You Must Be
Born Again (spiritually)
John 3:16
SALVATION
* No church, religious organization,
or ritual can give you the born
again experience--only Almighty God the creator
can.
Salvation is a gift that is made available to those who repent, believe and
confess that Jesus is Lord and that He died and rose from
the dead to save
mankind (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9-10). This gift cannot be earned through good
deeds or by simply being "good" (Ephesians 2:8; 1 Timothy 1:9). It is a matter
of faith (acting out on what you believe according to God's Word concerning
salvation).
If you have come here looking for a change in your life, if you have come
seeking a peace that is found only through a personal relationship with a loving
God, then you are at the right place. God is ready & willing to help you—right
now...where you are.
http://www.kcm.org/
WHAT'S ON THIS WEB PAGE (Articles
by B.T. Firebird):
Jesus Christ: Creator or Created Being?
Bible Prosperity vs Spiritual Poverty (IF
I'm poor, God loves me more! (THAT'S A LIE)...but then
again--BALANCE--God Almighty is NOT a genie!
The Presence of Evil and Tragedy on Earth...Is NOT the Creator's
Fault...it's the fault of Satan, his evil
spirits, and the selfishness of human beings
Unforgiveness is worse than the addictions to Crack, Crystal Meth,
gambling, or
Alcohol abuse (and the addiction to lying...like most
politicians)
What happens when a human being dies
(the Bible definition of death? Is there consciousness
after death? The
dead know nothing...are you sure?
Why do many believe that Eve was the one that is responsible for getting the
human family into sin (evil)?
Jesus Christ: Creator
or Created Being?
bywritten by B.
T. Firebird
THE KEY QUESTION:
WHO IS JESUS CHRIST?
For those who believe any of the
following: The Bible is full of contradictions, you hate "organized religion", you
feel
the Bible needs to
be
de-mythologized (because you think the Bible is a glorified
sword & sorcery fantasy novel just
like J.R.R. Tolkien's,
"The Lord of the Rings"), you
doubt the existence of God
because
of all the tragedy in the world
(or in your personal life), you're an
atheist, deist, humanist, or you believe in
reincarnation...it doesn't matter.
What matters is...WHO DOES THE BIBLE SAY
JESUS CHRIST IS?
In the book of Revelation, Jesus wears many hats and has
several titles, here are some
of those names / titles:
The Faithful and
True
(Rev. 19: 11), The Amen (Rev. 3:14),
The Bright
Morning Star (Rev. 22:16),
The Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16), King of Kings (Rev. 19:16) , the
Lamb (Rev. 5:6,8,12 & 13), the
Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5), the Lamb of God (Rev. 21:14, Rev. 22:1,
& John 1:29),
the Alpha
and Omega (Rev. 22:12, 13, the First and the
Last (Rev.
1:17, 18 & Rev. 22:13),
the
Beginning and the End
(Rev. 22:13 with
Rev. 1:8). Before Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Before Adam and Eve. Before the
planet Earth
existed,
the person we
now
call Jesus Christ, the Hebrew Messiah, was referred to in the holy scriptures
of the
Bible as THE WORD OF GOD
(John 1:1, 14 and Revelation 19:13).
THE ONE WHO IS TO RETURN
OR COME BACK TO EARTH...THE
ALMIGHTY
Revelation 1:8,"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God,"who is, who
was,
and who is to come back [RETURN],
the Almighty." Some Bibles
have these words in red letters...they put the words of Jesus Christ in
RED-letters.
All throughout
the book of Revelation, there is ONE
person
who keeps saying
HE is going to RETURN
or COME BACK AGAIN
(Revelation 3:11, 15:15, 22:7, 12).
That is the
same person who said,"I am
the Alpha and Omega,
the First and the Last...
WHO IS TO
COME BACK, the Almighty."
Understand this, God the Father's
presence
and power (His Spirit) fills
the entire universe,
He doesn't
have to
COME BACK
or
RETURN anywhere. Jesus Christ rose
from the
dead--we Christians believe--
in a
physical body that is
glorified and
transformed
by the grace
of God the
Father and the Holy Spirit.
Who has to return?
Revelation 22:20,"...I am coming back soon [ RETURNING ]."
Amen. COME LORD JESUS [CHRIST]. Don't
skip
over this fact, it says in Rev. 22:20,"...Come Lord Jesus..."
Revelation 4:8,"...Holy Holy Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was,
and
is, and is to come [back]. Revelation 3:11,"Look,
I am coming [back] soon...him who overcomes, I will make
a pillar
in
the temple of MY GOD." Jesus Christ is
quoted in Revelation 3:11
and not God the Father because Jesus says,"...in the
temple of MY God." (Notice the phrase "MY
GOD").
Jesus promised to RETURN or come back to the Earth.
Mark 14:62,
And JESUS said,"...you shall see the Son of man...coming [back]
in
the clouds
of heaven." Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
referred to HIMSELF as the Son of God AND
the Son of Man.
Revelation 1:7,"Look, He comes [back] with clouds, and every
eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him..."
(Parenthetically, I should put my 2-cents in at this
stage and say that in my
opinion, I believe that every eye will
see
Jesus Christ returning in the
clouds by the following ways: The naked eye just literally seeing the Lord in
the sky.
The
naked eye seeing the Lord in the sky via television, the
internet, and on folk's cell phones. But I'm not
dogmatic
about the web, cell phones, and television. The key is they'll see Jesus the
Christ
return with THE NAKED EYE).
God the Father
was never pierced...Jesus was pierced when He hung on the
cross...AND He will RETURN to Earth.
Acts 1:11,"...this
same Jesus, which is taken up into heaven, shall so come
[back] ...as you've seen Him go into heaven."
So, who is the one
speaking in Rev. 1:8? "I am Alpha and
Omega, who is, who was, and who is to come [back], the Almighty."
Revelation 4:8,"...Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and
is to COME [back]." NOTE the pattern of
WHICH WAS, AND IS, AND IS TO COME in Rev. 4:8 and compare that with
the pattern of "who is, who was, who is to
come" in Revelation 1:8.
Titus 2:13,"...we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great
God and savior,
Jesus Christ...".
For those who believe that Jesus Christ is an angel, they interpret Titus 2:13
as including BOTH God the Father and Jesus
Christ." However, Titus 2:13 is only talking about Jesus Christ being
"our great God and savior". Yes, it's grammatically and
contextually consistent that Titus 2:13 is talking exclusively about Jesus
Christ being "our great God and Savior". How do I
know Titus 2:13 is ONLY talking about Jesus Christ? How can I be
sure? Read the next verse: Titus 2:14,"Who gave Himself
for us to redeem us from all wickedness..." The apostle Paul said in
Titus
1:3,"...the command of God our savior." Then Paul
says in Titus
1:4,"...from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior."
Keep reading this article and you'll come to the segment about God
the Father and the Lamb of
God (Jesus the Christ) SHARING power (authority).
PATTERNS OF OPPOSITES REFERRING TO
JESUS CHRIST
Notice the patterns: Alpha and Omega, First and
Last, Beginning and End AND
Root and Offspring...of David. All these titles refer to Jesus
Christ.
In the English language, what is the opposite of the letter
"A"? Answer: The letter "Z".
Jesus Christ, the son of God, is also called in the holy
scriptures,"...Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith..." Hebrews
12:2.
AUTHOR AND FINISHER...get it?
Another title that
fits right into the patterns above of start and completion.
Do you see the patterns of opposites applied to Jesus Christ, the son of God the
Father? Again, all titles for Jesus Christ.
You didn't notice the tie-ins of these titles before, the elders in your fellowship did not point them out to you. Now you're seeing it!
This might be a
revelation to some folks but
it's not, I, B.T. Firebird, am only stating
the obvious:
THE ENTIRE BOOK OF REVELATION IS ABOUT JESUS CHRIST:
Rev. 1:1:"The
revelation OF Jesus Christ..."
GIVEN by God the Father. The entire book of Revelation talks about
Jesus Christ from beginning to end.
Revelation tells us WHO Jesus Christ is, what He's
done, and what He's about to do.
THE FIRST AND
THE LAST, ALPHA AND OMEGA GIVES THE WATER OF LIFE
There are many scriptures throughout the
Bible that point to the divinity
of Jesus Christ, but let's just focus mainly on
the book of Revelation
for the moment.
Rev. 21:6,"...I am the
Alpha and
Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who
is
thirsty, I
will give to drink without
cost from the spring of the water
of life..." What the person
is
saying in Rev. 21:6,
does it sound familiar? John 4:10,"...whoever drinks the water
I
shall
give
him shall
never thirst...the water I
shall
give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life."
Who is the "I" in
John 4:10? Who is
the "I am" in Revelation 21:6?
It's Jesus the Christ (the Anointed
One). Do you doubt this?
I hope not.
How do we know Jesus
Christ
is the Alpha and Omega and the First and the Last? Revelation 1:17, "...I am the First and
the
Last...I was dead...behold I am
alive for ever..." When did God the Father
die? God the Father didn't die.
It was
Jesus Christ, who is
both divine and human, He died on the cross (a form of capital punishment). Some
would
ask,"What
IF Jesus Christ is
the Beginning
and the End, First and the Last, but NOT the Alpha and
Omega?" Well,
in the book of Revelation,
the same person who
says He is the Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, First and
the Last,
doesn't always say
all three titles (SEE Revelation 1:8, Rev. 2:8, 21:6,
Isaiah 44:6, & Isaiah 48:12). If you look at
Revelation 22:13,
you'll
see that it's NOT necessary for this person to keep saying all three of
His titles ALL the time.
Only two titles are declared in
Revelation 21:6 (Alpha and Omega and Beginning and End).
