Chapter 1.
WHO AND WHAT IS GOD?

        I WAS RETURNING to my hotel in New Delhi some years ago from a private conference with the late Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India. Ever since arriving in India I had noticed cows and oxen wandering through the streets. I had never seen such animals straying loosely through city streets in any other country.

        "Don't these cattle stray quite a distance from home?" I asked of the car driver.

        "Oh yes," he answered.

        "But when," I asked, "they wander all over the streets so far away, how do their owners find them, to drive them back home for the night?"

        The car driver smiled. "The owners don't. But the cattle and oxen know their owners and where they live. They find their own way home in the evening."

        Immediately I thought of the scripture in the first chapter of Isaiah, which I had never understood so perfectly before this living explanation.

"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel does not know, my people do not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord...they are gone away backward" (Isa. 1:2-4).

        And this was spoken of ancient Israel, a nation to which God had revealed Himself by many evidences and miracles. How much less do other nations know about God - about WHO and WHAT God is!

        Nevertheless, other nations are human beings just like the nation Israel. It is important at the very outset of this chapter that you notice God calls these humans His own children. Many people say, "God just doesn't seem real to me." God is a great mystery to them. Their own human fathers don't seem like a mystery. They seem real.

Why Does God Seem Unreal?
        In this chapter I hope we will help make God as real to you as your own human father. God does reveal himself to us through the Bible, if we will just understand it, so that He will seem real to us.

        God inspired the apostle Paul to write to the saints in Rome:

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature, namely, His eternal power and deity [spiritual], has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made [physical]. So they are without excuse; for although they knew [about] God they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools" (Rom. 1:18-22, R.S.V.).

        The billions now living on earth not only are ignorant of the most important knowledge - WHO and WHAT God is - they seem not to want to know! They are willingly in ignorance of this most important knowledge and relationship possible in human life!

        Astonishing - but TRUE!

        And why have humans been willingly ignorant of man's most important relationship? One explanation, only, is possible! All nations have been deceived (Rev. 12:9). And the fact of this universal deception makes certain the fact of a super DECEIVER! More of this, later.

God UNREAL to the Ancients
        The first created man Adam, upon taking to himself from the forbidden tree the knowledge of good and evil, was at the same time rejecting God as Creator. It is certain that God had revealed somewhat of himself, certain knowledge to Adam.

        Nevertheless Adam had cut himself off from God his Creator. Undoubtedly, some of the knowledge that God had imparted to Adam was successfully imparted from father to son for many generations. Jesus had called Abel, Adam's second son, "righteous Abel." He pleased God in offering a lamb. Later, Enoch "walked with God." Noah was a man of faith and obeyed God to the saving of his houshold when God gave him instructions for the building of the ark (Heb 11:4-7).

        Accounts imply that Shem, one of Noah's three sons, had knowledge of the true God. After the Flood Noah said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem... And may He dwell in the tents of Shem" (Gen 9:26-27). But undoubtedly, as generation succeeded generation of humanity, the knowledge of God became greatly distorted.

        Nimrod, as recorded in verses 8-9 of Genesis 10, made a virtual god of himself. Through the succeeding generations and centuries knowledge of the true God faded almost completely. The ancient pagan nations made many different idols out of clay, wood, stone and other materials. Many examples of pagan idol gods have been dug up by archaeologists and may be seen in museums today. As the apostle Paul said, they

"exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creation rather than the Creator" (Rom. 1:25).

First Century A.D. Concept
        Coming to the New Testament, we catch a glimpse of the ignorance of any knowledge about God. The scholarly of the world in the first century were the Greek intellectuals. Some of them encountered the apostle Paul in Athens.

"Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, 'What will this babbler say?' Others said, 'He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods:' because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus [atop Mars Hill], saying, 'May we know what this new doctrine, whereof you speak, is?'...
"Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, 'You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions [objects of worship--R.S.V.], I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth...He gives to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on...the earth...for in him we live, and move, and have our being...'" (Acts 17:18-19, 22-26, 28).

        And now what of the scholarly of our Western "Christian" world today? One would think, the most highly educated ought to know WHO and WHAT God is! Suppose you ask at random 100 university deans, "Do you believe in God?" Perhaps some would answer, "Oh, I believe in the existence of God - as a 'first cause.'" But can they tell you WHO or WHAT God is? Most cannot tell you what God is like! God is not real to them. In other words, He is a mystery. Perhaps some will admit they are agnostics - they do not know "for sure" whether God exists.

        I have said that education has become a matter of memory instillation. From elementary grades to higher graduate levels of study, our educational systems inject man-made concepts, ideologies and a mixture of facts and fables into the unsuspecting minds of children, youths and young adults. Students in our school systems are graded according to how well they accept, memorize and can recite or write in tests what has been taught - whether true or false.

        Modern education has given universal acceptance to the theory of evolution. Evolution is used by agnostic's and atheist's as an attempt to explain the existence of a creation without the preexistence of the Creator. It removes God from the picture. It blinds itself to the mystery by attempting to remove God altogether.

Material Creation Seems Real
        The creation is material, visible, and therefore seems real. The system of modern education has become entirely materialistic and philosophic. The modern scientific concept denies the invisible and the spiritual of having existence. Yet all our seemingly unsolvable problems and the evils in this world are spiritual in nature.

        I quoted above from the first chapter of the book of Romans. The 28th verse says, "...they did not like to retain God in their knowledge." Little or nothing is taught about God, but even in the elementary grades the basic concept - the APPROACH to knowledge - is evolution.

        Is it any wonder, then, that the scholarly do not know WHO or WHAT God is? They believe what they have been taught.

