One God Report

Why don't Trinitarians or those who believe in the deity of Christ, love those who believe that Jesus is the Christ? Why do Trinitarians shun and reject those who believe that Jesus is the Christ? Comments of 1 John 5:1: "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whomever has been born of him." - For full text of this podcast, see here. https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2019/09/do-you-love-person-who-believes-that.html - 3-minute video “Deity of Christ believer, please explain 1 Timothy 2:4-5” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHafqVmYLlM - Biblical Unitarian podcast video “Where is the Trinity Revealed in the Bible?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsX2LGI_PGc - Son of God in the Bible https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaDElO7wU_8

“Where do we go when we die? Or, What has the Greek Philosopher Plato got to do with Christianity?” Interview with Pastor Sean Finnegan Sean Finnegan is pastor at Living Hope Community Church in Latham, New York. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Atlanta Bible College where he teaches courses in Church History, Apologetics, and Basic Bible Doctrine, and he is the host of the Restitutio Podcast. Website: https://restitutio.org/ https://www.lathamchurch.org/ Additional Resources on the topic “Christians don’t go to heaven, but await the resurrection to the kingdom of God”: http://www.onegodreport.com/christians_dont_go_to_heaven_but_await_the_resurrection_to_the_kingdom_of_god Restitutio podcast: Conditional Immortality https://restitutio.org/2019/02/14/164-theology-3-conditional-immortality/ Restitutio podcast: Challenging Conditional Immortality https://restitutio.org/2019/02/21/165-theology-4-challenging-conditional-immortality/ Topics and questions addressed in this episode: 1. Most Christians today think that those who believe in Jesus, when they die, their soul or self separates and goes to heaven. Is this biblical and if not, where did Christians get this idea from? - 2. Explanation of  the Greek philosophical view of Plato that "death is the separation of the soul from the body". Most Christians think Plato’s       description of death is in the Bible. - 3. If people don’t “go to heaven” when they die, what is the biblical view of what happens to a  person when they die? - 4. Is the human soul or self immortal? What is meant by “conditional immortality”? - 5. As examples, two main passages that Christians point to as evidence that “when you die you go to heaven”     Luke 23:43 And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Punctuate  differently: “Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise”     2 Corinthians 5:8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. -  6. If people’s souls don’t separate from their bodies at death and go to heaven, that is a lie, no? How does this lie deflect from what is real? A different hope. What is the biblical hope for a believer in God and Jesus?

We continue our discussion of what John 1:14 "the Word became flesh" really means. - As described in earlier podcasts (#39 and #41) "the Word became flesh" does not mean that God became man/flesh. - So, what does the "Word became flesh mean?  - Why does John use the word "flesh"? - How has the Greek philosophical concept popularized by Plato, that the soul lives separately from the body of flesh, influenced Christian interpretation of John 1:14? Does the Bible say that man's soul is alive separate from his body of flesh? - What is the biblical view of flesh? How is flesh alive? Can the God of the Bible ever be flesh? - For the full written text of the podcast see here: https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2021/03/is-god-flesh-better-way-to-understand.html

In this episode we continue thinking about what John 1:14 "and the Word became flesh" means, and we ask deity of Christ believers who appeal to John 1:1 and John 1:14, “So you believe that God became flesh?” Do you think that “God is flesh?” - We give reasons why a better way to understand John 1:14 is that “the Logos, the Word was flesh”. In other words, the Logos, the Word - God’s communication to us - was the human being, the man Christ Jesus from Nazareth. - Our discussion continues in the next podcast episode. For full written text of these two episodes "Is God Flesh", click here. https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2021/03/is-god-flesh-better-way-to-understand.html