Only one title is
stated in Rev. 17. But rest assured that
the same person
that
said He is the Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, and
First
and Last, has ALL THREE TITLES and is in
fact Jesus Christ. Still have doubts that Jesus Christ
is speaking in
Rev. 1:8? If YOU, the reader of this
article, said: "I'm only just the alpha and omega, I'm not the
first and the last."
Would your statement make sense in light of Rev. 22:13?
Either you would have all three titles or none of those titles in light
of Revelation 22:13. Does this logic appeal
to your reasoning or could a person only be
one or two of the titles and not
have all 3 titles? There's one person
speaking in Rev. 22:13. We have to believe that person in Rev. 22:13
has all 3
titles--
ALL THE TIME
and that it is not necessary for that person to keep saying
all three titles every time. Do you agree?
Isaiah 48:12,13,"...I AM He; I am the first and I am the last.
My own hand laid the foundations of the Earth."
WHO'S HAND? The hands of an
angel? The hands of angels
laid the foundation of planet Earth? NO! ONLY
Almighty
God's hand.
How can God Almighty claim to be the
sole creator of the universe IF angelic
hands helped
Him co-create the universe? I'd love to hear
your explanation. You might explain it like this: "God
Almighty, Jehovah,
had angels help Him create the universe, it was a corporate effort,
BUT!--Jehovah gets FULL credit for being the Creator."
All I have to say to you is: Are you "high" on illegal drugs?
Do those drugs taste good or what?! Are you voluntarily crazy?
Because there ain't no way, no how, angels helped God create the universe!
I don't know how many ways the Bible can say it.
I love to be redundant on this matter...I'll say it again and again and
again: God created the universe by Himself without help.
Isaiah 44:24,"...I am the Lord who made ALL THINGS, who ALONE stretched
out the heavens, who spread out the Earth
BY MYSELF." Is the elevator of understanding not going up all
the way up to my penthouse? Is my intellect missing something?
Maybe I'm a couple of slices short of a pizza pie.
From what I understand, God is saying He done did it all by Himself!
(Sorry, that's not good grammar, (He done did it all by His lonesome), but you get my point...no one ever accused me
of being
a grammarian).
How do you interpret Isaiah 44:24? Jehovah created an
angel and then asked that angel to help Him created
the universe??? You have a very interesting
Christian religion. Is that what you believe?
TWO FIRSTS AND TWO LASTS???
God says HE is the First and the Last--recorded in the Old Testament book, by
the prophet, Isaiah
(Isaiah 44:6 & 48:12).
Does
that sound
familiar? Jesus Christ said HE was the
First and the Last according to Revelation 2:8,"...the words
of the First
and
the Last, who died and came to
life again..." So, according to your thinking, Jesus is
an angel,
a minor god,
that is the First
and
the Last AND God the Father is Almighty God is
also the First and the Last. Can you have "two firsts" and "two lasts"?
It's like having two football players on the same team both wearing #1 on
their jerseys.
For identification purposes,
that could
be problematic. Here's a gentle
reminder: In Rev. 2:8, the First and
the Last said He died...God the Father never died.
* The New International version of the Bible is used for the
scriptures in the paragraph above.
YAHWEH AND THE
TETRAGRAMMATON ( YHWH )
The Tetragrammaton is the Hebrew letters transliterated
as YHWH. Here are some legitimate names of
Almighty God: Elohim, El, Eloi, Eli, Adonai, Yah (We have the word
"Hallelujah" ( Jah = Yah)
The Hebrew word Halleluyah
means PRAISE THE LORD in English.
Jesus NEVER called God the Father, "Jehovah", even
when He was dying on the cross.
On the cross,
Jesus called
God the Father, ELI. "...Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani..." =
"My God, My God why have you forsaken me".
Eloi and
Eli are forms of Elohim.
The word "Jehovah" was invented by
someone GUESSING what the vowels are for the Tetragrammaton,
it is NOT a legitimate name for Almighty God, the God of
the Old and New Testament. Here's a dictionary definition:
Jehovah = an alteration of Yahweh
[The American Heritage College Dictionary copyright 1993 page 727].
AN ALTERATION OF Yahweh?
AN ALTERATION??? The word "Jehovah" is an
alteration of Yahweh!
I, personally, would be SCARED to GUESS and place vowels in Almighty
God's sacred name YHWH.
"I know something you don't know. God's has a
personal name and
that name is Jehovah!" No it isn't!
You learned that Almighty God's personal name is "Jehovah" because you were to
doggone lazy to read, study and
find out more about the Tetragrammaton on your own. SOMEONE showed you
in the Bible where the word
LORD
was
mistranslated "Jehovah", and you felt privileged because you
thought you
learned something that few people know.
IT'S WHAT YOU LEARN AFTER YOU THINK YOU KNOW IT ALL THAT
REALLY COUNTS.
Why don't you get excited over the name Yah or Yahweh, not the made up, invented word "Jehovah".
The letter "J"
is
NOT in
Hebrew. The name Jesus is a European translation of Yoshua (Joshua).
Some so-called "giant intellect" in the early
centuries A.D. inserted vowels in YHWH and thinks he discovered the
European
equivalent of God's sacred
name from the Tetragrammaton.
I hope and pray I'm not that arrogant as to
guess
what
the vowels would
be for the
Tetragrammaton. This is NOT the game show,"Wheel of
Fortune", where
you try to
guess the vowels in the Tetragrammaton! This is Almighty
God's sacred name! Why tamper with
it?!
The vowels of the Tetragrammaton were lost to time so LEAVE THE TETRAGRAMMATON
(YHWH) ALONE!
In good time, the Lord will reveal
the vowels in YHWH.
Besides all that,
there's ONLY one name we Christians need
to
really promote and
be concerned
about here in the
New Testament
times: the name of Jesus Christ (Read
Acts 4:12,
Philippians 2:9-11) We are
JESUS'S WITNESSES
not
"Jehovah's" Witnesses...read Acts 1:7,"...and you shall be my
witnesses...to
the ends of the Earth."
Jesus Christ
is being quoted in Acts 1:7...now compare that with Matthew
28:19.
So, if someone came up to me, puffed up with pride with a big cheesy smile on
their face and told me
God's real name
is
"Jehovah". I would tell them: "Jehovah
is NOT Almighty God's personal name! Never was!"
HIS REAL NAME IS "JEHOVAH"??? REAL
NAME? REAL???
An alteration of YHWH and guessing what the
vowels are...His REAL name?
Someone says,"Well the person who came up with "Jehovah" made an educated
guess as to
what the vowels may be."
Educated
guess or not, you don't mess around with
God's sacred name so that your ego can
be stroked by human praise.
There are certain things we humans should back away from and leave alone!
I respect the Bible
as the written
word
of God. I respect the word YAHWEH, but
I believe the made-up word "Jehovah"
does NOT
have the linguistic
integrity that other names of Almighty
God have. Names such as Elohim, Adonai, El, and even the
Greek word Kurios.
BIG GOD...little god BELIEF SYSTEM
The problem with believing that Jesus is just a minor-league
god AND an angel is that you have a belief system that gives
you
the following: A Big God (God the Father,
the Almighty)
and a little god (Jesus Christ, the Word was "a god").
A
Big Savior
(God the Father)
and a little savior (Jesus Christ, an angel). A
Big Creator (God the Father) and a
little
creator
(Jesus Christ, an angel).
The bottom line with the Big God little god issue is that Almighty
God said,"You
shall have
no other
gods before me." (Exodus 20:3) IF Jesus were a
little god who helped God the Father co-create
the
galaxies--you'll have
a
BIG GOD...little god polytheistic belief system.
Polytheism is the belief (in this case acknowledging
and
accepting their godhood) and worship of more
than one god. The ancient Greeks were polytheists because they had a
pantheon
of major and lesser Gods: Zeus, Aphrodite, Hermes, etc.
Believing that Jesus Christ is an angel or
was an angel automatically makes your
belief system:
polytheistic. Why?
Because you have an angel that you
consider "a god" helping God the Father
CO-CREATE the
universe. Also, this lesser
deity is referred to in the holy scriptures as a savior (Titus 1:1 & 2)
and "the Way, the Truth, and
the Life."
Big savior...little saviour.
There's only ONE savior, God Almighty, right?
SEE Titus 1:3 & 4,
Titus 3:6,
1 Tim. 4:10, 2 Pet. 1:11,
Phil. 3:20, John 4:42, & Acts 5:31.
Isaiah 43:11,"...I am the LORD, and apart from (besides)
me there is no SAVIOR."
The Little Saviors Argument:
Someone says,"Think of Noah, Abraham, Moses and other prophets of God in the
Old
Testament as
little saviours under God the Father, the ultimate saviour.
Than you can see how WE view Jesus Christ.
Jesus is
a little saviour UNDER God the Father. See how simple
that is?" NO, IT'S NOT THAT
SIMPLE.
The problem with the above argument is that Noah, Abraham, Moses
and the Old Testament prophets DID NOT
create the stars, planets, and moons in the universe. When you
come across a scripture that says any of these prophets helped
God the Father co-create the universe, please let me know--IMMEDIATELY!
Because I just gotta know!
John 1:3,"All things
came into
existence by Him (Jesus Christ); and apart from Him not even one
thing came into existence."
(New World Translation -
1961).
Not one blade of grass, mountains, water, air, trees, moons, planets, and all
the trillions and
trillions of stars...was created without Christ Jesus.
The argument made above somehow doesn't sound that good now.
THE JUDGES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
JUDGED OVER HUMAN DISPUTES AS GOD DOES
Let's clear up why some are called "gods" in the Bible.
First of all the Bible (both Testaments) does not teach polytheism.
