**Blog disclaimer**..Before I begin,please understand I am not suggesting here anywhere that Jehovah's Witnesses don't rely on the death of Yahushua for their salvation and way to eternal life.This blog is more about their odd belief that their own physical deaths eradicate their sin records,which to me personally seems irreconcilable with an actual need for a Redeemer beyond themselves since it is only sin that brings death at all.JW's don't think their own deaths acquit them from Adamic sin,just their "sin record."And without one of those,who would need a redeemer?This is why their misuse of Romans 6:7 is such a huge deal.
From the NWT:
Romans 6:7:For he who has died has been acquitted from his sin
Let's see what the WT has to say about this text(here beginning with a reference to resurrected ones being judged):
"How will returning ones be “judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds”? These scrolls are not the record of their past deeds; when they died, they were acquitted of the sins they committed during their lifetime. (Romans 6:7, 23) However, resurrected humans will still be under Adamic sin."~ WT 7/1/1998
The WT also says,from the Insight book vol. 1 under "Declare Righteous" :"The apostle Paul states that the person who dies is “acquitted [form of di·kai·o′o] from his sin,” having paid the penalty of death.—Ro 6:7, 23."
So the WT says that *our own* deaths acquit us from sin then say that we aren't free from it after all,still being under Adamic sin even after being raised.Interesting.
First of all,this is probably not the best translation of this verse,considering the Greek word the WT translates as "acquit" more properly means "freed."
The most important thing we can do here is heed the larger context from the ESV before we go any further.Not only will doing so make it clear the JW's have a twisted interpretation handed to them about this verse but also reiterate to all of us how important it is to crucify our own flesh and live for God.The correct interpretation of Romans 6:7 is not found within the WT but in context:
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
The bible,in it's immediate Romans context here, is speaking of crucifying our flesh for Christ and not living in sin any longer.Yes,a death to our flesh which frees us from the bondage of sin.When we follow Christ's model and crucify ourselves daily,living for God and His Son and their kingdom instead of our own desires and potentially corrupt will as descendants of the first Adam,we're no longer slaves to sin.It doesn't reign in our lives.We fight it and find victory in Yahushua,the Last Adam, who showed us how to live and act,the perfect blemishless model.The greatest servant of Yahuwah's who ever walked this earth.Verse 4 explicitly articulates the "death" verse 7 is talking about.A death to our own flesh and will as opposed to the actual physical perishing that the WT propagates egregiously out of context.Verse 6 ALSO makes it clear that the death in verse 7 is a "crucifying" of our own flesh,not an actual physical death.Verse 8 sums it up when it says "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him."This means that we die to sin and live in the spirit!
Galatians 2:20 says:I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
And Romans 8:10 says:But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
These scriptures provide elaboration on the old self and flesh being that which figuratively dies in correlation with Romans 6:7 and it's surrounding context.So we must heed these texts and die to our flesh as we live in the spirit,again.Let's see more of what the WT has to say about Romans 6:7:
" The death state is used to illustrate the spiritually dead condition of the world in general, so Jesus could speak of ‘the dead burying the dead,’ and the apostle Paul could refer to the woman living for sensual gratification as “dead though she is living.” (Lu 9:60; 1Ti 5:6; Eph 2:1) And since physical death discharges one from any debts or obligations existing up to that time (Ro 6:7), a Christian’s being freed or liberated from sin (Ro 6:2, 11) and from the condemnation of the Mosaic Law (Ro 7:2-6) is also likened to death, such one having ‘died’ to his former situation and obligations. The one figuratively dying in such a way, of course, is still alive physically and is now free to follow Christ as a slave to righteousness.—Ro 6:18-20; Ga 5:1. Insight vol 1 under heading "Death"
So basically what we have here is the WT admitting that "death" in scripture often entails a figurative one(one example they gave was "the dead burying the dead") and not a physical one,determined according to context and reason of course.Yet within the very same paragraph and thought process,they say Romans 6:7 is actually speaking of a physical death instead of a figurative one even though any honest examination of the context would reveal the opposite!Amazing.
Of course no one's ABLE to physically breathe or move,much less commit sin when they're physically dead.But the WT is propagating an actual acquittal from any of it by OUR own physical deaths.
This particular ridiculous WT dogma(and I say dogma because, to put it in their own words,their "entire range of teachings" no matter how bizarre or unbiblical must be believed to supposedly be an acceptable Christian)would absolutely mean that our own deaths free us from sin instead of the death of Yahuwah's spotless and perfectly righteous Lamb.Something we do(namely,simply dying) would instead be what we would be crediting for removing our sin and sanctifying us.Blasphemous really.We should never look to anything we've done as if it could actually cleanse or save us.Only what Christ has done accomplishes that!We then as Christians should of course proceed to follow Yahushua's model and crucify our flesh and its desires,dying to sin.
1 Peter 4:1-2 says: Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
If you're a JW teaching this false notion to others ,that simply sleeping in a grave can eradicate your record of sin,it is time to repent of this lie.The bible says the unrighteous will be resurrected and each one will have to pay according to the deeds that they have done in this life if they did not exercise faith in the Messiah.The righteous who did exercise faith in Yahushua will inherit his glory and an everlasting kingdom.The rest will have to suffer God's wrath against their sin because God is perfectly holy and just.We're all criminals against God's wise and beneficial laws, so anyone who doesn't accept the acquittal offered only in our glorious redeemer in whom solely is found life must justly pay for their own sin accordingly because of not accepting HIS payment.
Yes,please beware everyone:
Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.(see also 2 Corinthians 11:15)
Romans 2:5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.
6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.
Notice there is no hint in these texts about these deeds for which the unrighteous will suffer God's wrath being those which they do AFTER being resurrected.That has to be read INTO the text,and it is by the the WT,dangerously and unjustifiably.
Yahuwah demonstrated His wrath against sin on His Son.Agony and torture leading to death.Only in the second death,the lake of fire, there can be no resurrection.But like the first death,it certainly doesn't "acquit" us from sin or those who suffer it would have no reason to be held by it.Because lack of sin would mean life.Death may be *payment* and a *consequence* for sin,but it certainly isn't an acquittal or no one could be held by it because Yahuwah desires to give everlasting life to anyone who exercises faith in Him and his Messiah,anyone free from sin.Those who don't have that saving obedient faith in the Lord aren't acquitted from their sins just because they have slept in a grave.Again,the bible makes it crystal clear that there will be payment for the unrighteous in the resurrection according to their deeds.Which obviously means their physical deaths didn't save them from such even though those deaths are a natural *consequence*(as opposed to an acquittal) from Adamic sin.
A serious question about this WT teaching would be:
If you're freed from your sins just because you have died,then how is it that *even* the second death itself won't demand another resurrection since it would merit sinlessness for those who experience it?(that is if death erases a record of sin)In other words,if an individual's perishing acquits that one from any sin they've ever committed,then Yahuwah would have no right to not raise every sinner even from the second death and say "well you paid and now you are acquitted and may live forever with everyone else."Because naturally an acquittal from sin would equal eternal life since it is only sin that brings a consequence of death.Freedom from it means life.In the WT world,everyone,for simply perishing should be acquitted of sin and hence free to live forever.Nonsensical,of course.There would have been no real reason for Christ to have had to die since *our own* physical deaths can free us in the world of the WT.
This WT dogma would naturally give JW's and those who believe their teachings a false sense of security that it doesn't really matter what they do ultimately,that their own deaths will acquit them of any wrongdoing or sin.Though that may be comforting,it is false and deceiving,which is never ok.Though the JW's may not be able to see it without some critical thinking outside the governing body's dictates,this false doctrine they have would logically lead to universalism because all it would take is a perishing on any individual's part then they're clean in God's eyes.Look to Christ's death for salvation and redemption,not your own.Obey Christ and don't think physical death can eradicate all the evil deeds you have done.Only faith in Yahushua and in HIS death and resurrection as well as a subsequent crucifying of our own flesh IN Yahushua can.
Thanks be to God for the opportunity to live for something greater than a world that's passing away and vain or harmful pursuits.We have a purpose here.To crucify our flesh and live for God looking forward to a glory so extraordinary that to do it justice in trying to articulate it in human terms would inevitably fall short.Now is the time for ALL of us to make our lives ALL about loving God and fellow man,preparing ourselves and others for the eternal kingdom of Yahuwah and his Messiah!!Not removing ourselves from the world of course,but nevertheless feeling like foreigners in it as we maintain an eagle eye focus on the kingdom of God and His righteousness and bringing it alive to others in the spirit.We certainly don't need an organization or a class of supposedly especially gifted men to do this.Only God,His Son,and love.
In conclusion,Romans 6:7 is about dying to our own fleshly will and hence no longer having sin reign in our mortal bodies.Yes,dying to it.This is NOT what the WT teaches though it's what the context makes clear.A couple last texts here to further summarize Romans 6:7 for Jehovah's Witnesses:
Galatians 5:24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
2 Corinthians 5:17:So if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new:
So what,in context,in Romans 6:7 and also according to many correlating texts,"dies" by getting "crucified" and "passing away?"
Answer:the old man,the flesh,our own will
And then what does that lead to?