        As I write I recently returned from my second four-day visit in Beijing (Peking), as the first religious leader from the world of Christianity to be invited by the government to speak before large groups at the Chinese capital. I have met in private conference with the vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Tan Zhen-lin, and now, on this second visit, with Deng Xiaoping, the unquestioned leader of China.

        In speaking with China's leader, I was speaking to the top official now molding the minds and beliefs of over ONE BILLION people - almost a fourth of all the people on earth. China, in population, is the world's largest nation. In very ancient times the religion in China was ancestor worship. Then came Confucianism, rivaled by Taoism. Later Buddhism was introduced from India, then Christianity. Today the nation is communist - atheist.

        I found China's leaders to be a very cordial, friendly and courteous people - but knowing WHO and WHAT God is most certainly is not what they are now concerned about. I did not try to tell them WHO and WHAT God is, but I did tell two large and important audiences of leaders what God is very soon going to do - and I announced this forthcoming book, which I am writing now.

        India is the second largest nation. What have they known about WHO and WHAT God is? NOTHING!

        Russia is third largest in population. They did have Russian Orthodox Christianity before the communist revolution, then atheism.  

        I am not condemning or judging these people - and I presume they are as well-meaning as any people. God is not judging them NOW - as I shall explain later. Neither is He condemning them. He loves them and will call them all to eternal salvation in His own time. But now they DO NOT know WHO or WHAT God is.

        In ancient Egypt they worshipped the god and goddess Osiris (Nimrod) and Isis (Baal and Ashtaroth - Jud 2:11-13). The Greeks and Romans anciently had gods and goddesses such as Jupiter, Hermes, Dionysus, Apollo, Diana and many others. But they did not know, and their peoples do not know today, WHO and WHAT God is. But WHY?

Why Willingly Ignorant?
        Already, in the quotation from the first chapter of Romans, I have given you a reason - they were willingly ignorant of the things of the true GOD. But WHY? Why willingly ignorant?

        In Romans 8:7 it is stated plainly that the natural mind of humans is enmity (hostile) against God - as is demonstrated by many educators in public education. This does not necessarily mean that all unconverted human minds are actively, intentionally, maliciously hostile. Most humans are passively hostile against God. They simply do not normally think about God. If God is mentioned they become embarrassed and often try to change the subject. They probably do not realize, in their own minds, that they have a hostile attitude toward God. Yet that is the very reason, psychologically, why they want to avoid the subject. In other words, the average person has an unrealized passive hostility against God. They do not want God to tell them what to do. They do not want to submit to God's laws. Without realizing it actively, they want God to "keep His nose out of their business," - except at a time when they are in deep trouble and they cry out for God's help.

        Spiritual things - invisible things - are a mystery to them. They do not understand those things, real though they are, because they cannot see them. They remain a deep mystery so they deny their existence.

        There was a cause for this willing ignorance. And the Bible clearly tells us that cause, which is dual: 1) what occurred prehistorically, and 2) what God himself instituted following the original sin of Adam. All this (to be explained in the next two chapters), and the CAUSE of all the escalating evils of today's world, are clearly revealed by God Almighty in His Word the Holy Bible. This will be made plain as we progress.

        But first, what does the Bible reveal about WHO and WHAT is God? It is only in this inspired book that God reveals Himself. But mankind in general has never believed God - that is, what God says! God spoke face to face, personally, to Adam and Eve, teaching the first created humans. Then He allowed Satan to approach them. Satan got to Adam through his wife. Our original parents believed Satan when he said, "You shall not surely die," after God had said, "Thou shall surely die" and proceeded to steal the forbidden fruit (Gen 2:16-17; 3:4).

        When Jesus Christ spoke on earth 4,000 years later, only 120 people believed what He said (Acts 1:15), though He preached His message from God to multiple thousands and healed many.

        No wonder, then, not one of these religions, sects and denominations, except the small and persecuted Church founded by Jesus Christ (A.D. 31), starting with that 120, believes God, which means these others do not believe what God says in His Word. God's Word plainly reveals who and what God is! But there is a reason for their ignorance. This will be made clear as we proceed.

        Just WHO and WHAT, then, is God? How does He reveal himself? Already I have quoted the apostle Paul saying to the Athenian intellectuals that God is the Creator, who designed, formed, shaped and created MAN.

The prophet Isaiah quotes God Himself, saying:

"To whom then will you liken Me, or shall I be equal?... Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that brings out their host by number: He calls them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one fails" (Isa. 40:25-26).

        Read this in the James Moffatt translation in modern English:

"'To whom will you compare Me, then, and equal Me?' asks the Majestic One. Lift high your eyes, look up; who made these stars? He who marshals them in order, summoning each one by name. For fear of Him, so mighty and so strong, not one fails to appear."

        Further, God himself says to the skeptics:

"Now, the Eternal cries, bring your case forward, now, Jacob's King cries, state your proofs. Let us hear what happened in the past, that we may ponder it, or show Me what is yet to be, that we may watch how it turns out; yes, let us hear what is coming, that we may be sure you are gods; come, do something or other that we may marvel at the sight! - why," taunts God to the doubter, "you are things of naught, you can do nothing at all!" (Isa. 41:21-24, Moffatt).

God, Creator of Universe
        God is Creator of ALL - of everything in the vast universe - the stars, the galaxies in endless space, this earth, man and everything in the earth.

"All things were made by Him; and without Him nothing was made that was made" (John 1:3).

        That is WHAT God is - what He does. He CREATES! He designs, forms and shapes. He gives LIFE! He is the great GIVER. And His law - His way of life - is the way of GIVING, not GETTING, which is the way of this world.