This episode is an interview with Sir Anthony Buzzard, one of the most active One God believers of our time. Most listeners to this podcast will know about Sir Anthony. If by chance you don’t, you will want to become familiar with him and his work. - Anthony taught for decades at the Church of God, Abrahamic Faith Bible college, now called Atlanta Bible College. He is the author of a number of books, including The Doctrine of the Trinity, Christianity’s Self-inflicted Wound, Jesus was Not a Trinitarian, The Coming Kingdom of the Messiah, Our Fathers who Aren’t in Heaven, Who is Jesus, and more. Some of them are available for free pdf download. See the links to his books and webpage. - I wanted to ask Sir Anthony about some of the changes he has seen in the One God faith movement, and what he has thought have been, and should continue to be effective witnessing tools. - One emphasis in the podcast that I would like listeners to note is the excitement and persistence that Sir Anthony has and continues to have in sharing about the One God and His human Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Apart from programs that may or may not be effective, I think every one of us can learn from Anthony about being excited and persistent in our sharing about the God of the Bible and His anointed, the Messiah Jesus. Be this face to face with our neighbors and others we meet, or through the modern media of the internet. - Another emphasis that Anthony makes is that we should gain experience, practice in witnessing about our faith in the one God, and this experience is gained by doing it. - We also discuss the “deity of Christ” and Jehovah’s Witness claim that “Jesus pre-existed”. - At the end of the interview, I take the liberty of sharing one other element that I believe is, or could be, essential for an effective witness to God and His Messiah. - Books: The Doctrine of the Trinity, Christianity’s Self-inflicted Wound (and more) https://focusonthekingdom.org/books/ - Website: Restoration Fellowship, Focus on the Kingdom https://focusonthekingdom.org/

For many people who believe in the “deity of Christ”, a few words from John 1:1 combined with a few words from John 1:14 forms the #1 evidence that Jesus is God, and that therefor somehow God is a Trinity. In this podcast we focus on the problems with the “deity of Christ” and Trinitarian interpretation of John 1:14, the claim that “God became man.” There is no Trinity in John 1:1 or John 1:14 or anywhere else in John’s Gospel. The incarnation, or “God became man” interpretation plucks a few words from the Gospel of John and creates its most important, essential, seminal doctrine, while ignoring nearly the entirety of the rest of the Gospel of John, and the Bible as a whole. Jesus’ own words in the Gospel of John, and the author’s own purpose statement are ignored. Does the Greek word (egeneto) translated in most English Bibles in John 1:14 as “became” mean that one member of a multi-person godhead transformed into flesh? Did one member a godhead “become” man like the fairy tale prince became frog? Many “diety of Christ” believers seem to believe that one member of a godhead inhabited a human body like the human prince inhabited a frog body. If God became man by taking on another nature, human nature (flesh), then why has the Trinitarian god been defined for hundreds of years as having only one nature? Deity of Christ interpreters are like magicians who claim one moment that there God has one nature, but then the next moment insist that their god has two natures. Why is the conception and birth of Jesus the Messiah not described at all in the Gospel of John, if the author wanted to communicate that God becameman? We call the incarnation “the Greatest Story Never Told”. We explain why “deity of Christ” belief in a “trans-nature” god is similar to, and in some ways even worse, than the modern trans-gender claims. Christians who believe in a trans-natured god and condemn transgenders and homosexuals are being hypocritical. We note how history is against the “God became man” interpretation of John 1:14, and see how the interpretation was developed in Greco-Roman-Byzantine philosophical speculation in lands outside of Israel. The Gospel of John must be understood from a 1st century Hebraic background, not from a 2-5thcentury Gentile viewpoint. The worst aspect of the “God became man” interpretation is that it denies that Jesus of Nazareth is a human person. In the end, it tends to eliminate even the abstract “human nature” from Jesus. There is a better way to interpret John 1:14 which does not deny that Jesus is a human person. We plan to make a suggestion in a podcast to come. Full text of the episode is available here: https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-word-became-flesh-why-john-114-does.html Links for other sources mentioned in the podcast: Evolution of the Trinity, Interview with Dr. Dale Tuggy (part 1) https://anchor.fm/onegodreport-podcast/episodes/10-Evolution-of-the-Trinity--Interview-with-Dr--Dale-Tuggy--part-1-ebro54 “Jesus is Not a Human Person” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qKrogW3MUM&ab_channel=BillSchlegel

