What do CULTS think about JESUS?

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Jesus Is God: Christians Always Belie…“, posted with vodpod

 

 

WHAT DO THEY THINK OF CHRIST?

AETHERIUS SOCIETY – UFO group messages from “Master Jesus” in outer space.

AHMADIYYA MOVEMENT – (Islam) Jesus a prophet only.

ALAMO CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION -Correct doctrine on Jesus but cultish in their denunciation of other Christians.

AMORC – (See Rosicrucianism)

ANANDA MARGA YOGA SOCIETY – Founder Maha-Guru is an incarnation of God.

ANTHROPOSOPHICAL SOCIETY – Jesus just man until age 30, and then received “Christ Essence”.

ARICA INSTITUTE INC. – “Christ cannot be God”.

ARMSTRONGISM (WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD)- Since death of H.W.Armstrong in a state of doctrinal changes. Church split with new groups forming. See Philadelphia Church.

ASSEMBLIES OF YAHWEH – Denies Trinity.

ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH AND ENLIGHTENMENT (EDGAR CAYCE) – A portion of God called Soul reincarnated eventually as Christ.

ASTARA – Speak of “Cosmic Christ”. Deny His eternal nature.

BABA RAM DASS (HANUMAN FOUNDATION) – Disciples encouraged to acknowledge their inner divinity and oneness with universal deity. Hinduistic.

THE BAHA’I FAITH – Christ one of the 9 great manifestations of divinity. Baha’u’allah greater.

BAWA MUHAIYADDEEN FELOWSHIP- Man becomes God.

BHAGWAN SHREE RAJNEESH- (See Rajneesh Meditation Centers.)

BLACK MUSLIM- Jesus was black and only a prophet. Allah incarnate is Wallace Ford.

BRANHAMISM – Jesus created, not eternal.

BROTHER JULIUS – Believes he is incarnation of Jesus.

BUBBA FREE JOHN (DAWN HORSE FELLOWSHIP; FREE PRIMATIVE CHURCH OF DIVINE COMMUNION; FREE COMMUNITY ORDER; LAUGHING MAN INST.) – Claims he is incarnation of God; a guru to be worshipped; equal with Christ.

BUDDHISM – Christ not recognized as Deity. Zen Buddhism also does not affirm the existence of the living God.

CABALA (KABBALAH) – Doctrine of Deity recognizes only two deities-the hidden god; the infinite great divine Nothing; and the dynamic god of religious experience. Mystical.

CENTER FOR SPIRITUAL AWARENESS – (CHRISTIAN SPIRITUAL ALLIANCE) – Jesus a man who reached “Christ-consciousness”.

CHILDREN OF GOD (FAMILY OF LOVE) – Began fundamentalist but degenerated into Occult.

CHRISTADELPHIANS – Jesus did not exist before birth to Mary. Not God.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE -Christ is a Divine Idea and his blood doesn’t cleanse us.

CHURCH OF ARMAGEDDON (LOVE FAMILY) – Follow prophet “Love Israel”. Use Yoga & drugs.

CHURCH OF GOD INTERNATIONAL)(Garner Ted Armstrong) follows original teachings of Herbert W Armstrong. Denies Trinity, God is a family.

CHURCH OF BIBLE UNDERSTANDING (FOREVER FAMILY)- Founder Traill is one true access to bible understanding; denies Trinity.

THE CHURCH OF GOD INTERNATIONAL -(See Armstrongism.)

CHURCH OF THE LIVING WORD (THE WALK) – Followers become the Living Word (Christ) to the world.

CHURCH UNIVERSAL AND TRIUMPHANT (SUMMIT INT.; SUMMIT LIGHTHOUSE) – Jesus a man with Christ-consciousness within him.

COONEYITES (TWO BY TWOS) -Jesus inherited Adam’s fallen sin nature and did not finish His earthly mission, but they are doing so.

DAWN BIBLE STUDENTS ASSOC. (FRANK AND ERNEST) – Jesus created; not God. Deny Trinity.

DIANETICS – (See Scientology)

DHYANA-MA-NDIRAM – Jesus one of many reincarnations of God.

DIVINE LIGHT M ISSION OF GURU MAHARAJ JI – Followers believe their Guru is Christ come again.

ECKANKAR (THE ANCIENT ART OF SOUL TRAVEL) – Christ is “god as all men are god”.

