The individual human Son

  The Father did produce the Son. The Father succeeded in producing a Son without that Son being Himself. He produced an individual. The Son in a form as God then took the human body which the Father provided for him and did not consider this robbery, even though it made him a little lower than the angels and mortal. Such was his righteous submission. This Son is an individual entirely distinct from the Father and fully like us, a real human being. Even raised now from the dead Jesus is still the Son of Man, the man who is mediator between God and humans. He never sinned and never sins but his humanness is the same as those who he will one day raise from the dead and was human like other humans even on the cross when he died there. God wanted someone righteous and sinless but the same as those to whom he sent the Son. Are we fully God and fully human? Jesus came to us a human like us. How do we know the Father made him an individual fully distinct from the Father? Because he cited the Father as a second witness beside himself to give a legally fully valid second testimony  beside his own testimony about himself. This is reported twice in the Gospel of John (John 5:37, John 8:18) and in his epistle too (1 John 5:9). 

Eternal Light

 The light of the world came, a human being sent by the Father. A god-like judge from the Father, God. Yet truly human. Just like us but a light to all. The light to the Jews. The light to the Gentiles. Do we believe he is this light or do we ignore and carry on without this light? To live without this light we are warned we will die in our sins. To live with this light, we must believe in and learn his light and be guided by it. He will soon return and look for those living by his light, faithfully. Will he find anyone doing so? To these he will give eternal life. To those who died walking in his light he will give eternal life. To these he will give the right to judge the world with him as he with God bring it all into subjection. Then after a thousand years of this, when all is under him in subjection, even the opposition and enemies, he will finally hand all this to his Father and himself be subject to the Father forever. Then light will come from the Father and the Son and many will live with them in eternal fellowship in that light. 

My Lord and My God

 Being suddenly face to face with immediate awareness of the Lord Jesus Christ alive from the dead can elicit an involuntary response “My Lord and my God!” Such was the experience of the apostle Thomas, one of the twelve original apostles of Jesus (at this point eleven apostles, since Judas was gone). It comes welling up from within, an emotional and spiritual rush of devotion to the one who is welcome as master (my Lord) and the one around whom your life willingly now will revolve as mediating agency bringing God near to you (my God).  It is sad that this event is used to argue some debated theological positions. Sad because it detracts from the really important truth that the resurrection of Jesus provided his disciples with all they need for life and godliness, leading to eternal life. 

The light of life

 Father in Heaven, give us grace to embrace the truth that Jesus is the light of the world and that You sent him. To know You, and to know him who You sent, is eternal life. He comes as the Christ to free people from their sins by his truth. 

We should trust Jesus is the light or else we would remain in darkness and die in our sins. We should seek his eternal life which he gives to those who believe he is the light of the world sent by God the Father and who hold to his teachings to receive the truth that is in this light. 

He who has seen Jesus has seen the Father

 When I was a child I read about how God had sometimes, very rarely, but actually, in historic reality, appeared to someone in a dream. To Moses it was not in a dream but that was extremely unusual. It impressed me that others who were not Moses could have dreams in which God the Father, the Spirit-being Almighty, appeared in dreams to them. Abimelech was one: Not even a godfearing man. Then Solomon. He was visited one night. For thirty years I asked the Father to do this for me, until He did. He proved it was Him by what He said would happen next day happening (never happened before to me and never since). “I am God” He said. I also asked to encounter the Son, but not visibly (silly me, I thought it was bad to only believe from having seen, and better not to actually see him). The Holy Spirt too. All happened in same few years, the mid nineties, but it seemed like a matter of months. It is not s rebuke-worthy thing to want to see the Father. But He is in Jesus, yes. And for the disciples to have been with Jesus for years seeing the Father do miracles through him over and over, yes, that is something they should have realised they had already seen far more than I saw in one little dream. There is the error and omission. The Lord Jesus had so much of the Father’s activity in his ministry that those who saw his miracles and heard his teachings were more blessed with the presence in their experiences of the Father day after day after day that a visit from God like Moses had would be needless. Not everyone could survive the direct contact with the Father that Moses had. Jesus came to bring the blessing of such contact to ordinary people so they did not need to be Moses. They could be blessed with knowledge of the Father and still live. Live forever in fact. That is why Jesus came. Now I have been happy ever since that dream, delighting in Him, loving Him for it, content and deeply satisfied from it. Now I know whom I have believed, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. No regrets. It is the pearl of great price. Fellowship with the Father and Son and Holy Spirit is the highest thing to seek. It is dwelling in God’s house. It made me aware that the Father is with the Son in what they do and that this Son is my master and is the Lord and is Jesus. The Holy Spirit seals it. If we obey his commands he promises such blessings. 

The One at the Top

In the gospel times the Jews insisted there be two testimonies about Jesus as the Law requires. He cited the Father as his second witness besides himself. That makes two, he said. His own plus the testimony of the Father. Very important that it is true that this means two testimonies. That means Son and Father are two distinct people, two beings, in the eyes of the Law of God. It is the Father who is referred to by Jesus as the One True God. This Father is One God. There can be lots of gods, including powerful judges and leaders and kings, but there is just the Father who is the One True God. The Father is king above all gods. This One True God is the Father of Jesus. The Father of Jesus. The God of Jesus. Even though Jesus could be regarded as something of a god himself, it is his Father who is the king above all Gods. This is the truth to which the Holy Spirit leads believers.  The Holy Spirit leads into the truth that this Son, Jesus, was sent by the Father to be the light of the world, to give light to people so they could live righteously by this light. This is first step towards restoring righteousness and is his anointing as the Christ. God will subject all things to him. Shortly, for a thousand years he will visibly rule over all. He will raise saints from the dead at his coming. He will destroy things that cause people to sin. He will judge. The saints will judge with him. He will put down evil behaviour: lying, stealing, murder, sex crime, Pharma crime, idolatry, religion-for-money, cowardice, unbelief. Sin will become a thing of the past, unheard of. In that thousand years even his enemies and strongest opposition will be put under his feet by the Father. He will reign as a god. Only the Father will be greater than him. Eventually he will hand back the rule to God putting himself and all things brought under him into ultimate subjection to God, the One True God who sent him. This is the truth into which the Holy Spirit leads and which those born of God by this Spirit believe. This is the anointing which is true and not counterfeit. The Father is God. The Father is one person and the Son is another person, and it is the Father who is the king above all gods. Yet it will be true, especially when the kingdom is subjected to the Son, Jesus Christ, that all things will be eventually placed in subjection to the Son. That is kingship at a high level indeed, and puts Jesus Christ in a position similar to that of his Father. Yet even then it is still the Father who is eternally king above all, God over all, the One True God. After a thousand years the Son will himself become fully subject to the Father. Never does the Son ever usurp the Father. God the Father is eternally One God. The Son is light, and together with the Father, will be light forever. Righteousness is in him. He submits to the Father as his Father and his God and will be eternally subject to this God the Father. If we live to see Jesus come in glory and reign a thousand years on the throne of David, we should remember that, even then, even with all the power wielded by Jesus over all things and all people, it is the Father who is the One True God who sent him, as Jesus himself proclaimed. 

1 Corinthians 15.

John 8. 

John 10. 

John 17. 

Revelation 20. 