In today's grammar the word gods would be put in quotes just like the New
International Version does in many scriptures.
Jesus posed two tough questions for the stuffy
Hebrew
religious officials, who in many cases thought they were the intellectually
superior elite and tried to defeat Him with tricky "theological" questions about
the Law. Here are the two questions:
A. Jesus told these religious leaders that Psalms 82 says,"You are gods".
Jesus quoted this verse in John 10:34. Jesus said
this in response
when the Pharisees
/ Sadducees told Him that
you being a human being are making yourself into God.
B. Jesus asked them, why did David say,"The Lord
said unto my Lord."? There are two Lords mentioned
in this scripture.
Actually, Jesus turned the tables on these arrogant intellectuals, and
gave them something to think about! God for you, Lord!
:)
THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD
Psalms 110:1,"...The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand..."
Do you realize what this
scripture is saying? It's like saying,"My Yahweh said to
my Yahweh, sit on my right hand."
1 Corinthians. 8:5 says Jesus Christ is LORD. Rev. 19:16
says Jesus Christ is LORD OF LORDS.
Kurios, the Greek word for LORD, IS
equivalent to the Old Testament names for Lord = Adonai, El, and Yahweh.
Almighty God said, I will have NO other gods before me.
When a person or inanimate object is called a god in the Bible
there's a reason for it:
1. Human beings acknowledge
and worship a person or thing as God or a lesser god.
2. The person was in an office of ruling or judging,
acting like one of the functions of Almighty God.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians. 8:5 there are lords many and gods many, but they are NOT really God or gods at all.
The JUDGES in the Old
Testament were referred to as "gods" BECAUSE one of the
functions
Almighty God has is to
judge
over Israel and the nations.
The judges of Israel didn't attain godhood or became deities. The judges
did NOT co-create
the universe with the Almighty Creator.
Human beings did NOT acknowledged the judges as God-appointed gods in a
Hebrew pantheon. Israel was monotheistic.
Here in the United States, we have a Supreme Court of all Supreme Court,
the final authority over all the other state and regional supreme courts.
The jurists of the Supreme Court would be similar to the judges of the Old
Testament. 1 Corinthians 8:5 and Galatians 4:8.
John 10:34,"...I said you are gods (judges / leaders / rulers). Psalms 82:1
&
6,"... you are gods..." In other words, you have the God-like
ability to judge in human legal and social conflicts. Israel
wanted a human
king, but before that Almighty God was their King. God
appointed judges to rule over human disputes, but
before that, God made His judgments known primarily through His prophets.
God did not get rid of the office of prophets when
He appointed judges to Israel. Genesis 3:22,"...the man
has become like one of us, knowing (and judging) between
good and evil..." Anytime you see a person or thing referred
to as a god, it's because they are self-deified or acknowledged by
sentient
beings as a god. Some religions teach that human beings
can obtain godhood. Some human beings are called gods, but in
reality, they are NOT gods; they have to flush the toilet, brush their
teeth, and blow their noses just like every other human being.
PRINCE = RULER
Matthew 9:34,...the Pharisees said,"It is by the prince of
demons that he drives out demons." Rev.
1:5,"...Jesus Christ...the
ruler of the kings of the Earth." In Rev. 1:5, the New
International Version of the Bible uses the word RULER instead of prince.
The Bible says that Satan (once called Lucifer) is
the god of this world.
It means
Satan is the
RULER (prince) or
governor
of the system of evil on this planet John 12:31
& 2 Corinthians 4:4. Matthew 4:8 & 9, "...the
Devil...showed Him
(Jesus Christ), all the kingdoms of this world...and said,"All these things will
I give you..."
It
does NOT
mean that Satan
created the planet Earth OR co-created
the universe with Almighty God. Satan is referred
to as
"a god" because there
are beings in creation who are dumb enough to acknowledge Lucifer/Satan
as a deity (supposedly a so-called god who gives
knowledge freely when the God of Abraham does not) for example the
religion / cult of FREEMASONS or Masons believe
this lie. Satan
is a self-deified
corrupt angel who is totally
obsessed with being LIKE GOD
ALMIGHTY. You're
not going to be ENLIGHTENED
by the so-called god
of light,
Lucifer, now called Satan (Enemy). Satan is bent on
deceiving and destroying ALL human beings! Satan has
all the
charm and charisma of Rev.
Jim Jones. (Do you
remember the mass murders at Jonestown, Guyana?
"Reverend"
Jim Jones was a wolf in sheep's clothing (an
anti-Christ) who
deceived many of his
followers into drinking
poison as a "revolutionary act of suicide"; he murdered
hundreds.
Jim Jones was a smooth-talking forked-tongued
demon-possessed person
with a god complex).
All Satan
can do
is
steal, murder, and destroy (John 10:10).
There have been many
human
beings
in history that have
been declared gods:
the Caesars of Rome, the Pharaohs of Egypt...more recently in
history, Emperor Hirohito (1901 - 1989) was
declared
a
god by some in Japan. Emperor Haile Salassie
(1892 - 1975)
is still considered by some today as a god.
Some have made
gods out of rivers, mountains,
trees, works
of art, jewelry,
Hollywood celebrities, professional-sports
athletes, billionaire business execs and CEOs, etc.
They are legends and gods in their own minds, NOT in reality!
GOD THE FATHER IS THE ARCHITECT AND
THE ANGELS ARE HIS CONSTRUCTION WORKERS???
The Bible says Jesus Christ
created ALL THINGS (John 1:3,10). Philippians
1:16,"...ALL
THINGS were created
by
Him [ Jesus Christ ] and FOR him..." How does that scripture
sound to you? Does it sounds
like Almighty God OR
an angel? By the way,
if you think that God the Father
was
the architect and His angels were
construction workers who
helped Him build the universe
(planets, stars,
etc.), then
you
haven't read Isaiah 44:24. This verse says,"...I AM the LORD
who made ALL THINGS,
who ALONE stretched
out the heavens, who
spread out the Earth BY MYSELF...."
Almighty
God doesn't need
angels to
help Him "build" or construct the universe. I
don't mean to sound like a wise guy,
BUT that's why
they call God...THE ALMIGHTY (all powerful).
Angels are spirit creatures who are assigned to help
Almighty God's servants and children. Holy angels protect us, guide us,
encourage us...all UNDER the umbrella of God's grace.
Genesis 1:1," In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth..."
NOT...In the beginning God Almighty created the
heavens and the Earth with
the help of an angel, a lesser god, named Gilligan! Let's
get real, please! Get real!
We have God the Father's testimony [what He said about Jesus Christ
] of what the WORD OF GOD
(now
known as Jesus
Christ)
did to co-create the Heavens and the Earth: Hebrews 1:10,"...In the beginning,
O Lord, YOU laid the foundations
of the Earth, and the heavens are the works of YOUR HANDS..."
That's pretty
deep (profound) when God the Father comes
right out and says that Jesus the Christ
created
Earth and the heavens! Did you ever seriously think
about this verse? Or
did your religion help you gloss over it? If you can't
TRUST God the Father's testimony about Jesus Christ, then who can
you trust? Let's rewind and run over it again:
God the Father SAID THIS ABOUT JESUS CHRIST, that Jesus Christ
LAID THE
FOUNDATION
OF PLANET EARTH.
Does that sound like angels were
construction workers that poured
the foundations of this planet, Earth?
Angelic construction workers helped God. They wore hard hats and
helped God build
the Earth just like the Egyptians had thousands pull blocks of
stone and build the pyramids of Africa (Egypt). God is
an old
white man who sits on His throne with a long cloud-white
beard and wears a neon-white robe like Zeus and
God needs all
the help
He can get. Right?
WRONG!
God is Almighty...preeminent in His authority over
the universe.
How many angels did
it take to help Almighty God co-create the universe? Easy question...the answer is: ZERO!
God the Father, the Word of God (now known as Jesus Christ),
and the Holy Spirit of God ALL had a hand in creating this
universe
or multi-verse. I'm not leaving out the Holy Spirit.
I devote an entire segment on who the Holy Spirit is...keep
going.
Rev. 4:11,"You are worthy, our Lord and God...for You have created ALL THINGS...because
of your will
they were created."
Colossians 1:16,"...all things were created
by Him, and FOR Him (Jesus Christ)."
That scripture can also read like this: "...all
things were created by Jesus
Christ and for Jesus Christ."
My question to you the reader:
How many things did Jesus create?
Half of the universe?
One-third of the universe?
No, ALL THINGS in the universe...the universe itself!
I remember driving
up the coast
of
California
until I came to the giant redwood forest. One of the roads I
drove on goes right through a
tree. I
actually drove a
car right through a tree, a giant
redwood tree! At another point
in my vacation in the state of California, I
walked inside a
giant
redwood tree--it was a gift
store for tourists.
My brain had a hard time understanding
a tree so big you can
shop inside it
and
another tree that
a person can drive a car through it! BUT!--whether I
believe it OR NOT, DOES
NOT CHANGE THE REALITY OR NATURE of the redwood trees.
Maybe your mind is "flip'n out" just as
my reasoning did,
but on the topic
of whether
Jesus Christ is a special angel OR
if He truly is
the Creator of ALL THINGS.
WHAT DOES THE TERM, "FIRSTBORN" MEAN ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE?
Jesus is referred
to as "the Firstborn
of every creature" (Colossians 1:15).
The New International Bible reads,"...the firstborn
over all creation..."
this verse refers to Jesus Christ.
FIRSTBORN in the Bible refers to POSITION OF INHERITANCE OR
ORIGINATOR.
By NO means does Jesus being the Firstborn of every creature suggest
that He was created by God the Father. No way, Jose'!