        But what is God like? WHO is God? There have been many conceptions. Some believe God is merely the good or good intentions within each human - merely some part of each human individual. Some have imagined God was some kind of idol composed of gold or silver, or carved out of wood, stone or other material. The Israelites thought, while Moses was communing with God on Mount Sinai, that God was, or looked like, a golden calf, as they had learned from the Egyptians.

        Many think God is a single individual supreme supernatural Being. Some thought He was a spirit.

        The generally accepted teaching of traditional "Christianity" is that God is a Trinity - One God in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which they call a "Ghost." The word trinity is not found in the Bible, nor does the Bible teach this doctrine. But more about that later.

God in Prehistory
        Now let's go back to the very beginning, in prehistory.

        If you were asked where in the Bible to find the very earliest description of God in point of the time of His existence, you probably would say, "Why, in the very first verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:1, of course." Right?

        Wrong!

        In time-order of WHO and WHAT God is the earliest revelation is found in the New Testament: John 1:1.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. He made all things; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1:1-4).

        "The Word" in this passage is translated from the Greek "logos," which has a twofold meaning; one which relates to speaking - the spokesman or the spoken or written "word" - and one which relates to thinking - "revelatory thought" or the mental ability or power of thinking or reasoning (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, pp. 380-382).

        But who or what is this Logos in John 1:1? It is the name there used for an individual Personage. Notice the explanation in verse 14:

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, [glory as only begotten by] the Father, full of grace and truth."

        When the Word was born as Jesus Christ, He became flesh and blood, materialistic and could be seen, touched and felt (1 Jn 1:1). But what was He? As God - as the Logos? That is answered in John 4:24, "God is Spirit," and spirit is invisible to us. We know what was His form and shape as the human Jesus. But of what form and shape was He as the Word? We will explain that later.

        The Word, then, is a Personage who was made flesh - begotten by God, who in this later begettal became His Father. Yet at that prehistoric time of the first verse of John 1, the Word was not (yet) the Son of God. He divested himself of His glory as a Spirit divinity (Phil 2:6-7) to be begotten (from the Greek word-"gennao" see Note-1), conceived, Matt 1:20) and born (gennao) of the virgin Mary to become the Son of Man (Matt 16:13-16). He became God's Son, (the Son of the Highest) by being begotten (gennao , Acts 13:33) or sired by GOD the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit (Lk. 1:32,35).

        So here we find revealed originally two Personages. One is God. And with God in that prehistoric time was another Personage who also was God - the Word - who later was begotten and born as Jesus Christ. But these two Personages were Spirit, which is invisible to human eyes unless supernaturally manifested. At the time described in John 1:1, Jesus was not yet the Son of God and God was not yet His Father. God, in the books of Psalms and Hebrews, testifies of the One who became Jesus Christ:

"You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchesidec" (Psa 110:4; Heb 7:17,21)

Who Was Melchisedec?
We find something regarding the beginning of His existence described in Chapter 7 of the book of Hebrews. It speaks of Melchisedec (a Hebrew word meaning King of Righteousness - see Note-2), who was king of Jerusalem (Gen 14:18; Heb 7:1-2 - called King of Salem (see Note-3), which means literally - King of Peace) in the days of Abraham. It says that He was the Priest of the Most High God. This Melchisedec had existed from eternity:

"without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually...
"who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life" (Heb. 7:3,16).

        Who then was Melchisedec? Jeremiah wrote concerning this King of Righteousness,

"Behold the days come, says the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a KING shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jer. 23:5-6).

Isaiah wrote, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The PRINCE of PEACE" (Isa. 9:6).

And in Hebrews 1:8, "But unto the Son He says, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter (rod of royalty) of RIGHTEOUSNESS is the scepter of Thy kingdom".

        Therefore Christ, who was the Word of God, was "without father, without mother, without descent [in Abraham's time], having neither beginning of days, nor end of life." He also had existed eternally with God. Jesus, when He was "the Word," was an immortal being who had existed ALWAYS - there never was a time when He did not exist - without beginning of days. He was, then, "like" the Son of God - but He was not yet the Son of God. He also was God, along with God.

        These passages show that the Word, in the beginning - before ANYTHING as we know it had been created - was with God, and He, also, was God. Now how could that be?

Family Relationship
        There might be a man named John. And John might be with the man named Smith, and John might also be Smith because John is the son of Smith, and Smith is the family name. Yet they are two separate persons.

        The only point of difference in that analogy is that the Word, at the time of John 1:1, was not, yet, the Son of God. But He was with God, and He also was God (see Note-4). They were not yet Father and Son - but They were the FAMILY and KINGDOM of GOD!

        That Family is now God the Father, and Jesus Christ His Son, and many humans who already, NOW, are converted - begotten from above - SONS OF GOD (John 3:3,7 [Moffatt]; Rom. 8:14, 16; I John 3:2), forming the Church of God.

        That FAMILY aspect - the GOD FAMILY - is vitally important, and this will be thoroughly explained a little later.

        But now, where are we?

        Long before anything else existed as we know it, there did exist two Supreme Beings, immortal, who ALWAYS had existed. Your mind can't quite conceive that "always," but neither can it quite conceive of what electricity is! Yet you know electricity exists and is real!

How Christ Was Creator
        So back to our question, "WHO and WHAT is God?" Before anything else came into existence there was God and the Word, composed of Spirit, not of matter, but nevertheless very real - Two Persons - not three in one. And as John 1:3 reveals,

"All things (the universe) were made through Him (the Word), and without Him, nothing was made that was made."

