One God Report

This episode is a review of the recently published paperback edition of the book called, The Restitution: Biblical Proof that Jesus is not God, by Kermit Zarley*.   What? Biblical proofs that Jesus is NOT God? The average Christian has heard only the biblical proofs that supposedly declare that Jesus IS God.   But anyone who thinks that the Bible claims that God is a Trinity, or that the Bible claims that Jesus Christ is God, should read this book. The Restitution: Biblical Proof that Jesus is NOT God is a comprehensive study of biblical Christology. What does the Bible say about who or what Christ (Messiah) is? For some 1700 years Christian churches have answered that question by saying that Jesus is God, or a God-Man. Zarley challenges that answer. He maintains that the biblical view is not “God is Christ”, but “God in Christ”. That is, the One God of the Bible, Yahweh, worked in and through His human Messiah, Jesus, to reveal Himself to mankind (John 1:18, Heb. 1:1), and to reconcile the world to Himself (2 Cor. 5:19).   *Kermit Zarley is a retired professional golfer and Christian author.  In 1965 he co-founded the PGA Tour Bible Study group which continues to this day.   Links for this episode:   The Restitution: Biblical Proof that Jesus is not God https://www.amazon.com/Restitution-Biblical-Proof-Jesus-Not/dp/1735259160   Kermit Zarley webpage: https://kermitzarley.com/   For a text of this podcast see here. https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-restitution-of-jesus-christ-signs.html   April 21-23, 2023, Cornerstone Church 2023 Bible Conference and Heritage Sunday 338 State School Rd, Gatesville, TX 76528-2921, United States Kermit Zarley, former golf pro and founder of the PGA Tour Bible Study will present four sessions on theological and prophetic topics. Other presenters include Kegan Chandler, Kevin George, Albert Valdez, David Ash and Dennis Smith. We expect a fun and profitable time of Bible study and fellowship. Meals provided include: sandwich lunch and spaghetti dinner on Saturday; carry-in dinner on Sunday. Please RSVP to greg@cornerstonetx.tv. https://www.facebook.com/events/2548372141984249/?ref=newsfeed   Zarley, tied for lead with Jack Nicklaus, last round, 6th hole, US Open at Pebble Beach, 1972 https://youtu.be/84p_Cb8ijXA?t=573   ONE GOD REPORT 37) "I came down from heaven": Discussion with Kermit Zarley on Metaphors in the Gospel of John, and if Jesus "Pre-existed" https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/F0G9djgJZyb   #deityofchrist, #trinity, #biblicalunitarian, #unitarian, #kermitzarley, #billschlegel

There is a popular declaration among Christians the world over this time of year. Quoting the messenger at Jesus’s tomb the declaration is made, “His is risen!” And then people respond: “He is risen indeed!”.    But that English declaration is actually incorrect, or is an incorrect translation. The angelic declaration about Jesus is not about what Jesus did, but about what someone else, namely God, did to Jesus. In Greek, the declaration is a passive.  Jesus was acted upon. He received the action of the verb in the sentence. A more correct declaration is “He has been raised!” or, “He was raised”.  That is, someone else raised Jesus. For full text notes of this episode, click here: https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2023/04/he-has-been-raised-he-has-been-raised.html _  Did God Die Traditional Christianity seems to be really confused as to just who died on that cross some 2000 years ago. I hear conflicting claims. Often people, even preachers, will say that “God died”, like the Charles Wesley hymn, “Amazing love! how can it be, That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”   Or Max Lucato, touted as a New York Times Best Selling (Christian) Author who posted recently about a book he wrote saying: “God is on a cross. The Creator of the universe is being executed.”   If your theology brings you to a place where you think God died, you better re-think your theology. Such a claim is completely non-biblical, contradictory to the Bible. The Bible says categorically that God is immortal. God does not die (Rom. 1:23, 1 Tim 1:17 “immortal, invisible, the only God”, 1 Tim. 6:16).   Other Christians will say, “Well, it was only the human Jesus who died, or the humanity of Jesus who died”.  My response is that a dual-natured Jesus is made up figment of peoples’ imagination, and he is a liar. The Bible never says the God-man who died is our mediator. The Bible only says the man Christ Jesus died and is our mediator (e.g., Rom. 5:15, 1 Cor. 15:21, 1 Tim 2:4-5).   I suggest that the so-called dual-natured, fully-god-fully-man Jesus of modern Christianity is a dual-minded liar. Ask your Jesus a question: Did you die? If your Jesus says “No (the god Jesus) and yes (the human Jesus)”, he is a liar and is not the biblical Jesus. If your Jesus hesitates and has to explain how something of him died but something else of him didn’t die, you have a lying, false Jesus.   The biblical Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God, the Lord Messiah declares for all to hear: “I was dead” (Rev. 1:18). Two verses in John’s Gospel? Did Jesus Raise Himself from the dead?” One God Report Podcast #14   Web resources for this episode: Full text of podcast:  https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2023/04/he-has-been-raised-he-has-been-raised.html NET Translation and Note on Matthew 27:6 https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+28   Revised English Version note on Matthew 27:6https://www.revisedenglishversion.com/Matthew/28/6   Did Jesus Raise Himself from the Dead?https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2020/04/did-jesus-raise-himself-from-dead-john.html   Charles Wesley Songhttps://www.invubu.com/music/show/song/Charles-Wesley/And-Can-It-Be%252C-That-I-Should-Gain.html   Max Lucato quotehttps://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=762063085288722&set=pb.100044551114485.-2207520000.   #biblicalunitarian, #deityofchrist, #trinity, #resurrection, #billschlegel