Answer:Freedom from bondage to sin
Yes he who has (figuratively) "died" is free from sin!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Is Elohim plural?A trinity issue
This is a pretty good presentation from youtube user onedropatl.His ultimate explanation of Genesis 1:26 in video 2 here is only ONE possibility,however.There are a few possible interpretations that I may share in a future blog.He may very well be right.Just can't be dogmatic about it personally.What is super valuable here,especially,is his articulation of Hebraic concepts in relation to the plurality of certain Hebrew words and what it means.Enjoy!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Jesus wants you to know the Father by Joel Hemphill
Just one of MANY good sermons found on :
http://www.21stcr.org
Please visit the site to see new uploads,sermons,articles etc..monthly.It is a site dedicated to declaring the One God and Kingdom of God message worldwide.Glory be to God Most High Yahuwah THROUGH His servant and Son Yahushua the Messiah.Thy Kingdom come!!The folks at 21st Century Reformation may not endorse all my beliefs and I may not endorse *all* theirs.But what we share is a strong and uncompromising biblically based belief in One God (who made His Son Lord & king) and in the dire importance of proclaiming the kingdom of God.(Matt 24:14)
Read your bible.Listen to Yahushua.And trust him alone.If a preacher says anything to you that Yahushua didn't(like perhaps that he's the same God as the One he himself worships),then don't believe that preacher.Let God be found true though every man be a liar!!Don't interpret everything in the bible in light of a possible misuse of a literal few texts.Let the majority and the obvious speak THEN deal with the few precarious or ambiguous texts.Milk first!:)
I know some of you are going to have a problem with Hemphill saying Peter and a couple others only ever used "God" for the father.What you have to understand though is his use of logic.If a writer uses a certain term for someone *countless* times then out of nowhere someone tells you that he has used it like he never had before but the grammar is ambiguous with more than one possible interpretation, then the reasonable thing to do would be to recognize that the grammar,if it could go either way,would *probably* end up on the side of how that writer has spoken consistently.
http://www.21stcr.org
Please visit the site to see new uploads,sermons,articles etc..monthly.It is a site dedicated to declaring the One God and Kingdom of God message worldwide.Glory be to God Most High Yahuwah THROUGH His servant and Son Yahushua the Messiah.Thy Kingdom come!!The folks at 21st Century Reformation may not endorse all my beliefs and I may not endorse *all* theirs.But what we share is a strong and uncompromising biblically based belief in One God (who made His Son Lord & king) and in the dire importance of proclaiming the kingdom of God.(Matt 24:14)
Read your bible.Listen to Yahushua.And trust him alone.If a preacher says anything to you that Yahushua didn't(like perhaps that he's the same God as the One he himself worships),then don't believe that preacher.Let God be found true though every man be a liar!!Don't interpret everything in the bible in light of a possible misuse of a literal few texts.Let the majority and the obvious speak THEN deal with the few precarious or ambiguous texts.Milk first!:)
I know some of you are going to have a problem with Hemphill saying Peter and a couple others only ever used "God" for the father.What you have to understand though is his use of logic.If a writer uses a certain term for someone *countless* times then out of nowhere someone tells you that he has used it like he never had before but the grammar is ambiguous with more than one possible interpretation, then the reasonable thing to do would be to recognize that the grammar,if it could go either way,would *probably* end up on the side of how that writer has spoken consistently.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Is Jesus the Beginning and the End?(a Revelation 22:13 issue)
Revelation 22:12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Most Christians will tell you that Yahushua is speaking here.I will be honest from the get go.I have no idea.The speakers change in Revelation constantly.Reasoning why I think it's very possible that he is NOT speaking here:
In verse 16 Yahushua says "“I, Jesus," and there are only two other times this occurs in Revelation.It is with John and BOTH times John is BEGINNING to speak,not continuing to speak.(one example is verse 8 in the same chapter.The other instance of this construct is in Rev. 1:9)So if we are to follow that precedent then it would mean Yahushua is beginning to speak in verse 16,not before.I have seen some commentaries and reasoning from Christians who think it's the angel speaking,following from verse 9 on.This would make sense because in Revelation 1 :1 it says this:
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John."
So ultimately,God GAVE this entire revelation to Yahushua who gave it to an angel who gave it to John.It is God speaking ultimately through the agency of others.I guess this would mean that even if Yahushua is speaking in verse 12 that it could be God speaking through him,as he has done through angels and prophets in the past.Again,Yahuwah had to *give* the revelation to Yahushua!In no way can an omniscient Almighty God be GIVEN something and he be either Almighty OR omniscient.Though Yahushua has been *given* all power,looks like it's still being upheld consistently by his own God.It would also be the case for the angel as well(*if* it is the angel speaking in verse 12,following from verse 9) that it is ultimately Yahuwah speaking though Yahushua through the angel to John because we all know the angel isn't the Alpha and the Omega,which means the beginning and the end.
What I'm going to do here regardless is present a case as to why Yahushua could very well be called the Beginning and the End in a separate application to him as to that of his father.It could be the same reason we *know* without a doubt that he is called the First and the Last.Not because he's Yahuwah,but,*in context*(which needs obviously to be what we heed determinedly when interpreting)always has to do with his death and resurrection as opposed to his never having a beginning and never dying at all!
Revelation 2:8:These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who *died and came to life again.*
Trust me when I say that a God who cannot die cannot be brought back to life again either.Yahushua did not say that only a portion of him died or that he was awake (or alive)while he was dead.
Revelation 1:17:I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; *I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!* And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Notice in BOTH instances the context is his death and resurrection.God cannot die,obviously.So Yahushua is the FIRSTBORN(the first) from the **dead** and is now gifted an immortal life and one who can GIVE immortal lives to others like his father can.This is why he is so termed a life giving spirit..it has to do with the spirit in his glorified body being one which gives life to the world by the power,allowance,and decree of God.(1 Cor. 15:45,Romans 6:23)The *last* has to do with both his inability to ever perish again and all things now being upheld by and in and through him.He's the last directly raised by Yah as all others will be by & through him.Also,he is one of a kind like his father is.As the uniquely begotten heir and savior of the world.The First and Last of his kind.But to stay safely strictly within context,it has to do with his death and resurrection.And we must,again,heed the qualification of the context and not just throw it away so that we won't have to recognize the qualification for the threat it is to our own ideas.
from http://www.nazarene-friends.org/magazines/1999/1999-01.htm#OMEGA:
"A check of the context shows this “First and Last” was with definite limitations, was relative to just the matter of Christ Jesus’ death and resurrection, as verse 18 shows. Christ was the first one raised in the first resurrection, and the last one that will be raised directly by Jehovah God. Others who follow in that resurrection will be raised by God through Christ. (John 6:40; 1 Cor. 6:14) In fact, this limitation is also shown by the footnote on “First” in Revelation 1:17 in the New World Translation, where “First” is shown to mean “Firstborn” by one ancient manuscript. Christ was the firstfruits of those asleep in death. (1 Cor. 15:20) When “First and Last” is again applied to Christ Jesus, at Revelation 2:8, note that again it is with respect to death and resurrection. But when it speaks thus of Jehovah *no limitation is set on the meaning.*"
from http://godandson.reslight.net/alphaomega.html:
"We have no reason to restrict the term in application to God Almighty, except to satisfy the whims of those who wish to use it thus to prove that Jesus is Yahweh, which, in effect, would make the whole argument circular, that is, 'we believe that Jesus is Yahweh, thus we believe that the expression first and last must be used in application to God Almighty only, and thus this proves that Jesus is Yahweh."
Basically,in summary,Yahushua's being the first and last,in context,is in reference to the ceaseless life he received after being the FIRST one resurrected.
*If*(again that's an IF) Yahushua is called the beginning and the end,it's possible,based upon my own conjecture,that the reasons *may* go beyond why he's the first and the last in their contexts provided.Quite possibly,there's a more profound meaning behind it without him having to be the Most High God.After all, the Most High is *his* God,the God of Yahushua.Let's think upon some things.Keep in mind the whole time that this is all based on just a *possibility* that Yahushua is speaking about himself in Rev 22:12.
Yahushua is the fulfillment of all God's plans for mankind and kingdom plans for the world from the beginning to the end of time.Now THAT'S an extraordinary truth.
Yahuwah says:
Isaiah 46:9 I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
In Yahushua it was all accomplished & finished and shall be held together and perfected,by fulfilling God's word and plans.God said:
Isaiah 55:11 so shall my *word* be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
John 1:14 And the *Word* became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
When this miraculously conceived and specially anointed servant of Yahuwah's grew up & had to die for the life of the world,when he was at the brink of death said:
John 19:30 “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.(he breathed his last..his spirit ,or breath & force of life, went to God who restored it to him on the 3rd day.)
Of course,he was raised as a life giving spirit.In that he can give life to the world now that God gave him the ability to do so..filled to the tip top fully with Yahuwah's holy spirit corporeally,bodily..(Col. 2:9)
When he was raised from death to glory,he was the *beginning* of a new creation.
Revelation 3:14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the *beginning* of God's creation.
Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the *beginning*, the *firstborn* from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
God cannot be the firstborn from death for he simply cannot die.So we know this is about a SON who had the capacity to die at that time.No indication anywhere whatsoever that only a nature perished to save mankind.This is a scripturally baseless position.Yahushua's position was that *he* did.He said "I was dead.""I" in Greek demands a mind and an ego.No,it simply wasn't good enough for a body with no Yahushua in it to "perish" as if this can even be done.How the traditions of men have nullified God's word!
And since Christ's body is that in which we are given life he is the *end* of God's creation and kingdom decrees as well.Because in him we consist.
Colossians 1:17 he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
He's also the "last" and the "end" because he was given a ceaseless immortal life by the One who raised him from a genuine death,the One to whom he cried out profusely to save him from death by resurrecting him to the glory he was to inherit.He was heard for his reverent submission TO God,not because he IS (that same) God.(Heb 5:7)
2 Corinthians 13:4 For he(Yahushua) was *crucified*(this means he was really killed) in weakness(that's how he humbled himself even though he was a mighty king..Phil 2:4-11), but *lives by the power of God.* (see also John 5:26)For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
From Genesis 3:15 where it was prophesied that Yahushua would crush the head of the serpent all the way to John 19:30 where he says "It is finished" ,fulfilling also 2 Cor. 1:20 where by means of him what God declared from the beginning to the end was fulfilled to perfection,we find good reason logically for Yahushua to be able to call himself the Beginning and the End in a beautiful but separate application from that of his father.Here's a text that sums up why beautifully for those with discernment:
2 Corinthians 1:20:For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.
Unlike his father,Yahushua had to be *given* life and also the power to give us life.
