THREE That Bear Record? (Mat 28:19 and 1 John 5:7)
79Know my Heart
Before we begin, I would like to share the intent of my heart, the purpose of this hub. You may sense pain, grieving, pleading and a heart of prayer for all who read. I think of Psalm 98:9, which states, “He will judge the world”. The word ‘judge’ is ‘shaphat’ (avenge). The word ‘world’ is ‘tevel’ (confusion). I pray He will use me for this purpose, to bring clarity to His Divinity and identity to His flock!
If you begin reading and feel offended, it is not my intent. I pray you will read to the end and let the Lord confirm His truth to you, for He does this when we call upon Him, for He is the Spirit of Truth. Amen.
Did you KNOW?
Have you read 1 John 5:7-8? This is what it says in the NAS, “For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.”
Yet, if you read the same verses in the KJV we get a lot more: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” Check out the actual Greek wording here.
WHY IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?
I looked this up and found a link that gave me some really interesting information regarding this question: Click here, if you want to know more (great information!)
Truly, the words “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth” were NOT in any Greek manuscript prior to the late 15th century! This is why this 'insertion' has a name: The Joahnnine Comma or the Comma Johannium.
Furthermore, Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” didn’t originally contain the bolded text, but stated, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations in My name”! It didn't even include baptism! What’s the clue? Even if one were to read this text in the KJV, notice the word 'name' is indeed singular. Considering Mat 28:19 was a direct command of Jesus Christ before His ascension, do you see the Apostles carrying out this command of utilizing "the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" ANYWHERE in the Bible? No. Rather, they baptized "in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 2:38; 10:48; 19:5). The inserted text was added later!!
"The Baptismal formula was changed from the name of Jesus Christ to the words Father, Son and Holy Spirit by the Catholic Church in the 2nd century (The Catholic Encyclopedia, 2, pg 263)"
You can read about this here: Click here, if you want to know more
It’s insertions like these that have fostered abounding error in the doctrine of God: is He One LORD, as the first Commandment states or is He really three ~ maybe two? Even well-versed Christians KNOW the word 'Trinity' is NOT found in the Bible anywhere...thus, the concept of our eternal LORD God has become highly thwarted. Even Messianic Jews, the “firstborn of God”*, do not believe in a trinity.
1 Tim 3:16 is truth: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."
The LORD our God is One LORD
If you haven’t read the hub, “Let Me Tell You WHO GOD IS!”, I recommend it, as I can summarize it here, but the inductive study results give you a very clear picture of who God is. He is not three separate entities. I was raised with the ‘trinity’ doctrine, and yet God truly revealed Himself to me as ONE LORD. Okay, so the word ‘one’ is tricky. I will attempt to summarize this as well, but it is more inductively explained in my hub “GOD: Let Us Make Man In Our Image?”
The Bible states that God is spirit (John 4:24). The word ‘spirit’ in this verse is the Greek word ‘pneuma’, which is the same as the Hebrew word ‘ruach’. The Bible states God is holy. God is the Holy Spirit. Of the multitude of scriptures that confirm this fact, just look at Isa 6:3 and Rev 4:8. We know God created man, right? Check out Job 33:4: "The Spirit [ruach] of God [El] has made me, And the breath [neshamah] of the Almighty gives me life."
Did not the Spirit of God overshadow Mary to beget the Son of God? Did you catch that? If the Holy Spirit were a third person of a 'trinity', and separate from the Father, God would not be the Father of the Son, but the Holy Spirit would be. We are all familiar with the passages that state clearly that Jesus is the Father. Read Isa 9:6, Mat 1:23 and John 14:8-9. Likewise, for an inductive study on the identity of Jesus Christ, I have a hub called “Who Do You Say That I AM?”
Father, Word, Holy Ghost
Whether or not 1 John 5:7 (KJV) should or shouldn’t be in the Bible, let’s observe it in a Biblical context: “three that bear record in heaven”. In my hub, Let Me Tell You WHO GOD IS! we can really see the order in which God revealed Himself to mankind. God, the Holy Spirit, manifested Himself to all the fathers of faith, right up to Israel (Jews) in Spirit. He also revealed Himself in the flesh to Abraham (Gen 18) and even Jacob (Gen 32:28-30). Believe it or not, this was His Christ, Yeshua (Jesus), the image of the invisible God! (Col 1:15).
