Walk With Me
Christian discussion of biblical topics, and a dose of daily application. Yes the Bible is still relevant, and we find out more and more each day how relevant it has always been.
Walk With Me
The God Manifested- the truth about Oneness-I
Hello everybody, welcome to today's episode of Walk With Me. I am your host, jj. So good to have each and every one of you here. So good to have every one of you who are following this program and sharing this podcast, talking about it, sending me questions, and trust me when I tell you I love the questions and, as a matter of fact, I do love the question so much that it actually generates additional study. I I really like it when people try to confound me with the question and that's really lovely because it helps me and which, in turn, helps you. So I trust me when I tell you send me all your questions to walk with me bible studyestudy at gmail. I really mean it and we're going to be starting with a question today.
Speaker 1:Well, basically, what happened is I got a question and it started a hole because I wanted to thoroughly explain it and I don't care how many times I get the same question. Don't go back, because we've got four years worth of podcast episodes. Don't go back and try to look for any particular episode that you might've heard me talk about, a question that you might have. It doesn't matter. Send it to me. Listen, I can teach this. I can go over this. I can talk about this all day, every day. You know, it's just. I love doing it, love studying the Word of God, and I hope that I am a help to somebody out there who has questions and just wants to know a little bit more truth.
Speaker 1:Okay, so what we're going to talk about today? Oh, before we get started with that, I got to give my shout-outs. Shout-outs to Juvar Cicricist for the intro and outro. Shout-out to Exquisite Creations. We have our new Tumblr. I can't wait to put it on the website so I can give you all the link. Thank you all so much, and thank you for her sister doing something. I'm still waiting to find out the finished product on that, but I am very patient and I know she has other projects that she's working on. So love each and every one of you. Thank you all, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for my big, my listeners outside of the US.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to name your countries because I know one. If I start naming some countries and forget others, then you feel a little slighted and I don't want you to do that. But the biggest reason is that I know that some of you are listening in places that doesn't accept the word of God very well. You know what I mean, so I'm not going to get you in trouble, but I thank you all for that. One more big thing before we get started If you do have a question and you want your name to be used in the in the episode, like you want me to say, hey, johnny, thank you for the question, and if you turn to this page and I, like you, want me to just have a conversation with you, with other people listening, sort of then just go ahead and put your name in the subject line of the email that you send me. If not, then that that's fine. I will assume that you don't want your name to be read or mentioned, and there's reasons for that too, and I understand that. So it's not a big deal. I'm not going to ask you to hold, subscribe and pay and all that stuff. Subscribe for free. Salvation is free, except Jesus paid for it, right? So no further ado.
Speaker 1:We're going to get into our lesson today. What we're going to talk about? We're going to talk about the oneness of God. Now, I know that a lot of people probably just heard that and went what? And maybe you might even turn this podcast off. You may not continue this podcast, and it is what it is.
Speaker 1:But there are a lot of things going around and there's a lot of doctrine. There are three main doctrines we have. There are three main doctrines. You have the Trinitarian doctrine, which generally describes God or Godhead as three distinct and separate persons. And then you have sort of a triunitarian sort of God, which is three distinct gods but they're all sort of together. They're not distinct and separate, but they're distinct and joined together in one sort of centralized god. And then you have the oneness of God, which is one god which is manifesting in different, different methods, different methods or different examples or different scenarios. The same God is coming through in different manifestations. So what we're going to talk about is the oneness of God, because this is the type of deity that the Bible supports.
Speaker 1:Now, the difference in this whole thing and understanding who God is is the definition of person. Now, I know that sounds weird, but you know, some understand person to mean like a or appearance or a visible expression. You see your friend, you see your uncle, you see your dad, you see your mom. That's a person. Now, if we accept the definition, then God, the Father is not a person, because the Bible clearly says he is a spirit. I really try not to get ahead of myself. So, on the other hand, if we understand person to be associated with a personality, like a self-consciousness or determination or individuality, then the God, the Father, is a person.
Speaker 1:However, this doesn't make two or three persons in the Godhead. There's only one God. Let's settle that right away. There's only one God, there's only one personality of the deity, and this is the same personality, that is one and the same whether you're talking about Jehovah in the Old Testament or Jesus in the New Testament. So then you ask yourself what is the personality of God? So then you ask yourself what is the personality of God?
