MIXED MESSAGES!
MIXED MESSAGES!
In good Bible translations, when we see the word 'Father' (i.e. with a capital 'F'), this always refers to Almighty God. However, when we see the word 'father', this always refers to a human being. Knowing this distinction is very important when we are trying to understand what we are reading in the Bible.
It is just like the word 'LORD'. The all capitals version- i.e. 'LORD'- always refers to Almighty God. Whereas, the other version- i.e. 'Lord', usually refers to Jesus Christ.
⁶We should not call God 'Lord' and we should not call Christ 'LORD'!
When you are doing a Bible study on God, you must ensure that the verses that you are studying are using the word 'Father' and not 'father'.
Did you know that the word 'Father' is mentioned in 142 verses of the Apostolic Gospels of Matthew and John? On the other hand, this word is only mentioned in 23 verses of the Pauline gospels of Mark and Luke!
And the word 'Father' is mentioned in 165 verses of the complete ten Books of the Apostolic Scriptures. (Please click on this link if you're not sure what the 'Apostolic Scriptures' are).
Interestingly, the word 'Father' is mentioned in exactly 66 verses of the Pauline books! Please watch this video in order to understand the significance of the number 66!
What does this mean (i.e. the 165 vs. 66)? Just this- you can learn much more about the Father if you read the Apostolic Scriptures than if you read the Pauline books!
Why am I giving you a math lesson on the word 'Father' in today's article? It is because this article is really a follow-up to a discussion that we started in last week's article.
If you recall, last week we agreed that each believer has a responsibility to fulfill Christ's instruction to share the gospel throughout the world (aka the Great Commission). In that article, I tried to prove that we will be more successful in sharing the gospel, if we decide to focus our energies on the Godless among us. Who are the Godless? These are the people who do not believe in Almighty God. They are literally God-less. These are the pagans, the atheists, the agnostics and the satanists.
Muslims and Jews already believe in Almighty God. They already worship the same Almighty God as us, they just call Him by a different name- i.e. Allah and YHWH, respectively. Muslims and Jews are not Godless.
As part of last week's article, we highlighted that one of the most important differences between the three main Abrahamic faiths (i.e. Christianity, Judaism and Islam) is the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
Did you know that not all Christians believe in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity? I certainly don't believe in certain aspects of this doctrine!
This doctrine teaches that us three persons- i.e. Father God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are:
- co-eternal
- co-existing
- co-equal
Think about what this means. And by the way, this doctrine of the Holy Trinity CANNOT be found anywhere in the Bible- it is a man made concept!
Jesus often reminded us that He was begotten from the Father. This must mean that there was a time when He didn't exist before He was begotten. This means that He cannot be eternal or co-exist with God! Further, Jesus never considered Himself to be equal to God. Nor did He ever consider Himself to be Almighty God. When He said that 'God and I are one'- He was referring to the fact that both share the same divine natures. He never meant for us to interpret His statement as meaning that He is God. He always acknowledged the hierarchy of the divine persons when He was referring to Almighty God.
Jesus taught us that: God is His Father and He is God's Son.
Why is understanding this concept so important? We need to share the truth when we are sharing the gospel! God will bless our efforts if we do this.
JESUS IS NOT GOD!
If the Holy Trinity doctrine had taught us that there are three divine persons but only the Holy Spirit is co-eternal, co-existent and co-equal with Almighty God, then this would have been closer to the truth. The attempt to make Jesus into Almighty God is wrong.
Did you know that the early Christians used the symbol of the fish to identify themselves to one another? Yes, it's true! And in our modern world, we do the same!. We stick the fish symbol on our vehicles in order to declare our beliefs to the world.
Do you know where this symbol of the fish came from? If you take the first Greek letter from each of these five words, it will spell the word 'fish' in Greek (i.e. IChThYS).
'Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour'
Iesous (I)= Jesus
Christos (Ch)= Christ
Theos (Th)= God's
Yios (Y)= Son
Soter(S)= Saviour
These early Christians understood their Theology and their Christology. They NEVER referred to Jesus as Almighty God! They understood that His divine nature arose from being the first and only begotten of God.
So, as you listen closely to Judy Jacobs' stirring and beautiful performance of the 'Days of Elijah' song, note the words that she uses in her chorus. She, like many other Christians, equates Jesus with Jehova God. But this is not right and it is not biblical!
If we are going to be fruitful at bringing the Godless to God, we must make a commitment to start sharing the correct message. We must stop sharing mixed and inaccurate messages!
For those of you who like in-depth Bible studies, this list below gives the references for the 165 verses that contain the word 'Father' in the Apostolic Scriptures. As you read through these verses, can you find the fifteen times that Jesus added the phrase- 'which is in heaven', when He was talking about where His Father lives? Enjoy!
