Author: phrescue7

A Definition of Love – Part 1

Definition of Love – Part 1,
First we must recognize that “God is Love” and since we cannot fully comprehend God it makes sense that we therefore cannot in our finite minds comprehend the full dimensions of divine LOVE. But we can get a good handle on it by studying God’s Word which says, “We love, because God first loved us,” and the flip side, “Those God loves, he disciplines“. God is the author of Love, so if you want to understand Love you need to understand God’s Word.

We know that Jesus Christ is the “Word” from John 1:1 which states, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God”. The Word is perfect and according to Heb. 4:12, “The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul and spirit…as it judges the thoughts and purposes of the heart”. As the Holy Spirit works in us, “testing the heart and searching the mind to give us what we deserve,”God uses the Word to dramatically change our way of thinking (Ps.119): “Revive me according to your word. Fortify me according to your word. May those who fear you see me and be glad, for I have hoped in your word. Your word is forever, …your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my pathway. You are my fortress and shield. I place my hope in your word. The sum of your word is truth.” The Word also proclaims the names of GOD- expressing His eternal Truth and Love: Provider, King of King, Apha and Omega, Lord of Lord, Savior, Creator, the Door, etc.. The Word commands us to love over 55 times! Love is His perfect Command, His character, and also His perfect Gift to us!

The Word of God is “His Story” as it reveals His love message to us through real life struggles and endeavors! It transcends time and puts everything including pain, death, and evil in the right perspective so that through the Holy Spirit we can defeat them and ease the trials they bring.  The Word supercedes our limited knowledge for “the foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of man!” And when we apply God’s Word it gives us help, purpose, identity, and wisdom beyond mankind’s best scholarship! God’s Word confronts and convicts us with the Truth, then  lovingly comforts us with Grace. “For it is by Grace through faith that we are saved, it is a Gift of God so that no one will boast.” Love is the major part of this pre-imminent gift of Grace. This dynamic tension between Grace & Truth working with love in hearts & minds releases us from all the lies and fears of the world and sets us free! It also is the key to Salvation, a sanctified life in Christ, and eternal life with Jesus Christ!

The Word supercedes our limited knowledge for “the foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of man!” And when we apply God’s Word it gives us help, purpose, identity, and wisdom beyond mankind’s best scholarship! God confronts and convicts us with the Truth, then He lovingly comforts us with His Grace. “For it is by Grace through faith that we are saved, it is a Gift of God so that no one will boast.” This dynamic tension between Grace & Truth working with love in hearts & minds releases us from all the lies and fears of the world setting us free! It also is the key to Salvation and eternal life in Jesus Christ!

So have we defined LOVE? Not really – but we have gotten to its source. Lets explore some more! What is the greatest act of LOVE? Jesus Christ defined it this way, “No greater love is this, than for a person to die for her/his friend”. Jesus did just that, He said to those who loved him that he no longer called them servants, but friends and He followed through by dying for them and for us! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” John 3:16.  But Jesus also said: “Love your enemies as yourself, do good to those who hate you.” And he also said, “Love your neighbors as you love yourself”. In Mat 7:21-23, he says “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” God seems to be the Ultimate Profiler! Yet God in His Holiness must execute Divine Justice! He alone knows those that have come to Him by faith and faith alone!

Jesus says that friendship with the world is enmity towards God.  Jesus told the begging Canaanite woman that “his food” was for Israel not her! He also says that the path to God’s Kingdom is a very narrow way with a narrow gate as opposed to the broad road and wide gate of the world which leads to destruction. And because of self deception few will find it. Jesus also warned that He was the only way to eternal life- to be with the Father.  Can this “politically incorrect” God be perfect LOVE? Is there LOVE in rejection, in the Law, and in the Judgements made by God in the Old and New Testaments by which people, cities, and nations were wiped out? Here again hard Truth and loving Grace measured with time work together to bring fulfilment to His Promises! “All things work together for good to those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose“. Divine love and faith seems to bind together the natural and the supernatural, death to life, the past to the present, and judgement to forgiveness!.
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The Lord warns of 2 kinds of deception: those who hear and do not do and those who profess yet do not obey. He then says that, “if you do not live a righteous life then you are deceived“. Note that He says all this as a warning in LOVE to the deceived, the Lost, and even the criminal. Why? Because He wants everyone to repent and turn away from sin and rebellion. He wants an eternal relationship with you and me. God sent the Prophets to do exactly that and to present a Hope & a Promise for your future Salvation! The fact that nothing can hide us from His love should tell us how complex, special, and profound His love really is! Jesus also encourages us by saying that even thought Satan is the Father of lies, “He who is in you is greater than the one (Satan) who is in the world!”  And when Jesus confronted Satan in the wilderness, he said “One must not live on bread alone, but on every word coming out of the mouth of God.”

The Classic Biblical passage on LOVE is in Chapter 13 of I Corinthians 13. I will quote the best part of it: “If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. . . When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” I believe Paul is saying that as we mature in Christ we grow in both faith and Love, but we will not fully understand everything until we are with Christ, then we will fully know the mysteries, the Trinity, and all that He has done for us and through us. In essence we cannot fully understand His LOVE, nor be complete in his “Love” until we are eternally with HIM. Even though we are unable to fully comprehend the extent and depth of His Love within every Word & message, we can learn more and more as we study it, apply it and allow the Holy Spirit to direct us and convict us of sin.

In Rom 8:38-39 Paul states, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We will grow as His Love washes over us and connects us to Him in a deeper way. The faith that He plants will grow and bear fruit in the good soil of Truth, hope, and love! I Jn.4:16 says, “God is love and the one who remains in love remains in God & God remains in him.” In His love, we are born again as “children of God” with a purpose and a plan that He directs! Amen!

We know that GOD is Love and therefore the WORD is love, but how about everything else? The world is fallen! Despite the imperfect nature of man and the world, God is still reflected in His Creation: we see it every day in the beauty, and intricacy of the universe, of nature and in mankind which He (the Triune God- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) created in His image, Genesis 1:26. At best we can allow God’s love to flow through us, just as God’s love is manifested in the variation and order of Creation! After all He made it for us to share and enjoy!

There are dozens of passages that define how we should interact with others in a selfless, loving way. Much like the sermon on the Mount where Jesus shared the essence of Love and Righteousness, Paul speaks over and over again on what being “in Christ” implies: Ph.2:3, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others”. Due to the love of money, knowledge, and myths, Paul warned Timothy: “Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called ‘knowledge,’ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith”, I Tim. 6:20. As one falls away from the faith, love is misdirected. In Deut. 30:6, God commanded: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” So study God’s Word and not just “hear it” but also “do it”,then Live in Christ and enjoy his love!

WE CAN THEREFORE CONCLUDE: Because God is Love & God is the Word, then the Word of God is Love. Since God is the perfect Creator of everything, we should see evidence of this love in everything that He created – in a sunset or flamingo! God’s message to us should inspire us to study & enjoy his Word & the best of his Creation, to pray earnestly, and to share His Truth & loving Grace with others!  Love is the elastic that holds Grace and Truth together so that our faith is balanced. For it is faith tempered with love that allows us to “see” without our eyes, to know the Truth that sets us free, and to believe in the God of the “impossible”. The whole Divine process of Grace and Truth mixing with Love affecting and transforming us is a better definition of pure LOVE than anything I know! There is of course the world’s love and the feeling and emotion of love. There is of course the world’s love and the feeling and emotion of love. These also play a key part in history, music, and literature; and they do greatly affect our lives in both good and bad ways! Part II will delve into those areas of redemptive truth.  In Truth & Grace, Peter.

