Christianity is based on the
premise that there is a ‘god,’ not just any god or multiple gods, but One True
God. [xvii] True from the
Hebrew language indicates stability and continuity. A real God is stable and is
always so. What any true god does can be depended upon because a god would be
organized. In other words, times change
but a real god does not!
The word, ‘god’ in general refers
to any being that has more than natural powers. Gods, therefore, are supernatural
beings. However, all supernatural beings, such as angels, are not gods.
The supernature of any real god
would be supreme power. The One True God is ‘Almighty God,’ and His Power is
extensive; extensive enough to Create all things, just as John wrote, “All
things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was
made” [xviii]
Note that any personal reference
to the One True God is capitalized in reverence to the Creator God.
The Power of God is to be
respected and it is Him alone who must be respected, literally, “You shall have
no other gods in my face.” [xix] That could mean several
things, even that an image of god must not be made, or possibly that no other
gods would be before Him; that having multiple gods is unacceptable.
Specifically, ourselves as
gods is the worst of the worst thinking. [xx] Humans have no power to create
anything. For instance, neither Confucius nor Buddha are gods because they are
mere men. They have made a name for themselves which is the worst sin.
The prototypical scripture is, “In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” [xxi] There was nothing before
the beginning but God! Because God was ‘IT’ no name was necessary. Hence, God
revealed to Moses, ‘I AM THAT I AM.’ [xxii] He later revealed to the
apostle John that claim, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the
first and the last.” [xxiii]
The ‘alpha’ is the first letter
of the Greek alphabet. God is the ‘Beginning.’
Omega is the last letter of the
Greek alphabet. God is the ‘Ending’ and because God is stable and unchanging,
God is forever! God was never born, nor shall He ever die! You can depend on
Him to always be there. In other words, God is ‘The Existence’ — He Was, Is,
and always Will Be. Without a Name, God is not Zeus, nor any other figure. He
is none of the other gods with a name.
God is not just any ‘god’ but the
‘LORD GOD.’ Adam and Eve called Him that, and by no other nomenclature unto
after they sinned.
That is revealed early in
scripture, “These are the ‘generations of the heavens and of the earth when
they were created,’ in the day that the LORD GOD made the earth and the heavens.”
[xxiv] Therein, the LORD GOD
and no other claimed credit for generating all things material and immaterial —
things seen and things unseen.
The apostle Paul validated that in
his message to the Romans, “For the invisible things of Him from the Creation
of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even His eternal Power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” [xxv]
That was my own reasoning. As a
child, I looked toward the heavens and marveled. As a little child, I
understood; God created all things, and henceforth I have searched for that
Invisible Power.
The proof that there is a ‘god’ who
cannot be seen is revealed by the things that can be seen, realistically, and
even with probability and statistics. All things as they are, did not just
happen; existence was planned, implemented, coordinated, designed, processed,
and made by a Supremely Intelligent God.
Even an untrained fool understands
that for every effect there must be a cause. God is the ‘Divine Spark’ that ignited
the process of generating a cosmos — material things within an unseen thing that
is called ‘space.’
Science usually concludes that any
hypothesis, after so many believe it, is now ‘established science.’ That some
thing can come from no thing is alchemy. That all things come
from no Thing is the “Big Lie’ — a lie so absurd that it cannot be made up! Evolution
is not established science, but many who call themselves ‘Christians’ believe
the Big Lie — that all things just happened without a Greater Cause.
That ‘Cause’ is God.
Paul explained to the philosophers
in Athens who they were worshiping, Paul said, “I found an altar with this
inscription, ‘To The Unknown God.’ Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, Him
declare I unto you.” [xxvi] Paul revealed the One
True God and identified Him, probably using the apostle John’s knowledge, “The
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” [xxvii]
Now that claim will be examined.
Of course, John was referring to Jesus as the ‘flesh of God.’ Not to bother you
with the Greek words, ‘made flesh’ are literally, ‘To Be’ natural. That implies
that “TO BE” (the LORD GOD) once supernatural, or invisible, became natural.
