'Father, Son, Holy Spirit' —

3 Gods? 2 Gods? or 1 God? 

Colossians 2:8-10 ‘Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (v.9) For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily

‘Godhead’: Gk. THEOTES (Strong's 2320) = Diety; Divine Being; Divine nature.

(v.10) And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.’

Note: ‘we are complete in HIM, not ‘them’!

I Thessalonians 5:21 ‘Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.’

This is a command from God through Paul. . . Prove or test ALL things. This word was given to me by the Lord early on in my surrendered walk with Him. I proceeded to do what He spoke to me but I did not even think of looking at the basic foundations of our faith. I looked rather at the things I thought were contraversial. The Lord spoke again the ame word and I knew that the basic or foundational things in the faith had to go under my micoscope. The following is the resuly of one such investigation with the Holy Spirit, our Teacher.

the challenge

If one is not desirous of growing up into Him in all things or simply ‘not teachable’, then such a challenge of proving this subject will not appeal to you at all. Assuming you desire to know the truth that will set you free . . . read on and may the Lord lead and show you what He has in His mind.

tradition

The large majority of Christians will answer this question without any hesitation, "One God". If pressed a little further, they will probably try to clarify their stand by using their ‘pet’ phrase and possibly sing with great emotion the old hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy . . . God in three persons, Blessed Trinity."

So we pose the question, ‘Is God three persons or one person ?’

The dictionary tells that A PERSON is ‘an individual with a distinct personality or character’. So . . . is God three personalities or one personality ?

"In the beginning God . . ." In this first verse of the Bible, the word ‘God’ in the Hebrew is ELOHIM and that is a PLURAL word . . . yet . . .

"The LORD thy God is one God" —Mark 12:29 and that is NOT plural . . . and don’t overlook . . . "Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" — Ephesians 1:2, and at first glance this looks like two persons!

". . . baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" —

Matthew 28:19, and that certainly looks like three!

The following are some of the phrases that Evangelical Christians often use concerning this subject . . . ‘GOD IS A TRINITY’ —

‘god is triune’ —

‘GOD IS THREE-IN-ONE’ —

‘GOD IS TRIPARTITE’ —

. . . These simply add confusion to the subject rather than answer the question: or we hide behind such a phrase to avoid thinking about the controversial subject.

When we see the overall picture of God, His nature or character and how He moves, we shall, I trust, see these scriptures blending together instead of appearing to oppose each other.

Matthew 28:19 which we have just read, declares that there is ONE NAME of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This will go along with the other verses that mention ONE head, ONE body and ONE Lord . . . which makes good sense.

Let us observe what we know about GOD. "He is" and He has never been other than that! We are trying to see and understand the infinite God from where we are placed — in finite ‘TIME’ . . . yes, just where, in His infinite wisdom, He has put us. We need to go back to before ‘the beginning’ of the TIME ZONE . . .

"from or before the foundation of the world"

The Old Testament speaks of ‘before the foundation of the earth’, while the New Testament speaks more of ‘before the foundation of the world’.

The word ‘WORLD’ is the Greek word KOSMOS, meaning the orderly arrangement of things

(- how things are done!). Things usually get ‘done’ when thinking gets activated in or through a body. Worldly kosmos-thinking is seen all around us in people who ONLY know such thinking and ways. Speaking of BEFORE the foundation . . . we are speaking of God’s PLANNING STAGE before He actually begins. IT IS BEFORE TIME! It is in the realm of Spirit which is God’s domain of reality and expression because ‘God is spirit’ John 4:24. Years ago I heard the term "Eternity past": it is a nonsensical phrase as real ETERNITY is TIMELESS — NOT endless time in either direction. Technically, we should use the word ‘infinity’.

the three ‘omni’- s . . .

GOD IS SPIRIT Spirit is not limited by time, form or distance . . . He is . . .

OMNIPRESENT — everywhere present. He is in the unlimited realm which we refer to as ‘heaven’. God has ALL knowledge and again is not bound by time. He is therefore OMNISCIENT , the One who has ALL (and I mean A-L-L !) information, understanding, knowledge of all things, all people . . . simply ALL KNOWLEDGE . . . absolutely everything including every reaction that every person will have!

Being that HE IS GOD, He has all power, all authority and all ability and therefore . . .

He is OMNIPOTENT. His name from Exodus 3:14 is ‘I am that I am’ (or ‘Whatever I need to be, I am"). His name sets Him in the ‘now’ realm (HE IS!), which is immeasurable and is spirit. The omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent God is ONE GOD and He is INVISIBLE and UNLIMITED which makes Him ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGN.