EMISSARIES OF DIVINE LIGHT (ONTOLOGISTS) – Do not accept the atoning work of Christ; Mystical.

ESALEN INSTITUTE – “Human Potential” movement; Mystical.

EST (ERHARD SEMINAR TRAININGS) THE FORUM) – Teach that each person is a god himself.

ETERNAL FLAME – Chas. Paul Brown, the leader, claims to be the very body and blood of Christ.

FAMILY OF LOVE – (See Children of God)

THE FARM – Jesus a man indwelt by Christ-consciousness.

FINDHORN FOUNDATION UNIVERSITY OF LIGHT – Separate Jesus and Christ. Appear to be pantheistic and believe in plant spirits.

FOREVER FAMILY – (See Church of Bible Understanding)THE FORUM- (see est)

THE FOUNDATION FAITH OF THE MILLENNIUM- Deny deity of Christ, only a prophet.

FOUNDATION OF HUMAN UNDERSTANDING (ROY MASTERS) – Neglects Christ or mentions him in a negative context.

FRANK & ERNEST – (See Dawn Bible Students Assoc.)

FREE MASONRY – Jesus a man like us.

HARE KRISHNA (ISKON) – Jesus one of their gurus, but Hare Krishna is their God.

HINDUISM – No need of a personal savior; each one attains to becoming “a god” or attaining “cosmic consciousness”.

THE HOLY ORDER OF MANS – Jesus a man indwelt by Christ consciousness.”

“I AM” MOVEMENT – Jesus one of many ascended masters.

IGLESIA NI CRISTO – Jesus a great savior, but not true God.

INNER PEACE MOVEMENT – Jesus a man who reached “Christ-consciousness”. God is impersonal.

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF CHRIST (THE JAMILIANS) – Christ came again in the form of Jamil Sean Savoy (Born 1959, died 1962). Christ a “universal force” to be experienced but not worshipped.

ISKON – (See Hare Krishna)

ISLAM – Jesus a prophet of Allah who was superceded by Muhammed.

JAINISM – Deny existence of Creator. Non-theistic humanists.

JAMILIANS – See International Community of Christ)

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES THE WATCHTOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY) – Jesus created as Archangel Michael/lesser god; became only a good man, died, ceased to exist, re-created as Michael again in heaven. Not God. Deny Trinity.

KABALARIANS – Speak of “Christ Principle” born within every individual. (See Cabala)

KRISHNAMURTI FOUNDATION OF AMERICA-Disciples worship him as incarnation of God without his approval.

LATTER DAY SAINTS – (See Mormons)

LAYMEN’S HOME MISSIONARY MOVEMENT – Christ is not God.

LIFESPRING – Similar to EST.

LOVE FAMILY- (See Church of Armageddon)

MAHIKARI – Both Jesus and Buddha are regarded as refined spiritual beings able to radiate true light in their day.

MEGIDDO MISSION – Jesus wholly human in his nature.

THE MIND SCIENCES – God is a principle.

MOONIES (THE UNIFICATION CHURCH; THE HOLY SPIRIT ASSOC.; HOLY SPIRIT ASSOC. FOR THE UNIFICATION OF WORLD CHRISTIANITY; THE UNIFIED FAMILY; INTERNATIONAL ONE WORLD CRUSADE; INTERFAITH ENDEAVOR; ETC. ETC.) – Christ failed in His earthly mission leaving Rev. Moon to finish the task. Many believe Moon to be “Lord of the Second Advent.”

MORMONS (THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS) – Jesus was born in heaven as the spirit child of Elohim (Heavenly Father) by one of his wives, and Jesus’ brother was Lucifer, who became Satan. Jesus one of many gods.

MUKTANANDA PARAMAHANSA (SHREE GURUDEV SIDDHA YOGA ASHRAM) – Each person strives for his own “God-realization”.

NEO-GNOSTICISM – Jesus one who possessed a “higher consciousness”. Did not die for man’s sins.

NEW AGE MOVEMENT – Promises to produce “Messiah” out of a coalition of cult/occult groups.

NICHIREN SHOSHU SOKA GAKKAI – True God replaced by Gautama Buddha and Nichiren. Bible replaced.

ONTOLOGISTS – (See Emmissaries of Divine Light) Spirit.

PENITENTES (BROTHER OF OUR FATHER JESUS) – Atonement comes by personal bloodshed rather than Christ’s death and suffering.