Some think the ‘Trinity’ visited Abraham, but the two men that were with the LORD went on to Sodom and Gomorrah to rescue Lot (v. 22; 19:1)? They were angels! God showed Himself as clouds by day and fire by night to Israel. He called Israel His firstborn son (*Ex 4:22) and thus He was and is Her Father, for out of Her, He would be born! The Prophets (i.e. Isaiah) wrote of the coming Son, that His name would be called Mighty God and everlasting Father! Well, I'm calling Him by that name; are you?
Thus, we get to John 1:1 “The Word was with God [theon - object] and God [Theos - subject]” was the Word" (Θεος ην ο λογος) and 1:14 “And the Word became flesh”. This is the second way God revealed Himself to Man. In my hub, God: Let Us Make Man in Our Image? it is revealed that the Greek word for "with" God is "pros", meaning "to" God, not "par", meaning "beside" God. He was born out of Israel, and indeed said to the Jews in John 10:34-35, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods [elohim/theos]'? [cross-reference with Ps 82:6]. If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God '?” Now, this is tricky; it sounds like Jesus just said He is the Son of elohim (Israel). The Word was certainly 'to elohim (God)', with this understanding. Truly, Jesus was the Son of God, but not in a ‘trinity’ manner. He was the image (tselem/eikon - spiritual nature) and form (morphe) of the invisible God (Col 1:15), and was made in the likeness (homoioma) of man, taking the form (morphe) of a bond-servant (Phil 2:7). Therefore, He also referred to Himself as the Son of Man.
Why did Jesus not just appear on earth in the flesh as He did in the Old Testament? Because heavenly bodies do not shed blood (1 Cor 15:50). He had to be born of the flesh in order to die on the cross for our sins. Acts 20:28 tells us that God purcahsed the Church with His OWN BLOOD. God Himself said in Isa 43:11; 45:21 and Hos 13:4 "There is no Savior besides Me."
Notice what Jesus told His disciples, after His resurrection, in John 14:18, “I will not leave you as orphans [an orphan is one whose parent has died]; I will come to you.” In this passage, Jesus let them know the Holy Spirit would come soon to indwell them, which happened on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Do you doubt that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of God? Consider Rom 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” What, do we have two or three spirits living within us? How do you explain 1 Peter 1:11? “seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them [the Prophets of old] was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.”
We do need to address Jesus stating, "I will send you 'another' Comforter" (John 14:16), as some seem to think this means a 'different' entity. What is the Greek word used in this passage? It is 'allos', meaning 'more of the same'; while the Greek word for 'another' as in 'different' is G2087 'heteros'. Check out Mark 16:12 "After that [His resurrection] He appeared in another [heteros] form [morphe] unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country." They had walked, talked and eaten with Jesus (prior to His death), yet now did not recognize Him! After His ascension, when Jesus later appeared to Saul, He was invisible (Acts 22). Yes, God is invisible (1 Tim 1:15).
I pray that this summary gives you a revelation of “The Father, The Word and The Holy Ghost”. Jesus Christ is Jehovah (YHWH)! For an outstanding link, click here.
Spirit, Water and Blood
Now, let’s correlate the “three that bear record in heaven” with the “three that bear witness in earth”.
We saw that God was first manifested to Man in Spirit.
We saw that God was then manifested to Man in the flesh. The only begotten [physically born] Son was born of water (the womb). While doctrines wish to align this with water baptism, this is NOT what this passage is talking about in the context of John 3. Truly, we must first be born of water (the womb; the flesh) to be "born again" of the Spirit (by His blood).
We saw that God’s purpose for being born of a woman was to shed His blood on the cross, for the remission of sins. The Spirit (God), Water (born) and Blood (died) - the gospel in a verse!