GOD IS LOVE Love starts as THOUGHT, but for love to be complete love, it must be communicated to the LOVED -ONE and it must be returned freely to the LOVER. God being love, visualized and planned what He would do to complete this expression of Himself. He knew and FORESAW what steps He would take.

time

God planned a simple thing called ‘TIME’ and broke it down into set periods which He called AGES. Before time — God is! One God-Spirit who does NOT change (Malachi 3:6). Being God His whole plan was IN HIMSELF: thus He would automatically show that He was ALL in ALL. Whatever came forth had to be HIMSELF however it was expressed.

mankind

God planned ‘mankind’ (the word ADAM translated ‘man’ in Genesis 1:26 means MANKIND) to be the visible expression of Himself — out of Himself. Being LOVE, our God did not desire to have His mankind as ‘ROBOTS’. You see — robots can only do what they are programmed to do. They could be programmed to love their Creator, but that would not express the kind of Love that He is. The One-God is Love and therefore His love is fully towards His creation, His mankind, His children.

From the ‘time zone’ point of view, mankind was not yet created, but in the timeless realm of God, HE KNEW . . . His love was to become their life. It was a reality, not just a theory, with God. His life was to be put in them. Spirit needs form to be complete — a vessel through whom He can manifest or show Himself. For God to create mankind, the only resource for this expression had to come from Himself and He is Love.

love is two-way

Love must needs be ‘two-way’ to be complete. God knew that, so in His great plan of the ages, He purposed to so lead His creation into a situation where His mankind would be in need. His mankind would need their God, need forgiveness and need His positive life. A fallen and in need mankind would be unworthy of His help . . . but God-love would draw him back into Himself. God knew that true love is expressed in the fullest way when there is a need that only love can fully meet. Thus love responds to Love. What God sowed, God will also reap. We have seen that . . .

God is word

God is Spirit, God is Love and now we add in GOD IS WORD. John 1:1 — ‘In the beginning . . . God is WORD’. The word ‘beginning’ relates to time. As God thought out the plan of the ages, THERE IT WAS ! God is always in the "NOW" because He is the ‘I AM’. Before the start, the WHOLE MAGNIFICENT UNFAILING PLAN was ALL before God. (In a ‘split-second’ as we would say, only God wouldn’t say it that way, as ‘seconds’ were yet to come into being!)

God saw it all

‘Word’ to be W-O-R-D and not just thought, requires a means of expressing the thought. When we think of planning, we visualize our plan step by step, but God’s plan — all of it — was just THERE ! God saw it all . . . everything. Unexpressed word is thought, which is spirit. God being Spirit, the Word that He is, must therefore be THOUGHT . . . supreme omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent thought. This is the very SOURCE of all life. He planned that His mankind-creation would have His thought, have Himself within their being — in fact, BE the expression of Himself. Thus His love could operate and flow so beautifully. Mankind with God’s thinking could certainly communicate His love which would be in them; not as something that comes and goes, but that which would be them — fully, not just A PART OF THEM ! . . . what a plan !

‘time’ and ‘earth’ go togerther

God was about to create ‘time’. In that arena of time He would create a universe which would include an earth and a whole lot more. Time and Earth go together; God created time with such a finite degree that this earth spins on its unseen axis to a tremendous accuracy that only God could control. God just loves to show us His "omni-s", so that we might see Him as He is and thus be drawn to Him unreservedly.

The FOUNDATION is the first step of building . . . all that is added will fit the foundation. The foundation may well get hidden, but the building will always show forth the size and outline of the foundation. God knew all the details of what was to be built because GOD-THOUGHT is totally without limits — absolutely UNLIMITED: we must grasp this fact! God would put Himself into the arena of time so that He might have a visible expression of His Being, that is His Body. The mankind that He created was a body into which He breathed His spirit of Life (Genesis 2:7).

Thus the whole thing called ‘time’ was planned and God, being GOD, most certainly designed a SUCCESSFUL PLAN that the ages of time would witness. An ‘AGE’ is a period of time determined by God in which He accomplishes that part of His plan. It was all in His THOUGHT-SELF . . . until . . . He spoke those thoughts.

God spoke . . .

Thought no longer remained etheral - Spirit; it took on new form . . . it became ‘word’. Word always expresses thought; they are ONE —

THE SOURCE (THE FATHER) and THE EXPRESSION (THE SON-WORD) ARE ONE!

The Word came out of Himself. The expression of Life came out of Himself. The WORD-SON came forth from the Father. (You cannot be a ‘father’ except you have brought forth a child/son). The expression of LIFE came out of Himself. THE WORD THAT CARRIED EXACTLY THE SAME CONTENT AS THE THOUGHT was still God. The ‘Word’ was what He produced — actually re-produced — and thus His offspring, His Son, came forth. This WORD-SON with the Love and Power of His Father within Him, would accomplish God’s plan using only what was created. WORD IS THE OFFSPRING OF THOUGHT.

From the ‘timeless’ zone before any foundation was laid, HE, the ONE and ONLY GOD saw it all. He was very satisfied with the plan including every step and the conclusion of it, that He spoke it! Being that He was not hindered by time in His position as God, HE ACTED with the expression of Himself and said (=thought plus breath), "Earth be formed" (Hebrews 11:3). The Word-Son was manifested forth out of Himself, out of Thought and out of Spirit.