Speaker 1:Now, in both Old Testament and the New Testament, man is able to have a fellowship with God, he's able to talk to God and he's able to have communion with his maker. And we must never think of God as being just some sort of impersonal force of nature. That's how I kind of grew up. God was on this big, he was sitting on the plow with a box of lightning bolts ready to zap me out of existence. And this is not God, because he was a personal God and he manifested himself and he blessed to die for it. Such is the kind of personality, but he is still one God. He's one divine person. The best way to kind of bring that down to a way that we can understand is kind of look at us Because, remember, god made man in his own image, right? So even though the titles Father, son and Holy Ghost are freely used in the scriptures, it doesn't make them three persons or three different gods. The Bible does declare that the Father, son and Holy Ghost is one person John 1, john 5 and 7.
Speaker 1:But let's pause right here. I know I have not mentioned this rule in a few weeks. This rule has not changed and will not ever change, will never change the rule of this podcast we're going to talk if, if I throw a scripture out there, because of the sake of time, I want to give you one verse, two verses, always. I don't care if it's nine verses, it always be the verse or two above what we talk about and a verse or two below what we talk about, or preferably the whole chapter. That is the only rule of this podcast. Everything else I just appreciate. But the reason why this is a rule is because context is key and I don't want to be misleading anyone, like I had been misled by taking a verse or two out of context and then building an entire doctrine around it. So when we talk about things like that, I really, really want everyone to get into that habit.
Speaker 1:For example, if I say 1 John 5 and 7, go ahead and read 1 John 5, just because you want it, in context of what the writer is talking about at that time. So 1 John 5 and 7, there are three that bear record in heaven the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost. These three are one, not three separate people, not three sort of Siamese gods joined at the hip, but these are one God. Now, to understand it, remember God made man in his own image. I said that a few moments ago. This is where this becomes very plain. He is spirit, we are spirit, soul and body, but we are one person and we are one person and we have one name. This doesn't make us three different people. Even I could say to myself hey, I am a husband, I am a son and I am a brother. These are all just titles.
Speaker 1:Again, but if I wrote a check for a million dollars and signed it husband, son, brother and if ticket to the bank, the bank will laugh at you and say there's no name here. Because there's no name. And the name is the power. The name gives you the authority to cash that check and take that money out of my account. So this everyday scenario gives us examples and empowerment of what the name really means or why the name is important. So no, holy Ghost is not a name. It's capitalized to symbolize the deity of God. Father is not a name. Same title, same situation, god same. It is merely that they capitalized to show the differences between the one true God and idol gods that men worship.
Speaker 1:I'm trying not to get ahead of myself again. I know this is going to take more than one episode and I'm here here for it and I'm glad that you're here for it Now. 1 Timothy 3, 16. And I want you to read that. I'm only going to read the first few words of it, but this is also going to go into what we just talked about in 1 John 5, 7. And without controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, so let's talk about God being manifest Now.
Speaker 1:People like the Amplified New Testament. I like the New Living Translation because it tends to be a little bit harsher on the language, but the New Testament, in the Amplified, reads he was made visible in human flesh. Now, this is one of the key verses that can only be understood by revelation. Now, when I say revelation, I'm not talking about the book of Revelation, I mean spiritual revealing to you, and it has to be understood. It has to be understood. We're going to be understanding and grasping what God is saying, or what the apostles meant by Godhead. Now, in the past we've seen different manifestations of God in a lot of different ways, like in creation, sinai, theophanies, tabernacles. God manifested himself in a measure to man and man was able to have a certain knowledge of God. However, there's one scripture that speaks of God being manifested. We have the greatest knowledge of God ever given as far as the incarnation of Christ and the expressed image of his visible God. That's going to be Hebrews 1 and 3. Now, I'm not going to tell you that I'm going to stop and read it, but go ahead and read 1 and 3 before you continue. So, now that you've read that, just go ahead and continue that.
Speaker 1:On this thought, we should be quoting John 17 and 6. A little of divine nature is known by the works of creation. A little more was known by the Mosaic revelation. But the full manifestation of his nature, his attributes, came only through the revelation of Christ. Now that came from Adam Clark, and Adam Clark was actually discussing John 17 and 6. He was talking about it.
Speaker 1:Now I generally kind of stay away from commentaries. Only because you get the wrong commentaries they will start throwing false doctrine in there, because they start throwing opinion in there. But I find that commentary to be very, very strong. So what is the mystery of God? Let's go back to that verse. We just read 1 Timothy 3.16. What is the mystery of God? Let's go back to that verse. We just read 1 Timothy 3.16.
