
Let us remember that as long as there still remain active enemies of the Christian Church, we may hope to become Master of the World . . . And let us remember always that the future Jewish King will never reign in the world before Christianity is overthrown, as well as all the other reigning monarchs of the Gentiles upon earth.
When the time comes and the power of the Pope shall at last be broken, the fingers of an invisible hand will call the attention of the masses of the people to the court of the Sovereign Pontiff to let them know that we have completely undermined the power of the Papacy. . . The King of the Jews will then be the real pope and the Father of the Jewish World-Church" (Protocol 17:4). Published in "The London Catholic Gazette," February, 1936, the monthly organ of the Catholic Missionary Society of England. The Catholic Gazette was forced out of business and closed by the Jews and their 'friends' shortly after the publication of this article. Further substantiation its authenticity is "Le Reveil du Peuple" published in Paris at the time.
It is interesting to observe how the 'hidden hand' has employed the Hegelian dialectic against Zionism, which is dispensable now that it has achieved the objective for which it was created, and Judaeo-Catholicism which was created to destroy the faith, but is still necessary to unite humanity under Lucifer's one world government. And contrary to Zionist boasting, the Judaeo-Roman Catholic church will rule to the end when it will be destroyed by Judaeo-Communism in the consummation of life.
The following citations evince the moral depravity of the Roman church rife from the third century to the time of Luther's initial visit to the Vatican, rages to this day:
"Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not corrupt boys, thou shalt not commit fornication, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not deal in magic, thou shalt do no sorcery, thou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill them when born, thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods" (Didache 2:2). Such sins were obviously a problem within the Judaeo-Roman Catholic clergy of the third century as they are today.
The Council of Elvira in the first quarter of the fourth century is the earliest Church council after the Council of Jerusalem for which records exist. This Council proposed irrevocable exclusion for those who sexually abuse boys (Canon 71). That is, they were not to receive the Sacrament of Communion even at the point of death (Catholic University of America).
St. Peter Damian's "Book of Gomorrah" (AD1051) attacked the sexual immorality of the clergy of his time and the lax superiors who failed to curb it. He condemned priests who defiled men or boys coming for confession, and priests who gave the sacrament of penance to their own victims. He urged Pope Leo IX to act to redress the damage caused by offending clerics—the response was a model of inaction, a prelude to the experience of our own era as the hierarchy continues to blithely tip-toe over the dead bodies of hundreds of homosexual priests who have died of AIDS or priests committed suicide rather than face sex abuse charges, while reports of criminal assaults by pederast/homosexual priests and religious continue to mount one more bizarre than the other.
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The Significance of a Name
In the Bible, names express the nature of one person or thing as it stands in relation to another, the correspondence or contrast or feeling that prevails between persons or things. As man has departed more and more from the primitive truth, the connection between names and things has become more arbitrary. In Genesis on the contrary the names are nearly all significant. Adam's naming the animals implies at once his power of speech, distinguishing him above them, and his knowledge of their characteristics as enabling him to suit the name to the nature. God, in calling His people into new and close relationship with Himself, gives them a new name. So the name was given the child at circumcision, because he is symbolically separated from original sin and the world and dedicated to God under the old covenant (Luke 1:59; 2:21). The Judaeo-Roman Catholic church's imitation is a mock baptism and christening or naming ceremony, claiming him for and obligating his parents to the church. Christians dedicate their children to the Lord in prayer, promising to raise them in the admonition of God who gives them a new nature and a new name when they are born the second time—the new Name and the nature are that of His only begotten Son.
Christ gives to His Bride a new revelation of Himself and His "new Name" which the elect alone are capable of receiving (Revelation 2:17; 3:12). It was revealed to us in the Seven Thunders. Christians are baptized into the Name or the revealed nature of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, "having received like precious faith [with our apostolic fathers when we were born-again] . . . whereby we are granted great and precious promises by means of which we might escape the corruption that is in the world through lust and become partakers of the Divine nature" (II Peter 1:4).
Isaiah 63-65 prophesy how Israel's Messiah will destroy their enemy, the Edomite Jews and "holier than thou" apostate Israelites who have not called upon His Name, of whom He says: "Your name shall be a curse word among My chosen people, for the Lord will slay you, and call His servants by another Name" (Isaiah 65:15). It foretells how He will be received by the Gentile Bride who although not formerly called by His Name become Mrs. Lord Jesus Christ and are called Christians, then promises He will preserve a remnant of 144,000 blood Israelites—"good grapes found among the clusters of bad grapes," or "turn My hand to the little ones" (Isaiah 65:8-10; Zechariah 13:7): "the Benjamin group that's coming up now," born while Jesus Messiah, the antitypical Joseph is rejected by and separated from Israel, to live among the Gentiles where He marries His Gentile Bride who bears believing Gentile children (Isaiah 53:10; 65:23).
The Lord will indeed call His servants by another Name; instead of a "curse," as the name of the Jew has been since Nebuchadnezzar coined the term for the nation God sent into captivity on account of their apostasy and confined them under Gentile dominion unto the consummation of life, the elect Israelite remnant will receive a new Name. Isaiah 62:2-4, "No more will you be called Azab, 'God-Forsaken,' nor your land termed Shemamah, 'Desolate': but you shall be called Hephzibah, 'God's Delight' and your land Beulah, 'Married' instead of widowed or forsaken: for the Lord delights in you, and will claim your land as His own".
The Name Jehovah expresses His revealed character towards us. Exodus 34:5-7, "Jehovah [the self-existent one] descended in the form of a pillar of Cloud, and stood there with Moses, and proclaimed the Name of Jehovah. And the Lord passed by in front of Moses and proclaimed, Jehovah, the Lord God, is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but not at all acquitting the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and on their grandchildren to the third and fourth generation." Likewise the Names Messiah, Jesus, Immanuel, the Word, indicate His manifested relations toward us in redemption (Revelation 19:13). Isaiah 9:6-7, "His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this" (Psalm 22:22; John 17:6). On February 28, 1963 He descended on Sunset Mountain in a the form of pillar of Cloud formed by the theophanies of the angels to the Seven Church Ages, Paul, Irenaeus, Martin, Columba, Martin Luther, John Wesley and William Branham, catching Brother Branham, the seventh angel (Revelation 10:7) into that constellation of star messengers (1:16, 20) and telling him, "Return to Jeffersonville for the revelation of the Seven Seals" (Acts 1:9-11; Revelation 1:7)!
The Prophet said, "Did you ever notice, our young boys has become Ricky and Elvis? You got a child named that, change it right quick, call him number one or two, or something. . . You say, "What difference does the name mean?" Why, sure, it means something. Your name characterizes your life. "Now, Brother Branham, you're on numerology." No, I'm not. I'm on THUS SAITH THE LORD. Why was it when Jacob, he lived to his name as deceiver, supplanter, Jacob. And when God changed him, He changed his name. God changed Saul to Paul, Simon to Peter. Certainly, it has something. And Ricky and Elvis, and such names as that, is the modern American name which throws a child automatically right into that. See what I mean"? "The word "Elvis" means "a cat," and the word "Ricky" means "a rat." When you say "little Ricky" you mean "little rat." What you call him, that's what he is. Your kid's named that, change it quickly for the sake of the Gospel" (The Voice of God in This Last Days, p. 10:50; God of this Evil Age, p. 34:155).
About eight years ago a woman, her son and mother moved into a nearby farm. The boy's name was Cain: only twelve years old, he was "at enmity" with the world, breaking windows, vandalizing cars, damaging schools and breaking into farm houses. But God answers prayer—they sold up and returned to the land of Nod.
It seldom comes to mind nowadays that everyone's name has a meaning describing his trade or occupation, family, nature, or future, as reflected in the changing of names from Miss. to Mrs., prince to king, Lucifer—the rightful title of Christ our Advocate, meaning "Light bringer" or "morning star" (Revelation 2:28; 22:16; II Peter 1:19; Daniel 12:3; Numbers 24:17; Matthew 2:2) to Satan, meaning "Adversary" (I Peter 5:8) when usurped by the Devil, and Jehovah to Jesus—Jehovah-Saviour. Brother Branham said, "The translators could never translate it. Its spelled J-v-h-u. It isn't Jehovah. They couldn't touch it. They don't know what it is. Called it Jehovah, but it wasn't His Name. Look. Every time a victory's won or something goes on, a name is changed."
"Look at the days of Abraham. He was first Abram, and never could have that baby until his name was changed to Abraham. And Sarra, S-a-r-a-i could not have nothing but a dead womb until her name was changed to S-a-r-a-h."
"Jacob" means "supplanter, deceiver," and that's what he did. He put sheepskin on hisself and deceived his prophet father to take the birthright. He put poplar sticks in the water, speckled them, and scared the cattle when they was pregnated with their young, to make speckled cattle and sheep. Nothing but a deceiver, but one night he caught ahold of something real. And he knowed it was real, and he stayed with it and held on until he overcome, and his name was changed and called "Israel" meaning "a prince with power before God." Is that right? Every overcomer. . ."
"Simon was a fisherman; but when his faith caught and knowed that was Jesus, when He told him He was the Messiah and told him who his name was and what his father's name was, he was overcome and changed from Simon to Peter."
"Saul, good name, Saul was a king one time in Israel, but Saul didn't fit an apostle. Might be all right for a king, but not an apostle. So Jesus changed his name from what? From Saul to Paul. Look at the sons of thunder and on down."
"And Jesus, His Name on earth was Redeemer, Jesus. When He was on earth, He was the Redeemer; that's true. But when He conquered death and hell, and overcome them, and ascended on high, He received a new Name. That's the reason they holler the way they do and don't get nothing; it'll be revealed in the thunders. See?"
[Do you know that Name? Unless you know that Name you do not have a revelation of the Seven Thunders and Christ's parousia Coming to we Gentiles].
"Notice, the mystery. He's coming, riding. . . There's got to be something to change this Church, you know that. There's got to be something. Notice. No man knowed but Himself. Now, notice, no man knowed but Hisself."
"And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his Name was called The Word of God. (Oh, notice). And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He had on His vesture and on His thigh a Name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS" (The Revelation of the Seven Seals, p. 157:3 – 158:8; Revelation 5:9-14; 19:11-16).
Jehovah and Jesus "are the self same Being. God is a Spirit; Jesus is the body that He was veiled in. See? I said, "Like in my home, to my wife I am her husband. And I have a young daughter, Rebekah; I am her father. And I have a grandson, and his name is Paul; I am his grandfather. I am husband, father, and grandfather. And my wife has no claims on me as father or grandfather, she has claims on me alone as husband. And my daughter has no claims on me as husband or grandfather; she is my child. (See)? But yet all these three persons is the same person. (See)? That's God: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is just the dispensation claim. God is same, the same God. God changed Himself, changes His form" (The Unveiling of God, p. 9:51).
Jesus was always God, He is the Logos; the Tree of Life in the garden of Eden; Melchisedek; the Word inspired to Isaiah and delivered to Mary by Gabriel; transformed to a foetus in her womb; born as a baby; taken to Egypt as an infant then trained in Nazareth as a carpenter. God was condescending, changing His form through the process of time from Jesus the Logos to reveal Himself in a body of flesh to take my place at Calvary as a sinner and die in my stead to give me the right to the Tree of Life, that I might eat and live forever.
God is Light! "Jesus came from God, and He went back to God" (John 13:3), so that when "the Angel of the Lord came upon Peter, a Light shone in the prison: and He smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell from his hands" (Acts 12:7). He was "a great Light" when He met Paul on the Damascus road, and said, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute" (Acts 22:6-8). The same Light that led Israel through the wilderness and appeared to their high priest between the cherubim over the Mercy Seat on the day of Atonement has had His photograph taken many times in this our day. In these last days He has come as "Light in the evening time" (Zechariah 14:7; Matthew 24:27-28): in the Office of Son of man again He is King of Kings and Judge (John 5:23); in the Millennium He will be Son of David. This Jesus is Jehovah-Saviour, transforming Himself through the process of redemption from the Holy Spirit alone with His thoughts, to their manifestation in the glorified flesh of His family with the glorified Old Testament saints and 144,000 elect Israelites in a redeemed heavens and earth. In this form He will be worshipped by the "saved" throughout eternity.
Like each of His elect Brethren, Jehovah as Jesus, had to overcome the world and the things of the world and "learn obedience by the things which He suffered, pleading in prayer with tears and great agony of soul if it were possible for redemption to be accomplished by some means other than surrendering the life of a kinsman Redeemer. He overcame by voluntarily submitting to the will of God, and proving Himself perfect in this experience, vindicated His calling as a High Priest in the Office of Melchisedek and became the Author or cause of eternal Life for all who obey Him" (Hebrews 5:1-10; 2:10-18; Matthew 26:37-42). The momentary saving from physical death for which He prayed is contrasted with the eternal saving which He bestows upon His people; and the obedience which led Him to submit, is paralleled with the obedience by which enables us to reap the fruits of eternal salvation.
Paul said all prophecy is spoken by God in His prophets, and in these last days He has spoken to us in His Son, who is Himself manifest in flesh: thus it was the Spirit of Christ that spoke through the prophets which is why their actions typed Jesus Christ who is God (John 14:10-11). Hebrews 1:1-4: "As the reflection of the glory of God He bears the very stamp of His nature, being the true expression of His Being (John 1:18), and sustains the universe by His almighty Word. When He had cleansed the heavenly sanctuary of the accumulated sins of the Old Testament elect (John 20:17; Ephesians 4:8-18), He sat down in highest honour equal with the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to the angels or prophets as the Name He has inherited ("Son of God" – Hebrews 1:5-8; Psalm 89:18-36) is more excellent than theirs" (Matthew 28:19; I Corinthians 15:23-28).
"When Jehovah-Saviour raised victorious over death, all the prophets were commanded: Worship My only begotten Son. He is God, the King of Righteousness whose Kingdom is eternal. He laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of His hands. Heavens and earth will change, but Jesus Messiah remains the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Hebrews 1:5-14; 11:1-3; Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 44:24; John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:13-23; Malachi 3:6; Matthew 24:35; Hebrews 13:8).
In Hebrews 2:1-6 Paul explains how the angels or messengers of God are sent to minister to the elect who are to inherit salvation (Ephesians 4:11-16) as distinct from the non-elect who will be granted into salvation at the White Throne Judgment. "For this reason we MUST give the more earnest heed to the things which were heard when God spoke in His Son, perchance we drift away from the tiepost of New Testament revelation communicated to believers." (The basis of Paul's reasoning is that the Law of Moses was established by Divine authority, hence not only obligatory, but its validity was vindicated in earlier history by corresponding retribution against every objective transgression and refusal to hear; and it was ordered not by the Son of God but only by messengers – Hebrews 1:1). "For if the Mosaic Law administered by prophets in the hand of a mediator (Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19; Psalm 68:17) proved sure and steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation; which was announced by the Lord Jesus Himself, and confirmed for us by those who heard Him; then it was corroborated by God with signs and wonders, and a great variety of miraculous powers and gifts of the Holy Ghost, distributed according to his own will?"
John 8:56-59 "For the renewed heavens and earth of which we are speaking will not be under the control of angels. For one angel, the prophet David, testified in Psalm 8:5, What is man, that You are so concerned about him? or the Son of man, that You honour Him so highly"?
If you are elect, your personal angel or theophany is the image of your glorified form which God foresaw and foreknew before the foundation of the world when "He predestinated you to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover those He predestinated, He has called, justified, and glorified" (Romans 8:29-30; Psalm 34:7). We are even now glorified because it is established in the mind of God that we shall be glorified, so like Jesus we pray, "Father glorify Me with the glory I had with You before the world was" (John 17:5).
Brother Branham said, "Then after you recognize the very Word of God [for your hour] was Eagle Food, then you left the other thing [the Word for a day gone by]. You've then been formed into the living image of the living God. You heard from your theophany. "If this earthly body be dissolved, we have one waiting." . . . If you're an attribute of God expressed here on earth, you've got a body waiting after you leave this world" (Who is this Melchisedec? p. 17:88-89).
You are reborn when you hear from your theophany or guardian angel in the Presence of God, your Attribute in the Logos or mind of God from eternity (Psalm 34:7). When you make contact by faith through the fourth dimension, you hear your name called from the Lamb's Book of Life, not Sue or Charley, but the Word for your hour, and recognize your election (John 10:1-5).
Jesus put it in this way, "In a little while, the world will no longer see Me; but you will see Me: because I live eternally, you will be reborn of eternal Life. At that day you will know that I AM in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who receives My commandments, and keeps them loves Me: and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will MANIFEST myself to him" (John 14:19-21).