When God spoke, it was the manifested beginning of our God in the time-zone.

having spoken - God is nowin the Father role

God’s Word-Son had the full expression of God in Himself. Spirit-Thought-God producing out of Himself, introduced a marvellous relationship — Father to Son, that is the very SOURCE of Life; (Life = God’s Thought to us, His sons). Later, Jesus confirmed such a situation when He said in John 10:30 that He and His Father were ONE (NOT two!). ‘One God and Father (still only ONE God!) who is above all and through all and in you all.’ One God who is in the role of father . . . in fact ‘OUR Father who art in heaven’ would say it more precisely.

‘But to us there is but one God, the Father, OF WHOM

BY WHOM are all things.’ (I Corinthians 8:6).

The HEAD of Christ is God. Father is the Head — unseen in the Spirit realm called ‘heaven’. Christ is the seen part of God, the tangible Body — JESUS, the Pattern Word-Son and first of a new tribe or type of people — God-men. Without Him there would be nothing.

‘Source’ and ‘Expression’

GOD is the SOURCE of all life . . . "OF WHOM", and God, using His fully revealed name — the LORD JESUS CHRIST which is the expression . . . "BY WHOM". The ‘whom’ is the SAME ONE. God contained in a vessel on earth = Jesus Christ — Jesus the Anointed One: anointed for a purpose to MEDIATE between a Loving God and needful mankind.

The beginning had happened, the foundation was layed; TIME was now established and in it was God’s complete plan. God saw that it was good! Otherwise He would have changed it! God-Love having manifested Himself, saw Himself in His Son, in fact, saw Himself AS His Son. To underline that, the Son saw Himself as EXPRESSED THOUGHT . . . the SAME nature, character and PERSON. . . . ONE LIFE, ONE LOVE, ONE SPIRIT, ONE WORD, ONE GOD. ‘If you have seen Me’, said Jesus, ‘You have seen the Father’(John 14:9).

"let us . . . "

Because God is LOVE, there is the characteristic within His Being of corporateness as we shall see shortly. For completeness, there must be the source and the expression — the Thought and the Word. The God Who is Spirit spoke . . . ‘Let US (Thought-Word) make man(kind) in OUR Image and in OUR likeness" (Genesis 1:26). God desired that the expression of Himself should likewise have THOUGHT AND WORD in its make-up. He would be the Thinking in us so He could use His mankind in the natural created realm of the time zone, to achieve His great plan of the ages. We, each one, must come to realize that we are in His Image (from God’s point of view). We do know that we can think thoughts, speak those thoughts with words which have our breath (spirit) in them. Words without spirit-wind-breath in them are useless in communicating and Love must be communicated to be real. We therefore are a creation of THOUGHT, WORD AND BREATH — each of us ONE PERSON !

(Father) (Son) (Spirit)

man in the image of God

THE IMAGE OF GOD = His Love and all His expressions

THE IMAGE OF GOD = His thinking (Word) coming forth unhindered

THE IMAGE OF GOD = His Spirit-Life flowing in the corporate expression of Himself

. . . ALL constantly magnifying the SOURCE of ALL LIFE — ‘the model’ of this Image is Father-God Himself.

THE IMAGE OF GOD = Christ (II Corinthians 4:4).

The Greek word for ‘spirit’ is PNEUMA ( from which we get the English word ‘pneumatic’ when describing a tire that is full of ‘air’) and this word means breath, air, wind, breeze, spirit. (Remember that in the New Testament, the Greek word for SPIRIT and GHOST is the same!).

Christ-Jesus

CHRISTOS (Greek) is translated ‘the anointed one’ and is the title given to one who fully expresses Father-God by being fully yielded to Him. JESUS was given this TITLE due to the yielded union He had with His Father. In Acts 2:38 it records that Jesus was MADE both Lord and Christ. CHRIST is the full expression of God; it was Christ Who was crucified before the foundation of the earth — that was in God’s foreknowledge as the major and essential part of His redemption plan which would demonstrate His Love to the full.

Christ-Jesus links JESUS THE SEED (the FIRST of the new tribe or nation — a new species or type of man), begotten of God, to the position of being THE ANOINTED ONE. He was the SEED-SON anointed to express the Father, as God’s desire was a CORPORATE SON in this visible realm. We are called to be in the same relationship with Our God and Creator — to be a part of that same new tribe called ‘a holy nation’.

‘As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him’, Colossians 2:6).

God’s plan was complete before He founded the creation and before He created the kosmos. THE SON being the express image of Father’s word (Hebrews 1:3), would be the channel for all the success of Father’s plan. WORD is the mediation or communication that joins hearts and minds.

THE RECEPTION OF HIS WORD PRODUCES A SURRENDER OF OURS.

born from above . . .

The famous verse in John 3:3, ‘Ye must be born again’ is better understood when the Greek is referred to as it means to be born from above. In a natural birth, the body comes into the world and, maybe with a spank, takes in ‘breath’ and is pronounced ‘alive’ or ‘born’! In a spiritual birth, the same body comes into a new realm (maybe with a spank!) and receives the breath (Spirit) of God and is pronounced ‘saved’, truly alive, born (again) . . . . born ‘from above’ — being from that reality which is higher than where we are.