PEACE MISSION MOVEMENT- Sometimes states that Jesus is God, but leader George Baker has also claimed to be God and Holy Spirit.

PEOPLES TEMPLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH -Jim Jones considered himself the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and led over 900 followers to their deaths.

PHILADELPHIA CHURCH – Recently formed breakaway group from World Wide Church of God. Carries on with old Armstrongism teachings. Denies Trinity, God is a Family.

PROCESS CHURCH OF THE FINAL JUDGEMENT – Jesus a man.

PSYCHIANA – Jesus a human life acting out the God-power.

RADHA SOAMI SOCIETY – Jesus one of many lords.

RAJNEESH MEDITATION CENTERS (ORANGE PEOPLE) – God is not a person. Existence is without cause.

REORGANIZED CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS – Jesus Christ existed with God in the beginning, sharing in creation.

REV. IKE (FREDERICK EIKERENKOETTER) – Deity is “the presence of God in you”. There are no literal, spiritual realities.

ROSICRUCIANISM (ROSICRUCI ; AMORC) – Reincarnated man is a manifestation of the cosmic Christ.

RUHANI SATSANG – Jesus Christ essentially a man of the East.

SANATANA DHARMA FOUNDATION – Jesus is a man who achieved a divine state through meditation.

SATHYA SAI BABA – Claims to be Christ and has achieved “God-realization”.

SCIENTOLOGY – All are gods including Christ.

SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP – Separates Jesus and Christ. Jesus was indwelt by “Christ-consciousness”.

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM -Believe Jesus is God but also that he is Michael. Christ did not complete atonement at Calvary.

SHREE GURU DEV SIDDHA YOGA ASHRAM – Believes leader is God.

SIKHISM – If a person works his way to salvation he is absorbed into the formless God.

SILVA MIND CONTROL -Seek oneness with pantheistic deity; speak of “Christ awareness”.

SPIRITUAL ADVANCEMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL FOUNDATION – Their leader, Sai Baba, is Jesus Christ who was returned. Man forgets he is God.

SPIRITUAL FRONTIERS FELLOWSHIP – Jesus the man died but Christ lived. Uses seances.

SPIRITUALISTS – Jesus was a Jewish medium.

SRI CHINMOY CENTERS – God is seen as consciousness and light. Divinity is within.

STILL POINT INSTITUTE – Christ is an evolutive god, a cosmic Christ.

SUBUD (GURDJIEFF; RENAISSANCE FELLOWSHIP OF FRIENDS) – God is a “great life force” flowing through everything and is felt by inner vibrations. Impersonal.

SUFISM – God-consciousness by whirling dancing.

SUFISM REORIENTED INC. – Meher Baba claimed to be Christ incarnate.

SUMMIT LIGHTHOUSE (SUMMI NTERNATIONAL) (See Church Universal and Triumphant)

SWAMI KRIYANANDA – Followers seek God-realization; Hinduistic.

SWAMI RAMI (HIMALAYAN INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF YOGA SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY) Combines Indian religious philosophy with psychological therapeutic techniques.

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA (VEDANTA SOCIETY) – Mystical Hinduism; Ramakrishna worthy of same devotion as Christ.

SWEDENBORGISM – Calls Jesus god but denies the personality of the Holy Spirit.

TAOISM – Worships creator-principle of the Tao (“The Force”) Ignores Christ.

THEOSOPHY – Christ is the reincarnation of the world’s soul.

THE 3 HO FOUNDATION (YOGI BHAJAN; SIKH FOUNDATION) – God is cosmic consciousness. Pantheistic.

T.M. (TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION) – Christ is a prophet. Mankind can meditate into God-awareness without a mediator.

THE UNIFICATION CHURCH – (See Moonies)

UNITY (UNITY SCHOOL OF CHRISTIANITY) – Jesus was a perfect man indwelt by the Christ consciousness present in everybody.

UNITARIANS (UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOC.) – Jesus extraordinarily good man only.

UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH – Denies Trinity.

URANTIA – Jesus a “Creator Son” called “Michael”.

THE WALK – (See Church of the Living Word)

THE WATCHTOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY – (See Jehovah’s Witnesses)

THE WAY INTERNATIONAL – Jesus is not God.

WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD – (See Armstrongism)

YOGA – A series of exercises designed to align your body to absorb the cosmic force.