Revelation 1:17,18: “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. **I died**,and behold **I am alive forevermore**, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
So he is the *beginning* of God's new creation and plans for a kingdom & the *end* and *last* having been granted an unending immortality and the power to give life to mankind by his own lifegiver and sustainer on the 3rd day.When his body was raised (he was *always* in it of course!)literally,his "other" body(we the Christians..1 Cor. 12:27)was also raised figuratively,metaphorically.
Power to give life wasn't (yet) inherent in his being(for he had to die before he was raised in glory or our faith is in vain.)God *gave* him the gifts he now has.
The God that will be "all in all" from 1 Cor. 15:27-28 is not a triune One and is the God of Yahushua.Yahuwah lets everyone know there who the only supreme God is in the end,though he gladly and lovingly,exceedingly even,gives remarkable gifts to his beloved children,especially Yahushua!(James 1:17,Matt 7:11)Because GOD IS LOVE.(1 John 4:8)
The Beginning and the End that Yahuwah is is completely wrapped up in the Beginning and the End that Yahushua *might be* in Revelation.Why?Simply because Yahushua perfectly and completely fulfilled God's declarations and prophecies to and for mankind from the beginning to the end,satisfying this principle by his miraculous birth,obedient inspiring life,heartwrenching death,and profound extolling.Deeming possible the gifts God desires to shower upon the earth and mankind in Christ,our forerunner to an unfathomable glory.Yes,God declared the end from the beginning and Yahushua fulfilled it by the word,decree,will and spirit of his father.
This "beginning and end" phenomenon is also wrapped up in what their names mean,entangled with one another because Yahushua is the Lamb by which Yahuwah gives life.:)Revelation 13:8 signifies that Yahushua was slain before the world was even founded & this may indicate exactly how it was God created all things in Christ.He foresaw and thoughtfully decreed the reconciliation of fallen mankind as new creatures in Yahushua before Yahushua even took a breath.(1 Peter 1:20,Romans 4:17)Before Adam even fell.
Yahuwah means "he causes to become" or "self existing one" and Yahushua means "Yahuwah is salvation."Yahuwah caused all His kingdom plans and His decrees to give life to a faithful righteous world to be fulfilled in his word of life,Yahushua, who epitomized his saving power and executed its brilliance,gloriously.Obediently & faithfully bringing God's plans from the beginning to the end of time to unstoppable life!(1 Cor. 1:18,1 John 1:1-4)
Yes,God's decrees from the beginning to the end of time..those which he declared and typified and prophecied throughout the OT with his promised dear Messiah at the heart of it all(as the foreordained *word of life* in his heart & plans to be manifest at the right time..Job 10:13,23:13,14,Gal. 4:4)became AMEN in his servant/Lamb/image/heir/agent/beloved/Son/king of the world/High Priest/Messiah.Yahuwah decrees.Yahushua fulfills that which his father decreed from the beginning to the end in his father's benevolent and perfect counsel.Working as one in the unity of God's holy spirit.
The crucial,faithful,and true tale here is the good news that we can be like and in Yahushua and inherit a kingdom along with him in glory *because* he is the beginning of God's new creatures and been granted an immortality without end!We can receive Christ's resurrection to the same glorious image as his!We shall see him then as he is,which we cannot possibly fully fathom currently in our fallen state of affairs.
2 Corinthians 4:6:For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Yes,first God shined through Yahushua so that he could also shine through us by means of Christ's accomplishments and salvation.Yahushua was his greatest gift to the world,a manifestation of his own personality and plans for a kingdom!His own saving power and his own peerless love.Christ was the first..and the last in that,as mediator,we have this privilege given us in him as his body.
2 Corinthians 3:18:And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
We can have a taste of that glory now,being born again,but not fully and exceptionally encompassing its majesty till it's perfected in a resurrection at the last day.
Trinitarians often say that if Yahushua reflects and is the image of God's glory that it means he's God,inexplicably.This argument,if consistent,would mean that we're Christ and God.Impossible,of course.
1 John 3:2-3:Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure
This is the whole beautiful reality of God's word of life manifest to the world!It means our ultimate glorification and exaltation along with Yahushua's if we're faithful!We will never compare to Yahushua in that he has inherited a name and inimitable stance far above what anyone else's could ever be,but we are promised his resurrection and to be kings and priests with him.And eternal life in & through him.:)..Again,precisely because in him we say "AMEN!" to all God's promises and plans for mankind from the beginning to the end of time.
Yahushua so prays poignantly something we'd be blessed to comprehend :
John 17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
That my friends is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.Yahushua,our big brother as the foreordained firstfruits of God's soon to be immortalized creatures pleading for our glory to be like his and his father's love to be as extraordinary for us as it was for him.We have MUCH to be thankful for!To Yahuwah and his firstborn immortalized glorified exalted Son.Yes,we are immortalized,glorified,and exalted along with him in God's kingdom decrees, in his faithful and true salvation plans.
May Yahuwah bless you all!
Most Christians will tell you that Yahushua is speaking here.I will be honest from the get go.I have no idea.The speakers change in Revelation constantly.Reasoning why I think it's very possible that he is NOT speaking here:
In verse 16 Yahushua says "“I, Jesus," and there are only two other times this occurs in Revelation.It is with John and BOTH times John is BEGINNING to speak,not continuing to speak.(one example is verse 8 in the same chapter.The other instance of this construct is in Rev. 1:9)So if we are to follow that precedent then it would mean Yahushua is beginning to speak in verse 16,not before.I have seen some commentaries and reasoning from Christians who think it's the angel speaking,following from verse 9 on.This would make sense because in Revelation 1 :1 it says this:
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John."
So ultimately,God GAVE this entire revelation to Yahushua who gave it to an angel who gave it to John.It is God speaking ultimately through the agency of others.I guess this would mean that even if Yahushua is speaking in verse 12 that it could be God speaking through him,as he has done through angels and prophets in the past.Again,Yahuwah had to *give* the revelation to Yahushua!In no way can an omniscient Almighty God be GIVEN something and he be either Almighty OR omniscient.Though Yahushua has been *given* all power,looks like it's still being upheld consistently by his own God.It would also be the case for the angel as well(*if* it is the angel speaking in verse 12,following from verse 9) that it is ultimately Yahuwah speaking though Yahushua through the angel to John because we all know the angel isn't the Alpha and the Omega,which means the beginning and the end.
What I'm going to do here regardless is present a case as to why Yahushua could very well be called the Beginning and the End in a separate application to him as to that of his father.It could be the same reason we *know* without a doubt that he is called the First and the Last.Not because he's Yahuwah,but,*in context*(which needs obviously to be what we heed determinedly when interpreting)always has to do with his death and resurrection as opposed to his never having a beginning and never dying at all!
Revelation 2:8:These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who *died and came to life again.*
Trust me when I say that a God who cannot die cannot be brought back to life again either.Yahushua did not say that only a portion of him died or that he was awake (or alive)while he was dead.
Revelation 1:17:I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; *I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!* And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Notice in BOTH instances the context is his death and resurrection.God cannot die,obviously.So Yahushua is the FIRSTBORN(the first) from the **dead** and is now gifted an immortal life and one who can GIVE immortal lives to others like his father can.This is why he is so termed a life giving spirit..it has to do with the spirit in his glorified body being one which gives life to the world by the power,allowance,and decree of God.(1 Cor. 15:45,Romans 6:23)The *last* has to do with both his inability to ever perish again and all things now being upheld by and in and through him.He's the last directly raised by Yah as all others will be by & through him.Also,he is one of a kind like his father is.As the uniquely begotten heir and savior of the world.The First and Last of his kind.But to stay safely strictly within context,it has to do with his death and resurrection.And we must,again,heed the qualification of the context and not just throw it away so that we won't have to recognize the qualification for the threat it is to our own ideas.
from http://www.nazarene-friends.org/magazines/1999/1999-01.htm#OMEGA:
"A check of the context shows this “First and Last” was with definite limitations, was relative to just the matter of Christ Jesus’ death and resurrection, as verse 18 shows. Christ was the first one raised in the first resurrection, and the last one that will be raised directly by Jehovah God. Others who follow in that resurrection will be raised by God through Christ. (John 6:40; 1 Cor. 6:14) In fact, this limitation is also shown by the footnote on “First” in Revelation 1:17 in the New World Translation, where “First” is shown to mean “Firstborn” by one ancient manuscript. Christ was the firstfruits of those asleep in death. (1 Cor. 15:20) When “First and Last” is again applied to Christ Jesus, at Revelation 2:8, note that again it is with respect to death and resurrection. But when it speaks thus of Jehovah *no limitation is set on the meaning.*"
from http://godandson.reslight.net/alphaomega.html:
"We have no reason to restrict the term in application to God Almighty, except to satisfy the whims of those who wish to use it thus to prove that Jesus is Yahweh, which, in effect, would make the whole argument circular, that is, 'we believe that Jesus is Yahweh, thus we believe that the expression first and last must be used in application to God Almighty only, and thus this proves that Jesus is Yahweh."
Basically,in summary,Yahushua's being the first and last,in context,is in reference to the ceaseless life he received after being the FIRST one resurrected.
*If*(again that's an IF) Yahushua is called the beginning and the end,it's possible,based upon my own conjecture,that the reasons *may* go beyond why he's the first and the last in their contexts provided.Quite possibly,there's a more profound meaning behind it without him having to be the Most High God.After all, the Most High is *his* God,the God of Yahushua.Let's think upon some things.Keep in mind the whole time that this is all based on just a *possibility* that Yahushua is speaking about himself in Rev 22:12.
