Worshipping God The primary position and the principal sign of the elect is and always has been that of absolute Monotheism and a belief in the subordinate relationship of Jesus Christ. We worship no other Elohim other than God who is the Father (Ex. 34:14, Deut. 11:16) or we will be destroyed (Deut. 30:17-18). God gave his first commandment as Exodus 20:2 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other God(s) (elohim) before me. The concept of before here is that of beside as in place of or without the authority of the God we understand to be God the Father. (For an explanation of the extended elohim see the paper The Elect as Elohim (No. 1)). We are to love the Lord our God and to serve Him with all our heart and all our soul, i.e. our being, and in return we will have rain in due season giving crops and pasture for our flocks. In other words, we will be fed with plenty (Deut. 11:13-15). But we have a New Covenant where the Lord establishes His laws in our minds and writes them on our hearts. He is our God and we are His servants, worshipping Him, by keeping His Laws in our very nature (Heb. 8:10-13). We are to worship before the Lord our God (Deut. 26:10; 1Sam. 1:3; 15:25). But is this God multiple and is it legitimate to equate others with Him or to assert that Jesus Christ, the Son of God is God? The answer is an emphatic NO! Christ was challenged in the desert by Satan and in effect the trial of Satan commenced. Satan, who was the Morning Star, the Lucifer or Light Bringer of this planet (Isa. 14:12) as its guardian and teacher was, in effect, one of the Elohim or Gods, who was subordinate to God the Father. Christ was to be the Star that should come out of Jacob in Numbers 24:17. Thus it was signified in the Books of Moses that one of the Morning Stars which are mentioned as being present at the completion of this planet in Job 38:7, one of the elohim, was to become a human being of Jacob and from David (Rev. 22:16). This elohim we know as Jesus Christ was not yet the Morning Star of this planet. That rank was held by Satan from Isaiah 14:12 and Ezekiel 28:2-10. Christ had been anointed as the elohim of Israel from Psalm 45:7 and anointed above his companions or partners. However Christ was not in fact in the position of Morning Star and will not assume those duties until his Second Coming. The rank and duties are to be shared with Christ by the elect, who share his nature as Morning Star in their hearts (translated Day Star in 2Pet. 1:19). The elect are promised to share in this power from Revelation 2:28. Satan, as Morning Star, had challenged God Most High or God the Father as we are told in Isaiah 14:12. He tried to ascend or exalt his throne, a throne of God, above the Stars of God or the Council of Elohim. This Council is the Congregation of the Elohim or Gods referred to in Psalm 82:1. It is of interest to note that Irenaeus the disciple of Polycarp, disciple of John, held that Psalm 82:1 referred to the Theoi or Gods which included also the elect, namely those of the adoption (Against Heresies, Bk. 3, Ch. 6, ANF, vol. 1, p. 419). There are multiple Sons of God, from Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Psalms 86:8-10; 95:3; 96:4; 135:5, who are identified as the Bene Elyon or Sons of the Most High (see also Sabourin SJ, The Psalms - Their Origin and Meaning, Alba House, NY, pp. 72-74). The human elect are also included with the heavenly Host as Sons of God from Romans 8:14. Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (KJV) Thus Christ and the elect as Sons of God are one with God through the Holy Spirit. They are One but not in the sense that Trinitarians assert. Are we to assert they are one big being because God is one? No. This demonstrates the absurdity of Trinitarianism and why Trinitarians must assert that Christ was the only Son of God when it is a matter of biblical record that he is not and was not from the foundation of the world. If the assertion is made that the Sons of God were angels, then the claim must also be made that Christ is included in this category. From Acts 7:35-39 it was an angel which spoke to Moses on Sinai and this Angel was Christ. In Galatians 4:14 Paul likens himself to an angel of God even Christ Jesus. Also we will become like angels (Mat. 22:30) as an order or isaggelos from Luke 20:36, being co-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17; Gal. 3:29; Titus 3:7; Heb. 1:14; 6:17; 11:9; Jas. 2:5; 1Pet. 3:7). The Old Testament identification of Messiah as the Angel of YHVH is contained in the papers The Elect as Elohim (No. 1) and The Angel of YHVH (No. 24); (see also Ex. 3:4-6 where the God or elohim here was an angel). Psalm 89:6-8 shows that there is a Council of Holy Ones (qedosim or qadoshim, also used of humans) and an examination of the text will show that there are both an inner and outer council. There is no doubt from an examination of the first century texts, (the DSS, the Pseudepigrapha, the Ugaritic and Nag Hammadi) that there was understood to be a celestial Council of the Gods of Justice or the Elohim of Justice. Righteousness (tsedek) and Justice in Hebrew are the same word. They are understood to be the same thing. Thus the unrepented perversion of justice precludes the elect from the first resurrection. Satan was cast out of heaven for the sin of rebellion which, because it seeks to establish a will equal to or superior to God the Father, is idolatry (or witchcraft as stated in 1Sam. 15:23). Satan sought to make himself equal to the Most High or God the Father. Christ, on the other hand, did not seek to make himself equal to God, subordinating his will (Jn. 4:34). Philippians 2:6-9 [He] being in the very nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. But