Thought — Word — Breath

Thought, Word and Breath (Spirit) are the ONE GOD; the expressions are INSEPARABLE to the point where any ONE or TWO cannot stand alone in the realm of time. ALL THREE ingredients TOGETHER can stand and anything else is INCOMPLETE.

John 5:7 & 8 speaks of ‘the threes’ that bear record . . . i.e. compliment each other. (Please note that the words ‘the heaven’ and ‘the earth’ are omitted in most ancient manuscripts). Such a oneness here describing our Lord. God is . . . the Father, the Architect, the Originator (all these and more are TITLES!) who is in His Word, His Son, His Spirit-Self — the very Breath-Spirit which brings forth the action of that Word.

"it’s a go !"

God’s plan was actioned . . . He spoke and it happened — things started. God had an arena and God had His mankind which He had designed with Himself as the pattern. God KNEW HOW ‘HIS MAN’’ would react to the testings even though He had given him sufficient strength to stand. God’s amazing plan is far beyond the limiting understanding of mankind because man was not ‘reason-able’ like God. Man did not know the end of the matter which God saw . . . and being God, He saw that it was good: anything less would show that God was not God after all, and we know, that cannot be!

‘. . . of Him, who worketh ALL things after the counsel of His own will’, Ephesians 1:11

God created the EVIL ONE as His tool of ‘testing’ (Isaiah 45:7). If God did not approve of what He saw of His plan down the ages (before time), He was well able to have planned it differently. However, being the Mighty God, He did not need two attempts at His plan for mankind! To add ‘REDEMPTION’ for what looked like a mistake, would most certainly make God look incompetent and that, we know, cannot be. Redemption was a part of the whole original plan . . . the biggest part.

on course — of course !

Man failed —the next step was the drawing back of man to Himself. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among God’s now self-sufficient creation. God Who is LOVE began wooing and drawing back the sinners which HE KNEW WOULD BE NEEDING HIM . . . that same creation which He had not prevented from ‘falling’ so as to be in line with His plan that spanned the ages. God made ‘time’ and thus had plenty of it in which to see His finished product!

The work of Spirit is to create thought: the work of negative spirits is likewise to promote evil or negative thinking. The end result will be that man will see his need and respond to the magnetic Love — GOD. Depending on how we respond to the thoughts that come to us, is the pathway that we walk . . . whether of the earth (earthy thinking) or of the heaven (mind of Christ, which born-from-above folks possess).

God is HOLY, therefore HIS SPIRIT (the Spirit of Him - not as something that God possesses but Who He is!)is HOLY. The emphasis is made in holy writ to ensure that we know it is the Lord Himself and not some other ‘tool’ from the carpenter’s bench! Romans 8:20 tells us that God subjected MANKIND to the ‘fall’ (indirectly Adam was ‘tripped up’) because He, being God knew what the outcome would eventually be. God therefore had the 100% HOPE of His successful end to His ‘time-zone’ plan even though man failed and turned away from God. LOVE displays mercy — so no wonder God is MercyFULL !

God is not unjust !

God knew before that man would fail. If the failing was not in His one and only plan, He could have changed it. Evidently God included ‘the fall’ for a very special reason. Being God, He could ONLY produce a successful conclusion to His plan. For God to know in advance that man would fail and do nothing about it and then to condemn this fallen mankind to ‘eternal punishment’, would most certainly be unfair and unjust. God who is Love and mercyfull, can never, never be unjust.

GOD-LOVE, His very nature and name, could never be so mean as to cause His mankind to ‘fall’ and then to leave him without hope. God’s plan would therefore include His restoration. He was the answer; ‘HE was in Christ reconcilling the world unto Himself’ (I Corinthians 5:19).

FORGIVENESS is one of the greatest attributes of LOVE — of our God and thus of Christianity. Such Love, that Jesus died for the WORLD not just for a few Christians of this age. The sins of the WORLD are forgiven; the majority today have not found out this truth, so it is up to us to tell them so that they might move into a relationship with God and experience His Life being expressed through them.

the cross was planned beforehand

A vessell containing and expressing the WORD of God-Thought is alive because the Spirit in that word is Lord of that life. JESUS, SON of Father-God, because HE came forth from Him, was declared to be the Word made flesh which demonstrated the glory of God. He was the SEED and the PROTOTYPE of a brand new race, tribe, species and nation.

Jesus was the first to be fully manifesting that He was the Image of God . . . He was the Pattern Son known as the Seed (Galations 3:16 and John 12:24). There is now a people coming forth desiring and beginning to see the fullness of God in their lives . . . they are a part of the HARVEST of the Seed sown in THEIR earth ! There had to be manifestation of God-Love coming forth in such a way as to be distinctly different and most unique and great. The requirement of the ‘cross’ that was placed upon Jesus declared that Divine Love. He was called upon to put away the SIN-NATURE that produces SIN — once and for all time. Jesus-the-Word received into our hearts and minds, would create the right thinking like unto God’s, like God. When you received Christ Jesus the Lord, you received the WORD of God-think . . . the mind of Christ.