In Part 1 (the previous episode, #92) I began to respond to some of the claims made in the One for Israel video called “The Trinity and the Torah, a Jewish Defense of the Trinity”. I noted that the so-called “mysterious unity of (one-God-in-three-persons) is not a biblical mystery, but is a man-made mystery that comes from centuries after the Bible was written, from Gentiles land outside of the Land of Israel.   Also, that the idea of agency is a much better way to understand how God’s messengers can speak and act for God.  God’s agents or messengers even speak in the first person as God, as they are delegated and authorized by God to do so. When God’s messengers speak, God speaks.   In the current episode: 01:00  Appealing to Dr. Benjamin Sommer. The necessity to appeal to Dr. Sommer’s ideas for evidence of more one person in God is an admission that the Bible makes no such declaration.   02:47  An example of an essential biblical truth, which unlike the doctrine of the Trinity, is directly and consistently described in the New Testament: that God raised the man Jesus from the dead.   04:54  Since a multi-person God is not declared in the Bible, people, including Gentile Christians, long for some scrap of “Jewish” evidence that God can be multi-personal. This the appeal to Dr. Sommer.   06:06  Who is Dr. Benjamin Sommer? His views on the authority and origin of Scripture, the Documentary Hypothesis, and the Bodies of God. Dr. Sommer’s view is closer akin to Modalism or Hinduism.   12:32  Is the Trinity in the Old Testament? What about Genesis 1:26? Does anyone in the New Testament go to the Old Testament to find evidence that God is triune?   14:54  Is the Trinity in the New Testament? Constructing a god from hints and clues, first finding verses that allegedly claim that Jesus is literally a second deity figure. What about John 1? Romans 10:9, 1 Cor. 8:6 - verses appealed in the One for Israel video do not declare that God is triune, and in fact, declare that the Father is the one God.   19:37  Are Israeli Jewish believers in Jesus Trinitarians? Most would say no. The deceptive bait and switch: finding evidence in the Bible that Jesus is the Messiah, but then insisting that Jesus is literally God.   22:40  A Trinity claim is an attempt to denigrate the only True God, the Father. A challenge from Deut. 32:6, Malachi 2:10 and John 17:1-3    For an analysis of the Documentary Hypothesis, see:  Casuto, U. The Documentary Hypothesishttps://www.amazon.com/Documentary-Hypothesis-Umberto-Cassuto/dp/9657052351   In pdf format: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://shalempress.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/29_3_2011_55_29_cas-gen.pdf    Benjamin Sommer: Quotes from Benjamin Sommer about his book Bodies of God in this podcast: https://kavvanah.blog/2015/05/13/interview-with-benjamin-sommer-on-revelation-and-authority-sinai-in-jewish-scripture-and-tradition/   Benjamin Sommer Lectures: The Bodies of Godhttps://biblicalstudiesonline.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/benjamin-d-sommer-on-gods-body/   Book: The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/bodies-of-god-and-the-world-of-ancient-israel/72E589D9BD86AEDF5DBF5043453C203F   #oneforisrael, #trinityandtheTorah, #deityofchrist, #agency, #billschlegel, #non-binaryjesus, #biblicalunitarian, #benjaminsommer, #bodiesofgod, #deityofchrist, #onegodreport