"Jesus was designated by God a High Priest in the similitude of Melchizedek, concerning which we have much to say, which is difficult to explain because you have grown hard of hearing; for whereas by this time you ought to be capable of teaching others, you stand in need of someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's Word all over again. You are like babies who can drink only milk, and not solid food! Of course, anyone who feeds on milk is inexperienced in the Word of righteousness for he is a child. But solid food is for mature persons, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil" (Hebrews 5:10-14).
Here Paul was not referring to Melchisedek, or to Christ, but to the declaration that, like Melchisedek, the Office of Christ is Priest-King (Zechariah 6:12-13). The Divine oath accompanying this Office shows its unparalleled excellency. King David died and the Aaronic priests could not continue by reason of death. Their priesthood was "made after the Law of a carnal commandment," but His after the power of an endless Life (Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-28) as prophesied by David a thousand years beforehand (Psalm 110:4). Messiah was not of Levi but of Judah, and His priestly office was not conferred by inheritance, but by an oath. The Aaronic priesthood was local, temporary and national, Melchisedek had a universal ministry over Israelite and Gentile as God's promise to the Gentile Abram embraced both Jew and Gentile. As Mediator between the invisible God and man, Melchisedek first blessed Abram in behalf "of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth," who would make Abram and his descendants joint heirs of the world through the righteousness of faith (Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:16-18, 27-29); next "He blessed the Most High God" in Abram's behalf for having delivered his enemies into his hand. God made over His gift of the world to Abram's Seed, and Abram gave all the glory of his victory to the Lord as an earnest of his final universal possession as the incarnate Son of Abraham. As the Son of God Jesus inherits all things in heaven and earth; as the Son of David He is Heir to the throne; as Son of Abraham He is Heir to the royal grant; as Son of man He is Heir to the earth. That is our Kinsman Redeemer.
From Hebrews 7:1-3 we learn that this Melchisedec, was Priest-King of Salem, which means "Peace," and is Jerusalem which is Above (Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 11:10; 12:22-23), not the Amorite City the Jebusites conquered and renamed Jebus. (See Newsletter #624). Melchisedek met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, blessed him in the Name of El Elyown, possessor of heaven and earth, and served him bread and wine (Genesis 14:18-19). Jesus Christ, the coming Priest-King of new Jerusalem, that will come down from God out of heaven after the slaughter of the kingdoms, is presently the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6; Daniel 2:40-45; Revelation 19:11-20:6; 21:2). Abram tithed to Melchizedek, whose name, melek=king, tsedeq=righteousness or justice, means King of Righteousness (Hebrews 7:2), a tenth of the spoils recovered from the defeated kings. And Jesus who was raised for our justification, is the King of Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:5), and in the new heavens and new earth the kings of the earth, Christ's Bride, will bring tithes from the nations of the "saved" into the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:24-26).
Hebrews 7:4-10, "Consider how great this Man was to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. The descendants of Levi, who receive the priestly office, are commanded by the Law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brethren, though they are their relatives: but this Man who is without their genealogy received tithes from Abraham, and blessed him who had the promises. Yet the lesser is blessed by the better. Here tithes are received by mortal men; but in that case by One of whom it is witnessed that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who received tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his forefather, when Melchisedec met him." This is a direct type of II Corinthians 5:14, for "we are convinced that as One died for all then all the elect of God were accounted dead in Christ on Calvary's Cross".
The point is, if one who is eternal and who possesses heaven and earth should receive tithes of Abraham, every Christian is duty bound to pay tithes.
Melchisedek was "without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; made like the Son of God in that He abides priest continually . . . after the power of an endless life, whereas by reason of ill health and death Israel's high priests maintained office only temporarily." Melchisedek was not the Son of God but the God of the Son; were He a Son He would have had a father and a mother, beginning and end of life like Jesus. Neither was there a Melchisedek priesthood, which would also have had to have had a beginning and an end. Abram met the invisible Father of the Son of God in a theophany He had created in order to reveal Himself as He would later manifest Himself to the children of Israel in a Pillar of Cloud and Fire, to Abraham, Moses and Jacob in the form of a Man, and to John the Baptist in the Form of a Dove.
God created the woman in Adam (Genesis 5:2), but when He separated them she brought forth life unto death through Satan's reasoning against the Word and lust, so our Kinsman Redeemer could not come as Melchisedek. He had to be born of woman in order to fulfil the prophecy of Genesis 3:15, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpent's head, and his seed shall bruise Your heel." So He dwelt in the Body of His Son, Christ Jesus, and offered His Own blood as a sacrifice for His elect that we might have eternal Life (Romans 6:4-13; II Corinthians 5:14, 19). Melchisedek and Jesus are the selfsame Being, but God is a Spirit whereas Jesus was God's body, born and fashioned after sin in order pay the wages of sin for whomsoever will receive Him. God would not let that holy Body which He created see corruption and He raised it up to sit at His right hand.
When Abram met Melchisedek after the battle of the kings, Jehovah was manifest in a theophany, but when Abraham met and worshipped Him before the destruction of Sodom He was in the flesh of a created Man who proved He was the Word by discerning the thoughts and intents of Abraham and Sarah's hearts (Genesis 18; Hebrews 4:12; John 8:56-58). "And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of earth shall be blessed through him"?
This was a type of today. Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the day when Jesus is revealed in the Office of the Son of Man [not Son of God]" (Luke 17:28-30). The world is in a Sodom condition, and once again the Gentile world has been visited by three Messengers. Billy Graham and Oral Roberts ministered a basic salvation Message to the church in Sodom; God veiled Himself behind William Branham, a sinner-saved-by-grace, and revealed "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever" to Abraham's elect and called out group by discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. He restored the apostolic faith and finished the mystery of God (Malachi 4:5-6; Matthew 17:11; Ephesians 1:9; Revelation 10:7) to Abraham's seed, "the meek who shall inherit the earth" from God, the "possessor of heaven and earth" when the Prince of Peace receives His Kingdom for we are His joint heirs (Matthew 5:5).
God does not reveal these things to educated ministers and denominational believers whose understanding is based upon intellect, traditions and good works. Either unwilling or unable to empty their minds of errors of unbelief, they are content with an FAQ religion rather than "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" who said, "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Philippians 3:14; Matthew 4:4). The word sin means to aim for but miss the mark. We are now at the top of the pyramid where there is no Mediator for an FAQ hit-or-miss religion "made after the law of a carnal commandment." Men of faith live by the Law of love for God's Word revealed in the solid food of this end-time Message, that is taking us on to perfection by the power of eternal Life, not the doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands and the milk of excuses that can manifest neither the Token nor the 'third pull'.
The world sees Jesus as you present Him. Are you written epistles of the Anglican or Methodist church, Freemasonry or the Boy Scout Association, or is the Token of the Life of Christ on display in you through a clear revelation of the present truth? They might be clean-living, moral and just, but they are sinners. Sin is unbelief. You are one or the other, there is no in-between. God cannot reveal Himself to the world church system. He said, "the world will see Me no more but you will see Me. . . If you love the world and the things of the world the love of God is not in you." God wants separaters, "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness" (II Corinthians 6:14; Revelation 18:4)?
Jesus told the denominational unbelievers, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews, You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham? Jesus replied, Most assuredly I tell you, Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:56-58). Of course, He revealed Himself to Abraham as Melchisedek before He was begotten.
Daniel said, "many shall travel, and knowledge shall be increased. The wise will know their God and do exploits, but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand".
After our victory, Jesus Christ, possessor of heaven and earth, a Priest-King in the similitude of Melchisedek prior to His incarnation, will bless Abraham's seed with bread and wine at the Wedding Supper in His Father's Kingdom (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:6; Matthew 26:26-29; Galatians 3:29). When His earthly ministry was fulfilled, Jesus told Judas to do his work of betrayal quickly, "took bread, blessed, broke, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink all of it; for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom" (Matthew 26:26-29).
At the Wedding Supper of the Lamb in the sky Melchisedek will serve communion to Abraham's seed. In the meantime, "Fight the good fight of faith and hold tightly to eternal Life which God has given you . . . until the (Gk. 'epiphaneia') glorious manifestation of the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ which in His (Gk. 'kairos' or opportunity) times (after the Gentile dispensations of grace) He will make known [in the flesh], the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who alone possesses immortality, dwelling in unapproachable Light which no man has ever seen or can see. To Him belong honour and eternal dominion. Amen" (I Timothy 6:12-16). It is He, the Jesus Christ, the mystery of God revealed, the Lord of Glory. nl628.htm
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Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations in other countries. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
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Saturday, April 17, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The Godhead
Bible Believers' Newsletter #627
"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660
Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are pleased you could join us in fellowship around God's unchanging Word.
As we have a number of new subscribers and many new readers, some of whom are not as yet divorced from religious dogma and tradition to enter the unity of the faith, it is appropriate that at this time when many are conscious of the death and resurrection of our Lord that we teach on the Godhead. Our article builds upon an essay published years ago by Canadian Pastor Terry Sproule. May the Lord edify your soul as the greatest and most important of all revelations is the supreme deity of our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; Ephesians 1:20-23).
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
Your brother-in-Christ, Anthony Grigor-Scott
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7.2 Quake in Baja California may pose Threat of Large Aftershocks
April 8, 2010 – Last Sunday’s earthquake occurred on a family of fault lines that continue up into Southern California and eventually merge with the San Andreas fault system, said David Jackson, a UCLA professor of geophysics.
"Mechanically, the earthquake down in Mexico could put stress on the Imperial fault, which could put stress on the San Andreas fault . . . An earthquake on either fault line would be felt in the Los Angeles area. . . The Laguna Salada fault is the most likely culprit for Sunday’s earthquake . . . the similarities between these three make it easier for them to trigger each other. . . the low probability will remain present for a long time . . . the 1992 Landers earthquake [triggered] . . . an earthquake of a similar magnitude . . . 30 miles away some years later, in 1999. . ."
Full story: dailybruin.com
Comment: The image shows clouds of dust rising from mountains in Baja, California, trembling from the earthquake. A Brother from Colombia wrote, God bless the rich and powerful. God the creator of heaven and earth, never brings man to judgment without first sending a prophet with warning and a way of escape, because without prophecy the people perish (Proverbs 29:18). Listen as Brother Branham warns of the sinking of Los Angeles and a 1,500 x 300-400-mile segment of earth's crust realistically portrayed on film youtube.com
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The Passion of Jesus Christ
Our Brother David Mills has created several Christian video clips. The following 4.38 minute movie tells the blessed story of Jesus Messiah's vicarious death and victorious resurrection which purchased our redemption 2,000 years ago. Please take a look youtube.com.
Brother Mills has written a computer program called "Genesis PRO," which is a church administrative system for Windows using MS SQL for its data engine. For screen shots and information visit DM2.ca. Special consideration for your Message Church.
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The Godhead
The Bible is the story of the sole Person of One God changing His form or unfolding Himself from the eternal Spirit alone with His thoughts (Genesis 1:26-28; Isaiah 37:16; 44:24; 45:5-8; John 1:3; I Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:15-27; Hebrews 1:1-2; Revelation 3:14) to the flesh of His glorified Family—not a second or third person but Himself (singular) manifest in one many membered Body as explained in I Corinthians 12:12-27. Throughout eternity the "saved" will worship God manifest in the form of His glorified Family—new Jerusalem—Jesus Messiah and His Bride of all Ages. Jesus Christ is "the beginning [Beginner or Author] of the creation of God." He is not the beginning of God's creation, which is the universe, rivers and trees, He is their Creator. He is Godhead.
John 1:3, "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing that exists came into being." It is He of Whom it is said, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). "For in six days (or eras, Heb. 'yowm'; II Peter 3:8) the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea and everything in them, and rested the seventh day" (Exodus 20:11). He is the Creator of a FINISHED PHYSICAL CREATION. Any other interpretation would be an oxymoron. God is the Creator, only in Jesus Messiah and His Bride in He a creation.
As foreseen in Daniel 7:13, Revelation 1:13 describes the 'parousia' of the Son of man standing in the midst of the Church revealing Who He is in this last age. He calls Himself the "Beginner or Author of the creation of God." This is ANOTHER CREATION, a special designation of Himself called the Church. He is her Creator. The heavenly Bridegroom created His own Bride. As the Spirit of God, He created the very cells in the womb of Mary for that body. Had He simply given life to Mary's human ovum that body would not have produced the acceptable sacrifice of the "Last Adam," God's "Holy One," but sinful flesh (Psalm 16:10; Psalm 51:5). Speaking as Christ David said, "You (Father) have prepared this body for Me to lay as an acceptable sacrifice on Your altar" (Psalm 40:6-8; Hebrews 10:4-8). God (not Mary) provided that body. Mary was the human incubator who carried that Holy Child and brought Him to birth. It was a God-man. He was the Son of God. He was of the NEW creation. Man and God met and joined; He was the first and He is the head of this new race.
Colossians 1:18, "He is the Head of the Body, the Church: He is its beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence."
II Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, the nature of the old creation has passed away, behold the new has come".
Although man was of the OLD creation, in UNION WITH CHRIST he becomes the NEW creation of God. Ephesians 2:10, "For we are His workmanship CREATED IN UNION WITH CHRIST JESUS for good works." Ephesians 4:24, "Put on the NEW NATURE [not new soul] created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." The Church is made from the Holy Spirit taken from His side when God put Him to sleep on Calvary (I Corinthians 5:13-21) as Eve was created in Adam (Genesis 5:2) and made from a rib taken from his side when God put him to sleep in the garden of Eden. We are the continuation of the creation of God as Eve was the continuation of the creation of Adam (Genesis 2:21-25) as will be seen by a prayerful review of "The Creation of God and His One Eternal Purpose" in Newsletters #520 – #524.
Since God's thoughts are eternal and they are real, they are the Attributes of His nature and character (Proverbs 23:7). The Logos is those eternal thoughts expressed: being eternal they are Absolute and will manifest in their designated and decreed season and time. As the Logos, Jesus Christ is the beginning of God creating Himself a part of creation to display His Attributes as Saviour, Redeemer, Prophet, Priest, King, Judge, and so-on (Revelation 3:14; John 1:1-5). By faith the virgin Mary received the Word which became baby "Jesus, whose Name is called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, GOD with us." Only as Jehovah-Saviour, could God who is Spirit manifest as the KINSMAN Redeemer and Saviour for Adam and believers of his fallen race foretold in prophecies, shadows and types (Genesis 3:21; 22:13; Leviticus 25:47-55; Ruth; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; 42; 43:3, 11, 44:6; 45:15, 21-22; 53; Matthew 1:21-25). The first Adam was created a living soul in the image of God; the last Adam was created a human being in the image of man. Like the first Adam, His body was created without sin but He was born of a woman by the spoken Word without human male instrumentality because death came through Eve who learned to procreate by lust and Satan's wisdom instead of awaiting God's revelation. Thus every man is "made a little lower than his angel [foreknown from the foundation of the world – Genesis 1:26-28]; even the Son of man, who is now crowned with glory and honour, and set over the works of God's hands with all things in subjection under His feet (Psalm 8:6; I Corinthians 15:25-28; Ephesians 1:20-23). For in subjecting all things under Him, God left nothing that is not subject to Him, however we do not yet see all things subjected to Him. But we do see Jesus, ranked lower than our theophanies for a little while, crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by divine grace He might taste death [as Kinsman Redeemer, overcome the Adversary and recover the inheritance Adam forfeited] for everyone in Adam's race" (Hebrews 2:7-9; II Corinthians 5:14-15).
Even sinners have angels, "fallen angels. . . but as God's elect have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (I Peter 3:18-20; II Peter 2:4-5; Jude 6; I Corinthians 15:49; John 17:5; Romans 8:28-30). Denominational ministers are "fallen angels," for an angel is a messenger and these portray themselves as angels of Light when they are in fact impersonating the Word for a day gone by.
God cannot be an eternal "Father" anymore than He can be an eternal "Son," for a son is begotten of a father and one does not become a father until he has begotten his firstborn. God's first son Adam (Genesis 2:7; Luke 3:38) was created not begotten or born. God became known as "Father" in His incarnation as "the only begotten Son and intimate Presence of the Father, He and none else interpreted and made Him known by unfolding the nature and character of the invisible Spirit in flesh" (John 1:18). This is not to say that He is never called "Father" or likened to a father in the Old Testament but it proves that "Father" is an office or dispensation claim and not His Name, as confirmed by the agreement of Matthew 28:19 and Acts 3:38-39.
