Doctrine and Fundamental Beliefs, Part 2

As you know, we've begun a series going through fundamental beliefs in the Church of God. As I explained the last time, these were taken, written, from the document that Mr. Herbert Armstrong wrote back somewhere around 1947-48, when the radio Church of God was incorporated.

And what we did, we just lifted those and went out, put them into our Constitution. And in only three or three cases did we actually alter any wording. And that was not to change the meaning, but just simply to add a clarity. So what you'll see here, we're going to be covering today the plurality of God-dealing. And we're going to be answering certain questions. This is taken from a class that is presented at ABC.

Can we do it without doing both lines? What I'll have to do is just... I'll just have to virtually turn it off. Okay. I haven't altered the slideshow, so he has a slide in here about the ultimate in situation ethics. Many of you will remember David Dinkins, New York City mayor. He says, I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law.

When he was accused of failing to pay taxes. And I guess that's one way of getting around, saying that you've either committed or haven't committed a crime. Now, first of all, we're going to have a review of what I covered last time. Remember I covered the beginning of doctrine? Now, normally, if we were having class, I don't know if you sound too...

you could answer and turn it in. We'd give you a great one. But we won't do that. What do the Latin terms, these two Latin terms, mean here? You might remember we covered these in the Bible study the last time. And not knowing Latin, I'll just leave these alone.

The first one means only scripture, and the last one means the Holy Scripture is the word of God. And so we discussed that doctrine is based upon Scripture, and that the Scripture that we have is certainly the word of God. There are two primary Greek words translated to doctrine or teaching. Do you remember what those two particular words were from the last time? One was dikat, the achi, the other was dikaskia, asakawa. I'm not a Greek expert either. That is so cool. The first one means teaching. It basically refers to what Jesus Christ did going about teaching His disciples and Jews quite frequently there.

The other means doctrine, and we know that doctrine means teaching. But it's translated doctrine basically throughout the writings of the Apostle Paul. So both of those are used. In 2 Timothy 3, 16-17, there was a key word in the Greek that we covered that had significance when it comes to studying doctrine. It is a word that's a combination of theo, meaning God, and uma, breath, and it means God breathed.

And so as we learn that the word of God is God breathed, that God is the one who inspired it. The word sound doctrine, we covered that life-wise. The word sound means healthy. And it's a medical term that means life-giving, enhancing teaching. So the word of God, the teachings of God are health-giving. There's something that strengthens us, that fills us up, and helps us to grow.

So the Bible is the ultimate source of all doctrine or teaching, explaining the various degrees of biblic by application. Beginning with the most important, you might remember we went through about six or eight different sources of establishing doctrine. And what was the most important one? The most important one are the direct statements of Scripture.

Now then you can begin with things that are induced from Scripture, our hermeneutics, exegesis, all of these type of things. Which brings us down to the development of the fundamental beliefs as accepted by the United Church of God, beginning with the apostles. How do we get our fundamental beliefs today? Where did they come from? Well, they came from the apostles to the New Testament church, the church down through the ages. The truth then comes to us in these last days.

God raised up to Herbert Armstrong, and then those basic fundamental truths were passed on to the church. And as we know, one of the reasons why the church started was because our teachings were being corrupted, undermined, and that we felt that we needed to preserve the fundamental doctrines. To find hermeneutics. I'm sure this is something everyone else has on the tip of our tongue. But just in case, it's a Greek expression that means interpretation or translation.

So you hear about a lot of scholars doing hermeneutics. It means they interpret what the Bible says. So you find a lot of people interpreting the Scriptures, but they don't interpret them correctly. Then you have exegesis, and that's the Greek expression that means drawing out the meaning. So you read the Scripture, and you say, okay, what does this Scripture really mean?

And so you draw out the meaning from the Scripture. Well, today we want to begin, and this will be a series of Bible studies, on understanding God. We will ultimately come to understanding Christ and then what is the Holy Spirit. And we'll cover all of that in part today, because today we're going to have an overview. This is a cartoon that's been drawn in. Little boy is guided.com or net.org. There's probably a lot of people who wonder about that. Where is God? How can you get in contact with Him? So, of course, he thinks, as a lot of young people would today, you can find God over the Internet. He's got a website somewhere, so you ought to be able to discover Him.