Beware counterfeit anointing

 If a person has the spirit of truth, the spirit leads them into truth that Jesus is the Son and the Father is the One God. Then when they say that Jesus is the Son of God, they mean Son of the One God, and they mean Son of the Father. This is what they mean by saying Jesus is the Son of God. There can be lots of gods, but there is still this Father who is the One True God. This One True God is Father of Jesus. This is the truth to which the Holy Spirit leads them.  The Holy Spirit leads into the truth that this Son, Jesus, was sent by the Father to be the light of the world, to give light to people so they could live righteously by this light. This is first step towards restoring righteousness and is his anointing as Christ. God will subject all things to him. Eventually he will hand back the rule to God putting himself and all things brought under him into ultimate subjection to God, the One True God who sent him. This is the truth into which the Holy Spirit leads and which those born of God by this Spirit believe. This is the anointing which is true and not counterfeit. Beware counterfeit anointing. 

Truth and the Spirit of Truth

 If a person has the spirit of truth, the spirit leads them into truth that Jesus is the Son and the Father is the One God. Then when they say that Jesus is the Son of God, they mean Son of the One God, and they mean Son of the Father. This is what they mean by saying Jesus is the Son of God. There can be lots of gods, but there is still this Father who is the One True God. This One True God is Father of Jesus. This is the truth to which the Holy Spirit leads them. 

A sermon for this age

 “It's important to note that the beliefs and practices of early Christians varied, and there was not a single uniform set of beliefs. However, if a believer today held to some of the core beliefs of the earliest Christians, such as a strict monotheistic view of God and a rejection of the Trinity, they might be labeled as Unitarian. Unitarianism is a Christian theological position that emphasizes the oneness of God and rejects the traditional Trinitarian doctrine.” 

(ChatGPT 3.5)

If you look in John 8:18 you find that Jews insisted there be two testimonies about Jesus as the Law requires. He cited the Father as his second witness besides himself. That makes two, he said. His own plus the testimony of the Father. Very important that it is true that this means two testimonies. That means Son and Father are two distinct people, two beings, in the eyes of the Law of God.

Does this imply some kind of polytheism? Or more importantly, how do we focus of the Father as the One True God to worship before all others? In obedience to the command? Having no other gods before the One True God, that is the commandment, so we call Jesus ‘the Lord’, not ‘God’, and let him be to us the Lord as the One True God has appointed and sent him to be.

In English there is no linguistic way to distinguish God the person, who Jesus called the Father, and God the status, a status many can be given by God the person. In Greek the way God the person was denoted lingustically was with a definite article “ho”, so this gave “ho theos”, literally translated into English “the God”. It implies a particular God, in a Christian or Jewish context this is the God who Jesus called the Father. In Greek there is a linguistic way to denote more generally anyone with some kind of God status, which is to drop the definite article (Greek has no indefinite article like “a” which we have in English), hence “theos” without “ho” preceding it. In Hebrew there was less of an issue because they mainly wrote about one person as God, Yhwh. Then a more general, less personal God status could be denoted with the word Elohim. In English it is important for good understanding to avoid the word God in regard to the person Jesus Christ, as is avoided in New Testament scriptures too, and to give him the title given him by the Father, the title “Lord” or “the Lord”. This avoids confusion. When referring to his God-like status, we should avoid describing him as God with a capital G. On occasion, such as with translations of verses such as Hebrews 1:3, it may be necessary to use capitalised ‘God‘, but these occasions are rare since only very few scriptures address him in this way. On the whole the New Testament scriptures with only very few exceptions indeed address him as Lord. This is the title given him by the Father so it is not blasphemous and neither does it risk breach of the command to have no other gods before the LORD, Yhwh. 

Jesus willingly received a human body, being made lower than angels by God the Father. The Father made the Word become flesh, and Jesus did not consider this a robbery or usurption but accepted it willingly. This act affirms that God the Father is the One True God, as He subjected His Son, Jesus Christ, to Himself, and Jesus embraced this submission. Furthermore, Jesus willingly accepted the cross. As a result of His obedience, God raised Jesus from the dead and exalted Jesus to be Lord, while Jesus was still forever subject to God the Father. Thus, the Father remains the One True God, and Jesus is the Christ whom He sent.

The One sent the one who died for your sins on the cross is the one who is the Only True God. “I am God”, He says. He is the true Father. In the end, over a thousand years from now, He is the One to whom all things will be subjected forever. He and the one who died for your sins on the cross will bring into full subjection all things. Then the Son will subject himself to the Father, the One True God forever. This Son is called the Lord because he is not ultimately the One True God to whom all things will be subjected forever.  This Lord is fully able to master all things and all people. He will raise the saints from the dead and rule for a thousand years when he comes just decades from now. The household of God is under him. This Lord, is Jesus, the Christ: The Lord Jesus Christ. Even Nature revolves around the power of his name. By believing he is the light of the world, sent by the One True God, and holding to his teachings, as we find them in the gospels, and as the Holy Spirit confirms, we can be his disciples and have hope that we too will be raised from the dead by him at his coming, or if we are still alive when he comes, be transformed by him into immortal bodied people. New Testament scripture warns Christians to reject people who deny these things and not even receive them into their house, because receiving them is sharing in their wicked work.

There will always be those who fight to preserve a position contrary to all this. As Paul wrote to Timothy” “They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.” Be content and remember this: Jesus, the Christ, sent by the One True God to be the light of the world, died on a cross for you, enabling you to forsake that dark path and cease being an adversary of what is right, before it overtakes you.

Two

 If you look in John 8:18 you find that Jews insisted there be two testimonies about Jesus as the Law requires. He cited the Father as his second witness besides himself. That makes two, he said. His own plus the testimony of the Father. Very important that it is true that this means two testimonies. That means Son and Father are two distinct people, two beings, in the eyes of the Law of God.

Addressing Jesus Christ

 In English there is no linguistic way to distinguish God the person, who Jesus called the Father, and God the status, a status many can be given by God the person. In Greek the way God the person was denoted lingustically was with a definite article “ho”, so this gave “ho theos”, literally translated into English “the God”. It implies a particular God, in a Christian or Jewish context this is the God who Jesus called the Father. In Greek there is a linguistic way to denote more generally anyone with some kind of God status, which is to drop the definite article (Greek has no indefinite article like “a” which we have in English), hence “theos” without “ho” preceding it. In Hebrew there was less of an issue because they mainly wrote about one person as God, Yhwh. Then a more general, less personal God status could be denoted with the word Elohim. In English it is important for good understanding to avoid the word God in regard to the person Jesus Christ, as is avoided in New Testament scriptures too, and to give him the title given him by the Father, the title “Lord” or “the Lord”. This avoids confusion. When referring to his God-like status, we should avoid describing him as God with a capital G. On occasion, such as with translations of verses such as Hebrews 1:3, it may be necessary to use capitalised ‘God‘, but these occasions are rare since only very few scriptures address him in this way. On the whole the New Testament scriptures with only very few exceptions indeed address him as Lord. This is the title given him by the Father so it is not blasphemous and neither does it risk breach of the command to have no other gods before the LORD, Yhwh. 

Two deliverers

 I have to learn to trust two, to have my back. The Father. Yes, “Our Father … deliver us from evil”. And another, the Son. “You believe in God, believe also in me.” His very name Jesus means deliverance. 