The declaration has been made, ‘that as a man thinks, so is he,’ (Proverbs 23:7). Jesus obviously had the mind of Christ and thus was God in the flesh or natural realm. Jesus thus took on form and became the mediator between God and mankind . . . mediating the resources and thinking that we all need in order to be the fullfillment of God’s plan . . . that we might, by His Grace, might become the Image of God while on the earth.

the apointed anointed

The One who moves under the control of the Mind of Christ which, as we have seen, is God’s will, is known as THE ANOINTED ONE — CHRIST. Jesus, the Pattern Son, did just that! HE MANIFESTED THE VICTORY OF GOD’S THINKING OVER ALL OTHER THINKING. When Jesus was called the Seed, there was automatically an expectation of a harvest — or why have a Seed???

‘Except a corn of wheat (SEED) fall into the ground and die (Jesus did) it (or he) abideth alone, but if it die, then it bringeth forth much fruit (HARVEST)’ - John 12:24.

There is a ‘Harvest Company’ of sons who are following in the plan and pattern of THE SON, JESUS and they are the BODY of CHRIST — the Body, Form or Image of God, the ANOINTED ONE — appointed by God in His plan. Jesus, of course, is the Head which obviously means that He has (and is) the God-Think that God’s Body will declare to everyman in due order.

We came to that place in Him when He called us while we were yet sinners and separated from the Divine Plan (Ephesians 2:1 says Ye who were dead in trespasses and sins. . . A dead entity cannot communicate. The spirit of man energizes him to wallow in the selfish, earthly ‘death realm’ that knows not God. The spirit of man knows not God and neither desires to: cut off from LIFE, he is pronounced ‘dead’. Verse 5 of the same chapter contrasts this situation by revealing that when a man’s spirit is quickened by God, the SPIRIT OF GOD comes within man’s spirit totally engulfing him with the mind of Christ. As He-within changes our thinking, our experiencing the oneness with Father-God increases towards a real 100%.

God has allowed sufficient time for His plan to be fulfilled. The MANKIND that started with the capacity to move as the Image of God and who was ‘tripped up’, is going through a steady processing to restore him to the original purpose . . . to be the Body of Christ in all the fulness of that expression — to be the VISIBLE EXPRESSION OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, Whose love must win through because the LOVE-GOD CANNOT FAIL. To have the form of Himself, His Image in the earth to be the vessell for achieving . . . what a plan!

There is ONE GOD; He allows us to see with our limited thinking just what He has planned and above all, Who HE IS. He has given us of His Word, the Bible, that we might through meditation on that Word be made alive by His Spirit — come to KNOW HIM, His Name, His nature. Yes many, many aspects of His great nature BUT ALWAYS ONE GOD.

Where did all this ‘three-headed’, three separate persons doctrine come from ?

historical note

In Babylon, a way back in history, the Babylonians symbolized the ‘only one god’ with an equilateral triangle. Their ‘three-in-one’ was demonstrated in their paintings as three heads on a normal body. The heathen Egyptians of those early days did the same.

There was a monastry in Madrid, Spain that had a statue of their ‘triune god’ with three heads on one body. In Dublin, Ireland, they had an old picture showing God as a man with two heads and a dove coming out of this form. One of these heads showed the Son as an ordinary fellow, while the second, that of Father-God, was pictured as an old man. This is Mr Average’s idea of God all too often!

The whole ‘trinity deal’ is a hangover from ‘the mother of harlots’ and her daughters have continued to promote every teaching that will confuse God’s people and make out that God’s plan for the ages is doomed to partial failure, at least!

This is against the nature of God which is Love and love cannot fail . . . anywhere!!!

(I Corinthians 13:8) and it also belittles the greatness of our God. They also promote the injustice of God which is contrary to His nature, that He would put mankind down and then punish him endlessly for being in that place! Very strange considering that our God is MERCY-FULL!

The Papal blessing is pronounced with the THREE MIDDLE FINGERS extended and waved as the blessings from the Father AND the Son AND the Holy Ghost are declared.

If there are two separate God’s, then of necessity, there should be two separate heads which, one must follow through, as two separate thinkings which in turn declares two persons.

This is seen in the traditional teaching concerning the ATONEMENT. We have TWO thinkings from two separate heads. To get opposing thinking from ONE HEAD, would most certainly indicate an abnormality!

Let us quote from the WESTMINSTER CONFESSION

‘The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience and sacrifice of Himself, which He through the Eternal Spirit, once offered up to God, hath fully satisfied the justice of His Father; and purchased not only reconcilliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto Him." Comment by Elaine Cook:- These words clearly imply the unscriptural idea of Christ’s dying to satisfy Father’s justice. The innocent suffered instead of the guilty, thereby purchasing His goodwill (as though GOD must be appeased and pacified with the blood of a victim, LIKE A PAGAN DIETY! This, tradition teaches, would be required before He would look upon a suppliant. What an undermining of God, His Greatness and His Love.