Well, this is a fundamental belief, 2.1.1, in our Constitution, which reads, and this is not to complete, but it deals with what we're going to cover today, We believe in one God, a Father, eternally existing, who is the Spirit, a personal being, supreme intelligence, knowledge, love, justice, power, authority. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who is the Word and has eternally existed. We believe in the Holy Spirit and is the Spirit of God in the prize. The Holy Spirit is the power of God and the Spirit of life eternally. Now, you should have a handout and think those were passed out, and if not, when you leave, there will be one on the information table.

But on there, you have a fundamental belief, inscribed there for your information. Now, notice basically what this says. We believe in what God the Father, who is eternally existing. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the power of God and of prophets. We have a question mark. The title of what we're going to be covering today is simply the plurality of God-care.

Does the God-head consist of one being? All of us here should be able to answer that question. Is God a Trinity? And we should be able to answer that question. Is Jesus Christ God? You may not realize that this has been one of the big controversies in the Christian, quote-unquote, the so-called Christian Church, down to the ages. If Christ was not God, then who was He?

What were the heresies about Jesus Christ that were being false? And what did the New Testament Church believe about God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit? So what do we find in the Bible dealing with these particular topics? I will go back to the book of Deuteronomy. What does the Bible tell us about the greatness of God?

Well, Deuteronomy 29, 29 says, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this Lord. We find that there is much that God has not revealed to us. That's because our minds are living. We could not take in, in command, the spirit realm as God sits.

God reveals to us the things that belong to us, to our children forever. And so God has revealed to us the way, the way to go, the path to walk, the laws to live on, what He requires of us, the help that He will give to us, how the plan of salvation is going to be worked out. But there are things that are still belonging to God. The book of Isaiah tells us about God's greatness. We read in Isaiah 55 verse 9, For as the heavens are higher than the earth's ore, my ways, God says, higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Now, you and I look up in the heavens at nine, see the stars up there, see the sun, see the moon. We realize that there's vast difference between where we are on this planet and where they're located. Many of the, what we call, stars and suns out there, in the galaxy, Milky Way galaxy, and other galaxies, are millions of light years away. Nobody light travels 186,000 miles a second, or something like 6 million miles a year. So, you and I need to realize that God's way is so far superior to ours, that there is literally no comparison.

So, again, what does the Bible tell us about the greatness of God? 1 John 3 verses 1 and 2. It says, Behold what manner of love the fathers bestow on us that we should be called the children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. We need to realize this world does not recognize the true government. They recognize a false government, false teaching, false beliefs, false standards, false values. But the true God is what He requires they do not know. And when they see those who are practicing that way, they don't recognize God either, because they have different concepts of who God is.

Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. But now we are the children of God. It has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He is revealed, when Christ comes back, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. So we will be able to see God as He is. We will be like Him. So you find that the ultimate calling of God that God gives us is something that is hard for our minds to truly abandon.

The Bible warns us about arguing over words, scriptures, and 2 Timothy 2.14. It says, Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord, not to strive about words, to no profit, to the run of the heroes. So we are told not to get into arguments. Yet, how often am I heard people argue over words, and just words, or just concepts that really don't matter. Now, obviously, the nature of God, who He is, the plurality of God is certain something we should understand. But it is talking about arguing over words.

What did the early New Testament church teach about the God-people? Well, let's notice. The term monotheism does not appear in the Bible. It did not become an issue historically until well after the time of Christ. This was an issue that came out of flavor. The concept of oneness, where the Bible says God is one, can be found clearly in the Old Testament. But how was this interpreted by the church? How did the church understand this concept?

Today, people will say God is one, but He is three, so therefore they try to explain it as a trend. But is that what the New Testament church understood? It is generally acknowledged that the church father, Tertullian, and 145 to 220 either coined the term trinity, or was the first to use it with reference to God. That's taken from the Harvard Bible Dictionary. The trinity. One of the scriptures that is used for the trinity is 1 Corinthians 13-14. It says 13, but it's not correct.

It's 14. For it says, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God in the communion of Holy Spirit be with Him. You won't, and with all review. This is one of the scriptures that chooses the trinity. Many of you realize, the test of Christianity today, the test of whether you are a Christian or I am a Christian by the scholars today, is whether one accepts the trinity.

Groups are labeled as cult if they reject the trinity. So guess what? We are a cult according to their definition, because we do not believe in the trinity. Let me just state that up front. We do not believe in the trinity. But what you find is anyone who believes in the trinity, they think, is okay. If you don't, then you are classified as a cult.