ChatGPT extracts on ‘godhead’

 In the New Testament, the term "godhead" does not appear in most translations. However, in the King James Version (KJV), it does appear in Colossians 2:9 and Acts 17:29:

In Colossians 2:9: “For in him [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

In this verse, "godhead" is translated from the Greek word "θεότης" (theotēs), which refers to the divine nature or deity.

In the Greek text of Acts 17:29, the word translated as "godhead" in the King James Version is "θεῖον" (theion), which can also be translated as "divine nature" or "divinity."

In Greek philosophical and religious thought, the terms "theotēs" (θεότης) and "theion" (θεῖον) generally conveyed a sense of divinity or godliness without necessarily implying a singular deity. These terms were used to describe divine qualities, attributes, or manifestations, which could be applied to various gods or divine beings within the Greek pantheon.

In Hebrew, the closest equivalent to the Greek concept of "theion" (θεῖον) or "theotēs" (θεότης) would be the term "אֱלֹהִים" (Elohim), which is often translated as "God" or "gods" in English.

(Source and wording: ChatGPT 3.5)

Inventions

 I have investigated Trinity and Oneness. Both are inventions. Clever inventions maybe. But inventions. Jesus is the true teacher, he and his true apostles. 

Godhead

 What does the KJV mean by ‘godhead’? It is a word fairly specific to the King James Version. It translates a general concept of god not specific to oneness and uniqueness of God as the supreme deity. Hence it relates to the Elohim concept in Hebrew, not to the One True God, Yhwh. In this sense any highly exalted or powerful person can be described in this way. 

Just to be clear

 The One sent the one who died for your sins on the cross is the one who is the Only True God. “I am God”, He says. He is the true Father. In the end, over a thousand years from now, He is the One to whom all things will be subjected forever. He and the one who died for your sins on the cross will bring into full subjection all things. Then the Son will subject himself to the Father, the One True God forever. This Son is called the Lord because he is not ultimately the One True God to whom all things will be subjected forever.  This Lord is fully able to master all things and all people. He will raise the saints from the dead and rule for a thousand years when he comes just decades from now. The household of God is under him. This Lord, is Jesus, the Christ: The Lord Jesus Christ. Even Nature revolves around the power of his name. By believing he is the light of the world, sent by the One True God, and holding to his teachings, as we find them in the gospels, and as the Holy Spirit confirms, we can be his disciples and have hope that we too will be raised from the dead by him at his coming, or if we are still alive when he comes, be transformed by him into immortal bodied people. New Testament scripture warns Christians to reject people who deny these things and not even receive them into their house, because receiving them is sharing in their wicked work.

The cruel taskmaster

 Those who are slaves to sinning need freeing because sin is the kind of master that can make you do terrible things. Dying in that state would be tragic. Read John’s gospel thoroughly as this is written to address this problem. Lots of churchgoers never really read it. Perhaps they think it is just for the unchurched. Truth sets free. Truth is not just for theologians. We all need it. We all need to believe it. Sin is such a cruel master. The pure master is Jesus. 

The light of the world

 When it comes down to it, lots of people, not even church attenders necessarily, do believe Jesus is the one true light of the world, along with those he appoints to be lights to the gentiles, and they therefore do trust his teachings which have gained widespread or universal traction, such as “do unto others...”, “good samaritan”, “pearls before swine”, “practising what you preach”, and so on. To all these he will give the truth. That is why he is the light of the world. And they know he is the Son of God, no matter what theologies say. They learn to keep geeky, nerdish theological positions at a distance and get on with living out the truth. They do not lie to each other. They do not hate each other. They share the burdens. They look for a heavenly ending.

Imitating what is good

 Those like myself who want freedom to adhere to truth given by Jesus, for us it is important that we find what the true apostles have as prime beliefs and then it is important to imitate it. Scripture is a prime source for this. Jesus can impart truth in other ways too and can lead us to the Father who can give us the Holy Spirit. In all these things we should find what is the most holy faith and build ourselves and each other up in this, lovingly. Then we can hope for true freedom and eternal life, as promised. 

Clarification

 "Jesus is not Yhwh; the Father is Yhwh, and Yhwh is the Father. There is Yhwh, and then there's another concept, Elohim. Erroneous theological doctrines often confuse these distinct meanings because English translations tend to render both as 'God,' leading to the identification of Jesus as God (Yhwh) and thus denying his identity as the Son of God (Son of Yhwh). Some, notably oneness Pentecostals, go further and falsely teach that Jesus is the Father in the flesh. This confusion often relies on dubious, ambiguous scriptures, perpetuating misunderstanding and fostering an antichrist spirit." (Acknowledgement: wording improvements by ChatGPT 3.5)

Oneness Pentecostal Theology

Is Oneness a product of the English language? There is potential in the English language for much confusion because two words in Hebrew are both translated with the same word in English. Yhwh and Elohim are both translated as God. In Greek there is less confusion because Yhwh is translated ho theos (the God), while Elohim is translated theos (God), without ho. So ”the word was God” (and “the word became flesh”) in Hebrew would have been taken to mean that the word was Elohim, a highly elevated being, (so a highly elevated being, an Elohim, became flesh) whereas in English it is easier to misconstrue it as meaning the word was Yhwh (and that Yhwh became flesh). 

Asking ChatGPT to fact check it, this was its response: ‘The translation of Hebrew terms like "Yhwh" and "Elohim" into English does indeed pose challenges, potentially leading to confusion or different interpretations. The nuances in translation can affect how certain concepts are understood, including the idea of Oneness. In English, the translation may not capture the full depth of the original Hebrew meanings, potentially leading to misconceptions. In Greek translations, such as in the New Testament, "Yhwh" is typically rendered as "ho theos" (the God), while "Elohim" is generally translated simply as "theos" (God). This linguistic distinction can provide clarity and reduce confusion about the nature of the divine entities being referenced.’ (ChatGPT 3.5)

Elymas

 Acts 13:6-12, Paul confronted Elymas, who was trying to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, temporarily blinded Elymas as a sign of God's judgment. This event led the proconsul to believe in the teachings of Paul and Barnabas.

In harm’s way

 Using deceptive trickery to express your doctrinal position and turn others from true faith is putting yourself at risk of harm from God Himself? You make yourself an enemy of what is right. Jesus, the Christ, sent by the One True God to be the light of the world, died on a cross for you, so you should forsake that dark path. Forsake trickery and deceptive tactics or something bad from God is coming your way.

What it took

 Looking up scriptures is easy. Finding trick scriptures and trick deceptive arguments is easy. It was not easy for Jesus the Christ to die on that cross for you, his body broken by scourging and beating, letting his own body die there in belief that God the One True God who sent him as light for the world, would raise him on the third day. That is what it took. 

No more tricks

 If Jesus is indeed what they assert him to be, why employ so much deceptive trickery to express it? Jesus, the Christ, sent by the One True God to be the light of the world, died on a cross for you, enabling you to forsake that dark path and cease being an adversary of what is right, before it overtakes you.