So right here we have two opposing trains of thought. Father is demanding judgment and justice having found mankind guilty . . . while on the other hand, we have Jesus pleading His shed blood, that He might cover us. What saith the scriptures?

‘God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself’ . . . unveiling here — source and expression — but with ONE SINGLE mind. (For further on this aspect, see ROBBED BY AUTHODOXY by Bill and Elaine Cook — available upon request by writing to them at: P.O.Box 371, Summerland, BC, Canada V0H 1Z0).

God planned the redemption

God’s plan before the introduction of ‘time’, darkness, failure and sin . . . which He knew ALL ABOUT IN MINUTE DETAIL, included the plan to redeem man. God instigated the atonement — the reconciliation. II Corinthians 5:18,19 tells it all; ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself not imputing their tressspasses unto them’. JESUS, the Expression and Father, the Source ARE FOR US! . . . being ONE with ONE plan or thinking. Watch this! The blood of Jesus never reconciled God to mankind. God, BECAUSE OF HIS GREAT PLAN, WAS NEVER OTHER THAN FOR US! The Blood of Jesus reconciles MANKIND TO GOD; man walked away from God, so it is man that needs to be brought back.

great pressure

The King James version of the scriptures were translated during the 1604-1611 A.D. period when Romanism and Talmudic influence were at their greatest. There was great pressure put upon the tramslators (by the religious systems) and they were expected to follow the prevailing creeds ‘at all costs’! They were coming out of an era when any teaching contrary to the ‘status quo’ of that time, would be punishable by being burnt at the stake. One example of this was concerning baptism. The translators knew the meaning of the Greek word for baptize meant ‘immerse’, but knew too that the ‘church of that hour’ taught ‘sprinkling. They saved their necks by introducing a new English word ‘baptize’ and left it for the Church to clarify its meaning

back to Philippians 1:2 . . .

GOD OUR FATHER AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST — 2 or1? GRACE from God our Father and (from) the Lord Jesus Christ. The second ‘from’ is in italics in your Bible showing that it was added by the pressured translators. Until they added that extra ‘from’, it showed two names of one God. With this addition it implied TWO sources of that grace. For example: it is like my children hearing a conversation about ‘Mr.Knight’, simply joining in and calling me Dad. There is still only one of me!!!

In the OLD COVENANT it was simple and clear . . . ONE GOD with many aspects of HIS NAME or NATURE. This is readily seen in the (16) ‘Jehovah-this’ or ‘Jehovah-that’ expressions. Just because of some (23) or more names for God, does not mean that we have a 23-in-1 God!

The above scripture simply emphasises that GOD is BOTH FATHER and the LORD JESUS CHRIST; two of God’s many and great titles.

the one name

Mathew 28:19 - ‘. . .in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’. Let us observe that ‘Father’, ‘Son’ and ‘Holy Spirit’ are TITLES and these titles have a NAME. The name of the ‘Father’ is LORD (Jeremiah 16:21); the name of the ‘Son’ is JESUS (Matthew 1:21): God placed the Holy Spirit upon Jesus . . . anointed Him and He was called CHRIST (Acts 2:38 and John 1:21). So putting these together, we have the ONE NAME that INCLUDES THESE TITLES and is THE LORD JESUS CHRIST — His name for His creation.

Remember that the NATURE IS IN THE NAME — that is a Bible principle — and only by inference is the nature in the TITLE.

instructions

You will also see upon investigation that the INSTRUCTIONS for water baptism were accurately carried out by the early Church. Check out Acts 2:38 . . . baptized in the name of JESUS CHRIST; Acts 8:16 . . . baptised in the name of the LORD JESUS; Acts 10:48 . . . baptised in the name of THE LORD (the Latin Version has ‘...Lord Jesus Christ’) and Acts 19:5 . . . baptized in the name of THE LORD JESUS (the Aramaic Bible has ‘...Lord Jesus Christ’). The early Church most certainly DID NOT BLINDLY keep repeating the INSTRUCTIONS over the candidates, but did the instructions as expected. There was only one name and the parts used included the whole. The conclusion then is simply that the name of our God is the Lord Jesus Christ.

God is invisible and as He declares Who He is and manifests Himself in the SEEN realm, He is Father, the Source of all life. Therefore all life is God: in the UNSEEN realm, that life is Spirit and is Father-God. What is manifested from or out of God into the SEEN realm is Himself in another form . . . His Son. So God is revealed unto us by HIS SON. If you have seen Me, said Jesus, you have seen the Father.

It is a good time to include Isaiah 9:6 which speaks of Jesus Christ who would come.

‘For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, The Prince of Peace.’ So even here we see the oneness of God’s being. Jesus receiving the titles including ‘EVERLASTING FATHER’ showing not only that He is God but that He is the expression of God that would achieve in the SEEN realm.

‘onoma’

We have seen that God has ONE name — that is ONE nature or character. The Greek word for ‘name’ is ONOMA and Strong’s Concordance tells us that it means - The name of a person is a mark of what he, himself is; the name expresses the character.