ANANDA MARGA YOGA – Jesus is considered God, but you, too, will become God.

INTEGRAL YOGA INSTITUTE – God has no name, no form, no place. Evil is also God.

SIVANANDA YOGA VENDENTA CENTERS – God (or Christ) is not a person or spirit, but consciousness.

TANTRIC YOGA – Achieving God realization by sexual means.

ZOROASTRIANISM – Does not recognize personal God.

——————————————————————————–

Not all religions are Christian.
There is a difference.

The Gospel message of Salvation is clear:

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

No one comes to the Father except through Him.

http://mmoutreach.org/other_cults/articles/what_do_they_think_of_christ.htm

=======================================================

CLICK THE LOGOS ABOVE TO GO TO THE HOME PAGE AND LISTEN TO THE RADIO SHOW

—————————————————————————-

***RECOMMEND THIS BLOG*** CLICK HERE TO SEND an E-mail referral to a friend

Advertisement

THE EARLY CHURCH WAS OUTSPOKEN ON THE DEITY OF CHRIST

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Jesus Is God: Christians Always Belie…“, posted with vodpod

 

 

 

 

 

THE EARLY CHURCH WAS OUTSPOKEN ON THE DEITY OF CHRIST

If One examines carefully the writings of the early church writers their language and theology reflects their understanding of the Trinity. They contended from Scripture not from Greek philosophy or paganism as is charged from anti-Trinitarian opponents. Trinitarianism certainly was not developed in the 4th century but was part of the theology of the early church. Those who oppose it today, are not part of the Church just as they were not part of the Church in the beginning.

Ignatius Bishop of Antioch died about 110 A.D. he was a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote about the lords 2nd coming, “Look for him that is above the times, him who has not times, him who is invisible”. Only God is without time , eternal and invisible. In numerous other places in his letter to Polycarp he states “Jesus is God”, “God incarnate”

“Be deaf, therefore, when any would speak to you apart from (at variance with) JESUS CHRIST [the Son of God], who was descended from the family of David, born of Mary, who truly was born [both of God and of the Virgin … truly took a body; for the Word became flesh and dwelt among us without sin”… Bishop of Antioch died about 110 A.D. he was a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote about the lords 2nd coming, “Look for him that is above the times, him who has not times, him who is invisible”. Only God is without time , eternal and invisible. In numerous other places in his letter to Polycarp he states “Jesus is God”, “God incarnate.”

“Be deaf, therefore, when any would speak to you apart from (at variance with) JESUS CHRIST [the Son of God], who was descended from the family of David, born of Mary, who truly was born [both of God and of the Virgin … truly took a body; for the Word became flesh and dwelt among us without sin.”

Ignatius of Antioch “In Christ Jesus our Lord, by whom and with whom be glory and power to the Father with the Holy Spirit for ever” (n. 7; PG 5.988).

“We have also as a Physician the Lord our God Jesus the Christ the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin. For ‘the Word was made flesh.’ Being incorporeal, He was in the body; being impassible, He was in a passible body; being immortal, He was in a mortal body; being life, He became subject to corruption, that He might free our souls from death and corruption, and heal them, and might restore them to health, when they were diseased with ungodliness and wicked lusts.” ( The ante-nicene Fathers, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Vol. 1, p. 52 .)

“For our God Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost.”( Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 4:9)

“…God Himself appearing in the form of a man, for the renewal of eternal life.”( Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 4:13)

“Continue inseparable from Jesus Christ our God.”( Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians 2:4)

“For even our God, Jesus Christ, now that He is in the Father”.( Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans 1:13)

Clement of Rome (Philipians 4:3)”For Christ is with those who are humble, not with those exalt themselves over his flock. The majestic scepter of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, did not come with the pomp of arrogance or pride (though He could have done so), but in humility, just as the Holy Spirit spoke concerning Him.” (1 Clement 16:1-2)

“Brethren, we ought so to think of Jesus Christ as of God : as of the judge of the living and the dead”.(2nd Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 1:1)

Justin Martyr ( 140 A.D.) “the word of wisdom, who is himself God begotten of the Father of all things, and word, and wisdom, and power, and the glory of the begetter, will bear evidence to me”.(Dialogue with Tropho Ch.61)

“God speaks in the creation of man with the very same design, in the following words: ‘Let us make man after our image and likeness’ . . . I shall quote again the words narrated by Moses himself, from which we can indisputably learn that [God] conversed with someone numerically distinct from himself and also a rational being. . . . But this Offspring who was truly brought forth from the Father, was with the Father before all the creatures, and the Father communed with him” (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 62).