Please be patient, I'll share with
you why the term Firstborn of every
creature does NOT mean first one
created. Jesus Christ is also called the
"firstborn among many brethren"
(Romans 8:29).
Colossians 1:18,"...firstborn from the
dead."
To explain why Jesus Christ is the
firstborn of several things, let's go to Colossians 1:1-20. The
Apostle Paul is talking--by
the inspiration of
God's Holy Spirit--about the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ -
Col. 1:18,"...that in ALL THINGS He might
have the preeminence." Jesus Christ CREATED ALL THINGS...Jesus
Christ is BEFORE ALL THINGS...BY JESUS ALL
THINGS CONSIST...it all points to the preeminence
of the Word of God. Let's explore more Bible examples of
what it
means
to be firstborn.
FIRSTBORN OF THE DEAD: Who is this
term referring to? It refers only to Jesus Christ
and His relationship to everyone
that physically died--HE was
the first one
to
rise from the dead in a body glorified and transformed by God
the Father and the Holy Spirit
never to taste physical death again.
Jesus Christ has the PRE-EMINENT POSITION over all human beings who have
died. WHY? Revelation 1:18 tells us why,
because Jesus Christ now holds the KEYS OF DEATH.
Jesus has full and total AUTHORITY...pre-eminence over DEATH and HELL. Jesus being
the firstborn of the dead doesn't mean He was the
first
human
being to die, nor does it mean
that He
was the first one
to be raised from the dead. The power of
the Creator's grace
is recorded in both the
Old and New Testament
as raising several people from the dead. But
then those same
people died again.
The dictionary definition for the term "First Lady" means: the
foremost woman of a specified profession.;
it speaks of
a position.
Firstborn of
every creature or
creation MEANS Jesus Christ's relationship to
creation is...He is pre-eminent
over all creation. A father who
is king, empowers
his
son to INHERIT or have the same power he does.
Jesus Christ
was born of a woman, he is a human
being, and is the
only begotten Son of
God the Father and his FIRSTBORN
due to inherit
ALL of God
the Father's power, wealth,
and glory.
What do you think the term KING OF KINGS
means? It means that Jesus Christ has
the preeminence
over
every king who
ever lived on Earth or is currently living on Earth. The key word,
dear reader, is
PRE-EMINENCE.
A firstborn child in Old Testament times received the parent's blessing and positionally became the HEAD
of the
family in time.
The firstborn child ultimately became
preeminent over the family.
JESUS CHRIST IS THE "BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD" (REV. 3:14)
"See what I told'ya! Rev. 3:14 says Jesus Christ
is the "Beginning of Creation of God". This proves Jesus Christ,
formerly called Michael the Archangel, is God the Father's FIRST created
being. The first creature ever made."
No, it
doesn't.
The original Greek word which some European scholars translated into the word "beginning" does NOT suggest that Jesus Christ
is God the Father's first created being.
"Beginning" in this verse means ORIGINATOR, and that makes sense
since the one we
now call Jesus the Anointed One
CREATED ALL THINGS. ALL THINGS = creation.
Colossians 1:17,"...He [Jesus Christ]
is BEFORE
ALL THINGS.
Colossians 1:16,"..all things were created by Him and FOR Him.."
FOR Him? For an angel?
Or for Almighty God
the
Creator of the universe? So, the phrases "Firstborn
of every creature" and "Beginning of
the
creation
of God"
are talking
about the same thing: Jesus Christ is positionally
preeminent OVER creation as the
King of Kings and
Lord
of Lords. Jesus
said,"I AM the WAY, the TRUTH, and the
LIFE." Did you realize that
an angel would
be blaspheming if he
made this
statement? Only God the Creator can
make this statement.
Jesus, the Hebrew Messiah, said,"I AM THE RESURRECTION..."
(John 11:25).
It doesn't dawn on some folks
that no angel can make that kind of claim. For those that
believe that Jesus Christ
is an angel, they fail to grasp the
significance of this statement,"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
It's like water off a duck's back. Jesus is NOT
saying He'll POINT THE WAY to the truth. He's saying He
IS the Truth!
Only God Almighty can make
this
statement.
This truth will continue to elude you and bounce off your reasoning UNLESS
you
pray and ask God to reveal
Himself to YOU. It's not about religion OR an organization.
Who does the Bible say Jesus Christ is?
A SHAKE & BAKE UNIVERSE
There are two religions here in the United States of America that both taught at
one point in their
history that
Jesus Christ is
the brother of Lucifer (now called Satan).
I won't mention these two U.S.-born religions
outright, but one begins with a "J"
and the other begins with an "M".
Jesus Christ is not and never was the brother of Satan. His
brother?!
Will you pleassssse--stop it! The
Word of God CREATED Lucifer and all the angels. Jesus Christ is not Satan's brother!
THE WORD OF GOD (now we call Him Jesus Christ) created
ALL the angels, which includes
Lucifer,
Gabriel,
and Michael. Hebrews 1:6, God the Father said ALL
the angels of God must worship Jesus Christ.
Even if you believe that the
word is honor
and not worship, it still doesn't
take away from the word,"ALL".
How many angels should honor Jesus? ALL.
Logically, if
ALL angels honor Jesus Christ, then Jesus
can't be an angel. "No, it means all OTHER angels should honor Jesus Christ because Jesus is angel
himself." So you're saying Jesus Christ is an angel that laid the foundation of
planet Earth and
co-created the
universe with God
the Father? You're
position is very weak scripturally, and not
even the elders in your
religion are gonna be
able to bail
you out of this weak position.
Remember that TV commercial many years ago:
Shake & Bake fried chicken. The mother prepared dinner
and everyone
was pleased with the results and
the daughter (a girl perhaps around 12-years old) pops up
beaming with pride and says,"Yeah,
but I helped". For those that
believe an angel helped God the Father create
the universe, you have a SHAKE & BAKE UNIVERSE.
God created the universe and an angel pops up and says,"Yeah, but
I
helped!". The way some folks think is,
God
the Father's favorite
angel sat on His lap and helped Him paint the universe.
Right?
I don't think so! As we used
to say in the
United States Army: "No such animal!". "You're making a
big
deal out of Jesus NOT being an angel."
IT IS
A BIG DEAL! This subject
will determine where some
folks spend eternity: in HELL or in
the New Heaven and
Earth. Jesus Christ:
Creator or Created Being.
THIS TOPIC IS OF ENORMOUS IMPORTANCE.
THE TERM CO-CREATOR?
Do
you understand what the term "co-creator"
means?
If I painted a surrealistic (Dali-esque) landscape
or dreamscape, and you (the reader) added (painted) some
flowers in
that landscape,
how could I claim to be the sole painter? If
I were an egomaniac, I could say that
I did this painting
all by myself,
but I would be wrong AND
self-deceived. IF I sculpted a bust,
and YOU just did the nose, how
could I
state that I
am the sole sculptor? IF I
wrote a screenplay (script for motion pictures), and
YOU co-wrote
additional dialogue in some
of the scenes, how could I claim to be
the sole scriptwriter? If I
insist that HBO,
Warner Bros., Paramount, Disney, etc.
just carry me in the rolling credits as the
sole scriptwriter, than I would be wrong.
(By the way, this does happen in Hollywood, the land of
faker than fake people, fake emotions, and fake
marriages. Seven
people could write one screenplay
and only one or two people could be "credited" for it).
But the Bible ain't Hollywood! There
are even rumors that William
Shakespeare "stole" some story ideas for his plays from others of his time.
But let's get
back to our topic. Here's my
statement:
All human beings should know that Almighty God
must have FULL credit for
EXCLUSIVELY creating the universe.
THE WORD OF GOD
AND THE POWER OF YOUR WORDS
Psalms 3:6,"By the WORD OF THE LORD were the heavens made..." The Word of God created the universe.
Then
at a point in time in human history, the Word of God
humbled Himself and
became a human being--voluntarily took a
demotion. The Word of God became a human being by being born
of a
human mother, BUT at the same time did
NOT lose His divinity because
HE created ALL THINGS and is
Almighty God. The Word of God is not merely
a title.
Your words are YOU. Your words reflect your will, feelings,
beliefs, character, and THOUGHTS. So it is with
Almighty God the Father, His Words or Word equals HIM.
When
you
have a person who constantly speaks lies and
foul language, then you must understand that those words
REFLECT that person's character. Ever hear the
statement,
"He didn't keep HIS WORD"? Meaning he
failed to
keep his promise which reflects on his integrity. Well,
God the
Father's WORD is His integrity.
Jesus said,
"Heaven and Earth will pass away but my WORDS will never pass away."
(Luke 21:33).
Your WORDS reflect your character, they tell people WHO
YOU ARE. The Word of God is God.
John 1:1,"In the beginning was the Word (of God), and the Word was with God (the
Father) and the Word was God."
It should be translated: ...and the Word
IS God.
DECLARATIONS WE CAN AND CANNOT MAKE
There are certain declarations we can say and certain statements we CANNOT say.
For example, Jesus said that He and
God the Father are one. IF we are saying we are ONE with God the
Father, meaning in submissive harmony with His will
word, will, and Spirit...then that is true. Jesus said that God the Father is
greater than He is. We can
say the same.
God the Father is positionally over Jesus, who
is in the office of Mediator between God the Father and the human family
(all
human beings) and Jesus Christ is the HEAD
of the Body of Christ (all spiritually born again believers). We also can
state
that
God the Father is
greater
than we are. Jesus said that He is the Way, the
Truth, and the Life. No human being can
say
he is the
Way, the Truth,
and the Life. Even to say that the
organization
you belong to is THE TRUTH is blasphemy!
