Dear Craig,
My first and most important question is inspired by what I was reading in several studies I found located in the section titled, ‘Craig’s Bible Studies.’ I found mention of what is known as, “Trinitarian belief,” in articles I read that were written by you, and also by David Maas. If a Christian says that they believe God is, “One true God,” and that this same God has, “revealed Himself as the Creator of all things, the Redeemer of mankind, Who is infinitely perfect and eternally manifested as a triune Being, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” is this the Trinity and/or trinitarian belief?
To preface my next question, it concerns something written in one of your articles titled, “What Is Speaking In Tongues? Part Five,” under the section titled, “Guilt by Association & Church Insecurity.” You wrote, “Technically I suppose I am considered a charismatic, since I pray in other tongues, but in no way would I ever associate myself with the gospel of greed promulgated by the likes of the televangelists like you-know-who.”
So my second question is is, to whom do you refer and which individual person are you pin pointing in your description, “…televangelists like you-know-who?”
My third is a two-part curiosity and personal question; to begin with, do you have a church that you attend? From the gist of some articles written by you, it appears to me that you might stand alone, and I was wondering if that is true?
My fourth last and final question, (I promise), what do you think of Hank Hanegraaff?
You are awesome, and thank you for being an obedient servant of God. I believe that God is uncovering many things and providing me with an abundance of His wisdom. Your site is providing many resources and opening my eyes to things; through this study of His word, I now feel a confidence that only He supplies. Without your knowledge and wisdom, I would have never known where to begin looking, so I thank you Craig.
In His love, praying for you to be blessed,
Stephen
Hi Stephen,
Thank you for your
encouragements brother, now let me answer your first question below:
1. I found mention of what is known as, “Trinitarian belief,” in articles I read that were written by you, and by David Maas. I am curious, if a person says that they believe that God is, “One true God and that this same God has revealed Himself as the Creator of all things and Redeemer of mankind, Who is infinitely perfect and eternally manifested as a triune Being, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” is this the Trinity and/or trinitarian belief?
The answer to your question
above is not as simple as a ‘yes’ & ‘no’ reply Stephen. In fact, responding adequately requires a
lengthy, complex explanation about theological issues. Without providing you at least some
historical background as the basis for my answers, anything I say concerning
trinitarian belief is likely to be misunderstood or unwittingly
misconstrued. Since the doctrine of the
Trinity and related ‘trinitarian’ beliefs touches a sensitive doctrinal nerve,
(being much more touchy a subject to discuss than the debate about speaking in
tongues), I humbly ask that you always check your motives when discussing this,
or any controversial doctrinal subject with other believers.
I must also warn you, engaging
fellow Christian brothers and sisters in a discussion that challenges the
authenticity of the Trinity and uncovers its origin may often turn into a
heated argument, since the trinitarian belief originates from Roman Catholic
Church creeds, and born-again Christians that defend it, charismatic or
otherwise, do so by compromising the purity of scripture. They do not defend it with malice or wrong
motives, for the most part, to be sure.
To most believers, the Trinity is deep-seated, and their protective
reaction to anyone that challenges the Trinity stems from basic ignorance,
believing they are making a defense for the character of God, Jesus Christ, and
the Holy Spirit (even though most Christians would be at a loss to provide a uniform
definition or description of the Trinity).
To begin, the brief trinitarian
statement, which you provided in the preface to your question, reads very much
like a quote taken from an individual church, ‘Statement of Faith,’ something
like what a person might find printed on the back of a church bulletin. Most churches, Christian or otherwise, have
a set of teachings representative of what their organization believes and these
teachings are known as ‘church doctrines.’
Christian churches are supposed to base all doctrine on the solid
foundation and final authority of God’s word, which is the Scriptures, inspired
(God-breathed) as penned by the authors of each book, as written in the ancient
languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
It is important to emphasize
that a Christian’s doctrinal belief in the Trinity, or the denial of the same
should not be used as the basis for breaking fellowship. Unfortunately, in recent church history, the
term ‘cult’ has been the all-too-often misused, misdiagnosed label that
Christians have erroneously affixed to any church whose doctrine deviated from
the mainstream, traditional Christian church.
How this mishandling of such an
inflammatory label as the word ‘cult’ came about is due a short lesson in
history, to clear the air for those too young to remember, or those uninvolved
with the Christian faith at the time it happened. As most Americans know, during the 1960’s our society went thru a
cultural transformation, as the hippy movement swept across the nation, partly
as a youth oriented protest against the Vietnam War, but more so a rebellion
against the traditional values of the post-WW11 and post-Korean War
generation. Drugs, sex, and rock ‘n
roll stormed into overturn and erode what was perceived as the American dream,
but by the late 60’s, the teenagers that had started this moral revolution with
chants of “free love” and “peace” were burned out, bleary-eyed potheads looking
for some type of spiritual awakening.