Yahushua is the fulfillment of all God's plans for mankind and kingdom plans for the world from the beginning to the end of time.Now THAT'S an extraordinary truth.
Yahuwah says:
Isaiah 46:9 I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
In Yahushua it was all accomplished & finished and shall be held together and perfected,by fulfilling God's word and plans.God said:
Isaiah 55:11 so shall my *word* be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
John 1:14 And the *Word* became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
When this miraculously conceived and specially anointed servant of Yahuwah's grew up & had to die for the life of the world,when he was at the brink of death said:
John 19:30 “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.(he breathed his last..his spirit ,or breath & force of life, went to God who restored it to him on the 3rd day.)
Of course,he was raised as a life giving spirit.In that he can give life to the world now that God gave him the ability to do so..filled to the tip top fully with Yahuwah's holy spirit corporeally,bodily..(Col. 2:9)
When he was raised from death to glory,he was the *beginning* of a new creation.
Revelation 3:14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the *beginning* of God's creation.
Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the *beginning*, the *firstborn* from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
God cannot be the firstborn from death for he simply cannot die.So we know this is about a SON who had the capacity to die at that time.No indication anywhere whatsoever that only a nature perished to save mankind.This is a scripturally baseless position.Yahushua's position was that *he* did.He said "I was dead.""I" in Greek demands a mind and an ego.No,it simply wasn't good enough for a body with no Yahushua in it to "perish" as if this can even be done.How the traditions of men have nullified God's word!
And since Christ's body is that in which we are given life he is the *end* of God's creation and kingdom decrees as well.Because in him we consist.
Colossians 1:17 he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
He's also the "last" and the "end" because he was given a ceaseless immortal life by the One who raised him from a genuine death,the One to whom he cried out profusely to save him from death by resurrecting him to the glory he was to inherit.He was heard for his reverent submission TO God,not because he IS (that same) God.(Heb 5:7)
2 Corinthians 13:4 For he(Yahushua) was *crucified*(this means he was really killed) in weakness(that's how he humbled himself even though he was a mighty king..Phil 2:4-11), but *lives by the power of God.* (see also John 5:26)For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
From Genesis 3:15 where it was prophesied that Yahushua would crush the head of the serpent all the way to John 19:30 where he says "It is finished" ,fulfilling also 2 Cor. 1:20 where by means of him what God declared from the beginning to the end was fulfilled to perfection,we find good reason logically for Yahushua to be able to call himself the Beginning and the End in a beautiful but separate application from that of his father.Here's a text that sums up why beautifully for those with discernment:
2 Corinthians 1:20:For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.
Unlike his father,Yahushua had to be *given* life and also the power to give us life.
Revelation 1:17,18: “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. **I died**,and behold **I am alive forevermore**, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
So he is the *beginning* of God's new creation and plans for a kingdom & the *end* and *last* having been granted an unending immortality and the power to give life to mankind by his own lifegiver and sustainer on the 3rd day.When his body was raised (he was *always* in it of course!)literally,his "other" body(we the Christians..1 Cor. 12:27)was also raised figuratively,metaphorically.
Power to give life wasn't (yet) inherent in his being(for he had to die before he was raised in glory or our faith is in vain.)God *gave* him the gifts he now has.
The God that will be "all in all" from 1 Cor. 15:27-28 is not a triune One and is the God of Yahushua.Yahuwah lets everyone know there who the only supreme God is in the end,though he gladly and lovingly,exceedingly even,gives remarkable gifts to his beloved children,especially Yahushua!(James 1:17,Matt 7:11)Because GOD IS LOVE.(1 John 4:8)
The Beginning and the End that Yahuwah is is completely wrapped up in the Beginning and the End that Yahushua *might be* in Revelation.Why?Simply because Yahushua perfectly and completely fulfilled God's declarations and prophecies to and for mankind from the beginning to the end,satisfying this principle by his miraculous birth,obedient inspiring life,heartwrenching death,and profound extolling.Deeming possible the gifts God desires to shower upon the earth and mankind in Christ,our forerunner to an unfathomable glory.Yes,God declared the end from the beginning and Yahushua fulfilled it by the word,decree,will and spirit of his father.
This "beginning and end" phenomenon is also wrapped up in what their names mean,entangled with one another because Yahushua is the Lamb by which Yahuwah gives life.:)Revelation 13:8 signifies that Yahushua was slain before the world was even founded & this may indicate exactly how it was God created all things in Christ.He foresaw and thoughtfully decreed the reconciliation of fallen mankind as new creatures in Yahushua before Yahushua even took a breath.(1 Peter 1:20,Romans 4:17)Before Adam even fell.
Yahuwah means "he causes to become" or "self existing one" and Yahushua means "Yahuwah is salvation."Yahuwah caused all His kingdom plans and His decrees to give life to a faithful righteous world to be fulfilled in his word of life,Yahushua, who epitomized his saving power and executed its brilliance,gloriously.Obediently & faithfully bringing God's plans from the beginning to the end of time to unstoppable life!(1 Cor. 1:18,1 John 1:1-4)
Yes,God's decrees from the beginning to the end of time..those which he declared and typified and prophecied throughout the OT with his promised dear Messiah at the heart of it all(as the foreordained *word of life* in his heart & plans to be manifest at the right time..Job 10:13,23:13,14,Gal. 4:4)became AMEN in his servant/Lamb/image/heir/agent/beloved/Son/king of the world/High Priest/Messiah.Yahuwah decrees.Yahushua fulfills that which his father decreed from the beginning to the end in his father's benevolent and perfect counsel.Working as one in the unity of God's holy spirit.
The crucial,faithful,and true tale here is the good news that we can be like and in Yahushua and inherit a kingdom along with him in glory *because* he is the beginning of God's new creatures and been granted an immortality without end!We can receive Christ's resurrection to the same glorious image as his!We shall see him then as he is,which we cannot possibly fully fathom currently in our fallen state of affairs.
2 Corinthians 4:6:For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Yes,first God shined through Yahushua so that he could also shine through us by means of Christ's accomplishments and salvation.Yahushua was his greatest gift to the world,a manifestation of his own personality and plans for a kingdom!His own saving power and his own peerless love.Christ was the first..and the last in that,as mediator,we have this privilege given us in him as his body.
2 Corinthians 3:18:And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
We can have a taste of that glory now,being born again,but not fully and exceptionally encompassing its majesty till it's perfected in a resurrection at the last day.
Trinitarians often say that if Yahushua reflects and is the image of God's glory that it means he's God,inexplicably.This argument,if consistent,would mean that we're Christ and God.Impossible,of course.
1 John 3:2-3:Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure
This is the whole beautiful reality of God's word of life manifest to the world!It means our ultimate glorification and exaltation along with Yahushua's if we're faithful!We will never compare to Yahushua in that he has inherited a name and inimitable stance far above what anyone else's could ever be,but we are promised his resurrection and to be kings and priests with him.And eternal life in & through him.:)..Again,precisely because in him we say "AMEN!" to all God's promises and plans for mankind from the beginning to the end of time.
Yahushua so prays poignantly something we'd be blessed to comprehend :
John 17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
That my friends is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.Yahushua,our big brother as the foreordained firstfruits of God's soon to be immortalized creatures pleading for our glory to be like his and his father's love to be as extraordinary for us as it was for him.We have MUCH to be thankful for!To Yahuwah and his firstborn immortalized glorified exalted Son.Yes,we are immortalized,glorified,and exalted along with him in God's kingdom decrees, in his faithful and true salvation plans.
May Yahuwah bless you all!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
The Watchtower cripples Jehovah's Witnesses spiritually
The whole warped and depressing reality in the WT society is its denial that Christians can be in the body of Christ!Which renders most of the NT moot for almost every one of them and also renders the rank and file unavoidably and tragically beholden to those who CAN be in Christ's body because of some special mysterious privilege denied to their less gifted selves.This makes the rank and file feel crippled and like infants spiritually,constantly depending on a supposedly nourishing mother organization and her uniquely privileged ones to feed them what they need instead of relying on who SHOULD be their brother and sustainer,Yahushua,to do so.As we all know,men are imperfect and when possessing power over others,sometimes even corrupt.Whether that corruption be intended or not.Sometimes it simply flourishes in the wake of power trips.Whether even those be intended or not.To place yourself in a position over others as audaciously as the governing body does over the JW's would inevitably lead to a spirit of haughtiness and loftiness because of how unscriptural a reality the whole notion actually is!Especially considering so many of the invitations and words of Yahushua that they deny you,inexplicably and unjustifiably.
Let's examine some of the key texts the governing body uses to make JW's feel helpless without them:
Acts 8:26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”
The governing body frequently uses these texts to make the rank and file Jehovah's Witnesses think they cannot understand anything in the scriptures without their imposition and "spiritual food at the proper time" via WT publications pounded out relentlessly.And regardless of how tainted that food has consistently been, the JW's actually believe the governing body due to strong and unyielding indoctrination that this false notion is true.Let's see what the Watchtower has to say about these scriptures in Acts about Philip and the eunuch:
"Study is hard work. We can therefore be grateful that Jehovah’s organization grants us much assistance. In recent years some have claimed that individuals should be allowed to interpret the Bible themselves. The Ethiopian eunuch, however, openly acknowledged his need for spiritual guidance.
Skipping ahead..
When asked if he(the Ethiopian) understood what he was reading, he admitted: “Really, how could I ever do so, unless someone guided me?”—Acts 8:26-33.
Jehovah’s people today similarly need spiritual guidance. Desiring to “speak in agreement” when it comes to spiritual matters, they welcome the help offered by Jehovah’s organization—and what a grand help that is! (1 Corinthians 1:10) We have a constant flow of information through the Watchtower and Awake! magazines. We have numerous books and brochures covering a wide range of Bible topics.