The story of Redempton in great literature and music is part of the next episode. We cannot help but be affected by the redemptive love in the great literature of Tolstoy and Shakespeare and in the classic novels Moby Dick, Don Quixote, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

The Jehovah Witness a False Christ

Jehovah Witness Attack on the Deity of Christ
Three Assumptions or Beliefs form the Jehovah Witnesses:
1) Divine guidance comes only through the Watch Tower Society. One Society member even brags that they have a better Revelation of the Bible than the church because they are receiving revelations every day to the point that they add 32 pages to the Bible every week. Any disagreement with the Watch Tower Society is a disagreements with God!
2) Jehovah Witnesses alone have the Truth of God. This in turn leads them to believe that they must be separate from the world. This gives them a deep feeling of superiority, exclusiveness, and uniqueness. They view the whole world system outside of the Society as being Satanic.
3) They hold that Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic and even Jewish Orthodoxy are false and controlled by Satan. They believe that the Jehovah Witnesses belong to no earthly organization but only to the divine heavenly one.

The Society considers Christianity as their biggest enemy and those who counter their religion are to be hated and despised. Their “manual” states: “Haters of God and His people..are to be hated..We must hate in the truest sense, which is to regard in extreme aversion…Oh Jehovah God consume them in wrath, consume them that they shall be no more”. This is not exactly the love the Jesus Christ commanded that we have for our enemies.  Their whole effort is to attack the Trinity and present a False Christ that was created by their Jehovah God.

Tbe JW’s believe that there are 3 classes of individuals: 1) the 144,000 which receive the revelations of God and are responsible for the writings of the Watch Tower. They will enjoy the special privileges of justification and being born again. This justification is not a once-for-all legal declaration of God as the Bible teaches but only a “present” justification that may be forfeited at any time by disobedience. “Born again” to them also has a different meaning: it is to be water baptized and anointed by God so as to be recreated by God as a spirit creature after death- just as God recreated Jesus into Michael the Archangel after his death- (this doctrine may change with new edicts of their Watch tower Society). They do not realize that “born again” means a spirit rebirth in the inner man that God grants which brings with it eternal life. Jn. 3:3-8, 5:24, 6:47, 1 Jn. 1:11-13.
2) The 2nd class includeds Jehovah Witnesses that cannot be born again – “the other sheep”. After death they are recreated to live on earth and are not spirit beings – they are physically recreated to be ruled over by the 144,000.
3) The final class are non- Jehovah witnesses who are “good” people and can earn salvation after death. None of this is Biblical. The bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved..” Acts 16:31.

To the JW salvation is not by Grace, through faith- instead it is by personal merit and good works. Grace has an entire different meaning to them: grace implies the opportunity for man to work for his own salvation only. Jehovah Witnesses have changed the meaning of verses throughout the Word of God. 1) In one case simply by adding the word “the” they demote the Deity of Christ implying separation of God from Christ: Titus 2:13 “While we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ..” Clearly this verse is saying that Jesus Christ is our great God and Savior! This and the following  one verse are often quoted as signatures of our Christian faith!
So here is the JW version: “While we wait for the happy hope and glorious manifestations of the great God and of (the) Savior of us, Christ Jesus.” This is a complete mistranslation of the Greek to deny the deity of Jesus. 2) Another one of my favorite verses is Col. 1:17 and again the JW’s have skewed the translation to fit their theology.  The Word says: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” The Jehovah Witness version says:
“Also, he is before all (other) things and by means of him all (other) things were made to exist”. Again this is a way to change the fact that Christ is eternal and therefore God- a doctrine that they deny. The Watchtower’s own Greek interlinear version shows no “other” in the original Greek. When confronted this is an embarrassment to them.  3) John 8:58 a perfect example of Jesus saying that HE is GOD: “….before Abraham was born, I AM” which was clearly understood by all the Jews that Jesus was claiming to be God! The JW version states: “…before Abraham came into existence, I have been”. This obscures the fact that Jesus was making a direct claim to be GOD. 4) Mat.24:46 states: “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Again the JW translation
obscures the meaning in stating: “Then these will depart into everlasting cutting-off, but the righteous into everlasting life.” The JW’s deny the biblical teaching on eternal punishment and replace it with their doctrine of the annihilation of the wicked. 5) Acts 20:28 “His own blood” mistranslated to “the blood of His own (Son) 6) Heb. 1:8 “Your throne, O God,”mistranslated to “God is your throne” 7) In Col. 2:9 “deity” changed to “divine quality” and John 1:1 “the Word was God” mistranslated to “the Word was a god”- all to deny the Deity of Jesus Christ!!!

The Last Generation

THE LAST GENERATION – 2017:
A Biblical generation can be 40, 50, 70, or 100 years. Forty years seems to be a period for complete testing and preparation; 50 years is a period of release and deliverance; 70 years is a period when prophecy is completed; and 100 years appears to be the longest period for God dealing with Israel. Combinations of these numbers is also significant such as the 40th Jubilee = 2000 years! It is important to note that in 1917 the British issued “The Balfour Declaration”, which was the first official act to allow for the formation of the new nation of Israel.

Since it is clear from the Word of God that the end-time clock is associated with the nation Israel and the city of Jerusalem (Eze. 36-38, Daniel 9), then the years 1917, 1948 and 1967 are very important in determining the end time generation. The question then is when did the end generation begin? Was it in 1917 the first official act by a Gentile nation to give Israel legal right to the holy land; 1948 when Israel was reborn as a nation after 2500 years of exile; or in 1967 when they recaptured Jerusalem and declared it to be the eternal undivided capital of the State Israel? We must keep in mind that the last 7 years of Daniel’s 70th Week are part of the end generation, which ends Gentile domination of both Israel and the city of Jerusalem.

Let’s study the 4 time periods above for each of the three possible dates for beginning of the last generation – 1917, 1947/8, and 1967 and see if we can determine the length of the end time generation- Also note that an Event is confirmed by two or more witnesses -GOD’S NUMBER OF ACTION IS 3:
1) THE BALFOUR DECLARATION IN 1917. (First Official Act to Give the Jew the right of return to the land). 1917 + 40 year generation = 1957. This scenario will not work because the time has expired for the tribulation and the Second Coming to occur. 1917 + 50 year generation = 1967. This scenario won’t work for the same reasons. 1917 + 70 year generation = 1987. This scenario won’t work also for the same reasons.
1917 + 100 year generation = 2017. This scenario WORKS with the tribulation beginning in 2017

2) 1947/8, The REBIRTH OF ISRAEL AS A NATION 1948 + 40 year generation = 1988. Does not work because the time has expired for the tribulation and the 2nd Coming to occur. 1948 + 50 year generation = 1998. Also doesn’t work for the same reasons.
1947/8 + 70 year generation=2017/8. This scenario WORKS with the tribulation beginning in 2017/8 .