“For Christ is King, and Priest, and God and Lord…”(Dialogue With Trypho, 34)

“…He preexisted as the Son of theCreator of things, being God, and that He was born a man by the Virgin.” (Dialogue With Trypho, 48 )

“We will prove that we worship him reasonably; for we have learned that he is the Son of the true God Himself, that he holds a second place, and the Spirit of prophecy a third. For this they accuse us of madness, saying that we attribute to a crucified man a place second to the unchangeable and eternal God, the Creator of all things; but they are ignorant of the Mystery which lies therein” (First Apology 13:5-6).

Polycarp (70-160). Bishop of Smyrna.A disciple of John the Apostle. “O Lord God almighty…I bless you and glorify you through the eternal and heavenly high priest Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom be glory to you, with Him and the Holy Spirit, both now and forever”

“Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal High Priest Himself, the God Jesus Christ, build you up in the faith…”( The Epistle of Polycarp to the Church at Philippi, 12

Iranaeus (120-202) “In order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King…”(Irenaeus Against Heresies, 1.10.1)

180 A.D. “But he Jesus is himself in his own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, Lord, and king eternal, and the incarnate word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles …The Scriptures would not have borne witness to these things concerning Him, if, like everyone else, He were mere man.” (Against Heresies 3:19.1-2)

“For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, to whom also He speaks, saying, ‘Let us make man after our image and likeness'”.( Against Heresies, 4:10)

Iranaeus gave the Church two statements which have continued in its creeds: (1) Filius dei filius hominis factus, “The Son of God [has] become a son of man, (Earl Cairns Christianity Through the Centuries, Zondervan, 1981, pg.110) Jesus Christus vere homo, vere deus, “Jesus Christ, true man and true God.” (Harold Brown Heresies, Zondervan, 1989, pg.84)

Irenaeus gave three forms of the statement of faith in three different contexts in This is showing the variety of ways that the faith could be expressed in his day:)

Third Form: IN ONE GOD ALMIGHTY, from whom are all things; and IN THE SON OF GOD, JESUS CHRIST, our Lord, by whom are all things, and in his dispensations, through which the Son of God became man; the firm -persuasion also IN THE SPIRIT OF GOD, who furnishes us with a knowledge of the truth, and has set forth the dispensations of the Father and the Son, in virtue of which he dwells in every generation of men, according to the will of the Father (IV. xxiii. 7).(God in three persons C.Beisner) this is long before the council of Niacea.

Diogneteus Diogneteus to Mathetes (written 130 A.D.) “as a king sends his Son, who is also king, so sent he him, as God (1) he sent him; as men he sent him; as savior he sent him,…” Chpt.7 says “God” (1) which refers to the person sent.

Theophilus (115-181) Bishop of Antioch (To Autolycus 2:22 ,160 A.D.) “For the divine writing itself teaches us that Adam said that he had heard the voice but what else is this voice but the word of God, who is also his Son.”

Tatian the Syrian (170 AD ) “Our God has no introduction in time. He alone is without beginning, and is Himself the beginning of all things. God is a spirit, not attending upon matter, but the Maker of material spirits and of the appearances which are in matter. He is invisible and untouchable, being Himself the Father of both sensible and invisible things. This we know by the evidence of what He has created; and we perceive His invisible power by His works”.(Tatian, Address to the Greeks , 4)

“We are not playing the fool, you Greeks, nor do we talk nonsense, when we report that God was born in the form of a man” (Address to the Greeks 21).

Melito of Sardis (177 AD )The activities of Christ after his baptism, and especially his miracles, gave indication and assurance to the world of the deity hidden in his flesh. Being God and likewise perfect man, he gave positive indications of his two natures: of his deity, by the miracles during the three years following after his baptism… he concealed the signs of his deity, although he was the true God existing before the ages” (Fragment in Anastasius of Sinai’s, The Guide 13).