Subsequent to this spiritual
hunger, in the late 60’s and early 70’s revival hit the nation during what is
now known as, “the Jesus People Movement,” and suddenly what had been a wave of
LSD, marijuana, and sexual promiscuity became a tidal wave of born-again, Bible
totin’ hippies, ready to learn more about God, Jesus, and the Bible. As these eager upstarts flooded the
old-line church denominations, the stiff, formal, routine Sunday morning church
services seemed all too foreign, and dramatic changes in music and other areas
of worship were at hand. At the same
time, many of the newly born-again Jesus people were abandoning organized
Christianity for a more fluid, organic type of Christian communal living, while
others were drawn too dozens of emerging, off sects with religious beliefs
rooted in eastern mysticism.
Also hard at work to capitalize
on the growing tide of spiritual enthusiasm, other false religions, such as the
Mormon Church, also known as the LDS (Latter Day Saints) or the corporate name,
‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ and the Jehovah’s Witnesses
were embarking on their own recruitment schemes. The combination of all of the aforementioned and more during the
late 60’s and 70’s caused ever-increasing concern amongst Christian church
leadership, whether mainline evangelicals or the older Pentecostal
denominations, concerning the rise of cults and false religions. This concern grew into a sort of
cult-phobia, which certain opportunistic individuals saw as their chance to
shine, writing books that offered a categorization of cults in paperback form
for Christians to arm themselves with knowledge.
The ever-increasing hype about
cults that dominated mainstream Christian thought during the late 60’s,
escalating in the 70’s, gained widespread acceptance by the evangelical and charismatic
Christian churches by the 80’s. By this
time Bible Colleges were offering courses in sectarian doctrines, and traveling
the ‘Christian conference’ circuit across America were key individuals gaining
notoriety as ‘cult experts.’ Some of
these individuals played an important role for that season in the spiritual
maturity of the Christian churches, educating people with books, audio-cassette
messages, gospel tracts and pamphlets, etc, and equipping believers about the
spiritual counterfeits that were all about the country. Christian radio and television broadcasting,
which had carved itself a niche in the media by now, featured programs with
some articulate, some flamboyant figures.
Christian radio programs emerged, with the main host providing born-again
listeners with live broadcasts daily, whereby phone callers could ask
questions, not only about cults, but also the Bible, Christian doctrine,
theology and more.
This is where a definite shift
took place, and now these acclaimed ‘cult experts’ took on the persona of what
I consider to be the spiritual equivalent of self-appointed vigilante,
professing to have all the answers to any question asked about the Bible,
cults, and what these misguided individual alleged to be ‘Christian-cults’
and/or Christian beliefs that had ‘cult-like tendencies.’ Their radio ‘ministry’ evolved into a
spiritual cancer, as these self-made ‘heresy hunters’ whose reputation was
built on the genuine work of others in an era gone-by, began posing as
Christendom’s principal theological and Christological watchdog. Through their radio ministry, these men, who
in reality were not called of God at all, openly broad-brushed born-again
believers by categorizing as, “cult,” anyone or group that diverges from what
they perceive as mainstream, “Christian orthodoxy.” Nowadays, these type of bogus ministries use the air waves to run
amuck, fanning the flames of animosity and schism amongst Christians, using
their public ministry for greed, selling books, tapes, CD’s, etc, while they use
their platform in television and radio broadcasting to defame good men and
women of God as, “heretical,” simply because of their rejection of the doctrine
of the Trinity.
For several years, my heart has
grieved whenever listening to this type radio programming, knowing that
inevitably I will encounter the fruit of such ungodly, unloving, deceptive, and
unrelenting verbal assault on others, whose beliefs differ from their own,
obsessed with endearment of the doctrine of the Trinity. These particular individuals, whom I will
withhold naming in the event they should choose to repent of this wickedness,
rely more heavily on the writings of Roman Catholic Church fathers, such as
Eusebius, or the writings of false teachers such as Thomas Aquinas and others,
as being the true authorities of scripture interpretation than solid study of
the Scriptures. Oh sure, they SAY the
scripture is the final word in all doctrinal matters, but HOW or in what manner
the scripture is to be interpreted, in their ‘expert’ opinion, lies within the
creeds of Christendom, written by church fathers, whose knowledge of the Holy
Writ supercedes our modern interpretations and hermeneutical objectives.
To define and describe the
nature of God and Christ and to bolster their esteem as the spiritually
intellectual elite, they use long, extra-scriptural, antiquated, but impressive
ecclesiastical exegesis and words, that most of the Christian listening
audience hasn’t the faintest clue as to the meaning. In this, and other mannerisms, they differ little from the
religious critics that Jesus encountered as he refuted the teachings,
attitudes, and behavior of the Pharisees, scribes, lawyers, and the
Sadducees. For example, these
learned men, so called, use words like, “Christophany,” (from the Greek phaneros
‘to reveal’ & Christós) as a means to explain imaginary
appearances or manifestations of Jesus in the Old Testament (which is false
teaching, founded upon dualism and the doctrine of the Trinity).