Sons of God

How is it that some people are children of God, sons of God? In a situation where you have to command lots of people, perhaps you are running an after-school computer club for the local children, there are twenty kids in it. One of them is your own son. The kids are quite well behaved but your son gets bullied because his father is running the club. He plays up and to try to avoid being bullied he starts to openly disobey you and disrespect you. Back at home you tell him off and talk to him. He gets punished but you sympathise because you know he is bullied because of you so you just ask him to calm down and you in turn will do your best to do what is needed to make things bearable for him and will forgive him if he feels he has to play up a bit to keep in with his friends. He takes this well and does well and obeys you in front of the others and trusts you to sympathise if he gets cheeky. You are proud of how he copes and does not rebel even when bullied. One other child in class is just as well behaved. He so often obeys you and does what you want intelligently that you warm to him. You feel you can talk to him and correct him like your son. You find put he us an orphan and decide to adopt him. He is just like your real son in how he responds to you. But your real son is still most special.

A church one with Jesus

 When a true church meets, Jesus is there. Of course not physically. The teachings of Jesus and the spirit of him. The Holy Spirit brings him too. If the church is real. If it passes the test of having Jesus truly present in its meetings. Then if you are new to Jesus, unaware of him, and you go into the meeting, and prophesying is happening, you suddenly might become aware of him spiritually. That is how it should be. Sometimes it is like that. I have experienced it in some churches. Not many. A few. So you do see him, even though he is not literally that church, it is part of him, one with him spiritually. This is the kind of thing Jesus meant by many of his sayings. Taking them hyper-literally misses the wonderful meaning. 

Son of Man sent from God to humans

 The term used often by Jesus to refer to himself in his purpose as a human sent by God, the Son of Man, is also used outside of the gospels, both in regular scriptures and in apocryphal ones, to refer to messengers in humanlike form. It is not always used of humans, sometimes it is either the spirit of preexistence of Christ or an archangel, sometimes called Son of Man and sometimes one in appearance as a man, although translation issues mean these might be interchangeable. In each case it is usually a messenger sent to speak with humans. There are several cases in Ezekiel where God calls Ezekiel ‘Son of Man’. Then there are cases in Daniel 10:5, Daniel 7:13-14, and some apocryphal books such as 2 Esdras 13:3-4 and also 1 Enoch 37-71 and many other places in 1 Enoch. In all of these latter examples it might be the spirit of the Christ, pre-existent. All of these are cases of messengers to humans sent from God, where the messenger is either humanlike or, in Ezekiel’s case, actually human. It all highlights how when God sends messages to humans, He often uses a humanlike messenger, even if it is actually an angel. It also highlights why Jesus used the term Son of Man. Jesus went further than highlighting the importance of humanlike appearance, by use the term Son of Man to underline the importance of the messenger bearing actual human nature, weak, sometimes suffering greatly, to maximise the efficacy God might use in communicating with humans. This is true of Jesus. It was also true of Ezekiel, given this Son of Man alias too by God. Evidence that aside from Ezekiel, many other references to Son of Man or ‘one like a man’ all refer to either the Christ in the flesh or the pre-existent spirit of the Christ, comes in Revelation 1:14-15 where John’s description of Jesus Christ is almost word for word a rendition of the description given of a man in Daniel 10:5-6. 

Subject to the One True God

Jesus willingly received a human body, being made lower than angels by God the Father. The Father made the Word become flesh, and Jesus did not consider this a robbery or usurption but accepted it willingly. This act affirms that God the Father is the One True God, as He subjected His Son, Jesus Christ, to Himself, and Jesus embraced this submission. Furthermore, Jesus willingly accepted the cross. As a result of His obedience, God raised Jesus from the dead and exalted Jesus to be Lord, while Jesus was still forever subject to God the Father. Thus, the Father remains the One True God, and Jesus is the Christ whom He sent.

God’ What does that mean to you?

 ‘God’ What does that mean to you?

Right now the Father says “I am God”. Jesus is the Lord and presides over things while submitting to the Father. No matter what happens, in the end the Father will be God, and Jesus will be subject to Him forever. Even when Jesus is ruling from David’s throne over all of the world for a thousand years (starting soon, probably only a few decades from now), even then if you ask who is God, the fully truthful answer will be that although at that time Jesus will be on God’s throne, still the only sole true God will be the Father because the throne will return to Him forever and all things once subjected to Jesus will ultimately be subject to the Father. So it is always true that ultimately it is the Father who is God, just as Jesus taught. Yet it is also important and true that the Father is the one who sent Jesus to be the light of the world and appointed him to provide purification for sins by death on a cross and then to be raised by God from the dead and be the judge of all. 

To Oneness

 Peter and Paul were in Jesus and Jesus was in them. They were not Jesus though. Paul said follow him even as he follows Jesus. So you see Paul and you see Jesus. Paul said everything he did was Christ. It was Christ in him. That does not mean Paul is the Christ. In the same way, Jesus being in the Father and the Father being in Jesus, yes, if you see Jesus you see the Father, but that does mean Jesus is the Father. 

Religious hawking

 Many church groups have church building property and perhaps charity properties such as charity shops, all as investments to supplement church income and store it, if laws permit. One other kind of property is intellectual property. Many churches, and non-Christian groups too, maintain a corpus of intellectual property such as copyrights. They can publish and sell books based on this. Of course the truth itself cannot really be copyrighted as intellectual property and marketed in that way, so they need unique additions or twists to make it distinct, so they can claim ownership of it and profit from book sales and merchandise. Effectively it becomes a brand, but it needs copyrightable ideas for book sales so they need to make things up and package it together with regular church stuff. I despise this monetisation of the word of God because it requires twisting of it for it to be profitable. Early church doctrines originally outlawed it, as a hawking of the message of God. (See Epistle of Clements.) 

Time to meet and pray

 The Book of Joel is a mysterious book in the Bible whose time of writing is unknown. It contains a prophecy (chapter 2) which provides the heavenly mandate for meeting as churches and synagogues,  and for being led by the Holy Spirit through spiritual gifts. The backdrop to this mandate is veiled in mystery too. An army not of Earth but the army of heaven is about to march like a swarm of locusts destroying but unhindered by anything physical: unstoppable. The only hope is prayer and to be replenished when it has passed. For readiness and prayer God counsels gatherings for prayer blessed by gifts of the Holy Spirit. The army will turn the sky black in dreadful destruction. It will happen in the run-up to the time of Jesus Christ’s return. For this time which needs to be over quickly or all are doomed, we need to have meetings and build one another up as the spiritual gifts work in us in love.

Where we all need to start

 We start with belief in the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, then we learn. We start with the big things, quitting lying, quitting gross immorality, then trust Jesus Christ to cleanse us from smaller sins and impurities. He gives us more truth as time goes on. We can only grasp what we can grasp.

Regarding Islam

 Islam exhorts Muslims to believe that Jesus is the Messiah (al-Masīḥ), miraculously born of a virgin, performing miracles, sent by God, by Allah. This is really what it means that he is the Son of Man. We all need to believe these things. Many people don’t, both within Islam and outside of it, but those failing to believe these things are warned in John 8 by Jesus that those who do not believe that he is this Son of Man sent by God will die in their sins. 

Use of the word ‘God’

 There can be a use of the word ‘God’ as in Heb 1:8 which carries no concept of non-human being or proper noun individual identity, in other words, a status. Like royalty. The status of crown prince can change into status of king without any change to the nature or identity. A king can temporarily make the crown prince into an acting king without the king losing status as true king. Jesus is described in Heb 1:8 as ‘O God’, for reason of status of that time when he is given by God the top throne, yet Jesus himself made clear that the Father is the sole true God. Rev 20 and 1 Cor 15 tell us how this time of Jesus ruling from the throne of God is limited, Rev 20 tells us to 1000 years, after which Rev 20 and 1 Cor 15 agree he will become forever subject to God (the Father, the One True God). Only the Father is God forever. This must be why Jesus calls Him the Only True God in John 17. The divine throne is eternal, and while the Father currently occupies it in 2024, sharing its authority with Jesus Christ to some extent, ultimately only the Father will reign from it for all eternity. The Lord Jesus Christ will soon occupy it to rule from it for a thousand years and then, after this time, the Father will rule as God from it forever. 