Here's one of the early drawings representing the trinity. Here they have gone, and I just found out something the other day. I don't know if I can use this without my... I've got my pointer. I can use this just like a pen. But I don't have a pointer, so I don't think that's not going to work. So I will come back over here.

Excuse me. If I had my little wall over here, the pointer, I could draw lines, make circles, draw arrows, anything you want to on the spring, which is a nice little feature that you can use. But anyway, here they show that God is Father, God is Spirit, God is Son, and that they've got a lot around that God is not. This was the idea of what God is like. Now, notice a quote concerning the Trinity. No man can fully explain the Trinity. Though at every age, scholars have pronounced theories, advanced hypotheses, to explore the mysterious biblical teaching.

But despite the worthy efforts of these scholars, the Trinity is still largely incomprehensible to the mind of men. Perhaps the chief reason for this is that the Trinity is a-lodgeful, or beyond-lodgeful. Therefore, it cannot be made subject to human reason, or lodgeful. So what they're saying here is, according to the teaching of the Christian, again, when I used to turn Christian there, I'm talking about the so-called Christianity. According to their teaching, you can't know God. And yet, the Bible is God's revelation to us, to mankind, about who He is. And maybe He doesn't reveal everything to us, but He certainly reveals to us His nature and who He is.

This is taken from Walter Martin's Essential Christianity. Now, you'll notice here, the Trinity is still largely incomprehensible to the mind of man. The Trinity is a-lodgeful. The Trinity is, of course, not a biblical word. You don't find the word Trinity in the Bible. Neither are triunity, triine, triino, subsistence, or essence. And yet, we employ them, and often, comfortably, in trying to express the doctrine is so fraught with difficulties. Furthermore, this is a doctrine which in the New Testament is not explicit, even though it is often said that it is explicit in the Old and explicit in the New.

But explicit means characterized by folklier expression and actually hard to apply to this doctrine. Now, you can tell that's not our right. That's not something that we write for clarity. This is by Charles C. Rieri, basic theology. And so, this is another attempt to begin to try to explain what the Trinity is all about. I'm realign here. The Trinity, of course, is not a biblical word. It is not explicit. So, we can summarize the word Trinity. Webster's Dictionary, the union of three vice-versus, are hypostasis, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and one, the vanity, so that all three, or one God, as the substance, the three persons, or hypostasis, as the individual out.

Now, do you understand that? I don't understand that. That's Webster trying to tell us what it means. Warfield writes, there is one only true God, that in the unity of the God-is, there are three co-eternal, co-equal persons, the same substance, but distinct in subsistence.

That makes it even clearer, doesn't it? How many occur in Arius? A few. Nice picture of him. I'm sure his mother had that commission.

Notice, Arius is the one who turned the Roman church and the so-called Christianity upside down. At about 320, a fierce theologian of theological fashion had seized the churches of Egypt, Syria, and Asia higher. The controversy had been kindled by Arius to see an issued challenge, which his bishop Alexander found impossible to ignore. But even more difficult to rebut how could Jesus Christ have been God in the same way as God had fought?

That's what Arius could have. Arius was not denied in the vinegar Christ indeed he called Jesus, strong God, and full God, but he argued that it was blasphemous to think that he was divine by nature. The controversy began so heated that the emperor Constantine himself intervened in silence, and Sinod did not see that modern Turkey would settle the issue. So the issue that they were going to settle was concerning the nature of Christ. Was he a creative being, or had he always existed?

Now, let's go on. This is the second from the history of God by Aaron Armstrong.

Again, underlining Paul, Jesus, strong God, full God, but he argued that it was blasphemous to think that he was divine by nature. This was around three planes. And Athanasius was another player of the drama during the fourth century. Athanasius was the capable assistant of the Bishop of Alexandria, whose name was Alexander. Athanasius was selected to answer the arguments of Aries. This prompted the Nicene Council and development of the Apian-E and Nicene Creed. So what conclusions do we read from the history of God by Aaron Armstrong? Either Christ, the word, belongs in the divine realm, which was the domain of God alone, or he belongs in the fragile created court, or as he was God who always existed, or he was free. Aries placed him in the fragile created court. Aries said he was divine, but he was the first thing that God created. So Aries claimed he was creative. But Athanasius placed him in the divine realm. The Trinity noticed. Where did the Trinity come from? The Trinity was developed to defeat the argument of Aries. That's why it was even developed. That's why they came up with it. It had no basis in Scripture.