Jesus was not made or even
‘born’ but ‘borne’ as in transported. He always existed just as the
apostle John wrote. In a sense, Jesus was transformed, or maybe even transported
from one realm to another. The point is that Jesus is not another divine
being, but the LORD GOD manifested, or revealed, to mankind.
God did not sire mankind the way
that multiplication is done today. He really did reproduce Himself when
He generated Adam from Himself, “God created man in his own Image, in the Image
of God created He him; male and female created he them.” [xxviii]
Man therein is the ‘kind’ of
being called, ‘Adam.’ It is what is thought of today as a family of some
species.
Adam was not the male’s name.
Like God, Adam was without a name. God created the ‘Adams’ male and female just
as He did all the other animals. Man,
however, was generated upright. That can be taken two ways — Man walked
upright and lived upright in the manner of God. Those two characteristics
made Adam upright and in the Thoughts of God. That is essentially the meaning
of ‘glorification.’
Both Adams, male and female, were
made glorious like God. They walked like God and thought like God. They were
made entirely innocent in the manner of God! That equilibrium would soon be
upset when man fell from upright to more like the beasts, not in stature but morality.
But this chapter is about God.
However, to understand God, mankind must be understood; mankind, none of them,
are gods. The Adamic kind soon found that out, but the Devil still has many
convinced that they are indeed ‘gods’ and what they believe is the ultimate
truth.
God is not like mankind.
Something happened after God rested that changed them. They became corrupt and
would die. Before they ate anything, they were like God, as you may remember.
What is God like? He always had an Image of His own.
The ‘Image’ of God is ‘Selem’
in the Hebrew language. God is literally a ‘Shadow’ that pre-existed the visual
image of God. For you philosophers, that may bring into mind Plato’s ‘Allegory
of the Cave.’ (That is worth studying to understand the supernature of God).
The ‘Word’ in the Old Testament
is the ‘Shadow’ of the Image of God. The apostle Paul explained to the Hebrews
that “The Law having a ‘Shadow’ of Good Things to come, and (was) not the very
image of the things.” [xxix] (Plato would have seen the
‘shadow’ as a ‘fragment’ of the real object.) The ‘Word’ was that ‘Shadow.’
‘The Word’ in the Old Testament
was the Law. The Law is the very Word of God. Hence, the Word was the ‘Shadow’
of the figure, called ‘Jesus.’ The Hebrews finally received the Image that they
always sought for their God, but even with that, they were so confused that
they still, to this day, reject Jesus as the very Image of God, and glorious,
even as the ‘First Adam.’ Hence, Jesus as God in the flesh is called, the ‘Last
Adam.’ [xxx]
This was meant to be for dummies,
but because God is unseen, many think only those with education can see who God
is. Regardless of education, wisdom is not intelligence; it is the ability to
consider information and make correct conclusions about it.
The crucifixion of Jesus did just
that! Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh and died to prove that He was. That Jesus
defeated death proved that He was who He said He was. He proved the statement
of the apostle John, that Jesus was the Creator!
So, returning to the identity of
God’s original Image (Selem); that ‘Shadow’ was a phantom,
according to Strong’s Dictionary of the Hebrew Lexicon — “something
apparent to sense but with no substantial existence, or an apparition”
Scripture refers to that ‘Substance”
as the ‘Father’ aspect of God. Using the Hebrew abbreviations for “I AM THAT I
AM” which is JHWH, Ya He Waw He, ‘God’ is pronounced by the Hebrew
speaking world as ‘Yahweh.’ The letters V and W in the
Hebrew are much the same, so in the English, it is pronounced ‘Jehovah,’ albeit
neither are God’s ‘Name’ as a Name is not needed because there is only One True
God. Since God became incarnated (with flesh such as ours), the Flesh of God is
called ‘Jesus’ which means ‘Ya Saves.’ That is the one Name by
which anyone can be saved! [xxxi]
The Image of God, now shown to be
a Phantom, might have some shape.