Athenagoras (160 AD.) Speaks of “one God, the uncreated, eternal, invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, uncontainable, comprehended only by mindand reason, clothed in light and beauty and spirit and powerindescribable, by whom the totality has come to be.”(suppl. 10.1)

…”the Son being in the Father and the Father in the Son, in oneness and power of Spirit, the understanding, and reason of the Father is the Son of God.” (Ante Nicene Fathers vol.2 p.133 a plea for Christians)

“For Christ is the God over all”.(Refutation of All Heresies 10.34)

Athenagoras identifies the Word as the Son of God, says ‘although the word is God’s offspring, he never came into being. Rather, having been with God and in God eternally he issued forth at a point in time.”( A plea for the Christians 12.20) “God the Word came down from heaven…He came forth into the world and…showed Himself to be God”.( Against the Heresy of a Certain Noetus, 17)

speaking of what the church believes, “they hold the Father to be God, and the Son God, and the Holy Spirit, and declare their union and their distinction in order.”(A plea for the Christians.10.3)

“Who, then, would not be astonished to hear those called atheists who admit God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and who teach their unity in power and their distinction in rank?”( Intercession on Behalf of the Saints, 10)

Clement of Alexandria (190 AD) “The Word, then, the Christ, is the cause both of our ancient beginning, for he was in God, and of our well-being. And now this same Word has appeared as man. He alone. is both God and man, and the source of all our good things” (Exhortation to the Greeks 1:7:1).

Tertullian (converted around 193 AD)(215 AD) “The origins of both his substances display him as man and as God: from the one, born, and from the other, not born” (The Flesh of Christ 5:6-7).

“God alone is without sin. The only man without sin is Christ; for Christ is also God.”(The Soul 41.3)

We find that it was the ones who did not understand the trinity that were looked upon as divisive. Tetullians theological writings consisted mostly in response to what the Oneness (modalists) believes. (God is singular in person) When he debated Praxeas of which he wrote. “thus the connection of the Father in the Son the Son in the paraclete, produces three coherent persons, who are yet distinct one from another. These three are one essence, not one person, as it is said, “I and my Father are one,” in respect of unity of substance, not singularity of number.”( Ante-Nicene fathers vol.3,p.621, against Praxeas.) He went on to say “Yet we have never given vent to the phrases ‘two Gods’, or ‘two Lords’: not that it is untrue the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God, each is God.” (ibid 13)

Tetullian developed his arguments and refined his belief of which the third form of his rule of faith became this. “We believe there is but one God, and no other besides the maker of the world, who produced the universe out of nothing, by his word sent forth first of all, that this word, called his Son, was seen in the name of God in various ways by the patriarchs, was always heard in the prophets, at last sent down, from the spirit and power of God the Father, into the virgin Mary, was made flesh in her womb, and born of her, lived as Jesus Christ…”.

Not only is he careful in his explanation but throughout all his writings he defines three persons and one substance who are the one God. .”That this one and only God has a Son, his word, who proceeded from himself, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. him we believe to have been sent by the Father into the virgin, and to have been born of her- being both man and God, the Son of man, and the Son of God, and to have been called the name of Jesus Christ;” (against Praxeas vol.3, p.598)

Novatian (235 AD. )”For Scripture as much announces Christ as also God, as it announces God Himself as man. It has as much described Jesus Christ to be man, as moreover it has also described Christ the Lord to be God. Because it does not set forth Him to be the Son of God only, but also the Son of man; nor does it only say, the Son of man, but it has also been accustomed to speak of Him as the Son of God. So that being of both, He is both, lest if He should be one only, He could not be the other. For as nature itself has prescribed that he must be believed to be a man who is of man, so the same nature prescribes also that He must be believed to be God who is of God . . . Let them, therefore, who read that Jesus Christ the Son of man is man, read also that this same Jesus is called also God and the Son of God” (Treatise on the Trinity 11).

Novatian “The rule of truth demands that, first of all, we believe in GOD THE FATHER and Almighty Lord, that is, the most perfect Maker of all things. . .’ The same rule of truth teaches us to believe, after the Father, also in the SON OF GOD, CHRIST JESUS, our Lord God, but the Son of God…. Moreover, the order of reason and the authority of faith, in due consideration of the words and Scriptures of the Lord ‘, admonishes us, after this, to believe also in the HOLY GHOST, promised of old to the Church, but granted in the appointed and fitting time.

The church did not have non-Trinitarians. The Gnostics, Arians, Oneness and others were considered to be praching heresy and were excluded from the church universal. (This is not my words but the Churches) This did not stop them from going out and starting their own movements and church’s. These were the first cultic movements and many today have aligned themselves with their teachings , some have synthesized several of them together to make something altogether new.