So where do you get the idea of the Trinity?

It's a Greek idea. It comes from Greek philosophy, as we will see. The doctrine of the Trinity is steeped in Greek philosophy and made it fall. It originated over 200 years after the death of the last apostle John.

Al-Qasl, Nicaea 325 AD, and the Ephesian Creed.

Here is what they came up with. All these learned scholars, all of these right men, we believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things, visible and invisible. In one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, that is, of the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not me of one substance, with the Father, in whom all things were made, those things are in heaven, those things which are on earth, who for us men, for our salvation came down, who was made man, suffered, rose again on the third day, sending into the heavens, and will come to judge for the living and the dead. We believe in the Holy Spirit. So this is what they came up with.

Now, the Cappadacian, the Cappadacians and the Trinity, but Christians were still confused. Now, after I read to you, or you confused, I mean, if that's all you had to go on, on the nature of God, what would you think? If there were only one God, how could the logos also be the body? Eventually, three outstanding theologians in Cappadocia, the Eastern Turkey, came up with a solution that satisfied the Eastern Orthodox Church. They were Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, his younger brother Gregory, Bishop of Nisia, and his friend Gregory of Nasia, well, we'll skip that, Nasianicist or whatever, but in their very philosophy, they were all aware of crucial distinctions between the factual content of truth and its more elusive aspects. They employed a formula that Epidasius had used in his dispute with Aries. God had a single essence, which remained incomprehensible to us. The three expressions are Euplistasis, which made him known. So, in one sense, what they thought God was like was someone doing a foot when he's got three different masks. And he's out here on the stage, and one time he puts this mask on, and he appears this way, and he drops that mask and he puts another mask on. He drops that one and he picks the third one out. So, he got three different personalities, but just one person. And this is what they came up with, was their idea of the Trinity. So, again, we find all of those who were involved in putting this suggestion.

So, what are the scriptures that are used, but let's say you support the Trinity? You and I need to know what these are so that we can not be fooled by them. 2 Corinthians 13-14 says, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that they say, okay, Christ is mentioned, and the love of God, so God is mentioned, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is mentioned, and they say, that's three. My microphone is laying on the table.

If I can get it back up a little bit.

I've got this glass.

So, this is one of the scriptures that they say is for the Trinity.

Now, the scripture, 1 John 5, 7 through 8. Now, this is one that I have had many in the church come and ask me about. 1 John 5, 7 through 8, notice, For there are three that bear witness in heaven. Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. There are three that bear witness on earth. The Spirit is the water and the blood. These three agree as one.

Now, when you read that, you would think, wow, that almost sounds like a Trinity.

You'll notice in the margin of the King James, New King James version, in the Bible it says this, The NU and the M, a myth of the Word, words from in heaven, verse 7 through on earth, verse 8. Only four or five very late manuscripts contain these words in the Greek. See, where did we get our Bible today? Well, basically, it's based, and New Testament is based on the Greek manuscripts. There are approximately 5,000 Greek manuscripts. Not all of them are complete manuscripts. And I say complete. They may be part of a book, two or three books, and you'd be a dozen books. But you've got all of these to compare. And so, if something was added or something was deleted, all you have to do is compare all of these manuscripts. You can pretty well find out what was originally in there. Now, there are only four or five that contain these words here. So they obviously were later in addition. Now, notice, starting right here, this section is actually not in the Scriptures. Beginning within heaven, the Father Word is Holy Spirit. These three are one, and these three, there are three that bear witness on earth. So actually, the verse reads, For there are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood. And these three agree as one. So the Spirit of God, in which God's indirectness teaches us, leads us, gives us God's power and mind, out of Blood. So, the Water and the Blood, Water could be a reference to baptism, or to the Word of God. The Blood, Christ, Sacrifices, these all agree, they all work together to help us achieve salvation. So we need to realize that this is the Scripture that's been inserted. It was inserted because of those who believed in the trinity. And they have desperately tried to find something that would support their belief. So when they found this in a few writings, they have located it in the description that it should not be there.