3) 1967, The RECAPTURE OF JERUSALEM 1967 + 50 year generation = 2017. This WORKS with the tribulation beginning in 2017..
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From these calculations, we have 3 generational periods pointing to an END GENERATION of 2017/18. Here is recap of the 3 Biblical generations and the 3 dates that fulfill prophecy for the nation of Israel:
Using the birth day of the nation Israel in 1947/8, the recapture of Jerusalem in 1967, and the issuing of the Balfour Declaration in 1917, we notice that the 50 for Jubilee = Release, the 70 = prophecy complete, and the 100 = the right of the Jew to return to their homeland- all end at approximately the same time period, 2017/8 (with the tribulation following). In addition the word” Genea” has a meaning related to ‘birth’ of the nation of Israel. It seems logical that the END GENERATION of 100 years will usher in a rebirth of the nation of Israel in Christ.

The number 70 is especially associated with Israel’s bondage, captivities, exiles, return and completion of all vision and prophecy. Notice the generational numbers 50, 70, and 100 fit into this period perfectly. I do not think this is a coincidence. If this is the true prophetic scenario, then I believe Daniel’s long awaited 70th Week will occur soon. Note also that Jerusalem was conquered by the Ottoman’s in 1517 and that Empire remained in control for 8 Jubilee’s or 400 years- similar to the Biblical captivity in Egypt. Those Turks were conquered by the British Empire in 1917. If we look at the birth of Jesus occurring around 2-3 B.C. and take into account one extra year to compensate for the year “0” we can see that the year 17 AD as being 20 years after the birth of Jesus Christ. So His 1st Coming begins with a prophetic 70 year generation: 20 + 50 = 70 and could also end with a prophetic 70 year generation period: 1947-8 + 70 = 2017-8. Note also 17 AD + 2000 (40X50) = 2017.

With what is happening in our world today, I cannot see things continuing beyond the 2nd decade of the 2nd Century. On the scene will be the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet, especially as the present apostasy grows in proportion to the true Church, as the Islamist movement grows and threatens Israel, and as the numbers of martyrs increases at such a great rate. Our Hope is in Jesus Christ and in His Redemption. In His Name, Peter
ToGodBtheGlory.org – Check out this blog site for more information. Have a Blessed New Year!

Temptation Vs. Grace – Repeating Mistakes is Easy

Temptation is personified in the flesh by those who seek selfish rewards for victories and who celebrate their accomplishment outside the will of God
Temptation snakes in and around seeking weak hearts and minds that rest on their works, self will, and pride.
Temptation comes like a lion ready to pounce on those distracted by the wiles of the world or absorbed by the desires of the flesh.
Temptation acts like a snare that captivates the mind of the weak willed and those discouraged by failure and fear.
Temptation reaches to every level from birth til death surprising even the most confident and the most knowledgeable.
Temptation is a tool of the enemy to kill, steal, and destroy life, love, and hope, casting a pall on all God’s creation.
Temptation opens the door to sin amplifying evil and every form of malice, perversion, lying, and deceit.
Temptation has brought down kings, queens, and leaders of every kind at their moment of  greatest accomplishment  and  success.                                   Temptation gains strength from repetition and from those minds that seek excuses and reasons to rationalize.
Temptation feeds on the proud and egotistical who worship the god of self and other idols.

Temptation  fulfilled brings shame or guilt, but Grace gives abundant hope, forgiveness, and peace.

Tit 2:11-12 “For the Grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.
It trains us to renounce ungodly living and worldly passions so that we might live sensible, honest, and godly lives in the present age. ”

Grace overcomes temptation by the power of the Holy Spirit even in the most desperate conditions and flows through the prayers of those who Love God.

Grace upholds Truth and Agape Love bringing Mercy to those who deserve death and condemnation.

Grace and Truth come through Jesus Christ – whereas the Law came through Moses and by the first we are reconciled to God and by the second we are judged

Grace brings beauty and hope in life and the promise of salvation unto death and beyond to all who believe in the name of Jesus Christ.

Grace saves the worst sinner, heals the even the “dead”, lifts the spirit out of darkness, and propels the Gospel into the hearts of the lost.

Grace seeks every sinner, forgiving the worst sin, and lifting the soul out of despair and hopelessness.

Grace of God cannot be defeated, dispelled, depleted, destroyed, nor diluted, but will transform anyone in Christ Jesus.

Grace is a free gift that in time will defeat temptation as one surrenders to the will of God and sanctification by the Holy Spirit.

Grace and its abundance will bring the reign of righteousness and the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Grace supersedes the law and chooses us so that we might grow in faith and overcome the world.

Grace of Jesus Christ saves us from the curse of death and lights our path as we follow Him and grow in the fruits of the Spirit.

Grace of God cleanses our heart, renews our Spirit, drives away fear, and frees our conscience of guilt and shame.

Grace acts to help us excel in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for God and each other.

Grace surpasses all sin, all fear, all discouragement, all despair, all powers, all the kingdoms natural and supernatural.

Grace brings Glory to God Almighty who Created the Universe and all who dwell in it  past, present, and future.

Grace through faith in Jesus Christ is the Answer to peace, purpose, and identity to all willing to receive it.

Grace comes through God alone: through the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who together ( as stated in Gen. 1:26) created man in “their” image. Together this “Triune” being created us and now seeks to save each of us from our own sin and eternal condemnation. Grace draws us to God, yet plants a healthy fear in us of Him so that we will grow in Him and for Him in every aspect of our lives.  For it is by Grace through Faith that we are saved, it is not of works so that no one can boast. Eph. 2:8-9  “To all who receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God”  John 1:12.
“Rejoice always! Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything for this God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Don’t stifle the Spirit”  1Th. 5:16

Zechariah 12:10 “And I wil pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of GRACE and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shal mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

Angels, Jesus Christ, & God the Father

The Jehovah Witnesses believe that Jesus is “Jehovah” to us on earth – from our perspective, but in the reality of heaven, Jesus is not Jehovah, but is Michael the Archangel. This would also explain why they believe Jesus is Creator, yet in heaven he is just an angel. This is disingenuous and is a type of game that the media has been playing against Trump. They show a picture of the crowds at noon and they say (as if the event took place at that time) “and look how small the crowd is” at Trumps inauguration. Yes the event began before noon, but the main event – his swearing in – only happened 4 hours later and it was raining the whole time. So the crowds gathered much later! One can twist verses and meanings if you take them out of context, isolating them, then redefining words and names, or then completely remove words and/or add new words (as in the case of John 1:1). One cannot diminish who Jesus Christ-for His Name is above all names- and He is God.  To characterize Him as an angel is heresy and  fulfills what Jesus said about the many “anti-Christs that will come in my name”.

These verses will help define who Jesus Christ is and what an angel is and that both are in no way equal! By the way there are many more verses and so I recommend that you buy a book on angels by Dr. Jeffress or Billy Graham.
1) Matthew 24:36 Here it is obvious that Jesus does not know but the Father does. Jesus is separate from the Father but both are GOD – I will include a paper that I edited on the Triune nature of God versus heresy:Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

2) Here Ezekiel  is speaking of Satan who is an angel: “Thou wast created” . So angels were created and so Jesus Christ cannot be an Angel because “he was from the beginning” (begotten which does not mean born) and was not created-
Eze_28:15, Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

3) Here again we have an inference “all things ..that are in heaven” were created by him, Col 1:16.  “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.”

4) Heb 1:3-6,  A clear difference is being made here between Jesus Christ and the angels: Heb 1:3, Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. . unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

5) Rev 21:3-6, This is in heaven God speaks and it is clear that we have both the Father and the Son Jesus Christ in One as we have “the Alpha & Omega” which is Jesus and the “great voice” which is characteristic of the Father “and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”

6) Heb 2:16  For verily he (Jesus) took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.  Why would the Word say that Jesus did not take on the nature of an angel? Because he was never an angel – it is clear!