We have seen that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Christ therefore was another expression of God. God is Spirit and the Spirit was in Jesus until the time when He, on the Cross, said ‘Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit’.The BREATH of God (Greek: PNEUMA = Spirit, breath or wind) left Jesus and became again God without a container or body until He came into His new body at Pentecost — the Church.

more scriptures

Let us continue by looking at the following scriptures:

John 14:28 Jesus said, ‘I go away and come (again) unto you . . .I go unto the Father’ Jesus said that He would depart the seen realm and be in God, the Spirit realm.

John 16:16 ‘A little while and ye shall not see Me and again, a little while and ye shall see Me, becasue I go to My Father.’ Please note that the TWO "LITTLE-WHILE’s" are the same and therefore depict approximately the same amount of time . . . NOT one short and the other long!!!

John 16:7 ‘for if I go not away, the COMFORTER will not come unto you.’

The actual display of the Life of God can only be the expression of the Spirit in a body. Jesus born of that Spirit (Virgin Birth), empowered of that Spirit and thus called CHRIST; He was the vessel that expressed the unseen God in the seen realm..

John 14:16+26, ‘. . . He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever.’ ‘the Comforter, (which is) the Holy Ghost.’

The Greek shows that ‘another-the-same’ Comforter will come. For there to be ANOTHER there first has to be one. The first Comforter was the HOLY SPIRIT IN JESUS moving 100% freely. Another-the-same would be same Holy Spirit (God) in us to bring the same 100% manifestation that likewise will be witnessed by others. The same Spirit-God in a different container. JESUS was obviously the Body of Christ, the anointed One. It was the full anointing of the Spirit/Comforter that made Him the Christ. Now likewise, because Jesus returned into the Father, He sent forth Himself, His Spirit into us, the true Church and hence we are known as the Body of Christ.

God in His Spirit will abide with us for ‘ever’, for all of TIME, for all of the ages that make up time; don’t forget that . . .

outside of the time-zone, all life is God, anyway!

It was the Father-Spirit that made Jesus, the Son — the form and expression of Himself. Jesus having been upon this earth and who was declared to be the everlasting Father, returned into the pure-Spirit realm as such. Therefore He, Christ Jesus will reproduce Himself in us. Father-God’s plan includes therefore for ‘many sons’ (Hebrews 2:10) to become the expression of Himself. While Jesus, the Pattern Son, was still on the earth in the time realm, the Spirit that is God and whom Jesus was one with, could not be shed abroad into the Church, into a many-membered Son-Body. The Seed had to be planted in earth: no wonder God formed man out of earth so that he would readily receive the Seed of Life.

Jesus went away and with His glorified body transposed into the realm of spirit (heaven) where God IS. The single Pattern expression of Father-Word went back into Him and the Spirit-Comforter-God was sent into us. The SPIRIT in Jesus made Jesus who and what He was.

Who is in you ?

Who did you receive into your life/heart when you were born again? Answer = CHRIST JESUS THE LORD! Right? The name of our God is THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! So Who is in you ? Answer = GOD HIMSELF. CHRIST is in you — thehope of glory: the image of God . . . the form that the Spirit of God operates in. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us to bring us to the same image and expression of God . . . Yes, we are truly the Body of Christ — the Body of God.

‘two-God’ thinking

The overflow thinking of the two (or more) God thinking will see the Pattern-Son-Seed — Jesus in one body ascending into heaven and will also require the Pattern-Son-Seed to ‘return’ in the same body. The SEED-SON has completed His work . . . it is finished, He cried. Now the full effect of what was purchased at Calvary will come forth as every seed brings forth after its kind. John 12:24 ‘except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.’ God has an expectation of a HARVEST of the Seed sown. His plan will line up exactly with the Feast of Harvest (or Tabernacles) which concludes God’s program for His people. A harvest of many sons in the image of Christ. Anything less actually takes away from the Cross and what Jesus died to obtain.

Jesus after the resurrection, was given ‘a glorified body’ for the (40) days that He remained on earth. A tangible Body is needful when on earth! It is not needful when in heaven.

the Holy Spirit

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT JUST A PART OF GOD, HE IS GOD

If we see the Holy Spirit as different from God or as just a part of God, then you will also see Jesus as a separate diety. This will then come forth in the expectation of general Christianity, that Jesus Himself in His individual Body will ‘come again s-o-o-n!’

As we grasp the truth that there is only ONE God and that the Spirit of God is God, we shall know that the Spirit of Christ (Spirit of God) has already come as the Seed in our earth. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is actually the coming of the fullness of Christ in His Body — the harvest of the Seed sown sown in our hearts by an operation of God. The Anointed One — called Christ — made up of a company of mature Sons brought forth in exactly the same way as Jesus the Pattern Son was . . . made both Lord and Christ.

The full Seed-Son nature of Christ as demonstrated to us in Jesus, is in us — in Christ - Jesus. The Christ can only have the identifying nature of Jesus because we know Him to be the character of God. We are, as He was, are called upon to do Father’s will — i.e. be the tools for the accomplishment and completion of His plan for the ages.