No
organization that considers themselves Christian, Pentecostal, Baptist,
Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist,
A.M.E. Methodist,
Mormons, Christian Science, etc. can say their
religious organization is THE TRUTH without
blaspheming God. Wanna
know what THE TRUTH is?
God is the Truth. God's will, word, laws, and promises are
the TRUTH and not
any organization
on this planet. God's church or body of believers
are the
people NOT the steeple.
People that are sold out to doing God's
will. There's a nasty word associated
with submission to God, it's a word that's
obscene and a curse word to some people. I'm
almost ashamed to say the word because I don't want to
gross anybody out.
The word is: obedience. Obedience to God's
will, Word, and Spirit is the key to life.
Sorry if I offended anyone.
HOW CAN JESUS CHRIST BE BOTH GOD THE FATHER AND THE SON?
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is NOT God the Father! I hope that's clear to you right now. There's a distinction between
God the Father and Jesus Christ.
There's a distinction among God the Father,
the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit.
Blasphemy
against Jesus Christ can
be forgive, but blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit, there's no forgiveness; it's an unpardonable
sin
(READ Luke 12:10).
2 John verse 9: "...He that abides in the doctrine of Christ,
he has BOTH the Father and the Son."
BOTH! BOTH
means two distinct objects
OR PERSONS.
When I say Jesus is God, in your mind it's like saying Jesus
Christ
is God the
Father. That's not what I'm saying.
Jesus didn't come into this world in His own name...He came in God the Father's name.
Here's the scripture that proves Jesus came in His Father's name:
John 5:43.
God the
Father's name
is NOT "Jesus".
For the relationship of God the
Father, the Word of God,
and the Holy Spirit of God, I give the comparison of a
geometric
figure later on in this article. Please keep reading, you'll
come to it. When I say the Father, the Word, and the Spirit,
a
person who thinks Jesus is an angel or "a god", will think of this mathematical
formula: 1 + 1 + 1 = 3.
But think of
God the Father,
the Word
of God (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit
as being this mathematical formula: 1 x 1 x 1 = 1.
Presenting the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit as a 3-headed
computer-generated comic book monster
is meant to mock
and discourage anyone from
believing in
the TRI-UNITY of God the Father, the Word of God,
and the Holy Spirit as
distinct yet equal. They say,"Pagans believed in a
three-headed God walking on two legs." No one in their
right mind believes
in a three-headed monster god and the Bible does NOT teach this.
Again, this is meant to make fun of the Trinity and re-enforce
a God Almighty is ONE person belief system. But this
belief system makes God the Father Almighty God, Jesus Christ a lesser
god,
and the Holy Spirit, a thing. This belief system
does not take into account that Jesus Christ created the universe and is
called
God
many times in the Bible. How does this belief system reconcile a Big
God and minor god co-creating the universe?
How???
BAPTISM IN JESUS' NAME ONLY OR IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT?
Some folks are playing THE NAME GAME:
"You have'ta be baptized in Jesus name only in my
religion or you're lost!"
Oh really? Is that right?
These are the folks who believe that God the Father and the Holy Spirit's
name is: Jesus.
God the Father's name is NOT Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit's name is NOT Jesus.
For those who believe that a person must be baptized
ONLY in Jesus' name, please carefully read
John 5:43. Jesus Christ came in His Father's name which is
distinct from the name of Jesus.
We are to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ, the Word of
God), and the Holy Spirit
(Matthew 28:19). The phrase,"IN THE NAME OF" means
IN THE AUTHORITY OF. A name carries
authority. During Prohibition, someone would knock on
the door of a speak-easy and the person on the
other side would say: "Who sent ya?!" The person
knocking would respond by saying,"Joe sent me."
The doorkeeper would open the door and let them in because "Joe's" name carried
the authority of Joe.
It's like saying,"In the name of Joe, let me enter."
What's in a name? Plenty.
Some folks say,"Jesus said,"God the Father is GREATER than I,
therefore Jesus can't be God."
Another says,"My religion teaches that Jesus Christ is only a prophet."
Someone else says: "My religion teaches that Jesus Christ is
an angel, God's Son, but not
Almighty God."
Did you ever stop and consider that maybe your religion is WRONG in
identifying who Jesus Christ really IS?
"But my religion has all these books:
pink books, yellow books, blue books, orange books and even the ELDERS
in
my faith say
that we are God's
organization
of TRUTH on this planet!"
You're in
God's true organization AND you don't even understand that Jesus Christ
is the CREATOR
God???
Well, all I can tell you is that when you finally stand before Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God, on
the Day of Judgment,
AND ALL HUMAN BEINGS WILL--don't say, having read this article, that you weren't
told that Jesus Christ,
was not Almighty God.
OR
that Jesus Christ was quoted in
Rev. 1:8 as saying that HE was
the Alpha and Omega...the
Almighty.
Can you see
yourself
telling Jesus Christ on that day,"But my religion told me you
were
just an angel." Talk
about being scared.
Standing before the throne of God, the Creator, and looking into Jesus's
eyes
and telling Him that you
thought...
YOU THOUGHT...MY RELIGION SAID...You were only an angel.
That will be a very scary moment for YOU.
"But my religion / denomination is so organized. Our religious services are
library quiet and
educational. Our members
are
well-informed and soft-spoken.
We even have mandatory
witnessing programs
and highly organized Bible studies.
We don't get overly emotional in our congregations and
we don't beg people to give offerings
like some churches."
Yeah, you're church services are just like going to a wake!
You sing songs to God just like folks sing the National Anthem
during a sports event...like it' s a boring
Orwellian ritual. There's no life in
your singing or in your church services.
BECAUSE you're missing something!
You honor God the Father with your lips, but
your heart does not recognize
Jesus Christ as the Creator AND you refer to the Holy Spirit as a THING and not a person.
IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW ORGANIZED YOUR RELIGION, DENOMINATION, OR FELLOWSHIP
IS,
IF YOU
DON'T KNOW THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE ALMIGHTY CREATOR...
YOU'VE GOT A
BIG INSURMOUNTABLE
PROBLEM in light of Isaiah
44:24,"...created...by Myself..."
Based on 2 Timothy 3:5, your religion/denomination has a form of
godliness, but in this case DENIES the power or authority
of Jesus Christ as the Creator (Rev. 10:6).
Genesis 1:1,"...God created the heavens and the Earth."...AND
ONLY GOD.
JESUS CHRIST SAID THAT ALL POWER
IN HEAVEN & EARTH WAS GIVEN TO HIM, BY WHOM?
"See, we told ya. Jesus said all
power was GIVEN to him by God the Father. That proves he's under God the Father,
Jehovah."
Yes, Jesus is UNDER God the Father in the office of the
Hebrew Messiah. Jesus Christ prayed
to God the Father.
Yes!--He
set the perfect example as a human being totally obedient to God the Father's will.
Jesus Christ has a human
nature. He's human,
but at the same time, keep in mind HE CREATED ALL THINGS
(John 1:3, Revelation 14:7, and Hebrews 1:10). In the
office
of Messiah, He put His deity (Godhood) on "HOLD" and completely relied
on God the Father and the Holy
Spirit.
Then!--AFTER HE
ROSE FROM THE DEAD, He was RESTORED..."All power is given [BACK] to
me
in Heaven
and Earth."
(Matthew 28:18)
Before Jesus Christ was born of a human mother and became a human being,
Jesus
said that before Abraham
was [born] , "I AM" (John
8:58). So the one we know as Jesus Christ existed BEFORE
Abraham. You're
focusing
in on Jesus being a SERVANT of God the Father, but NOT on the fact that He
created ALL THINGS. Only God created the
galaxies,
moons, and planets, no angel or minor gods
helped or assisted in any way. Jesus is the Prophet of all prophets,
Priest
of all priest, King of all kings, and Creator of
all things.
Mathematical formula:
The Almighty declared that He created ALL THINGS by Himself (Isaiah
44:24) + Almighty
God cannot lie +
Jesus Christ created ALL THINGS,
therefore = Jesus Christ, whether we understand it
or not has to be Almighty God.
THE GEOMETRIC FIGURE TO COMPARE THE TRI-UNITY OF
GOD = AN EQUILATERAL TRIANGLE
God the Father, the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit are
like an equilateral triangle (a triangle with 3 equal
sides).
Take away one side from the triangle and you don't have a triangle.
Almighty God said,"Let US make man in our image..."
in OUR likeness..." (Genesis 1:26).
Who is the "US"? In your religion or church, does the "US" mean
Almighty God was
talking with the angels? There you go again with angels helping God.
Are you saying that angels helped God
create human beings? Please...stop it!
ANGELS DIDN'T HELP GOD ALMIGHTY CREATE HUMAN
BEINGS!
Do you want to know who the "US" is in Genesis 1:26? God
the Father, the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit (Mat. 28:19).
I hate to bust your bubble, but this tri-unity among God the Father, the
Son of God, and the Holy Spirit is NOT
THREE GODS...that's polytheism. It's ONE God Almighty existing in a tri-unity of three
persons. It's the one
geometric
figure,
an equilateral triangle, existing with the three equal
sides. Humans are triune: spirit, soul, and
body
and
the Creator is triune: Father, the Word of God, and Holy Spirit.
HOW CAN JESUS CHRIST BE THE
SON OF GOD OR THE SON OF MAN?
How does anyone become a son or daughter? There are two main ways to become a son or daughter:
1. Through birth (being born)
2. Through adoption (become a ward)
At some point in time, in
history, YOU became a son or a daughter
to your parents.
Same with Jesus Christ, the Hebrew Messiah, HE became the unique SON
OF GOD when He was born
through a miraculous birth to a human mother--Mary. "For unto which
of the angels did He (God the Father)
say at any time,"You are my SON, this day, I have begotten YOU?" The
answer to this is easy:
God the Father never said that to any of His angels. Jesus is the unique
/ ONLY
BEGOTTEN SON of God the Father.
