The Trees are Talking.
Is Anybody Listening?

by John Cope

I suppose it's about time I send you the following. There is so much more I can (and likely will) write on the subject but, I do not wish to lose the attention of the reader.

If you will refer back to 1 Cor. 8:6, you will note (depending on your translation), "from" and "for" God, while the reference to Jesus is "through" and "through". The King James uses "of" and "in", for God, and "by", for Jesus, but I see no reason for confusion here.

We are told the redeemed of this world and Christ's future reign over them is His inheritance. That still does not make Him God nor does it make Him just our God even for a short while, as in His reign, for His reign only endures until the last enemy is destroyed.

Indulge me for a moment while I deliver the punch line of this message instead of waiting until the end. Ready? Here it comes; If death is not destroyed at the second coming of Christ, does this not indicate a third coming? What and where, exactly, is hell? Is there any indication that the saints are to see God coming in the clouds at the second coming of Christ? Is there any indication of the holy city of God, New Jerusalem, descending at the time of the second coming of His Son? Am I to believe God, Creator of all this, is going to hang alone in heaven for a thousand years while His Son and all the holy angels dwell upon the earth? If not, why then, is not a third coming being preached?! Either it's not, or it is being left up to assumption. So far I've not encountered anyone bold enough to go out on a limb and preach a third coming.

I believe Christianity must get beyond the notion we are all alone in this universe for I believe in and worship a God, Who I believe has always been and having always been, I believe He has always been in a creative mode. When I look up at the night sky and view pictures coming back from space everyday, I see that it just goes on and on forever into eternity. There simply is no end to God's creation. He, God the Father, is All in all of that. I believe it all to be as perfect today as I believe this world to have been on the 7th day of the history of this world when He rested from what He'd made before sin entered. Yes, it takes a busload of faith but, I believe.

There is much more to my beliefs that center around this doctrine but I do believe it to be essential in our understanding of salvation.

Before I leave you with a few quotes from various sources on the doctrine of the trinity, allow me to agree this is a very "hot button" issue in Christianity (obviously). It is not a topic we can simply sweep under a rug of our soul with the belief in "out of sight, out of mind" and rest in the false security that because we call ourselves Christian, we are "saved" and merely carry on our worship in the tradition of our fathers believing we have been given all Truth there is to be had. Jesus pointed out the danger in leaning on the tradition of our fathers in His conversation with the woman at the well (John 4:20-26).

I do believe it to be the central theme in the Gospel message. We only come to God through Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. Our relationship with Jesus is to be as His with God (His Father). There is only One Way to God. He provided us with that Way in His Gift to a fallen world. He gave us Jesus. Had it never been for Jesus, we would have no blessed Hope of salvation at all and likely would not even be discussing this now. Thank God He saw the end from the beginning.

"Priests who with considerable effort learned . . . the Trinity during their seminary years naturally hesitated to present it to their people from the pulpit, even on Trinity Sunday. . . . Why should one bore people with something that in the end they wouldn’t properly understand anyway?" He also says: "The Trinity is a matter of formal belief, but it has little or no [effect] in day-to-day Christian life and worship." (What Are They Saying About the Trinity?: Jesuit Joseph Bracken )

My dictionary defines "incomprehensible" as beyond understanding. Yet this "incomprehensible" doctrine is the central doctrine in all of Christiandom. That in itself ought to cause us to take pause about why we believe what we do...

Jesus prayed: "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, "and" Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3).
He also said: "We worship what we know" (John 4:22).

This false doctrine is divisive. It seperates us from each other and our Creator. How can we ever come to know and love a God we cannot understand? We must come to know God AND His Son to obtain eternal life for it is only through Jesus that we approach the Throne of Grace.

How can I claim Jesus as my Friend as long as I believe Him to be someone else (i.e. God)? How can I ever truly come to know Him? How can I ever know God if I don't know Jesus first? How will I ever understand His Plan for me as long as I believe He is someone other than Who He really is, the Lamb of God?