7) Go to Gen 1:26, “And God said, Let us make man in our image“.. here God is referred to as “us”- God in 3 persons or the “Triune God”:  Jesus in his pre-incarnate form walked with Adam and Eve, the Father spoke creating the Universe, and the Spirit hovered over the waters.

Trying to Understand the Trinity & God

Trying to Understand The TRINITY : 1. It’s a mystery.  Should we stop trying to understand and just believe and know God?  Note that what makes Christianity True and Unique is the essence of a Loving God in 3 Persons who wants a relationship with us and hence provided Himself in the form of man in order to die for our sins ; and in the form of a Holy “Spirit” to guide, encourage, convict, and teach us.  This is a free Gift!  Outside of the Trinity God has provided the angels – which are created beings and subservient to God!

When they are pressed with tough questions about how God can be three persons or how each member of the Trinity can fully be God, some Christians resort to an unfortunate tactic. They throw up their hands and say,  “It’s a mystery!” They don’t bother to explain any of the tough questions, and sometimes they accuse people of lacking humility when those people try to accurately describe the Trinity. Isn’t trying to define the nature of the infinite and unique Trinitarian God an impossible task? Aren’t we trying to “drink up the ocean in a tea cup” by trying to fit God inside of our tiny, finite minds?
A mystery, it has been said, is not something that is unknowable; it is something that is incomprehensible. I know that pi is the ratio of a circle’s diameter to its circumference, but I don’t comprehend, and can never comprehend, the full value of pi, since it possesses an infinite amount of numbers after its decimal point. Likewise, I can know God is all-knowing, but I can’t fully comprehend what it’s like to be all-knowing. The Church teaches that the mysteries of our faith, unlike the value of pi, are those things human beings cannot come to know through reason alone. In that sense the mysteries of the faith are not like the “mystery” of the Bermuda triangle or the “mystery” of the value of pi, both of which merely represent a gap in human knowledge that can be filled with diligent research. The mysteries of faith must be revealed to mankind in order for us to know them.

The First Vatican Council taught that while man can, by reason alone, come to know God exists, man cannot fully understand that God is a Trinity of three persons. If God had not revealed these truths to mankind, we would still be in ignorance of them, which is why they are sacred mysteries of the Faith. Also, just because we cannot fully understand something doesn’t mean that we cannot understand errors about that thing. For example, Jesus Christ is the most mysterious person who ever lived, because he was fully God and fully man (just try fully understanding what that’s like!). This is what is called the “hypostatic union” and a good example of this is when a tired Jesus fell asleep in the boat and then the storm came.  He awoke and calmly told the storm to stop!

Simply put, there is a lot about Jesus of Nazareth that is mysterious, and we can’t presume to know more (such as what Jesus looked like) than what has been revealed for us. But correcting someone who says that Jesus was a woman, or that Jesus wasn’t a Jew, does not reveal a lack of humility; it reveals a sense of fidelity to those truths about Jesus we can know through historical investigation or by what the Church has revealed to us.    Since the Trinity is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the “hierarchy of the truths of faith”, we ought to stamp out errors wherever we find them. Unfortunately, these errors usually come about when believers with good intentions try to create an analogy to help nonbelievers to understand the Trinity. The problem with using analogies to explain the Trinity is that God is the most unique being in existence. In fact, many theologians will tell you it’s not quite correct to call God a being but rather he is the being, or the reason anything exists at all. Because God is so unique, any analogy we use will inevitably fall short.

While these analogies can be helpful for children, when they are pressed too far they lead to conclusions the Church has deemed heretical.

2. “The Trinity is like how a man can be a Son, a Father, and an uncle at the same time. He’s one and three at the same time, just as God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at the same time.” Nope. This analogy commits the heresy of modalism. Modalism is the false belief that God is one person who has revealed himself in three forms or modes. Modalism is also called Sabellianism after Sabellius, an ancient theologian whom Pope Callixtus I excommunicated in A.D. 220. Modalists were heavily influenced by Greek philosophy, which taught that God was an ultimate one, or act of unity. While this was a big improvement over Greek polytheism that posited a pantheon of gods who fought each other, it goes too far when it denies that God can be three relationally distinct persons in one being. Returning to the bad analogy that leads to modalism, though a man may be a son, father, and uncle, he is not three persons as God is but one person who has three titles.

Another popular but false analogy is the following: The Trinity is like how water can be ice, liquid, and steam. This again commits the heresy of modalism. God does not go through three different states. The Persons of the Holy Trinity coexist; the different forms water may take cannot. Water cannot be ice, liquid, and steam at the same time. It may be between two stages such as when ice is melting, but this isn’t coexisting, it’s transforming.

Another analogy—attributed to Sabellius—that lives on today is that of the sun. The Father is the sun, while the Son and Holy Spirit are the light and heat created by the Father. But this analogy also smacks of modalism, because the star is simply present under different forms.

Or it can be seen to express Arianism, which is the heretical view that the Father is superior to the Son and Holy Spirit by being a different and “higher” divine substance than the latter two. In the sun analogy, the light and heat are passive byproducts of the sun and are not true equals in the way that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit share equally and completely in the divine nature. This is what the Jehovah Witnesses believe.

Another heretical byproduct of sabellianism is patripassianism: God exists as one “mode” and merely puts on the mask or role of “Father,” “Son,” and “Holy Spirit.” But this would mean that when the Son suffered on the cross, the Father also suffered on the cross (though he was wearing the mask or mode of being the son). In William Young’s popular novel “The Shack,” the Trinity is illustrated through three people. The Father is an African American woman named “Papa,” the Son is a Middle Eastern carpenter, and the Holy Spirit is a mysterious Asian woman. At one point Papa says to the main character that at the crucifixion “he and Jesus were there together,” and Papa even has scars just like Jesus (pp. 95-96). However, the Church teaches that God is impassible and that nothing human beings do can cause God to literally suffer like us.

Jesus was capable of suffering on the cross only because he assumed a human nature and possessed a human body. Basically, the main problem with modalism is that it denies that God is three distinct persons. When the Bible states, “’Father,’ ‘Son,’ ‘Holy Spirit’ it is not simply saying names designating modalities of the divine being.  They are really distinct from one another. With modalism you are left with is a confusing monotheism where God merely pretends to be three different persons instead of actually being three different persons. Unfortunately, in order to correct this error some analogies overcompensate. This leads to our next bad analogy.

3. “The Trinity is like an egg: yoke, albumen, and shell. The three elements form one egg just as the three members of the Trinity comprise one God.”
This commits (or could at least lead one to believe it commits) the heresy of saying God is composed of three parts and that those parts make up one God. But God has no parts, as Irenaeus affirmed: “[God] is simple, not composed of parts, without structure, altogether like and equal to himself alone. He is all mind, all spirit, all thought, all intelligence, all reason . . . all light, all fountain of every good, and this is the manner in which the religious and the pious are accustomed to speak of God” (Against Arian Heresies [A.D. 189]). The key here is understanding that we don’t believe in three persons who when united become God but in three persons who possess the same divine nature. ”The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e., by nature one God”.