Hippolytus 190 A.D. (Against the heresy of one Noetus “a Oneness promoter” ch.14, ) After quoting part of Jn.1:1 “If then the word was with God and was also God what follows ? Would one say that he speaks of two God’s ? I shall not speak of two Gods but of one; of two persons however and of a third economy, the grace of the Holy Ghost. For the Father is indeed one but there are two persons because there is also the son; and there is the third the Holy Spirit. The Father decrees, the word executes and the son is manifested, through whom the Father is believed on. The economy of the harmony is led back to the one God, for God is one. It is the father who commands and the son who obeys and the Holy Spirit who gives understanding; The Father is above all the son is through all and the holy Spirit who is in all. And we cannot think of one God, but by believing in truth in Father and Son and Holy Spirit”.

“God, subsisting alone, and having nothing contemporaneous with Himself, determined to create the world….Beside Him there was nothing; but He, while existing alone, yet existed in plurality….And thus there appeared another beside Himself. But when I say another, I do not mean that there are two Gods….Thus, then, these too, though they wish it not, fall in with the truth, and admit that one God made all things….For Christ is the God above all…..He who is over all is God; for thus He speaks boldly, ‘All things are delivered unto me of my Father.’ He who is over all, God blessed, has been born; and having been made man, He is (yet) God for ever….And well has he named Christ the Almighty. “(Hippolytus ” The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, pp. 227, 153, 225)

In another of his writings “This is the order of the rule of our faith…God the Father, not made, not material, invisible; One God, the creator of all things; this is the first point of our faith. the second point is this; the word of God, Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord who was manifested to the prophets according to the form of their prophesying and according to the method of the fathers dispensation, through whom all things were made.”

Gregory the Wonder-worker (262 AD) “But some treat the Holy Trinity in an awful manner, when they confidently assert that there are not three persons, and introduce (the idea of) a person devoid of subsistence. Wherefore we clear ourselves of Sabellius, who says that the Father and the Son are the same [Person] . . . We forswear this, because we believe that three persons–namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–are declared to possess the one Godhead: for the one divinity showing itself forth according to nature in the Trinity establishes the oneness of the nature” (A Sectional Confession of Faith 8).

“But if they say, ‘How can there be three Persons, and how but one Divinity?’ we shall make this reply: That there are indeed three persons, inasmuch as there is one person of God the Father, and one of the Lord the Son, and one of the Holy Spirit; and yet that there is but one divinity, inasmuch as . . . there is one substance in the Trinity” (A Sectional Confession of Faith, 14)

Dionysius (262 AD )”Neither, then, may we divide into three godheads the wonderful and divine unity . . . Rather, we must believe in God, the Father almighty; and in Christ Jesus, his Son; and in the Holy Spirit; and that the Word is united to the God of the Universe. `For,’ he says, ‘The Father and I are one,’ and `I am in the Father, and the Father in me'” (Letter to Dionysius of Alexandria, 3)

Methodius (305 AD) “For the kingdom of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is one, even as their substance is one and their dominion one. Whence also, with one and the same adoration, we worship the one Deity in three Persons, subsisting without beginning, uncreated, without end, and to which there is no successor…. For nothing of the Trinity will suffer diminution, either in respect of eternity, or of communion, or of sovereignty” (Oration on the Psalms 5).

Arnobius (305 AD) “‘Well, then,’ some raging, angry, and excited man will say, ‘Is that Christ your God?’ ‘God indeed,’ we shall answer, ‘and God of the hidden powers'” (Against the Pagans 1:42).

Athanasius (290 -370) “[The Trinity] is a Trinity not merely in name or in a figurative manner of speaking; rather, it is a Trinity in truth and in actual existence. Just as the Father is he that is, so also his Word is one that is and is God over all. And neither is the Holy Spirit nonexistent but actually exists and has true being.” (Letters to Serapion 1:28).

“United without confusion, distinguished without separation. Indivisible and without degrees.” (Sermon on Lk.10:22)

http://www.letusreason.org/Trin1.htm

=======================================================

CLICK THE LOGOS ABOVE TO GO TO THE HOME PAGE AND LISTEN TO THE RADIO SHOW

—————————————————————————-

***RECOMMEND THIS BLOG*** CLICK HERE TO SEND an E-mail referral to a friend