In the Old Testament, "Father" described God's relationship to His creation (Deuteronomy 32:6; Malachi 2:10), to Israel as covenant-maker (Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 1:31; 8:5; 14:1; Isaiah 64:8; Malachi 2:10), and as suzerain over the Davidic kings, but not His relationship to another divine person as in Trinitarian theology.
If God is an eternal Father through His relationship to an eternally divine person known as "Son," why have we never read of this Son in the Old Testament with whom the Father is in eternal relationship? We would expect the Old Testament to mention such a Son if He existed prior to the incarnation, however we find no mention of Him until after the incarnation in the New Testament. Could this explain why there are very few references to God as "Father" in the Old Testament, but a multitude of references in the New Testament? Thus we have no reason to suppose that the Man Jesus pre-existed, since He "was conceived in Mary by the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 1:20).
If Holy Ghost and Father are two divine persons, Jesus has two fathers and is illegitimate. Were there two or three divine persons, God's eternal Fatherhood and the eternal Son would be mentioned throughout the Old Testament, but as we do not find a divine Being "Father" in relationship to another divine Being "Son," we have no reason to conclude that God is eternally Father, or that there is an eternal Son, which are oxymorons. That would have us worshipping many gods rather than One ALL-mighty God "The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8; Genesis 17:1; Isaiah 13:6), which is the recognition 144,000 elect Israelites will give our Lord Jesus Christ at their new birth (Revelation 15:3).
"Father" is a relational term with relational significance as the Office or Title God received when His first Son, Adam, was formed (Genesis 2:7; Luke 3:38). Since Jesus came in His Father's Name, the compound redemptive Name of the Father is Lord Jesus Christ (John 5:43; 17:26).
Holy Ghost is what God is. God is one Spirit, not two Spirits and one Man as He would be if "the Father" were a person other than the Holy Spirit (Numbers 23:19; Matthew 1:20; John 4:24; Acts 17:24). The compound redemptive Name of the Holy Spirit is Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:16, 26).
"Son "is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the virgin-born Jesus—the only means whereby God could fulfill the part of Kinsman Redeemer and Saviour of Adam's race (Isaiah 7:14; I Timothy 3:16). Scripture states that the fullness of the character and nature of the Godhead was expressed bodily in Jesus Christ, not that the fullness of Jesus Christ dwelt in the Godhead (I John 18; II Corinthians 5:19; Colossians 2:9). When He was born, Joseph called His Name Jesus which means "Jehovah-Savior." As Jehovah means "the Self-existent One," not two or three, Jesus means, "the Self-existent One who is the Savior." Joseph so-named Him because Isaiah had prophesied, "they shall call His Name Immanuel" which means "God with us," or Jesus (Matthew 1:21-25).
When John baptized Jesus in the Jordan He was anointed for His ministry by the Shekinah or Pillar of Fire in the form of a Dove, and became the Christ or Anointed One (John 1:31-34). Later, when He overcame in the garden of Gethsemane, He became Lord (John 17; Acts 2:36; 5:31). He is Lord Jesus Christ.
Father, Son and Holy Ghost are the key offices or dispensation claims upon which God manifests numerous Titles. Both Old and New Testaments demonstrate Jesus Christ of the New Testament is Jehovah of the Old, manifest in flesh so He could fulfill the part of Redeemer and Saviour:
Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide Genesis 22:13-14; Matthew 14:15-21
Jehovah Rapha the Lord that heals Exodus 15:26; Matthew 4:24
Jehovah Nissi the Lord our banner Exodus 17:8-15; Revelation 19:11-16
Jehovah Shalom the Lord our Peace Judges 6:23-24; Luke 19:38
Jehovah Raah the Lord my Shepherd Psalm 23:1; Matthew 26:31
Jehovah Tsidkenu the Lord our righteousness Jeremiah 23:6; Romans 10:4
Jehovah Shammah the Lord is Present Ezekiel 48:35; Revelation 21:3
The many different Names or Titles by which God revealed Himself in the Old Testament described different offices or manifestations of One God as He revealed Himself to His people. These names and attributes were again expressed when the fullness of the nature and character of God dwelt bodily in our Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:1-3).
"Jehovah," the One Lord of the Old Testament who was many things to Israel finally became our Savior, manifesting all of these Attributes in "Jesus," which means "Jehovah-Savior." The Angel told Joseph, "Call His Name Jesus, for He shall SAVE His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21 and Isaiah 45:15, 21).
Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King, Son of man, Son of God, and Son of David. This does not make Him one of a "Trinity" of three persons or three gods. These are simply the three major offices or dispensation claims of the first God-Man from His birth to the Millennium, just as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three offices or dispensation claims of one God who has revealed Himself as the Father in creation, the Son in redemption, and the Holy Ghost in regeneration (Isaiah 41:4; Revelation 1:8, 17-18).
— Elohim and Jehovah —
The Jewish superstition that man may not pronounce the Name of Jehovah arose from a false exposition of Exodus 20:7 and a misinterpretation of the word "blaspheme" in Leviticus 24:11, 16, which became "utters distinctly." By elevating and hallowing the punishment above partisan fanaticism it became apparent that Israelites and strangers must suffer the same punishment: "And the Israelitish woman's son named (which should read "blasphemed") the Name [of the LORD] (i.e. Jehovah), and cursed. And they brought him to Moses: and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan: and he that blasphemed the Name [of the LORD] (i.e. YawehJehovah) shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he names (which should be "blasphemes") the Name [of the LORD], (i.e. Yaweh/Jehovah), he shall be put to death".
The aftereffect of this superstition based on an erroneous translation is continued in the Septuagint, German, and in our English Old Testament where (except in four places) Jehovah is translated "LORD" in upper case and used exclusively for God. "LORD" in smaller font indicates the Hebrew, Adonai. Out of a superstitious reverence for the Name Jehovah, Jewry always pronounce "Adonai" where "Yahweh" is written, which they now translate "the Eternal." Hebrew and Semitic writing in general is essentially consonantal; vowels are written in English, yet they omit the vowel from the word "G_d." This law for the punishment of blasphemy in verse 16 is perfectly clear: it was from a wrong conception of fact, not of the Law, that the Jews stoned Stephen, and would gladly have stoned Messiah. The capital punishment of the guilty in verses 17-21 in not to be considered part of the law of revenge (lex talionis), but rather a positive, divine command given in accordance with Genesis 9:6, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed." The lex talionis, on the other hand is permissive and restrictive. In Biblical Israel, the indulgence of unlimited revenge is restricted to retaliation in kind equivalent to the injury suffered (as per Genesis 9:6). For Talmudic Jewry, no restrictions exist as attested by worldwide media reportage of the unprovoked aggression and atrocities by their City of London's NATO in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and post World War II by the 'City of London'-controlled Russia and Allied nations who systematically raped and robbed the ruined and prostrate German Reich (including Austria); millions of Germans who survived the war were either killed in cold blood or deliberately left to die of disease, cold, malnutrition or starvation (ihr.org). Not to mention Jewish blood lust in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Gaza, and the callous theatre of Guantanamo Bay and "black' facilities worldwide where innocent men are imprisoned and tortured to strike fear in the hearts of any who would question their god Lucifer.
The names Elohim (El Eloah, El Elyown, El Shaddai, Elohim Sabaoth) and Jehovah throughout Genesis are distinguished so that Elohim prevails in passages which speak of the general relationship of God to the world; Jehovah-Elohim to those in living relationship through revelation and the covenant with the One personal God to His people and Kingdom. Likewise in the New Testament, Christ is a more distant, universal, less personal Name than Jesus. The "God of Truth" of the Old Testament, properly translated "God of the Amen," is more illustriously revealed in covenant-faithfulness in the God "Amen," of the New Testament: Jesus Christ—"Him who is, and who was, and who is coming"—"Immanuel" (Revelation 3:14; 1:4; Isaiah 65:16-19; 7:14).
In Genesis 14:18-22, "Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and He was the priest of the [universal] Most High God" (El Elyown). And He blessed him in this Name, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God (El Elyown), possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be the Most High God, (El Elyown), who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And Abram gave Him tithes of all".
"And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the people who were captured, and take the booty stolen from my city for yourself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have sworn to the [covenant God] LORD, the Most High God (Jehovah-Elyown), the possessor of heaven and earth. . ."
In Genesis 20:3-4 Elohim punished Abimelech, who addresses Him as Adonai. "But God [of the universe] (Elohim) came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said, Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman you have taken; for she has a husband. However Abimelech had not touched her: and said, Lord (Adonai), will You slay an innocent nation"? In verses 1-18, Abraham speaks of the fear of God (Elohim) and prays to Elohim for Abimelech's house, "for the [covenant] LORD (Jehovah) had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife".
The Hebrews said the Elohim, in opposition to false gods; but never the Jehovah, for Jehovah means the One true God. Again, My God, Elohai, but not My Jehovah, for Jehovah by itself means this covenant relation exists. Again, the Elohim of Israel; but not the Jehovah of Israel, for there is no other Jehovah. Again, the living Elohim, but not the living Jehovah; for Jehovah means this without the epithet. Jehovah in the Old Testament is the God of redemption. The correlative of Elohim is man, of Jehovah it is redeemed man. Elohim is God in nature, Jehovah is God in grace (Exodus 34:6-7). Elohim is the God of providence, Jehovah is the God of promise and prophecy; hence the prophets' formula is, "thus saith Jehovah," NOT "thus saith Elohim." Elohim is wider in meaning, embracing the representatives of Deity, angels, judges and rulers (Psalm 82:6; John 10:34-35); Jehovah is the deeper, incommunicable Name (I Corinthians 12:3; Revelation 2:17; 14:3; 19:12).
Elohim expresses the might of the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Isaiah 44:24, John 1:1, and Colossians 1:13-16 all speak of the same God. Elyown expresses "His sublimity" the Most High (Genesis 14:22). El Shaddai, "His all sufficiency" as the Almighty (Genesis 17:1; Philippians 4:19; II Corinthians 3:5; 12:9). Jehovah expresses His "unchangeable faithfulness to His covenant promises to His people." Adonai, His "lordship," which being delegated to others as also is His might as Elohim, Adonai and Elohim are used occasionally of His creatures, angels and men in authority (Psalm 8:5; 97:7).
Elyown, Shaddai and Jehovah are used exclusively for God. The plural Elohim signifies that He combines in Himself all the fullness of Divine perfections in their manifold powers and operations (which the heathen divided among a variety of gods). These Attributes are concentrated in the One true God, and besides those, others which fallen man never of himself imagined, such as infinite love, goodness, justice, wisdom, creative power, inexhaustible riches of excellence; unity, self existence, grace, and providence are especially dwelt on.
Jehovah: Jahaveh or Yahaveh (the probable correct pronunciation) is from the verb "havah," a word from a time anterior to the division of the Semitic languages and obsolete in Moses' time, or from the more modern word hayah, "to be," indicates the great antiquity of the Name: "I AM that I AM," which expresses unchanging Being (Exodus 3:14; Malachi 3:6; Revelation 1:4. See newadvent.org). Had Yahweh been a Name of more recent introduction, the whole nation of Israel would never have accepted it with such universal reverence.
Exodus 6:2-3 "God said to Moses, I am the LORD (i.e. Jehovah, "the self-existent One"): And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the Name of God Almighty (i.e. El Shaddai) but by My Name JEHOVAH was I not known to them".
The full and precious import of the Name Jehovah was only now about to be revealed. When giving the promises to the patriarchs He was known as GOD, Almighty to fulfil them (Genesis 17:1); to Moses as Jehovah, unchangeably faithful in keeping them (Malachi 3:6). Hebrews 13:8 identifies Jesus of the New Testament is Jehovah of the Old. Elohim can do all that He wills; Jehovah will do all that He has promised. Elohim (the plural of Eloah, expressing the fullness of God's powers) is appropriate to creation (Genesis 1:1 – 2:3); Jehovah-Elohim to paradise and to the covenant of grace at the fall (Genesis 2:7 – 3:24); the combination of these names identifies the Jehovah of the moral government with the Elohim of creation.
Elohim appears in the trial of Abraham's faith (Genesis 22); Jehovah, in its triumph. The last nineteen chapters of Genesis, from Jacob's meeting the angels and Esau (Genesis 32) have Elohim alone (except in the history of Judah and Pharez (Genesis 38); and Joseph's first entrance into Egypt (Genesis 39); and Jacob's dying exclamation (Genesis 49:18); the beginning and close of the long period of sorrow and patient waiting) to prepare by contrast for the fuller revelation to Moses, when the Name Jehovah is made known in its full and experimental preciousness. To be made "known" (Exodus 6:3) means to be manifested in act, making good in fact all that was implied in the Name (Ezekiel 20:9). The Name was not new to Israel, for it occurs before in Exodus 3:16 and 4:1; "My Name" instead of "the Name" points to the previous use of the Name, it is just that God had not been understood in the character represented by the Name Jehovah, the personal God in covenant with His people, manifesting boundless mercy, righteousness, and faithfulness to His Word. Thus "Immanuel" is used of His proving in fact to be what the Name means: "God with us" (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23). The "I AM" of Exodus 3:14 is to be filled up thus: I AM to My people all whatsoever they want, prayer in faith pleading God's covenanted promises: Light, Life, peace, salvation, glory, their exceeding great reward, etc. to supply the ellipsis. I AM all that My Word declares, and all that their threefold nature, body, spirit, and soul, requires. I am always all this to them (John 8:58). "Before Abraham was I AM" (Matthew 28:20).
— The Letter kills, but the Spirit gives Life —
My Thompson Chain-Reference Bible contains a history of "The Origin and Growth of the English Bible," which upon close examination does not list a single Hebrew Old Testament, and the oldest texts in the Samaritan Pentateuch (Torah) date back only to the twelfth century AD. In the last few centuries before Christ, Israelite scholars produced a translation of their Scriptures in Greek, the common language of the Eastern portion of the Roman Empire since Alexander the Great's conquests in the fourth century BC. The Greek Septuagint was translated directly from the Hebrew by Israelites and is the text quoted in the Gospels and Epistles. (See bible-researcher.com). Other than the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Jews' Masoretic text is the only existing representation of the Old Testament in Hebrew and is not Israelite literature.
From the sixth century AD when the codification of the Babylonian Talmud was completed, until the eleventh century, the center of Jewish scholarship transferred from Babylon in the East to North Africa and Spain. Between AD500 and AD1030, these Talmudic Jews created the counterfeit Masoretic Hebrew text of the Old Testament, first published in 1427. (See Newsletters #186, #205 and #325 for information regarding the Masoretes).
Pastor V.S. Herrell writes: One of the most famous examples of how the Jews attacked the Greek Septuagint regarded the word virgin. The particular verse in question is Isaiah 7:14, which reads in the Greek Septuagint:
"Therefore, the Master Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will conceive in the womb, and will bring forth a son, and you will call His Name Emmanuel".
In the Greek, the word for virgin is 'parthenos,' and it literally means a virgin. In the Masoretic Text, however, the word is 'almah' which means a young girl. The usual Hebrew word for virgin, and the word in every case translated virgin in the Revised Version, is 'bethuwlah.' This verse is quoted from Isaiah in the Christian Scriptures in Matthew 1:23. The Jews attacked the Septuagint from the beginning because they claimed that it had been corrupted by the Christians and that the Christians changed the word in the Septuagint to read virgin instead of young woman so that it would support the reading in Matthew. Of course, the Edomite Jews did not believe that Jesus was the true Messiah; this was why they were attacking the Septuagint. The Jews are the ones who changed the Hebrew, replacing the word virgin with young woman. The early motive of the Edomite Jews was to destroy Christianity, not just the Septuagint. But the Christians did not give in, so the Jews changed their strategy. They instead decided to corrupt the Old Testament and gain control of the Christians by giving them a corrupted Old Testament. By the 3rd century they began collecting every Hebrew manuscript they could, and this was easy to do because the Christians used the Greek Septuagint and cared little for the Hebrew. They then began revising the Hebrew documents to support their Jewish contentions. By the time of Jerome, they began taking the soft approach and gave Jerome their new Hebrew for him to use in his translation. But, as we said before, the Christians at first rejected the Vulgate. So the Jews continued working on their text. From the 1st century to the middle of the 5th century, they called themselves Talmudists; from the 5th century to the completion of their text [of the counterfeit Hebrew Old Testament - Ed] in the 10th-11th centuries, they called themselves Masoretes.