Five ways to explain the Holy Trinity:
It’s better that our children not fully understand who God is, than have a false understanding of him,. The closest way to “dumb it down” for kids is by 1) a simple conversation about “being”, person, and nature; and 2) a simple diagram. There are other explanations: 3) the Athanasian Creed: we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one Eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one Uncreated, and one Incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Spirit Almighty. And yet they are not three almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.  4) the Nician Creed: We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, for our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life who has spoken through the Prophets. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. 5)  Apostles Creed: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

-some of this paper was edited from Matt Fradd’s website

God’s Trinity vs the World’s Heresy

TRINITY EXPLAINED:    Ryrie (a pillar in Christian theology) writes:
Trinity is, of course, not a biblical word. Neither are triunity, trine, trinal, subsistence, nor essence. Yet we employ them, and often helpfully, in trying to express this doctrine which is so fraught with difficulties. Furthermore, this is a doctrine which in the New Testament is not explicit even though it is often said that it is implicit in the Old and explicit in the New. But explicit means “characterized by full, clear expression,” an adjective hard to apply to this doctrine. Nevertheless, the doctrine grows out of the Scriptures, so it is a biblical teaching. Other words that do not appear in the Bible, yet are used to explain clearly defined events promised by God are “millennium” and “rapture”.

Historical Background
Though the Bible taught truth of the Triunity of God implicitly in both Old and New Testaments, the development and delineation of this doctrine was brought about by the rise of heretical groups or teachers who either denied the deity of Christ or that of the Holy Spirit. This caused the early church to formally crystallize the doctrine of the Triunity. Actually, Tertullian in 215 A.D. was the first one to state this doctrine using the term, Trinity. Concerning the struggle the early church went through, Walter Martin writes: As the New Testament was completed toward the close of the first century, the infant church was struggling for its life against old foes—persecution and doctrinal error. On the one hand were the Roman empire, orthodox Judaism, and hostile pagan religions, and on the other hand were heresies and divisive doctrines. Early Christianity was indeed a perilous experiment. Probably no doctrine was the subject of more controversy in the early church than that of the Trinity. Certainly the teaching of “one God in three Person” was accepted in the early church, but only as this teaching was challenged did a systematic doctrine of the Trinity emerge. The Gnostic heresy, for instance, (which permeated Christendom in the lifetime of the apostles) drew strong condemnation in Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and John’s First Epistle. Denying the deity of Christ, the Gnostics taught that he was inferior in nature to the Father, a type of super-angel of impersonal emanation from God.

The Heresy:  Following the Gnostics came such speculative theologians as Origen, Lucian of Antioch, Paul of Samosota, Sabellius, and Arius of Alexandria. All of these propagated non-biblical views of the Trinity and of the divinity of our Lord. But perhaps the most crucial test of Christian doctrine in the early church was the “Arian heresy.” It was this heresy which stimulated the crystallization of thought regarding both the Trinity and the deity of Christ … Today there are still remnants of the Gnostic heresy (Christian Science), the Arian heresy (Jehovah’s Witnesses), and the Socinian heresy (Unitarianism) circulating in Christendom. All of these errors have one thing in common—they give Christ every title except the one which entitles Him to all the rest—the title of God and Savior (the Name above all Names, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Alpha & the Omega)….and not just a “created being” or angel like Michael the Archangel.

But the Christian doctrine of the Trinity did not “begin” at the Council of Nicea, nor was it derived from “pagan influences.” While Egyptian, Chaldean, Hindu, and other pagan religions do incorporate so-called “trinities,” these have no resemblance to the Christian doctrine, which is unique and free from any heathen cultural vagaries …The point, then, is simply this: While the term Trinity is never specifically used nor the doctrine explicitly explained in Scripture, it is nevertheless implicitly stated. The church councils, in their fight against heresy, were forced to think through what the Bible says about how God exists. The result was the doctrine of the Triunity, but let it be emphasized, the development of this doctrine was based on a careful study of Scripture. Cairns discusses this time of theological controversy in the early church and the extreme care given to this issue: It was an era when the main dogmas of the Christian Church were developed. The unfavorable connotation conveyed by the word “dogma” in a day of doctrinal laxity, such as the present, should not obscure the value to the Church of dogma. The word “dogma” came through the Latin from the Greek word dogma, which was derived from the verb “dodeo”. This word meant to think. The dogmas or doctrines formulated in this period were the result of intense thought and searching of the soul in order to interpret correctly the meaning of the Scriptures on the disputed points and to avoid the erroneous opinions (doxai) of the philosophers..

Finally, it should be said that the doctrine of the Trinity is the distinctive mark of the Christian religion, setting it apart from all the other religions of the world. Working without the benefit of the revelations made in Scripture, men have, it is true, arrived at some limited truths concerning the nature and Person of God. The pagan religions, as well as all philosophical speculations, are based on natural religion and can, therefore, rise to no higher conception than that of the unity of God. In some systems we find monotheism with its belief in only one God. In others we find polytheism with its belief in many separate gods. But none of the pagan religions, nor any of the systems of speculative philosophy have ever arrived at a trinitarian conception of God. The fact of the matter is that apart from supernatural revelation there is nothing in human consciousness or experience which can give man the slightest clue to the distinctive God of the Christian faith, the triune, incarnate, redeeming, sanctifying God. Some of the pagan religions have set forth triads of divinities, such as, for instance, the Egyptian triad of Osiris, Isis and Horus, which is somewhat analogous to the human family with father, mother and child; or the Hindu triad of Brahma, Vishnu and Schiva, which in the cycle of pantheistic evolution personifies the creative, preservative and destructive power of nature; or the triad set forth by Plato, of goodness, intellect and will—which are not examples of true and proper tri-personality, not real persons who can be addressed and worshipped, but only personifications of the faculties or attributes of God. None of these systems have anything in common with the Christian doctrine of the Trinity except the notion of “threeness.” Before we investigate the evidence for the Trinity, let’s define it and then study the evidence.
Definition of the Trinity: Webster’s dictionary gives the following definition of trinity: “The union of three divine persons (or hypostases), the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in one divinity, so that all the three are one God as to substance, but three Persons (or hypostases as to individuality).” Synonyms sometimes used are triunity, trine, triality. The term “trinity” is formed from “tri,” three, and “nity,” unity. Triunity is a better term than “trinity” because it better expresses the idea of three in one. God is three in one. Hypostases is the plural of hypostasis which means “the substance, the underlying reality, or essence.” That is why we use the term “hypostatic union” used to describe Jesus Christ as fully human and fully God (example: when he fell asleep in the boat as the storm frightened his disciples then calmly told the storm to stop).
Ryrie writes:
A definition of the Trinity is not easy to construct. Some are done by stating several propositions. Others err on the side either of oneness or threeness. One of the best is Warfield’s: “There is one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence.” Person: In speaking of the Triunity, the term “person” is not used in same way it is in ordinary usage in which it means an identity completely distinct from other persons. Actually the word persons tends to detract from the unity of the Trinity. According to the teaching of Scripture, the three Persons are inseparable, interdependent, and eternally united in one Divine Being. It is evident that the word “person” is not ideal for the purpose. Orthodox writers have struggled over this term. Some have opted for the term subsistence (the mode or quality of existence), hence, “God has three substances.” Most have continued to use persons because we have not been able to find a better term. “The word substance speaks of God’s essential nature or being and subsistence describes His mode or quality of existence.”
Essence: In its theological usage, essence refers to “the intrinsic or indispensable, permanent, and inseparable qualities that characterize or identify the being of God.” The words triunity and trinity are used to refer to the fact that the Bible speaks of one God, but attributes the characteristics of God to three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the trinity states that there is one God who is one in essence or substance, but three in personality. This does not mean three independent Gods existing as one, but three Persons who are co-equal, co-eternal, inseparable, interdependent, and eternally united in one absolute Divine Essence and Being. Typically, the words triunity and trinity are used to help us express a doctrine that is scriptural, though replete with difficulties for the human mind. Again, it needs to be emphasized that this is a doctrine that is not explicitly stated either in the Old or New Testaments, but it is implicit in both. Note the following points:
(1) Evangelical Christianity has believed in the doctrine of the Trinity, Triunity, or the Triune Godhead because of the teaching of the Bible as a whole (Old and New Testaments) and not because of one or two particular passages. As will be shown below, the whole of Scripture gives testimony to this doctrine.
(2) There are many specific passages which teach us there are three distinct Persons who possess deity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, but the Bible also teaches us with equal emphasis that there is but one true God or one Divine Essence or Substance and Being.
(3) Taking the whole of Scripture, one can see that there is stress on: (a) the unity of God, one Divine Being and Essence, and (b) on the diversity of God in this unity, three Persons identified as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It speaks of these Persons in such a way that it ascribes absolute undiminished deity and personality to each while stressing that there is but one God in divine substance. It is the doctrine of the trinity that harmonizes and explains these two thrusts of Scripture—oneness in three personalities.