They also quote liberally from historians
and church fathers, (i.e. - false teachers), such as Eusebius, Tertullian,
Augustine, Origen and others from the ante-Nicene, Nicene, and post-Nicene
eras, so that the listener unfamiliar with Scripture could mistakenly confuse
these men with the apostles and men of God in the Bible. Their brand of ecumenicism integrates the
Roman Catholic Church into what they consider to be the traditional Christian
Church based solely upon the fact they have a body of doctrines that include
the ‘essentials’ fundamental to Christendom’s ‘orthodoxy.’ Pure hogwash if you ask me.
It isn’t the disagreement in
doctrinal exegesis that bothers me the most about the heresy hunters Stephen,
but their overt condescension of others whenever selectively targeting one a
theological or Christological opponent.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to speak the truth, by all means,
but ALWAYS in love and those who act as if they are God’s appointed doctrinal
censors by passing judgment on His children should be considered dangerous,
cunning, and no different from other evil imposters in the church. In fact, men that misuse the name of Christ,
by representing themselves as alleged Christian teachers, fall into a category
of stricter judgment by the Almighty.
Their craftiness and scheming is described by Jesus as being, “wolves in
sheep’s clothing.”
James 3:1-2 Not many of you should become
teachers, self-constituted censors and reprovers of others, my brethren, for
you know that we teachers will be judged by a higher standard and with greater
severity than other people; thus we assume the greater accountability and the
more condemnation. For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many
things. And if anyone does not offend
in speech, or never says the wrong things, he is a fully developed character
and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire
nature. Amplified Bible
In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, the
apostle Paul warns about men that pretend to be Christian Bible teachers,
calling them false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of
Christ. And no wonder, for Satan
himself masquerades as an angel of light.
It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of
righteousness. You may think this
preliminary caution is too long-winded, but it is time and effort well
invested, because it will hopefully spare others from causing the same
tremendous division in the body of Christ.
I have witnessed firsthand the bitter and rotten fruit of this kind of
watchdog/heresy-hunter/cult-expert/witch-hunt type of ministry. I have been on the receiving end of the
rancorous words spewed forth by those who claim to speak and act with authority
by virtue of what they have listened to and imbibed the daily radio ministry
broadcast of these types of men.
Over the years, while doing
street outreach at The Bible Answer Stand Ministry I was frequently approached
by radio ministry disciples of the aforementioned type, who harshly condemned
and used all manner of slander, animosity, false accusation, rash judgments,
and ungodly anger to “expose” me as a “false teacher” because I reject the
Trinity. Lacking in love, gentleness,
patience, some of these people have even manifested hatred towards other
born-again Christian brethren and me. A
tree is known by its fruit, and a teacher is known by his disciples, according
to Jesus (Luke 6:39-45).
To me, the foremost motive
behind all godly instruction or correction should always be God’s love, and
correcting false teaching should be done in gentleness, love, compassionate,
with God’s leading and wisdom, and with the aim of building up the other
person’s faith, without compromising the truth. In his letters of instruction to Timothy regarding the problems
he would assuredly encounter within the churches he was teaching, the apostle
Paul makes some very poignant statements about the subject of doctrine.
2 Timothy 3:1-7, 12-15 But mark this: There
will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud,
abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love,
unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;
having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over
weak-willed women… always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth… In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in
Christ Jesus WILL BE persecuted, while evil men AND IMPOSTORS will go from bad
to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become
convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from
infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make
you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. New International Version
One thing in the passages above, which should stand out to you, is the wide range of deception that exists WITHIN the church amongst professed Christians. I do not advocate naivety because the scriptures command us to be wise and discerning. You cannot glibly see everybody as being good and speaking via the inspiration of the Holy Spirit just because he or she claims to be Christian. Learning discernment without losing the gentle and tender love of God is something that will always be challenging. In Matthew 10:16 Jesus told his disciples, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Can you guess what he said in the next verse (17)? “But BEWARE OF MEN!”
The sad reality is this: evil men and women imposters in the church will always flourish for one main reason, which is simply because Christians continue to support them. Why do they support these deceivers? Because these same Christians love the brand of darkness being promoted; the message appeals to their flesh and plays upon their greed, pride, and self-serving motives. We’re all familiar with John 3:16, “God so loved the world He gave His only begotten son…” and we love to quote John 3:17, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.” However, do we as Christians frequently quote John 3:19, “…judgment is based on this fact: The light came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.” Ouch!