        Now understand this by also adding Ephesians 3:9, "...God, who created all things through Jesus Christ."

        Let me explain. In January, 1914, I was sent by a national magazine to Detroit, Michigan, to interview Henry Ford to obtain material for an article on his sensational new $5-a-day wage policy. I saw Henry Ford in the administration building, wearing a business suit with white collar and necktie. Then I looked across the breezeway into the giant factory (then the Highland Park factory) and saw perhaps thousands of men in overalls, working at machines powered with electrical energy. Mr. Ford was called the maker of the Ford car. But he made the cars by these workmen, who used the power of electricity and machines.

        In like manner, God the Father is Creator. But He "created all things by Jesus Christ." Jesus is the Word. It is written, "He spoke, and it was done" (Ps. 33:9). God tells Christ what to do (John 8:28-29). Jesus then commands or directs the Spirit as the POWER of God (Gen 1:2; Psa. 104:30) to accomplish the work in like manner as the workmen used the power of electricity and machines.

        Thus, as we read further, in Colossians 1, beginning verse 12,

"Giving thanks unto the Father, who has ...translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son... who is the image [Gk. "eikon" - a likeness or representation] of the invisible God... for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist" (verses 12-13, 15-17).

        Therefore God's Word reveals that God and the Word - two Supreme Personages - coexisted ALWAYS - and before ANYTHING as we know it had been created - including this earth and the entire universe.

        In the above quotation, Christ is in the image - form and shape - of God. But perhaps it will make God more real to you when you realize that God is in the same form and shape as a human being. More proof of this will be given later.

        There was a time, therefore, when those two Personages coexisted and NOTHING ELSE as we know it did.

        No third Person is mentioned - no "Ghost." Is God, then, limited to only two persons? The false Trinity teaching of theologians attempts to explain the Holy Ghost (Spirit) as a third personage of a singular God - limiting God to a mysterious three Personages in one Being. But God is not limited. As God repeatedly reveals, His purpose is to reproduce Himself into what well may become billions of sons of God, and brethren of Jesus Christ (Heb 2:10-11). The Trinitarian doctrine is a mystery of confusion that limits God into a concept devised by men that denies God's purpose thereby deluding the whole Christian world.

        Both God and the Word are SPIRIT, and project their Spirit. Let me illustrate. By your eyesight you can see something across the room, or see to the sun or even to stars that are many times the size of our sun, only much farther distant. But through your eyesight you cannot act on those objects. In like manner, God can see to any place regardless of distance, but God is also able to act on an object or to change it as He wills through His Spirit. Thus, God is omnipresent and omnipotent.

        How long must They have thought, and planned, and designed, before even beginning to create anything whatsoever!

        But matter - this earth, the stars, nebulae, galaxies - was not the first thing They created. They created angels before the creation of matter.

        God speaks of the creation of the earth in the 38th chapter of Job. He says that, at the creation of the earth, all the angels shouted for joy (verse 7). Therefore all the angels already were in existence when the earth was first created.

        In Genesis 1:1 it speaks of God creating ("bara" meaning original creation) the earth and the heavens. In the Authorized Version the word heaven - singular - is used. But the original Hebrew as Moses wrote, and as other translations render it, is in the plural - heavens - implying that the whole material universe was created in the same time period with the earth. This is plainly stated in Genesis 2:4: "This is the history of the heavens [plural] and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens."

        However, the word day in this context is not necessarily a twenty-four-hour day, but a general period of time. That might have been multiple thousands or millions of years ago. Angels were placed on earth before the creation of man. Since angels are immortal spirit beings, they might have dwelt here thousands or millions of years before the creation of man. How many God does not reveal. The earth, at first, was the abode of angels. As Jude 6 reveals, "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation [the earth]...."

What Is God's Appearance?
        Now more detail on WHO and WHAT God is.

        "God is Spirit" (John 4:24, R.S.V.). Why is God not real to so many people? Because God and the Word are SPIRIT, not matter, not flesh and blood, like humans. God is invisible to human eyes (Col. 1:15). He does not seem real. To seem real, the mind naturally wants to visualize a definite form and shape. But even though God is Spirit and not composed of visible matter, God nevertheless does have definite form and shape.  

        What is God's form and shape?

        In Genesis 1:26, "God said, Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." We know the form and shape of man. God is figuratively described in various verses of the Bible as having similar features, a face, eyes, a nose, mouth, ears, hair on His head, arms and legs, hands and fingers. No animal, bird, fish, insect or any other kind of life we know has hands like human hands. Even if animals could think like man, without hands and fingers they could not design and make things as a man does.

        God has feet and toes and a body. God has a mind. Animals have brains, but no mind power like man's. If you know what a man looks like, you know what is the form and shape of God, for He made man in His image, after His very likeness! Paul explains that,

"Christ Jesus, Who being in the form (Greek "morphe" - God is not amorphous or without form) of God... made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (Phil 2:5-7).

"Show us the Father..." Jesus replied: "Have I been so long a time with you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father..." (John 14:8-9).

"You shall not make for yourself any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth (including a man or woman): You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them..."(Ex 20:3-5).

"And now, O Father, glorify You Me with Your own self with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (John 17:5).

        So now we know God has the same form as a man. We also know He is Spirit, not composed of matter as is man. Spirit is invisible to human eyes, unless manifested by some special process.

        If we could see both God the Father and Christ, now glorified in heaven, so manifested as John did in a vision, the countenance of their faces would appear as bright as the sun shining in full strength! Their eyes as flames of fire, feet like burnished brass and hair white as snow (Rev. 1:14-16). This may be beyond our imagination, for as John wrote earlier,

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, but it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2).

