Translate

Friday, April 04, 2025

FROM The One God, THROUGH the One Lord Jesus

1 Corinthians 8: 4-6 

Therefore, concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we are for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we are through him.

"This verse clearly distinguishes between Jesus and God. There is one God and Father, and there is one man, Jesus, who is our “Lord.” This verse shows how God and Jesus work in unity to get the Church what it needs. God gave Jesus all authority and made him head over the Church, so now we get what we need “through” Jesus. Some Trinitarians say that this verse supports the doctrine of the Trinity because it says that all things came through Jesus Christ. But what the verse actually says is that all things came “from” God, “through” Jesus. That stands in contradiction to Trinitarian doctrine because it places Jesus in a subordinate role to God. According to this verse, Jesus is not “co-equal” with the Father; the Father is “God” and the ultimate source of all things, and Jesus is not called “God.” The context is the key to understanding what the phrase “all things came through him” means. There is no mention in either the immediate or the remote context about the creation of the world such that the “all things” refers to the original creation of Genesis. This verse is speaking of the Church. God provided all things for the Church via Jesus Christ." REV Commentary

Thursday, April 03, 2025

A Hell Of An Idea!


By the way, where is the hell where disembodied spirits go immediately when they die? For that matter, do you still believe in the immortality of the soul? Where in the Scripture may that be found? Answer: It can't. Man only receives eternal life after the resurrection at the final judgment if he is counted as one of God's elect. All others perish. No human is innately immortal. The immortality of the soul is Greek mythology that you were told was a Christian doctrine. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him will not PERISH, but have life in the age to come. 

To study further or to prove that the JTO Editor is a heretic, prove this commentary wrong:

 Appendix 4: Annihilation in the Lake of Fire, REV Bible and Commentary

Monday, March 31, 2025

Plato or Paul- Whom Will You Believe?

"Furthermore, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and gathered fish of every kind. When it was filled, they dragged it up on the shore, and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So, it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the wicked from the midst of the righteous and will throw them into the furnace of fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
So... if Jesus says the wicked will be thrown into the furnace of fire at the end of the age, where did you get the idea that when a wicked person dies, their "soul" immediately leaves their body and goes to "hell"? Where, for that matter, did you get the idea that a believer's "soul" immediately goes to heaven upon their death?

Is it possible that you have bought into the Platonic influence as the church did in the third century? Do you believe that man has a body that contains a soul or that the soul is the entire man? At death, does that soul pop out of the body and float away somewhere, awaiting the second coming? If so, what is the purpose of the bodily resurrection when Christ returns? You know, "the dead in Christ will rise first." Are you trapped into believing that the disembodied soul waits in heaven or hell only to be reunited with the resurrected body when it is raised? You will not find that anywhere in the scripture, so why would you believe it? Because that is what your Bishops told you?

"The far-reaching effects of Greek philosophy on the Christian faith are described also by G.A.F. Knight in his book, Law and Grace (pp. 78, 19):

“Many people today, even believing people, are far from understanding the basis of their faith… quite unwittingly they depend upon the philosophy of the Greeks rather than upon the Word of God for an understanding of the world live in! An instance of this is the prevailing belief amongst Christians in the immortality of the soul. Many believers despair of this world; they despair of any meaning in a world where suffering and frustration seemed to rule. And so they look for release for their souls from the weight of the flesh, and they hope for an entry into the “world of the spirit,” as they call it, a place where their souls will find blessedness they cannot discover in the flesh… The Old Testament, which was of course the Scriptures of the early church, has no word at all for the modern or ancient Greek idea of “soul.” We have no right to read this modern word into Saint Paul's Greek word psyche, for by it he was not expressing what Plato had meant by the word; he was expressing what Isaiah and what Jesus meant by it… there is one thing sure we can say at this point and that is that the popular doctrine of the soul's immortality cannot be traced back to a Biblical teaching.”

It remains an astonishing fact that the messages of comfort heard constantly at Funeral services in which the souls of the departed are said to be already in heaven reaffirm a central tenet of Greek philosophy which cannot truthfully be called Christian at all.” (Sir Anthony Buzzard- What Happens When We Die?)


Thursday, March 13, 2025

"This "blog" is a bunch of gossip and lies."