The Word of God,"...the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us..." John 1:14
Through physical birth, after Mary carried Him for 9 months, she gave birth to a
child: Jesus the Christ.
Mary was the biological mother of Jesus. This covers Jesus Christ's
humanity; He was a human being.
Mary was the biological mother of her child, Jesus the Christ, and
NOT the MOTHER of Almighty God.
Joseph was the legal
father, but not the biological father, of Jesus the Messiah.
The Son of God refers to Jesus's divinity and Son of Man
refers to His humanity. He's both human
and Almighty God at
the same time which makes it easy for Him to be the arbiter
between God the
Father and the human race or human
family
(any human being who ever existed). 1 Timothy 2:5,
"...one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
Philippians 2:6 & 7,"...being in the form of God,
didn't think it was robbery TO BE EQUAL WITH GOD...took...the form
of a
servant." Took the form of a
servant describes what Jesus did to
fulfill the Messianic
office.
THE WORD OF GOD IN THE OFFICE OF HEBREW MESSIAH
Almighty God didn't want any human
being to have
an excuse when they stood before His throne on the day
of judgment.
No one could say,"Almighty
God, you don't know what it's like to be a human being. You never
felt pain as a human, never
cried as a human, never felt rejection as a human." The office
of the Hebrew Messiah
resolves
many things: In that office,
the Word of God, now incarnate in
a human body, can be the mediator
between God the Father and humanity. In the office
of the
Hebrew Messiah, Jesus the Anointed
One (the Christ), is submissive to God the Father in order to show us how to
serve God. In that office
of Messiah, the Word of God, who was equal with God the Father, now has taken a
subordinate role,
for example like being Vice President to the President of the United States.
Jesus Christ set the perfect
example as the PERFECT SERVANT OF GOD, but at the same time, HE is
Almighty God.
So, when Jesus said things like,"I go to my God and your God..."
Prayed to
God the Father. Said on the cross: "My God...why have
you forsaken Me..." Jesus did that because He was in His office as
the Hebrew Messiah...subject to God the Father. But, read the
scriptures!--at the same time, God the Father testified that the one called
Jesus Christ (The Word of God), LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THIS
PLANET...EARTH...Hebrews 1:10. At the same time, Jesus created
ALL THINGS. The one we now call Jesus Christ, actually
made the planet Earth (John 1:10). An angel of God
CANNOT fulfill the office of Messiah
only someone who is both God and human at
the same time can fulfill the office of
mediator between God the Father and all human beings who
ever existed on this planet.
Folks who are indoctrinated to believe that Jesus is an angel are not grasping this TRUTH.
They are missing this truth, like
a person would miss the punch line of
a clean joke. It's not exclusively about
human reasoning. You're saying that IF the
human intellect cannot understand something, than it should be rejected.
That's not always sound advice, especially in light of
God's miracles. YOU DO BELIEVE GOD'S MIRACLES
HAPPEN TODAY? I do! There was a miracle in the Old
testament that
God performed: He made an ax head float
on water. Ax head floating??? That's not
reasonable. That's not
even logical.
But it happened.
The tri-unity among God the Father,
the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit
of God is not MYSTERIOUS...it's logical.
We don't need Detective Columbo, Perry Mason, the New Scotland Yard,
the F.B.I., or the
folks from C.S.I.
Miami or C.S.I. New York to figure out this tri-unity among
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.
Anyone who creates
ALL THINGS
is
Almighty God, based on Isaiah 44:24--PERIOD...end of argument.
I pray this article you're reading will help you understand
the tri-unity among the Father, Word and Holy Spirit.
IF JESUS IS GOD, HOW CAN GOD ALMIGHTY
DIE? (
ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, WHAT
HAPPENS WHEN YOU DIE? )
"IF Jesus Christ is supposed to be God, then who ran the universe when He
was physically dead?"
Questions like this reveal that you don't have an understanding of what
physical death is.
It's nothing to be ashamed of because everyone, myself included, doesn't have an
understanding
of DEATH, unless we understand it from the holy scriptures by God's grace.
First of all, DEATH in the Bible always refers to SEPARATION and not
a state of non-existence
or termination of consciousness.
THE DEAD KNOW NOTHING (Ecclesiastes 9:5) VS. THE RICH MAN & LAZARUS ACCOUNT (Luke 16)
Ecclesiastes 9:5, King Solomon makes this statement:
"For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing..."
You can take this out of
context to say that the Bible teaches that those
who have physically died are in a state of non-existence.
But the
Bible does NOT teach that! King Solomon
is writing his opinion. You must understand, that the Bible is
the inspired
written Word of God, BUT
the Bible RECORDS individuals that make scriptural and un-scriptural statements.
For example,
the Bible says,"...a fool has said in his heart,"There is no God."
You can't take that scripture out of
context and
go around teaching that the Bible says there is no God!
The Bible DOES record statements
and actions of people who are very
selfish and who make un-scriptural and
foolish statements
and comments.
* NOTE from the Living Bible copyright 1973, page 527 on Ecclesiastes 9:5 and
other statements made by King Solomon:
"These statements are Solomon's discouraged opinion, and do not
reflect a knowledge of God's truth on these points!"
Moses and
Elijah not only appeared to Jesus and three of the disciples
but also spoke with Jesus (Mark 9:4-10).
They were so real that the disciples wanted to make dwelling places for them.
Question...how did the disciples know
it was Elijah and Moses? After all, Moses died and was
buried long before the disciples were born, and in those
days they didn't have digital photographs of the prophets of God.
How did they know? Jesus must have told them.
The Bible doesn't say Jesus said these are NOT really Elijah and Moses, it's
just a vision of them. Elijah was supernaturally
translated out of this world, but Moses died and was buried (Joshua 1:1 &
2)...just like the rich man & Lazarus (Luke 16:22).
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul said,"Absent from the
(human physical) body, present with the Lord."
Human beings are spirit, soul, and body (Thessalonians 5:23).
So, if the physical body dies and goes back to
dust, what part of human beings is PRESENT WITH THE LORD? There
breath??? Gimme a break!
Mark 2:8,"But Jesus having discerned immediately by his spirit
that they were reasoning that way..."
Notice in this verse, Jesus's spirit was NOT His
BREATH! Luke 8:55,"...her spirit came again and she arose..."
Romans 8:16,"The (HOLY) Spirit bears witness with our spirit (not our
BREATH), that we are the
children of God."
Luke 23:46, And Jesus called..."Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit."
When you understand that the human spirit
does NOT mean a human being's breath, then Luke 23:43 makes sense.
Besides--and I'm getting ahead of myself--
what do you think the angels carried of Lazarus in Luke 16:22 (the entire
account is Luke 16:19-31).
Did the holy angels of God Almighty carry Lazarus's BREATH???
No! They carried his spirit & soul.
Angels are spirits AND they carried or escorted Lazarus's
human spirit into paradise that very day.
For the sake of arguement, let's say the holy angels of God carried Lazarus's
breath. OK? Since when does
a person's breath have ears to hear, a mouth to speak, and fingers to
touch? The Bible says the rich man
lifted up his eyes (he had eyes!). He spoke to Abraham
(he had a mouth!). He could hear his own voice and
Abraham speaking to him (he had ears!). So, logic says the
angels did not carry Lazarus's breath. Do you follow me?
If your religion says that the human spirit is your breath...then you have major
problems.
Solomon wrote,"The dead know nothing" and Jesus said the rich man & Lazarus
carried on conversations after they died.
Who's right, King Solomon in Eccl. 9:5 or Jesus the Messiah in Luke
16:19 - 31?
YES, what King Solomon said contradicts what Jesus said
OR does it?
The human body is completely shut down in death, including the memories in the
brain, but Jesus
said that the rich man & Lazarus carried on conversations AFTER the death
of the physical human body!
Do you know what I'm doing? I'm laying the foundation of my case to
provide Bible evidence that the Bible says
that there is consciousness after physical death. I'm going to
show you from the scriptures that physical death
is not being in a non-existent state or dreamless sleep. I'll give
you a hint, the physical human body DOES
look like it's sleeping when it has died. The physical brain which
has memories stored in it like a computer...
KNOWS NOTHING when the
human body dies.
BUT THE HUMAN SPIRIT & SOUL survive physical death.
So,
let's find out more about what
happens when a person dies. No worries...I've got some good
info on DEATH,
please keep reading.
1. Spiritual death means you are separated from God due to the
power & presence of evil (sin).
The First Adam stained all human beings with sin
(selfishness and evil). The Last Adam
Jesus Christ, the Word of God,
rescues human beings from sin through the born again experience.
The born again experience can ONLY be given by Almighty
God and not any religion or church.
The born again experience is a SPIRITUAL re-birth
from God for a spirit & soul corrupted by evil (sin).
The born again experience is NOT reincarnation!
Your body is the same (human body), you don't
transform or morph into another
physical form. God injects His life into your spiritually dead human
spirit.
2. Physical death means your spirit and soul separate from the human
body.
Think of the SOUL being the handle of a sword and the
SPIRIT being the blade.
HILT is the term for HANDLE of the sword.
We all know about the blade part of a sword.
In this example, the physical human body
would be the scabbard (sheath or case) which houses the sword
when it's not in use.
ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, WHAT
HAPPENS WHEN YOU DIE?
When physical death occurs, the spirit and soul
SEPARATE from the physical body.
The sword (handle and blade)
WITHDRAWS from the scabbard (case for the sword).
Notice in my analogy that the sheath or human
body resembles the image/shape of the sword (soul & spirit).