made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name ... Thus God exalted Christ through obedience because he did not seek equality with Him and did not seek to depose God as a third of the elohim and bene elohim had indeed sought to do. In Luke 10:18 Christ said that he saw Satan fall, like lightning, from heaven. Satan drew a third part of the angels or Stars of Heaven (Rev. 12:4). These angels were cast out with Satan to the earth (Rev. 12:9). This desolation is symbolised by the desolation referred to in Revelation 8:10 where the third angel demonstrates again the desolation caused by the fall of a Star of the Host desolating a third of the creation. Satan attempted to tempt Christ in a number of ways. Firstly, Satan referred to Christ as the Son of God in Matthew 4:3; 4:6 and Luke 4:3. The demons also referred to Christ as the Son of God in Matthew 8:29; Luke 4:41; and Mark 3:11. Satan attempted to tempt Christ to prove his position as Son of God by a display of power, in that God had promised that He would give his angels charge of him in Psalm 91:11,12. Satan omitted to keep thee in all thy ways and added at any time. Thus, by garbling Scripture, Satan attempted to take Christs life. Christ did not at any time correct Satan or the demons by asserting that he was God instead of the Son of God. Indeed no demon attempted to assert the deception that Christ was Supreme God until after his death, in order to establish a doctrine that said that Christ was God in the same way and equality that God the Father was God and thus achieve, after his death, a deception that Christ would have refuted in life. In each of the temptations, the aim was to undermine the obedience of Christ to God and to, in effect, break Scripture. Satan attempted to have Christ worship him. He promised Christ the rulership of the planet then if Christ would worship him. Christ did not challenge his right to transfer his rulership of the planet or indeed that he was ruler. Christ instead replied: ... it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve. Christ did not tell Satan that Satan should worship Christ but rather referred him to the law. Christ never at any stage of his ministry claimed to be God. He said he was the Son of God. It was for this reason that he was placed on trial. As stated in Matthew 27:43: He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if He wants him, for he said, I am the Son of God. It was here that Christ cried out to fulfil the Scripture at Psalm 22:1: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Christ clearly did not consider himself God. To suggest that he was part of the entity to which he appealed, in an equal form, part of which was impassible, is absurd. More importantly it is the doctrine of anti-Christ stated in 1John 4:1-2. The correct ancient text for 1John 4:1-2 is reconstructed from Irenaeus (Ch. 16:8, ANF, Vol. 1, fn. p. 443). Hereby know ye the spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth Jesus Christ came in the flesh is of God; and every spirit which separates Jesus Christ is not of God but is of antichrist. Socrates the historian says (VII, 32, p. 381) that the passage had been corrupted by those who wished to separate the humanity of Jesus Christ from his divinity. Also in Luke 22:70 they all said Are you then the Son of God? He replied You are right in saying I am. He was recognised as the Son of God in Matthew 27:54 where they said Truly this was the Son of God. Mark 1:1 holds the Gospel to be that of Jesus Christ, The Son of God. Luke 1:35 states that the Holy one to be born was to be called the Son of God. To understand that Christ is the Son of God is a revelation from God. Matthew 16:16-17 Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but MY FATHER who is in Heaven. Also Matthew 11:27 states: All things have been delivered to me by MY FATHER and no one knows the son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal him. Thus the Father reveals things to individuals and gives them to Christ who then reveals the Father to them. There is no doubt that God is alone and sovereign. Proverbs 30:4-5 shows the name of God and that He has a son. Who hath gone up to heaven, and come down? Who hath gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who hath wrapped up the waters in His cloak? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is His name and the name of His son? Tell me if you know. Every word of God [ELOAH] is flawless: He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar. The Bible interprets itself and the name of God is directly supplied following the question and it is clear that this entity is not a composite of Father and Son but rather He has a son. Further the New Testament states clearly that it is the Father that is the object of worship. Christ warned the Samaritan woman in John 4:21 that there was a time coming when they could not worship the Father either on her mountain (Samaria) or in Jerusalem. But he clearly says in John 4:23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. Christ is here identifying the object of worship as the Father and not himself. It is thus quite blasphemous to assert that one should worship the uplifted Christ from a perversion of John 3:14 where the Son of man was to be lifted up as Moses had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. The purpose of the crucifixion was so that man would have eternal life not that Christ could become an object of worship as apostates falsely assert. Indeed it is asserted from this false premise that Christians worship Christ’s body and blood in the eucharist. Such an act is pure idolatry.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 12:38:00 +0000
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