The Amplified Bible version of John 3:19 gives detailed
insight why there is so much deception in the Christian churches, “The basis of
the judgment, indictment, and the test by which men are judged, the ground for
the sentence lies in this: the Light has come into the world, and people have
loved the darkness rather than and more than the Light, for their works (deeds)
were evil.” The same holds true with
false doctrines, such as the Trinity, prosperity message, etc. The punctuates the importance of basing our
lives and teaching firmly upon the foundation of Scripture.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. New King James Version
Technically speaking, if a person says that they believe that God is, “One true God and that this same God has revealed Himself as the Creator of all things and Redeemer of mankind, Who is infinitely perfect and eternally manifested as a triune Being, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” this is contrary to the clear teaching in Scripture, as is all doctrine that espouses the triune nature of God.
The reason that it is incorrect
to associate the term, “one true God,” with words like, “triune, trinity,
three-in-one, etc,” is because these terms do not originate from scripture, and
the word trinity was first used by the Roman Catholic Church in what is known
as ‘The Athanasian Creed.’ This link will take you to a study I did several
years ago that compares the contradictions of the trinity with scripture. This creed was drafted by so-called
Catholic, ‘church fathers,’ for the intent purpose of blending Neo-Platonist
forms of dualism with New Testament theology and Christology. The church fathers invented terms like
triune to be part of the Roman Catholic Church doctrine, expressed in writing
thru its creeds.
Notably, one of these Catholic
church fathers, (which I prefer to label as wolves, false teachers, liars, and
deceivers), was a man named Tertullian.
In the 2nd century, Tertullian is credited as being the first
theologian to use the word, “Trinity,” to distort
the nature of the, “One True God,” by altering His intrinsic nature, as we find
it in Scripture. He redefined God’s
nature as, “One God that co-exists as three separate, individual Persons of
God.” This was done to adapt and
conform Christianity to the Greco-Roman pantheon, which, like scores of ancients
societies and cultures before it, always held three deities as prominent and
chief among other gods and goddesses.
During the first five centuries
after the initial birth of the Christian church at Pentecost, the doctrine of
the Trinity came about as false teachers collaborated together to mingle New
Testament theology and Christology with Greco-Roman polytheism (belief in many
gods), Philonic Judaism (Using Greek Platonic philosophy to allegorically
interpret the Hebrew Old Testament, thereby identifying Elohim as one & the
same as Plato’s ‘Demiurge’), and Greek philosophy via
Neo-Platonic dualism. Plato taught that
the world (cosmos) was created when the Demiurge, using wisdom (sophia) made
use of the pre-incarnate logos and the intermediary thru which all things came
to be. This is similar language as that
found expressed in the writing of the early church fathers, who were heavily
influenced by Greek philosophy, which the apostle Paul warned about in his
letter to the Colossians.
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one carries you off as spoil or makes you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense), following human tradition (men's ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding the teachings of Christ. Amplified Bible
In fact, the first Christian
trinity consisted of three principal deities that historians find remarkably
similar to the Roman gods, God the Father (compared to Jupiter), his God-Son
Jesus (compared to Hercules, the “god-man” son of Jupiter), and Mary, Mother of
God’s Son, (compared to Juno, sister-wife of Jupiter); the Roman Catholic
Church still holds to the belief that Mary is, “the Mother of God.”
Because the gods were an
important part of everyday Roman life, integrating dualism into the worship of
their deities made them seemingly more tangible. According to Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro, only after the
Romans came into contact with Greek culture in the 6th century BC did they
begin to represent their gods in human form.
Over the last three centuries before Christ was born, writers such as
Virgil and Ovid grafted the names and functions of Roman gods onto Greek
literary and artistic tradition, creating a hybrid Greco-Roman mythology that
has inspired poets and painters from antiquity to the present day.[1]
By the time of Christ, worshipping
a, “god in human form,” was well-developed and quite common among the mystery
religions and their, “savior gods.” The
Roman concept of gods with anthropomorphic persona paved the way for the devil
to use false teachers, infiltrate the teachings of the Christian church, and
turn Jesus Christ from a man of God, born of a woman in Bethlehem, made under
the Law, (Galatians 4:4) into the Christian version of what Romans referred to
as a, “God in human form.” However, to
accomplish this feat, and make it palatable to the worshippers of Roman gods
and to Christians alike, theological manipulation involving Rome’s political
power thru Emperor Constantine would be necessary.
Observation of the development
in Roman religion near the time of Christ gives you an idea of how people felt
about mortal men making themselves out to be divine. It was one thing to attribute human traits to a god or goddess,
but it was quite the opposite to convert a living human being into a god. As the Romans expanded their holdings to the
east, they encountered the phenomenon of ‘divine kingship.’ At first, they rejected the idea that a
human ruler should be worshiped as a god.
But in 44 BC, Roman ruler Julius Caesar permitted a statue to be erected
to himself bearing the inscription deo invicto (“to the unvanquished god”), and
declared himself dictator for life.
That same year Caesar was assassinated by citizens who were unhappy with
his dictatorial regime and wanted to see a return to Rome’s earlier republican
ideals.