0:00  Introduction. One For Israel, my own interest in Israel and the Jewish People   1:00  Why is “The Trinity in the Torah” a “hot topic”? Because the Torah does not proclaim that God is triune. There is no declaration in the Bible where the God of Israel says, “I am three persons in one”. If there was such a declaration, there would be nothing to argue about.   Which Stumbling Block? The One For Israel video states that the “stumbling block” for the Jews is the Trinity, the deity of Christ and “incarnation” of one God person of a tri-personal god.  But such things are a non-biblical stumbling block to Jewish faith in the Messiah. These are post-biblical, man-made stumbling blocks that Jewish people are completely right in rejecting.   These man-made stumbling blocks prevent Jewish people from hearing and being confronted with the true New Testament declaration about the Messiah, Yeshua. As the Apostle Paul declared, the stumbling block for the Jews is “Christ crucified”. The biblical proclamation is that the Messiah was put to death, but was raised from the dead and exalted by God to God’s right hand. There is nothing in the New Testament about Jews not accepting the Trinity or incarnation of one divine person of a tri-personal God.   05:49  The “Mysterious Unity of God” which the One For Israel video repeatedly discusses is likewise a non-biblical mystery, entirely foreign to the Bible.   9:09  AGENCY: The biblical principal of “the messenger represents the one who sent him” (agency) is a much better way to understand the few passages that are put-forth as an attempt to show that there is a “mysterious unity of (more than one person who is) God”. Many Christians, including Messianic Jews who believe in the “deity of Christ” are not familiar with the concept of agency. Once agency is understood, the fog of the so-called “mystery” is lifted.   19:09 Summary. The Mystery Solved and Agency 22:09 Looking forward to Part 2 One For Israel: The Trinity and the Torah, a Jewish Defense of the Trinity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7D2djAnAbI&t=146s One God Report Podcast https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/onegodreport-podcast   Or, on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@billschlegel1   Trinity Preferred Pronouns: He/Him (Woke-ism in Trinitarian Thought and Language) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRFJbSlC0-E   Is the God-man Jesus Trans-natured, Non-Binary? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-_nDKxXkOg #oneforisrael, #trinityandtheTorah, #deityofchrist, #agency, #billschlegel, non-binaryjesus

The mystery of the Trinity is not a biblical mystery. The "Trinity is a mystery" claim comes from after the Bible was written.  No one in the Bible ever declared that God is a three-in-one mystery. Only hundreds of years after the Bible was written did people begin to claim the Trinity was a mystery not only because they couldn't understand it, but because they know that to claim that “God-is-three-persons” is difficult to align with the biblical claim that God is one. In this current episode (Part 2) we examine more problems with the Trinitarian mystery claim: 1.  Is the "Trinitarian mystery" really just a more positive way to say contradiction and confusion? 2. Trinitarian mystery promotes ignorance, not understanding. 3. Promoting "mystery" as something positive and desirable. 4. Gate-Keepers of the mystery religion 5. Even though it is a mystery, the brightest Christian minds have tried to understand and explain it.  All have failed. 6. Putting faith in the wrong place. Mystery deflects faith from the true biblical declaration of who God and Messiah are. 7.  Mystery is an attack on the Fatherhood of God, attempting to replace the one true God, the Father, with an impersonal "It". 8. The Trinity mystery claim directly contradicts explicit biblical revelation that we can know and understand who God is, and that God is one, the Father.

Trinitarian Christianity claims that the three-person-in-one God is a mystery that cannot be understood. The Trinitarian claim goes something like this: “The Bible says there is only one God. But the Bible also says the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God - so God must be three-in-one. We are only finite human beings, so we can’t really understand how God is three-persons-in-one-God. It’s a mystery.” In this episode we describe how the Trinitarian mystery claim is faulty, and can be “solved”. In the main, the Trinity is solved, or we can say dissolved, by the very fact that it is not a biblical mystery. No one in the Bible claims that the three-in-one-God is a mystery. Neither Jesus nor any apostle ever described the three-in-one-God or explained that it was a mystery. The claims for the mystery of the three-in-one-God are all non-biblical, post-biblical claims. The New Testament never addresses the triune mystery because the triune mystery emerges only centuries after the Bible was written. It was called a mystery bus it was known that a triune God directly contradicted explicit biblical declarations that God is one individual, and that He (one person) is God alone. For the full text of this podcast, see here: https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-mystery-of-trinity-solved.html #mystery of the trinity, #deity of Christ, #biblical unitarian, #theology

Two reasons why the decimation of the Assyrian army in Judah in the days of Hezekiah is significant:   - 1. There is a unique correlation and agreement from three sources of this biblical event from over 2700 years ago:   a. Bible (Isaiah 36-37, 2 Kings 18-19, 2 Chronicles 32)  b. Archaeological finds in Israel and Assyria  c. Assyrian written records   - 2. The biblical authors present and remember the event as parallel to the destruction of the Egyptian military at the Reed Sea.   Both events - the defeat of the Egyptian army at the Reed Sea, and the defeat of the Assyria army in Judeh - are evidence that Yahweh is the Supreme God and that He is with Israel/Judah.