Thus, we go back to square one, but with a greater result. Jesus is once again Spirit, the Holy Spirit that indwells every believer that comes to Him by faith. As it was in the beginning, even at the time of Abraham, the people of God were saved by faith. If you read Hebrews 11, you will not see the Law of Moses mentioned once. Why? This is the FAITH chapter and the Law is not of faith! (Gal 3:12) The Law was later added because of the transgressions of Israel (Gal 3:19), and was then nailed to the cross (Col 2:14) ~ taking us back to the original Covenant of salvation by grace through faith because of the blood!
CONFESSION of FAITH
What is the confession of faith that saves us? Let’s read Rom 10:9: “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord [Kurios], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Does this separate God from Jesus because “God raised Him from the dead”? What about John 2:19-21 that clearly quote Jesus saying, "in three days I will raise it up"? And yet Acts 8:11 states the Spirit of God raised Him from the dead! There is no contradiction, when you KNOW who God is; amen,
What’s the revelation in the confession of faith in Rom 10:9? Did you know the Hebrew word for the Greek word "Kurios" is Yehovah (YHWH)? Have you confessed with your mouth that Jesus is LORD (Yehovah)?
Do you need a second 'witness' found in the Word? Look at 1 Cor 12:3: "Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord [Kurios]," except by the Holy Spirit. Is His Spirit in YOU?
Is Jesus a lesser god, or an equal god separate from the Father? There's more and I invite to explore. Is Jesus Yehovah Elohim (LORD God) or merely a lesser Lord? Will you be one that says, “Lord, Lord” and are told to “Depart from Me, for I never knew you”? Let me leave you with the following passages:
1 Tim 4:10: “we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior”.
1 John 5:20 "And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."
I sincerely pray the Lord Jesus Christ reveal Himself to each one that loves Him, in His Holy Name and by His Spirit; Amen.
Don't Let the Typo's Detract from the Truth
An AWESOME Hub by exorter!!
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Matt. 1:23 Behold, A virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which is beung interpreted, God with us. when Jesus walked on earth, God was walkin in...
An Outstanding Hub by einron!
- GOD'S MANIFESTATIONS: The Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ
THE HOLY SPIRIT: GOD'S POWER FORCE The Bible describes the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the One True God in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament as the Spirit of Jesus Christ. There is no distinction...
I rejoice that you rejoice, einron! Your hub is awesome! I hope all who read this one will read yours, too! I have placed your link at the base of this hub!! At first I didn't understand what you meant by two: The Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ, but now I paid attention to "two MANIFESTATIONS" (in Spirit and in flesh), but nonetheless, the same, single, ONE LORD GOD. AMEN!!!
JD, thank you for sharing this. I also read einron's hub. I can see the clouds forming. The way God showed me to look at it quite simple. We all understand family dynamics.
God is the Father, not just the Father of Jesus, but of us all. Jesus is the firstborn son and our older brother, and the Holy Spirit is the power, connection and tool used by the family. Where does worship come in? Jesus said it best....Worship the Father, the One who sent me.
Great hub JD. You do make your point.
John 1:1 and 1 John 5:13 are the ones that do it for me, JD. They are short and straight to the point.
Hi Joni, I'm not sure what you mean by "I can see the clouds forming"? I guess the question I would pose to you is this: Do you believe Jesus is the Father in the flesh and that the Holy Spirit is God the Father (Who is spirit), and is thus the Spirit of Christ/Spirit of God in us? As you can see, the Father (LORD God) made man, yet the Spirit of God made man ~ and if Jesus is the Father (before coming in the flesh ~ in the flesh, the Son of God, and after is the Father in Spirit), He created us and all things as John 1:3 states?
Jesus is YHWH, and this is the confession of faith shown in Romans 10:9. Truly, all in Him are elohim, His family.
Thank you for reading both hubs and God bless you.
Hi DiamondRN ~ Yes, in the beginning was the Word and the Word became flesh; His name is Jesus, the name above ALL names ~ His name in Hebrew is Yehowshua, meaning YHWH Saves. God is our Savior and Jesus is God. Hallelujah!