While Caesar’s heir, Octavian,
took the name Augustus and made himself the first emperor of Rome, he also
avoided any claim to divinity. In the
first century of the Roman Empire, the idea of the divinization of emperors was
often ridiculed. The philosopher and
playwright Seneca mocked the imperial divinization of Claudius I as the,
“Pumpkinification of Claudius.”
As the government of the Roman
Empire became more and more autocratic, giving rulers almost unlimited power,
emperors eventually accepted divine honors, and sacrifice to the emperor came
to be required as a token of loyalty. The requirement of sacrifice became a
significant source of conflict between early Christians, who resisted the
practice, and the Roman political authorities who enforced it. This fact itself alone should be proof that
the early Christians did NOT worship Jesus Christ as their, “God-man.”
The deification of Christ came
about much later, when the period of emperors being considered gods ended in
the 4th century AD, as Emperor Constantine the Great became the first Roman
emperor to (allegedly) convert to Christianity. By the end of the 4th century, Emperor Theodosius I, who was a
supporter of orthodox Christianity, officially banned the practice of the old
Roman pagan religion.
The Romans worshiped their gods
in a grand temple on the Capitoline Hill in Rome; they were known as the
Capitoline triad. The triad
is a trinity of three deities that consisted of
Jupiter and the two goddesses Juno and Minerva. Jupiter was viewed as the sovereign, or head, of the Roman
state. Juno was both the protector of
women in marriage and childbirth and was the patron deity of several
communities in ancient Italy. The
Romans worshiped her under several names, including Juno Sospita (Juno the
Savior) and Juno Regina (Juno the Queen of heaven).
The Romans also adopted Greek
heroes into their mythology. Perhaps
the best-known figure was the Greek hero Heracles, who became known in Rome as
Hercules. As Rome expanded and became a
hub of international commerce, more and more foreign gods found their way into
the culture. Especially popular were
the so-called savior-gods of religious orders known as mystery religions. Savior-gods such as Mithra, the ancient
Persian god of light and wisdom, offered the promise of individual salvation
through the belief in the immortality of the soul.
Mystery religions such as
Mithraism were open only to the initiated.
As a result, many people saw them as offering a greater sense of
community than traditional Roman religion.
Scholars have noted similarities between mystery religions and the early
Christian church, which took root in the Roman world when mystery religions
were popular and widespread.[2]
Careful historical research
easily documents that Christendom’s Trinity evolved from the three principal
Roman deities, Jupiter (formerly known as Zeus), the Roman god, ‘Hercules,’
(formerly the Greek god Heracles) and Juno, alleged by many to be the birth
mother of Hercules. Jupiter was the
ruler of the Roman pantheon, and he exhibited many of the characteristics of
his Greek counterpart, Zeus. To give
you an idea of how ancient kingdoms upon conquering another nation, and
subsequently adopted their gods and made them their own, consider the
Etruscans.
The Etruscans had also adopted
gods from the Greek pantheon, or family of gods, and many of these divinities
were passed on to the Romans. Zeus, the
Greek god of the skies, for example, had a counterpart in the Roman god
Jupiter, while Hera, the sister-wife of Zeus and queen of the gods, became the
Roman goddess Juno.
Roman mythology held that
Jupiter was Supreme god, making him the ideal candidate for false teachers, who
then likened Jupiter to Elohim (God) of the Hebrew Old Testament and to God the
Father in the Greek New Testament. In
view of the fact that Roman mythology held Jupiter to be the god-husband of the
goddess-wife Juno, his role as the father-god of Hercules, would be compared to
God the Father conceiving Jesus in Mary.
Mary was subsequently likened to the Roman goddess Juno and this elevated her from human form to the status of the divine. As a result, her part in the devil’s plan to deceive God’s people, was viewed the same as the role Juno had been to the Romans for centuries as, “the queen of heaven.” Since false teachers were comparing Jesus to Hercules, (the ‘god-man’) this further elevated Mary’s divine status. She became known throughout the Roman Empire as, “the mother of god.”
Since Hercules was already
being adopted into Greco-Roman mythology and worshipped as one of the “savior
gods” widespread throughout the Roman Empire in the mystery religions, he
became the obvious precursor counterpart of the soon-to-be Christian, “God in
human form,” (Jesus Christ). The early
church fathers, who are the false prophets and teachers that Paul and the other
apostles and authors of the New Testament write about in their warnings to the
early church, had every intention of theologically exploiting these
similarities between Jupiter, Juno, and Hercules, and the characters revered by
Christians in the New Testament, would appeal to the Roman citizens, since
adopting gods from other cultures and nations was already a long-standing
practice.
Hercules was also considered by
most to be the principal figure, revered by the masses as one of the, “savior
gods,” which made pulling the wool over the eyes of unwittingly and indifferent
pagan Roman worshippers all too simple.