Matthew 18, or 28, verse 19, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So again, this is the Scripture because all three of them are mentioned here in the shoot. Now, it doesn't tell us what configuration they are. It just mentions. But notice the word, inf, is an important word here, verse 19. The Greek word is ace. E-I-S means, or could better be translated, into.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Now, I've asked the question quite often, Do you baptize in the name of Jesus Christ, or are you into the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Spirit? How would you answer that question? Well, I tell them we do both. Because both are used in the Bible. We say that we are baptizing somebody into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We mean into God's family, that they become a forgotten member of that family. But we do it in the name of, the expression in the name of, means by the authority of them. If I do something in the name of the United States government, I represent that government. And so when I baptize somebody, as a minister of God, I wouldn't give them the authority to do that. So I baptize them in the name of Jesus Christ. So we do both of them.

So again, we have the word into. The great word for into is a better translation than in. It's found in the King James Version, the Eugene James Version. Translated into 538 times in the New Testament, compared to 1038 times.

Greek-English lexicon in the New Testament, based upon the semantic domains. It says, markers of the man by which one event makes another event possible by means of or by. So we are baptized by or through God, Christ, and through the Holy Spirit. It's not saying they're a trinity. It retains the force of entering into anything where one thing is said to be changed into another. The verbs of going, coming, leading, is joined to nouns, designating conditioners, saved, to which one passes or falls. So you and I have been become a part of the kingdom of God and the family of God. We've received God's Spirit.

The historical development of the trinity.

There is no mention of the trinity in the Old Testament. Here it is. From the time of Moses to the time of Ezra, Moses began writing somewhere around 1500 to the time of Ezra, around 400 B.C. There's no mention of the trinity. New Testament Church and Scripture is 31 A.D. to around 280 B. There is no mention of the trinity. This here was not a doctrine at that time.

We have here coins the term trinity, church of the Leon, around 200 A.D. coin work.

There is the Council of Nicaea. We have the Ephesian Creed, around 325. Trinity Explained Nicaea and Creed. The three Cappadocian brothers explained the trinity, or tried to explain the trinity. They had flesh and blood, heart, and tried to make it alive, and something that was understandable. And the Nicaea and Creed, Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D.

This gives you a historical overview of the development of the trinity doctrine.

Here is another cartoon. Remember, I'm a paid theologian, kids. Don't try to do this kind of exegesis at home. If you go home and try to explain this to your parents, they won't understand.

The trinity remains a mystery to most people. If you talk to most theologians, and you ask them about the trinity, and they will tell you, it is a mystery.

Now, let's take a look at the oneness of God in Scripture. The Bible says God is one. What does the Bible mean by that? Well, what does it mean? Oneness of God in Scripture. Figure out these six fours. This is one of the major Scriptures that we're all familiar with. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

So, God is one. What does that mean?

Isaiah 46.9. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me.

We'll come back to all of these, but... Isaiah 43.10. You are my witnesses, says the Lord, my servant, whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He. Before me, there was no God. So, sometimes people wonder, speculate, is God created by somebody who was a God before Him? And why this is, no. Before me, there was no God. For, nor shall there be after me. Now, notice the issue of one, here, in Deuteronomy 6.4. Here, O Israel, the Lord, our Lord is one. The New Revised Standard Version translates as verse, Here, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. God alone. Who was Israel supposed to worship? They don't. Astrone. All of the gods of Canaan, gods of Egypt? No. There was the one true God that they were supposed to worship. And so, when it says, the Lord is one, it's implying that there were not other gods that they were supposed to worship. The RSV says, Here, O Israel, the Lord, our God is one Lord. King James, here, O Israel, the Lord, our God is one Lord. American translation, here, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. I think that makes it perfectly clear in what it's talking about.

Look at the nine Hebrew words that can be translated as one. Most only apply to men when? Of the ones that apply to God, there are two of them that are primarily references to God. Two words are, ekad, pchab, and eyakkad.

If these two words, ekad and eyakkad, ekad means one. Few are few, each every.

Only you've gone down through your year. First, the first day of the month, first year. With other numbers, a cardinal. And this is taken from the Great Brown driver breaks, Hebrew, English, lexicon, and the Old Testament. Notice, plural meaning a few. Scriptures are used, ekad, pchab, and eyakkad. Genesis 1 verse 5. Let's read some of these scriptures as we go through. Notice in Genesis 1 verse 5, God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, the evening and the morning were the first day.

The evening and morning were the first day.