God's Nature and Character
        Most important of all, however, is what is God's nature - His CHARACTER - like? One cannot know what God is unless he knows what His CHARACTER is!

        As the Son of God, Jesus was the express image (Gk. "charakter" - meaning the spiritual nature or character) of God the Father (Heb. 1:1-3). Jesus revealed the nature or character of God the Father by fulfilling all of the law of God which is summed up in the two great commandments, love God and love your neighbor (Matt 5:17; 22:36-40; John 13:34; Rom. 13:10).

        THE CHARACTER of both God the Father and Christ the Son is that of spiritual holiness, righteousness and absolute perfection and wisdom.

        That character might be summed up in the one word LOVE, for "God is love" (I John 4:8,16). Love can be defined as an outflowing, loving concern. It is the way of giving, serving, helping and sharing, not the self-seeking "GET" way.

        It is the way devoid of coveting, lust and greed, vanity and selfishness, competition, strife, violence and destruction, envy and jealousy, resentment and bitterness.

        God's inherent nature is the way of PEACE, of JUSTICE, MERCY, HAPPINESS, JOY and CONCERN radiating outward toward those He has created!

        The Word and God LIVED eternally. What did They do? They created. How did They live - what was Their "life-style"? They lived the way of Their perfect character - the way of outflowing LOVE. When Jesus was baptized, God the Father said, "You are My beLOVED Son." God LOVED the Word. And the Word LOVED God - obeyed Him completely (John 14:31).

        Two can't walk together except they be agreed. They were in total agreement and cooperation. Also two can't walk together in continuous peace except one be the head, or leader, in control. God was leader.
        Their way of life produced perfect peace, cooperation, happiness, accomplishment. This WAY of life IS a LAW. Law is a code of conduct, or relationship, between two or more. One might call the rules of a sports contest the "law" of the game. The presence of law requires a penalty for infraction. There can be no law without a penalty for its violation.

God - Author of Government
        The very fact of law presupposes GOVERNMENT. Government is the administration and enforcement of law by one in authority. This necessitates authoritative leadership - one in command.

        When God was the only conscious Life-Being in existence, God was leader - in authoritative command. Thus, even when the only conscious Life-Beings were God and the Word, there was GOVERNMENT, with God in supreme command. The government of the Kingdom of God is of necessity government from the top down. Its laws originate and are handed down from God, who only is perfect in wisdom, power, righteousness and love - never legislated by the people - never dictated by the governed how the government over them shall rule. Since God created other conscious, thinking life-beings, this very fact of necessity put the GOVERNMENT of God over all creation, with God supreme Ruler.

        God, however, has not forced his government on man but gives mankind the freedom to choose whether or not he will obey God's righteous laws and be a part of His kingdom, or to rebel and exclude himself from it.

        Human civilization from Adam's time to the present has assumed the prerogative of lawmaking. Human governments, whether tribal, city, county, state or national, have lawmaking bodies - city councils, state legislatures, national congress, Parliament, Reichstag, Diet or Knesset. But 6,000 years of human experience have demonstrated the utter incapability of humans to determine right from wrong, or to formulate and enforce equitable laws for human conduct and lasting relationships.

        Human lawmaking bodies have made so many laws that the average policeman in a city could not possibly keep in his mind a fraction of the laws whose violations he is supposed to act upon. Some may remember a comic strip in American newspapers, "There ought to be a law." The comic strip was poking fun at the very idea that human lawmakers have made so many laws, and yet fail to cover every possible infraction.

        God's law is spiritual and can be summed up in one simple but all-inclusive word - LOVE "agape" (Rom 13:10). His law for the guidance of human conduct is subdivided into the two great commandments, love toward God and love toward neighbor (Matt 22:36-40). These, in turn, are subdivided into the 10 Commandments. Jesus magnified this law by showing how its principle expands to cover virtually every possible human infraction. The third chapter of II Corinthians shows that God's law is to be applied in principle - the spirit or intent of the law - "not of the letter but of the Spirit" (vs. 6). It is summed up in one single word, love. Nevertheless, it is so perfect that, by applying its principle, it is a complete law. (See "The Greatest Gift...LOVE" in the Keys for Successful Living Menu)

        There is only one perfect Lawmaker (Jam 4:12), and Ruler - that is God . Bear in mind the government of God is based on the LAW of God, which is the way of life, of outflowing LOVE, cooperation and concern for the good of the governed. Jesus taught how God administers His Government and law. He said to His disciples,

"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be chief among you, let him be your slave; even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many" (Mat 20:25-28).

God Is a Family
        The scriptures teach that there is only One God. Let's go once again to Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God...." This originally was written by Moses as God inspired him. Moses wrote in Hebrew. But notice that the Hebrew word translated "God" is Elohim - a noun or name, plural in form, but normally singular in grammatical usage. It is the same sort of word as family, church, group - One Family consisting of two or more members - one church composed of many members - one group of several persons.

        It is referring to precisely the same Persons, making up or composing the one God family, as we found in John 1:1 - the Word and God - and each of those TWO Persons is GOD.

        IN OTHER WORDS, GOD IS NOW A FAMILY of persons, beginning with the TWO - God the Father and Christ the Son. And as Paul wrote:

"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole FAMILY in heaven and earth is named" (Eph 3:14-15).

"the author of their salvation..." And "Both the One who makes men holy and those who are being made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers" (Heb 2:10-11 - NIV).

        Christ's GOSPEL is the GOOD NEWS of that now soon-coming KINGDOM OF GOD (Mk 1:14-15) - the only true hope of this world and its mixed-up mankind!