Regular human

 Regarding Jesus Christ as anything other than human has dire side effects. It makes us push Jesus away. It makes us regard him as not one of us humans. It makes his lordship over us look like something imposed. We will tend to regard his friends as those we want to push away. When the Holy Spirit helps us to see him as regular human like us, we can accept him, and realise that he has struggled like us, and he is worthy because he overcame what we struggle with, tempted as we are, and he did so relying on love from God, as we can do. He overcame and for this reason God made him our Lord, worthy of it. Then we can regard him as part of our circle of humans like ourselves who struggle to overcome temptation. Having love for Jesus and for God who sent him is foundational in our salvation. Then we can love his commands and keep them. Then the Father can come to us in fellowship and the Son, Jesus can show us himself more and more through the Holy Spirit. This is eternal life. To know the Father who is the Only True God and to know Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Then we can see that we can do more and more of what Jesus is able to do, because we can be like him and we can have the same faith in the Father that he has. We can overcome like he overcame. Then we can share his throne when he comes and raises the saints from the dead. Don’t get left behind. Don’t run ahead of his teachings and leave him behind. Stay in fellowship. 

Royalty (Wording improved by ChatGPT 3.5)

In the teachings of Jesus, he is accorded status by God the Father, which will elevate to a divine level, and he is designated by God to judge all. This constitutes the divinity he taught, centered on his identity as the Son of God. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, links the full extent of Jesus' God-given power with the resurrection of the saints at his return and the subsequent era, not yet realized but bestowed upon him as an inheritance, akin to a Crown Prince receiving from a King. This analogy to royalty underscores that it doesn't diminish his humanity; he entered the world as a regular human. Jesus possesses many divine attributes in his resurrection body and ascension to God's right hand, yet remains fully human. Despite being royal, like a prince, he is still inherently human. This analogy should not confuse Jesus' assertion that the Father is the sole true God (John 17). Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 15, and John's in Revelation 20, affirm that ultimately, after Jesus Christ's reign, the Father alone remains the one true God. Eventually, Christ will be subject to God the Father indefinitely, affirming the Father as the sole true God.

(Wording improved by ChatGPT 3.5)

Royalty

 In the teachings of Jesus, he has status given him by God, by the Father, which will grow to Godlike status, and he is set apart by God to judge all. This is what constitutes the divinity taught by him. It is his status in being the Son of God. Paul, in 1 Cor 15, associates the full level of Godlike, God-given, power of Jesus with the resurrection of the saints at Jesus Christ’s return, and the time following it. It is not something that has happened yet. But it is something given to Jesus as part of his inheritance, like a Crown Prince receives from the King. The analogy to royalty shows it is not about anything diminishing his human nature. He became a normal human being when God brought him into the world. He has many Godlike attributes already as part of his resurrection body and his ascenscion to the right hand of God. A prince is royal but is no less a human being. This similarity with royalty should not be confusing when Jesus pointed out that the Father is still the One True God. Paul’s teaching in 1 Cor 15, and John’s in Fev 20, shows that the Father is ultimately the only God after the end of the reign of Jesus Christ. In the end the Christ will be subject to God, to the Father, forever. In this sense the Father is the One True God. Only the Father.

You too

 You can be Lord Jesus’ disciple by believing he is the Christ the Son of God who died for you and by holding to his teachings. God who raised him from the dead is the One True God who sent him. 

Unscrupulous Arguments and ‘Proof Texts’ used by Trinitarians and also Oneness

 Me to ChatGPT: Please list the main spurious and gloss and dubious translations sometimes used

ChatGPT response

Certainly, here are some examples of spurious or dubious translations sometimes used to support Trinitarian doctrine:

1. 1 John 5:7-8 - This verse, known as the Comma Johanneum, is often cited as evidence for the Trinity: "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." However, this verse is widely regarded by scholars as a later addition to the text, not present in the earliest manuscripts.
2. John 1:1 - In some translations, the verse is rendered as "the Word was a god," rather than "the Word was God." This translation (used notably in the Jehovah's Witnesses' New World Translation) challenges the traditional interpretation of Jesus' deity.
3. Colossians 1:15 - Some translations render this verse as "the firstborn over all creation," suggesting that Jesus is a created being rather than eternal. However, the term "firstborn" here likely refers to Jesus' preeminence rather than a literal birth order.
4. Acts 20:28 - Some translations read "the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood," implying that God shed his blood, which supports the Trinitarian view of Jesus being God. However, this reading is contested, as it is not found in many ancient manuscripts.
5. Isaiah 9:6 - The translation of "Mighty God" and "Everlasting Father" in this verse is sometimes used to support the divinity of Jesus. However, these terms can also be understood in a more symbolic or metaphorical sense within the context of the Hebrew language and culture.

These translations are often debated among scholars and theologians due to their theological implications and textual authenticity.

Power and glory

 Being the Lord, Jesus has some of the power of the throne of God right now. His clothes are drenched in the stains of treading the winepress of the wrath of God. He presides over the judgments of God. He has the right to sit on the Father’s throne: WITH the Father. Power sharing to some extent. He is involved in it. Soon he will actually rule from that throne for 1000 years. Then he will have all things made subject to him by the Father. Then after 1000 years, he will hand back the throne to the Father, the One True God, and along with everything under him, he will himself become subject to the Father forever. 

Feeding of the five thousand

 Consider miracles like the feeding of the 5000. Did Jesus create bread and fish right there in front of the people? Or did he thank the Father for doing it through him?

One True God

 Jesus is the Christ and is not the One True God. He is the Son of the One True God. He is sent by the One True God. The Father is called by Jesus “the One True God“, because ultimately all things will forever be subject to the Father. Jesus is the Lord over all. The Father is the God over all.

God’s doing

Jesus never exalted himself to a divine status. Doing so would have been punishable by stoning according to the customs of the gospel era. Instead, God the Most High made Jesus His Son, through the power of God overshadowing the virgin mother. God has fully affirmed him as His Son. In this, God indicated that the Son would ascend to the throne of God like a crown prince. This was not initiated by Jesus himself, but was God's doing. God designated Jesus for this role, particularly for a thousand-year reign, during which the resurrection of the saints would provide many to judge alongside Jesus. Satan, the god of this age, will be imprisoned during this time, possible only decades away, and all will be made subject to Jesus. After this thousand-year period, Jesus himself will be subject to God forever. Thus, the Father remains forever the One True God. This understanding is supported by passages such as John 10:34-39, 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, and Revelation 20.

Destruction of faith

 The compulsion to wander from the truth is a scourge of our times, end times: Destroying faith.

Destruction of faith

 2 Tim 2:18 “who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.” Those who say Jesus is God are doing this. They are effectively destroying faith by implying Jesus has already begun his reign of justice which is what happens with the resurrection. 

