The Rich Man and Lazarus

From Life, Death and Destiny ( 1st Edition) by Warren Prestidge

Does the Rich Man and Lazarus teach that the wicked pass at death to torment in hell?

In Luke 16:19-31, we find Jesus’ famous story about a rich man who went to torment after death, while Lazarus, a poor man who had passed a miserable existence outside the rich man’s gate, went to “Abraham’s bosom”. Does not this passage, then, teach that the wicked pass at death to torment in hell, while the righteous go immediately to bliss? My answer, and that of most reputable scholars today, is: no.

Gone Home To Be With The Lord?

When someone dies, the expression “Has gone home to be with the Lord” is a phrase that should never cross our lips of those who say they are believers.  Many are given the false comfort that their departed loved one is now in heaven with God contrary to the fact that there is no teaching in scripture that says the soul is separated from the body at the moment of death.  But yet today the world, as well as those who call themselves Christian, say that somehow disembodied souls go to heaven or hell when they die.  The bible never teaches a separation of a conscious soul from its body at the moment of death and its immediate departure to heaven or hell, thus teaching disembodied souls.

Jesus Has Selected Memory? (John 17:5)

Trinitarian doctrine would have us believe that the “man part” of Jesus was limited in his knowledge, but his memory seems to come back in John 17:5 where he states, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” On top of this, it is supposed to be a verse to prove his literal pre-existence prior to his coming to this earth. In order to do this he had to transform himself into an embryo and place himself in Mary’s womb while talking to Mary at the same time (supposedly the “angel of the Lord”), gestate for 9 months and come out crying, hungry, and wearing diapers.

The Nature of Preexistence in the New Testament

"Within the Christian tradition, the New Testament has long been read through the prism of the later conciliar creeds . . . Speaking of Jesus as the Son of God had a very different connotation in the first century from that which it has had ever since the Council of Nicea (325 AD). Talk of his preexistence ought probably in most, perhaps in all, cases to be understood on the analogy of the pre-existence of the Torah, to indicate the eternal divine purpose being achieved through him, rather than pre-existence of a fully personal kind."1

"The mainstream churches are committed to a certain doctrine about Jesus, but specialists in early Christian thought are questioning the arguments by which that doctrine was reached. New Testament scholars ask if the New Testament teaches it at all, and historians wonder at the gulf between Jesus himself and fully-developed Christianity. These questions are very unsettling, for they imply that Christianity may be in worse condition than was thought. It is perhaps not a basically sound structure that needs only to be modernized, but may be in need of radical reconstruction . . . The New Testament never suggests that the phrase ‘Son of God’ just means ‘God.’"2 [Yet evangelicalism insists on that equation if one is to be considered a Christian!]

Binitarian View Just as Wrong as the Oneness and Trinity

From Focus on the Kingdom

Was Jesus “A Mere Man”?

by F. Paul Haney

The following article we hope will be of special interest to any of our readers who have exited the Worldwide Church of God founded by Herbert Armstrong. It was the belief of that denomination that God is a family of two members. It was customary to hear Herbert Armstrong speak and write of “two Gods in the God family.” Our understanding now is that such language betrays an unveiled polytheism and paganism. God is One Person in the Bible and that One Person is the Father of Jesus Christ, His Son. We say with Paul “there is one God, the Father” (I Cor. 8:4-6), and with Jesus that the Father is “the only One who is truly God” (John 17:3). Jesus is the Lord Messiah (Luke 2:11), the Man Messiah Jesus (I Tim. 2:5) and certainly never in Scripture the One God.

The curious notion that Jesus was “a second God in the God Family” persists among some, even after they leave their former association. Our experience over the past 45 years suggests that many who think they have become “ex’s” are more attached to the apron strings of former mentors than they suspect. (This is true also of those who are attached to the idea that water baptism has no meaning for Christians now — a particularly striking example of a view held against almost everyone for 2000 years. This is not a complex question. Jesus was baptized. The Apostles baptized in water also throughout the Book of Acts. Jesus commanded baptism in water as the outward seal and sign of repentance. He commanded it until the end of the age — which has not yet occurred. Since we all believe in obeying the Lord Jesus (John 3:36), it follows that we will all desire to enter his church on his terms, one of which is baptism in water upon intelligent reception of the Gospel (see Acts 8:12, etc.).

Jesus is Not the Angel of the LORD

It’s amazing how people who adhere to Trinitarian and Arian doctrines actually believe that Jesus is the Angel of the Lord, the Angel of YAHWEH in the Old Testament (OT)!