        By contrast, traditional teachings of Judaism and Christianity do away with this GOOD NEWS - the understanding of the Family and Kingdom of God - that Jesus brought. Jewish religious leaders of His day rejected Jesus Christ as Messiah and His teachings, and had Him put to death because He claimed to be the Son of God (John 5:18; Mat 26:63-66). He said to them,

"You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also" (John 8:19)

        Judaism teaches that God is One Being - no Family, no Word, no Father and Son - only the Lord God (see Notes-5 & 6), based on scriptures like Deuteronomy 6:4, "HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD (IS) ONE," which they mistranslate by adding the verb "is." And the word "ONE" from the Hebrew "echad," a compound unity, should in the context here be translated as "only" or "alone," not "one." This admonition was given because the Israelites had worshipped other gods - the pagan gods of Egypt. This is better translated as:

"Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord only" or "only the Lord"

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in" (Mat 23:13).

The Trinity Doctrine
         The generally accepted teaching of traditional Christianity is that God is a Trinity - One God in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (which is often called a "Ghost") - not a Family. This false doctrine destroys the very gospel of Jesus Christ limiting God to a supposed three persons who are actually supposed to be one and the same! The Trinity doctrine is the doctrine of the great false religion called in Revelation 17:5: "Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth."

        By that doctrine, along with others, "Satan, who deceives the whole world" (Rev 12:9) has DECEIVED all traditional Christianity into accepting "another gospel," which is no gospel (good news) at all (Gal 1:6-7). It does away with the good news of God's purpose in creating man to become part of the Family of God.

        How did this Trinity doctrine enter traditional Christianity?

        It most emphatically did not come from the Bible. I have quoted Revelation 12:9 saying that all nations have been deceived by Satan the devil. How, then, did the wily Satan introduce this doctrine into "Christianity"?

        Many theologians readily admit that the Trinity doctrine does not come from the Bible. Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics states in its article under Trinity:

"At first the Christian faith was not Trinitarian... It was not so in the apostolic and sub-apostolic ages, as reflected in the NT and other early Christian writings. Nor was it so even in the age of the Christian apologists... the theologians of the ancient Church...were led, inevitably, to effect an alliance between the gospel of their salvation and the speculative philosophy, and more especially the Platonism, in which they had been trained, while in making room for the Christian gospel within the world...of the Greek philosophy, they found themselves translating their empirical knowledge of God...into a doctrine of diversity and multiplicity..."

"The development of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is historically clear, and its motives are equally well known, being almost seclusively due to Christological speculation... dogmatic theology...holds the Trinity rather to be a mystery... Individual voices...during the Reformation...rejected the doctrine as opposed to Scripture and reason... The doctrine of the Trinity seemed to find more attention from philosophers than from theologians... the doctrine of the immanent Trinity can be no more than a limiting concept."

        The history of this question is interesting. It seems incredible that a being like Satan not only could have deceived the whole world, but also "Christianity" - the very religion bearing Christ's name and supposed to be His true religion. Yet, paradoxically, Satan did!

        He did it through his great false church, started A.D. 33 by Simon the Sorcerer, described in the 8th chapter of the book of Acts as the leader of the Babylonian mystery religion in Samaria. It is recorded in II Kings 17:23-24 that Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, who had invaded and conquered the northern kingdom - the kingdom of Israel - moved the people out of their land of Samaria, north of Jerusalem, and moved into that land people of the Babylonish mystery religion from the provinces of Babylon. They were, of course, gentiles. They inhabited this area of northern Palestine in the time of Christ. The Jews of Judea in Christ's time would have nothing to do with them, calling them contemptuously "dogs." They still adhered to this pagan Babylonish mystery religion in the first century.

        In A.D. 33 two years after Jesus Christ from heaven founded the Church of God on that Day of Pentecost, the deacon Philip, who later became an evangelist, went down to Samaria and preached Christ's gospel. This Simon the Sorcerer came with the crowd to hear him.

        Simon had bewitched the people of that country, and they followed him as their leader in the Babylonian mystery religion "from the least to the greatest, saying, 'This man is the great power of God'" (Acts 8:10).

        When the people believed Philip, preaching the kingdom of God, they were baptized, and this Simon, called Simon Magus (from the Greek "magos" meaning magician, sorcerer, Oriental scientist, wise man) in the Ecclsiastical History recorded by Eusebius, managed to be baptized with them.

        Then Simon came to the apostles Peter and John, offering money as a bribe, asking them to give him the power to lay hands on people and have them receive the Holy Spirit. Peter rebuked him strongly (Acts 8:14-24). Nevertheless, Simon, envious of the power of the apostles of Christ, seized on the opportunity to usurp Christs' name and authority, and proclaimed himself a Christian apostle to promote his pagan Oriental (from the east) Babylonian mystery religion (Rev 17:5) as "Christianity." He accepted the doctrine of "grace" for the forgiveness of sin (which the pagan religions had never had), but turned grace into license to disobey God (Jude 4).

        Records from Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History (pages 50,62-64) reveal that this Simon, being exposed by Peter as an imposter,

"fled to the west... entering the city of Rome... His attempts there were soon so far successful, as to be honored as a god, with the erection of a statue (on an island in the river Tiber, between the two bridges, having the inscription in Latin, Simoni Deo Sancto, which is, To Simon the Holy God, by the inhabitants of the city.)" This Simon is said "to have taken the lead in all heresy; from whom also, down to the present time, those who followed his heresy, still affected the modest philosophy of the Christians" causing them "again to depart, and embrace the superstitions of idols, falling down before the pictures of this selfsame Simon and ...Helen (a former prostitute whom he proclaimed as the Holy Spirit - After Jesus, The Triumph of Christianity, R.D., p.69) with him... For every vile corruption that could either be done or devised, is practiced by this most abominable heresy..."

