What, Wrong Already? Part 2

The Orthodox Church (founded in the book of Acts of the Apostles) suffered attack immediately upon its formation. The Apostles worked with the churches scattered about the region by writing epistles which included an effort to refute and warn against this heretical attack on the doctrine of the Apostles. Sound doctrine was established by these letters and they have in turn informed us of the proper message to follow. There is very little of that “Orthodox” Church left in the modern religious world today. Most of modern religion espouses a corrupted and heretical theology when compared to the text of the N.T. There are churches who claim they are “Orthodox”, but the meaning of that word defies the application. The leaven of the Pharisees has had it's effect through the age of Christianity.

Any change in the way God related to man over the ages was initiated by God and not by man. When a change occurs, we are informed by the Word of God and not the whim of man. Changes that will occur in the future have already been described in the Bible for us so that we may know what to expect and how to respond accordingly.

That the post-apostolic writers were writing after the ancient language concepts had fallen from common usage is clear in this regard. They were writing from a Greek translation of the Biblical texts of their time and in a more modern societal frame of reference. As they were clearly not inspired of God to write these things, which try to change how God and man are to interface, we can regard the post-apostolic era as a theologically error-ridden period in which the history of man changed the face of Christianity through Greco-Roman logic, and law but did not improve our understanding of the true nature of God. Jesus also criticized the Pharisees of adding to the word of God and destroying the original traditions of the law by the uninspired legal rationalizations of the written Talmudic tradition (the mishna is the oral tradition). A large part of the hatred by the ruling Jews for Christians was this disregard for their Talmudic and kabalistic tradition. In this present age, any group who promotes the fundamental Apostles doctrine in the original form is likewise brought into disrepute and hatred.

Careful examination of the apostolic creed (initially published by an African lawyer, Tertullian) produced during this era, and those creeds written after it, show no concrete language at all. The words used are all abstract and give no real understanding in any basic way of who God is. It has led to confusion and great strife, not only among Protestants and Catholics, but within the Jewish religious community and individuals of Islamic background as well. The Torah of the Jews is clearly and rigorously monotheistic.

The passages from the Quran referring to Christianity and Jesus Christ describe great conflict with a theological construct formed in this post-apostolic age of un-enlightenment, the doctrine of the Triune Godhead. Several passages describe Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, as if she were considered part of a pantheon of a triune Godhead. The passages demand that Islam should disregard this status and proclaim that she is a mortal only and that there is only one God: “And when Allah will say: O Isa [Jesus] son of Marium [Mary]! Did you say to men, "Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah?" He [Jesus] will say: "Glory be to you, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to say.”(5:116). This is because these words in the Quran were written down about 500 years after the apostolic age, and the community of Christians in the town where the author of this book lived were already beyond the monotheistic point of view of the Apostles and well on the way to a dogma of intercession by Mary and the Triune or composite Godhead based on certain details of the Gnostic heresy.

The Roman Emperor Constantine had made the Trinitarian Godhead theology into Roman law in 325 A.D., about 200 years before the Quran was written. Islam is a strictly monotheistic culture and cannot align the concept of the trinity with their understanding of a single, all-powerful God.

Interestingly, a well known atheist of the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche, complained in a published philosophical treatise written as a refutation of the Trinity, that modern Christians did not understand their own God. He was actually ridiculing his father, a Lutheran bishop who professed the Trinitarian doctrine, by pointing out the confusion generated by a non-Biblical discussion of God in terms of this logic. Even this nihilistic philosopher and atheist understood that the logic of the post-apostolic age was corrupt and cannot truly represent the Godhead of the Bible. Many people today suffer from the illusion of a God of multiple personalities or even that Jesus is a descendant of God somehow and part of a pantheon of god-like personalities because of this post-apostolic logical analysis of the incarnation.

In 1669, Isaac Newton was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of England (now called Trinity) in Cambridge. As a requirement of that office, Isaac Newton had to be an ordained minister of the Anglican Church.

Typical of Isaac Newton’s method, he was unaware of the details of that office and so read up on it. After completing his historical study to his satisfaction, Newton was prepared to resign his position at the university as he objected to the doctrine of the Trinity. He writes, “The doctrine of the Trinity is a fraud, perpetrated by lawyers and bishops in the third and fourth centuries.” As Newton was a devout Christian, he was prepared to be dismissed for this intransigence against the Church. He remained in that position only because he received special dispensation for his view of the Trinity. The following is an excerpt from “Wikipedia” a public domain encyclopedia: “… However, the terms of the Lucasian professorship required that the holder not be active in the church (presumably so as to have more time for science). Newton argued that this should exempt him from the ordination requirement, and Charles II, whose permission was needed, accepted this argument. Thus a conflict between Newton's religious views and Anglican orthodoxy was averted.” Isaac Newton was arguably the greatest mathematical genius ever known to man and clearly a very great natural philosopher. He was also able to ignore the common theology of the day and find out for himself what history had to say on the matter of religion in general and doctrine in particular. This required no genius, but the determined effort of a curious person. A careful study of post-apostolic history will provide anyone the necessary information required to allow the same conclusion about the development and application of the trinity concept.