When we see that the Bible teaches these three things: (a) there is but one God, (b) that the Father, Son, and Spirit are each God, and (c) that each is set forth as distinct Persons, we have enunciated the doctrine of the Triunity of God. In a chart, it can be expressed as follows below:

Diagram of the Holy Trinity: The three Persons are the same in substance, i.e., in essence or in their essential nature, but distinct in subsistence which describes God’s mode or quality of existence in three Persons. By mode of existence we do not mean one God acting in three different ways, but one Divine Being existing in three distinct Persons within one Divine Substance or Essence. Again, this is not exactly three individuals as we think of three personal individuals, but one Divine Being who acts and thinks as one within a three-fold personality. This is incomprehensible to our  
finite and limited minds, but it is the teaching of the Scripture. “In the Being of God there are not three individuals, but only three personal self distinctions within the one Divine Essence. The Father is the creator, the Son is the redeemer, and the Holy Spirit is the “sanctifier”. The Church teaches that the Son was eternally begotten by the Father. The Father has always been the Father and the Son has always been the Son. The Holy Spirit proceeds from both the father and the Son. The New Bible Dictionary has an excellent summary of this point: In the relationship between the Persons there are recognizable distinctions:
a. Unity in diversity
In most formularies the doctrine is stated by saying that God is One in his essential being, but that in his being there are three Persons, yet so as not to form separate and distinct individuals. They are three modes or forms in which the divine essence exists. ‘Person’ is, however, an imperfect expression of the truth inasmuch as the term denotes to us a separate rational and moral individual. But in the being of God there are not three individuals, but three personal self-distinctions within the one divine essence [italics mine]. Then again, personality in man implies independence of will, actions and feelings leading to behavior peculiar to the person. This cannot be thought of in connection with the Trinity. Each Person is self-conscious and self-directing, yet never acting independently or in opposition. When we say that God is a Unity we mean that, though God is in himself a threefold center of life, his life is not split into three. He is one in essence, in personality and in will. When we say that God is a Trinity in Unity, we mean that there is a unity in diversity, and that the diversity manifests itself in Persons, in characteristics and in operations.
b. Equality in dignity
There is perfect equality in nature, honor and dignity between the Persons. Fatherhood belongs to the very essence of the first Person and it was so from all eternity. It is a personal property of God ‘from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named’ (Eph. 3:15).
The Son is called the ‘only begotten’ perhaps to suggest uniqueness rather than derivation. Christ always claimed for himself a unique relationship to God as Father, and the Jews who listened to him apparently had no illusions about his claims. Indeed they sought to kill him because he ‘called God his own Father, making himself equal with God’ (Jn. 5:18). The Spirit is revealed as the One who alone knows the depths of God’s nature: ‘For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God … No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God’ (1 Cor. 2:10f.). This is saying that the Spirit is ‘just God himself in the innermost essence of his being.’This puts the seal of NT teaching upon the doctrine of the equality of the three Persons.
c. Diversity in operation
In the functions ascribed to each of the Persons in the Godhead, especially in man’s redemption, it is clear that a certain degree of subordination is involved (in relation, though not in nature); the Father first, the Son second, the Spirit third. The Father works through the Son by the Spirit. Thus Christ can say: ‘My Father is greater than I.’ As the Son is sent by the Father, so the Spirit is sent by the Son. As it was the Son’s office to reveal the Father, so it is the Spirit’s office to reveal the Son, as Christ testified: ‘He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you’ (Jn. 16:14). For further understanding read the 3 Creeds: Nician, Athanasian, and the Apostles Creed here in this blog: under the title: “Trying to Understand the Trinity”- the last paragraph.    Also Check out “Generations…” and “Stars…”.

Us vs. Them – the new Paradigm

You created “us”   
when you attacked our freedom of speech.

You created “us”   
when you attacked our right to bear arms.

You created “us”   
when you attacked our Christian beliefs.

You created “us”   
when you constantly referred to as as racists.

You created “us”

  When you called us “deplorables”

You created “us”   
when you constantly called us xenophobic, yet countries like Saudi Arabia which gave the Clintons billions will not let any non-Muslim to enter either the city of Medina nor the city of Mecca!

You created “us”   
when you told us to get on board or get out of the way, yet Trump has done more for the American worker in 8 weeks than Obama did in 8 years.

You created “us”   
when you forced us to buy health care and then financially penalized us for not participating.

You created “us”   
when you lied and said we could keep our insurance plans and our doctors.

You created “us”   
when you allowed illegal immigrants to have the rights of legal immigrant and receive the benefits that our veterans deserve.

You created “us”   
when you attacked our flag.

You created “us”   
when you took God out of our schools.

You created “us”   
when you confused women’s rights with feminism.

You created “us”   
when you began to emasculate men.

You created “us”   
when you decided to make our children soft.

You created “us”

When you decided to rewrite school history books and remove the truth about our founders

You created “us”   
when you decided to vote for progressive ideals and forced a social globalism on us.

You created “us”   
when you attacked our way of life and the life of unborn human babies.

You created “us”   
when you decided to let our government get out of control and increase the national (non-bank) debt to 46 trillion.

“You” created “us”   
the silent majority.

You created “us”   
when you created the atmosphere for murdering innocent law enforcement officers.

You created “us”   
when you took a knee, or stayed seated or didn’t remove your hat during our National Anthem.

And we became fed up   
and we pushed back and spoke up.

And we did it with   
ballots, not bullets.

With ballots, not   
riots.

With ballots, not   
looting.

With ballots, not   
blocking traffic.

With ballots, not   
fires, except the one you started inside of “us”.

“YOU” created “US”.

It really is just   
that simple.