        This Simon Magus, the "Pater" (Latin for father) of his counterfeit religion, did not accomplish this in his lifetime. But succeeding leaders, with their headquarters in Rome, did, later, gain political control over the Roman Empire and its medieval successor, called "The Holy Roman Empire." This empire is in process of again being resurrected in Europe now!

Counterfeit Gospel
        By the sixth decade of the first century, much of the Middle East had turned from the true gospel to a counterfeit (Gal. 1:6-7; Rev 2). As late as the 90's A.D. the apostle John was still living. He wrote the book of Revelation on the Isle of Patmos.

        During the reign of Roman Emperor Hadrian A.D. 117-135), practices of Judaism were forbidden with harsh penalties. This and the influences of Simon's followers caused many Christians in Rome to abandon the biblical Sabbath and Holy Days, associating them with the Jews, and return to Sunday (historically observed by the Romans as a day of veneration of the sun god) and other Pagan practices. A little later the church taken over by Simon's followers was trying to turn the true Christian Passover (Christ had changed its form from that of sacrificial lambs to unleavened bread and wine) into a Babylonian ceremony, now called, in English, "Easter" - named after the goddess Astarte or Ishtar (pronounced "Easter" in some Semitic dialects).

        About 154 A.D., after the death of the apostle John, a disciple of his, Polycarp, waged a controversy over the Passover-Easter question with Anicetus, bishop of the Roman church which followed heresies introduced by Simon.

        Still later, another disciple of Christ's true Christianity, Polycrates, waged a still hotter controversy over the same Passover-Easter question when in 197 A.D. Victor, another bishop of Rome, threatened to excommunicate those Christians who insisted on keeping the Passover on the 14th of Nisan. This theological battle was called the Quartodeciman (Latin for 14th) Controversy. Polycrates contended, as Jesus and the original apostles taught, that the Passover, which is a memorial of Jesus sacrifice as the Passover Lamb for our sins, should be observed on the 14th of Nisan (first month in the sacred calendar, occurring in the spring - Exodus 12) in the new Christian form introduced by Jesus using unleavened bread and wine instead of sacrificing a lamb (Mat 26:17,26-28; I Cor. 11). But the Rome church insisted that it be observed on a Sunday, as a celebration of the mystery of His resurrection.

        A little later another controversy broke out between Alexander, bishop of Alexandria in Egypt, and Dr. Arius, one of his presbyters and a Christian leader, and other bishops over calling God a Trinity. Dr. Arius opposed the Trinity doctrine, but introduced errors of his own concluding, "that if the Father begat the Son, the latter must have had a beginning... and that the Son is a creature like the others... that Jesus was not true God, but that He was made by the will of God, as others are, having no previous existence at all..." (Historical View of the Council of Nice, Isaac Boyle, 1897, pp.6,13)

        In A.D. 325, the Roman Emperor Constantine called the Nicene Council to settle these controversies. Constantine was not then a "Christian" (though his mother was), but as political ruler he assumed control. The Council approved both the Easter-Sunday doctrine and the Trinity. Constantine, then civil ruler, made it a LAW. But he was not able to make it TRUTH!

        Satan, through false doctrines, has deceived the entire world in regard to the very nature of WHO and WHAT God is - as well as of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Also of the GOVERNMENT OF GOD, based on the spiritual LAW OF GOD. And further, of WHAT and WHY man is, what salvation is, how it is received, what is the true gospel, what and why the church is and what of the future!

What Is God Like?
        I am going to make completely clear, as we proceed, God has not limited himself to a "Trinity." The Trinity is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible. The surprising truth, once understood, is the most wonderful revelation the human mind could receive or contain!

        The very first idea or teaching about God being a Trinity began in the latter half of the second century - a hundred years after the New Testament had been written. Tertullian, "the first great writer of Latin Christianity" first formulated the concept of a "trinitas" (trinity) around 200 A.D. to explain the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as one God contrasted with monotheistic Judaism and polytheistic paganism (see Note-8). Theologians of the counterfeit Christianity spawned by Simon the Sorcerer were promoting it vigorously along with the pagan Easter. But the true Church of God vigorously resisted it. The controversy became so violent in the early fourth century that it threatened the peace of the world. The then-pagan Emperor Constantine called this Nicene Council to settle it. The Roman Emperor's supporters greatly outnumbered the persecuted true Church of God.

        You will find a prophecy of these two churches in the book of Revelation. In the 12th chapter is the prophecy of the true Church of God, greatly persecuted. Jesus called it, "the little flock"

"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Lk. 12:32)."

        In the 17th chapter of Revelation you will find the prophecy of the counterfeit church - a very great church, named by God,

"MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (verse 5).

False Scripture Added
        One passage in the Authorized Version of the Bible, now recognized as a spurious addition, generally used by Trinity adherents to support the Trinity doctrine is found in I John 5:7-8, and is bracketed in the following quotation:

"For there are three that bear record [in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth], the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one."

        Bible commentaries explain that these words were never written in the apostle John's manuscript or any existing early copies of it. The apostle John in his three epistles and the Revelation speaks of "the Father, and... Son" (I John 1:3), but never of "the Father and the Word," except in this uninspired part of I John 5.

        There was a real reason why the arch deceiver Satan wanted that spurious verse added in the Latin Vulgate from which it crept into the King James Authorized Version (KJV). The Trinity doctrine completely does away with the gospel of Jesus Christ. His gospel is the MESSAGE He brought mankind from God the Father, the good news of the coming KINGDOM OF GOD! That is the ONE thing above all Satan wants to defeat. This will become plain as we proceed.

