By Liaf
Ok folks, I have some explaining to do--- or at least clarifying. I know my language has been strong lately. No, I do not mean cussing too much. Rather, it's been by statements regarding the believer in their glorified state becoming as God or Christ Himself. Many of my messages have this in them and I believe this may come as an alarm to many orthodox folk out there thinking I may teach that we become God Himself. Well, somewhat yes but mostly no--- please read this longer than usual message for my explanation.
Let's turn to our King James Bibles to John 10:23-36 :
And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
I and my Father are one.
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
Clearly, upon reading this passage of Scripture, the Jews understood Jesus claim to be God because of his "I and my Father are one" statement. But Jesus replied by quoting Psalms 82:6 which says: I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
No doubt, because of his "oneness" statement, and the way he elaborated upon his remarks as being the Son of God, the divinity and Godhead of Jesus Christ is as clearly expressed here as anywhere in Scripture. However, Jesus was not on a head-trip. Even though he proclaimed this unique relationship, he also wanted to demonstrate the true intent of man's creation by quoting the psalms.
Yes folks, I'll tell you the Hebrew word used for "gods" in that passage of psalms. It is "elohiym", the same word used for God Almighty. I remember a Christian talk show; I forget the guy's name. He was a young-looking guy albeit had gray or maybe ash blond hair. He was famous for inviting "cult" people onto his show along with an opposing orthodox evangelist so that both he and the evangelist could badger the guy into some admission of error. It was all done under the supposed forum of reasoning, but I saw through it all since the "cult" guys oftentimes could not get a word in edgewise. (My opinion about cults is the only error many of them had was going on the show to be treated this way.) I could imagine myself in the same position by some statements I made about the believer in Christ by my other messages. Here are five examples I made in messages: 1) "Throughout the Bible, God then demonstrates hard lessons about man’s inadequacy to attain godhead and righteousness and the need to trust God instead." 2) "God wanted to reproduce himself through the tree of life. Therefore, mankind was created to become of the God-type superior to angels." 3) "We have eternal life because we have the life of God begotten in Him. Look. A dog begets a dog. A horse begets a horse. A human begets another human. So what do you think God begets? Something less than Himself? " 4) "for the apostle Paul makes it clear that only believers in Christ (or sons of God) can achieve this. That is why Paul says that we will one day judge nations and angels! A King cannot judge himself. Only God can judge nations and angels and by extension the believer in Christ has equal status." and finally, in the most recent message about the garden, I said, 5) "We are the body of Christ, and as such become Christ Himself."
I can imagine those evangelistic eyes glued to me for an explanation. I'll admit, my language was bordering on strong here, but nowhere do you see where I claim we will become THE [definite article] GOD as is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are THE GOD (yet one). You see, I want to get a point across. I stand by what I say, albeit clarification may be needed. I want the believer in Christ to see his or her unique status by becoming, yes, elohiym. These evangelists would rather look down on you. They would rather you were no more than an eternally grateful person who forever praises God for rescuing us from our life of sin. In other words, a perpetually and eternally grateful servant-status being whose job is no more than to give God an eternal spiritual message and ego-boost. And heaven forbid you if misunderstand the Trinity. They want to make sure you understand precisely the nature of the Godhead. Anything else besides their interpreted definition constitutes a false image of God. And if it's false, then you are not worshiping the true God and as such you will burn eternally in hell because you had a misunderstanding. (Don't let anybody kid you into thinking they can even begin to precisely define God. I suppose that effectively means a mentally challenged person cannot be saved because such a person cannot understand such definitions?)
First off, let's go back to the "begetting" analogy. I stand by what I said. If God reproduced himself, that would make another god-being. I'm sorry. That's how it is. Paul stated in I Corinthians 15 that we bear the image of Adam (because we are in the flesh) and likewise will bear the image of Christ (because we are born of Him). Maybe I should explain it this way. Remember in my "talking curtains" message that there was Elohiym God (as in Creator) and Yahweh God (as in the covenant-keeping God)? Let's expand on this. This is only a crude analogy because this becomes difficult to explain these deep truths and paradoxes in normal language. However, we can think of Yahweh as the person ADAM (I DID NOT SAY HE WAS ADAM--- THIS IS ONLY FOR COMPARISON!!). After all, God said, "I Am that I Am". He made it clear that there was no other God besides Himself. That is a NAME of an individual. But Elohiym can be compared to a HUMAN. One is the individual, the other is the species. So we bear the image of Adam--- we ARE HUMAN, but NOT ADAM. Likewise, if God reproduced Himself, we are GOD (species) but NOT YAHWEH (as the individual, true and only God). Yahweh is KING Chief!!! GOT THAT?! He's the most powerful, the first, the last, and the Eternal One. This is what the Bible means as the "likeness". We are in every way in essence as God and Christ, indeed are God and Christ, but NOT THEM, but their KIND. Got that?
So as for this begetting analogy, all I was and am saying is that God's offspring would have the very nature and essence of God--- little elohiyms running all around. Now THE GOD was and is the first of the species. Don't ask me to explain the Trinity either (I will not be so insensitive as to pronounce the fate of hell on you if you understand it differently than I do). Like man, God has three personages to Himself. Again a crude comparison: Father--soul, Jesus --body, and Holy Spirit---spirit. All one, yet three. Now if He reproduced, what justification would you have that we'd be something less than Himself (for example, a mere rabbit, a horse, a snake)? Man (ADAM) was and is the physical representation of God's image and in essence is His model. Through man God wanted to reproduce Himself. And when He does, He makes one in His image (species) but NOT THE GOD. Like the soul, the Father has the WILL and MIND for His plan. The Son, also eternally existent with the Father is His personage involved in the begetting as the son--- His individual starting point if you will to beget others as Himself. This is conceived through His Spirit, as was the Tree of Life in the Garden, or with Mary's impregnation. Again, do not mark precision here. These are crude analogies. I find it difficult to express this in language.