In Genesis 2.24, it talks about, therefore, eventually his father and mother be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. But I want you to notice in both cases, evening and morning, the first day, two parts become a one day. Genesis, two people, Adam, Eve, become one. So you have two or one here. Genesis 27.44. Let's go over to Genesis chapter 27 verse 44. We find here, Stay with him a few days until your brother's fury turns away. So, few here certainly means more than one. A few days. Exodus 24.3. The congregation speaks with one-fourths. Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 1. The whole congregation as one man.

Because they reunited in their approach as one man.

Nehemiah 7 verse 66. The whole congregation together. Again, thousands of people that they were together, they reunited. They were in harmony with one another. Isaiah 65.25. The world and the land will be together. Again, the world and the land will not be at odds with each other. They will be in harmony. Second Chronicles 5.13. Trumpets and singers were as one. The trumpeters began to play. The singers sang. And they sounded as one sound coming up before God. But there were many trumpeters and there were many singers. Genesis 11.6. It says, the people is one. So God came down and confused their language. Definition of the Hebrew word Yahyut. It means only... Well, it's translated only six times, darling. Two child ones, only some ones, desolate, solitary. And it means only one solitary one, only unique one. Solitary.

So you see the definition they're taking from the enhanced strong's legacy. The scriptures use the word Yahyut. Genesis 22. Your only son. Let us go over there. Genesis 22.2.

Talking about Abraham here in Isaac, he said, Take now your son, your only son, Isaac. He's the only one. Who you love and go to the land of Arachnid. And I'll forget later.

Genesis 22.12. Again, your only son is mentioned. Genesis 22.16. Your only son.

Judges 11.34. She was his only child. She was his one child, his only one. Proverbs 4.3. The only one in the sight of my mother. Zechariah 12.10. As one who mourns for his only son. Now, here we have a Jewish scholar back in the 1135-1204, in an effort to solve the problem of plurality, suggested the substitution of the Hebrew word, the Yaqid, for Iqad in his 13 principles.

So, in other words, he actually began to substitute the word, one, that means only, for the word, Iqad, which can mean you a few, and has a plural meaning. And so therefore, to this day, the Jews believed that God is only one. Now, here's another part, too. It keeps fresh here. Actually, the Greek word for tithe means 25%. Dr. Shelton takes advantage of his congregation, like the knowledge of the Greek language.

One must use caution in building a doctrine from a translation issue. This is what the Jews have done.

We go back to Deuteronomy 6, verse 4. Hereal Israel, the Lord our God, is one. Well, the scholar changed it to mean he's only. And so he's changed the words, substituted the words.

Now, the Scriptures show that there is a plurality of God.

Let's notice. Genesis 1.26, then the Lord God, A.D.R.Y., said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. So, us and our, meaning more than one. Genesis 3.22, then the Lord Yahweh, God, A.D.R.Y., said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, to no good and evil. Now, lest he put out his hand, take also the tree of life, meet and live for it. Genesis 11.6-7, and the Lord said, Indeed, the people are one. They all have one language, and this is what they began to do, and now nothing that they are proposed to do will be without them. Come, let us go down, and they are confused with their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. Now, brethren, we have only years understood that there is one God in the sense that there is a God in the family, and that God is a family, just like the holidays. There are seven of my immediate family, my wife, myself, and my children. The cowards, Bill, Betty, Shel, and my kind. Now, there were five in their family. I could go around the room, we looked at our families, and we realized that there's more than one person in the family, although it could be one family. So, in referring to God, you refer to Him, you know, there is one God, but there's a plurality, and we apply, there is the Father, and the one we know is the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the power of God. The force of God, God is composed of the Spirit, and His power that radiates out from Him is the Holy Spirit. So, there are many scriptures that show a plurality within God. You'll notice again, in the circle here, us, our, us, us again, all of these show a plurality.

Genesis 19.24, that the Lord rained redstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven. So, notice there are two lords here. The Lord, who was down here on earth, rained redstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord, who was up in heaven. So, we've got two lords that it's talking about here. One rained, and then the other, the Lord was from heaven.

Psalm 45, verses 6-7, Your throne, O God, is for ever, and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.

And if you catch that, it's talking to God. Your throne, O God, is for ever. And yet, whoever this God is who's thrown his forever, therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness. So, again, we find two gods here. One being supreme and authority. So, we have O God, he's referred to as a the wing, and then we have another God, a the wing, your God. So, obviously, two different points. Isaiah 6, verse 8, also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Who shall I send who will go for us? And then I said, Here I am, send me.

Again, you notice, who will go for us?