However, Jesus could not be the Angel of the Lord in the OT:

1.     Because he is a human being NOT an angelic being

2.     And as such he was not even conceived/begotten yet at the time of the OT

So … Jesus cannot be an/the ‘Angel of the Lord’

Does Worshipping Jesus Make Him God?

Hebrews 1:6 states,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

There!  This proves the Trinity because only God can be worshipped.

Let's go to Matthew 14:33 where we read,

“Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.”

Notice it does not say, “Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art God.”

Jesus is worshipped, but does this make him God? Those who were worshipping him were not worshipping Jesus the Messiah as though he were God, but as the Son of God. They recognized him as the Messiah, one empowered (given authority) and a righteous agent of God (Yahweh).

Veils – Long Hair – Short Hair – Head Covering - Shame?

1 Corinthians chapter 11

1 Corinthians 11:4 says:

“Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head.”

“Every man” refers back to verse 3 where Paul said that Christ is the head of “every man”. Since Christ is the one who is the head of “every man”, Christ is the one who is shamed when men wear a head covering during the time that they are praying or prophesying. Notice that it isn’t just anytime that a man wears a head covering that Christ is shamed. It is only during the time that he is praying or prophesying.

Everything Happens For A Reason And Is God’s Will?

Not everything that happens is God’s plan. Most of what happens is because of the choices we make.

There may be some of you who disagree, but I find it an unfortunate choice of words when the saved as well as the unsaved try to console themselves when something disastrous happens in their lives by saying, “Everything happens for a reason.”  In your heart of hearts, do you really believe this?

Is God Really In Control Of Everything?

Those who hold to Reformed theology will claim that God is in control of everything that goes on in this world. However, this is not the Biblical view.

Throughout Scriptures we can observe where God intervenes in the world.  If God were in control, then He would not have to intervene.  The Bible shows that God is selectively involved in the affairs of the world.

David's Lord

Peter says in Acts 2:34-35, “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, "'The Lord said to my lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool."'

Peter was quoting Psalm 110:1.  The word “LORD” is translated from the Hebrew tetragrammaton YHWH. It is the untranslatable and personal name used only for the one God of Israel.  The word “my Lord” is translated from Adoni, and is in respect and reverence to human dignitaries which means owner, master, and lord, but it is never used for the God of Israel, YWHW.  Jesus is in the category of “adoni,” which is “my Lord” and is never used or God, YHWH.  

After Peter quoting Ps. 110:1, he states,

 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God (YHWH) has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).

Once we understand this, we can appreciate and grasp the many unitary monotheistic creeds of the New Testament such as:

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”  (1 Tim 2:5).

"...one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.... Eph. 4:5-6

"...yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ....."  1 Cor. 8:6

"Or is God the God of Jews only?  Is he not the God of Gentiles also?  Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one;" Rom. 3:29-30

"Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one." Gal. 3:20

"You believe that God is one; you do well.  Even the demons believe - and shudder." James 2:19

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is one individual. The creedal passages in the Hebrew scriptures carry the same God in the NT, that of monotheism. The same God is also the Father of Jesus and his Father is his God, the only true God, not only when he walked this earth, but also after his resurrection (John 17:3; John 20:17; Rev. 3:12). 

It is astounding that there are many passages of scripture that teaches YHWH is one God and that He is the God and Father of Jesus, yet such passages are disregarded and left in the dust so one may continue to take other passages of so called "Trinitarian proof texts" out of context, that can only be supported by inference and implication, to try and prove Jesus is God rather than searching for harmony throughout the whole of scripture to come to a true and logical conclusion. I know because, sorry to say, I have been there.

The human Jesus was faithful to his Father as was Moses and David and the prophets and never walked away from the Jewish creed (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29).  The Jews, and Jesus himself a Jew, never conceived the idea that God is three in one, nor did he or anyone ever teach it.

Babies Choosing Good Over Evil

When it comes to the false doctrine of Original Sin, also known as ”Hereditary Total Depravity,” or “Born with a Sinful Nature,” we often hear this common response to try and support this ungodly doctrine that,  ”No one has to teach a baby to be selfish, self-seeking, or demanding.”  The proponents of this doctrine of devils try to prove we are born with a sinful nature by pointing to babies!  A baby crying for his mother is called sin!  A baby crying because he is hungry is called sin!  A baby wanting his diaper changed is called sin!  A baby wanting comfort in his mother’s arms is called sin!  People, please think about this. What utter lies.  The only way a baby can communicate when in discomfort is to cry.  Jesus had to do the same to get his mother’s attention!