Against Heresy

The Apostle Paul warned that no one should believe any new doctrines taught after the Apostles doctrine of the N.T. church that was already established: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” (Gal. 1:8) This was so important that it was given unusual emphasis by repeating the whole statement again. In Hebrew culture, repeating a statement is much like suggesting that the consequences of the statement are dire indeed. Paul is pointing out to the church Bishop that there will be no other acceptable gospel than that which had already been preached, and there will be no other doctrine that is acceptable for mankind if not identical with the Apostles doctrine preached in the book of the Acts. The gospel of salvation is not founded in any epistles of the N. T. and it was not preached to all men in the history of Jesus Christ found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. That ministry was reserved for the Jewish nation only. Salvation’s plan for the Christian era was not revealed even in the forgiveness offered to the thief who was on the cross of crucifixion beside Jesus. Gospel salvation was preached to all men who seek entry into the kingdom of God only in the book of Acts in a plan following the words of Jesus requiring men to be born of the water and of the spirit. The post-apostolic modifications of N.T. theology are not acceptable, and to accept it, is to become accursed.

Any future changes in the relationship between man and God is carefully outlined in the Bible and does discuss the ending of the grace of God toward man. This change will occur just as God’s relationship with man changed at the flood, after the covenant with Abraham and after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are to be prepared for that eventuality by accepting the grace of God now, for the change of this relationship with man is one of judgment. The wrath of God is turned from us at this time, but in the future sinful man will not be spared His wrath. The time for obedience to the plan of salvation to access the grace of God is now. The Bible declares that now is the day of salvation. (II Co. 6:2)

Passages in the Quran that refer to Jesus Christ:2:87; 2:136; 3:45-46; 3:54; 3:59; 4:156-58; 4:163; 4:171-72; 5:17; 5:46; 5:72-75; 5:110; 5:116; 9:30-31; 17:111; 19:20-22; 19:33-35; 19:88-92; 23:91; 43:59; 61:6; 61:14; 66:12; 2:253; 3:52; 3:84; 5:78; 23:50; 23:117; 33:7-8; 42:13; 43:57-64; 43:86; 57:27.

What, Wrong Already? Part 1

Jesus Christ warned the disciples of a problem they would face from the current Jewish leadership. In Matthew 16:6, the voice of Jesus was recorded as saying “beware the leaven of the Pharisees!” What could this mean? The N.T. has a number of passages that refer to a doctrinal deviation called Gnosticism. This word, gnosis, is a Greek word that means literally “science”. The Gnostic heresy in Christianity is in reality a product of Jewish Kabalistic theology which emphasizes a non-human Messiah, asceticism, circumcision, monasticism, and Trinitarian relationships in the spiritual realm. Additionally, contact with God was to take place through a series of intermediates and not directly from human to God. These characteristic practices derive from a single point source in time and geography.

Timothy was warned by the Apostle Paul to avoid this type of speculation “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science falsely, so called.”(I Tim. 6:20). The Greek word for babbling is related to the Hebrew word tsaphaph translated as peeping (to whisper) and a related word, hagah translated as muttering (to murmur), in the O.T. Reference to this word relates to the idolatry of Israelites who followed the tradition of muttering to themselves to impress others with their skills of the divination of sprits:

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? (Isaiah 8:19)

One of the key practices other than worship and manipulation of Angels and spirits is the use of science-like but incorrect concepts to rationalize the spiritual world, including the heavens. According to Louis Berkhof, in his “History of Christian Doctrines”, this heresy of Christianity was a form of Jewish Christianity that was marked by theosophic speculations and strict asceticism. Further, he says that magic and astrology were practiced among them.” See also (Col 2:16-18).

Since Gnosticism held that the Messiah was not a human being, a warning was written to the those of the Christian faith of this theological feature as well: “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” (I John 4:3). Clearly Gnosticism is an early heretical deviation of the early church.

Berkhof continues to discuss Jewish kabalism in that all schools of Christian Gnosticism were headed by Jewish scholars, and that Jewish kabalism underwent a morphological change into Christian Gnosticism. He refers to a strange mixture of Jewish and Christian doctrines as well as speculative heathen thought. This has been noted by others who recorded the history of Gnostic beginnings from Jewish Kabalism: The Jewish Encyclopedia, all editions; The Encyclopedia Britannica, 10th ed. 1910; Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma.

In his book “Israel, our duty our dilemma” Ted Pike writes of the effect of this influence: “If Gnosticism, then, is a Jewish creation as the Jewish Encyclopedia insists, we are forced to conclude that the Pharisees introduced an element of confusion into Christian theology which we still have not emerged from”. The connection with Babylon is important as the triune gods of the Hindu religion were dominant there during the Jewish captivity. In fact, many triads of spiritual entities exist within the ancient religions springing from history at this time in Babylon. The only exception to this was the monotheistic Israelites who were part of the ten percent of the nation that was released from captivity. Of this fraction, a number were very much influenced by the heathen religious world of Babylon and eventually developed in to the kabalistic movement.

As it turns out, the Pharisees are those who practiced kabalistic theology in the time of the Messiah on Earth. This is why they were the bitter enemies of Jesus Christ. They also held that The Messiah would not be a man, but a spirit transformed as some non-corporeal entity. When Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, He was throwing doubt on their particular view of the spiritual universe.

It seems clear that a reference to Babylon the Great in the book of Revelations is focused on this point of heresy: “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” (Rev. 17:5) This reference to a harlot is the phraseology of the O.T. when speaking of the problem of Israel falling into false religion, i.e. the whoredoms of Israel. Clearly, false religion is related to the city of Babylon, the ancient home of the captive Jews, and the spawning ground of false perceptions of God.