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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Insist on the Truth

When Jesus said He would build His Church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it, apparently Satan took that as a direct challenge.  For centuries he has desperately tried to destroy the Church with lies and corruption and one of his favorite tactics is to mix a little truth with a clever lie and sell it.  This is what he did in the garden with Eve and he hasn’t changed his modus operandi in all this time!

Mankind is born with an innate knowledge of God’s existence.  Some readily embrace this fact but some refuse to recognize the sovereignty of God by blindly believing various falsehoods or denying His existence altogether.  Like it or not, we are all accountable to our Creator and will one day stand before Him to answer for how we lived our lives.

Because of our sinful, rebellious nature it is much more comfortable to buy into even the most fantastic lies rather than face the truth. One of the whoppers I hear people blather about is that Jesus never claimed to be God. Instead, the Council of Nicea, held in 325 AD, manufactured all sorts of fiction about Jesus in order to exert control and power over the uneducated masses.

Some of these stories have circulated for centuries and are still being swallowed by unbelievers who will grasp onto any story to avoid facing the reality that they must answer to an Almighty God.  Dan Brown’s fairytale, The DaVinci Code, is a major source of lies propagated today.  In the opening pages of this book, he arrogantly spouts that the information contained therein is “FACT” that was well researched and reliable.

Unbeknownst to most people, Dan Brown was sued twice for plagiarizing the story line of this drivel and he did not lift one finger to ‘research’ anything. His wife is the one who admittedly did the research, which was comprised of internet misinformation strung together that she never bothered to verify.

Both of them were exposed for the fools they are when numerous experts, both secular and religious, publically refuted the book’s ridiculous claims.  In this article, I will address some of the untruths he perpetrated on the general public under the guise of scholarship.

Among Mr. Brown’s many fabrications are the supposed edicts passed at the Council of Nicea, held in 325 AD.  This was comprised of 300 Bishops from all over the Roman Empire and was held at the request of the Emperor Constantine.  For instance, Brown states the Council voted the following to be Church doctrine:  That Jesus was divine, even though He never claimed to be God; the concept of the Trinity, and that the Council and/or the Vatican decided what books would comprise the finished New Testament and what writings would be excluded.

Every single one of these claims is completely false and anyone remotely interested in the truth could easily take the time to verify the veracity of them.  I take my facts not only from various books and sites on the internet, but also Dr. Mac Brunson, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, FL who happens to be a rabid expert on Church history.

Let’s address the first claim that the Council voted in the idea of Christ’s divinity. This supposedly was done to make the Church more politically powerful and mystical in the minds of the unwashed masses.  The idea that Jesus never claimed to be God is so completely absurd as to be comical.  Do these people even have a Bible??
 Jesus Himself stated the following:

That God was His Father~ Matthew 7:21-23, John 5:22

If you saw Him you’d seen God the Father~ John 14:9

To Know Him is to know God the Father~ John 8:19

To hate Him was to hate God~ John 15:23

He and God the Father were one~ John 10:30

He is in the Father and the Father is in Him~ John 14:14

He had the authority and power to forgive sin~ Mark 2:5, 10

That He is eternal and was always with God before the creation of the Earth~ John 8:56-58, John 17:5

Shall I continue?  ‘Nuff said.

The Council did NOT vote on the divinity of Christ!  Here is what the issue really was…approximately 318 AD, a man named Arius began teaching that Jesus was created by God, in opposition to long accepted church doctrine.  He reasoned that since scripture says Jesus was “begotten” He must have had a beginning.  He obviously ignored the plethora of scripture that taught Christ was preexistent with God before creation.

By a vote of 298 to 2, Arius and his teaching were ruled heretical and he was banished from the church for several years because he refused to stop teaching this lie.  Simple as that.

The second claim was that the Council of Nicea invented the doctrine of the Trinity.  This is patently false.  The Trinity, or Trinitas, was a commonly held early Church belief that was used to describe the three persons that simultaneously exist as one God, also called “Oneness.”  The earliest proof is evidenced by the writings of Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch in 160 AD on the subject, so we can assume the doctrine was widely accepted before that.  He spoke of the Trinity 165 years BEFORE the Council of Nicea!

The last lie is the Council and/or the Vatican decided which books would make up the New Testament and what writings were to be discarded. The horrific persecution of the early Church and its rapid spread across the Roman Empire spurred the Church to completely nail down New Testament canon around the year 150 AD. They wanted to ensure that the Gospel being taught was uniform and cohesive.

There were three requirements that had to be met for the books to be included. They had to be written by an original apostle of Jesus or a close associate of an apostle. They had to conform to the “rule of faith” and be consistent with the Old Testament teachings and laws. Finally, they had to be widely accepted by the 1st century Christian Church members. The books we hear of, like the Book of Judas or the Book of Lilith, as well as others, did not meet these requirements and were discarded as heretical teachings.

Again, the 27 books of the New Testament were finalized and widely accepted by 150 AD, a full 175 years BEFORE the Council of Nicea.  And there was no such thing as the Vatican in 325 AD!  Duh.

As I stated in the beginning of this paper, Jesus promised the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church. Satan has tried every trick in the book to persecute, wipe out, discredit, mock, erase and kill it since its inception and much to his chagrin, I am sure, he has failed miserably. The Bible calls the Church the “Bride of Christ” and it is eternal.