The body goes back to dust. The only
one that can un-create a spirit & soul is Almighty God!
God is a Spirit, Satan is a spirit, angels are
spirits, demons are evil spirits, and humans are spirits that reside
in a house of flesh called the human body. Thessalonians 5:23,"...may your whole spirit, soul, and
body be kept blameless.
JESUS CHRIST REVEALS WHAT HAPPENS AFTER
SOMEONE PHYSICALLY DIES
"When a person dies they take an eternal
unconscious dirt nap.
Your body goes back to dust and that's it!"
No, that's not IT according to
the Bible.
The Bible teaches
the human body looks as if it's sleeping during physical death (John 11:11 & 14),
but the soul and spirit are
conscious
and survive physical death (Revelation 6:9,10).
Some folks confuse this and refer to the soul & spirit as being
asleep during physical death, but no, it's the human body.
Jesus said to one of the thieves when He was hanging on the cross,"...Today, you
will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43).
Some translations alter the meaning of what Jesus said, their translation
reads that Jesus said,"...Truly I tell you today,
you will be with me in Paradise." IT'S OBVIOUS
that Jesus was speaking to that person THAT DAY. How do
we know Jesus said the former,"Today you will be with me in paradise."?
2 Corinthians 12:1-4, the Apostle Paul related
the story about how 14 years ago, he went UP into paradise, BUT he didn't
know whether he was in his physical body
or OUT OF HIS PHYSICAL BODY (read verse 2 carefully).
Have you ever understood what Paul is saying here?
"But my religion teaches that you're in a state of non-existence when you die
physically. And God has you stored
in His memory banks and will re-construct you in the time of the
great resurrection." So, now Almighty God is a super
cosmic
computer? Oh, give me a break!
Stop it! The Apostle Paul
taught, under the
Holy Spirit's guidance,"We are...
willing...to be absent from
the body, and to be present with the Lord.
(2 Corinthians 5:8).
What is absent from your human
body? What part of YOU
is ABSENT from your physical human body???
Your breath? No, your soul and spirit.
Yes, human beings
have
BOTH a soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12)."
"But my
religion teaches that a human's spirit is a human
being's BREATH."
My
response to you is: ABSENT FROM THE BODY, PRESENT WITH THE LORD.
God is
NOT interested
in a person's breath, He is
interested in saving living souls /
spirits...conscious beings. What is a ghost?
A dis-embodied
SPIRIT of a person. Let's deal
with the spirit = breath issue. We
have'ta talk about it...
HUMAN BEINGS BREATHE IN OXYGEN AND BREATHE OUT CARBON DIOXIDE
Your human spirit is your breath? Not
according to the Bible. What does the Lord God need with
someone's breath?
Do you think God needs to breathe air? God had to wear a
spacesuit when He created the stars because He couldn't
breathe in the vacuum of outer space, right? Think about it.
Do you think angels need to breathe air? Humans and animals
do.
An ocean of oxygen surrounds the Earth. That's how we
breathe. God is not interested in oxygen, carbon
dioxide, or
gases in general. There are nebulae thousands of
light years away from the planet Earth that have all kinds of gases in
them.
The Lord knows
about'em...these phenomenon in outer space.
He put'em there! God is a
Spirit, angels are spirits, demons
are evil spirits...SPIRITS ARE CONSCIOUS BEINGS, not someone's breath.
Humans are spirits that function in a suit
of flesh
just like a person would wear a diver's suit when he or she explores
the world underneath an ocean or lake. The diver's suit in this
comparison is the human body. What in
the world
does God the Creator need with oxygen and gases? John
3:16,"For God so
loved the world of humanity..." NOT...For God
so loved oxygen and gases of the cosmos so much, that He
gave us his unique Son. Does that mean that every
time a person belches or farts, he or she loses a little of their
human spirit? Give us a break, please!
Jesus said in Luke 23:43,"...Father, into your hands I commit my spirit...[THEN]
He breathed His last." When any human being
dies physically they breathe their last, but God is not interested in their
breath. He's interested in their spirit which is conscious and
alive.
Jesus said,"TODAY, you will be with me in paradise," to one of the thieves.
Maybe your religion believes in soul sleep or
that death is termination of all consciousness, but the Hebrew faith taught consciousness after Death.
What is the Lord gonna do
with your breath after you physically die--STORE
IT IN A SPECIAL JAR?
God is a spirit of all spirits.
God is interested in human spirits. Jesus said to God
the Father: "Into your hands I commit my
spirit..." This statement ties in with what Jesus said
to one
of the thieves,"TODAY you will be with me in paradise." Because
that's where their SPIRITS...not their breath...went after their
human bodies physically died. Your spirit is NOT your breath.
Revelation 17:3,"So the angel took me in the spirit
in the wildernesss..." [The Living Bible]. Sound
familiar? Luke 16:22,"...the beggar (Lazarus) died and
the angels carried
him to Abraham's side (bosom) (NIV). Luke 16:22,"Finally the
beggar died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham
in the place of the righteous dead..." Rev. 17:3 and
Luke 16:22 are two scriptures that talk about angels carrying or escorting
a human spirit to a place...NOT fantasy, not science fiction, not the
Twilight Zone, not a fable...but these events really happened
and the angels weren't carrying their BREATH. Please
understand that a person's breath is the closest comparison one can get
to what a spirit is like. But spirits, I must remind you, are
conscious beings, and not oxygen or any other gas. Let's run
through it again: demons are spirits and they are conscious beings.
Demons can inhabit and operate through a human body.
The man Legion had hundreds of demons in him. Angels are
spirits and not breath. God Almighty is a Spirit.
And human
beings are spirits as well that live inside a physical house called the human
body. When the physical body dies, the spirit and
soul depart and the body decomposes and goes back to dust.
Some memories are stored in the physical brain housed in the
physical body, but that goes back to dust, and the body looks like it's sleeping
when a person is DEAD.
THE RICH MAN AND
LAZARUS...FABLE OR FACT?
Where did Lazarus and the rich man's SPIRITS go after their bodies
died and were buried?
Yes, it's implied that BOTH the rich man and Lazarus's human bodies
were buried.
Luke 16:22b,"...the rich man also died and was buried." What did the
angels carry? They carried Lazarus's human spirit.
How does the account of the rich man and Lazarus fit in with your belief
that,"...the dead know nothing..."? (Ecclesiastes 9:5)
According to Jesus, He tells the true story of the Rich
Man and Lazarus. This was not a fairy tale
or fable (fabulous story).
This is what happens after physical
DEATH. I guess you would have
a problem with Jesus Christ being Almighty God IF your
religion teaches
that physical death
means termination of existence. That would be a BIG problem indeed!
But the Bible
teaches
that
their is consciousness after physical death. See what Jesus said in
Luke: 16:19-31.
Examine the account Jesus told.
After
physical death, Lazarus
was carried by the angels (his soul & spirit)
into "Abraham's Bosom", a dimension of waiting and
comfort for
spirits/souls
separated by physical death. ANGELS DIDN'T CARRY
HIS BREATH! The rich man went
to a place
of punishment and misery. If there's no consciousness
after
physical
death,
WHY would
Jesus tell us this account? Jesus didn't
tell fairy tales,
that would have destroyed
his
credibility
as..."I am the Way,
the Truth, and the Life."
Some may say: "Jesus told
a symbolic story; it
wasn't real."
Symbolic of what?!
No, Jesus
is the Truth and tells the truth, not fantasy stories. The account
of the rich man
and Lazarus really happened;
this
IS a
glimpse of what
happens AFTER a person dies. Note that both the rich
man and Lazarus's
human bodies were buried,
but
their souls and spirits--ABSENT FROM THE BODY--lived on...were
conscious. The rich man could speak, hear, and
reason
even though his human body was buried in the ground and looked like
it
was sleeping prior to it decaying and going back
to dust. Jesus would not make up a fantasy story to illustrate a spiritual truth...that would be totally not in His character!
Aesop told fables (fantastic and fabulous stories to teach a moral), but
Jesus Christ, |THE TRUTH, told TRUE stories. The story of
the rich
man and Lazarus makes people who believe Jesus is an angel
UN-COMFORTABLE. It doesn't fit in
with what their magazines
and pamphlets teach. The Bible
teaches life after DEATH
and your religion is not going to change
that.
So, you
go back to the Elders in your church /
congregation, and you tell them that Paul said that he went up into the
THIRD HEAVEN and that he didn't know whether he was in his human
body or out of it. Your elders will talk around the issue,
but
they'll never deal with
it HEAD ON.
No fantasy story...no fairy
tales, NOT science fiction, NOT the Twilight Zone...
the Bible teaches consciousness AFTER DEATH. I challenge
the elders in your religion to prove otherwise.
After physical death, your human
spirit will have the following:
Mouth.....................The rich man and Abraham spoke after
their human bodies were dead and buried (Luke 16:24,25).
Eyes........................Luke 16:23,"...in hell he lifted up his eyes.
Fingers.....................Luke 16:25,"...send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip
of his finger in water..."
Ears.........................Abraham spoke to the rich man and vice versa
Memory...................Abraham told the rich man,"...Son, remember in your
lifetime" (referring to when he was in his human body).
Here's something I want to share with you that some criticize
the account of the Rich Man and Lazarus.
Some may say,"This story is ridiculous because no one in their right mind would
ask for someone to dip their finger in water
just to cool someone's tongue".
I can answer this! First of all, Jesus only gave us the
highlights of this conversation. I believe in the actual event,
there was more begging and pleading on the part of the rich man. I
personally believe that in reality, the rich man begged for
a pitcher of water, buckets of water, and even to get him out of that part of
Sheol (Hades) that was torment. I don't
believe it was a one-time request. But you must understand that the
Bible records foolish and arrogant statements made
by men and women. The recording of these statements was inspired by
God Almighty, not the statements themselves.
