True and False Narratives

True and False Narratives

God has a Kingdom of God or Restoration movement under way as His Project for man, Plan for Man. This is God’s response to the failure and disobedience of the first Adam. This Gospel (Good News) of the Kingdom project (God’s logos) is an invitation to all who choose to participate. The narrative goes like this. Each participant must embrace the challenge by first believing in the project; then he must be forgiven for his past. He must then embark on the journey that ends in immortalization and co-rulership of the new world order which will be the world inaugurated at the last trumpet to be blown as in Revelation 11:15-18. This is the future return of the Messiah to the earth.

For the narrative to be true, the characters in the narrative must be identified correctly. The man Messiah Jesus is the pioneer participant in the Kingdom project. He is also the announcer of the Project, the Gospel preacher. The God who plans and directs the entire project is the God of Israel, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of Jesus. Candidates to participate in the Kingdom Project are men and women of all nations, not just Jews (cp. the international Church which is God’s Israel, Gal. 6:16; Phil. 3:3).

False narratives are those which do not match the only true narrative, the Biblical one. False narratives fail because they miss the biblical climax by diverting the narrative, taking a wrong turn, by offering the participants a false hope of disembodied existence in heaven at death.

This destroys the actual objective of the Kingdom project, which is to govern and administer the world with the Messiah Jesus, when he comes back. Jesus and his associate administrators will be empowered and authorized to subdue the world, that is, the Messiah’s enemies, led by a final antichrist.

The book of Revelation is a concentrated account of that future encounter of Messiah with hostile, resistant man. This is the climax of the whole Kingdom movement, the object and conclusion of the True Narrative and Project. Psalm 2, in 12 verses, reveals in advance the endpoint of the Kingdom project. The hostile world is bidden to submit to the Messiah whom God will have then placed (at the second coming of Jesus) on Mount Zion. Verse 10 bids the hostile world submit to the authority of the arriving Messiah, and not to resist him, lest they be destroyed by the overwhelming authority of God’s agent the Messiah.

Appropriately then verse 9, “The Messiah will break them with a rod of iron and shatter them like earthenware,” is recalled 3 times in the book of Revelation (2:26-27; 12:5; 19:15). These passages declare the goal and reward of the Kingdom project, and they remind the reader of the need for human subjection to the great Kingdom project of the one God of Israel. They also describe the authority conferred on Jesus and the saints, recalling Daniel 7:14, 18, 22, 27 (“obey them”) and Daniel 2:44-45, the Kingdom world empire which replaces all rivals.

The biblical true narrative is falsified when it is never allowed its climax. The project is falsified when it is reduced, shrunk, to a “dying and rising” Messiah project, which allows for no denouement of the grand project — which is the subjection of rebellious man and governments to the risen and exalted, and returning Messiah and his saints. Thus Psalm 2 finds its fulfillment as the vision of the returning Messiah who takes control of chaotic human societies and turns them (at the future 7th trumpet, Rev. 11:15-18) into the Kingdom of God, which is the end-game of the entire Kingdom project. This is the Gospel as announced by Jesus (Heb. 2:3) and all the NT Christians.

Briefly, any attempt to describe the Biblical narrative without its climax at the future return of Jesus and the resurrection of all the saints (1 Cor. 15:23) is a failed and inadequate narrative, not fully true to the Bible.


This article was taken from
Focus On The Kingdom

God: One Person

God: One Person

How do we know that God is only one Person? The easy answer is that singular personal pronouns (14 forms) designate one single person. This is true in English and Hebrew and Greek. It is a fact known to all speakers of these languages that I, me, my, myself, mine, thou, thee, thy, thyself, thine, he, him, his, himself describe a single person. In the Bible these singular personal pronouns describe God thousands upon thousands of times!

• God and Jesus are two distinct persons, as are all sons and fathers.  

• But only one of the two persons is GOD. 

• That one God is the Father of Jesus. 

Jesus’ favorite verse, the most important of all commands, is found in Mark 12:29:
“The LORD our GOD is ONE LORD.” Or the LORD our GOD is ONE person.
He is “our God,” the God of all the people of God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and
the God of Jesus.

