Time for a Change Ok.. I've had about enough of this.. and so has God. I was up trying to sleep tonight, around nearly 3am.. and decided to turn on the radio to CSN (the Calvary Satellite Network). I enjoy the praise and worship.. and much of the teaching. I started listening to a song.. that started singing the following words.. "There is only one God.. "There is only one King.." Now this isn't so bad.. in fact.. it's true. But.. the song went on and spoke about how this God is not only Jesus.. but a Brother to us all. Now I've had struggles with this concept of Jesus being God for a long time.. and now I know why. It's cuz He isn't. And God got me out of bed to write about it. It's important enough that I had to speak up. You see.. when you go about saying Jesus is God.. (and not merely God's Son or God's Word), you end up doing just what this song does... exalting yourself to being the brother of God. And that, my friend, is just what satan wants us doing. We may not realize that's what we're saying when we say Jesus is God.. but.. truly.. we are. That puts us on a level far far too high. Just like Kenneth Copeland once said.. quoting where the Bible says God made us a little lower than Elohim.. Elohim meaning "God".. and not "angels", as it should properly be rendered. If you recall... satan's design on God's throne... to be equal with God is exactly what got him kicked out of Heaven. So.. what does he do now? Everywhere he can, he tricks those made in God's image into trying to do the very same thing -- either (as many new agers do) believing that you *are* God.. or that you are His equal. By doing this.. you take away His glory.. and you invite extreme judgement upon yourself. Even Jesus never claimed to be the Father. Ok.. so what about all those passages that say, "God the Father".. Isn't 'The Father' simply part of God? No! That's the whole confusion. When you see the words "God, the Father" in a Bible.. the words are what is called an appositive.. or.. a restatement of the noun being described. The statement "God, the Father" would be properly rendered, "God, (who is) the Father".. not "(the part of) God (that is) the Father". For those of you who don't think so... I assert that you check out 1 Corinthians 8:6 where it says, "yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live." If you'll notice.. it says here that there is one God.. (WHO IS) the Father. This makes no literal sense to say "There is one 'God the Father'" Those commas are, yes.. setting off an appositive.. as I described above. So who is Jesus? And why do we keep calling Him God? People often confuse what Thomas said vernacularly about Jesus.. and what the prophets said about Him.. using the word 'G-o-d' to describe Him. When Thomas saw Jesus' hands and feet.. He is quoted to have said, "My Lord, and My God!" But what a lot of people miss is.. that God is Jesus' God (Psalm 45:7).. and that Moses was a 'god' to Aaron (Exodus 4:16). This title.. though I do not understand it totally.. is an office of sufficiency.. a person who provides all that one needs.. or someone who is in dominion that he has all that he needs (as in "ye are gods" in Psalm 82:6). It does not necessarily refer to the Creator of all. And about that passage in Psalm 82... which Jesus quoted when the Pharisees said that He made Himself God. That's right.. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God.. He openly admitted to it in this passage.. and pointed to Psalm 82:6 as His own referent.. never claiming to *BE* God.. but only the Son of God. So what about "I AM"? Wasn't this Jesus' name too? NO! This was Jesus' statement of timelessness and unchangingness... it was *NOT* His name. Jesus never said He *was* the I Am.. He simply said "before Abraham was, I am." The title "The Great I Am" is not found in the Bible. It is used extensively in church circles.. to refer to Jesus and God corporately.. but in truth.. God's name is "I AM".. and Jesus is, like God.. without any shadow of turning.. without any shift.. without any change of character for eternity -- timeless. But what about being divine? A person may be led to think that because Jesus is the only begotten Son of God that He is a God, since God would seem to naturally produce offspring which are the same kind of being He is.. yet the statements in the Old Testament writings.. most especially writings like Isaiah 45 in which He says "there is no God beside(s) Me" and "I am God, and there is none else.".. demonstrate that God always has been and always shall be the only God. I used to think that because Jesus was begotten that He was of the same kind as God.. and not simply that He is still The Word of God, even if God became His Father instead of giving Him a human father. But.. He has also existed for all time. Not as God.. but as God's own Word. When God spoke light into existence... His Word flowed from His lips and mingled with His Spirit to produce light. It's as simple as that. The Bible says that 3 bear witness in Heaven... The Father.. the Word.. and the Holy Spirit.. Jesus is God's Word.. God is the Father.. and God.. being a Spirit.. also has an inner-part to Himself that searches all that He is and does.. His own Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10,11).. so God's Holy Spirit is in fact the Spirit (inward parts) of a Spirit (God's being). So why do so many people like saying Jesus is God? Somewhat cuz hey can't figure out how someone could exist for all time (as God's Word has) and have His own identity, and not be God. But what about Melchizedek? Hebrews 7 says that Melchizedek had no father, no mother, without beginning of days nor end of life. Therefore.. Melchizedek has existed as priest to God for all time. And what's wrong with that? Who says an eternal God can't have an eternal priest? Oh.. and for those of you who think that Melchizedek is a Theophany of Jesus.. read where it says Melchizedek was made (not created, but of the same form as) "like unto" the Son of God? To be like unto means you are of the same "shape" as it were.. not to be the exact same person. People are all caught up in the Divinity of Jesus.. because God allowed Him to be worshipped.. so.. He must be God.. right? Jesus' own words said that He came *from* God.. not that He is God (John 8:42). How can you come from yourself and still be all that you are? But Jesus also said that it is God's desire that we worship the Son, even as we worship the Father (Himself/God). What's wrong with that? I mean.. if you worship God.. and God is in His Word, and His Word is in Him.. Then worshipping His Word, which is His image.. i.e. what He's truly like.. without showing us His physical form (for if He did, we'd die.. as He warned Moses would happen if He showed it to him).. is worshipping Him/God! It's not a big deal. What *is* a big deal is if you go around toting Jesus being God and thus making yourself equal with Him by being God's brother. Ok.. is Jesus just a man? No! That's also junk. He had totally human form when He resided on this planet.. yes.. but He is God's own Word.. in human form. He has existed for all time. Did He have any brides on this planet? No! His one bride is the church.. those who have true faith in Him and who abide in Him and who remain in Him until their deaths or His return. Just cuz a person is saved once will not guarantee eternity unless that person remains with Christ and abides in Him.. (see 2 Peter 2 where it talks about people who are washed from the pollutions of this world by Jesus Christ, but who end up worse than if they'd never believed). To say Jesus had any human fleshly bride is to demean His character as the bridegroom of the whole church. Ok.. about the Word of God. This is who Jesus is. This is also anything God has said. But it is *NOT* the Bible, specifically. Saying that the Bible is totally inerrant is something you can only do with your eyes closed. Not that the Bible's errors are of any big deal in most cases.. but.. they do exist. So why do so many people call it "God's Word"? Because it is loaded with spiritual truth.. and it gives us easy access *to* God's Word. If you truly understand God's Word though, you'd realize it's far more than something you can put down on a piece of paper. It is a spiritual powerhouse seed.. that can blossom into extremely potent majestic spiritual plants.. if allowed to grow. But.. if we refuse to give it proper place in our hearts, it will be taken away.. or choked.. or wither. Only those who give God's Word its proper soft earth of a heart will be able to watch it be cultivated into a beautiful growing plant of God.. that yields forth spiritual fruit. But people think the Bible is God's Word.. and since the Bible, itself, says that God's Word is inerrant.. they think that the Bible *must* be inerrant. Next time you think it is.. look for how many times the cock crowed before Peter denied Jesus 3 times. Different Gospels say differently.. and if one is different from the others.. this book is not inerrant.. and thus, cannot be the 100% Word of God. Not only that.. but the Bible has things like Paul's opinions in it.. or statements made by Psalmists that are contrary to God's nature.. said in frustration.. which they do correct later... but.. this cannot be God's Word. Yet.. I must give credit where credit is due. The Bible *is* the most powerful book on the planet. It is loaded *with* access points to get *to* God's Word. But only when you read it with an open heart and a willing mind.. will you find God's Word in it. Otherwise... it'll just be a mystery and a bunch of confusion.. or maybe a literary work... but not the ultimate powerhouse of truth it truly is. Are there other "Gods"? No! The only other 'gods' are man's designed objects of worship.. that have no substance behind them.. other than perhaps fallen angels (satan's cohorts). In Isaiah 44:6.. God's Word came to Isaiah.. and revealed, "Besides Me, there is no God." I know I've had enough of this stupid fight over Jesus being God... an idea that one man (whose name I forget at the moment) fought against the world with.. and won (and lost). Jesus is God's Word... pure and simple. Ask the disciple that knew Him best..? Read John's Gospel.. chapter 1.. Read Jesus' own name in The Revelation of Jesus Christ, it's near the end of the Book. Read the Bible you so greatly value. You may find your answers have been there all along.