The TRUE believers were those who worshipped ONE God of the Scriptures
thru the only mediator between God and man, the MAN Christ Jesus, (I Timothy 2:5; John 17:1-5). These believers resisted the deification of
Jesus Christ and the Roman triad (trinity), and as a result, they were hunted
down ruthlessly by the leaders of the state-sanctioned Roman Catholic Church.
Dualism, a term borrowed from
Plato by Greek and Jewish philosophers, sages, scholars, intellectuals and
teachers in Alexandria during the first century, was also later used by the
church fathers to develop a detailed description of the parallels between
Greco-Roman Hercules and Christ.
Careful planning and cunning were used to explain in “cosmic” form,
making thorough use of familiar philosophical Greek words and rhetoric, the process
by which two natures, one human the other divine, were joined together, and
made into one in the ‘Person of Christ’ or the more common term, ‘one
Christ.’ This process came to be known
in Christian theological circles as the, “hypostasis” and the joining of two
natures (divine & human) was called, “the hypostatic union.” Jesus’ nature as a man was then deceptively
altered, so that eventually he became accepted by most as, “perfect God and
perfect man.”
From the first thru third
centuries AD, so-called ‘church fathers’ borrowed heavily from Greek philosophy
and religion, woven together with the Greek New Testament to create a unique
form of Christology in a false teaching now called, ‘the dual nature of
Christ.’ The mixture of false
Christology and theological concepts borrowed from the Greco-Roman pantheon and
the Bible were eventually embodied in creed form, by Roman Catholic Church
theologians using of terms like “triune, Trinity, Three Person of God, etc,” to
redefine God’s name and nature. These
polytheistic terms and words are found nowhere in scripture, yet the majority
of born-again Christian churches today use them routinely and unknowingly
affirm the Roman Catholic Church creeds from whence they originate as being,
“sacred.” However, the use of said
verbiage is disgusting in the eyes of the Eternal Creator, Who IS the one, and
only true God of the Scriptures.
There is much to learn,
especially concerning church history.
There are 2000+ years that have elapsed since Jesus died and rose from
the dead, and most of that time, the Roman Catholic Church has heavily
influenced what Christian churches do and don’t believe, including the doctrine
of the Trinity. Below I have pasted The
Athanasian Creed for you to read, since this creed is where the word and
doctrine of the trinity began. After
reading this creed, ask yourself, which parts does your church believe in, and
which parts do they reject?
The Athanasian Creed
“Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith: which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled: without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic faith is this: that we worship one God in a Trinity, and Trinity in unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all One: the glory equal, the Majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Ghost uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated, nor three incomprehensibles, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet they are not three Gods, but One God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords, but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by Christian verity to acknowledge every person by Himself to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say, there are three Gods or three Lords. The Father is made of none: neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son: neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another. But the whole three persons are coeternal together and coequal. So that in all things, as aforementioned: the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.
Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation, that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man. God of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man of the substance of His mother, born in the world. Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood. Who, although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ; One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God. One altogether; not by confusion of Substance, but by Unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ; who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies; and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire. This is the Catholic Faith: which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.”
Most Christian churches will
say they believe in a trinity that differs from the Roman Catholic Church
trinity, and though technically, the trinity teaches three gods, the average
born-again believer that believes in the trinity will deny this. In other words, they compartmentalize their
beliefs; on one hand they accept that God is, “three Persons, Father, Son &
Holy Spirit,” and on the other hand, He is only One God. Go figure.
I’m warning you ahead of time, this topic is very hot, and if you tell
other Christians you reject the term trinity because it’s not in scripture,
you’re going to get an earful! I
decided for myself many years ago, to base all of my teaching upon the
scriptures alone, and that supplementary terms would never usurp the final
authority of scripture. It’s less
confusing, but requires that a believer walk a lonelier path at times.
2. So my second is, to whom
do you refer and which individual person are you pin pointing in your
description, “…televangelists like you-know-who?”
I’d rather not say, just because I have made it my policy not to
attack people by name, but rather, by what they say and do. It’s not that I’m afraid of mentioning the
names of charismatic crooks out there, but you can find all kinds of web sites
that are attacking by name. I do not want
the bulk of what I do for God to be wasted on trying to point out the faults of
others. I realize the scripture
commands us to “expose” those whose deeds are contrary to scripture, but I
believe each individual believer must decide and be certain he or she is led of
God.
I also recognize how deeply hurt people are due to the destruction
they have experienced or witnessed in the lives of their family and friends,
who follow these false teachings, and foolishly throw away their lives and
money because they believe what greedy, fanatical, and covertly deceptive
wolves in sheep’s clothing say. Rather
than name people, I would rather discuss what they say, teach and do. If you have questions related to these
areas, I’m happy to share freely.