JTO drive-by commenter shows up with the wisdom of a blind sheep:

"no one in ROCOR cares about your opinions. This "blog" is a bunch of gossip and lies."

Tell that to the victims of ROCOR clergy. I have no patience for defenders of the wolves who destroy the innocent...like you, commenter. The victims have names and faces. 



Commenter, have you read Rape and the Holy Man? Have you read the testimony of the son-in-law of FMW who in writing said he had reported FMW's conduct to Bishop Nicholas as early as 2019? You have no credibility and no one "cares about your opinions".



Tuesday, March 11, 2025

A Blast Is Coming, ROCOR

ROCOR, do you not fear the Lord Your God? You have sinned against Yahweh. Be sure your sin will find you out. You have invited, fed, clothed, and protected the sexually deviant wolves who devour God's people. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, that will he also reap. WATCH what the Lord does!


ROCOR BISHOPS

"Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter one, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord Yahweh of Armies. 

According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Have you not been told from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to live in; who brings rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth nothing at all. They are barely planted; they are barely sown, their trunk has barely taken root in the ground when he blows on them and they wither and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it a desolation; it mourns to me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate because no man lays it to heart.” Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness, for the sword of Yahweh devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh has peace. They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns; they have tired themselves out but profit nothing. And you will be ashamed of your harvests, because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.

For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind."

Questioning the Trinity

Questioning the Trinity
The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most widely held beliefs in mainstream Christianity. Ask most believers, and they will affirm it without hesitation: God is one, yet three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—co-equal, co-eternal, and of one essence. But ask for an explanation, and things get complicated.
Many who advocate for the Trinity find themselves in a difficult position when challenged to articulate it. They believe it because they have been told it is true, not necessarily because they have examined the Scriptures and reached that conclusion themselves. This can often result in a kind of intellectual retreat—a “foetal position” response—where believers acknowledge they can’t explain it, but insist it must be accepted on faith.
But why does this happen? Why do those who firmly hold to this doctrine struggle to explain it? And what does this say about the doctrine itself?
The Common Response: “It’s a Mystery”
One of the most frequent defenses of the Trinity is that it is beyond human understanding. “It’s a mystery,” people say. “We aren’t meant to fully comprehend it.”
While there’s no question that some aspects of God’s nature may be beyond human grasp, this reasoning raises a key concern: If God wants us to know Him, why would He define Himself in a way that is impossible to explain? The Bible consistently portrays God as desiring to be understood. Scripture is full of passages that describe His character, His purpose, and His expectations in clear and straightforward terms. The message of salvation is simple enough for a child to grasp. So why, when it comes to the nature of God Himself, should we accept a doctrine that is so confusing that even its strongest proponents admit they don’t understand it?
Deflection Tactics and False Psychology
Because the Trinity is difficult to explain, discussions about it often take on a defensive tone. Those who challenge it are frequently met with responses designed to shift the focus away from the question itself.
For example:
  • Appeal to Church Authority: “This is what the church has always taught, so who are we to question it?”
  • Emotional Deflection: “Are you saying all the great theologians throughout history were wrong?”
  • Intimidation by Complexity: “You just don’t understand theology well enough to grasp it.”
  • Shaming the Questioner: “Denying the Trinity is heresy. You’re treading dangerous ground.”
These tactics reveal something important: Many who believe in the Trinity are uncomfortable discussing it at a theological level. If the doctrine were clear and biblically straightforward, there would be no need for such evasive strategies. The very fact that these deflections exist suggests that, deep down, many believers recognize the difficulty—but instead of questioning the doctrine, they retreat into positions that protect them from having to think about it too deeply.
The Clarity of a Biblical Unitarian View
In contrast, the Christadelphian (or broader biblical unitarian) perspective presents a straightforward, consistent understanding of God:
  • God is one individual being, the Father (Deuteronomy 6:4, 1 Corinthians 8:6).
  • Jesus is the Son of God, not God Himself (Luke 1:35, John 20:17).
  • The Holy Spirit is not a separate person but the power of God at work (Luke 1:35, Acts 2:17-18).
This perspective does not require intellectual gymnastics or theological paradoxes. It aligns with the way God speaks of Himself throughout the Bible and avoids the need for appeals to mystery or tradition.
Why This Matters
Some may argue that this is just a theological debate that doesn’t impact day-to-day faith. But understanding God’s true nature is not a trivial issue. It affects how we relate to Him, how we pray, and how we understand the role of Jesus.
The Trinitarian position requires believers to accept something that they cannot fully explain—something that was not clearly taught by Jesus or the apostles but instead developed over centuries of church councils and philosophical debates. In contrast, a biblical unitarian understanding allows believers to read the Bible and simply take God at His word without theological complexity or contradiction.
So, the question is this: Should we accept a doctrine simply because we’ve been told to, even if it doesn’t make sense? Or should we be willing to examine Scripture for ourselves, asking whether God has truly revealed Himself in a way that requires no confusion or mystery?
A Call to Re-examine Beliefs
If you’ve ever felt uneasy about the Trinity but were told that questioning it was dangerous or heretical, you’re not alone. Many sincere believers have struggled with it. But God invites us to seek Him with an open heart and mind (Acts 17:11, Proverbs 2:3-5). Faith should be built on conviction, not fear—on understanding, not blind acceptance.
So perhaps the real question isn’t whether the Trinity can be explained—but whether it was ever meant to be believed in the first place.