Hi JD. Sorry, I just meant the clouds of discontent, whether they be from others who disagree or those who may wish to argue with you. I support all of your teachings, I may look at them from a different angle but the teaching is the same.
God Bless.
There indeed is record of the Johannine Comma being referenced way before the Textus Receptus was around. Consider a couple of quotes:
(1) The Varimadum (380 A.D.) says: "And John the Evangelist says, . . . 'And there are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one'."
(2) Priscillian (385 A.D.) says:
"and there are three which give testimony on earth, the water, the flesh, the blood, and these three are in one, and there are three which give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one in Christ Jesus."
There are early surviving Latin manuscripts that have the Comma (and others) as well :-) My exegesis of the theotes (Godhead) doesn't hinge on one verse though. I take it you're a Modalist? What's your take of disciples (Polycarp, Ignatius etc) of THE DISCIPLES being Trinitarians? Take care now!
Awe, I see, sister Joni :-) Yes, this probably challenges the subtle, indoctrinated traditions of the 'Trinity' for quite a few, and may be hard to understand or cause offense; which, I felt may be so...thus, the way I opened this hub. It is certainly not my intent; rather, to lift up our Holy Lord God, Jesus Christ, Who reigns forever and ever; amen!! Thank you, and God bless you!!
PlanosLie, sounds interesting to me ~ perhaps you can write a hub about this? "Varimadum" is a Latin word (clue), and here's more that I found regarding The Comma Johannaeum (also Latin): http://www.godglorified.com/1_john_57.htm
I understand Priscillian was a Spaniard ~ I looked him up and found on Wikepedia the following: "Priscillianism is a Christian doctrine developed in the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania) in the 4th century by Priscillian, derived from the Gnostic-Manichaean doctrines taught by Marcus, an Egyptian from Memphis, and later considered a heresy by the Orthodox Church...According to Raymond Brown's Epistle of John, the source of the Comma Johanneum, appears to be the Latin book Liber Apologeticus by Priscillian."
Interestingly enough, the KJV didn't come about until the 16th Century.
Regardless of "argument" in respect to 1 John 5:7-8, I addressed this passage as included, for I'm not going to discard any of the written Word as we have it today. Polycarp, Ignatius etc. are not mentioned in the Bible, so whatever they believed is what they believed. The point is, that if indeed text was added to the original manuscript, could it have been a catalyst for doctrinal error regarding the One Lord? It appears these passages are used by those who believe in three in oneness, rather than One, in two manifestations (Spirit and flesh).
In light of the definition of 'Modalist', I suppose that's what I'm labeled?
Thumbs up!!! JD. Great hub as always. I must confess that i need to read and re-read some things as they seem to go right over my head. I was brought up with the Holy Trinity but with the full knowledge that Jesus was in fact God in the Flesh. Born of a woman who was impregnated by the Spirit of God. When Jesus was Crucified He was returned to the throne. I think for some this is where they get confused as Jesus was to take His place at the right hand of God, And that He (Jesus ) would send a comforter. Thus a trinity of God is born.
Thank you for sharing the information that you study in depth, so that you can enlighten others with your knowledge.
May you be richly blessed for your obedience. Hugs.
I appreciate your heart, Loves To Read :-) The "right hand of God" needs to be studied (if you look it up on biblos.com or the like you can type in 'right hand' and read all the scriptures). I did this and published the results in my hub, "Let Me Tell You WHO GOD IS!". Truly, it is symbolic of the power of God, which is also attributed to the Spirit of God because He is One LORD.
As far as "another Comforter", keep in mind Jesus was still in the fleshly body He died and rose in. He had to return to the Spirit, and would come in that manifestation to baptize us (this is the baptism of Jesus, the baptism of fire that happened on the Day of Pentecost) and teach us by His Spirit from that day forward. Remember, He said, "I will not leave you as orphans (Fatherless)"; "I will come to you". He certainly was not talking about His coming to rapture the Church! The Lord has never abandoned us, nor will He. This is why I believe He breathed the Spirit upon the disciples that day, to keep them until the Day of Pentecost.