God laid my iniquity on His Only Son at the Cross when Jesus became an Offering for sin. God did this. God's Son was dying. God was very much alive. Jesus was cut off out of the land of the living. Jesus grew up in this world as a tender Plant before His Father. He bore our griefs, carried our sorrows, smitten of God and afflicted. (Isaiah 53)

"Trinity is a very marked feature in Hinduism, and is discernible in Persian, Egyptian, Roman, Japanese, Indian and the most ancient Grecian mythologies." (Religious Dictionary, Abbott)

"The recognition of a trinity was universal in all the ancient nations of the world." (The Two Babylons, Hislop)

"The word triad, or trinity, was borrowed from the pagan schools of philosophy and introduced into the theology of Christians of the middle second century by Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch." (Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, Dupin)

" We can trace the history of this doctrine, and discover its source, not in the Christian revelation, but in the Platonic philosophy . . . The Trinity is not a doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, but a fiction of the school of the later Platonists." (A Statement of Reasons, Andrews Norton)

" This church doctrine became firmly rooted in the soil of Hellenism [pagan Greek thought]. Thereby it became a mystery to the great majority of Christians. In reality it legitimized in its midst the Hellenic speculation, the superstitious views and customs of pagan mystery-worship." (Outlines of the History of Dogma Adolf Harnack)

"The doctrines of the Logos and the Trinity received their shape from Greek Fathers, who . . . were much influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Platonic philosophy . . . That errors and corruptions crept into the Church from this source can not be denied." (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge)

"The doctrine of the Trinity was of gradual and comparatively late formation; . . . it had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures; . . . it grew up, and was ingrafted on Christianity, through the hands of the Platonizing Fathers." (The Church of the First Three Centuries)

"The Platonic trinity, itself merely a rearrangement of older trinities dating back to earlier peoples, appears to be the rational philosophic trinity of attributes that gave birth to the three hypostases or divine persons taught by the Christian churches. . . . This Greek philosopher’s conception of the divine trinity . . . can be found in all the ancient [pagan] religions." (Nouveau Dictionnaire Universel (New Universal Dictionary)

Scripture says, "In the beginning"... Now, my understanding of God is that He has no beginning, yes?

How do you suppose, it was not possible for the holy Spirit to be in the world as long as Christ, the Man was? "Peter, I will come to you". If all three are God, how then is it possible for one to be blasphemed and not the other unless one chooses to make distinctions between the various gods with varrying results? If the holy Spirit is another person, why cannot he too, forgive sins? We know God does and we know Jesus did but, "the" holy Spirit? Does the holy Ghost have lesser powers in that respect? Is this god limited in his mission today as Christ was in His while in the world? Is not God's presence everywhere? How many gods are there? Hint; first commandment. Does this not include His Son?! Do I belittle Jesus in professing He is not God? Do I not seperate myself from the largest and fastest growing religion in the world today by professing my God has a Son? Else, what is the difference in Islam and Christianity in the world today? At least, what "ought" to be the difference?

As long as modern Christianity clings to the belief that Jesus is God, I take a stand today there is no difference in the two world religions. Is this not exactly what satan would desire? Is not Advent"ism" a part of Christianity? There is only one Muslim religion. Exactly how many parts of Christianity are there? Who knows? Why is that? How is it Muslims are united in their belief and Christians are not? God's call to His people is to come out and be ye seperate. God has "a people". Salvation is EXTREMELY personal. Salvation has NOTHING to do with religion or politics, Sheeple! Get with the program! Open up your heart, mind and soul to Jesus and come to know Him personally while there is still breath of His Father left within you. "No man cometh to the Father but by Me".

What is Truth? "Thy Word is Truth"? Who is the Word? Jesus is the Word as it was He, Who was "in the beginning" with God, His Father. Just as it was His Father, Who spoke through Him while He was among us, it is He, Who speaks to us today through that Still, Small Voice...

"Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit".

The trees are talking. Is anybody listening? Allow me to leave you with my favorite web site aside from the one you are reading. jc

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091026.html