At the end of this time, all other Hebrew manuscripts except for the Masoretic Text disappeared. The fact is that they were destroyed by the same people who had gathered them up—the Talmudic, Masoretic Jews. Then the Jews began presenting themselves as the diligent preservers of the Hebrew Bible and began deceiving . . . Christians. They no longer blatantly attacked the Septuagint but rather touted themselves as being faithful servants of God. . . (See V.S. Herrell, The History of the Bible, p. 51-57 for a more complete account).
In their Preface to the New Revised Standard Version the Committee of translators state in part: "While it is almost if not quite certain that the Name was originally pronounced "Yahweh," this pronunciation was not indicated when the Masoretes added vowel sounds to the consonantal Hebrew text. To the four consonants YHWH of the Name, which had come to be regarded as too sacred to be pronounced, they attached vowel signs indicating that in its place should be read the Hebrew word Adonai meaning "Lord" (or Elohim meaning "God"). Ancient Greek translators employed the word Kyrios ("Lord") for the Name. The Vulgate likewise used the Latin word Dominus ("Lord"). The form "Jehovah" is of late medieval origin; it is a combination of the consonants of the Divine Name and the vowels attached to it by the Masoretes but belonging to an entirely different word. Although the American Standard Version (1901) had used "Jehovah" to render the Tetragrammaton (the sound of Y being represented by J and the sound of W by V, as in Latin), for two reasons the Committees that produced the RSV and the NRSV returned to the more familiar usage of the King James Version. (1) The word "Jehovah" does not accurately represent any form of the Name ever used in Hebrew. (2) The use of any proper name for the one and only God, as though there were other gods from whom the true God had to be distinguished, began to be discontinued in Judaism before the Christian era and is inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian Church." (See bible-researcher.com).
Those claiming a literal translation of the letter without regard to the Spirit and "the present Truth" (II Peter 3:12; I John 1:7) should note that "w," the twenty-third letter and eighteenth consonant in the English alphabet was first introduced by French scribes during the 1000's in the rounded form as a double uu, gaining its present double "VV" shape by the 1500's; and that there is no letter equivalent to "J" in either Hebrew or Greek even today. "J," the tenth letter and seventh consonant in the English alphabet, is the latest addition to English script and has been inserted in the alphabet after "I," from which it was developed. Petrus Ramus (1515-1572) is credited as the first to distinguish I and J as representing separate sounds. Not until the middle of the seventeenth century did the use of "j" become universal in English books (biblebelievers.org.au. And the new word Jew, which contradicts the meanings of the two words it has replaced did not enter the Bible until the latter part of the eighteenth century). Moreover it should be seen that the probable pronunciation of the word Jehovah differs from the common usage, so that this feigned piety is in vain.
God sent us a prophet in these last days to "restore the heart of His children to the faith of their apostolic fathers," all of whom were Israelites (Malachi 4:6; Matthew 17:11). William Branham (1909-1965) was vindicated as this prophet; neither he, Paul nor any of the other five angels, whose Messages alone brought new birth to the New Testament saints taught us to address the Lord in a foreign language, to observe the Law of sin and death, sabbath days, and feasts given to Israel exclusively as shadows and types of good things to come to us under the covenant of grace given to Abraham in Genesis 12.
Brother Branham taught, "You've got to say that right Word, the right thing to God." For instance, if you are baptized in the Titles Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and presume Christ is in the Office of Son of God and Mediator in this day, your sins are not remitted but retained and you have no personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ because you are without faith. "Saved," perhaps, but NOT a Christian. Jesus demonstrated this when the woman of Canaan implored, "Thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil"! Jesus was in the Office of Son of Man, not Son of David, besides which, had He been Son of David, she being a Gentile, would have no claims upon Him. But when she paid homage, crying, "Lord, help me"! He honoured her faith, for He was her Lord through creation, "And her daughter was made whole from that very hour" (Matthew 16:15-28).
Do you understand that people claiming to be Christians yet observing the sabbath day given to Israel under the Law are ignorantly denying the resurrection of Jesus Messiah? And if we are addressing God as YHWH/Yahweh/Jehovah we are not saying the right thing to God? Jesus came in His Father's Name, and the Holy Ghost was sent in His Name, which in this present dispensation is LORD JESUS CHRIST (John 5:43; 14:26). If you are a Christian you will be resting in this holy convocation of the antitype of the fiftieth day of Israel's Pentecostal Feast with the mind of Christ in you, not labouring your way to the tribulation by reasoning against His revealed Word. James 4:4, "You adulterers and adulteresses (i.e. idolaters), don't you know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God".
In Exodus 6:3, God told Moses He would reveal or make Himself "known" by His Name Jehovah by manifesting in deeds the Attributes implied in the Name. As we explained above, every time there is a victory or dispensation change a new name is given. Son of Abraham, Son of man, Son of God, and Son of David, are among the Names, Offices and Titles God takes in performing His work. As the Man Jesus Christ, Jehovah's Name is called "Immanuel"; as Saviour and Redeemer His Name is "Lord Jesus Christ. . . there is salvation in no other: for there is no other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12; Isaiah 45:21). "And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him" (Colossians 3:17; Ephesians 5:20).
God's Names describe His works as your name, Butcher, Smith, or Bishop represents your character, personality, or trade. Brother Branham said, "The greatest of all the revelations is the Deity, the Supreme Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can't get to first base until you believe that. That's what Peter said, "Repent, and then see the Deity. Be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and then you're ready to go in the Spirit." The first thing you have to know is the Deity of Christ. "I am Alpha and Omega. I'm from A to Z; there's no more but Me. I was at the beginning; I'll be at the end. I'm He that was, which is, and shall come, the Almighty" Think of it. That's what the trumpet said" (Patmos Vision, p. 97:144; Acts 2:39-39; Revelation 1:8, 11).
The idea of a new name is a familiar one. Abram was changed to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, Simon to Peter, and Saul to Paul. These names either brought about a change, or were given because of a change. It was only after Abram and Sarai had their names changed by the Lord that they were made ready to receive the coming son. In Jacob's case, he had to overcome and then he was called a prince. In the case of Simon and Saul, when they had received the Lord, their change came. And today each one of us true believers has had a change in name. We are Christians because we have changed from what we were, to what we are, and "we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18). One day Jesus is going to give the overcomer a white stone and in (not on) the stone a new name, which the owner alone knows.
Jehovah's compound redemptive Name is "LORD JESUS CHRIST" (Matthew 1:20-23; 28:19 (Isaiah 9:6); Luke 24:47; John 5:43; Acts 2:38-39; 4:12; Ephesians 2:21; 3:15; Colossians 2:9; 3:11). Compare John 2:19 with Acts 5:30. Jesus is the Creator, and His Name is NOT Jehovah, it is Jehovah-Saviour, The Word Interpreted is the Manifestation of the Name of God. He is LORD Jesus Christ. Christ's NEW name is His OLD Name—Melchisedec (Genesis 14, Hebrews 7 and Malachi 3:6). Jesus Christ is God.
— The Uniqueness of the Son of God —
Jesus is the visible manifestation of the invisible God. I Timothy 3:16, "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory".
The key word in understanding the supreme Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ is "manifestation." Jesus is the fullness of the nature and character of God manifest in virgin-born flesh in order to meet the requirements of a sinless, spotless kinsman Redeemer for Adam's race. Prior to His birth by the virgin Mary, the Man existed only in God's foreknowledge.
Luke 1:35, "The Angel told Mary, The Holy Ghost will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God".
When Mary told her espoused husband Joseph of her Supernatural pregnancy he was minded to quietly divorce her as a dishonorable woman. Matthew 1:20-23, "But the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, fear not to take to you Mary your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His Name Jesus: for He will save His people from their sins. Now all this was done, that the Words of the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is translated, God with us".
In the Old Testament the Son of God is only mentioned in a prophetic sense because He did not exist other than in the mind of God as One who was to come. No Scripture speaks of an eternal Son; the begotten son is familiar to all. In John 14:10-14, Jesus clearly explains who He is, "Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The Words I speak are not My own, they are spoken on authority of the Father who dwells in Me and does His work through Me. Believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Or believe it because of the mighty works you have seen Me do. In solemn truth I tell you, anyone believing in Me shall do the same miracles I have done, and even more, because I [will be raised for your justification and] go to the Father. And whatsoever you ask in My Name, I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son".
Our Father condescended to reveal Himself in His first begotten Son, a man born of a virgin, the first God-man in the new creation. To see the Son is to see the Father. Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). To know the Father is to know the Son (I John 2:21-23). Since Pentecost, the same God dwells in His elect. John 14:19-20, "When you are born-again you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you".
Jesus Christ was the "Beginning of the creation of God" (John 1:3; Colossians 1:18; Revelation 3:14). His elect Church is the continuation and His end-time Word Bride is the Capstone that is ending and completing the same creation (Hebrews 2:10-18). Thus Jesus Christ is "the Alpha and the Omega, the (Word at the) beginning and the (same Word restored and manifest in the Sons of God at the) ending" (Revelation 1:8; Romans 8:19).
— Objections Considered —
We will briefly review what appear to be the major arguments presented by the Trinitarians to support their doctrine:
1. The Use of Plural Pronouns in the Old Testament
Genesis 1:26 says, "Let us make man in our image." And Isaiah 6:8 says, ". . . I heard the Voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"
In such references, Trinitarians have tendered the use of the plural pronoun as conclusive proof of a plurality of persons in the Godhead. They forget that the Bible is the story of the One eternal Spirit unfolding Himself, His eternal thoughts expressed as Word, into the flesh of that Word in the form of His glorified Family—Jesus Christ and the New Testament saints. But when God says "us," He is speaking of the Logos or Word which is the expressed attributes of Himself: His eternal thoughts—you and I and all of His elect Seed. Once we understand this revelation, the mystery of the Godhead becomes wonderfully clear, and we see how we as His elect were with Him in eternity, for by foreknowledge He knew who would become "written epistles" manifesting His Word in their flesh.
As His elect we are eternal with God. Ephesians 1:4-5, "God has chosen us in Jesus before the foundation of the world. Having predestinated us [by His foreknowledge of how we would exercise our free moral agency when presented with His Word] to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will".
This means that we were right there with Jesus in the mind and thoughts of God before the foundation of the world. That gives an eternal quality to the elect. . . In very plain language the True Bride of Christ was in the mind of God eternally, though not expressed until each came forth in their designated, decreed season. As each member was born-again by expressing the Word for their Age, they took their place in the Body (II Corinthians 3:2-3). Thus this Bride is the literal Spoken Word Seed Bride. And though she is feminine in designation she is also called the "Body of Christ." It is very apparent that she ought to be so called for she was predestinated in Him, came from the same source, was eternal with Him, and is now manifesting God in a many membered Body whereas once God was manifested in One Member, even our Lord Jesus Christ (William Branham, An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 150).
Another illustration of the plural pronoun is found in John 14:23, "If a man loves Me and keeps My Words, The Father will love him too, and We will come to them, and make our abode with them".
As shown in I Corinthians 12:13 and Acts 2:4, there is in fact One Person who came in to us at our new birth—the Holy Spirit (to this the Trinitarians agree). Yet Jesus said, "We will come," so who is this "We?" It is the sum of Deity in revelation of the Father, who is the Holy Spirit, manifest in the flesh of the Son, quickening and reuniting with the soul of His elect upon regeneration.
The One God, One Person manifesting Himself in three offices or dispensation claims is Savior, Healer, Baptizer, Judge, Mediator, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Ephesians 4:5)!
2. The Use of the Plural Word Elohim
Elohim is a plural word. The abbreviated word "El" means "powerful" or "mighty," and occurs in many primitive languages, always referring to deity. "El" is found many times in the Old Testament, usually in compound form, as in the following examples:
El Elyon God most high Genesis 14:18
El Roi God of seeing Genesis 16:13
El Shaddai God Almighty Genesis 17:1
El Bet'el God of Bethel Genesis 31:13, and so-on.
El is expanded to "Eloah," a masculine singular noun, which occurs 57 times in the Old Testament, mostly in the book of Job. The plural form of this word is produced by adding the suffix "im" and deleting the "a" thus "Elohim," which occurs about 3,000 times in the Old Testament. More than 2,500 times it refers to the Deity Himself. It is also applied to human dignities and pagan deities such as Baal and Beelzebub (Judges 6:31; II Kings 1:2). In English we would call these pagan elohim "gods." With respect to the One Creator God, Elohim expresses an emphatic superlative degree as in El Shaddai, God Almighty, rather than a plurality, meaning ONE God who is the sum of all Deity, so in English we say "God" singular. And one day Jesus Christ and His glorified New Testament Church will be the manifestation of those glorious attributes—Elohim in the flesh of His glorified Family.
Trinitarians mistakenly maintain this word indicates a plurality of persons in the Godhead. Elohim's best known Name is "Jehovah," the modern spelling and pronunciation of "Yahweh," meaning "the Self-Existent ONE," who, when manifest in the flesh as our Kinsman Redeemer was named "Jesus," which means "Jehovah Savior." Jesus Christ is not a second or third person but the One Person of the Holy Spirit MANIFEST in virgin-born flesh. The burning bush, the Pillar of Cloud and Fire that led Israel through the wilderness, and the created Men who spoke with Abraham and Jacob, were manifestations of the same Holy Spirit.
Aside from pagan deities there is no indication of a Trinity in the entire Old Testament. As in the New Testament, all evidence supports the singularity of God as in Israel's "Shema" (Deuteronomy 6:4). And there is no similitude to the word "Trinity," a term attributed to Tertullian late in the Second Century and adopted by Roman Catholic church councils in later centuries.
Trinitarians sometimes link Genesis 1:26 with Colossians 1:13-19 to prove to their satisfaction Jesus of Nazareth created the world with the Father and Holy Spirit, but "Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb, I am the Lord who makes all things; who stretched forth the heavens ALONE; who spread abroad the earth by Myself" (Isaiah 44:24; 37:16; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalms 33:6-8).
God created all things by the Logos or spoken WORD when time and space began, NOT by that Man from Galilee Who is the Word made flesh, born of a virgin trillions of years later. As the first resurrected son and firstborn in the new creation, Jesus has preeminence over all things. To make Jesus the beginning of God's creation, as Trinitarians teach, is to make Him less than God. The beginning of God's creation is the sun, the planets, the rivers and trees. Jesus is the beginning of ANOTHER Creation. He is the beginning of God creating HIMSELF a part of a finished NEW creation redeemed to original perfection (Revelation 3:14).
Ralph E. Knudsen: "The word Elohim is one of the more general names for God and is plural in form. This is what is usually known as the plural of 'majesty or eminence,' or the plural of 'fullness or greatness.' It is not uncommon in the East to use the plural to express the idea of the singular in an intensified form. The singular of Elohim means strength, power, or might, and the plural is simply an intensifying of the singular meaning. There is no idea of making God more than one by the use of the plural form Elohim" (Christian Beliefs, 1947, p. 26).
The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia: "By far the most frequent form of the Old Testament writers is the plural Elohim, but they use it regularly with singular verbs and adjectives to denote a singular idea" (p. 1,254).
Dr. William Smith: "The plural form of Elohim has given rise to much discussion. The fanciful idea that it referred to the Trinity of persons in the Godhead hardly finds now a supporter among scholars. It is either what grammarians call the plural of majesty, or it denotes the fullness of divine strength, the sum of the powers displayed by God" (Dictionary of the Bible, p. 216).
"For in Him (Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2:9-10).
3. The Water Baptism of Jesus Christ
It is pointed out by Trinitarians that there were three present at the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. The Father was in heaven, the Holy Spirit was somewhere between heaven and earth, and Jesus the Son, was on earth. There is no clearer proof of God's majesty and manifestations than this picture of Jesus in the River Jordan. Do you see that God can be in heaven and manifested on earth at the same time? Jesus claimed Himself to be just that (John 1:18; 3:13), as does every Christian, for we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:28-30; Ephesians 2:6).
In John 14:10 Jesus claimed it was the Father who dwelt in Him that did the marvelous works. But if the Father remained in heaven while the Spirit descended, where and how did the Father finally get into Christ? The Spirit is the Father, for "God is a (ONE) Spirit"—He is the Holy Spirit (John 4:24).
Trinitarians invariably overlook the evidence that the Pillar of Fire in the form of a dove was a SIGN promised to John to identify the One he was to introduce. The Voice and the sign were seen and heard by John alone. Furthermore, Scripture does not say the dove was the Holy Ghost but that it was a manifestation of the Holy Ghost, and that the voice sounding from heaven spoke from within Jesus saying, "this is My beloved Son, in whom I am pleased to dwell is." So the concept of a presence of three persons evaporates—yet there were three witnesses (I John 5:7).