Skipping ahead some..
So resist any tendency to slack off in personal study. Use it as a means of deepening your love for God and your trust in him; it is also a way to heighten your appreciation for the organization he is using to assist us. Yes, ‘apply your heart’ to God’s Word, diligently, regularly. “It is no valueless word for you, but it means your life.” WT 8/15/88
The Watchtower slyly and extremely repetitiously ties the Watchtower publications and their organization in with Jehovah himself and the actual bible so thoroughly that the JW's,indoctrinated and deceived,think they're somehow inextricably linked,inseparable.They are led to believe constantly that to leave the organization or to sacrifice the WT publications would be to leave Jehovah himself and to sacrifice his Word.My friends,this is tragic deception,glaring and insidious.When I was an inactive JW,I was constantly being told to return to Jehovah as if being outside the organization means being outside his very love and favor.At one time,I believed this strongly.I felt such guilt and shame because I love God and felt crippled without his organization because this was pounded into my mind for years!I thought without his supposed "channel of communication"(as they term themselves) I was lost.Thought I couldn't understand his word without governing body imposition.Felt like an infant without a mother.Yes,the WT is very successful at making the rank and file feel these emotions by coercive manipulation via a steady diet of unremitting indoctrination.A couple other assertions they make in relation to this Ethiopian eunuch story:
"Even the right heart attitude and study are not enough for us to acquire faith. We must understand what we study if we would have faith, and to understand the Bible we need help; even as the Ethiopian eunuch indicated to Philip when he asked, ‘How can I understand unless someone should guide me?’
skipping ahead a tad..
For this purpose God has provided at the present time a “faithful and discreet slave” organization having a publishing agency, the Watch Tower Society. (Acts 8:30-35; Eph. 4:11, 13; Matt. 24:45, 46, NW) "WT 4/15/54
They even make this bold claim:
"Philip represented the visible organization of God then, having been sent out from Jerusalem to preach."—Acts 8:26-39, WT 2/1/1953
I would simply request the JW's reading this to not just believe all this mindlessly but to assess the information with critical thinking.Where does the BIBLE say that God would provide a publishing corporation/agency called the Watchtower to lead his people?Where does the BIBLE say that Philip represented the Watchtower organization,which no one had till about a little over 100 years ago?Yes,these are BOLD claims without merit.Simply assertions that can be proven wrong because God doesn't inspire publications and organizations with any false prophecy or deceitful indoctrination,that oft times contradict his own Son!These men have proven that they're the kind of men God said NOT to follow.
What does *the bible itself* have to say about all this?
1 John 2:25 And this is the promise that he made to us —eternal life.26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the *anointing* that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
These simple and BEAUTIFUL texts communicate that we are born of God(yes,born again) if we only practice righteousness,exercising faith.This means we then abide in Christ(denied you by the WT treacherously enough)and have a poignant and reliable *anointing* that teaches us.As a former JW,it takes a little while and a LOT of faith to believe this because of my strong Watchtower indoctrination.I have to pray for the kind of faith that moves mountains to trust my anointing.And thankfully,now I do!:)
Though some person may have planted a seed that made you think upon spiritual things,even inspiring you in some remarkable way for which you can be thankful..it is the faith you begin to exercise,the knowledge you grow up in,the intimacy you develop with your creator and his Son that guides you into all truth,not any manmade publication,not any men who exalt themselves up into the positions that belong to Christ alone,not ANYTHING or anyone else.The Ethiopian eunuch,once having become anointed with Yah's spirit,would of course no longer have a childlike dependency on Philip or anyone else.He could then trust his own anointing to guide him,make him mature,and grow into all truth and righteousness.He would then need the body of Christ which he would then be a member of for mutual building up in love and fine works,but certainly not to hand him his doctrines and dictate to him policies that go beyond the bounds of God's word,imposing upon his own Christian conscience.
In relation to the goal for individuals in the 1st century congregations,Ray Franz,in his book "In Search of Christian Freedom"(p. 684) has to say:
"The goal was,not for them to remain childlike,needing others to teach and shepherd them,but for them to "*grow up in every way* into him who is the head,into Christ."The passage of time should *lessen* their need of others to render such services and should increase their own ability to act as grown,mature persons who are not constantly dependent on others.In the letter to the Hebrews,the writer reproves those he addresses,saying,"By this time you should be teaching others."
Any religious system that perpetuates the *dependence* of its members on the services of certain men is working against the goal set forth.
Skipping ahead a little..
All should become "adult" Christians,mature in understanding and in the ability to live a Christian life,to make mature decisions that are their own,not those of someone else."
1 Corinthians 3:5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
Don't let any man make you think you cannot grow without them.That you cannot grow to spiritual maturity without them.That you cannot proclaim the kingdom of God without them.That you cannot live without them.Who are they,after all?They SHOULD be fellow members in Christ's body ALONG WITH YOU.But instead the governing body throws you out of that and say you need them to survive and thrive.Trying to turn you into thieves and plunderers,making you think you can enter life some other way(via the supposed ark of a false prophet modern day organization) when outside Christ the bible says that's an impossibility.(John 10:7-10,John 15:4-6)God uses men to plant seeds,but he doesn't use the governing body of JW's to make then grow or to save you along with his own Son.This is not a scriptural notion but rather simply a group of men's baseless assertion.
More texts that SHOULD apply to you as a follower of the Christ
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Notice there's no mention here of a governing body.And plenty of mention here of the body of Christ which is being denied you by the WT.These instructions are for you,and as a Christian,for *you* IN Christ's body.Embrace the body of Christ.Be a member shamelessly if you exercise faith in your Lord!Yes,Christ came so that you might be anointed,not so that you might be lorded over by only a few who can.Christ came to establish a new covenant for all faithful followers of his,not so that most Christians are not allowed in it!Read the bible without the lens of the WT and you will inevitably be compelled to listen to Yahushua and become one of his.:)
Christians in the bible and throughout the centuries were either members in Christ's body & in the new covenant or they weren't Christians.It is simple as that.As members of the body of Christ,every Christian should be beholden to the true body.EVERY MEMBER.That means if an elder or a pastor contradicts Yahushua,members of the church should be able to correct him in a spirit of mildness every bit as much as a mature "spiritual guide" could a church member if that member were in error or sin.That means JW's,discerning some false assertion or unwarranted policy or questionable doctrine within the organization,SHOULD be able to speak up without fear.They can't do that.They are simply rendered speechless and told to "trust that Jehovah will correct all things in time."Yes,the WT leaders and elders etc.,when they detect YOU'RE in error or sin,have zero mercy.Yet have the nerve to tell you that if you detect the same in them to leave it all in Jehovah's hands.You're supposed to know less than them because they have an anointing that you're denied!There are no instructions for a governing body in the scriptures because there simply wasn't one prevalent then dictating and lording it over the Christians.Yes, where is this governing body in the daily affairs of the congregations in the bible?There were older men,yes.But they didn't have any stance with Christ any greater than the younger ones.
About ALL Christians(there is no privileged class!)the bible says:
1 Cor. 12:11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he(or *it*) wills.12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
You aren't allowed to drink of that Spirit as a rank and file Jehovah's Witness..But it is that Spirit that gives life,not an organization!So why embrace an organization that denies you life in the spirit as if *it*(the organization) can give you life!It is not your savior.
Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
We all equally have the right to restore one another when in need,when in error,when Christian.We don't need a special class of superior Christians who *supposedly*ALONE have a sealing of the spirit to do this.We should not be swept along with doctrinal revisions(new light and shifting beliefs) and false prophecies by some special class.We do not need a special class to save us unless we don't believe in the sufficiency of Yahuwah through Yahushua,the REAL saviors.
And what does Acts 8 go on to say about the Ethiopian?
Acts 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
This biblical baptism account is in stark contrast to the JW method of a long process of strong Watchtower indoctrination before a baptism can occur at all.At least think about this,JW's,and follow God's word,always.Even if it means defying the instructions of fallible men.Yes,“We must obey God rather than men."(Acts 5:29)The Watchtower can make a million claims that they're just like the 1st century Christians,even slanting and manipulating the bible to make you think so,but the evidence is overwhelming that this simply isn't the case.Those in the 1st century fellowshipped in humble homes,relied on *their own* anointing and not some governing body's anointing in their daily affairs to establish their doctrines(the bible and your own personal anointing do that!),and didn't rely on extrabiblical policies concocted in secret chambers to dictate their own consciences.They didn't follow after men who said Christ already returned(1914 anyone?),that a resurrection already occurred(1918 anyone?..2 Tim. 2:18)who had false prophecied repeatedly and made claims that only Yahushua should be allowed to make..the list just goes on!
I think it's great when you find spiritually mature and wise older men to listen to them(and even submit to them) if they teach what is in line with that which Christ taught(and have his character) in all reasonableness and humility.You could certainly learn something from them and their experiences,insight and wisdom.You should always of course test all things and believe only in that which Christ also taught,based on principles and succint revelations scripture articulates itself.Always heeding your conscience and reason.However,to trust men explicitly in blind faith when conscientiously you might have a legitimate objection because what they offer seems to contradict rather boldly something Yahushua said would be inexcusable and irresponsible.Proof that you're beholden to men who have boldly established strict authority over you and your mind instead of Yahuwah.
