Directly associated with the understanding on water baptism is the truth about the Godhead. The churches "traditionally" believe in three separate or distinct persons in one God. This was arrived at due to the scriptural mentioning and deity of the Father, Son and Holy, Spirit. The result of the fourth century meeting of the Nicene Council was to place them under the Trinitarian definition.
Like the false so-called "baptismal formula, this "new" concept swept the expanse of the Christian Church and through the centuries has become so embedded in Christian thought that to question its validity is immediate heresy.
(Hebrews 1 :3)
The heathen intellectual minds of the theologians could not reconcile the appearance of the Son on earth to the Father remaining in heaven. They, forgetting that God can be in heaven and on earth at the same time, (John 14: 10), decided there had to be at least two in the Godhead and the entrance of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 made it three. They made the Son the second person of the Godhead, failing to realize that the scriptures do not convey that Jesus is in the Godhead, but rather that the Godhead is in Jesus. Col. 2;9,
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. They could only see that the Father was a God and the Son was a God and missed the true concept that the Father was God and the Son was the flesh or man in whom that God dwelt. (Luke 1 :35 and I Timothy 3: 16)
The ensuing three personnel deity is every bit as much a form of idolatry as were the various pagan gods the children of Israel would consistently begin to worship. Through the ages, God "winked" at this encroachment, but the ministry of the last angel was to fully restore a true understanding of this to the elect.
I have excerpted some poignant comments made by Brother Branham from his series on the Seven Church Ages:
"Now all these expressions, 'Him Which Is,' and 'Him Which Was,' and 'Is To Come,' and 'Faithful Witness,' and 'Firstborn From Among the Dead,' and 'Prince of the Kings of the Earth,' and 'The Alpha .and Omega,' and 'The Almighty,' are titles and descriptions of the ONE AND THE, SAME PERSON, Who is the Lord Jesus Christ, Who washed us from our sins in His own blood.
The Spirit of God in John expresses thusly in order to set forth the Supreme Deity of Jesus Christ and to reveal the Godhead as ONE God. Today there is a gross error. It is that there are three Gods instead of one. This revelation as given to John by Jesus, Himself, corrects that error. It is not that there are three Gods, but one God with three offices. There is ONE God with three titles, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This mighty revelation IS what the early church had, and it must be restored in this last day along with the correct formula of water baptism.
Now modern theologians won't agree with me for here is what was written in a great Christian magazine. That teaching (on the Trinity) is at the very heart and core of the Old Testament. It is every whit as much at the heart and core of the New Testament. The New Testament is just as much opposed as the Old Testament is to the thought that there are more Gods, than one. Yet the New Testament with equal clearness teaches that the Father is God, and the Son is God; and the Holy Spirit is God, and that these three are NOT three aspects of the same Person, but three persons standing in a truly personal relationship to one another. There we have the great doctrine oh the Three Persons but one God.
They also state, God, according to the Bible,. is not just one person, but He is three persons in one God. That is the great mystery of the Trinity. "It sure is. How can three persons be one God? Not only is there no Bible for it, but it shows even a lack of intelligent reasoning. Three distinct persons, though identical substance; make three gods; or language has lost its meaning entirely. Just listen to these words again, I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, saith the Lord, Which Is, and Which Was, and Which Is to Come, the Almighty. This is Deity. This is not simply a prophet, a man. This is God. And it is not a revelation of three Gods, but of ONE God, the Almighty.
They didn't believe in three Gods in the beginning of the church. You can't find that sort of belief amongst the apostles. It was after the apostolic age that this theory came in and really became an issue and a cardinal doctrine at the Nicene Council. The doctrine of Godhead caused a two-way split at Nicea. And from that split it there came two extremes. One actually, went into polytheism, believing in three Gods, and the others went into Unitarianism. Of course that was a little while in coming about, but it did, and we have it right today. But the Revelation through John by the Spirit to the churches was, I am the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am ALL of it. There isn't any other God, And He put His seal on this Revelation:
Consider this: Who was the Father of Jesus? Matt. 1:18 says, She was found with child of the Holy Ghost. But Jesus, Himself, claimed that God was His Father. God the Father and God the Holy Ghost, as we often express these terms, make the Father and the Spirit ONE. Indeed they are, or else Jesus had two Fathers. But notice that Jesus said that He and His Father were One, not two. That makes ONE God.
Since this is historically and Scripturally true, people wonder where the three came from. It became a foundational doctrine at the Nicene Council in 325 A.D. This trinity (an absolutely unscriptural word) was based upon the many gods of Rome. The Romans had many gods to whom they prayed. They also prayed to ancestors as mediators. It was just a step to give new names to old gods, so we have saints to make it more Biblical. Thus, instead of Jupiter, Venice, Mars, etc. we have Paul, Peter, Fatima, Christopher, etc., etc. They could not make their pagan religion work out with just one God, so they split Him up into three, and they made intercessors of the saints as they had made intercessors of their ancestors.
Ever since then people have failed to realize that there is just one God with three offices or manifestations. They know there is one God according to Scripture, but they try to make it the fantastic theory that God is like a bunch of grapes; three persons with the same Divinity shared equally by all. But it plainly says here in Revelation that Jesus is That Which Is, That Which. Was, and 'That Which Is to Come.. He is the Alpha and Omega, which means that He is the' A: to "Z' 'Or The All Of It, He is Everything, The Almighty." He is the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the valley, the Bright and Morning Star, the Righteous Branch, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. He is God, Almighty God. ONE GOD.
1 Tim. 3: 16 says, And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness.God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles; believed on in the world, received up into Glory. This is what the Bible says. It doesn't say a thing about a first or second or third person here. It says God was manifest in flesh. One God. The ONE GOD was manifested in flesh. That ought to settle it. God came in a human form. That didn't make Him ANOTHER GOD. HE WAS GOD, THE SAME GOD. It was a revelation then, and it is a revelation now, One God.
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