Now when God begets a god-being, one created in His image and likeness, unlike physical creatures that as a species can operate independently, his god-beings have somewhat of a unified (or oneness) connection so that one god cannot arise over THE GOD (not that the god would win :-) ). That may shed light on the understanding as to why Lucifer could rebel. Being angelic, they were not elohiym. Oh--- I understand that this word could sometimes refer to angels and even magistrates, and as such will be the evangelists' reasoning to cut you down from your rightful and glorified position in Christ. But in the truest form, angels were NOT a god species as man was intended to become. That's the purpose of Lucifer's deception and envy in the Garden.
How do we NOW become such god-beings? By becoming born again, in Christ. That is what I meant by us as becoming Christ. But as I stated, there is a far greater connection or oneness than species of a physical variety. If we are in Christ, we effectively are part of Christ and become as Him or Him. We are NOT HIM as individuals, but one in purpose and body. Just to prove that I NEVER taught that we become GOD HIMSELF, I want to point out my clear teaching about the Judgment Seat of Christ, or again the last message about the Garden of Eden. Our rewards will determine our rank in the Kingdom (or sectors in a hard drive according to the analogy). If we became THE GOD, rank would be irrelevant since THE GOD is the greatest. Therefore, if one was and is discerning enough, as much as I put the believer on a pedestal, I did clearly indicate their uniqueness as a person being a large part or small part of God Himself (or His body).
What I just said was the "somewhat" part of becoming God in the start of this message. Only in the sense that we are of the body of Christ--- we are unified and in agreement with Christ so His authority and decisions becomes ours. As for the "mostly no" part, that means we are not THE GOD.
Nevertheless, after all this explaining, I still want to emphasize the glory and power, in Christ, that we will have. I stand by what I said about the Messianic Psalm 2. This applies to the believer. This is because Paul said we were to become joint heirs with Christ. Being one in body and purpose, this is effectively what I meant as becoming Christ Himself and as such have this authority of ruling the nations. Earlier in this passage I shown where Jesus quoted the psalm that says we are elohiym--- the sons of God! And as sons, we are loved just as much by the Father as His own Dear Son. I remember a godly elderly woman once telling me that over the phone during severe trials in my teenage years. What a comfort! Paul indicates this in Romans 8 as well. The Bible also teaches we will rule and reign with Christ and again, my statements as "becoming Christ" refer to this oneness so that our wills are effectively merged. There will not be one god against another. You see, this fear of becoming elohiym bother the likes of our ash blond evangelist because if that were the case, they'd fear God would lose control. No He would not! So who pray tell really doubts the power of God? Along the line of ruling nations, the Bible also teaches we will judge nations and angels (actually it says the world which would include the nations. The Greek word is kosmos from whence we get our word "cosmos"). Obviously to do such a big and eternal job, one would have to be pretty smart and powerful. Where do we get that? As Paul pointed out in Acts 17: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Paul was saying to the men of Athens that they had the right idea about our life and being as coming from God. We are his offspring! Paul just wanted to show them this real God that they were unsure about. They knew they were sons of God (Elohiym) in a sense, but they did not know the ONE INDIVIDUAL TRUE GOD Yahweh who was the source and Father of us all. Therefore, if we live in Him and have our being in Him, we become channels for Him, for His purpose, to do these mighty things---- conduits if you will. And as such "become God" or "become Christ" as I zealously albeit carelessly stated without detailed explanation in the past messages.
Ok, Mr. evangelist. I DO believe in the TRIUNE nature and personage of God. He (they) was eternally existent and powerful yet one in purpose and being. I DO NOT believe we become THE GOD--- no way. He's our LORD and God whom we worship and remain eternally grateful for saving us from a life of sin. However, I DO also believe (since we are born of Him) that we are elohiym---gods because we have the power given to judge nations and angles. I do believe in becoming part of Christ; our unified wills carried out is effectively Christ Himself since we will rule the nations according to His will. These powers of the believer are clearly taught in the Bible. If that is not the power of a god, then what is it? Do cows have this power? How about mortal unregenerate men? Let's get fancy--- aliens? NO! Only by being in Him allows us by extension to carry out His purpose as the sons of God! Besides, we all agree that one reason man was created was for fellowship with God, right? In addition, the body of believers is also the bride of Christ. Now tell me, whom do you make friends with and marry? A cat? Or a human? We seek our own kind. It's a matter of logic.
Maybe my language is still a little strong for some, but I feel it's just a non-watered down way of clearly stating something the Scripture teaches. As for the talk-show evangelists who'd warn the public that this is the teaching of a cult (while trying to scare you out of hell), they are really trying to lord it over on the fearful public in an attempt to gain control. This Internet stuff and the likes of us here threaten them severely--- it's the same the mentality as the corporate CEO fat-@$$ frauds that have been going on lately. They want it all for themselves at the expense (and condemnation) of the common guy. Instead, they want you to become (so-called) saved but they do not want you to become all that God intended you to become without unloading the baggage of guilt onto you. The thought that God could elevate a common believer to rule the world and judge nations and angels as God totally repulses them. They'd lose control here and now. OK--- I'll use some other strong language. This time it's not about the divinity that God has us become through Him. I'll say this now in a hasty manner and maybe explain myself next time. The whole bunch of these televangelist, orthodox, mentor theologians, and the like repulse me. Like the CEOs, I think they are mostly fat-@$$es and I hope I never have to deal with the likes of any of them. My only doctrinal error is getting too soft on them by poking casual fun at them over the past two years. Now my true colors are coming out!