4. To Whom did Jesus Pray?
Incidents in the Gospels such as when Jesus prayed to the Father from the Cross have been used to support the idea that there must be at least two in the Godhead. A Trinitarian would ask, "Did Jesus pray to Himself? If not, then there must be two—one praying to the other." The key that makes understanding simple is to distinguish His Deity from His humanity. The Man Jesus was not praying to Himself.
"O You who hear prayer, to You shall all flesh come" (Psalms 65:2). Prayer is defined in the Bible as flesh praying to Deity. Like EVERY Son of God, the humanity of Jesus was praying to the Divinity dwelling within Himself. To Whom do you pray? If you are born again, you speak to the Holy Spirit Who dwells "in" you. Isn't that true? "You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you" (I Corinthians 3:16). "In Jesus dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily," He was the manifestation of God in the physical Form of a Man. Yet God is not a man but a Spirit, alone with His eternal thoughts in another dimension we call heaven (John 14:10; Matthew 12:50).
"In the days of His flesh, He offered prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His godly fear" (Hebrews 5:7).
"As a man," Jesus hungered, slept, wept, learned, prayed, and experienced all that is common to mankind. "As God," He healed the sick, raised the dead, calmed the seas and forgave sins. When the disciples were at sea and a storm threatened their lives, it was a man who was fast asleep in the boat, but when He awoke and lifted His voice to rebuke the wind and waves, then it was God who spoke! As a man, He wept before the tomb of Lazarus, as God He cried, "Lazarus, come forth!" It should not be difficult to comprehend that as a man Jesus prayed, but as God, He heard and responded to those prayers.
"The vessel or manifestation of God can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do: for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner" (John 5:19; 14:19). And is this not so with His brethren who are written epistles of the Word God is manifesting in THIS hour? A life lived by the Word is the Word expressed. "It is no longer I that live but Christ living through me by faith in the Son of God" (Galatians 2:20).
You might question, if the Father is the Holy Spirit and He is in heaven alone with His thoughts, how can He be dwelling in me? His revealed Word is living in you by faith. God's Word is Spirit is a form we can receive by faith.
The only way God can be ever-present is by the manifestation of His Word. This is how He was in Jesus and that is how He is in His saints—the New Testament Church—today. We receive the Spirit as we receive the understanding of the Word—by faith. We can only receive the Spirit in Word Form (Galatians 3:2, 5).
5. John 1:1 — "The Word was with God"
Trinitarians maintain that because the Word was with God, that makes two persons. For those who feel that John 1:1 indicates two divine persons, let us read it as Trinitarians, bearing in mind, God, by their definition, is a Trinity.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the Trinity, and the Word was Trinity." If the Word was with the Trinity, we now have four persons. If we say that in this verse, God stands not for trinity but for Father, we would read, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with the Father and the Word was the Father." The Word, then is not the Son but the Father—It was His eternal thoughts yet unexpressed—and the Holy Spirit was not at that time a Father, which is precisely what we maintain.
The simplest paraphrase of John 1:1, 14 would state: "In the beginning Elohim, the Self-existent One, was alone with His eternal thoughts . . . and Elohim was manifest in flesh and dwelt among us".
What is true for God, is true for man also. How can you separate a man's word from himself? Your word is with you and it is you, but that does not make you two persons. God's thoughts He has always had; we know them as Logos or thought in speech, they are Eternal and they are real, they cannot be added to or taken from. A thought expressed is a Word. In Jesus the fullness of the nature, character and purpose of God was manifest bodily, which is why He is called the "Word" or "Logos." This verse substantiates that the One Person of God manifest in the flesh Jesus Christ who is the beginning of God making Himself a part of creation.
6. New Testament Usage of the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Frequently in the epistles we find a variety of expressions embodying the words Father or God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. For example, Ephesians 1:2, "Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." To whom, asks the Trinitarian, can this refer if not to two divine persons? We will illustrate it in one source and it will suffice for all others, because the meaning is the same.
I Peter 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead".
Notice what is being expressed—the Father and Jesus Christ who is risen from the dead. God and the Man who died and rose again. Very simple, when we realize that God desires to reveal to the Church, not only His Deity, but also His justice in meeting sin's penalty and His righteousness and grace fulfilled in the humanity of the last Adam who was raised for our justification. It identifies the sinless Source of the Son, for since Adam, "all are born in sin and shapen in iniquity." NOT a second person in the Godhead but THE Person. Our Kinsman Redeemer was GOD manifest in the flesh, or we are all lost. The Bible calls Him "Emmanuel" meaning, "God with us," not a second, third or any other fraction of God (Matthew 1:18).
7. John 17:5 —"The Glory I had with Thee before the World was"
This verse of Scripture, understood in the Light of God's foreknowledge cannot be interpreted to mean a preexistent glorified Son. Such an interpretation would contradict all other passages of Scripture which reveal the Son in relation to time and humanity.
However, Jesus was glorified before the world was, He was also a Lamb before the world was, and was slain before the world was (Revelation 13:8). The whole plan of salvation including Christ's redemptive Work was established in the mind of God from eternity. This is the glorification for which Jesus prayed.
Even we as redeemed sons of God are ALREADY glorified. "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified" (Romans 8:29-30).
We are even now glorified because it is established in the mind of God that we shall be glorified. He foreknew whom they would be, therefore we too can pray like Jesus, "Father glorify Me with the glory I had with You before the world was".
8. How many did Stephen see?
"Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56). It is ridiculous to suppose that Stephen, as his life was being dashed out of him, beheld two divine persons standing side by side. It is ridiculous because:
(a) "NO man has seen God at anytime" (John 1:18; I John 4:12).
(b) God "The Father," is a Spirit and as such is invisible (Colossians 1: 15; I Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:27).
Stephen did not see two gods and He did not say, "I see Jesus standing beside God." The term, "right hand of God" provides us with the key that gives the explanation. In Exodus 15:6 Moses and the Israelites claimed to have "seen the right hand of God." But God is a Spirit with neither right nor left hand; what they saw was a manifestation of God's power and glory. As an Israelite Stephen knew what "the right hand of God" meant. He saw the Son of Man in power and glory. He saw the Son of Man on the right hand of God. When Jesus ascended, "ALL power was given unto Him in heaven and in earth," He was God's right hand Man, His first adopted son with all the Authority of His Father."
9. John 10:30 — "I and My Father are One"
Jesus is actually saying "I and the Father are in perfect agreement by faith, or at-one with each other." His prayer for the New Testament saints was, "That they ALL might be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, THAT THEY MIGHT BE ONE IN US. . ." (John 17:21-26). God and the soul that's joined together with God is ONE Spirit manifest in a many-membered Body (I Corinthians 6:17). And "ALL the saints speak the same thing" because they are each a manifestation of the same (One) Spirit of God (I Corinthians 1:10; 12:4-12.)
Not "three in one" but "thousand thousands" in One (Daniel 7:10; Hebrews 12:22-24; Revelation 5:9-13).
What perfect clarity and certainty comes to the heart of the believer when he begins to rest on the majesty of the revelation that there is One God with One Name! And through the Spiritual Marriage Union or new birth, that Name is the Name of the Bride also—Christ is the Head and She the Body (Ephesians 1:21-23).
Holy Spirit is "what" God is, Father is a Title or Office He received when He formed His first son, Adam (Genesis 2:4); Son is what He became when He began unfolding HIMSELF into the flesh of His Family (John 4:24; Revelation 3:14). "Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is ONE Lord," unfolding Himself from the eternal Spirit alone with His thoughts to the Flesh of those thoughts in the Form of His Glorified sons and daughters among whom Jesus is the firstborn of many (Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 1-3; 2:9-18).
Comparing the Words of Isaiah and Paul we can see that Jehovah of the Old Testament is Jesus of the New:
"Take counsel together, argue your case and state your proofs that idol-worship pays. Who but God has said from ancient times that these things concerning Cyrus would come true? Who has told it from that time; have not I the Lord: and there is no other God but Me—a just God and a Savior—no, not one! Let all the world look to Me for salvation! For I am God, there is no other! I have sworn by Myself, and I will never go back on My Word, for it is true—that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (Isaiah 45:21-23).
At the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth; and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father" (Philippians 2:10-11).
The believer longs to behold the face of the Son in glory; when he falls at Jesus' feet, he will be at the feet of Jehovah—HIS GOD AND HIS SAVIOR.
— One God or Trinity —
James Hastings: "It has been customary to trace the institution of the practice to the Words of Christ in Matthew 28:19, but the authenticity of this passage has been challenged on historical as well as textural grounds. It must be acknowledged that the formula of the threefold name, which is here enjoined, does not appear to have been used by the primitive church, which so far as our information goes, baptized 'in' or 'into' the Name of Jesus, or Jesus Christ, or the Lord Jesus, without any reference to the Father or the Spirit" (Dictionary of the Bible, p. 88).
Scribners: "The original form of words were into the Name of Jesus Christ or Lord Jesus. Baptism into Trinity was a later development" (Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. I, p. 241).
Canney Encyclopaedia: "The early church always baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus until the development of the Trinity; afterward they were baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" (p. 53).
American Encyclopaedia, International Edition: "The term Trinity was used by Theophilus of Antioch in AD 180" (Vol. 27, p. 116).
Encyclopaedia Britannica: "The triune and Trinity formula was not uniformly used from the beginning, and up until the third century, baptism in the Name of Christ only was so widespread that Pope Stephen, in opposition to St. Cyprian, said that baptism in the Name of Christ was valid. But Catholic missionaries, by omitting one or more persons of the Trinity when they were baptized, were anathematized by the Roman church. Now the formula of Rome is, "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Ghost" (11th Ed., Vol. 3, p. 365-366).
Encyclopedia of Religions: "Persons were baptized at first in the Name of Jesus Christ, or 'in the Name of the Lord Jesus.' Afterwards, with the development of the doctrine of the Trinity, they were baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" (p. 53).
New International Encyclopaedia: "The Trinity doctrine. The Catholic faith is this: 'We worship one in Trinity, but there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. The glory equal—the majesty co-eternal.' The doctrine is not found in its fully developed form in the Scriptures. Modern theology does not seek to find it in the Old Testament. At the time of the Reformation, the Protestant Church took over the doctrine of the Trinity without serious examination" (Vol. 22, p. 476).
Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion: "Christian baptism was administered by using the words 'in the Name of Jesus.' The use of a Trinity formula of any sort was not suggested in the early Church history. Baptism was always in the Name of the Lord Jesus until the time of Justin Martyr when the Triune formula was used" (Vol. 2, p. 377-378, 389. )
"NAME was an ancient synonym for "Person." Payment was always made in the name of some person referring to ownership. Therefore one being baptized in Jesus' Name became His personal property. "Ye are Christ's." (Acts 1:15; Revelation 3:4; I Corinthians 3:23).
LIFE Magazine: "The Catholics made this statement concerning their doctrine of the Trinity to defend the dogma of the assumption of Mary in an article by Graham Green: 'Our opponents sometimes claim that no belief should be held dogmatically which is not explicitly stated in the Scripture but the Protestant churches have themselves accepted such dogma as the Trinity for which there exists no such authority in the Gospels'" (October 30, 1950, Vol. 29, Number 18, p. 51).
Catholic Encyclopaedia: "The true doctrine of the sacrament of baptism is not taught by the Roman church. Baptism given by heretics in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost with the intention of performing what the church performs, is not true baptism" (Vol. 2, p. 259).
New Catholic Encyclopedia: "With regard to the form used for Baptism in the early church, there is the difficulty that although Matthew (28:19) speaks of the Trinitarian formula, which is now used, the Acts of the Apostles (2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5) and Paul (I Corinthians 1:13; 6:11; Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3) speak only of Baptism 'in the Name of Jesus.' Baptism in titles cannot be found in the first centuries. . ." (McGraw Hill Publishing, p. 59).
William Phillips Hall: "In this very ancient version (Syriac Peschito Version) which is believed by good authorities (Gwilliam, Boners, and others) to represent a text much older that of the Greek manuscript from which our English Old Testament was largely derived, 'The Name of the Lord Jesus Messiah or Christ' appears in all four readings given (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5)" (A Remarkable Discovery, p. 70).
International Encyclopaedia: "The doctrine of the Trinity did not form part of the Apostles' preachings, as this is reported in the New Testament" (First Edition, Vol. 18, p. 226).
New International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: "The term 'Trinity' was originated by . . . Tertulian, a Roman Catholic church father. No record of the Trinitarian formula can be discovered in the Acts of the Apostles. . . At the time of the Reformation, the Protestant Church took over the doctrine of the Trinity without serious examination" (Vol. 1, p. 396). proph05.htm
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Pass it on . . . please send this article to someone you know
Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations in other countries. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
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"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660
Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are pleased you could join us in fellowship around God's unchanging Word.
As we have a number of new subscribers and many new readers, some of whom are not as yet divorced from religious dogma and tradition to enter the unity of the faith, it is appropriate that at this time when many are conscious of the death and resurrection of our Lord that we teach on the Godhead. Our article builds upon an essay published years ago by Canadian Pastor Terry Sproule. May the Lord edify your soul as the greatest and most important of all revelations is the supreme deity of our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; Ephesians 1:20-23).
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
Your brother-in-Christ, Anthony Grigor-Scott
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7.2 Quake in Baja California may pose Threat of Large Aftershocks
April 8, 2010 – Last Sunday’s earthquake occurred on a family of fault lines that continue up into Southern California and eventually merge with the San Andreas fault system, said David Jackson, a UCLA professor of geophysics.
"Mechanically, the earthquake down in Mexico could put stress on the Imperial fault, which could put stress on the San Andreas fault . . . An earthquake on either fault line would be felt in the Los Angeles area. . . The Laguna Salada fault is the most likely culprit for Sunday’s earthquake . . . the similarities between these three make it easier for them to trigger each other. . . the low probability will remain present for a long time . . . the 1992 Landers earthquake [triggered] . . . an earthquake of a similar magnitude . . . 30 miles away some years later, in 1999. . ."
Full story: dailybruin.com
Comment: The image shows clouds of dust rising from mountains in Baja, California, trembling from the earthquake. A Brother from Colombia wrote, God bless the rich and powerful. God the creator of heaven and earth, never brings man to judgment without first sending a prophet with warning and a way of escape, because without prophecy the people perish (Proverbs 29:18). Listen as Brother Branham warns of the sinking of Los Angeles and a 1,500 x 300-400-mile segment of earth's crust realistically portrayed on film youtube.com
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The Passion of Jesus Christ
Our Brother David Mills has created several Christian video clips. The following 4.38 minute movie tells the blessed story of Jesus Messiah's vicarious death and victorious resurrection which purchased our redemption 2,000 years ago. Please take a look youtube.com.
Brother Mills has written a computer program called "Genesis PRO," which is a church administrative system for Windows using MS SQL for its data engine. For screen shots and information visit DM2.ca. Special consideration for your Message Church.
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The Godhead
The Bible is the story of the sole Person of One God changing His form or unfolding Himself from the eternal Spirit alone with His thoughts (Genesis 1:26-28; Isaiah 37:16; 44:24; 45:5-8; John 1:3; I Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:15-27; Hebrews 1:1-2; Revelation 3:14) to the flesh of His glorified Family—not a second or third person but Himself (singular) manifest in one many membered Body as explained in I Corinthians 12:12-27. Throughout eternity the "saved" will worship God manifest in the form of His glorified Family—new Jerusalem—Jesus Messiah and His Bride of all Ages. Jesus Christ is "the beginning [Beginner or Author] of the creation of God." He is not the beginning of God's creation, which is the universe, rivers and trees, He is their Creator. He is Godhead.
John 1:3, "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing that exists came into being." It is He of Whom it is said, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). "For in six days (or eras, Heb. 'yowm'; II Peter 3:8) the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea and everything in them, and rested the seventh day" (Exodus 20:11). He is the Creator of a FINISHED PHYSICAL CREATION. Any other interpretation would be an oxymoron. God is the Creator, only in Jesus Messiah and His Bride in He a creation.
As foreseen in Daniel 7:13, Revelation 1:13 describes the 'parousia' of the Son of man standing in the midst of the Church revealing Who He is in this last age. He calls Himself the "Beginner or Author of the creation of God." This is ANOTHER CREATION, a special designation of Himself called the Church. He is her Creator. The heavenly Bridegroom created His own Bride. As the Spirit of God, He created the very cells in the womb of Mary for that body. Had He simply given life to Mary's human ovum that body would not have produced the acceptable sacrifice of the "Last Adam," God's "Holy One," but sinful flesh (Psalm 16:10; Psalm 51:5). Speaking as Christ David said, "You (Father) have prepared this body for Me to lay as an acceptable sacrifice on Your altar" (Psalm 40:6-8; Hebrews 10:4-8). God (not Mary) provided that body. Mary was the human incubator who carried that Holy Child and brought Him to birth. It was a God-man. He was the Son of God. He was of the NEW creation. Man and God met and joined; He was the first and He is the head of this new race.