Speaker 1:What is the mystery of God? The mystery of God is God manifesting himself in the flesh. This is because flesh has always been associated with iniquity and the mystery is that in this flesh that is full of iniquity and the mystery is that in this place that is full of iniquity, it was also manifesting itself as God. These are contrasted in the scripture because man has his choice. If he doesn't accept the mystery of godliness, he will be compelled to accept the mystery of iniquity. I know that sounds a little weird, it sounds a little confusing and basically, if you don't, if you, okay, let's talk about something that we see in the world a lot, especially lately.
Speaker 1:You see that there's a movement out there Just for the sake of being nice, I'm going to call it the Purdy Movement Because they want to water down and eliminate the message of Jesus. They're saying that Jesus is one of them, that Jesus was confused about how he was born and how he lived, and so they are basically assigning the iniquity of our manly flesh, which is what Jesus was, was God manifest in the flesh. They're assigning that iniquity, they're assigning that propensity of sin to Jesus because they're trying to assuage you, or anybody else who may be on the fence of fighting this thing, to just go hard and surrender to it, because Jesus was this way too, which is an absolute lie. I know it is. It's an absolute lie, but I have seen many signs at some of these marches and rallies that proudly proclaim it, and it's about as close to blasphemy as you can get that I would be even willing to, you know, touch it on those waters. As you notice, I haven't really quoted the signs, but these signs are out there and they're blasphemous. They're absolutely blasphemous, but basically they are assigning the iniquity of the flesh to Jesus. Instead of Jesus is God manifesting in the iniquity of flesh. I hope that is a little bit clearer. If not, send me a question and let me know. I'll go back and revisit and try to pull it out a little more. Now here's the word. Now in the Greek word they call it loke, which is the logic, the word, the thought.
Speaker 1:John 1 and 1 deals with that. We're still talking about. The oneness of God In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. This is John 1 and 1.
Speaker 1:If you have a Bible written by a certain organization, they changed John 1 and 1 and put the word was a God and basically that destroys the entire Bible and it literally creates a separate God. Now you have four of them and there was one person in that organization that had attempted to convert me when I first got the Holy Ghost and we wrestled that one scripture for a month before I actually picked up my own Bible and looked at it because he was showing it to me in his book and I knew that there was only one, god. But he kept showing me this scripture and I'm like how do I not know this? This is why, walters, I'm telling you it is very important. Two things, two things Get an accurate translation of the Bible.
Speaker 1:You want my recommendations King James Amplified, new Living Translation. There's a couple other ones that are really good, but those are the only ones I ever deal with, just because there's so many different wordings and all you have to do is insert a letter and it changes the entire meaning. Those are the versions that I stick to. Now, this word is translated from the Greek Logos. We talked about Logos. Now what that means is not only the expression of an inward thought, but also the thought itself. Now, the word may be better left not translated, but for the sake of understanding, we might attempt to find the meaning of this word Logos, because that's important.
Speaker 1:We might say that the meaning of logos is deity, expressed In other words, only in this case, this is God thinking and saying a thing. This is what the word is. In other words, logos is the expression of the invisible God, and just is the way we think and express ourselves. That thinking cannot be separated from us and, in essence, it's a part of our very being, not another person. So it is with God. What are you saying?
Speaker 1:Jj, one of the philosophers I don't want to misquote her, maybe it's Shakespeare, maybe somebody else but she said as a man thinketh, so he is we think, so we are. The Bible says as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. This is the same concept and we can't separate. We can separate ourselves from a thought, but we cannot separate a thought from us, because that thing is what we created. We thought it out, we said it.
Speaker 1:It's out there, one of the things we get into so much trouble with in the world. We get into an argument with somebody, we let our tongue fly, we say words. Those words can never come back. We just want to take them back. We wish he'd never said them. Those words are now us, and if you hurt somebody enough with your words, whenever they see you they won't even think about any of the good things that you've done, but only the words that you have said.