Jesus said that those who love him must keep his commands. His favorite and first command is that we are to listen to the true God who is “the LORD our GOD” and is a single LORD — certainly not two Lords.

Jesus, as master-teacher, professor, rabbi, went on to quote Psalm 110:1 where the One God, YHVH speaks to another person, the Messiah, who is to sit at the right hand of YHVH. That second lord is not a second LORD GOD. That would make two GODs, which is not monotheism! The second lord is the lord Messiah. In Hebrew this word is adoni (pronounced “adonee”), and it is never a reference to Deity, but always to human (or occasionally angelic) superiors.

This article was taken from
Focus On The Kingdom

What does Millard J. Erickson say about the doctrine of the trinity?

"The Trinity is not clearly or explicitly taught anywhere in Scripture, yet it is widely regarded as a central doctrine, indispensable to the Christian faith. In this regard, it goes contrary to what is virtually an axiom [that is a given and self-evident truth] of biblical doctrine, namely, that there is a direct correlation between the scriptural clarity of a doctrine and its cruciality to the faith and life of the church. In view of the difficulty of the subject and the great amount of effort expended to maintain this doctrine, we may well ask ourselves what might justify all this trouble....

Another difficulty stems from the categories used by those who worked out the doctrine of the Trinity that the church adopted. They used Greek categories such as substance, essence, and person...[and] Over the years, questions have been raised regarding these concepts.

One contention is that the Trinity is simply a product of those ancient categories. It is not present in biblical thought, but arose when biblical thought was pressed into this foreign mold. Thus the doctrine of the Tinity goes even beyond and even distorts what the Bible says about God. It is a Greek philosophical, not a Hebraic biblical concept."

This doctrine in many ways presents strange paradoxes...It was the very first doctrine dealt with systematically by the church, yet is still one of the most misunderstood and disputed doctrines. Further, it is not clearly or explicitly taught anywhere in Scripture, yet it is widely regarded as a central doctrine, indispensable to the Christian faith" (p. 11-12).
 "God In Three Persons"):

How can Erickson go on claiming belief in the doctrine of the Trinity after making such statements?

Is Jesus God? by Mae Carroll

Is Jesus God? What Does the Bible Say? 

According to the Holy Bible Jesus Christ is not God, nor did he ever claim to be.

One might wonder why so many Christian religions teach that he is. There are several Bible passages that would seem to imply that he is indeed God. However, let us delve a bit deeper into the scriptures for a clear understanding of the matter. The Father of Jesus Christ is Yahweh, who is God. Jesus is quoted in the Bible as saying, “I and my Father are one. (John 10 verses 30-36) Then the Jews took up stones again to send at him. Jesus said to them in answer, I have let you see a number of good works from the Father; for which of those works are you stoning me?” This was their answer: “We are not stoning you for a good work but for evil words; because being a man you make yourself God.” In answer, Jesus said, “Is there not a saying in your law, I said, you are gods? If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not have belief in me; but if I am doing them, then have belief in the works even if you have no belief in me; so that you may see clearly and be certain that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

Now, notice here he said that his Father was in him and he in his Father. To clarify that statement and get the proper understanding of it we should view another scripture in which he says that we are in him, he is in the Father, and that all of us would be one.
In the 17th chapter of the book of John Jesus explains this unity, “Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one, as we are. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” (Oneness of God) He is discussing unity. This obviously indicates that we should all be of a like mind, with the same objectives, motives and goals.

A comparison of the two divine beings makes clear that God is the Father and Jesus though divine, is not actually God himself. Just as the son of a king is royalty, he is [likewise]; but [he remains] a prince until his father dies or gives him the throne. Though the prince may be powerful, possessing authority, this authority is not his, but his father’s who delegates it to him.The Bible tells us that when he arose from the dead, he rose with all power in his hand, if he were God then the power would have been vested in him all along. The power was given him by his Father.

When studying the Bible you ascertain that the power Jesus has and displayed came from his Father. “Jesus, being conscious that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he came from God and was going to God” John 13:3 (BBE) Now how could this be so if he, himself were God?