In this episode we make some comments on miracles in the Bible. The Bible says that God occasionally breaks forth into human history with miracles as evidence and confirmation that indeed, the God of the Bible is involved in the affairs of humankind. Humankind is to know that “this is Yahweh God” by the miraculous event. = Sometimes the miracles are confirmation and evidence that Yahweh, through a messenger or prophet has spoken. See Exo. 7:5, 17; 10:2, Deut. 4, etc. - In Deuteronomy 13, however, Israel was warned that sometimes a person may come performing miracles, but he is a false prophet. How was Israel to know? If the person doing the miracle was trying to draw Israel away from the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then Israel would know he was a false prophet. Yahweh allowed the false prophet and the miracles only to test Israel, to see if Israel wholly loved and followed Yahweh his God- There were three pairs of historical periods when God broke through into humankinds affairs with the miraculous: 1. a) Exodus (Moses) and, b) Conquest (Joshua) 2. b) Elijah and, b) Elisha 3. a) Jesus and, b) the apostles. - The miracles of Jesus were unique, but also consistent with the way the God of the Hebrew Scriptures worked and promised to work: 1. The overall purpose of the miracles that Jesus performed was the same as previously in Israel’s history: the miracles confirmed and were evidence that Jesus spoke for God, was authorized by God and sent by God. Jesus did not perform miracles because he was God, but because God was with him and Jesus was empowered by God (John 10:24-25, 14:10; Acts 2:22, 10:38). 2. Some of the miracles that Jesus did were unique, reserved for the Messiah and the messianic age. The miracles are evidence that the one performing the miracle is the Messiah (Isaiah 35:5-6; Matt. 11:5). - We discuss how there were efforts to discredit Jesus and the miracles he did during the time that Jesus was on earth. But in general these efforts failed because there were so many eyewitnesses and evidences that the miracles happened. - For different reasons, efforts to discredit the miracles of Jesus in modern times also fail. In the end, we are left with real good reasons to believe that the miraculous deeds of Jesus occurred, and that these miraculous deeds are evidence that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.

This episode is a discussion with Kermit Zarley, retired professional golfer, and now author of a number of books, including The Restitution of Jesus Christ (see links below). Formerly a Trinitarian Christian, Zarley briefly describes how he came to understand that the God of the Bible is one, and that Jesus is God’s human Messiah. Then, we discuss the following topics: · Did Jesus pre-exist as a person before he was a human being? · What did Jesus mean when Jesus said that he “came down from heaven” and was “sent from God”? · The use of figures of speech or metaphorical language in the Gospel of John, and the literary theme that many of Jesus’s listeners did not understand the metaphors. · The Christological motif in the Gospel of John is not “Incarnational Christology”, i.e., that God became man or took on human flesh) but “Agency Christology”, i.e., that Jesus is God’s human representative agent, who speaks and acts empowered by God and representing God). · At the end of the discussion, Zarley gives the most important tip for budding, amateur golfers. Links: Kermit Zarley Webpage: http://kermitzarley.com/ Zarley’s Books on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Kermit-Zarley/e/B001JOUID0?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1608329122&sr=8-1 Book: The Restitution of Jesus Christ http://kermitzarley.com/product/the-restitution-of-jesus-christ/ Reviewof The Restitution of Jesus Christ by Bill Schlegel https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-restitution-of-jesus-christ-signs.html “My Lord and My God: Trinitarians Get it Wrong” Commentary on John 20:28 https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2019/12/my-lord-and-my-god-trinitarians-get-it.html