This episode is a review and recommendation for the recently printed book: Little Known Facts About the Trinity On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Known-Facts-About-Trinity/dp/B0BN61Z8Z3/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1674745468&refinements=p_27%3AKohl&s=books&sr=1-1 Christians should ask themselves these questions: Why did God never declare from heaven, or through a prophet or apostle, that HE is three persons in one? Why did Jesus never describe that God is "three in one"? Is a Triune God really biblical? Does the Bible say, “The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God, so God must be Triune”? At 100 pages this well-written book is not a daunting read. The book exhibits substantial research but is not overly academic. The author addresses main “deity of Christ” and Trinitarian claims, points out major interpretation problems and philosophical contradictions of Trinitarian claims and gives alternative (better) explanations of Trinitarian proof texts. The book also explains the post-biblical, non-biblical, often deadly, development of Trinitarian belief. I highly recommend this book. The only adjustment that I suggest be made is to at least mention that another possibility for interpreting John 1 is that John 1 is not describing the Genesis creation. John 1 is introducing the new beginning that God brings about through the man, the Messiah Jesus, who is metaphorically called the Word. As the author of the Book of Hebrews declared, “God…has spoken to us by a son”, and as the Apostle Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 15:21, "For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man." The new beginning being done by God is through the man Jesus. This book is a call for believers in the God of the Bible to return to the declaration of the Apostle Peter concerning Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God”.

This episode describes six different creations or creation events in the Bible. Not all descriptions of God creating refer to the Genesis creation.  We think about which of the creation events in the Bible Jesus played a role in. We suggest the creation of God’s son Israel is a main backdrop for the Gospel of John, including John’s Prologue. Like Israel, in John's Prologue Jesus is introduced as God's unique son to whom the Father has given glory (John 1:14). Topics and time stamps: 0:00 Introduction to the word “create”. Only God is the Creator. 02:40 The Genesis Creation 05:00 Creation of the People and Nation of Israel 06:47 Transformation or renewal of something that already exists. The renewal of nature is re-creation. 09:35 The Creation of new authorities and powers under the man Jesus: New creation in Colossians 1 and Ephesians 1 12:15 Spiritual Renewal is new creation: Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart, renew in me a upright spirit” 13:05 Creation of one new man in place of two, Jew and Gentile. Galatians and Ephesians 2:15 13:49 Which of the above six creations was Jesus involved in? The Tendency of the Trinitarian mind to associate creation specifically to the Genesis creation. 14:56 Which creation is the emphasis of John’s Gospel and Prologue? Isaiah 43 as an example of the Creation of Israel, the Son of God, as a backdrop for the Gospel of John 19:38 God as Father and Israel as Son in the Old Testament and in the Gospel of John. God as Israel’s Father:  Exod. 4:22; Deut. 14:1; 32:5-6, 18-19; Isa. 43:6; 45:11; 63:16; 64:8[7]; Jer. 3:4, 19; 31:20; Hos. 11:1. 22:06 Recreation of God’s Children, Israel, in John’s Gospel 25:50 The Word/Torah instrumental in the creation of Israel. The Gospel of John in agreement with the Synoptic Gospels that Jesus is involved in the formation of renewed Israel 29:19 The recreation or regathering of Israel as a sign and symbol in the Gospel of John, chapter 12 30:27 Jesus’s role in other creation events #gospelofjohn, #prologueofjohn, #newcreation, #bible, #trinity, #biblicalunitarian, #billschlegel

Nine evidences that John 1 is not referring to the Genesis creation (with time stamps): #GospelofJohn, #John1, #nontrinitarian, #deityofchrist, #newcreation, #billschlegel 1. 03:19 In the Gospel of John “the beginning” refers to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. 2. 05:07 “in the beginning” ἐν ἀρχῇ : Needs context. Vast majority of ἐν ἀρχῇ references in the Bible are not related to Genesis. 3. 08:45 Agreement with other Gospels “beginning” which relate to the ministry of Jesus. 4. 10:03 Agreement with other New Testament literature that in Jesus there is a new beginning, a new creation. 5. 12:17 The subject of what comes to be in John’s Gospel is not seas, dry land, plants, animals, planets, stars, sun, etc., but (new) human life. The word "world" in John 1:9-10 does not mean planet earth, but a segment of human society, indeed Israelite society. The subject and context is not the creation of the material "world". 6. 15:09 Some similar language, but for a different purpose. Life, light and darkness in John are not Genesis light, life and darkness. Mistaking parallelism and continuity for identity. 7. 18:54 Themes in the Prologue are associated with Jesus in the body of the Gospel. 8. 21:35 Consolation prize: Commentators recognize John 1 introduces a new beginning. 9. 23:44 John the Baptizer in verses 6-8 has no reason to be in an account of the Genesis creation.