Excerpt from Jesus Was Not a Trinitarian

A Future for Monotheism

Excerpt from Jesus Was Not a Trinitarian - pp 380-384

by Anthony Buzzard   

“For a Jew the word God could mean one Person only…The use of the word God for Jesus would have seemed to have been an infringement of monotheism, whereas by calling Jesus Lord they confessed that he was associated with his Father in the exercise of authority.”[1]

“In my view Christianity should be much more tightly focused upon Jesus’ words than it usually has been in the past...The real Jesus is a much more interesting and religiously relevant figure than the divine Christ of later faith and he has the advantage of having actually lived.”[2]

“In the teaching of Jesus Christ God is preeminently the Father.”[3]

“Forget the pseudo-orthodox attempts to make Jesus of Nazareth conscious of being the second Person of the Trinity…The word Messiah had of course nothing to do with Trinitarian or incarnational theology.”[4]

The Original Jesus

The original Jesus was a Jew who recited and affirmed as the center of true theology the unitarian creed of Israel. Attempts to expand that creed, on the basis of the Bible, into a Trinitarian one have failed, as historians and many Bible experts recognize. The creed of Jesus must on no account be modified. To do so is to risk compromise with paganism.

The original Jesus is not only a confirmed unitarian, underlining the creed of Israel. He himself is the one whose “genesis” or origin (Matt. 1:1, 18) is spelled out for us in the clearest terms in Matthew’s and Luke’s opening chapters. Jesus is the Son of God who is rooted in a miraculous human history (Luke 1:35) and specifically by divine promise in the history of Israel. He is the “Jesus Christ” who came “in the flesh” (not “into the flesh,” as mistranslated by Luther[5] ), that is to say as an originally human, historical person, a member of the human race. This is John’s yardstick for our grasp of the true spirit (1 John 4:1-6).

Peter/Cephas Controversy

Are we guilty of charging Peter with false accusations of being a hypocrite, a man who was very faithful to his Lord Jesus the Messiah, even unto the point of death for his faithfulness?

The following is written by Bryan Davis and is worthy of consideration.

Many assume that the apostle Paul confronted the apostle Peter in Antioch regarding Peter’s apparent lack of straightforwardness with the gospel. It’s no wonder they think so, because

Three Men or Three Divine Beings? (Genesis 18 and 19)

The Genesis account in chapters 18 and 19 are used to try and prove the trinity and preexistence of Jesus.

In Genesis 18:1 it states:

“And Jehovah appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;”

There is no question that it says “Jehovah” appeared to Abraham and reading the next verse it says when Abraham lifted his head he saw three men standing before him.

We know that it was not literally the LORD (principle) who appeared to Abraham, it was an agent of LORD who is treated as the LORD and also worshiped as God’s agent.  We have to keep this in mind because scripture is clear that no one has seen God (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; 1 Tim. 6:16).

Jesus the Messiah was Not a Literal Preesixtent Being.

John 1:1-3

"In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being."

Trinitarian belief has led us to believe that the passage actually says,

“In the beginning was the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was God. The Son was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through the Son, and without the Son not one thing came into being.” 

The Good News Bible translates John 1:1-3 as:

“Before anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he did not make.”

But that is not what the text says.  This is a classic example eisegesis (reading into the text) rather than exegesis (reading out from).

Hebrews 10:25 - The Most Abused Passage by the Institutional Church

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” 

We know “assembling” means to come together or gather together or meeting together.  This verse, to put guilt on those who left traditional church, is used to mean that a person is not supposed to forsake going to Sunday Church services because all have an obligation to be present.   That is NOT the message.

Important things to note:

Jesus is not the Almighty God

Trinitarian belief is that Jesus is the Almighty God.  Throughout scripture God (Yahweh) is called Almighty God. In the book of Job it mentions Yahweh as the Almighty thirty-one times. Nowhere in scripture is Jesus ever called Almighty God.

Almighty means having absolute power; all-powerful; all controlling.  El (God) Shaddai (Almighty).  This means that Almighty God does not need to depend on anyone for strength and energy.  He is the source of power, self-sufficient.  Thus, other mighty ones get their power, energy, and authority from the Almighty God.  It is impossible for an Almighty God to have a God above him, otherwise the title and term is pointless.  

Question: If Jesus is Almighty God, why does he have a God above him?  

Jesus says in John 20:17,

“Don’t hold on to me!  I have not yet gone to the Father.  But tell my disciples that I am going to the one who is my Father and my God, as well as your Father and your God.”   

Question: How is it possible for Jesus to have a Father and God if he is the Almighty God?