Then said Jesus unto them, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.”(John 8:28)

Now we all realize that God is Sovereign, and is totally independent, He does not have a god. Yet the bible, in more than one scripture refers to God not only as the Father of Jesus Christ, but also the GOD of Christ Jesus.

Yahweh (the proper name of God Almighty) is the God of Jesus Christ. The following scriptures attest to that fact:
• Ephesians 1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ
• Colossians 1:3 - We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you
• 1 Peter 1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

... When he was dying on the cross, he cried out to God asking why He had forsaken him. He also prayed to the point of sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane,in which prayed these words, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.”
If he were God this prayer would not make sense. God and Jesus are two separate and distinct beings. ...

To summarize:
• Jesus is the Son of God
• God is the God of Jesus
• Jesus came to show what God is like


The above article was taken from
Argument Essay Is Jesus God

Some editing has been done.

The most important commandment

The most important commandment

by joeripley

Which commandment comes first?

Mat 22:36-40  Master, which is the great commandment in the Law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus said there were two great commandments that encapsulated all the other commandments. The first demands our love for God and the second our love for our neighbor.

This must mean that we go that extra mile for our neighbor but not where that mile transgresses the commandment which comes first. 

Loyalty to God must have first priority.

My wife and I sometimes go to church for some fellowship but we have to stop singing when the words of a song or chorus are not right and contradict God’s word. Once we actually walked out when the words of the worship chorus were,

“ Lamb of God, seated on the throne

We worship you, we worship you alone.”

Now, tell me, which book of the Bible could that fit into? It is blasphemy.

Rev 5:13  And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

What should we do? – offend the folk around us by refusing to sing or offend God by dethroning the Almighty Father.

This morning I was watching the God Channel and within a few minutes the preacher referred to “God in the flesh” several times. Jesus never claimed to be God but if we believe that he is almighty God then we get into very deep water. Problems like – how could God die when he is immortal.

1 Tim 6:16  Who only hath immortality [but Jesus did die], dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see [Jesus was seen by many]: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. 

The Greek word for immortality means ‘un-dying or can’t die’ and of course Jesus did die and has been seen.

If Jesus is God then – How did the universe survive when he was dead or do we have more than one God?

If Jesus had a different will to God and could feel abandoned by God and could commit his spirit to God then there must either be more than one God or a case of schizophrenia.

But Jesus didn’t come of his own accord – he was sent. It was God who loved the world so much that he gave his son.  Just as Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac.

 John 7:28-29  Then Jesus cried in the temple as he taught, saying, You both know me, and you know from where I come. And I have not come of myself, but He who sent me is true, whom you do not know. But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He has sent me.

He came to do his Father’s will and not his own.

John 6:38  For I came down from Heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me.

It is plainly shown in the scriptures that Jesus is the son of God but not that he is God. I know it says that people worshipped him but that Greek word means
to do obeisance and not what we understand in modern usage.

Matt 20:20  Then the mother of Zebedee’s children came to Him with her sons, worshiping

[proskuneō pros-koo-neh’-o(meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, that is, (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore): – worship. and desiring a certain thing from him.]

Did Jesus tell a story about a servant who owed a fortune and was unable to pay, worshipping the one he was in debt to. The Pharisees would have gone mad at that if they understood the word worship to mean what it has now come to mean.

Matt 18:25-26  But as he had nothing to pay, his lord commanded that he, and his wife and children, and all that he had, be sold, and payment be made. Then the servant fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay you all. –  other versions translate it differently when it doesn’t apply to Jesus, a theological choice, not a translation but an interpretation.

...

But for many, confessing what the scripture plainly shows is avoided because it would mean going against the accepted dogmas of their church neighbors  which would sow discord – but loving your neighbor is not the first commandment.

 Remember what you pray, “Our Father – hallowed be thy name”. You ask him for things in Jesus name – the Father owns everything and Jesus says that when we ask the Father for things, we can use his name on our requests.

Neither in the heavenly royal court or any earthly royal court, can you bow to the Prince and ignore the Monarch.

The above article was taken from Web of Tradition