Colossians 1:18, "He is the Head of the Body, the Church: He is its beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence."
II Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, the nature of the old creation has passed away, behold the new has come".
Although man was of the OLD creation, in UNION WITH CHRIST he becomes the NEW creation of God. Ephesians 2:10, "For we are His workmanship CREATED IN UNION WITH CHRIST JESUS for good works." Ephesians 4:24, "Put on the NEW NATURE [not new soul] created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." The Church is made from the Holy Spirit taken from His side when God put Him to sleep on Calvary (I Corinthians 5:13-21) as Eve was created in Adam (Genesis 5:2) and made from a rib taken from his side when God put him to sleep in the garden of Eden. We are the continuation of the creation of God as Eve was the continuation of the creation of Adam (Genesis 2:21-25) as will be seen by a prayerful review of "The Creation of God and His One Eternal Purpose" in Newsletters #520 – #524.
Since God's thoughts are eternal and they are real, they are the Attributes of His nature and character (Proverbs 23:7). The Logos is those eternal thoughts expressed: being eternal they are Absolute and will manifest in their designated and decreed season and time. As the Logos, Jesus Christ is the beginning of God creating Himself a part of creation to display His Attributes as Saviour, Redeemer, Prophet, Priest, King, Judge, and so-on (Revelation 3:14; John 1:1-5). By faith the virgin Mary received the Word which became baby "Jesus, whose Name is called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, GOD with us." Only as Jehovah-Saviour, could God who is Spirit manifest as the KINSMAN Redeemer and Saviour for Adam and believers of his fallen race foretold in prophecies, shadows and types (Genesis 3:21; 22:13; Leviticus 25:47-55; Ruth; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; 42; 43:3, 11, 44:6; 45:15, 21-22; 53; Matthew 1:21-25). The first Adam was created a living soul in the image of God; the last Adam was created a human being in the image of man. Like the first Adam, His body was created without sin but He was born of a woman by the spoken Word without human male instrumentality because death came through Eve who learned to procreate by lust and Satan's wisdom instead of awaiting God's revelation. Thus every man is "made a little lower than his angel [foreknown from the foundation of the world – Genesis 1:26-28]; even the Son of man, who is now crowned with glory and honour, and set over the works of God's hands with all things in subjection under His feet (Psalm 8:6; I Corinthians 15:25-28; Ephesians 1:20-23). For in subjecting all things under Him, God left nothing that is not subject to Him, however we do not yet see all things subjected to Him. But we do see Jesus, ranked lower than our theophanies for a little while, crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by divine grace He might taste death [as Kinsman Redeemer, overcome the Adversary and recover the inheritance Adam forfeited] for everyone in Adam's race" (Hebrews 2:7-9; II Corinthians 5:14-15).
Even sinners have angels, "fallen angels. . . but as God's elect have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (I Peter 3:18-20; II Peter 2:4-5; Jude 6; I Corinthians 15:49; John 17:5; Romans 8:28-30). Denominational ministers are "fallen angels," for an angel is a messenger and these portray themselves as angels of Light when they are in fact impersonating the Word for a day gone by.
God cannot be an eternal "Father" anymore than He can be an eternal "Son," for a son is begotten of a father and one does not become a father until he has begotten his firstborn. God's first son Adam (Genesis 2:7; Luke 3:38) was created not begotten or born. God became known as "Father" in His incarnation as "the only begotten Son and intimate Presence of the Father, He and none else interpreted and made Him known by unfolding the nature and character of the invisible Spirit in flesh" (John 1:18). This is not to say that He is never called "Father" or likened to a father in the Old Testament but it proves that "Father" is an office or dispensation claim and not His Name, as confirmed by the agreement of Matthew 28:19 and Acts 3:38-39.
In the Old Testament, "Father" described God's relationship to His creation (Deuteronomy 32:6; Malachi 2:10), to Israel as covenant-maker (Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 1:31; 8:5; 14:1; Isaiah 64:8; Malachi 2:10), and as suzerain over the Davidic kings, but not His relationship to another divine person as in Trinitarian theology.
If God is an eternal Father through His relationship to an eternally divine person known as "Son," why have we never read of this Son in the Old Testament with whom the Father is in eternal relationship? We would expect the Old Testament to mention such a Son if He existed prior to the incarnation, however we find no mention of Him until after the incarnation in the New Testament. Could this explain why there are very few references to God as "Father" in the Old Testament, but a multitude of references in the New Testament? Thus we have no reason to suppose that the Man Jesus pre-existed, since He "was conceived in Mary by the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 1:20).
If Holy Ghost and Father are two divine persons, Jesus has two fathers and is illegitimate. Were there two or three divine persons, God's eternal Fatherhood and the eternal Son would be mentioned throughout the Old Testament, but as we do not find a divine Being "Father" in relationship to another divine Being "Son," we have no reason to conclude that God is eternally Father, or that there is an eternal Son, which are oxymorons. That would have us worshipping many gods rather than One ALL-mighty God "The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8; Genesis 17:1; Isaiah 13:6), which is the recognition 144,000 elect Israelites will give our Lord Jesus Christ at their new birth (Revelation 15:3).
"Father" is a relational term with relational significance as the Office or Title God received when His first Son, Adam, was formed (Genesis 2:7; Luke 3:38). Since Jesus came in His Father's Name, the compound redemptive Name of the Father is Lord Jesus Christ (John 5:43; 17:26).
Holy Ghost is what God is. God is one Spirit, not two Spirits and one Man as He would be if "the Father" were a person other than the Holy Spirit (Numbers 23:19; Matthew 1:20; John 4:24; Acts 17:24). The compound redemptive Name of the Holy Spirit is Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:16, 26).
"Son "is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the virgin-born Jesus—the only means whereby God could fulfill the part of Kinsman Redeemer and Saviour of Adam's race (Isaiah 7:14; I Timothy 3:16). Scripture states that the fullness of the character and nature of the Godhead was expressed bodily in Jesus Christ, not that the fullness of Jesus Christ dwelt in the Godhead (I John 18; II Corinthians 5:19; Colossians 2:9). When He was born, Joseph called His Name Jesus which means "Jehovah-Savior." As Jehovah means "the Self-existent One," not two or three, Jesus means, "the Self-existent One who is the Savior." Joseph so-named Him because Isaiah had prophesied, "they shall call His Name Immanuel" which means "God with us," or Jesus (Matthew 1:21-25).
When John baptized Jesus in the Jordan He was anointed for His ministry by the Shekinah or Pillar of Fire in the form of a Dove, and became the Christ or Anointed One (John 1:31-34). Later, when He overcame in the garden of Gethsemane, He became Lord (John 17; Acts 2:36; 5:31). He is Lord Jesus Christ.
Father, Son and Holy Ghost are the key offices or dispensation claims upon which God manifests numerous Titles. Both Old and New Testaments demonstrate Jesus Christ of the New Testament is Jehovah of the Old, manifest in flesh so He could fulfill the part of Redeemer and Saviour:
Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide Genesis 22:13-14; Matthew 14:15-21
Jehovah Rapha the Lord that heals Exodus 15:26; Matthew 4:24
Jehovah Nissi the Lord our banner Exodus 17:8-15; Revelation 19:11-16
Jehovah Shalom the Lord our Peace Judges 6:23-24; Luke 19:38
Jehovah Raah the Lord my Shepherd Psalm 23:1; Matthew 26:31
Jehovah Tsidkenu the Lord our righteousness Jeremiah 23:6; Romans 10:4
Jehovah Shammah the Lord is Present Ezekiel 48:35; Revelation 21:3
The many different Names or Titles by which God revealed Himself in the Old Testament described different offices or manifestations of One God as He revealed Himself to His people. These names and attributes were again expressed when the fullness of the nature and character of God dwelt bodily in our Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:1-3).
"Jehovah," the One Lord of the Old Testament who was many things to Israel finally became our Savior, manifesting all of these Attributes in "Jesus," which means "Jehovah-Savior." The Angel told Joseph, "Call His Name Jesus, for He shall SAVE His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21 and Isaiah 45:15, 21).
Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King, Son of man, Son of God, and Son of David. This does not make Him one of a "Trinity" of three persons or three gods. These are simply the three major offices or dispensation claims of the first God-Man from His birth to the Millennium, just as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three offices or dispensation claims of one God who has revealed Himself as the Father in creation, the Son in redemption, and the Holy Ghost in regeneration (Isaiah 41:4; Revelation 1:8, 17-18).
— Elohim and Jehovah —
The Jewish superstition that man may not pronounce the Name of Jehovah arose from a false exposition of Exodus 20:7 and a misinterpretation of the word "blaspheme" in Leviticus 24:11, 16, which became "utters distinctly." By elevating and hallowing the punishment above partisan fanaticism it became apparent that Israelites and strangers must suffer the same punishment: "And the Israelitish woman's son named (which should read "blasphemed") the Name [of the LORD] (i.e. Jehovah), and cursed. And they brought him to Moses: and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan: and he that blasphemed the Name [of the LORD] (i.e. YawehJehovah) shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he names (which should be "blasphemes") the Name [of the LORD], (i.e. Yaweh/Jehovah), he shall be put to death".
The aftereffect of this superstition based on an erroneous translation is continued in the Septuagint, German, and in our English Old Testament where (except in four places) Jehovah is translated "LORD" in upper case and used exclusively for God. "LORD" in smaller font indicates the Hebrew, Adonai. Out of a superstitious reverence for the Name Jehovah, Jewry always pronounce "Adonai" where "Yahweh" is written, which they now translate "the Eternal." Hebrew and Semitic writing in general is essentially consonantal; vowels are written in English, yet they omit the vowel from the word "G_d." This law for the punishment of blasphemy in verse 16 is perfectly clear: it was from a wrong conception of fact, not of the Law, that the Jews stoned Stephen, and would gladly have stoned Messiah. The capital punishment of the guilty in verses 17-21 in not to be considered part of the law of revenge (lex talionis), but rather a positive, divine command given in accordance with Genesis 9:6, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed." The lex talionis, on the other hand is permissive and restrictive. In Biblical Israel, the indulgence of unlimited revenge is restricted to retaliation in kind equivalent to the injury suffered (as per Genesis 9:6). For Talmudic Jewry, no restrictions exist as attested by worldwide media reportage of the unprovoked aggression and atrocities by their City of London's NATO in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and post World War II by the 'City of London'-controlled Russia and Allied nations who systematically raped and robbed the ruined and prostrate German Reich (including Austria); millions of Germans who survived the war were either killed in cold blood or deliberately left to die of disease, cold, malnutrition or starvation (ihr.org). Not to mention Jewish blood lust in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Gaza, and the callous theatre of Guantanamo Bay and "black' facilities worldwide where innocent men are imprisoned and tortured to strike fear in the hearts of any who would question their god Lucifer.
The names Elohim (El Eloah, El Elyown, El Shaddai, Elohim Sabaoth) and Jehovah throughout Genesis are distinguished so that Elohim prevails in passages which speak of the general relationship of God to the world; Jehovah-Elohim to those in living relationship through revelation and the covenant with the One personal God to His people and Kingdom. Likewise in the New Testament, Christ is a more distant, universal, less personal Name than Jesus. The "God of Truth" of the Old Testament, properly translated "God of the Amen," is more illustriously revealed in covenant-faithfulness in the God "Amen," of the New Testament: Jesus Christ—"Him who is, and who was, and who is coming"—"Immanuel" (Revelation 3:14; 1:4; Isaiah 65:16-19; 7:14).
In Genesis 14:18-22, "Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and He was the priest of the [universal] Most High God" (El Elyown). And He blessed him in this Name, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God (El Elyown), possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be the Most High God, (El Elyown), who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And Abram gave Him tithes of all".
"And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the people who were captured, and take the booty stolen from my city for yourself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have sworn to the [covenant God] LORD, the Most High God (Jehovah-Elyown), the possessor of heaven and earth. . ."
In Genesis 20:3-4 Elohim punished Abimelech, who addresses Him as Adonai. "But God [of the universe] (Elohim) came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said, Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman you have taken; for she has a husband. However Abimelech had not touched her: and said, Lord (Adonai), will You slay an innocent nation"? In verses 1-18, Abraham speaks of the fear of God (Elohim) and prays to Elohim for Abimelech's house, "for the [covenant] LORD (Jehovah) had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife".
The Hebrews said the Elohim, in opposition to false gods; but never the Jehovah, for Jehovah means the One true God. Again, My God, Elohai, but not My Jehovah, for Jehovah by itself means this covenant relation exists. Again, the Elohim of Israel; but not the Jehovah of Israel, for there is no other Jehovah. Again, the living Elohim, but not the living Jehovah; for Jehovah means this without the epithet. Jehovah in the Old Testament is the God of redemption. The correlative of Elohim is man, of Jehovah it is redeemed man. Elohim is God in nature, Jehovah is God in grace (Exodus 34:6-7). Elohim is the God of providence, Jehovah is the God of promise and prophecy; hence the prophets' formula is, "thus saith Jehovah," NOT "thus saith Elohim." Elohim is wider in meaning, embracing the representatives of Deity, angels, judges and rulers (Psalm 82:6; John 10:34-35); Jehovah is the deeper, incommunicable Name (I Corinthians 12:3; Revelation 2:17; 14:3; 19:12).
Elohim expresses the might of the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Isaiah 44:24, John 1:1, and Colossians 1:13-16 all speak of the same God. Elyown expresses "His sublimity" the Most High (Genesis 14:22). El Shaddai, "His all sufficiency" as the Almighty (Genesis 17:1; Philippians 4:19; II Corinthians 3:5; 12:9). Jehovah expresses His "unchangeable faithfulness to His covenant promises to His people." Adonai, His "lordship," which being delegated to others as also is His might as Elohim, Adonai and Elohim are used occasionally of His creatures, angels and men in authority (Psalm 8:5; 97:7).
Elyown, Shaddai and Jehovah are used exclusively for God. The plural Elohim signifies that He combines in Himself all the fullness of Divine perfections in their manifold powers and operations (which the heathen divided among a variety of gods). These Attributes are concentrated in the One true God, and besides those, others which fallen man never of himself imagined, such as infinite love, goodness, justice, wisdom, creative power, inexhaustible riches of excellence; unity, self existence, grace, and providence are especially dwelt on.
Jehovah: Jahaveh or Yahaveh (the probable correct pronunciation) is from the verb "havah," a word from a time anterior to the division of the Semitic languages and obsolete in Moses' time, or from the more modern word hayah, "to be," indicates the great antiquity of the Name: "I AM that I AM," which expresses unchanging Being (Exodus 3:14; Malachi 3:6; Revelation 1:4. See newadvent.org). Had Yahweh been a Name of more recent introduction, the whole nation of Israel would never have accepted it with such universal reverence.
Exodus 6:2-3 "God said to Moses, I am the LORD (i.e. Jehovah, "the self-existent One"): And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the Name of God Almighty (i.e. El Shaddai) but by My Name JEHOVAH was I not known to them".
The full and precious import of the Name Jehovah was only now about to be revealed. When giving the promises to the patriarchs He was known as GOD, Almighty to fulfil them (Genesis 17:1); to Moses as Jehovah, unchangeably faithful in keeping them (Malachi 3:6). Hebrews 13:8 identifies Jesus of the New Testament is Jehovah of the Old. Elohim can do all that He wills; Jehovah will do all that He has promised. Elohim (the plural of Eloah, expressing the fullness of God's powers) is appropriate to creation (Genesis 1:1 – 2:3); Jehovah-Elohim to paradise and to the covenant of grace at the fall (Genesis 2:7 – 3:24); the combination of these names identifies the Jehovah of the moral government with the Elohim of creation.