Hypocrisy and injustice naturally is what is bred from the type of system that the WT is.Instead of Christ being that which the whole system is built upon,the organization identifies *itself* as the ark and your rock.Sometimes *in addition* to Christ.Sometimes forgetting Christ altogether as it claims and pilfers his mediatorship and roles in your life that Yahushua ALONE should have if you call yourself a Christian.A religious society with a governing body composed of men whom God did not appoint no matter how many claims they may make otherwise instead of Christ at the center will naturally fall into apostasy and corruption.Trust no earthling man.Nor group of any earthling men.(Ps. 146:3)Especially of they build a system of worship that denies you life in Yahushua.For that is the ONLY life.That was Yahuwah's means of giving you life.His Son is your ark.His Son is your salvation.To leave an organization who denies you this life,that Yahushua offers in abundance,is not to leave Yahuwah himself,my friends.But if you stay where His spirit is denied its sealing of you as His son or daughter with life in Christ, when you have to discard Yahushua's words from his father in application to you when they were written for you..when you interpret the bible through a particular lens handed to you from fallible men unquestioningly and blindly..when you think anything at all but Yahuwah through Yahushua is needed to save you(like perhaps a mother organization or a group of men)no matter how much God wants to help you and be your father,He can't.You won't let him in your stubbornness.You're believing men who tell you you can't even be God's child even though that's why Christ came!Above all else,of course,Yahuwah wants you to listen to his word,His Son.Though you may not realize it in your deception,Yahushua's voice is drowned for you unjustifiably and tragically by the men you're allowing to do it!Don't allow it anymore.Take control.In Christ's body,you allow HIM to take control.And what pitiable fools we are without life and direction in and from our only mediator!All is vanity without it.Taking in knowledge isn't sufficient.We have to KNOW Yahushua as personally as we know his father.You can't do that without an anointing.
Let's examine a little of Ephesians chapter 2:
Ephesians 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has *made us both one* and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
The *both one* here are the Jews and Gentiles,yes,the little flock and the other sheep.(Luke 12:32,John 10:16)
2:15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself *one new man in place of the two*, so making peace,
The one new man would be the joining of the Jews and the Gentiles,or the little flock and the other sheep, into one fold.
2:16 and might reconcile us both(again,the Jews and Gentiles) to God in *one body* through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we *both have access in one Spirit* to the Father.
So the little flock and other sheep both can be anointed with the same spirit in the same body as children of God.
2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Yes,for the Jews and Gentiles(the little flock and the other sheep ,again),there will be one flock,one shepherd.One spirit,one anointing,one body,same hope.:)No separation,no special class.One mediator.All children.
May Yahuwah bless you all.
Let's examine some of the key texts the governing body uses to make JW's feel helpless without them:
Acts 8:26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”
The governing body frequently uses these texts to make the rank and file Jehovah's Witnesses think they cannot understand anything in the scriptures without their imposition and "spiritual food at the proper time" via WT publications pounded out relentlessly.And regardless of how tainted that food has consistently been, the JW's actually believe the governing body due to strong and unyielding indoctrination that this false notion is true.Let's see what the Watchtower has to say about these scriptures in Acts about Philip and the eunuch:
"Study is hard work. We can therefore be grateful that Jehovah’s organization grants us much assistance. In recent years some have claimed that individuals should be allowed to interpret the Bible themselves. The Ethiopian eunuch, however, openly acknowledged his need for spiritual guidance.
Skipping ahead..
When asked if he(the Ethiopian) understood what he was reading, he admitted: “Really, how could I ever do so, unless someone guided me?”—Acts 8:26-33.
Jehovah’s people today similarly need spiritual guidance. Desiring to “speak in agreement” when it comes to spiritual matters, they welcome the help offered by Jehovah’s organization—and what a grand help that is! (1 Corinthians 1:10) We have a constant flow of information through the Watchtower and Awake! magazines. We have numerous books and brochures covering a wide range of Bible topics.
Skipping ahead some..
So resist any tendency to slack off in personal study. Use it as a means of deepening your love for God and your trust in him; it is also a way to heighten your appreciation for the organization he is using to assist us. Yes, ‘apply your heart’ to God’s Word, diligently, regularly. “It is no valueless word for you, but it means your life.” WT 8/15/88
The Watchtower slyly and extremely repetitiously ties the Watchtower publications and their organization in with Jehovah himself and the actual bible so thoroughly that the JW's,indoctrinated and deceived,think they're somehow inextricably linked,inseparable.They are led to believe constantly that to leave the organization or to sacrifice the WT publications would be to leave Jehovah himself and to sacrifice his Word.My friends,this is tragic deception,glaring and insidious.When I was an inactive JW,I was constantly being told to return to Jehovah as if being outside the organization means being outside his very love and favor.At one time,I believed this strongly.I felt such guilt and shame because I love God and felt crippled without his organization because this was pounded into my mind for years!I thought without his supposed "channel of communication"(as they term themselves) I was lost.Thought I couldn't understand his word without governing body imposition.Felt like an infant without a mother.Yes,the WT is very successful at making the rank and file feel these emotions by coercive manipulation via a steady diet of unremitting indoctrination.A couple other assertions they make in relation to this Ethiopian eunuch story:
"Even the right heart attitude and study are not enough for us to acquire faith. We must understand what we study if we would have faith, and to understand the Bible we need help; even as the Ethiopian eunuch indicated to Philip when he asked, ‘How can I understand unless someone should guide me?’
skipping ahead a tad..
For this purpose God has provided at the present time a “faithful and discreet slave” organization having a publishing agency, the Watch Tower Society. (Acts 8:30-35; Eph. 4:11, 13; Matt. 24:45, 46, NW) "WT 4/15/54
They even make this bold claim:
"Philip represented the visible organization of God then, having been sent out from Jerusalem to preach."—Acts 8:26-39, WT 2/1/1953
I would simply request the JW's reading this to not just believe all this mindlessly but to assess the information with critical thinking.Where does the BIBLE say that God would provide a publishing corporation/agency called the Watchtower to lead his people?Where does the BIBLE say that Philip represented the Watchtower organization,which no one had till about a little over 100 years ago?Yes,these are BOLD claims without merit.Simply assertions that can be proven wrong because God doesn't inspire publications and organizations with any false prophecy or deceitful indoctrination,that oft times contradict his own Son!These men have proven that they're the kind of men God said NOT to follow.
What does *the bible itself* have to say about all this?
1 John 2:25 And this is the promise that he made to us —eternal life.26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the *anointing* that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
These simple and BEAUTIFUL texts communicate that we are born of God(yes,born again) if we only practice righteousness,exercising faith.This means we then abide in Christ(denied you by the WT treacherously enough)and have a poignant and reliable *anointing* that teaches us.As a former JW,it takes a little while and a LOT of faith to believe this because of my strong Watchtower indoctrination.I have to pray for the kind of faith that moves mountains to trust my anointing.And thankfully,now I do!:)
Though some person may have planted a seed that made you think upon spiritual things,even inspiring you in some remarkable way for which you can be thankful..it is the faith you begin to exercise,the knowledge you grow up in,the intimacy you develop with your creator and his Son that guides you into all truth,not any manmade publication,not any men who exalt themselves up into the positions that belong to Christ alone,not ANYTHING or anyone else.The Ethiopian eunuch,once having become anointed with Yah's spirit,would of course no longer have a childlike dependency on Philip or anyone else.He could then trust his own anointing to guide him,make him mature,and grow into all truth and righteousness.He would then need the body of Christ which he would then be a member of for mutual building up in love and fine works,but certainly not to hand him his doctrines and dictate to him policies that go beyond the bounds of God's word,imposing upon his own Christian conscience.
In relation to the goal for individuals in the 1st century congregations,Ray Franz,in his book "In Search of Christian Freedom"(p. 684) has to say:
"The goal was,not for them to remain childlike,needing others to teach and shepherd them,but for them to "*grow up in every way* into him who is the head,into Christ."The passage of time should *lessen* their need of others to render such services and should increase their own ability to act as grown,mature persons who are not constantly dependent on others.In the letter to the Hebrews,the writer reproves those he addresses,saying,"By this time you should be teaching others."
Any religious system that perpetuates the *dependence* of its members on the services of certain men is working against the goal set forth.
Skipping ahead a little..
All should become "adult" Christians,mature in understanding and in the ability to live a Christian life,to make mature decisions that are their own,not those of someone else."
1 Corinthians 3:5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
Don't let any man make you think you cannot grow without them.That you cannot grow to spiritual maturity without them.That you cannot proclaim the kingdom of God without them.That you cannot live without them.Who are they,after all?They SHOULD be fellow members in Christ's body ALONG WITH YOU.But instead the governing body throws you out of that and say you need them to survive and thrive.Trying to turn you into thieves and plunderers,making you think you can enter life some other way(via the supposed ark of a false prophet modern day organization) when outside Christ the bible says that's an impossibility.(John 10:7-10,John 15:4-6)God uses men to plant seeds,but he doesn't use the governing body of JW's to make then grow or to save you along with his own Son.This is not a scriptural notion but rather simply a group of men's baseless assertion.
More texts that SHOULD apply to you as a follower of the Christ
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Notice there's no mention here of a governing body.And plenty of mention here of the body of Christ which is being denied you by the WT.These instructions are for you,and as a Christian,for *you* IN Christ's body.Embrace the body of Christ.Be a member shamelessly if you exercise faith in your Lord!Yes,Christ came so that you might be anointed,not so that you might be lorded over by only a few who can.Christ came to establish a new covenant for all faithful followers of his,not so that most Christians are not allowed in it!Read the bible without the lens of the WT and you will inevitably be compelled to listen to Yahushua and become one of his.:)
Christians in the bible and throughout the centuries were either members in Christ's body & in the new covenant or they weren't Christians.It is simple as that.As members of the body of Christ,every Christian should be beholden to the true body.EVERY MEMBER.That means if an elder or a pastor contradicts Yahushua,members of the church should be able to correct him in a spirit of mildness every bit as much as a mature "spiritual guide" could a church member if that member were in error or sin.That means JW's,discerning some false assertion or unwarranted policy or questionable doctrine within the organization,SHOULD be able to speak up without fear.They can't do that.They are simply rendered speechless and told to "trust that Jehovah will correct all things in time."Yes,the WT leaders and elders etc.,when they detect YOU'RE in error or sin,have zero mercy.Yet have the nerve to tell you that if you detect the same in them to leave it all in Jehovah's hands.You're supposed to know less than them because they have an anointing that you're denied!There are no instructions for a governing body in the scriptures because there simply wasn't one prevalent then dictating and lording it over the Christians.Yes, where is this governing body in the daily affairs of the congregations in the bible?There were older men,yes.But they didn't have any stance with Christ any greater than the younger ones.