Paul, writing to the Churches, was writing to a people with a good Old Covenant background and knowledge that God was the God in the heaven. Now under the New Covenant, they were being taught that the Messiah, Jesus was GOD and had to be included under the name of God.

God is in heaven and on earth at the same time

The SOURCE and the EXPRESSION, the THOUGHT and the WORD, was truly ONE DIVINE BEING. The upbringing of these new Christians caused them to lean towards what they were comfortable with, their old teaching about God being ONLY IN HEAVEN. Paul kept on reminding and emphasizing to them that JESUS WAS GOD . . . being in the form of God was not separated from Father, but ONE God. God our Father declares that God has many children that He desires will grow up into Him in all things and thus declare Him in the earth.

THE LORD THY GOD IS ONE GOD

who do I pray to ?

The question often arises, ‘To Whom do I pray?’ Do I pray to Jesus or God? Can I direct my prayer to the Holy Spirit ? God is desirous of maturing us from the childlike (good at the time) "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild" prayers of our childhood to following the pattern of ‘How to pray’ that Jesus gave us. Remember that the "Lord’s Prayer" was given in answer to a request of "Lord, teach us to pray’. Religious systems and man have changed the scripture and pose the question, "Lord, give us a prayer’.

I received Jesus into my heart — I pray in the name of Jesus — I pray in the nature of Jesus, in the way that He would pray in the same place as me according to His Life and relationship with His Father. Following His principles and example.

Christ in me enables me to pray in the nature/name of Jesus, the anointing of His word over mine. ‘God is in you of a truth’ —The Spirit, the Life, the nature that is in Jesus in me = Christ = God He is my Head and Source of Life). God is in me THOUGHT, WORD AND ACTION.

I can only have the complete expression of God: I cannot have anything less. GOD IS INDIVISABLE. The Spirit gives the right thinking of my communication: my words mediate these thoughts to the hearers and GOD IS EXPRESSED through me.

when ye pray say, our Father . . .

When ye pray, say, ‘OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN . . . ‘ Both the Lord Jesus Himself and each one of us has been brought forth out of Father God and therefore we are to approach Him as our Father. Jesus is our ELDER BROTHER. Without Him achieving what He did through the Cross, we have nothing. Jesus is in the Spirit realm ‘seated at the right hand of the Father’.

(Please note in passing . . . Unbounded Spirit does not need to sit down and neither does a spirit (God or otherwise) have hands — therefore one should mature beyond the sweet imagination realm and realize that these terms have great significance in the spirit. The RIGHT HAND of God speaks of AUTHORITY and any SITTING done in heaven bespeaks of WORK ACCOMPLISHED. The AUTHORITY of God-Spirit -Thought = the Word - God manifest).

THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Jesus on earth — His Life, and accomplishments = THE MEDIATOR between God and man.

Jesus — God in the TIME-ZONE,

Jesus — God in the flesh that I can initially identify with,

Jesus — the Pattern Son,

Jesus — the Seed of the expected harvest,

Jesus — What we are to become,

Jesus — He is Lord — He is God.

John 16:13 Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak and He will show you things to come. (v.14) He shall glorify Me’ (said Jesus).

The Spirit of God is Holy because God is Holy. The same Holy Spirit will not speak of Himself — outside the confines of the Word which He will magnify to its full potential. He will release only that which is Father’s World manifested.

Romans 8:34 ‘It is Christ that died, yea rather, is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession TOWARDS us’.

Being that there is only ONE God and therefore ONE ‘think’, it is obvious that Christ being in the place of authority and being One with the Father, He would therefore be one with the Father’s will/thinking. The Spirit Who is God in heaven is the same Spirit who is in each of us — the ‘common denominator’ as it were — He is in both places!!! The Spirit of Christ in us is to bring forth the will and mind of Father God that God/Christ is desiring and interceding towards us. IT IS NOT Jesus trying to change God’s mind concerning certain folks or situations!!! The Spirit in heaven = God; The Spirit in man = breath/means to have father’s will declared.

Jesus Christ was the Son of God on the earth and all that was required of Him from Father was communicated to Him via God-Himself-Spirit within Christ. What Jesus had to accomplish is different to what you and I have to accomplish. God contains Himself in a Body (many-membered) and needs to see each progressive step come forth towards the triumphant conclusion of the plan.

The Holy Spirit always expresses the whole as He brings the thinking of Father-God into our minds. The Holy Spirit will not draw attention to Himself but to the Christ — the Body of Christ — not drawing attention to what might be described as fragmented parts of the Body, but to magnify the whole Body.

With all that we have shared, we in no way decry the saints who hold different opinions. Our desire is to see all traditional bondages removed that have and can hinder God’s people from truly seeing Him and His greatness.

We desire to see the Sovereignity of God declared that all things are working together for the good of His plan of the ages .

He is the ONE GOD who cannot fail. He never did require a back-up plan ‘B’!  

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