Yes, no one would start off asking for a very small amount of water; they
would first ask for a bucket, canteen, or pitcher
full of water...then as their requests are denied, they would ask for the least
amount. Like I said, we only have the highlights
of this record of the rich man and his conversation with Abraham...we don't have
the entire conversation. The entire
conversation would most likely fill several pages of the Bible. Do
you understand what I'm saying?
So, King Solomon says,"The DEAD know nothing or are conscious of
nothing..." This statement is King Solomon's
opinion about death. King Solomon also said, Ecclesiates
1:1,"...everything is vanity!" The Living Bible,
Ecclesiates
1:1,...The author Solomon,"...In my opinion, nothing is worthwhile; everything
is futile..." This statement from Solomon
is simply NOT true, but it's recorded in the Bible. God didn't
created this planet so that nothing is worthwhile and all
is vanity and future! The Bible records this statement from King
Solomon, but it's not true. Job came up with some
bogus statements while he was operating under tremendous pressure from his wife
to curse God and die and the death
of his servants and biological children. Job made some dumb
and vain statements to the point where God Almighty
Himself visited Job in a whirlwind to straighten him out! King
Solomon got straightened out too, that's why he said
at the very end of the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, verse 13,"...Fear God
and keep His commandments." That's
the smartest thing Solomon ever said in my opinion. But
yes, the Bible RECORDS human beings making vain
statements totally not inspired by God the Creator and taking foolish actions
from getting drunk to incest. It's recorded
in the sacred scriptures (the Bible), but NOT inspired or
encouraged by the Almighty. God wants us to honestly
see human behavior, the good, the bad, and the ugly and all the shades in
between.
THE DEAD NO NOTHING??? NO!
Those who have died know a lot, perhaps a lot more than we who are
alive in this dimension of time in our human bodies. Jesus
couldn't raise HIMSELF from the dead if He weren't
conscious someWHERE! Jesus said He would raise his body
up from the dead...you can't do that in a state of non-existence.
John 2:19 - 21.
It's gonna dawn on you slowly that your religion has NOT been
teaching you correctly about the subject of DEATH
and that Jesus is God Almighty the Creator.
PARABLES, FABLES, AND FAIRY TALES,
DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE?
"The Lord of the Rings" with Bilbo Baggins and
Frodo Baggins, Aragorn, Elrond...this is fantasy fiction.
Professor
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (J.R.R. Tolkien) created a very
detailed world with languages and geography which drew from
existing books such as the Old Testament, Beowulf, and
European folklore (Norse mythology, leprechauns, elves, trolls, etc.).
"The Lord of the Rings" (both Peter Jackson's movies and
Professor Tolkien's novel)
is a super-sophisticated fairy tale.
The movies Shrek 1, 2, and 3 are fairy tales.
But do you know the difference between a parable and a fairy tale?
Jesus has to fabricate a fantasy story when He knows there's no consciousness after a person dies--just to illustrate a TRUTH?
This statement above went right
over your head. Take a moment to
really think about what I just said.
Jesus doesn't exaggerate or tell lies, so why should He make up a fictional story if He
knows people don't hold conversations after
they
die?! THE DEAD KNOW NOTHING. Think about it! You're problem is:
You don't know the difference between a parable and a
fable. Do you?
The
wolf said to the three little pigs respectively: "Then I'll huff and
I'll puff and I'll blow your house down!" That's a fairy tale.
A fox fails to reach grapes hanging high up on a vine.
Before the fox walks away it says in a human voice: "The grapes are sour anyway!"
This is a fable, a fantastic story that makes a moral or
cautionary point, often using animal characters that speak and act
just like human beings. IF Jesus knew that
human beings are in a state of non-existence after they physically die,
WHY WOULD HE TELL the account of the
rich man and Lazarus??? Jesus tells parables, real-life
stories that
illustrate a spiritual truth. Jesus did NOT
tell fables or fairy tales.
BALAAM AND THE TALKING DONKEY
Parenthetically, I must mention the incident in the Bible that
the donkey spoke in a human language
either Aramaic or Hebrew to the prophet Balaam. Numbers
22:28,"...and the Lord opened the donkey's mouth, and she
(the donkey) said
to Balaam," What have I done to you to make you beat me
these three times?" This is NOT a fable.
The incident is
related in Numbers 22:21 - 39. God
performed a miracle and gave the donkey the temporary gift of
speaking in a human language. There are two major times in the Old
Testament where God gave the gift of tongues: At
the tower of Babel and
to the donkey to speak to the prophet Balaam.
The gift of tongues at Babel was not a curse, but given to frustrate the evil
plans of men united for an evil or ungodly purpose.
Besides, if God can give the gift of tongues to a donkey, mule,
horse, zebra, or a JACKASS, then you shouldn't have any problem
receiving this spiritual gift! Whoever heard of a
talking
horse, right? I remember the weekly TV show
when I was a kid featuring the "talking" horse,"Mr. Ed." That
was a fable/TV comedy, Numbers 22:21 - 39 is NOT a TV comedy!
So, I'll make this statement (which you're not
gonna like):
If God
can give the gift of tongues to a jackass, He can give it
to YOU. Don't feel like a jackass or horse's
ass about God's
spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians chapter 12). Don't reject them! Just
be open to His gifts. I said be
open
to the Almighty's
gifts
NOT Satanic or demonic gifts...we reject Satan's gifts! WE can neutralize folks who have demonic gifts,
just like the Apostles did (Acts 16:16 - 20) HOW? By accepting God's spiritual gifts. We're here to
destroy the works of the Devil. Some Christians acknowledge the
existence of demons and demonic gifts and reject
God's spiritual gifts because they THINK God's spiritual gifts ENDED IN THE
FIRST CENTURY. The only thing that
ended is your ability to reason clearly. So, Satan can give Satanic
gifts to some folks, but God is limited...God can't
give spiritual gifts to His children in the 21st Century. Are you
stupid?! OK, well why don't you just stop giving your
spouse anniversary gifts. Stop giving your children Christmas gifts.
Stop giving your loved ones birthday gifts. AND
here's what you tell them, genius, say to them: "I
only give gifts to you during the first ten years of your life or of
our marriage." Stupid isn't it?
And your family member would look at you like a nutcase...because you
would be!
Satan
has been clever enough to trick the leaders of your denomination into throwing out the baby and the bath water in reference to God's
spiritual gifts. Let's face it, the reality is, you are scared of
the
the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in
1 Corinthians chapter 12 because you really don't know how they're supposed to work.
Take the gift of prophecy for example. In your dumb thinking, you
believe that gift means predicting the future. And
your question is: "Why do we
need someone to predict the future when the
Bible tells us the future?" Right? Hey!--the
gift of prophecy is NOT just predicting the future! Your reasoning
is pathetic! God is loving, He'll always be giving
His servants and children gifts throughout eternity. Later on
you'll read my segment on the tongues of men that talks about
the gift of tongues.
But let's hurry back to our topic
on DEATH and Jesus
Christ: Creator or Created Being.
HOW CAN SOMEONE RAISE THEIR OWN
BODY FROM THE DEAD...IF THEY'RE DEAD?
So, who ran the universe when Jesus Christ died? Answer:
God the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ's soul and
spirit went to "Abraham's Bosom"
(a dimension where souls/spirits go)--still
conscious and then He rose from the dead
just like
Lazarus in the true account Jesus gave in Luke
chapter 16:19-31. Have
you noticed who
participated in Jesus resurrection from
the dead?
Did you ever think
about that OR are you
in a religion that tells you how to think? John 2:19,
Jesus
said,"...destroy
this temple (meaning his physical
body), and in three days I will raise it up."
I WILL raise it
up??? I??? I...I will???
Question for
those
of you
who
think physical death means going into a state of
non-existence: How could Jesus raise Himself
from the dead
IF
He didn't exist
after He died physically? YOU cannot
raise your human body from PHYSICAL DEATH IF Death
means being
in a
non-existent state, right? Am I right or
wrong? What I'm saying,
is it logical or absurd?
You tell
me.
JESUS RAISED HIMSELF FROM THE DEAD...SO WHAT DOES
THAT TELL YOU ABOUT DEATH?
It should tell you that your religion is dead wrong
about what DEATH is IF they believe it means cessation
of consciousness.
Are you listening to me? IF you're angry right now,
don't be angry at me. Be angry at your religion for teaching:
THE DEAD KNOW NOTHING.
You're struggling with questions that are really easy to answer, but your
religion or denomination
is only pointing out seemingly contradicting issues, such as: How
can the Son of God be God the Father?
Who ran the universe when Jesus Christ died IF
he's supposed to be God?
This article you're reading
right now, "Jesus Christ: Creator OR Created
Being" should answer
your questions.
So, you'll run back to the elders in your congregation and point out this
article to them and they'll say:
"The
scriptures clearly say that Jesus Christ is an angel, Michael, who said God
the Father is greater
than I. Jesus Christ cannot be
God the Father if he's the son
of God. That would be against
human reasoning." This statement is not strong enough to
defeat
Isaiah 44:24 or the fact
that Jesus Christ is not an angel, but the Creator of the universe.
You're gambling with your life,
where
you will spend eternity, BASED ON what your elders in your
fellowship tell you, when
they don't really know the
scriptures themselves. Just because
a person wears a suit and a tie, is well groomed and soft spoken doesn't mean he
knows the
holy scriptures. Don't gamble your life in a religion that
doesn't know who Jesus Christ is because you could DIE outside the
truth. The truth is not any organiz