        One world-famous evangelist said:

"When I first began to study the Bible years ago, the doctrine of the Trinity was one of the most complex problems I had to encounter. I have never fully resolved it, for it contains an aspect of mystery. Though I do not totally understand it to this day, I accept it as a revelation of God.... To explain and illustrate the Trinity is one of the most difficult assignments to a Christian."

        Much is also made of the fact that in a number of places in modern translations the masculine pronoun "he" is carelessly used in connection with the Holy Spirit. But not always - sometimes the Holy Spirit is referred to as "it" in these very same translations. For example, in the passage describing the first coming of the Holy Spirit for the founding of the Church of God on that memorable day of Pentecost.

Holy Spirit Poured Out
        The Holy Spirit (see Note-9) came from heaven, audibly, sounding like a mighty wind,

"and it [the Holy Spirit] filled all the house where they were sitting." Next, the Holy Spirit appeared - WAS VISIBLY SEEN - manifested - "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it [the Holy Spirit in the form of divided tongues] sat upon each of them" (Acts 2:2-3).

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believes on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spoke He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)"

        Again in Acts 10:45, "...on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Summary
        Finally, in briefest summary: God is a FAMILY composed at present of the TWO Persons of John 1:1-4, but with many thousands, already begotten by God's Spirit, in God's true Church, soon to be changed (I Cor 15:51), born into that divine family at Christ's return to earth. Jesus Christ, by His resurrection, was BORN a divine Son of God (ROM. 1:4) - the first so born into the God family (Rom. 8:29).

        Both God and the Word who became Christ are composed of Spirit, having a form and shape like humans made in Their image, but with eyes like flames of fire and faces bright as the sun in full strength!
        They live in perfect unity (oneness) and love (John 17:20-23).

        God is Creator of all that exists. Both God and the Word (who became Jesus Christ) have existed eternally and before all else, with no beginning or end. The Spirit of God emanates from Them, by which God is omnipresent and omniscient.

Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is "the One who makes men holy and those who are made holy (truly converted Christians) are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers." (Heb 2:11 NIV).

God the Father, "Of whom the whole FAMILY in heaven and earth is named" (Eph 3:15), is the divine Father of the God family, into which truly converted Christians shall be born.

GO TO:    MYSTERIES OF GOD - INTRODUCTION; Ch 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7

© Copyright: 10/6/95-2003 Serf Publishing, Inc.

Notes:

(Note-1) The Greek word "gennao" conveys the meaning of the entire procreation process and is translated in various places as gender, conceive, begat or begotten, bear, bring forth, be born or be delivered of. (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible).Return

(Note-2) Melchisedec is derived from two Hebrew words: Melek-meaning a king, royal, to reign, counsel; and tsedeq-meaning the right or righteousness, equity or prosperity, hence King of Righteousness.] Return

(Note-3) Salem The Greek word Salem is from the Heb. "Shalem," which is from the same root as shalom, meaning peace, hence King of Peace. Some assume Melchisedec was a human king of either Jerusalem or a city called Salem in Abraham's time or that he was Shem. There is no proof of these assumptions. At Joshua's time when Israel entered the "promised Land" Jerusalem was controlled by the gentile Jebusites up until it was conquered by David (Jos. 15:8,63; II Sam 5:6-7). Return

(Note-4) Theos The word for God in the New Testament is Theos. It represents the Hebrew word for God (Elohim in the Old Testament). Elohim is a collective plural noun, the plural form of El and Eloah, meaning the Mighty or Almighty Ones, but normally singular in grammatical usage. It is a collective plural noun like family, team, church, nation - one family consisting of two or more members - one church composed of many members - one nation of many people. Return

Note-5) Lord The Hebrew word for LORD is "Yhvh" translated Yahweh or Jehovah meaning the Eternal or self-existent One. Yhvh comes from the Hebrew word "Hayah," meaning to exist, be or become which is translated as "I Am" in Exodus 3:14. (See also John 8:28; 18:5-8.)

Note-6) Deuteronomy 6:4 does not say or imply that God is only one being. The original in Hebrew is "Shama Yisrael Yehova Elohiym Yehova Echad, which translated is, "Hear Israel Lord God Lord one". The verb "is" was added to the original Hebrew text by translators. The word echad (one) means united. i.e. one or first and is translated as alike, alone, altogether, and, any, apiece, a certain, each, + eleven, every, few, first, + highway, a man, once, one, only, other, some, together (Strong's, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible). In context, Deut 6:4 is better translated, "Hear (or hearken to or obey), the Lord God, the Lord only (or the Lord alone or only the Lord). Other Scriptures used to 'prove' God is only one being are also similarily mistranslated (with added words in italics in some versions) changing the original context or meaning. Return

Note-7) The word "only" wrongly translated as "one" in Mark 12:29, which comes from the Greek word "heis," is a primary numeral translated most commonly as one, but also as "only" or ("alone" in the NIV) in Mk. 2:7 and as "some" in Mk 4:8,20, "them" in Mk 14:47, "any" in Acts 4:32, "part" in Eph 4:16, "each" in Rev 4:8, "several" in Rev 21:21, and as "every" in Rev 22:2 in the KJV.  The NIV also translates "heis" as "unity" in John 17:23. Return

(Note-8) Trinity - Reference source is The New Catholic Encyclopedia and The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge - articles on Tertullian and the Doctrine of the Trinity. Return

© Copyright: 10/6/95-2003 Serf Publishing, Inc.