Speaker 1:And this kind of cuts quick to me too. Sometimes I get on social media and I'm debating something and I get real touchy sometimes, and it's something that I have to work on, I have to repent on. But it's something that we have to do because our words, the words that we have come together with and our thoughts that we have come together with and our thoughts that we have come out with, they are us. They're not separate from us. Just if I say I can't create another JJ and be sitting at Golden Corral while I'm doing this podcast, I can't do that, and God you know why? Because God didn't do that either. God fills the universe. There's no need for him to create another God. So the word of God is God. So that comes into a dual nature of what Jesus was. Jesus as an incarnation possessed a dual nature. What Jesus was. Jesus as an incarnation possessed a dual nature, which was divinity and humanity.
Speaker 1:And a lot of times if you're reading the Bible, it's kind of difficult. If you're just reading it from sort of a novelistic perspective, it's very difficult to understand the difference between the humanity and the deity. A good example that people like to point to that they use as an attempt to discuss three gods is who was Jesus praying to God and who was Jesus talking to on the cross? And if you look at it from a novelistic perspective you could think, well, he's talking to somebody else. No, this is his humanity, talking to his divinity. Now, as a human being, he was the. He was born the way god wanted people to be born. God followed all of his rules, but he was also as God, the Father. He was also able to calm storms and feed masses of monster people and shame Pharisees just by speaking, make wine, raise people from the dead. Now, many times he spoke and acted like a man, and when he spoke and acted like a father, he was acting as God.
Speaker 1:Now, once this is kind of understood, then the door is open for a clean understanding of who Jesus really is. And this is why, when you have scriptures in the Old Testament when it's talking about unto us a son is born, unto us a son is given, the government shall be on his shoulder and his name shall be called the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and then the Prince of Peace, these things even itself seem contradictory if you think you're talking about more than one person. But you're not. You're literally talking about the same God in different manifestations. So it's important to understand. Important to understand this. We're going to talk about a lot of different things when it comes to the Trinity, and we're going to stay on this subject, I think, at least for another episode.
Speaker 1:But before we close out, I want to touch base on something. Jesus was not quote-unquote the eternal son. This eternal son theory is not good. As a matter of fact, it was born out of the Trinitarian theory that sort of popped out somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd century when the Catholic Church was born. Jesus Christ in the flesh was the begotten son. Yes, absolutely, john 3.16,. God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. So if he had been begotten and eternal, that would be two different things and they would contradict each other. We would say well, jj, what about slaying from the foundation of the world? Here's where we're going to wrap up.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing with slaying from the foundation of the world what God knew. God knew from the moment, from the moment Adam sinned. Well, even before God did that, before God knew that he was going to create Adam, he knew he was going to create Eve. He knew that Eve was going to be deceived. He knew that Adam was not going to be deceived but was going to be sort of simping and following along with his wife. He already knew that there was a plan of salvation, that was going to be deceived but going to be sort of simping and following along with his wife. He already knew that there was a plan of salvation going to be enacted. But in order for that to happen, god did a lot of things in between to set up the why, to set up the rule of why Jesus was going to have to be crucified.
Speaker 1:So no, jesus was not the eternal son. There is no such thing as eternal son, because if there's eternal son, then there's an eternal father, then there's an eternal Holy Spirit. And while that sounds Unitarian on its face, it's clearly Trinitarian, because the manifestation of Jesus' flesh we didn't know about Did not exist before what we commonly know as the Doctrine. Now, did God make appearances? Oh, yes, god made appearances. One of the big under preached or under discussed appearances God made was when the three Hebrew men were in the fire furnace, because Nebuchadnezzar, who had never seen God we talked about it a couple weeks ago Nebuchadnezzar, who had never seen God, recognized that it was God inside the furnace with them. So we are going to talk about things like that, we're going to talk more about that.
Speaker 1:So I know we're out of time, I know I've covered a lot. I hope. If it's too much, just let me know. Send me a question. You can send me whatabouts. I love those because that means I can dig some more scriptures and we can talk about it more.
Speaker 1:This podcast is not about me getting on here and just spitting stuff for half an hour. It's about learning us you and I learning how to walk towards salvation, walk in victory, walk in being one with God. So that's what this is all about. I love each and every one of you. My time is up. My time is up. Thank you all so much for joining us. Thank you so much for being a part of this. Thank you so much for liking and sharing Some of the new listeners. I appreciate you all so much. Listen, if you go outside and you run across a random person, tell them that Jesus loves them. It might be the only positive thing they hear that day. People are hurting in this world. People are hurting and even if they look crazy, it's okay. It's a seed. It's a seed, okay. God bless each and every one of you. I hope to see you all next week.