Elohim appears in the trial of Abraham's faith (Genesis 22); Jehovah, in its triumph. The last nineteen chapters of Genesis, from Jacob's meeting the angels and Esau (Genesis 32) have Elohim alone (except in the history of Judah and Pharez (Genesis 38); and Joseph's first entrance into Egypt (Genesis 39); and Jacob's dying exclamation (Genesis 49:18); the beginning and close of the long period of sorrow and patient waiting) to prepare by contrast for the fuller revelation to Moses, when the Name Jehovah is made known in its full and experimental preciousness. To be made "known" (Exodus 6:3) means to be manifested in act, making good in fact all that was implied in the Name (Ezekiel 20:9). The Name was not new to Israel, for it occurs before in Exodus 3:16 and 4:1; "My Name" instead of "the Name" points to the previous use of the Name, it is just that God had not been understood in the character represented by the Name Jehovah, the personal God in covenant with His people, manifesting boundless mercy, righteousness, and faithfulness to His Word. Thus "Immanuel" is used of His proving in fact to be what the Name means: "God with us" (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23). The "I AM" of Exodus 3:14 is to be filled up thus: I AM to My people all whatsoever they want, prayer in faith pleading God's covenanted promises: Light, Life, peace, salvation, glory, their exceeding great reward, etc. to supply the ellipsis. I AM all that My Word declares, and all that their threefold nature, body, spirit, and soul, requires. I am always all this to them (John 8:58). "Before Abraham was I AM" (Matthew 28:20).
— The Letter kills, but the Spirit gives Life —
My Thompson Chain-Reference Bible contains a history of "The Origin and Growth of the English Bible," which upon close examination does not list a single Hebrew Old Testament, and the oldest texts in the Samaritan Pentateuch (Torah) date back only to the twelfth century AD. In the last few centuries before Christ, Israelite scholars produced a translation of their Scriptures in Greek, the common language of the Eastern portion of the Roman Empire since Alexander the Great's conquests in the fourth century BC. The Greek Septuagint was translated directly from the Hebrew by Israelites and is the text quoted in the Gospels and Epistles. (See bible-researcher.com). Other than the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Jews' Masoretic text is the only existing representation of the Old Testament in Hebrew and is not Israelite literature.
From the sixth century AD when the codification of the Babylonian Talmud was completed, until the eleventh century, the center of Jewish scholarship transferred from Babylon in the East to North Africa and Spain. Between AD500 and AD1030, these Talmudic Jews created the counterfeit Masoretic Hebrew text of the Old Testament, first published in 1427. (See Newsletters #186, #205 and #325 for information regarding the Masoretes).
Pastor V.S. Herrell writes: One of the most famous examples of how the Jews attacked the Greek Septuagint regarded the word virgin. The particular verse in question is Isaiah 7:14, which reads in the Greek Septuagint:
"Therefore, the Master Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will conceive in the womb, and will bring forth a son, and you will call His Name Emmanuel".
In the Greek, the word for virgin is 'parthenos,' and it literally means a virgin. In the Masoretic Text, however, the word is 'almah' which means a young girl. The usual Hebrew word for virgin, and the word in every case translated virgin in the Revised Version, is 'bethuwlah.' This verse is quoted from Isaiah in the Christian Scriptures in Matthew 1:23. The Jews attacked the Septuagint from the beginning because they claimed that it had been corrupted by the Christians and that the Christians changed the word in the Septuagint to read virgin instead of young woman so that it would support the reading in Matthew. Of course, the Edomite Jews did not believe that Jesus was the true Messiah; this was why they were attacking the Septuagint. The Jews are the ones who changed the Hebrew, replacing the word virgin with young woman. The early motive of the Edomite Jews was to destroy Christianity, not just the Septuagint. But the Christians did not give in, so the Jews changed their strategy. They instead decided to corrupt the Old Testament and gain control of the Christians by giving them a corrupted Old Testament. By the 3rd century they began collecting every Hebrew manuscript they could, and this was easy to do because the Christians used the Greek Septuagint and cared little for the Hebrew. They then began revising the Hebrew documents to support their Jewish contentions. By the time of Jerome, they began taking the soft approach and gave Jerome their new Hebrew for him to use in his translation. But, as we said before, the Christians at first rejected the Vulgate. So the Jews continued working on their text. From the 1st century to the middle of the 5th century, they called themselves Talmudists; from the 5th century to the completion of their text [of the counterfeit Hebrew Old Testament - Ed] in the 10th-11th centuries, they called themselves Masoretes.
At the end of this time, all other Hebrew manuscripts except for the Masoretic Text disappeared. The fact is that they were destroyed by the same people who had gathered them up—the Talmudic, Masoretic Jews. Then the Jews began presenting themselves as the diligent preservers of the Hebrew Bible and began deceiving . . . Christians. They no longer blatantly attacked the Septuagint but rather touted themselves as being faithful servants of God. . . (See V.S. Herrell, The History of the Bible, p. 51-57 for a more complete account).
In their Preface to the New Revised Standard Version the Committee of translators state in part: "While it is almost if not quite certain that the Name was originally pronounced "Yahweh," this pronunciation was not indicated when the Masoretes added vowel sounds to the consonantal Hebrew text. To the four consonants YHWH of the Name, which had come to be regarded as too sacred to be pronounced, they attached vowel signs indicating that in its place should be read the Hebrew word Adonai meaning "Lord" (or Elohim meaning "God"). Ancient Greek translators employed the word Kyrios ("Lord") for the Name. The Vulgate likewise used the Latin word Dominus ("Lord"). The form "Jehovah" is of late medieval origin; it is a combination of the consonants of the Divine Name and the vowels attached to it by the Masoretes but belonging to an entirely different word. Although the American Standard Version (1901) had used "Jehovah" to render the Tetragrammaton (the sound of Y being represented by J and the sound of W by V, as in Latin), for two reasons the Committees that produced the RSV and the NRSV returned to the more familiar usage of the King James Version. (1) The word "Jehovah" does not accurately represent any form of the Name ever used in Hebrew. (2) The use of any proper name for the one and only God, as though there were other gods from whom the true God had to be distinguished, began to be discontinued in Judaism before the Christian era and is inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian Church." (See bible-researcher.com).
Those claiming a literal translation of the letter without regard to the Spirit and "the present Truth" (II Peter 3:12; I John 1:7) should note that "w," the twenty-third letter and eighteenth consonant in the English alphabet was first introduced by French scribes during the 1000's in the rounded form as a double uu, gaining its present double "VV" shape by the 1500's; and that there is no letter equivalent to "J" in either Hebrew or Greek even today. "J," the tenth letter and seventh consonant in the English alphabet, is the latest addition to English script and has been inserted in the alphabet after "I," from which it was developed. Petrus Ramus (1515-1572) is credited as the first to distinguish I and J as representing separate sounds. Not until the middle of the seventeenth century did the use of "j" become universal in English books (biblebelievers.org.au. And the new word Jew, which contradicts the meanings of the two words it has replaced did not enter the Bible until the latter part of the eighteenth century). Moreover it should be seen that the probable pronunciation of the word Jehovah differs from the common usage, so that this feigned piety is in vain.
God sent us a prophet in these last days to "restore the heart of His children to the faith of their apostolic fathers," all of whom were Israelites (Malachi 4:6; Matthew 17:11). William Branham (1909-1965) was vindicated as this prophet; neither he, Paul nor any of the other five angels, whose Messages alone brought new birth to the New Testament saints taught us to address the Lord in a foreign language, to observe the Law of sin and death, sabbath days, and feasts given to Israel exclusively as shadows and types of good things to come to us under the covenant of grace given to Abraham in Genesis 12.
Brother Branham taught, "You've got to say that right Word, the right thing to God." For instance, if you are baptized in the Titles Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and presume Christ is in the Office of Son of God and Mediator in this day, your sins are not remitted but retained and you have no personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ because you are without faith. "Saved," perhaps, but NOT a Christian. Jesus demonstrated this when the woman of Canaan implored, "Thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil"! Jesus was in the Office of Son of Man, not Son of David, besides which, had He been Son of David, she being a Gentile, would have no claims upon Him. But when she paid homage, crying, "Lord, help me"! He honoured her faith, for He was her Lord through creation, "And her daughter was made whole from that very hour" (Matthew 16:15-28).
Do you understand that people claiming to be Christians yet observing the sabbath day given to Israel under the Law are ignorantly denying the resurrection of Jesus Messiah? And if we are addressing God as YHWH/Yahweh/Jehovah we are not saying the right thing to God? Jesus came in His Father's Name, and the Holy Ghost was sent in His Name, which in this present dispensation is LORD JESUS CHRIST (John 5:43; 14:26). If you are a Christian you will be resting in this holy convocation of the antitype of the fiftieth day of Israel's Pentecostal Feast with the mind of Christ in you, not labouring your way to the tribulation by reasoning against His revealed Word. James 4:4, "You adulterers and adulteresses (i.e. idolaters), don't you know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God".
In Exodus 6:3, God told Moses He would reveal or make Himself "known" by His Name Jehovah by manifesting in deeds the Attributes implied in the Name. As we explained above, every time there is a victory or dispensation change a new name is given. Son of Abraham, Son of man, Son of God, and Son of David, are among the Names, Offices and Titles God takes in performing His work. As the Man Jesus Christ, Jehovah's Name is called "Immanuel"; as Saviour and Redeemer His Name is "Lord Jesus Christ. . . there is salvation in no other: for there is no other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12; Isaiah 45:21). "And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him" (Colossians 3:17; Ephesians 5:20).
God's Names describe His works as your name, Butcher, Smith, or Bishop represents your character, personality, or trade. Brother Branham said, "The greatest of all the revelations is the Deity, the Supreme Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can't get to first base until you believe that. That's what Peter said, "Repent, and then see the Deity. Be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and then you're ready to go in the Spirit." The first thing you have to know is the Deity of Christ. "I am Alpha and Omega. I'm from A to Z; there's no more but Me. I was at the beginning; I'll be at the end. I'm He that was, which is, and shall come, the Almighty" Think of it. That's what the trumpet said" (Patmos Vision, p. 97:144; Acts 2:39-39; Revelation 1:8, 11).
The idea of a new name is a familiar one. Abram was changed to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, Simon to Peter, and Saul to Paul. These names either brought about a change, or were given because of a change. It was only after Abram and Sarai had their names changed by the Lord that they were made ready to receive the coming son. In Jacob's case, he had to overcome and then he was called a prince. In the case of Simon and Saul, when they had received the Lord, their change came. And today each one of us true believers has had a change in name. We are Christians because we have changed from what we were, to what we are, and "we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18). One day Jesus is going to give the overcomer a white stone and in (not on) the stone a new name, which the owner alone knows.
Jehovah's compound redemptive Name is "LORD JESUS CHRIST" (Matthew 1:20-23; 28:19 (Isaiah 9:6); Luke 24:47; John 5:43; Acts 2:38-39; 4:12; Ephesians 2:21; 3:15; Colossians 2:9; 3:11). Compare John 2:19 with Acts 5:30. Jesus is the Creator, and His Name is NOT Jehovah, it is Jehovah-Saviour, The Word Interpreted is the Manifestation of the Name of God. He is LORD Jesus Christ. Christ's NEW name is His OLD Name—Melchisedec (Genesis 14, Hebrews 7 and Malachi 3:6). Jesus Christ is God.
— The Uniqueness of the Son of God —
Jesus is the visible manifestation of the invisible God. I Timothy 3:16, "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory".
The key word in understanding the supreme Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ is "manifestation." Jesus is the fullness of the nature and character of God manifest in virgin-born flesh in order to meet the requirements of a sinless, spotless kinsman Redeemer for Adam's race. Prior to His birth by the virgin Mary, the Man existed only in God's foreknowledge.
Luke 1:35, "The Angel told Mary, The Holy Ghost will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God".
When Mary told her espoused husband Joseph of her Supernatural pregnancy he was minded to quietly divorce her as a dishonorable woman. Matthew 1:20-23, "But the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, fear not to take to you Mary your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His Name Jesus: for He will save His people from their sins. Now all this was done, that the Words of the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is translated, God with us".
In the Old Testament the Son of God is only mentioned in a prophetic sense because He did not exist other than in the mind of God as One who was to come. No Scripture speaks of an eternal Son; the begotten son is familiar to all. In John 14:10-14, Jesus clearly explains who He is, "Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The Words I speak are not My own, they are spoken on authority of the Father who dwells in Me and does His work through Me. Believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Or believe it because of the mighty works you have seen Me do. In solemn truth I tell you, anyone believing in Me shall do the same miracles I have done, and even more, because I [will be raised for your justification and] go to the Father. And whatsoever you ask in My Name, I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son".
Our Father condescended to reveal Himself in His first begotten Son, a man born of a virgin, the first God-man in the new creation. To see the Son is to see the Father. Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). To know the Father is to know the Son (I John 2:21-23). Since Pentecost, the same God dwells in His elect. John 14:19-20, "When you are born-again you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you".
Jesus Christ was the "Beginning of the creation of God" (John 1:3; Colossians 1:18; Revelation 3:14). His elect Church is the continuation and His end-time Word Bride is the Capstone that is ending and completing the same creation (Hebrews 2:10-18). Thus Jesus Christ is "the Alpha and the Omega, the (Word at the) beginning and the (same Word restored and manifest in the Sons of God at the) ending" (Revelation 1:8; Romans 8:19).
— Objections Considered —
We will briefly review what appear to be the major arguments presented by the Trinitarians to support their doctrine:
1. The Use of Plural Pronouns in the Old Testament
Genesis 1:26 says, "Let us make man in our image." And Isaiah 6:8 says, ". . . I heard the Voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"
In such references, Trinitarians have tendered the use of the plural pronoun as conclusive proof of a plurality of persons in the Godhead. They forget that the Bible is the story of the One eternal Spirit unfolding Himself, His eternal thoughts expressed as Word, into the flesh of that Word in the form of His glorified Family—Jesus Christ and the New Testament saints. But when God says "us," He is speaking of the Logos or Word which is the expressed attributes of Himself: His eternal thoughts—you and I and all of His elect Seed. Once we understand this revelation, the mystery of the Godhead becomes wonderfully clear, and we see how we as His elect were with Him in eternity, for by foreknowledge He knew who would become "written epistles" manifesting His Word in their flesh.
As His elect we are eternal with God. Ephesians 1:4-5, "God has chosen us in Jesus before the foundation of the world. Having predestinated us [by His foreknowledge of how we would exercise our free moral agency when presented with His Word] to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will".
This means that we were right there with Jesus in the mind and thoughts of God before the foundation of the world. That gives an eternal quality to the elect. . . In very plain language the True Bride of Christ was in the mind of God eternally, though not expressed until each came forth in their designated, decreed season. As each member was born-again by expressing the Word for their Age, they took their place in the Body (II Corinthians 3:2-3). Thus this Bride is the literal Spoken Word Seed Bride. And though she is feminine in designation she is also called the "Body of Christ." It is very apparent that she ought to be so called for she was predestinated in Him, came from the same source, was eternal with Him, and is now manifesting God in a many membered Body whereas once God was manifested in One Member, even our Lord Jesus Christ (William Branham, An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 150).
Another illustration of the plural pronoun is found in John 14:23, "If a man loves Me and keeps My Words, The Father will love him too, and We will come to them, and make our abode with them".
As shown in I Corinthians 12:13 and Acts 2:4, there is in fact One Person who came in to us at our new birth—the Holy Spirit (to this the Trinitarians agree). Yet Jesus said, "We will come," so who is this "We?" It is the sum of Deity in revelation of the Father, who is the Holy Spirit, manifest in the flesh of the Son, quickening and reuniting with the soul of His elect upon regeneration.
The One God, One Person manifesting Himself in three offices or dispensation claims is Savior, Healer, Baptizer, Judge, Mediator, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Ephesians 4:5)!
2. The Use of the Plural Word Elohim
Elohim is a plural word. The abbreviated word "El" means "powerful" or "mighty," and occurs in many primitive languages, always referring to deity. "El" is found many times in the Old Testament, usually in compound form, as in the following examples:
El Elyon God most high Genesis 14:18
El Roi God of seeing Genesis 16:13
El Shaddai God Almighty Genesis 17:1
El Bet'el God of Bethel Genesis 31:13, and so-on.
El is expanded to "Eloah," a masculine singular noun, which occurs 57 times in the Old Testament, mostly in the book of Job. The plural form of this word is produced by adding the suffix "im" and deleting the "a" thus "Elohim," which occurs about 3,000 times in the Old Testament. More than 2,500 times it refers to the Deity Himself. It is also applied to human dignities and pagan deities such as Baal and Beelzebub (Judges 6:31; II Kings 1:2). In English we would call these pagan elohim "gods." With respect to the One Creator God, Elohim expresses an emphatic superlative degree as in El Shaddai, God Almighty, rather than a plurality, meaning ONE God who is the sum of all Deity, so in English we say "God" singular. And one day Jesus Christ and His glorified New Testament Church will be the manifestation of those glorious attributes—Elohim in the flesh of His glorified Family.