King Nebuchadnezzar saw four men
in the fiery furnace, although he had placed only three into the fire. He had
said to the crowd, “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire,
and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
[xxxii]
Nebuchadnezzar did not see the
flesh of four men but the flesh of the three and the shape of another being.
He saw the ‘form’ of the Other as the ‘Son of God’ (Hebrew; Bar ‘Ela).
The Hebrew word ‘bar’ for
us dummies (I had to look it up) means much the same as the English ‘family’ or
the Latin ‘gens.’
Hopefully, it will not confuse the
issue, but Nebuchadnezzar saw the ‘Phantom’ of God in human bodily shape; not
that this being was another Existence which God generated, but God
Himself in human shape.
Hundreds of years later, many saw
the same ‘Phantom’ that Nebuchadnezzar saw, When John baptized Jesus, “The Holy
Ghost descended in a bodily shape (like a dove upon Him), and a Voice
came from heaven, which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in thee I am well
pleased.’” [xxxiii]
Jesus was revealed as the ‘posterity’
of Father God. He was of the gens (genetics) of God, meaning that He was
not conceived and made of God, but conceived of the same Spirit that
Nebuchadnezzar saw burning alive but not consumed. (Mary was more of a ‘vessel’
for carrying God from the invisible realm to the visible, rather than ‘mother
of God.’)
Just as Jesus was called the ‘son
of David’ that meant only that He was thought to be of David’s family, or gens.
Jesus was certainly not King David’s son in a paternal sense, but of his
genetics, or so they thought.
Likewise, as the ‘Son of God,’
neither was Jesus the natural born son of God, but of the genetics of God. That
means that neither are Christians heirs of God by birth, but because they must
have that same Image of God in them that Adam and Jesus had!
Born of God is born of the Spirit
of God. In English, the translators called that ‘born again,’ [xxxiv] but the literal
meaning is ‘engendered from above’
Christians, just like Christ,
become in a sense, just like God. That is what theologians call, ‘justification’
and the effect is ‘glorification.’ Think about that as generated in the same
Image of God as Adam and Jesus and remember that it is an invisible Image that
theologians call the ‘soul’ and psychologists the ’psyche.’
The ’Substance of Father God’ is
invisible, or non-material. For the benefit of mankind who needs proof, God
became material for us. Jesus is the Image that the Hebrews always longed
for, and then they got it. The ‘IT’ is called, ‘Jesus.’ He is the visible
Substance of the Invisible God, not another god or even another existence but
the same one revealed to the world in a Substance that they could see.
Sacred literature indicates that
although invisible, Adam and Eve could see God, possibly because they were not
blinded by the things of the world. Jesus came so that mankind could see Jesus
as Adam would have seen Him. Jesus is the “Glory of God’ in that He is the progeny
of Father God.
There is much more to say about
God. His Mind is all-knowing and He is always Present. He does show Himself in
different ways. Foremost is God in the flesh, but God in Spirit remains God as
well! The Mind of the Father, the Flesh of the Son, and the unseen Holy Spirit
of God together as One Godhead is called by theologians, ‘The Holy Trinity.’
God is not really three Persons
in one Entity, but two other Substances in One Person.
‘Persons’ are people with flesh.
God has One Flesh, called, ‘Jesus’ and He is God in total. When Jesus was seen,
God was shown to the onlookers.
How to be a Christian? See Jesus
as God! What does that entail? You must believe in God, not gods created by
men, but the Creator Himself.
Paul mentioned some, “Who changed
the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than
the Creator, who is blessed for ever.” [xxxv]
We think of ourselves as ‘all-knowing’
and to be highly esteemed, but until you realize that you are a creature
created by God and are the effect of His Great Cause, that is humbling.
Few worship the Creator because
they disbelief the Creation. To be ‘regenerated’ — ‘born again’ — there must
have been a generation! To not accept God as the Creator is a rejection
of God as the ‘Re-Creator.’