As a Christian, I am quite sensitive to the falsehoods I hear from unbelievers regarding Christ and the veracity of the Bible.  In these last days of civilization as we’ve always known it, I feel a great need to defend and correct the misconceptions about Jesus that are pervasive in our society.  I want to do what I can to counter these so others will have the truth when they make their personal decision whether to accept the free pardon Christ died to provide to them or go their own way.

Every single one of us makes that decision one way or another.  If you never think about getting right with God, or you aren’t even convinced He exists, you are still deciding.  Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, “He that is not with me is against me.”  There is no gray area with this. It’s either black or white. You accept that Jesus died for your sins, rose again to be your Savior so you can enjoy eternal life in heaven with Him, or you don’t.

Believe it or not, time is running out. Does truth matter?  Do facts matter?  Or are you OK with taking your chances, believing whatever you hear from your friends or what you read on the web?  Search out truth. This is the single most important decision you will ever make!




6 comments:

Adam Pastor said...

Greetings DW

Without a doubt, Dan Brown has indeed spread many damaging fabrications.

However, scripturally,
the truth yet remains that our Lord Jesus
never ever claimed to be Almighty GOD!


None of the verses you listed show such a claim.

Look again ...

That God was His Father
Amen! So what does make Jesus?
The Son of GOD,
the Son of the ONE GOD, the Father!

[Matt. 16.16-17, 2 John 3]
That is exactly who Jesus claimed to be and who his Father revealed him to be!
[Matt. 3.17, 17.5]

If you saw Him you’d seen God the Father
Why? Because Jesus is the Image of the invisible GOD.
[Col. 1.15]
Seeing that Jesus is the One, Invisible GOD's
Representative and Agent;
to see Christ in action is to see
the Invisible GOD in action who is working through him.
[John 14.10, Acts 2.22, 10.38]

To Know Him is to know God the Father
Why? Because Jesus is GOD? No!
Rather because:
Matt 11.27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

The Son of GOD is the revealer of the ONE GOD, the Father.


To hate Him was to hate God
Why? Because Jesus is the ONE GOD's Ultimate Representative/Agent.
Whatsoever one does to the Sent/Agent, one does it to the Sender!
The same principle applies here: Matt. 10.40, Luke 9.48, 10.16; John 13.20.
The Jews call this principle,
the Law of Agency ...
It's a principle shown throughout Scripture.

Remember, the Sent/Agent is not identical or the same person as the Sender!!
So just as the disciples [the sent] are
'not Christ' [the sender]
neither is Christ [the sent],
'GOD' [the sender]!!

He and God the Father were one!
Amen! Therefore, Christ prays that his followers would be likewise:
John 17.21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Hence, one in unity, purpose and will.

He is in the Father and the Father is in Him
(BTW, it is John 14.10-11 not 14.14)

Amen! That is exactly what Christ prayed for concerning his followers in John 17.21-23 - see above!
(Compare John 14.20)
So, GOD was in Christ [2 Cor. 5.19]
not GOD was Christ!

Adam Pastor said...

He had the authority and power to forgive sin
Why? Because the ONE GOD, the Father, gave the man Christ Jesus,
such authority!!
Therefore after witnessing the miracle, what was his believing audience's response?

Matt. 9.6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power [authority] on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. 7 And he arose, and departed to his house.
8 But when the multitudes saw it,
they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power [authority] unto men.

Please see also: Jesus forgave sins

That He is eternal and was always with God before the creation of the Earth
Actually, not so!

Concerning John 8:56-58, please see:
Is Jesus the "I AM?"

Did Jesus really claim to be God in John 8:58? Or is your translation misleading you?

Concerning John 17.5, please view:
John 17:5 (A)
and
John 17:5 (B)

Also please read:
Professor Wendt on John 8:58 and 17:5

Also DW, allow me to recommend this video:
The Human Jesus

Take a couple of hours to watch it; and prayerfully it will aid you in your quest for truth.

Yours In Messiah
Adam Pastor

Annemarie said...

Adam Pastor please explain this verse:
King James Bible
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Annemarie...Australia

Annemarie said...

G'Day Donna , great post as always...

Adam Pastor sorry I forgot to include the reference for that verse,you will find it in Isaiah 9:6....For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Annemarie...Australia

cj said...

I know I'm reading this a little late, but like you it weighs very heavy on me when people try to deny the deity of Christ. You did an excellant job of listing evidence I can only add 1 thing and that is John Chapter 1 verses 1 through 18. There is no denying this!!! Keep up the good work Donna!

Anonymous said...

To Adam Pastor: Concerning Christ as being God, all one has to do is read John 1 (the Word is Christ); it doesn't get any plainer than that. The Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit (One God: three aspects of His nature). The Bible (and Christ's own words) clearly states the fact that Jesus Christ is God in human form (the "Son" aspect of His Holy Nature--the Trinity...one God). These teachings are elementary beliefs within the Christian tenets. You need to re-read your Bible (KJV). It is very important to understand who Christ truly is; your eternal salvation hangs in the balance. God bless you and yours; May God open your heart to the Truth, which can only be found in the person of Jesus Christ.

Steven Branson (Christian Ziomist)