Trinitarians mistakenly maintain this word indicates a plurality of persons in the Godhead. Elohim's best known Name is "Jehovah," the modern spelling and pronunciation of "Yahweh," meaning "the Self-Existent ONE," who, when manifest in the flesh as our Kinsman Redeemer was named "Jesus," which means "Jehovah Savior." Jesus Christ is not a second or third person but the One Person of the Holy Spirit MANIFEST in virgin-born flesh. The burning bush, the Pillar of Cloud and Fire that led Israel through the wilderness, and the created Men who spoke with Abraham and Jacob, were manifestations of the same Holy Spirit.
Aside from pagan deities there is no indication of a Trinity in the entire Old Testament. As in the New Testament, all evidence supports the singularity of God as in Israel's "Shema" (Deuteronomy 6:4). And there is no similitude to the word "Trinity," a term attributed to Tertullian late in the Second Century and adopted by Roman Catholic church councils in later centuries.
Trinitarians sometimes link Genesis 1:26 with Colossians 1:13-19 to prove to their satisfaction Jesus of Nazareth created the world with the Father and Holy Spirit, but "Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb, I am the Lord who makes all things; who stretched forth the heavens ALONE; who spread abroad the earth by Myself" (Isaiah 44:24; 37:16; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalms 33:6-8).
God created all things by the Logos or spoken WORD when time and space began, NOT by that Man from Galilee Who is the Word made flesh, born of a virgin trillions of years later. As the first resurrected son and firstborn in the new creation, Jesus has preeminence over all things. To make Jesus the beginning of God's creation, as Trinitarians teach, is to make Him less than God. The beginning of God's creation is the sun, the planets, the rivers and trees. Jesus is the beginning of ANOTHER Creation. He is the beginning of God creating HIMSELF a part of a finished NEW creation redeemed to original perfection (Revelation 3:14).
Ralph E. Knudsen: "The word Elohim is one of the more general names for God and is plural in form. This is what is usually known as the plural of 'majesty or eminence,' or the plural of 'fullness or greatness.' It is not uncommon in the East to use the plural to express the idea of the singular in an intensified form. The singular of Elohim means strength, power, or might, and the plural is simply an intensifying of the singular meaning. There is no idea of making God more than one by the use of the plural form Elohim" (Christian Beliefs, 1947, p. 26).
The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia: "By far the most frequent form of the Old Testament writers is the plural Elohim, but they use it regularly with singular verbs and adjectives to denote a singular idea" (p. 1,254).
Dr. William Smith: "The plural form of Elohim has given rise to much discussion. The fanciful idea that it referred to the Trinity of persons in the Godhead hardly finds now a supporter among scholars. It is either what grammarians call the plural of majesty, or it denotes the fullness of divine strength, the sum of the powers displayed by God" (Dictionary of the Bible, p. 216).
"For in Him (Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2:9-10).
3. The Water Baptism of Jesus Christ
It is pointed out by Trinitarians that there were three present at the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. The Father was in heaven, the Holy Spirit was somewhere between heaven and earth, and Jesus the Son, was on earth. There is no clearer proof of God's majesty and manifestations than this picture of Jesus in the River Jordan. Do you see that God can be in heaven and manifested on earth at the same time? Jesus claimed Himself to be just that (John 1:18; 3:13), as does every Christian, for we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:28-30; Ephesians 2:6).
In John 14:10 Jesus claimed it was the Father who dwelt in Him that did the marvelous works. But if the Father remained in heaven while the Spirit descended, where and how did the Father finally get into Christ? The Spirit is the Father, for "God is a (ONE) Spirit"—He is the Holy Spirit (John 4:24).
Trinitarians invariably overlook the evidence that the Pillar of Fire in the form of a dove was a SIGN promised to John to identify the One he was to introduce. The Voice and the sign were seen and heard by John alone. Furthermore, Scripture does not say the dove was the Holy Ghost but that it was a manifestation of the Holy Ghost, and that the voice sounding from heaven spoke from within Jesus saying, "this is My beloved Son, in whom I am pleased to dwell is." So the concept of a presence of three persons evaporates—yet there were three witnesses (I John 5:7).
4. To Whom did Jesus Pray?
Incidents in the Gospels such as when Jesus prayed to the Father from the Cross have been used to support the idea that there must be at least two in the Godhead. A Trinitarian would ask, "Did Jesus pray to Himself? If not, then there must be two—one praying to the other." The key that makes understanding simple is to distinguish His Deity from His humanity. The Man Jesus was not praying to Himself.
"O You who hear prayer, to You shall all flesh come" (Psalms 65:2). Prayer is defined in the Bible as flesh praying to Deity. Like EVERY Son of God, the humanity of Jesus was praying to the Divinity dwelling within Himself. To Whom do you pray? If you are born again, you speak to the Holy Spirit Who dwells "in" you. Isn't that true? "You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you" (I Corinthians 3:16). "In Jesus dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily," He was the manifestation of God in the physical Form of a Man. Yet God is not a man but a Spirit, alone with His eternal thoughts in another dimension we call heaven (John 14:10; Matthew 12:50).
"In the days of His flesh, He offered prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His godly fear" (Hebrews 5:7).
"As a man," Jesus hungered, slept, wept, learned, prayed, and experienced all that is common to mankind. "As God," He healed the sick, raised the dead, calmed the seas and forgave sins. When the disciples were at sea and a storm threatened their lives, it was a man who was fast asleep in the boat, but when He awoke and lifted His voice to rebuke the wind and waves, then it was God who spoke! As a man, He wept before the tomb of Lazarus, as God He cried, "Lazarus, come forth!" It should not be difficult to comprehend that as a man Jesus prayed, but as God, He heard and responded to those prayers.
"The vessel or manifestation of God can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do: for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner" (John 5:19; 14:19). And is this not so with His brethren who are written epistles of the Word God is manifesting in THIS hour? A life lived by the Word is the Word expressed. "It is no longer I that live but Christ living through me by faith in the Son of God" (Galatians 2:20).
You might question, if the Father is the Holy Spirit and He is in heaven alone with His thoughts, how can He be dwelling in me? His revealed Word is living in you by faith. God's Word is Spirit is a form we can receive by faith.
The only way God can be ever-present is by the manifestation of His Word. This is how He was in Jesus and that is how He is in His saints—the New Testament Church—today. We receive the Spirit as we receive the understanding of the Word—by faith. We can only receive the Spirit in Word Form (Galatians 3:2, 5).
5. John 1:1 — "The Word was with God"
Trinitarians maintain that because the Word was with God, that makes two persons. For those who feel that John 1:1 indicates two divine persons, let us read it as Trinitarians, bearing in mind, God, by their definition, is a Trinity.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the Trinity, and the Word was Trinity." If the Word was with the Trinity, we now have four persons. If we say that in this verse, God stands not for trinity but for Father, we would read, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with the Father and the Word was the Father." The Word, then is not the Son but the Father—It was His eternal thoughts yet unexpressed—and the Holy Spirit was not at that time a Father, which is precisely what we maintain.
The simplest paraphrase of John 1:1, 14 would state: "In the beginning Elohim, the Self-existent One, was alone with His eternal thoughts . . . and Elohim was manifest in flesh and dwelt among us".
What is true for God, is true for man also. How can you separate a man's word from himself? Your word is with you and it is you, but that does not make you two persons. God's thoughts He has always had; we know them as Logos or thought in speech, they are Eternal and they are real, they cannot be added to or taken from. A thought expressed is a Word. In Jesus the fullness of the nature, character and purpose of God was manifest bodily, which is why He is called the "Word" or "Logos." This verse substantiates that the One Person of God manifest in the flesh Jesus Christ who is the beginning of God making Himself a part of creation.
6. New Testament Usage of the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Frequently in the epistles we find a variety of expressions embodying the words Father or God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. For example, Ephesians 1:2, "Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." To whom, asks the Trinitarian, can this refer if not to two divine persons? We will illustrate it in one source and it will suffice for all others, because the meaning is the same.
I Peter 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead".
Notice what is being expressed—the Father and Jesus Christ who is risen from the dead. God and the Man who died and rose again. Very simple, when we realize that God desires to reveal to the Church, not only His Deity, but also His justice in meeting sin's penalty and His righteousness and grace fulfilled in the humanity of the last Adam who was raised for our justification. It identifies the sinless Source of the Son, for since Adam, "all are born in sin and shapen in iniquity." NOT a second person in the Godhead but THE Person. Our Kinsman Redeemer was GOD manifest in the flesh, or we are all lost. The Bible calls Him "Emmanuel" meaning, "God with us," not a second, third or any other fraction of God (Matthew 1:18).
7. John 17:5 —"The Glory I had with Thee before the World was"
This verse of Scripture, understood in the Light of God's foreknowledge cannot be interpreted to mean a preexistent glorified Son. Such an interpretation would contradict all other passages of Scripture which reveal the Son in relation to time and humanity.
However, Jesus was glorified before the world was, He was also a Lamb before the world was, and was slain before the world was (Revelation 13:8). The whole plan of salvation including Christ's redemptive Work was established in the mind of God from eternity. This is the glorification for which Jesus prayed.
Even we as redeemed sons of God are ALREADY glorified. "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified" (Romans 8:29-30).
We are even now glorified because it is established in the mind of God that we shall be glorified. He foreknew whom they would be, therefore we too can pray like Jesus, "Father glorify Me with the glory I had with You before the world was".
8. How many did Stephen see?
"Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56). It is ridiculous to suppose that Stephen, as his life was being dashed out of him, beheld two divine persons standing side by side. It is ridiculous because:
(a) "NO man has seen God at anytime" (John 1:18; I John 4:12).
(b) God "The Father," is a Spirit and as such is invisible (Colossians 1: 15; I Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:27).
Stephen did not see two gods and He did not say, "I see Jesus standing beside God." The term, "right hand of God" provides us with the key that gives the explanation. In Exodus 15:6 Moses and the Israelites claimed to have "seen the right hand of God." But God is a Spirit with neither right nor left hand; what they saw was a manifestation of God's power and glory. As an Israelite Stephen knew what "the right hand of God" meant. He saw the Son of Man in power and glory. He saw the Son of Man on the right hand of God. When Jesus ascended, "ALL power was given unto Him in heaven and in earth," He was God's right hand Man, His first adopted son with all the Authority of His Father."
9. John 10:30 — "I and My Father are One"
Jesus is actually saying "I and the Father are in perfect agreement by faith, or at-one with each other." His prayer for the New Testament saints was, "That they ALL might be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, THAT THEY MIGHT BE ONE IN US. . ." (John 17:21-26). God and the soul that's joined together with God is ONE Spirit manifest in a many-membered Body (I Corinthians 6:17). And "ALL the saints speak the same thing" because they are each a manifestation of the same (One) Spirit of God (I Corinthians 1:10; 12:4-12.)
Not "three in one" but "thousand thousands" in One (Daniel 7:10; Hebrews 12:22-24; Revelation 5:9-13).
What perfect clarity and certainty comes to the heart of the believer when he begins to rest on the majesty of the revelation that there is One God with One Name! And through the Spiritual Marriage Union or new birth, that Name is the Name of the Bride also—Christ is the Head and She the Body (Ephesians 1:21-23).
Holy Spirit is "what" God is, Father is a Title or Office He received when He formed His first son, Adam (Genesis 2:4); Son is what He became when He began unfolding HIMSELF into the flesh of His Family (John 4:24; Revelation 3:14). "Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is ONE Lord," unfolding Himself from the eternal Spirit alone with His thoughts to the Flesh of those thoughts in the Form of His Glorified sons and daughters among whom Jesus is the firstborn of many (Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 1-3; 2:9-18).
Comparing the Words of Isaiah and Paul we can see that Jehovah of the Old Testament is Jesus of the New:
"Take counsel together, argue your case and state your proofs that idol-worship pays. Who but God has said from ancient times that these things concerning Cyrus would come true? Who has told it from that time; have not I the Lord: and there is no other God but Me—a just God and a Savior—no, not one! Let all the world look to Me for salvation! For I am God, there is no other! I have sworn by Myself, and I will never go back on My Word, for it is true—that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (Isaiah 45:21-23).
At the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth; and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father" (Philippians 2:10-11).
The believer longs to behold the face of the Son in glory; when he falls at Jesus' feet, he will be at the feet of Jehovah—HIS GOD AND HIS SAVIOR.
— One God or Trinity —
James Hastings: "It has been customary to trace the institution of the practice to the Words of Christ in Matthew 28:19, but the authenticity of this passage has been challenged on historical as well as textural grounds. It must be acknowledged that the formula of the threefold name, which is here enjoined, does not appear to have been used by the primitive church, which so far as our information goes, baptized 'in' or 'into' the Name of Jesus, or Jesus Christ, or the Lord Jesus, without any reference to the Father or the Spirit" (Dictionary of the Bible, p. 88).
Scribners: "The original form of words were into the Name of Jesus Christ or Lord Jesus. Baptism into Trinity was a later development" (Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. I, p. 241).
Canney Encyclopaedia: "The early church always baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus until the development of the Trinity; afterward they were baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" (p. 53).
American Encyclopaedia, International Edition: "The term Trinity was used by Theophilus of Antioch in AD 180" (Vol. 27, p. 116).
Encyclopaedia Britannica: "The triune and Trinity formula was not uniformly used from the beginning, and up until the third century, baptism in the Name of Christ only was so widespread that Pope Stephen, in opposition to St. Cyprian, said that baptism in the Name of Christ was valid. But Catholic missionaries, by omitting one or more persons of the Trinity when they were baptized, were anathematized by the Roman church. Now the formula of Rome is, "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Ghost" (11th Ed., Vol. 3, p. 365-366).
Encyclopedia of Religions: "Persons were baptized at first in the Name of Jesus Christ, or 'in the Name of the Lord Jesus.' Afterwards, with the development of the doctrine of the Trinity, they were baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" (p. 53).
New International Encyclopaedia: "The Trinity doctrine. The Catholic faith is this: 'We worship one in Trinity, but there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. The glory equal—the majesty co-eternal.' The doctrine is not found in its fully developed form in the Scriptures. Modern theology does not seek to find it in the Old Testament. At the time of the Reformation, the Protestant Church took over the doctrine of the Trinity without serious examination" (Vol. 22, p. 476).
Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion: "Christian baptism was administered by using the words 'in the Name of Jesus.' The use of a Trinity formula of any sort was not suggested in the early Church history. Baptism was always in the Name of the Lord Jesus until the time of Justin Martyr when the Triune formula was used" (Vol. 2, p. 377-378, 389. )
"NAME was an ancient synonym for "Person." Payment was always made in the name of some person referring to ownership. Therefore one being baptized in Jesus' Name became His personal property. "Ye are Christ's." (Acts 1:15; Revelation 3:4; I Corinthians 3:23).
LIFE Magazine: "The Catholics made this statement concerning their doctrine of the Trinity to defend the dogma of the assumption of Mary in an article by Graham Green: 'Our opponents sometimes claim that no belief should be held dogmatically which is not explicitly stated in the Scripture but the Protestant churches have themselves accepted such dogma as the Trinity for which there exists no such authority in the Gospels'" (October 30, 1950, Vol. 29, Number 18, p. 51).
Catholic Encyclopaedia: "The true doctrine of the sacrament of baptism is not taught by the Roman church. Baptism given by heretics in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost with the intention of performing what the church performs, is not true baptism" (Vol. 2, p. 259).
New Catholic Encyclopedia: "With regard to the form used for Baptism in the early church, there is the difficulty that although Matthew (28:19) speaks of the Trinitarian formula, which is now used, the Acts of the Apostles (2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5) and Paul (I Corinthians 1:13; 6:11; Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3) speak only of Baptism 'in the Name of Jesus.' Baptism in titles cannot be found in the first centuries. . ." (McGraw Hill Publishing, p. 59).
William Phillips Hall: "In this very ancient version (Syriac Peschito Version) which is believed by good authorities (Gwilliam, Boners, and others) to represent a text much older that of the Greek manuscript from which our English Old Testament was largely derived, 'The Name of the Lord Jesus Messiah or Christ' appears in all four readings given (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5)" (A Remarkable Discovery, p. 70).
International Encyclopaedia: "The doctrine of the Trinity did not form part of the Apostles' preachings, as this is reported in the New Testament" (First Edition, Vol. 18, p. 226).
New International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: "The term 'Trinity' was originated by . . . Tertulian, a Roman Catholic church father. No record of the Trinitarian formula can be discovered in the Acts of the Apostles. . . At the time of the Reformation, the Protestant Church took over the doctrine of the Trinity without serious examination" (Vol. 1, p. 396). proph05.htm
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Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations in other countries. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
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