Washing feet

Jesus knows who are His. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who deep down really believe in the message that the Christ died for us. We still need to learn. Truth is known over time. Once we know, then we have to adapt our thinking to truth. This too can take time. The foot washing before Jesus died for sins is a picture of this. He told Peter that Peter had already been given a ‘bath’ but needed only his feet to be washed. This means the overall teachings of Jesus had washed Peter but still Peter needed further washing. Jesus told the disciples to wash each other’s feet. That is what we are doing here. The people who already have the Holy Spirit and already know some teachings of Jesus have effectively, spiritually, had a bath, if they truly believe. We now need to go a bit further and help sort out thinking and words used in communication. This is effectively spiritual washing of each other’s feet.

Spelling it out

 The world is currently under the influence of the devil, who is regarded as the God of this age. Only after his imprisonment for 1000 years and the reign of Christ Jesus as king will the full authority of God's throne be established, with sin eradicated and everything brought under the authority of the Son. This fulfillment can be found in Hebrews 1:8, 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, and Revelation 20. Eventually, the Son will present the throne to the Father, the One True God, who will reign eternally. At that point, the Son will be subordinate to the Father, and all things will be under the authority of the Father, the One True God. So, ultimately, the One True God will be supreme over everything. He will be all in all. 

Soon

 Soon God will let Jesus rule on His throne for a while. Then Jesus will hand the throne back to the One True God and be subject. 

Too early

 Those who say Jesus is God are around forty years too early.

The Father and Son and Holy Spirit

There exists a stark contrast between the Father and the Holy Spirit. When the Father manifests, it often results in chaos, with fear, havoc, and destruction ensuing, instilling terror and prompting many to perish for even the slightest transgression, be it action or thought. Consequently, individuals seek mediation. Very few can cope with contact with God, the Father in any direct encounter beyond visions or dreams. Conversely, the Holy Spirit, while still possessing elements of awe, operates on a much smaller scale, embodying gentleness akin to a dove. The Holy Spirit rarely instills terror but rather communicates through a serene, bell-like voice, penetrating minds and inspiring with its purest essence, reaching many simultaneously and leaving an indelible mark akin to a source of boundless inspiration like a fountain of living water, of water of life.

The overwhelming dread and mortality associated with the Father's presence render frequent direct interactions impractical. Instead, He delegates messengers: angels, prophets, witnesses, and most significantly, His Son. The Son, being human, serves as the ultimate mediator between the Father and humanity, capable of withstanding direct communion with the Father while also connecting with humans on a relatable level. His sinless existence allows Him to empathize with humans, having lived a normal human life. The Son's profound closeness to the Father is such that beholding him in spiritual insight or vision or physical encounter is akin to encountering the Father, illustrating their profound interconnectedness.

The Holy Spirit now assumes the role of an intermediary between humans and Jesus Christ, the Son, not only spiritually revealing Jesus but also imparting His wisdom to believing individuals in diverse ways, acting as a conduit for divine inspiration, since everything is given to Jesus by the Father, God. 

Parody

 Good news for those who believe Jesus is fully man and fully God, with a dual nature. Good news because if you too have a dual nature, it is nice that there is someone like you who can mediate between dual nature people and God and set you an example of how dual nature people can live in order to please God. If you are one mode of the existence of God and you are God in the flesh, that means you have someone like you in every way who can be your mediator with the God in God mode Father. He can mediate between himself and other mode of God too. 

Divinity and the One True God, worded by ChatGPT 3.5

Jesus' statement about the Father as the "One True God" underscores the singular and eternal nature of God. Jesus emphasizes that there is only one God, the Father, who will always be God. By referring to the Father as "the One True God," Jesus highlights that even though he, Jesus, may be regarded during his millennium reign as God, seated on God’s throne 1000 years, ultimate authority and divinity reside with the Father alone. This underscores that eventually there will be eternal subordination of Jesus to the Father, after Jesus completes his 1000 year reign on God's throne.

Unbelievers

Many who do not believe that the Father alone is the Most High God, unbelievers, insist that Jesus is not the Son of God but is God. There is forever just One True God, the Most High God, and even when Jesus is temporarily God, on the throne of God  during the millennium, the Father will still  be the only true God, the Most High God, because only the Father is Most High God forever. It is antichrist spirit which influences people to deny that Jesus is the Son of this One True God. Jesus is the Son of this One True God forever. The Son, Lord Jesus Christ was sent by this One True God.

An argument from silence

 Scriptures did not say anything about false spirits denying Jesus is God, or true spirits confessing Jesus is God. That says something.

Soon

 Soon, for 1000 years the Christ will be, in his position, effectively God. 

Preexisting Agency

 The instrumental agency of the Word written of by the apostle John (in John chapter 1 ), or of the Lord Jesus Christ  written of by the apostle Paul (in 1 Corinthians chapter 8  and Colossians chapter 1 ), means things were created by God using the agency or means provided by this Word. Things were created BY God (termed ‘direct agency’), and THROUGH the Word or THROUGH the Lord Jesus Christ (termed ‘instrumental agency’). God foreknew and predetermined the powerful name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ’s name was by virtue of the truth that he would overcome sin and achieve fully faithful and true obedience to God unto death. God could use this name in all His creating work. It made it worthwhile that created things would exist. There was a good eventual outcome for all God was making since this Lord Jesus Christ would one day undo the evils of sin and would show the way to make-good on everything. God could bring this name to the attention of angels so they would not abandon their duties to maintain with an oath of duty the things made by God. Jude, brother of Jesus Christ, spoke of this (in his epistle verse 6 ), and apostle Peter alluded to it too (in his second epistle chapter 2 ). Even if angels fell, the remaining angels could be strengthened in their duties and in their oath by the name of this Lord Jesus Christ, that he would live without sin and bring righteousness into the world and end destruction caused by sin by ending sin. Yet long before this fall of angels, God could similarly weave this name into all the creating He did such that nothing was made without this word of this name. God could proclaim in word the future impact and victory of the Christ over sin in the Christ’s own human life and the victory of the Christ over sin in his disciples’ lives and the knock-on effect as salt and light in the whole world forever. This could be a body of preaching and of spirit existence of message about this Christ. It might be that this is what John meant in John’s Gospel (chapter 1 ) by ‘the Word’. The existence of this name had spiritual manifestation in many ways and a kind of form like the form of God. This may have been what Peter meant by the Spirit of the Christ, mentioned in his first epistle (chapter 1 ). Then this started to be manifest in human form too when the Lord Jesus Christ eventually came into the world as a normal natural human, by the overshadowing of the virgin Mary by the presence of God. This might be what Paul meant in his epistle to the Philippians (chapter 2 ) by the Christ being in form of God, equal to God, but allowing himself to be made in the form of a human. All things were made by God through the spiritual rather than human manifestation. It was all made by God but made through this spiritually manifested Lord Jesus Christ, the Word, before he was manifested in the flesh by becoming flesh. (Hence John chapter 1. )

Living the truth and loving each other

 Living the truth and loving each other. Why are we doing this? Part of the nature of sin is to have no principles to live by. Jesus Christ primarily saves people from such sin. This means he must give people who believe in him the principles by which to live. He teaches sayings. He inspires. The Holy Spirit conveys to believers such things. Those who want to avail themselves of his salvation, who do not want to die in unprincipled doom, can avail themselves of his teachings, whether those they hear in everyday speech, such as “turn the other cheek” and “practice what you preach”, or by attending church, receiving Holy Spirit gifts, or studying written sources of his sayings such as scriptures. We build up an awareness of truth. This truth is first principle for us to live out in our lives. It tells us there are others like ourselves with whom we can speak truthfully. It shows us equality and the need to share with those in need. It informs us of our future and how best to prepare for it. It tells us we have a Lord, a Master over us, and this is Jesus himself. It tells us of the testimony of apostles who knew Jesus and testified in the gospels that Jesus Christ died for you. It brings into our lives, our universe, our priorities, the God who sent Jesus Christ. Then we have another command besides living according to truth, it is to love each other, imitating his love. These principles are first principles to free us from the sin of living unprincipled lives. The Christ died for you.