About ALL Christians(there is no privileged class!)the bible says:
1 Cor. 12:11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he(or *it*) wills.12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
You aren't allowed to drink of that Spirit as a rank and file Jehovah's Witness..But it is that Spirit that gives life,not an organization!So why embrace an organization that denies you life in the spirit as if *it*(the organization) can give you life!It is not your savior.
Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
We all equally have the right to restore one another when in need,when in error,when Christian.We don't need a special class of superior Christians who *supposedly*ALONE have a sealing of the spirit to do this.We should not be swept along with doctrinal revisions(new light and shifting beliefs) and false prophecies by some special class.We do not need a special class to save us unless we don't believe in the sufficiency of Yahuwah through Yahushua,the REAL saviors.
And what does Acts 8 go on to say about the Ethiopian?
Acts 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
This biblical baptism account is in stark contrast to the JW method of a long process of strong Watchtower indoctrination before a baptism can occur at all.At least think about this,JW's,and follow God's word,always.Even if it means defying the instructions of fallible men.Yes,“We must obey God rather than men."(Acts 5:29)The Watchtower can make a million claims that they're just like the 1st century Christians,even slanting and manipulating the bible to make you think so,but the evidence is overwhelming that this simply isn't the case.Those in the 1st century fellowshipped in humble homes,relied on *their own* anointing and not some governing body's anointing in their daily affairs to establish their doctrines(the bible and your own personal anointing do that!),and didn't rely on extrabiblical policies concocted in secret chambers to dictate their own consciences.They didn't follow after men who said Christ already returned(1914 anyone?),that a resurrection already occurred(1918 anyone?..2 Tim. 2:18)who had false prophecied repeatedly and made claims that only Yahushua should be allowed to make..the list just goes on!
I think it's great when you find spiritually mature and wise older men to listen to them(and even submit to them) if they teach what is in line with that which Christ taught(and have his character) in all reasonableness and humility.You could certainly learn something from them and their experiences,insight and wisdom.You should always of course test all things and believe only in that which Christ also taught,based on principles and succint revelations scripture articulates itself.Always heeding your conscience and reason.However,to trust men explicitly in blind faith when conscientiously you might have a legitimate objection because what they offer seems to contradict rather boldly something Yahushua said would be inexcusable and irresponsible.Proof that you're beholden to men who have boldly established strict authority over you and your mind instead of Yahuwah.
Hypocrisy and injustice naturally is what is bred from the type of system that the WT is.Instead of Christ being that which the whole system is built upon,the organization identifies *itself* as the ark and your rock.Sometimes *in addition* to Christ.Sometimes forgetting Christ altogether as it claims and pilfers his mediatorship and roles in your life that Yahushua ALONE should have if you call yourself a Christian.A religious society with a governing body composed of men whom God did not appoint no matter how many claims they may make otherwise instead of Christ at the center will naturally fall into apostasy and corruption.Trust no earthling man.Nor group of any earthling men.(Ps. 146:3)Especially of they build a system of worship that denies you life in Yahushua.For that is the ONLY life.That was Yahuwah's means of giving you life.His Son is your ark.His Son is your salvation.To leave an organization who denies you this life,that Yahushua offers in abundance,is not to leave Yahuwah himself,my friends.But if you stay where His spirit is denied its sealing of you as His son or daughter with life in Christ, when you have to discard Yahushua's words from his father in application to you when they were written for you..when you interpret the bible through a particular lens handed to you from fallible men unquestioningly and blindly..when you think anything at all but Yahuwah through Yahushua is needed to save you(like perhaps a mother organization or a group of men)no matter how much God wants to help you and be your father,He can't.You won't let him in your stubbornness.You're believing men who tell you you can't even be God's child even though that's why Christ came!Above all else,of course,Yahuwah wants you to listen to his word,His Son.Though you may not realize it in your deception,Yahushua's voice is drowned for you unjustifiably and tragically by the men you're allowing to do it!Don't allow it anymore.Take control.In Christ's body,you allow HIM to take control.And what pitiable fools we are without life and direction in and from our only mediator!All is vanity without it.Taking in knowledge isn't sufficient.We have to KNOW Yahushua as personally as we know his father.You can't do that without an anointing.
Let's examine a little of Ephesians chapter 2:
Ephesians 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has *made us both one* and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
The *both one* here are the Jews and Gentiles,yes,the little flock and the other sheep.(Luke 12:32,John 10:16)
2:15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself *one new man in place of the two*, so making peace,
The one new man would be the joining of the Jews and the Gentiles,or the little flock and the other sheep, into one fold.
2:16 and might reconcile us both(again,the Jews and Gentiles) to God in *one body* through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we *both have access in one Spirit* to the Father.
So the little flock and other sheep both can be anointed with the same spirit in the same body as children of God.
2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Yes,for the Jews and Gentiles(the little flock and the other sheep ,again),there will be one flock,one shepherd.One spirit,one anointing,one body,same hope.:)No separation,no special class.One mediator.All children.
May Yahuwah bless you all.
Monday, December 6, 2010
A Few Questions for Trinitarians
Question # 1:
Deuteronomy 32:6 Do you thus repay the *LORD,*
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your *father,* who created you,
who made you and established you?
Now I want you to ask yourself who Yahuwah is here?The father,son and holy spirit?OR the father?Moving on to verse 39 in the SAME CHAPTER
39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
So WHO,*in context*, is saying "there is no god beside *me*?"..the Father(verse 6,again) or the father,son and holy spirit triune essence?Think about it.
Malachi 2:10: Have we not all *one Father?* Has not *one God* created us?
So according to Malachi here,who is the One God who created us?The father?Or a triune essence composed of three persons?
Question # 2:
2 Timothy 1:9:*This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time*
Could you then properly pray "Father give me the grace I had with you in Christ Jesus before time began?"
Ephesians 1:4: *he(Yahuwah) chose us in him(Yahushua) before the foundation of the world*
Could you then properly pray this way:"Father bless me in Christ with the blessings I had in him with you before the foundation of the world?"..
If so,why must Yahushua's prayer in John 17:5 where he asks for the glory he had with God entail a literal preexistence if it didn't for us?Especially considering that we too figuratively already have that glory seated and glorified in Yahushua and have had it since before time began in God's extraordinary decree!!Yahushua in John chapter 17 speaks as if we already have it because this is how the Hebrew mind worked.(verse 22..etc.)
Question # 3
In texts like 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Colossians 1:16 the preposition dia is translated as "by" or "through" and most gather from this that Yahushua created for his father in Genesis.Considering Yahushua only ever gave his father credit for creating(saying things like "HE created them male and female" Matt. 19:4) and resting in Genesis(Yahuwah rested,not Yahushua),is it possible that dia should be translated more properly as "in"?(just as legitimate an interpretation as "by" or "through"..another possibility is "because of" or "for the sake of")After all the bible says we were seated in Christ before time began(2 Tim. 1:9,Eph. 1:3-11) in heaven in God's foreordained salvation plans.Since the bible says this,and the father said he created alone(Is. 44:24),is it possible his creating everything in Christ meant he created everything knowing all would be fulfilled in Yahushua when the full limit of time had at last arrived?(Gal. 4:4,Eph. 1:10,11,Isaiah 55:11)That our survival would be wrapped up in his word of life(or salvation plans) that became flesh in Yahushua when he was born,when he died,and when he was raised in glory to plead for us and make us new?(1 John 1:1,2,1 Cor. 15:45,Rom. 8:34,2 Cor. 5:17,Gal. 6:15)
Question # 4:
Luke 1:35:"The *Holy Spirit* will come upon you, and the *power of the Most High* will overshadow you; *therefore* the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God."
Let's take this one piece at a time.The *Holy Spirit* will come upon you, and the *power of the Most High* will overshadow you.The holy spirit is here defined for you,so what is the holy spirit?One of God's three people OR power from on high?If the holy spirit is a person,why doesn't Yahushua call HIM father considering the fact that "he" caused Yahushua's birth?
Then it says: *therefore* the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God."
So is Yahushua the unique Son of God because God is his father by spirit OR because he's somehow the same God?If you say the latter,then how come this text communicates something quite different from that?
According also to Luke 1:35,when did Messiah Yahushua come into existence literally?Is a transmigration or hypostatic union communicated here?Lets look at it again.
Luke 1:35:"The *Holy Spirit* will come upon you, and the *power of the Most High* will overshadow you; *therefore* the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God."
I can't find within the text itself anything(and this also goes with any of the birth narratives) about a preexistent person finding his way into a womb,or falling from the sky and being out of commission for 30 some years because now he's suddenly the man Yahushua.This also proves Christ actually had a begettal and communicates his origin.God has no begettal or origin.
Question # 5:
In Mark and Matthew,Yahushua converses with a scribe and Peter.In both instances it is made clear who his father is and who he is.Trinitarians expect people like me to go far beyond these easy explicit texts and to rather confess an uninspired creed.
Let's see what we must really confess for our Lord to approve of us and of our insight from reason and scripture.
Matthew 16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
What is the blessed confession here from Simon Peter?That Yahushua is the second person of the same God his own father is or that he is that One's Christ and Son?What right do you have to believe something removed from this when Yahushua praised this revelation?Or to judge those who believe it and understand it doesn't communicate a triune Hellenistic essence,the stuff of uninspired creeds?