For example, I am opposed to the teaching and ministry of those
who promote the “prosperity” message, knowing they are false teachers, whose
lives are corrupt, and whose motives are inwardly evil. If you want their names, simply find your
local Christian television programs broadcast daily. These are, for the most part, workers of iniquity, and I have
witnessed firsthand many times, what their nefarious ways do to destroy the
lives of Christians. The best policy is
to follow the scripture, and make decisions based upon the truth, no matter
what you see others doing. Let me share
some scriptures that really help me discern when I face situations such as you
are dealing with presently:
Luke 6:27-28, 31-36 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do
good to those who hate you, bless those who
curse you, pray for those who mistreat you… Treat
others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit
is that to you? For even sinners love
those who love them. If you do good to
those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is
that to you? Even sinners lend to
sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting
nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and
you will be sons of the Most High; for
He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be
merciful, JUST AS your Father is merciful.” (Also, read Luke
6:37-45)
John 7:24 Be honest in your judgment and do not decide at a glance (superficially and by appearances); but judge fairly and righteously. Amplified Bible
1 Corinthians 13:1-8a If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears ALL things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures ALL things. Love NEVER fails. New American Standard Bible - Updated Edition
Now, I ask you, after reading these few but powerful scriptures,
can you see the reason why I reply to you as I have done? Do we as believers truly LIVE what we
preach, or are we Christians in name only?
I cannot pass judgment upon those I disagree with publicly without, in
some way violating these scriptures. I
must abide by what my heart and mind have committed to, which is obedience to
scripture’s commands.
Please don’t misconstrue what I say as wavering or
being hesitant to expose the greedy and avaricious wolves that prey upon
God’s children in the form of “Christian ministry.” I know they are out there, and I am aware of the very evil they
promote. There are times, when God does
call His children to expose evil workers, disguised as ministers of light. For example, consider this passage:
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. New International Version
Jesus himself warned there
would come false prophets and false teachers, so we must be vigilant and do our
best to protect the sheep God has put into our care. On the other hand, some Christians make themselves out to be
self-appointed, “heresy hunters,” and these men and women can be every bit as
evil and vicious as the ones they are allegedly trying to unmask! I find the passage of scripture in Ephesians
chapter five extremely helpful in directing my path in these areas:
Ephesians 5:5-17 For of this you can be sure:
No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any
inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such
things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore, do not be partners with
them. For you were once darkness, but
now you are light in the Lord. Live as children
of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness
and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather
EXPOSE them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in
secret. But everything exposed by the
light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O
sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Be very careful, then, how YOU live —
not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the
days are evil. Therefore, do not be
foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. New International Version
Isn’t
that an awesome passage of scripture?
Notice, we are to, “… find out what pleases the Lord and we are to have
nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather EXPOSE
them.” The tricky part is finding what
God’s will is, but the key is using SCRIPTURE, not our own opinion, or our own
hurt and pain. Yes, by all means,
EXPOSE what is evil. And how are we, in
a general way, supposed to accomplish this task? Simply being, “very careful, then, how YOU live.” Is our calling as followers of Jesus to be consumed with a
ministry of wrath and anger, with no room for sharing
the gospel, caring for the lost and hurting?
Okay, on to your next question:
3. My third is a two-part
curiosity and personal question; to begin with, do you have a church that you
attend? I have seen the effects of, “religion,” and the negative effects
that legalism has on a person, particularly since my own husband is one of
them. Part two of my question is next;
somehow, I get this idea that maybe you might stand alone, and I was wondering
if that is true?
I’ve been a born-again believer
in God thru Jesus Christ since 1973, at which time I first attended a small
home Bible study, after the man that led me to the Lord invited me to
attend. The first night there, (it was
held every Friday evening), during the closing prayer time, I first heard
people speaking in other tongues. Of
course, I had no clue whatsoever, and these were very charismatic charismatics,
if you follow my drift! They all stood
there, hands raised straight up in the air, eyes closed tight, and ‘man-o-man’
sister, these folks were a talkin’ away in tongues!
Not wanting to give myself away
in this tiny group of about 20 adults, and reasoning within my own mind this
couldn’t go on forever, I decided to ‘follow suit’ and make-believe. So therewith I closed my eyes, (sorta), and
I raised my hands, (kinda), and just listened, figuring this would satisfy the
curiosity of anyone who might suspect I didn’t know what in the world was
happening and start getting nosey. As I
stood there listening intently, it sounded to me like they were talking in
Russian, or some eastern Europe dialect, but not German.
I took German language classes
in High School, and I knew what it sounded like. The next thing I know, I’m asked to stop praying in tongues,
because the people that hosted the Bible study at their home wanted to go to
bed. I had been praying in unknown
tongues for nearly 1 ½ hours! This
experience happened to me in a Sovereign way, and I have felt God’s peace and
power the same way I did back then in 1973 ever since.