An existence before becoming flesh?

 An existence before becoming flesh? Paul believed there existed one in the form of God. John believed the Word existed. Peter believed the Spirit of the Christ existed.

Israel has sinned. This is the sign.

 

Did apostles of Jesus believe he preexisted and created?

Did apostles of Jesus believe he preexisted and created? The closest help I can get is the miracles of creation. Water into wine. Feeding of five thousand. Healing of a man born blind. I have seen such a miracle too. They show how God can create things, including living things, through someone who has faith in God and does not doubt. What did those closest to Jesus for  years of his ministry believe?

Divinity

 If we set aside Trinitarian philosophical assumptions about some essence being passed from God to His Son during word becoming flesh virgin overshadowing by God, which is not found in scripture but formed in the minds of Trinitarians later, there remains a belief we find among the apostles, as found in John 1 and Philippians 2, that something divine preexisted, in form of God, the Word, which became flesh, becoming fully human. Trinitarians assume that the divine essence carried on after this human form was taken. The apostles show no sign, that I have found, of believing this continuation of such an essence of divinity, as understood later by Trinitarians. The only possible sign of such a belief is in Colossians with Christ having fullness of divinity in bodily form. There is no explanation of what was believed about that divinity. It might be like the Trinitarian concept of essence of God. It might not. It is given to believers too, so this implies something not necessarily akin to the Trinitarian concept. It might be more akin to royalty: That the Son has a special status but not anything that affects his human nature. The scriptures are clear that he took full human form, humbler than the divine form. If the divinity in the belief of Paul shown in his letter to the Colossians is akin to royalty, a badge of status, not affecting Jesus Christ’s humanness, then it is not necessarily to belief taught by Trinitarians. The Christ is a human and is the Son of God and fullness of this divine status is embodied in him. 

Critique of the Trinitarian concept of a divine Christ

 Trinitarians teach a divinity of Christ based on two concepts. Firstly they have a concept that by being born of a virgin by overshadowing of God and the Holy Spirit, some essence of deity of God somehow passed to Jesus. This concept is philosophical. He was son of God by the overshadowing and work of the Holy Spirit and the Father, yes, but nothing in scripture says anything more about it, nor about any essence being incorporated into his body from God. scripture simply tells us he is human and the son of God. Scripture does not teach any Hellenistic or Neoplatonic philosophical concept of what happened and of anything passed to the body from God. Secondly Trinitarians teach about the throne of God on which the Christ will one day sit. They teach it means Christ is God. However, in scripture, this is not taught as a teaching about the nature of the Son but about a position of power he will eventually occupy, akin to that of God, making him to all intents and purposes, for a limited time, God, though in position, not in identity. Scripture teaches the power will then finally all go to the Father, who alone is God eternally. The Son will be given it but temporarily, not as anything about his nature being in any way divine, but as a position that he will eventually return to the true God who is forever God by nature, the Father, and the Son along with all things brought under him will be subject to the Father. Thus it is the Son’s elect task to have all things subjected to him during a time on the throne of God and then by subjecting himself ultimately to God, to the Father, all things, including himself will be brought into eternal subjection to the Father who alone will then eternally be God on the throne. 

In Him

 The Son is in those who truly follow him, in just the same way that the Father is in the Son. When I am close to the will of Jesus and his grace is fully at work in me, giving me the guidance I need to do his will and managing and empowering the outcomes, when I am weak but his grace is my only strength, then he is in me and I in him. Yet it is not true that I literally am Jesus Christ and his name should be on my passport. Some eccentric cultic leaders might claim to be Jesus Christ literally. That is not to be taken seriously. “Many will come claiming ‘I am he’ and mislead many.” The sense I might be Jesus Christ is that you can see Jesus Christ in my life, my works and my teachings. It is not about my identity as a person. Of course it isn’t. So with Jesus and the Father. 

Hebrews 1:8

 1 Corinthians 15. It expands on the subject matter of Hebrews 1:8. Paul writes about how at some stage (for us today it is very soon) the Christ will be put in the very top spot, on the highest throne. The throne we can call not just the King throne, but the God throne. He will be on his Father’s throne. All will for a limited time be subject to him, but that does not, Paul writes, include God Himself being subject to him. No God Himself will not be subject to the Christ. This is the time foretold in the prophecy quoted in Hebrews 1:8. The Christ will have power of God, but the actual God will still exist and will, He alone, NOT be subject to the Christ. Paul proves by this that he regards the Father as the one he identifies as God (proper noun). He makes it clear that after the temporary time the Christ will become subject to God (proper noun, the Father). The Christ is NOT this God (proper noun, identity, the Father). This proper noun identity God is the Father and the One True God, permanently forever. The Christ is not this God. 

Not one being with the Father

 Jesus proved he is not the Father, and he is not one being with the Father. The Jews were saying (John 8 ) that the Law required a second independent witness besides Jesus. Jesus replied that the Father is that second witness. That means Jesus is not the Father and he is NOT one being with the Father. He and the Father are only one in the same sense that Peter and Paul were one. 

Someone asked how I was ‘born again’. Here was my answer.