Monday, March 10, 2025

"There is ONE GOD- the Father..."

1 Corinthians 8:4-6
Therefore, concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we are for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we are through him.
"This verse clearly distinguishes between Jesus and God. There is one God and Father, and there is one man, Jesus, who is our “Lord.” This verse shows how God and Jesus work in unity to get the Church what it needs. God gave Jesus all authority and made him head over the Church, so now we get what we need “through” Jesus. Some Trinitarians say that this verse supports the doctrine of the Trinity because it says that all things came through Jesus Christ. But what the verse actually says is that all things came “from” God, “through” Jesus. That stands in contradiction to Trinitarian doctrine because it places Jesus in a subordinate role to God. According to this verse, Jesus is not “co-equal” with the Father; the Father is “God” and the ultimate source of all things, and Jesus is not called “God.” [REV Commentary]

This is no "mystery."

Friday, March 07, 2025

Christ Before Creeds

THE BOOK: "Just when you thought you knew who Jesus was, along comes a book like this to profoundly challenge and wonderfully inspire. Most Christians are unaware of how different their Western worldview is from those who wrote the original accounts of Jesus’ life. Pastor Jeff Deuble issues a clarion call to prioritize biblical testimony over the later church creeds that were influenced by Greek philosophical thinking, so as to rediscover simple, uncluttered Christianity.

Meticulously presenting information from biblical, historical, Jewish, and Christian sources about how the early followers of Christ thought about him, this book promises new insight and an enriched understanding of Christ’s identity. More than informative, Christ Before Creeds is an invitation to examine the identity of Jesus the Messiah, engaging with respect and grace."

Click Photo To Order


The Summary Argument: "The Bible declares why Jesus is unique in so many ways--the perfect reflection he is of God, the special place he holds in God's heart and purposes for the world, the ideal example he is of how we are meant to live and what we are destined to be.

By God's Spirit, Jesus was divinely chosen, conceived, and commissioned; divinely anointed and appointed, authorized and authenticated, empowered and endowed, infused and inspired. He was totally surrendered and submissive to the Father so that he could fully represent and reflect God's heart, character, and purposes, his will, and his word.

Therefore, God has glorified him above all, giving him a name above every name (Phil 2:9-11), conferring on him a kingdom (Luke 22:29) and everlasting glory forever and ever (Rev. 5:11-14). Through faith in Jesus Christ, his God and Father can be our God and Father, too (John 20:17, 31), and in him we are positioned and destined to enter into his inheritance, his future and fullness (Rom. 8:16-17). 

The Bible teaches that this Jesus came in the flesh as a human being. He was born and lived as a man: completely human. He is not a Gnostic or Trinitarian Jesus with a composite nature, a humanity compromised or compartmentalized by his deity.

Such a Jesus would not be genuinely and authentically human. Hence, he could not be truly mortal, tempted and tested, perfected, capable of completely identifying and sympathizing with us. He would be less fully the model, mediator, pioneer, perfector, brother, and High Priest that the Bible declares him to be." [Chapter 6 Page 125 Christ Before Creeds]