Let's examine:
Mark 12:28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that *he*(someone OTHER than Yahushua) is one, and there is no other besides *him.*(Yahushua's father) 33 And to love *him*(the scribe and Yahushua's God) with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
As clear as day here the scribe who Yahushua said answered wisely and to whom he said "You are not far from the kingdom of God” identified The Messiah's FATHER as the God of the Shema(Deut. 6:4)Yahushua,rather than correcting him and telling him who *also* might be the God of the Shema along with his father,Yahushua rather praised him and let him go on believing that his father alone was the One God of Israel,also HIS own God mind you.Don't you think these conversations with genuine believers like Peter and this scribe would have been a grand time for Messiah to tell the truth that God was 3 or 3 in one and that he was also the God of the Shema?Why doesn't he ever correct anyone who doesn't seem to understand that he's a person of the God of the Shema?He rather praises the scribe for understanding his father *alone* is and never rebukes Peter for not confessing that he's the same God whose Christ and Son he is!It would have been quite the revelation for Yahushua to claim deity within the same God of the Shema who was his own God!He simply never corrected the scribe and Peter but rather praised them for what trinitarians today would haughtily deceptively call incomplete confessions!How deceptive would Yahushua had to have been to let these guys go on believing incomplete truth as the whole truth?My guess would be that Yahushua expects us to heed these texts and discard what we've been taught by men who would lambast us for not going beyond these BIBLICAL creeds.
Yes,folks,the approved men who confessed bible creeds were commended by Yahushua so we need not confess anything different at all.
Btw,I'm not a sacred name movementer(if you might have been wondering)..I just like using more accurate pronunciations of the 2 most important names in the world ..that's all.I still slip and say Jehovah and Jesus A LOT.
Question number 1 and question number 5 contain points that explicitly reveal who the God of the Shema is.Let's all pay attention to scripture.As a former Jehovah's Witness,I can honestly say that if you can't empty yourself of all you've ever believed(suspecting conscientiously something is wrong somewhere)God CANNOT fill you with spirit and truth and will allow you to remain in error.He appreciates humility and that involves emptying yourself of you and your traditions just to make sure what he reveals to you is congruent with your cherished beliefs(that should be questioned).It disheartens me to say the least to see so many ex JW's embrace another belief system handed to them from more deceived men for lack of having the milk established and the easy tools to defeat men's sophistry,to overcome the implanting of yet more "theological persuasions" that have no real basis in explicit bible revelations.Insidious and concerning deceptions abound.And it is precisely because I love and care about you that I tell the truth here.Could I really say I love you if I was willing to let you believe lies when the truth is so freeing,important,and simple?Yes,God is beyond our understanding,but we don't have the right to discard what he has revealed for our understanding.And a triune essence isn't a part of that.
Deuteronomy 32:6 Do you thus repay the *LORD,*
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your *father,* who created you,
who made you and established you?
Now I want you to ask yourself who Yahuwah is here?The father,son and holy spirit?OR the father?Moving on to verse 39 in the SAME CHAPTER
39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
So WHO,*in context*, is saying "there is no god beside *me*?"..the Father(verse 6,again) or the father,son and holy spirit triune essence?Think about it.
Malachi 2:10: Have we not all *one Father?* Has not *one God* created us?
So according to Malachi here,who is the One God who created us?The father?Or a triune essence composed of three persons?
Question # 2:
2 Timothy 1:9:*This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time*
Could you then properly pray "Father give me the grace I had with you in Christ Jesus before time began?"
Ephesians 1:4: *he(Yahuwah) chose us in him(Yahushua) before the foundation of the world*
Could you then properly pray this way:"Father bless me in Christ with the blessings I had in him with you before the foundation of the world?"..
If so,why must Yahushua's prayer in John 17:5 where he asks for the glory he had with God entail a literal preexistence if it didn't for us?Especially considering that we too figuratively already have that glory seated and glorified in Yahushua and have had it since before time began in God's extraordinary decree!!Yahushua in John chapter 17 speaks as if we already have it because this is how the Hebrew mind worked.(verse 22..etc.)
Question # 3
In texts like 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Colossians 1:16 the preposition dia is translated as "by" or "through" and most gather from this that Yahushua created for his father in Genesis.Considering Yahushua only ever gave his father credit for creating(saying things like "HE created them male and female" Matt. 19:4) and resting in Genesis(Yahuwah rested,not Yahushua),is it possible that dia should be translated more properly as "in"?(just as legitimate an interpretation as "by" or "through"..another possibility is "because of" or "for the sake of")After all the bible says we were seated in Christ before time began(2 Tim. 1:9,Eph. 1:3-11) in heaven in God's foreordained salvation plans.Since the bible says this,and the father said he created alone(Is. 44:24),is it possible his creating everything in Christ meant he created everything knowing all would be fulfilled in Yahushua when the full limit of time had at last arrived?(Gal. 4:4,Eph. 1:10,11,Isaiah 55:11)That our survival would be wrapped up in his word of life(or salvation plans) that became flesh in Yahushua when he was born,when he died,and when he was raised in glory to plead for us and make us new?(1 John 1:1,2,1 Cor. 15:45,Rom. 8:34,2 Cor. 5:17,Gal. 6:15)
Question # 4:
Luke 1:35:"The *Holy Spirit* will come upon you, and the *power of the Most High* will overshadow you; *therefore* the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God."
Let's take this one piece at a time.The *Holy Spirit* will come upon you, and the *power of the Most High* will overshadow you.The holy spirit is here defined for you,so what is the holy spirit?One of God's three people OR power from on high?If the holy spirit is a person,why doesn't Yahushua call HIM father considering the fact that "he" caused Yahushua's birth?
Then it says: *therefore* the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God."
So is Yahushua the unique Son of God because God is his father by spirit OR because he's somehow the same God?If you say the latter,then how come this text communicates something quite different from that?
According also to Luke 1:35,when did Messiah Yahushua come into existence literally?Is a transmigration or hypostatic union communicated here?Lets look at it again.
Luke 1:35:"The *Holy Spirit* will come upon you, and the *power of the Most High* will overshadow you; *therefore* the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God."
I can't find within the text itself anything(and this also goes with any of the birth narratives) about a preexistent person finding his way into a womb,or falling from the sky and being out of commission for 30 some years because now he's suddenly the man Yahushua.This also proves Christ actually had a begettal and communicates his origin.God has no begettal or origin.
Question # 5:
In Mark and Matthew,Yahushua converses with a scribe and Peter.In both instances it is made clear who his father is and who he is.Trinitarians expect people like me to go far beyond these easy explicit texts and to rather confess an uninspired creed.
Let's see what we must really confess for our Lord to approve of us and of our insight from reason and scripture.
Matthew 16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
What is the blessed confession here from Simon Peter?That Yahushua is the second person of the same God his own father is or that he is that One's Christ and Son?What right do you have to believe something removed from this when Yahushua praised this revelation?Or to judge those who believe it and understand it doesn't communicate a triune Hellenistic essence,the stuff of uninspired creeds?
Let's examine:
Mark 12:28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that *he*(someone OTHER than Yahushua) is one, and there is no other besides *him.*(Yahushua's father) 33 And to love *him*(the scribe and Yahushua's God) with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
As clear as day here the scribe who Yahushua said answered wisely and to whom he said "You are not far from the kingdom of God” identified The Messiah's FATHER as the God of the Shema(Deut. 6:4)Yahushua,rather than correcting him and telling him who *also* might be the God of the Shema along with his father,Yahushua rather praised him and let him go on believing that his father alone was the One God of Israel,also HIS own God mind you.Don't you think these conversations with genuine believers like Peter and this scribe would have been a grand time for Messiah to tell the truth that God was 3 or 3 in one and that he was also the God of the Shema?Why doesn't he ever correct anyone who doesn't seem to understand that he's a person of the God of the Shema?He rather praises the scribe for understanding his father *alone* is and never rebukes Peter for not confessing that he's the same God whose Christ and Son he is!It would have been quite the revelation for Yahushua to claim deity within the same God of the Shema who was his own God!He simply never corrected the scribe and Peter but rather praised them for what trinitarians today would haughtily deceptively call incomplete confessions!How deceptive would Yahushua had to have been to let these guys go on believing incomplete truth as the whole truth?My guess would be that Yahushua expects us to heed these texts and discard what we've been taught by men who would lambast us for not going beyond these BIBLICAL creeds.
Yes,folks,the approved men who confessed bible creeds were commended by Yahushua so we need not confess anything different at all.
Btw,I'm not a sacred name movementer(if you might have been wondering)..I just like using more accurate pronunciations of the 2 most important names in the world ..that's all.I still slip and say Jehovah and Jesus A LOT.
Question number 1 and question number 5 contain points that explicitly reveal who the God of the Shema is.Let's all pay attention to scripture.As a former Jehovah's Witness,I can honestly say that if you can't empty yourself of all you've ever believed(suspecting conscientiously something is wrong somewhere)God CANNOT fill you with spirit and truth and will allow you to remain in error.He appreciates humility and that involves emptying yourself of you and your traditions just to make sure what he reveals to you is congruent with your cherished beliefs(that should be questioned).It disheartens me to say the least to see so many ex JW's embrace another belief system handed to them from more deceived men for lack of having the milk established and the easy tools to defeat men's sophistry,to overcome the implanting of yet more "theological persuasions" that have no real basis in explicit bible revelations.Insidious and concerning deceptions abound.And it is precisely because I love and care about you that I tell the truth here.Could I really say I love you if I was willing to let you believe lies when the truth is so freeing,important,and simple?Yes,God is beyond our understanding,but we don't have the right to discard what he has revealed for our understanding.And a triune essence isn't a part of that.
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