I'm glad you are one who reviews and lets the Holy Spirit teach, for there is no other way to walk in truth. Jesus said, "I AM [God] the Way, the Truth [Spirit of Truth] and the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me" because without Him we don't have the Father, for He is the Father.
Now, Muslims believe in one God, but he is not a father, for he has no son. We have one LORD, Who manifested Himself by Spirit, then by flesh, and again by Spirit until He comes, when we will who believe will remain as eternal members of elohim (the family of God - in Him and He in us). Praise God! Blessings to you!
There is no way that the awesome God of the universe can be completely explained while we are in this sinful form. I believe it is very important to realize that God is ONE God, not three. Not three minds but one mind. Not three purposes, but one will that will not be denied. So many people who teach Scripture try to summarize God or leap to logical conclusions. We all do that but we should not all teach that. I am so glad that I have my family that watch my back when I write and make sure that I don't convey any personal leaps of logic but just say, "Thus sayeth the LORD." Awesome hub, my sister. Love you.
Praise God, brother no body. Over the centuries, I've just truly seen people separate the Father from the Son, even now ~ making Jesus out to be lesser than God, for they see Him as we view our children as our offspring, but not at our 'level'. I believe God wants to reveal Himself to His children who love Him and just need a little 'staff and rod' to make sure they know Who their Shepherd is!! Psalm 23 states who the Shepherd is ~ the LORD!! And Jesus said, "I AM the Good Shepherd" - hello?
PRAISE BE OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST, THE LIVING GOD!!
I'm impressed with the amount of study and preparation you must have done to write such a passionate hub.Excellent! God bless!
Thank you for your kindness, bayoulady! I must say, this hub is the summary of the labor of study the Lord took me through as He revealed and I tested...lol I didn't think my mind would 'get it' or survive it!! lol
I surely love all my brothers and sisters in Christ that have commented here. He puts us together to grow in love and unity ~ and He wishes to keep us in the knowledge of the truth. Iron sharpens iron, and in Him we are FRIENDS; praise God! God bless!!!
That is why I am following you. I admire your committment for writing as God speaks to you . In the future, I may not always agree. But this is a writing community , and I can always applaud your talent and passionate writing.
Hi bayoulady, I certainly appreciate your kindness. It's true that many don't agree on much doctrinal issues, as there's many influences out there with preachers and teachers; we all just do our very best and God does the rest; amen? He will either confirm something as truth or confirm it as error, sometimes quickly and sometimes over time. Thank you for your graciousness. God bless you.
How could we ever completely understand God? The one who made the universe, our very beings?
Judahs Daughter you do a great job of giving the facts and backing it with scripture.
One day we will all understand, even those that don't believe will know God: as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
Praise God, Tammy!! He is the one and same LORD; Yes, He is the Father to us, He is the Son (the Father in the flesh, whose FLESH shed the precious, holy blood to meet His Own requirement) and He is the Almightly Holy Spirit that made us (Job 33:4), created all things, led Israel by clouds and fire, baptizes us in that fire, and indwells us because of His blood and the grace that comes by FAITH!! HE IS ALMIGHTY, AWESOME, WONDERFUL, OUR LORD, OUR SAVIOR, EL SHADDAI! Hallelujah!
JD thanks for teaching some things that I didn't know. I can't agree with all you say but nevertheless you are well researched. BTW, is there a way to get an email when someone responds to me on here? It's getting hard to keep up with these Hubs without notifications.
Blessings...
Yes, I love learning, brother PlanosLie! I've learned from your hubs; that's for sure! If you go click on "my profile" at the top of your screen, then "edit profile", you will see the options there to receive emails when people either publish or comment. It's really a great tool. Love you, brother! God will confirm His truth to us and what is false will fade ~ when we seek Him with all our hearts :-) God bless!
I'm not a writer, I'm not a speaker, But your hub tells me you have felt the power of our Lord, and that you understand the word better than a lot of Christians, I will be watching for your words.