Letter to a new Christian Pilgrim who is falling into a Jehovah Witness Trap

Dear Brother, the world that we live in has been distorted and redesigned to undermine and destroy our faith and our witness. This is NOT a game, it is spiritual warfare. You are in essence a Lamb ready for the slaughter because you have not yet acquired any of the necessary “armor” . Satan awaits like a roaring lion.
1) Be sincere and have a commitment to win with the Truth of God’s Word – GIRD UP YOUR LOINS with the Belt of Truth. Are you content to lose? Do you know what is at stake? Your usefulness on this earth and rewards in the kingdom are at stake. The souls of others may be depending on your insight and boldness! Even your own soul may be at stake, if you are lying to yourself and really do not know and trust in God. So gain wisdom and knowledge by studying God’s Word. “All the treasures of Wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ Jesus”,. So Gird up your loins with Truth!

2) Are you doing what is right by condemning the two people who drew you to the Lord and are therefore assigned to disciple you? You are judging them based on your attachment to the JW’s ! The JW’s are the ones who are keeping their own members and family from attending other churches and studying the real Bible on their own. You are very confused! You must have the Breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS to fight this battle! But you seem to have chosen to defend what you do not know in an attitude of rebelliousness, anger, & pride!
3) Have you prepared your feet for “The Gospel of Peace”? With these “feet” you are able to stand against Satan because they are anchored in the Gospel of Peace- on which you have made peace with God and know that you are saved. I doubt that you know that! With these “feet” one is strong in the Lord just as David was against Goliath. You have the courage to defeat evil & strongholds in your life.
4) The Shield of Faith protects us from the wiles of the devil whether it be illness, distractions, temptations, and any other attack. Every temptation you get is a lie! “Do this and you will be wise”, or “it will fill your need”, or “ this is the real truth God surely did not say that”….all these were used by Satan against Eve or Jesus and countless others!
5) The Helmet of Salvation or the “Hope of Salvation yet to come” (from 1Thess.) protects you from doubt and despair! This is protection from what will steal your joy & usefulness. This is confidence in God’s eternal Word & salvation.
6) Take the Sword of the Spirit, it is Rhema (a specific statement with Spiritual power), and is a sword that is designed to be used with precision for victory. Jesus quoted specific verses to Satan when tempted by him…that defeated him! Then with all prayer and petition you can seek the Holy Spirit at all times! This will make you strong. Are you drawn by his Word or are you content with having someone else interpret them for you in a false way?

Be careful that you do not go into a spiral of depression & despair that you seek truth from the “liar” & only find yourself helpless and hopeless. We understand that you are trying to protect and stand up for a “persecuted” minority that begs to be considered equal to any denomination. It is true that they have similarities with all the denominations including the Amish, Quakers, and other isolated groups. But you are the one who diminishes and hurts the Amish by aligning them with the JW’s. I dare you to call or write any Amish and suggest this- they will correct you in a heart’s beat! You apparently do not yet know what it means to be a church, a denomination, and even a Christian. You do not know Doctrine, Christology, Theology, Eschatology, nor the Hypostatic Union. So why are you challenging Angie and I who between us have 94 years of studying the Bible, prayer, teaching, and interacting with God and His people? What kind of pride is this? Let me ask you a simple logical question. If the JW’s are a denomination why have they written their own Bible?      The Amish and all the other denominations do not print their own version changing Words, meaning of words and phrases! The Amish people use KJV or the German Martin Luther Version. These and all the other mainline versions have the SAME DOCTRINES, THEOLOGY, HYPOSTATIC UNION ETC.  – WHEREAS THE “jw” version does NOT! Read Psalm 7: 14-15, Num. 32:23, Prov. 11:2, Prov. 16:18, and most of all Ed- Galatians 6:7-8 – Do Not mock God! 1Co 15:33 – Stop being deceived: “Wicked friends lead to evil ends.”

You REALLY NEED TO DIGEST WHAT THE APOSTLE PETER SAID: 2Pe 2:19 “Promising them freedom, they themselves are slaves to depravity, for a person is a slave to whatever conquers him. For if, after escaping the world’s corruptions through a full knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah, they are again entangled and conquered by those corruptions, then their last condition is worse than their former one. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and turn their backs on the holy commandment that was committed to them.” Note that the JW’s will not go to any other church or sermon and if anyone does they will be defellowshiped!

JW’s change some of the MOST IMPORTANT THEOLOGICAL VERSES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT! Joh 1:1-3, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (not a god). He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. WHY! Because they believe that Jesus Christ was created! This goes against both OT and NT! Read the 1st Commandment! For Jesus to be created would mean idolatry! We are not to worship other gods nor the creation! Only God has no “cause”! Isaiah 9:6 says Jesus is “Almighty God, Everlasting Father” & Col. states, “For by him all things were created, in heaven & on earth, visible and invisible,” Their’s is NOT CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY: THEY teach that God is Jehovah and that He is “one Jehovah” and not part of a trinity. They teach that Jesus was just a man while on earth & NOT fully God. While in heaven He was & is the created angel, Michael. They teach that Jesus isn’t equal to Jehovah but is the manifestation of the Word & that the two are separate beings. They teach that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force, much like electricity. This force is used by Jehovah to accomplish His will. A person or people that claim authority to dictate new truth and rewrite the Word are “false prophets” and under judgement!

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that any belief system or religious teaching other than theirs is part of the “great apostasy” and is “of the devil”. They teach that Jesus was hung on a “torture stake” or pole and not a cross. Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that when we die we are completely unconscious. Nothing survives the body except for a memory that Jehovah has of us. If we were good then Jehovah may choose to resurrect us in the “New System”( term to describe paradise). They teach that when Armageddon comes, all non-Jehovah’s Witnesses will be destroyed by God (not sent to Hell) – and the others will be in a new system of things and paradise. Because they are committed to OLD TESTAMENT LAW and that “life and SIN is in the blood- they teach that taking blood of any type is a violation of God’s laws and is a grave sin. This includes taking blood transfusions. The concept of “sin” in the blood is their own creation and is non-biblical. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in two classes of Christian. One is of the “earthly class” or the “other sheep”. The other class is a “heavenly class” of a literal number:144,000 spoken of in Revelation- (Rev.7 disputes this & says that these are 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel!).  They are rewriting or reinterpreting Revelation- so Ed you must read this for yourself  -Rev.22:18-20

You can hide theology in all kinds of semantics and rabbit holes but you cannot hide the Truth…a counterfeit is shown when next to the real thing – the JW’s have a FALSE CHRIST- AND ARE NO BETTER THAN ISLAM! For you to endorse them, defend them, study with them and then worship with them makes you culpable of not only idolatry but also being a witness to a false religion and professing a lie against the faith – ignorance by them or you is no excuse! You are the “son” of the Living God who is your Father and also your friend and Savior. He has always wanted a relationship with you, but you have run from Him and now your letting a counterfeit imitation draw you away. Jesus warned us, “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold”.  So Ed, where is your love? Jesus said, “I AM the Alpha and the Omega”, says the Lord God, “who is and was and is to come, the Almighty God”. Rev. 1:8.   Read John 3:16-18. Even though Jesus Christ is and always was God, He is Love- and the greatest fruit of the Holy Spirit which is in every believer is Love- read The Word of God!  For literary inspiration read Pilgrims Progress – an allegory of the Christian walk.

Hunting Dinosaur Bone or Mammalian Bones

Finding Dinosaur Bones – How to find them and Caution when sharing them!  Note that the pics above are of the original fossils as I found them.  I have removed much of the red sandstone that covered them and right now there is a good possibility that this is a new species.