"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, being little among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days." וְאַתָּה בֵּית-לֶחֶם אֶפְרָתָה צָעִיר לִהְיוֹת בְּאַלְפֵי יְהוּדָה מִמְּךָ לִי יֵצֵא לִהְיוֹת מוֹשֵׁל בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וּמוֹצָאֹתָיו מִקֶּדֶם מִימֵי עוֹלָם׃ A passage often remembered around Christmas time, Micah 5:2 is quoted in Matthew 2:5-6 to describe that Israel’s ruler would be born in Bethlehem. Some Christian expositors and laypersons see the “eternal pre-existence” of the Messiah and therefore Messiah’s deity in the words of Micah 5:2 (in Hebrew, Micah 5:1): “whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” However, even just a comparison of English translations reveals that “eternality” in this passage is not so cut-and-dry. Some English translations of the use a word like “everlasting”, while others translate the same phrase as “from ancient days”. A word study and the context of the passages shows that neither Micah nor Matthew were declaring the “eternal pre-existence” of Messiah. Rather, the passages refer to the promise of God given to David centuries before. The “eternal pre-existence” and “deity of Christ” claims from Micah 5 are based on presuppositions that force a wrong understanding of Hebrew words. The words miqedem "from before" and mimei olam "from ancient days" do not mean “eternal pre-existence” but refer to events in Israel’s past. Specifically, Micah 5:2 refers to the promise God made to David long ago, centuries before Micah’s day. The “eternality” interpretation also ignores both the literary and historical context of the passage which speaks of a descendant of David who was to rule for Yahweh by the strength of Yahweh his God when the Assyrians came into the land. The “eternality” interpretation also misses the meaning of the passage. Micah is trusting completely on God’s promise of peace and salvation through a king who would descend from David. There was an amazing, observable sample of that promised victorious peace in David’s descendant Hezekiah (see Isaiah 37:15-38), a sample which gives us concrete evidence and confidence that Yawheh our God fulfills His promises. The ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise to David is in Jesus. In an even greater fashion than in the days of David or Hezekiah, Jesus the descendant of David will shepherd and rule God’s people for God  in the strength of Yahweh his God, and in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God. The Gospel of Matthew mentions nothing about the pre-existence of Jesus in quoting Micah’s passage. Neither Jesus nor any New Testament author ever appealed to the Old Testament to reveal the eternal pre-existence or deity of Messiah. Jesus and the New Testament authors did appeal to the Old Testament to show the suffering, death and subsequent glory of Messiah. For a full written text of the podcast see here: https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2019/02/micah-52-matthew-26-eternal-deity-of.html

Jon and Heather Kidwell come from a traditional, conservative Christian background. Heather grew up on the mission field. In this podcast the Kidwells tell their story about how they came to understand that God is one, and that Jesus is God’s human Messiah, who died and was raised from the dead by God. While homeschooling her kids (Camden, Cate and Cara - we hear from them toward the end of the podcast), Heather was bothered by an emphasis even in Christian homeschooling curriculum on the study of Greek philosophy and culture. Why are we so fascinated with Greek history and philosophy? She began to wonder if she was looking at life, and interpreting the Scriptures, through a Greek philosophical lens rather than through a Hebraic, biblical mindset. Was she teaching her children biblical truth? Or had some traditional Christian dogmas been formed by interpreting the Scriptures from Greek ways of thinking which she knew would twist the truth? The questions set the family on a quest to find the truth. They began to discover that church teachings like the immortality of the human soul, going to heaven in a dis-embodied state, and eternal conscious torment in hell were all non-biblical ideas. Rather, the Scriptures teach that man is mortal, our hope is in the resurrection from death to new immortal life on earth, and that the wages of sin is death, perishing. They were first introduced to the biblical idea that Jesus the Messiah is a real human person who was put to death and raised from the dead by God, in a book by Kegan Chandler called The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma. https://www.amazon.com/God-Jesus-Light-Christian-Dogma/dp/0967324939 The Kidwells are an example of more and more sincere Christians who are realizing the ideas of a three-persons-in-one god, and a dual natured god-man are not the best way to understand who the God of the Bible and His Messiah are. Bill and Stephanie Schlegel Testimony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LA9Uq-8xMc&ab_channel=21stCenturyReformation