- Matthew 5:16
- Matthew 5:45
- Matthew 5:48
- Matthew 6:1
- Matthew 6:4
- Matthew 6:6
- Matthew 6:8
- Matthew 6:9
- Matthew 6:14
- Matthew 6:15
- Matthew 6:18
- Matthew 6:26
- Matthew 6:32
- Matthew 7:11
- Matthew 7:21
- Matthew 10:20
- Matthew 10:29
- Matthew 10:32
- Matthew 10:33
- Matthew 11:25
- Matthew 11:26
- Matthew 11:27
- Matthew 12:50
- Matthew 13:43
- Matthew 15:13
- Matthew 16:17
- Matthew 16:27
- Matthew 18:10
- Matthew 18:14
- Matthew 18:19
- Matthew 18:35
- Matthew 20:23
- Matthew 23:9
- Matthew 24:36
- Matthew 25:34
- Matthew 26:29
- Matthew 26:39
- Matthew 26:42
- Matthew 26:53
- Matthew 28:19
- John 1:14
- John 1:18
- John 2:16
- John 3:35
- John 4:21
- John 4:23
- John 5:17
- John 5:18
- John 5:19
- John 5:20
- John 5:21
- John 5:22
- John 5:23
- John 5:26
- John 5:30
- John 5:36
- John 5:37
- John 5:43
- John 5:45
- John 6:27
- John 6:32
- John 6:37
- John 6:39
- John 6:44
- John 6:45
- John 6:46
- John 6:57
- John 6:65
- John 8:16
- John 8:18
- John 8:19
- John 8:27
- John 8:28
- John 8:29
- John 8:38
- John 8:41
- John 8:42
- John 8:49
- John 8:54
- John 10:15
- John 10:17
- John 10:18
- John 10:25
- John 10:29
- John 10:30
- John 10:32
- John 10:36
- John 10:37
- John 10:38
- John 11:41
- John 12:26
- John 12:27
- John 12:28
- John 12:49
- John 12:50
- John 13:1
- John 13:3
- John 14:2
- John 14:6
- John 14:7
- John 14:8
- John 14:9
- John 14:10
- John 14:11
- John 14:12
- John 14:16
- John 14:20
- John 14:21
- John 14:23
- John 14:24
- John 14:26
- John 14:28
- John 14:31
- John 15:1
- John 15:8
- John 15:9
- John 15:10
- John 15:15
- John 15:16
- John 15:23
- John 15:24
- John 15:26
- John 16:3
- John 16:10
- John 16:15
- John 16:16
- John 16:17
- John 16:23
- John 16:25
- John 16:26
- John 16:27
- John 16:28
- John 16:32
- John 17:1
- John 17:5
- John 17:11
- John 17:21
- John 17:24
- John 17:25
- John 18:11
- John 20:17
- John 20:21
- James 1:17
- James 1:27
- James 3:9
- 1 Peter 1:2
- 1 Peter 1:3
- 1 Peter 1:17
- 2 Peter 1:17
- 1 John 1:2
- 1 John 1:3
- 1 John 2:1
- 1 John 2:13
- 1 John 2:15
- 1 John 2:16
- 1 John 2:22
- 1 John 2:23
- 1 John 2:24
- 1 John 3:1
- 1 John 4:14
- 1 John 5:7
- 2 John 1:3
- 2 John 1:4
- 2 John 1:9
- Jude 1:1
- Revelation 1:6
- Revelation 2:27
- Revelation 3:5
- Revelation 3:21
- Revelation 14:1
*****
The purpose of this blog is threefold.
1. Some of the posts are written to help the reader develop a deeper understanding of the theology of Christ’s core message- i.e. the ‘gospel of the kingdom’.
2. Some of the posts are written for the reader’s personal discipleship journey. We need to understand what God expects from us. After all, all believers should be on a journey of ‘becoming’ our best selves, capable of impacting and changing the world!
3. Finally, some of the posts are written to answer this question:
What would our faith look like today IF we had fully embraced Christ’s doctrines, as recorded by His Apostles, and rejected the doctrines of Paul and the other false apostles?
If we are sincere about our desire to restore Christianity to its roots, i.e. a return to Christ’s original message, then we must start by admitting that ‘while men slept’ (Matthew 13:25) the enemy planted false teachings (tares) into the New Testament!
Visit our website- WWW.TNGACADEMY.ORG, to see our Bible study books. Which books would I recommend for you to read first? Start with these three-
- WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
- MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN!
- THE APOSTOLIC SCRIPTURES.
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