Jesus,Our Father in Heaven,He told me so
Oh, the Comforter speaks to me through you, exorter! Thank you; thank God, our Lord Jesus Christ! I receive that blessing of confirmation in His Name!! Hallelujah to the Lamb! By His blood, we are given His Spirit within us and He truly wants us to be a vessel of His glory to all who will have the ears to hear and the eyes to see. Oh, I want to know Him more!! Ever heard that song? I think I'm going to listen to it now...God bless you!!!
Excellent hub JD.
I too was brought up with the trinity doctrine and it is regarded by the Church as a key pillar of belief in order to be a 'Christian'. An old friend regarded me with incredulity when I questioned its validity.
Do you attend church regularly? If so, how do you do it? Week after week being directly or indirectly preached to with regards to the doctrine; continually being told that the Holy Spirit is a separate person to God. Christians continuously asking the same stupid question "When I pray, should I pray to my Father, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?" Do you sit there with gritted teeth trying not to explode?
Whatever effort the Church puts in to try to explain its trinity, in practice, in its mindset, it does worship three separate gods, with its forgotten roots back to a sop to Constantine's paganism. It is for this and other reasons that I just cannot sign up to a Church membership.
Hi Disappearinghead! It's always so good to hear from you! I am like you, in that I cannot tolerate the teaching of the 'Trinity', as I believe in the core of my being that its concept is of pagan origin, birthed by the Catholic church's corruption of the Holy Word for their own agenda of encouraging pagans to join the 'church'...they instigated the following corruptions as well:
While they celebrate the immaculate conception on Dec 8th, knowing full well Jesus was born in September, they chose the pagan god birth-date of Dec 25th to celebrate the birth of Christ, calling it 'Christ MASS'. Trees, Santa...it's all pagan!
They knew pagans mourned the death of Tammuz for 40 days before the 'Queen of Heaven' (one of her names being Ishtar - Easter) was celebrated upon the spring equinox; thus they have practiced the same in the name of God: LENT and calling Mary the "Queen of Heaven". Who knows how the word 'Easter' got into the KJV and only once, when the word 'pascha' is used and translated 'Passover' in EVERY other New Testament passage? Easter eggs, bunnies and baskets...it's all pagan!
They took out the second of God's holy Commandments from their catechism (about idols and carved images and the bowing down to them) and split the nineth into two!
They inserted the proper name of 'Lucifer' (Latin) in the midst of the Hebrew text (Isa 14), thus birthing the doctrine of Lucifer.
I could go on, but the Protestant churches branched off the Catholic church and unfortunately, and ignorantly took the doctrine of the Trinity, Christmass, Easter and Lucifer with them. We even celebrate their 'saints' ignorantly, too! St. Valentine, St. Patrick, etc. etc. etc.
We need to COME OUT OF HER, for 'she' is worshiping God in the same way as the pagans do their gods, which God calls an abomination! I pray He will open the eyes of the blind, for Acts 17:30 tells us, "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent!"
God bless you!! Thank you and believe me, I can relate!!
Yes it is a complete mystery to me why the Church does not celebrate Passover. Jesus is our sacrificial lamb who shed His blood so that God's judgment passes over us. In fact after 25 years in the Church, I very rarely ever heard it mentioned. Yet year after year the church would send the kids out into the grounds on an Easter Egg hunt, and then they expect God to bless the service with His presence??!!!
The Church wonders why God doesn't move in accordance with the Spiritual Gifts. Perhaps if the Church got its house in order and rejected the pagan systems you list above, He would then show Himself to the Church. There is a distinct parallel I think here between the Church and Israel flirting with pagan ideology, and also a corresponding parallel in how God responds.
AMEN, AMEN!! Jesus' message showed how blinded the Jews were, yet those who call themselves 'Christians', knowing and accepting Jesus as the Messiah are just as blinded when it comes to idolatry. I recently listened to a Jewish rabbi who stated the Jews, having been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years, were very accustomed to their pagan gods and ways of worship. Now, when Christians attempt to share the gospel of Christ with them, they don't want to hear it because they see the same practices going on within the 'Chistian' churches!
At the last supper (Passover meal), which customarily happened on the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread (Luke 22:7) - Jewish days are evening to evening - the night before Jesus was crucified, He told His disciples that they are to continue to "do this in remembrance of Me". He expected they would continue to celebrate Passover, with the understanding that He indeed was the Passover Lamb of God.