As a child I was told the lesson Jesus gave about the Rich Man and Lazarus. I went to my room on my own and I simply prayed. I was only three or four. Then I went and told a sibling and they too prayed. When I was a few years older I remember standing on a wall and preaching to other children. I might have been five or six. Nobody saw this except those children so it is just something I remember. When I was seven I stood on a table in a bible camp and told about the words of Jesus which had made me pray years earlier. When I was in my late teens I performed a miracle when with another believer, with the Spirit telling me what to do. Until then nobody had seen the wonders God had regularly done for me. Later I stood on a beer box at work and told the restaruant colleagues to repent. The Spirit had suddenly taken hold of me and I did it without thinking. Not something I normally did. I was shy and reclusive. At university I did my first miracle in church. I suddenly got faith to do it during the sermon. I commanded a extremely painful burn blister to Go! and it immediately vanished. I learned to use this faith later to silence storms and did this many many times. In the nineties, when I was just over thirty, I met Jesus himself on a road called Blackswarth Road and this time he was the one who calmed the torrential rain storm, like I had been doing. During the nineties the Father, the Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit together but each on a separate occassion taught me about themselves so I could preach and teach in order the Build the Temple, as they commanded me.  I missed details. When I (in the nineties, like I say) asked the Spirit to be given me, I was first given a vision. A builders bucket of sabd was tipped out in front of me and words like subtitles appeared across my vision saying BUILD THE TEMPLE. I asked for threefold confirmation this was the Holy Spirit. I went to church (I won’t give details, one of my contacts ran the church and might remember this, though he was away at the time and I told him when he came back) I think that evening or the next and first three church school girls got up and sang a song they had written in their church school class. It went “Build, build, build the Temple” over and over. Then a man with a guitar stood and sang about King David being told his son would build the Temple. Then an elder spoke and preached how King David when told Solomon would build the temple, he sat there in awe and prayed how he felt God was thus honouring him and his family above any other person. Months later, I was taken to a church because I was longing to hear speaking in tongues. The leader spoke in tongues at the microphone. It was a real angelic message of awesome words. The words turned into English in my head. I realised it was a gift of interpretation being given me. “Consider the trees. They put forth buds and leaves,“ (a vision of it appeared in my mind) “They do so by the power/authority of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ”. Then it continued  further about planets orbiting stars by this power. I was thinking maybe I should stand and speak it but I did not know how the congregation would accept me, a stranger there. Within seconds the speaker spoke those very same words. I told him later and he could not remember any of it happening. The friend who bought me there, a lay preaching leader supervising my lay preachings, told me this happened a lot in some of the churches in the area. Another bit I ought to add. In my teens I became a bit of a scoundrel: mean, sometimes spiteful and a habitual liar. Stealing sometimes. I wouldn’t say at that point, according to Jesus’ teachings, I was a child of God. Child of Satan really. Not afraid to admit it. I got convicted about it though. C S Lewis books and some daily devotions called Streams in the Desert convicted me, especially of the lying and (very) petty stealing. At one point I thought I should stop praying “Our Father in heaven...” and pray “Father of Jesus in heaven...”. I habitually lied and could not speak without adding lies to make it sound better. The church thought me a true believer and yes I had accepted Christ and believed that Jesus Christ is from God but the lying showed I was still not fully His. I was even baptised. I led evangelistic missions. Yet the trust people had in me made me feel an imposter who would one day get found out and who could not repent because everyone made me think too highly of myself and gave me a mask to wear, as it were. The church saw me as evangelist material and a kind lady sent me for a George Verwer OM weekend of evangelising in Birmingham UK. God opened my heart to Himself there and then a real evangelist spoke in the 'bull ring' shopping area with words written on a white board 'CHRIST DIED FOR YOU' and it sank home for once. I went and told him the words had sunk in for the first time even though I was meant to be already 'saved' so he took me into a nearby church and at the front he prayed with me and I prayed. As I prayed when my prayer was honest a holy power made my voice surge with unworldly stength but as soon as I wandered from honesty it stopped. I tried to keep my honesty to keep this power. I went and prayed and sang with the evangelist believers and over the whole weekend this power thing continued till I learned that truth sits well with God who is true and lies do not get His support because He hates them. I learned by this Holy Spirit. The power of God by the Holy Spirit had cleansed me. I rarely lied again. I won’t say never, but I made it a happy habit to always speak truthfully, deliberately so I would not go back to lying. Repenting from stealing too I was given highly trusted work in handling huge amounts of money and my honesty took me high in government work even to work with the UN trade standards body and many governments around the world. God lifted me up in a way only He can do. Last piece of it all. The Father alone says ”I am God”. He showed Himself to me in a dream (not face to face like Moses and Jesus) and said those very words very deliberately and with all severity. He then proved to me it was Him, the Father. In the dream vision I was told a card with names on it would be put on my desk at work the next day. “Look at it!” The next day it happened at the very end of the day. It never normally happened because it was only ever my job to distribute the post. A wedding card was put in front if me signed by all my colleagues and when I looked intently at it I saw strict instructions it should be handed to a lady by 5pm. That was five minutes away. The dream told me the lady’s name and this too was correct. I took it to her and she said the guy getting married was leaving to go away in a little while. God had saved the day for the colleagues. Now, since I was influenced by Trinitarians at the time, following the revelation from the Holy Spirit telling me “Build the Temple” (which I said had been confirmed threefold in church), I assumed I was supposed to preach and I protested in prayer to God in earnest that I did not know Him enough to proclaim Him with knowledge and I asked to experience Father and Son and Holy Spirit. I made sure I was obeying Jesus’ teachings so I could hold to promises of Jesus in the gospel of John that God would do this. So I was waiting for the Father when the dream came. I was shocked that He said “I am God” because it confounded my Trinitarian influences which taught me that the Trinity together is God. I realise the Father was teaching me that it was just Himself who is the Most High God. A while later He showed me the next step that Jesus is His Son, because Jesus came to me out in the open one day, during a storm of torrential rain. He told me “put down your umbrella” and as soon as I did so the rain stopped dead. I asked confirmation it was Jesus who had spoken to me “If it is truly you Lord then let such and such happen” and he made it so. (Like Gideon’s fleece.) I already mentioned the church service with speaking in tongues which happened months afterwards too. It all proved to me this is God, the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit. 

Royalty and theology

 Look at the royal princes of UK, Andrew, Edward, William, to some extent Harry. Each is royal yet no less human than if they weren’t. William is closest to the throne yet equally human to Harry. Charles is actually on the throne. He too is just as human than when his mother was on the throne. Now look at Jesus. Jesus has the royalty of his Father but is no less human for it. He will for a long time reign on the higher throne yet will still be the human mediator with the Father, the Son of Man. Eventually he will give that throne to his Father and be forever subject to his Father, like Charles once was to his mother. God will be all in all. The Father alone is this God to whom all, including Jesus His Son, will forever be subject. 

Two witnesses not one witness

 God and His Son are two people, two beings whose testimonies about Jesus, the Son of God, count as two, not as one testimony. Two testimonies means two witnesses. See John 8.

Some post philosophy and theology

 I am in my post speaking to you. My post is not me. It is a manifestation of me. It carries my meaning. It is my word. You see my post and you see me. But I am not a social media post. That is not what I am. My post belongs to me. It is not me, though: Not literally me. 

Teachings of churches do not match teachings of scriptures

 I have spent fifty five years studying the Bible. I knew a lot of it before I was old enough to attend church sermons (by my father). My mother taught it to me starting when I was three or four. I was taught to read from it before officially learning to read at school. I was given my own copy of the KJV before I was a teen and used to read it every day (as they taught us to do in church and my parents taught me to do - my quiet time). We were poor and I had no study notes so I just read it cover to cover over and over, if I remember correctly. I probably skipped Numbers. In my thirties I showed off to my wife. I challenged her to secretly find any verse anywhere in the Bible and read it to me, and I could tell her at least the book and chapter it was from. In those days in my youth we were taught like this, in home life, then Sunday School, then church and Bible Club meetings and camps. Yes, we were taught special chapters to learn off by heart and lots of key verses, but I was taught to read the whole thing even before getting taught at church. I knew it well before hearing any sermons about Trinity or Oneness. I knew neither were biblical because I knew the Bible quite well before I heard these teachings and I knew what it said about Jesus and God. I was dismayed that teachings of churches did not match teachings of scriptures. 

Two legally required testimonies

 If you truly believe Jesus is alive, you will realise that what you say about him in front of others matters. If you make it look like he was a liar in John 8, it matters. He claimed his own testimony was backed up legally by a testimony of God. The Father, as a SECOND witness. For that to be true he must be a distinct person not one being with God but distinct from the Father. Two people, both testifying. Two witness testimonies. Valid as two testimonies in the eyes of the Law. If he was lying it would be on a par with perjury.