My wife and I don’t believe in
the concept of organized ‘church’ or in a form of fellowship that is founded in
structured religion, per say. We have a
weekly home fellowship, which some Christians refer to as, “House church.” The time of day and week that we meet is
basically the same, but there is not a prearranged venue, nor do we have
sermons preached by one man, while others sit and passively listen.
I’ve been on both sides of the
fence, in terms of attending an organized church, with all the usual trimmings,
including a senior pastor, board of elders and deacons, ushers, church
building, praise and worship thru music and singing, clapping hands, jumping up
and down, and even dancing! I’m certainly
not, what it seems to you, a ‘loner’ (the stereotype doesn’t fit me). I’ve always been people oriented, but the
past few years, poor health has kept me from the socializing and fellowship I
so enjoy. If I was healthy, you’d
probably have a hard time picking me out in any given church service setting.
If you’ve never stepped outside of the comfort zone, then you tend
to get ‘comfortable’ right where you are.
It’s not uncommon for those whose church attendance is routine to even
get to Sunday morning services early enough to ‘reserve’ their favorite seat in
the house! A few times in my many years
of attending said church services, I have even witnessed a few people get upset
because someone took “my seat.” Oh Lord,
help us!
Notably characteristic among
those who do attend a structured form of church, whenever they encounter a
fellow Christian believer, typically the first thing they inquire about is,
“What church to you attend?” Hmmm. Without consciously doing so, they are
‘checking you out’ just to make sure you fit within the confines and parameters
of what they consider to be safely ‘Christian.’
We fellowship with Christians
from all walks, whether they do or don’t attend ‘church,’ based on one simple
and common denominator… JESUS! Because
they are God’s children, we LOVE to be with them. I could take my past experience, and my wife’s Th.B, (she has a
degree, actually two of them; I’m a Bible College flunkyJ) and we could find a nice little pastorate somewhere, and
settle down into a Christian comfort zone, but this is not what God called us
to do. His spirit has led us to help
the poor, the broken, the hurting, the addict, the pregnant teen, the single
mom, the inner-city family, and so on.
That’s where we find the heart of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Christ
of God working.
We are not affiliated with any
particular church or church denomination, although we belong to a small
fellowship of born-again Christians that fellowship once each week here in
Western Washington State, and have done so for the past 12+ years. Before that, I was a licensed minister in a
non-denomination charismatic church, much like the one you currently attend I’m
certain. My passion has always been to
help others, so I have done a lot of street outreach type evangelism, working
with various ministries and churches over the years.
I was involved full-time in
campus evangelism with New Life Ministries on the University of Washington
during a huge spiritual revival from 1980 thru 1983. I was a chaplain with the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship
International for a few years, and God used me to help some of the men there
get on fire for God, speak in tongues, and ultimately, a few brothers got
involved with outreach (airlift ministries) to Uganda, Rwanda, etc by God’s
grace. They continue to reach out to
these ravaged parts of Africa with the love of God and the mercy expressed thru
Jesus Christ.
For another season in days gone
by, a Christian brother and myself got involved in the early beginnings of
Promise Keepers with Bill McCartney and Randy Phillips, as they were starting a
men’s ministry several years ago.
Promise Keepers is a men’s ministry for individual and group
accountability in churches. We showed
films and organized meetings, and early on, it was awesome to see pastors from
all kinds of churches come to meetings in Oregon and Washington.
One of Bill McCartney’s goals
for Promise Keepers, aside from men’s groups, was to break down walls of racism
that exists and is pervasive in Christendom today, and that’s how I was drawn
to be a part of this organization. As a
child, I was raised in southern California during the racial tensions of the
60’s, witnessing the Watts riots, and watched entire cities burned and people
killing each other because of skin color!
Once I got saved, and turned my life over to Jesus Christ, I repented of
ever having racism in my life or attitudes and vowed to God I would do whatever
He asked me to make a difference. After awhile I unplugged from Promise
Keepers, when the organization got too big and I moved on. God has led me thru many types of ministry
opportunities.
In 1996, I went thru multiple
surgeries for injuries on the job, and have lived in severe chronic pain since,
limiting my mobility and interaction face to face with other believers, but I’m
not a loner.
4. My fourth last and final
question, (I promise), what do you think of Hank Hanegraaff?
I think I covered this question
earlier, but if not, I choose not to name names and my personal feelings are
not what matters. I’m vigorously
opposed to the heresy hunting and branding of other Christians as being,
“cults,” simply because of the differences we have in theology and doctrine.
Well, that’s it Stephen, I hope
you feel I answered your questions. I
plan to use this email to help others online, who may have similar questions
and concerns.
Love in Jesus,
Craigo (my nickname)
Craig
Bluemel - The Bible Answer Stand Ministry
1 Peter 3:15 Always be ready to
give a logical defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope that is
in you, but do it courteously and respectfully.
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