As it was all those years ago, Passover was on a Tuesday (for 2011, it was Tuesday April 19th). And, for all these centuries, Christians have celebrated 'Good Friday' as the day of the Lord's death. Jesus said in Mat 12:40, "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." We KNOW He rose on the first day of the week (Mat 28:1). This was actually during the evening of Saturday to Sunday early (again Jewish days). By the time Mary got to the tomb, it was already empty. Count back three nights and three days, and Jesus was actually crucified on a Wednesday!
We should be observing Passover. Here's a link to the Jewish calendar that will show us, every year, when Passover is: http://rabbiscott.com/jewish_feasts.html We should be eating lamb and unleavened bread with new wine, so we show the Lord's death until He comes again (1 Cor 11:26), not easter eggs, chocolate bunnies, ham and hot-cross buns. And why not eat unleavened bread for seven days? Four of the seven feasts have been fulfulled, but obviously, Jesus expected we would continue to celebrate Passover ~ so why not all of them?
God HATES idolatry, so it's no wonder so many churches claim the gifts of the Spirit have been done away with. I guess they can't understand, as you said, why they don't experience them...so THAT HAS to be the explanation? I really believe, if God could open MY eyes to 'see' this stuff, when I was engulfed in it from childhood (and it's only been in the last two years ~ I'm 46 years old), He will do it for all those who love Him. His desires become ours, not the other way around. We will grieve at what grieves Him and we will rejoice in what pleases Him. AMEN, AMEN!!
Thanks for the info JD.
Well JD, pneuma - nueter would have been used by a dualistic gnostic. Jesus taught Moses in Genesis 1 that "Ruach" Ha Kadosh is a feminine Person because ruach is a feminine noun in the Hebrew.
This is the same reason Jesus taught Nicodemus in John 3:1-8 that we have to be born or conceived of the Spirit.
The Father begot Jesus, verse 16, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit Mother in Mary's womb. The Father overshadowed both the Holy Spirit(who was resting on Mary) and Mary. Not hard at ALL. not all Messianics believe the same way.
I agree that the insertion of 1 John 5:7 is controversial at that. But so is 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and inserted verse but just the same there are other Scriptures that show that the Holy Spirit is a person, John chapters 14,15, 16, Revelation 22:17, Genesis 1:2, Job 33:4, Isaiah 11:2. Have a nice Sabbath
Lionswhelp, I suppose you see that I don't post your comments, but I have posted this one to address this issue with my readers. First of all, count how many times the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) is called "He" throughout the Bible. Now count how many times He is called a 'She'.
Can you give biblical proof that "The Father overshadowed both the Holy Spirit(who was resting on Mary) and Mary"? NO!! People need to understand the Hebrew language, as explained very well by Rabbi Ya'acov Farber: "the Hebrew language is unlike any other. The use of the feminine is not unusual even when referring to the masculine. The word may be feminine but that does not necessarily mean that what it is referring to is feminine. There are many such examples in Biblical Hebrew, Ruach HaKodesh is only one of them. You can not apply English concepts to Biblical Hebrew it doesn't work. Example the word Avot is feminine but it means fathers."
einron Level 4 Commenter 22 months ago
I am extremely glad that GOd had revealed Himself as only ONE GOD. Hallelujah! Only God can convince you, and not any human being! It is because you have prayed for revelation, and God opened the secret to you for you humbly pleaded to Him and God answered your prayer. Hallelujah! All glory to the Almighty GOD!
You wrote that you were brought up to believe in the Trinity until God showed you the way. Amen!
I hope you would lead the way to more believers to discard the falsehood of "Trinity" for it does not occur in the Bible. There is only ONE GOD and Two Manifestations, the HOLY SPIRIT and JESUS CHRIST.
GOD'S MANIFESTATIONS: THE HOLY SPIRIT AND JESUS CHRIST
http://hubpages.com/hub/godsmanifestationsholyspir
All glory to the Lord God! Amen.