The word of the eagle wing, you'll notice here, is plural in number, and you're referred to rulers, judges, either divine representatives at sacred places or as reflecting divine majesty and power, divine one's, super human beings, including God and angels, angels, the sons of God or sons of God, angels, plural. And he goes on, giving you the definition. And number three, the true God.

Now, the plurality of majesty. Now, one way that some scholars have tried to go away with the fact that there is a plurality in God is what they call here the plural of majesty concept. I'm a king. I sit on my throne. I give the eagles. Instead of saying, I make this eagle, I say, we make this eagle. I use the plural. So that's what they're saying. That's what this majesty concept is. And God is only using we in the sense a ruler would use it. Notice what it says here. The great mystery of God, the nacy. The plural of majesty was a thing unknown to Moses and the prophets. Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, David, and all the other kings throughout the law and the prophets speak in the singular, not as modern kings in the plural. They do not say we, but I command. And then a number of scriptures are given for this choose. Compounding this error, Unitarians attempt to explain the plural word, haloing away as a form of the plural of majesty, forgetting that the use of the royal queen is limited to direct discourse, and commands and non-narratives are descriptions, and I would say, or definitions.

So, in the Bible, if the Bible doesn't use it like a king, saying, well, we are going to do this, we utter this decree. So you find the members of the God family talking to one another, let's go down, let's go do this. This decree is after our image and our likeness. And so obviously, God is not just talking to the Father, He's not talking to Himself.

The Trinity evidence and issues by Robert Morley, the concept plural of majesty is a hoax that was popularized by the Jewish scholar Genesis in the 19th century, using the plural of majesty to explain this and other passages of way, commits the fundamental mistake of reading a modern interpretation backwards in the scripture. In other words, He sees something that's going on today, and then goes back into scriptures and tries to interpret the scripture based upon what's happening today. You don't do that. You interpret the scripture based upon what's going on back here. But I thought that was a good quote. Okay, so there are certain handouts that go with this class, and we come to the end of this section, and we're about to the end of our time. So, rather than I wanting to introduce this topic to you, because there's a lot more that we will be covering on this particular subject, we realize where the concept of the Trinity came from. It's not taught in the Bible, either Old Testament or New Testament. It was not a part of the New Testament writings, or the first century, or the second century. But once the Tertullian came along and introduced it, and then Arius came along with his ideas, and said that Christ was created and not divinely existed forever. And then, in order to try to refute Arius's idea, they came up with another era, and that was the Trinity. So what was the word in Arius? The explanation of trying to disprove Arius was an error, and Arius's explanation was an error. So they both were one. And what you find is that there is one God. There's one Father, there's one Christ, once Jesus Christ the Son. But they both have existed forever, and they both were Godly. God created all things through Jesus Christ, as the Bible clearly says. He was there in the beginning. Christ spoke, and he pursued the Spirit of God, the power of God, and all the things we're talking about. So we have two beings in the family of God right now, the Father and the Son. A Holy Spirit is the power that they have. It's their composition. They are composed of that Spirit, and it is the power. And thereby, they do create. Now God is willing to give us, that power, His Spirit. And you and I can receive that Holy Spirit, which gives us a connection to God. And we'll get into a lot of this as we go through the fundamental doctrines. But what you find, there's a Spirit in man. God's Spirit, and I think that Spirit, gives us a Spirit in mind. There's a connection. There's a way. There's a vehicle. There's a main whereby we can have access to God. And then through the resurrection, if we remain faithful, develop God's character, grow and overcome, God will give us eternal life. And we, as we read back in 1 John 3, will one day be like Him. We will see Him as He is. And we will become part of that family of God. So that's what we ultimately look forward to. So this is just the beginning of this talk. You can set the groundwork and give you a little idea of why some of these ideas are out there, and we'll be covering more in the future.

He is the Truth. He is the Life. The early New Testament Church observed God's Holy Days, and you did not find them observing these faith and customs. So, brethren, we need to be reminded, we need to be... You know, at the same time, sometimes it goes on, don't hear a sermon on these topics. Thanks again, get a little fuzzy. And we need to clearly, in our minds, know why we do what we do. And that we honor God and worship Him according to Spirit and Truth. That is going to go into the Kingdom of God. That mind, that nature, is being developed within us. So, brethren, during the days of Unleavened Red, we've gone through all of this work to put the Latin act, which pictures putting sin out. So, let's work on making sure that we put the mind of Christ in it.