Many believe in Jesus. They
believe that He was a good man, even with a great doctrine of grace. They
believe that He was even perhaps the ‘son of David,’ but few believe that He is
the ‘Son,’ or actual Genome, of God!
That Jesus is God was proven by
the crucifixion. Jesus essentially came undone and revealed all His
Substances. The Father figure was there in Presence but left for the death; the
Spirit of God, by then the Holy Ghost of Jesus [xxxvi] was given up, and all
that remained on the Cross was the Flesh of God that all could see.
Do you see the Father at the
Crucifixion? I do! Do you see the Holy Spirit take flight? I do! Do you see
Jesus as God? I do, and so did Pilate, his wife, the repentant thief, and the
centurion who ensured that Jesus was dead! When you see the Holy Ghost, it is
as much God as Jesus is; then you shall not grieve the Holy Spirit who is there
to Comfort you in this world. [xxxvii]
Like Nebuchadnezzar, like John
the Baptist, and even like Jacob who wrestled with God; when we see Jesus as
God, and that He is the only way to eternal life; then you are a Christian.
You need not feel emotion, but gratitude
is a natural thing for thoughtful people.
What is it that we must do
to inherit eternal life. Nothing! Understanding that Jesus is God is not
work. It is very ‘ergonomic.’ All the lost need to do to inherit their portion
of God’s Estate is to understand that God came to the world to probate His own Will
and share His Estate to all who claim to be a member of the family of God.
Some who want to inherit things act
quite well to gain an inheritance. Acting is not lawful. To inherit
estates requires only that the family see the father as their own, and that the
father view them as heirs.
The Greeks, not of the Jewish gen, came
to Philip to see the one to be crucified even before His death; “The same (Gentiles)
came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him,
saying, ‘Sir, we would see Jesus.’” [xxxviii]
They were there not just to see
the man, but to see God in action. Before they ever saw His miracles, they
understood that this ‘man’ was indeed God in the flesh.
To see Jesus, you must see Him
inside and out. You must see not only His flesh, even His Ghost, but His Power
as well. God and Him alone has the virtue necessary to heal the sick and enough
to even heal the nations. [xxxix]
If Jesus was God, and that is so,
where was He in the beginning?
He was the Voice walking in the Garden
and the Tree of Life. Before God ever appeared in the shape of a human, or in
the beginning, a phantom; God appeared to the Adams Family as the “Tree of Life’
whose fruits would have been quite digestible: “The fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law.” [xl]
That is the One True God. There
is much more, but we all have some ‘dummy’ in us!
[i]
John 8:31-32
[ii]
Luke 18:9
[iii]
John 13:34
[iv]
John 14:15
[v]
Luke 2:13-14
[vi]
Mat 22:40
[vii]
Mat 5:28
[viii]
Mat 19:26
[ix]
Isa 55:7-8
[x]
John 8:33
[xi]
Gal 6:6
[xii]
Ephes 3:6
[xiii]
John 3:16
[xiv]
Rev 7:17
[xv]
Jas 1:8
[xvi]
Mat 18:3
[xvii]
2 Chron 15:3
[xviii]
John 1:3
[xix]
Exod 20:3
[xx]
Gen 3:5
[xxi]
Gen 1:1
[xxii]
Exod 3:14
[xxiii]
Rev 22:13
[xxiv]
Gen 2:4
[xxv]
Rom 1:20
[xxvi]
Acts 17:23
[xxvii]
John 1:14
[xxviii]
Gen 1:27
[xxix]
Heb 10:1
[xxx]
1 Cor 15:45
[xxxi]
Acts 4:12
[xxxii]
Dan 3:25
[xxxiii]
Luke 3:22
[xxxiv]
John 3:7
[xxxv]
Rom 1:25
[xxxvi]
John 7:39
[xxxvii]
John 14:16
[xxxviii]
John 12:21
[xxxix]
Rev 22:2
[xl]
Gal 5:20
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