To all you wanta-be or amateur dinosaur hunters – here is some good news! I was in NE Texas scrub lands and dropped down to a riverbed where after 40 minutes of casual walking in my “Sunday shoes and clothes” saw an odd looking red rock! About 15% of the rocks were red (sandstone full of ferrous oxide) and rest white or browns! I had prayed that God would give me just a small fossil so to make this “Black Friday” trip to nowhere worthwhile! So he wrapped the perfect bone in red for me: a dinosaur Jaw Bone! Nearby I also found a perfectly round rock with concretions and a Pac Man like bite mark with homogeneous bumps on the inside (like a pomegranate or guava).  I believe that it is fossilized fruit or seed pod! Note that I am a dentist- so the Jaw bone was perfect- it has a submandibular depression, a mandibular notch-for the nerve, a tooth socket, condyle and condylar eminence, and it is very heavy and strong- for it is full of iron ions/ferrous oxide. So just because a rock is red do not think that it is just sandstone! The picture above shows the jaw bone after being soaked in warm soapy water for over 2 days – so much of the red is gone!

What I want to emphasize to kids and anyone who wants to seek out fossils- DO NOT TAKE THEM TO A “ROCK STORE” FOR IDENTIFICATION!!!  I took both fossils to 2 Rock shops in Dallas and both tried to tell me that the samples were just rocks (either due to lack of knowledge or due to a desire to obtain them for a cheap price !!). Be very very careful!

Christmas Letter 2016

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND TO ALL – EMMANUEL (God with us)!
This year has run like the script from a Fellini movie – and the circus continues on-and-on! It started off well with a trip to see my brother Ed, the “Holyland Experience”, and the oldest city in America, St. Augustine! Ed who has been both bi-polar and anti-social, made a confession of faith in Jesus Christ as we prayed and shared Truth from God’s Word. We wanted him to join us onward; imagine as a new believer breaking bread with “Jesus” as he encourages you and prays for you, or seeing a miniature 63 AD Jerusalem with a clear picture of where all the events of the NT took place, or experience live the “Sermon on the Mount” and the Spiritual battles fought by Angels and the Saints in spreading the Gospel of Truth! It is an uplifting experience and blends well with the reality of the spiritual battle that we are fighting in the world that we live in! The fact is our nation and the world are at a moral and spiritual crossroad, and anything can happen! So remember to pray for us & the nation!

My “roller coaster” began with the hail storm that struck in March causing over $20,000 of damage to my roof and trim. Insurance paid it all and I came away with some important knowledge to pass on to others concerning the danger of “ridge vents” in multi vaulted homes with insulation that blocks soffit vents! – they do not work! (You can read about this and essays on everything from art to prayer, theology, miracles, and giants: “ToGodBtheGlory.org”. Please write a review on any blog post- I felt more inspired this year than ever and I always appreciate feedback!) Also in the Spirit of Christmas and Thanksgiving seek out the this wonderfully uplifting song (YouTube): “Lord You’re Holy” and the choral music from an autistic 12 year old girl with her backup group of young autistic kids: “www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P5A2QFp0cE&feature=share”

The next adventure went north to Ocean Beach, Delaware, Washington D.C., and to neices wedding. Although we had rain and cold winds (due to a long winter that gave farmers a very bad crop) the wedding day was calm & sunny and the outdoor time in Washington DC was also beautiful: Mt. Vernon, Ford’s theater, and the view from the Washington Monument were all great new experiences! Ocean City has great beaches, restaurants, and an effective Christian mission called “Son Spot”. Soon later I had to visit a physician for an inflamed chronic lesion on my shoulder- which was my first basal cell carcinoma! Then in July we headed to West Virginia and Kentucky to celebrate the opening of the life-sized Noah’s Ark. W. Virginia had suffered some very severe floods just weeks earlier, knocking bridges and isolating whole hotels (we saw the damage as we exited right at that spot to have lunch)! We were greatly blessed by the fact that it did not rain even a drop the day that we had to stand outside for more than 3 hours during the ribbon cutting events! The storm clouds were all around us, and the predictions were for thunderstorms! Both the Holyland and the Ark are worth seeing with the whole family! In September I developed a persistent Bronchitis and the blood test showed high liver enzymes. My internist freaked me out by telling me that I might have hepatitis. I had worked on hepatitis patients in Panama in 1999 and had gotten ill the next day. I had had some exams since that time, but no specific blood tests for hepatitis! I saw my past, present, and future turn dark and was ready to shutter the practice. Many were praying for me and when the 2nd set of blood tests came back two weeks later, he told me there was so sign of hepatitis!

A week later I joined a group of friends and dancers in Cabo San Lucas, Mex.for a great time despite hurricane Newton going right over us – we were in the eye! I was also in the eye of a social storm between two of the girls- & ended up helping to defuse their war! Our organizer arranged dinners with the top restaurants – including a Presidential favorite. Our next venture was to cruise from Montreal to Quebec City then over to PEI, Nova Scotia, Bar Harbor & Boston. In Bar Harbor my oldest brother joined me for a relaxing lunch and a walk! In Boston I drove to a nice resort in the mountains of NH to see the Fall colors! We enjoyed the Flume and the magnificent Mt. Washington with its dramatic colors, snow, wind, and ice! A week later I was in Denver for the ADA meeting and up in the mountains of Vail enjoying its beauty! On that last day I chased a stormy sunset all along the Red Sandstone road steering with my left hand and holding a camera in my right. Then just two days later, back in Dallas while at work talking art to a brother in Christ, I suddenly lost all sensation on that left arm and face. That mini-stroke was a blessing in disguise as it answered a prayer for motivation to control a junk food habit. The ER called it: TIA due to “arterial spasm”.

Another prayer was answered when Dennis Kavanaugh, (who gave up a teaching career at the seminary to be a missionary to Foreign Students) eagerly accepted the call to teach a Bible study at my home. And was it not God’s Grace that this ole dentist found a reddish jawbone of a dinosaur near Christmas time in an ole riverbed soon after asking God to bless me with one fossil -for having made this long trip to N.E. Texas? I had just visited my patient’s desolate scrubland! The bone had been permeated by ferrous oxide- and so looked just like the hundreds of red rocks! (Check out the Post titled “Dinosaur Fossils..”).  Not only that, but nearby was another fossil 4 inches in diameter and round- either a prehistoric seed pod or fruit!  It has a bite mark that exposes the inside – showing a fossilized pulp with bumps- like that of a pomegranate or guava.

God does give us what we ask for! His answer, however, can come in a way we do not expect! He loves us so much that He wants us to grow and trust in Him, not in our normal inclinations, desires, and mindset! Struggles and tests are part of His plan just as it was for Mary & Joseph as they journeyed to Bethlehem and later fled their home for Egypt. Prophecy was fulfilled! The Glory of God was with them just as He had been with their forefathers as they crossed the Red Sea, when they marched around Jericho, and in every turn they took as a people of God trusting in His Promise. The rewards of faith are great and ever flowing! “For it is by Grace through faith that we are saved, it is not of ourselves, it is a gift of God so that no one can boast.” The Christmas season helps us to rejoice in His Glory -the angels, the star of Bethlehem, the conception, and birth of Jesus Christ! So in the spirit of Christmas I decided to go into the Mojave desert and California’s 2nd highest mountain, Mt. San Jacinto, to photograph and study His stars & the beauty of His creation . “The Heavens declare His Majesty and the firmament proclaims His Glory”. He is “God with us”, and remember, “This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for each other” 1Jn.3:16. In His Glorious Love, Peter