God-Jesus Part 2
Home

 

Return To Part One

TABLE OF CONTENTS

(Click on highlighted Subjects or read through)

Virgin Birth

Praise Jesus

Why is God Silent?

God Spoke Again

A Special Invitation

Virgin Birth

The Virgin Birth is another mystery of Babylon that was adopted into the church organized by Constantine .  This doctrine had been a part of paganism for hundreds of years; but when applied to Jesus it makes a creature of God the mother of God and bastard son of Himself.  It gets the cart before the horse.  The fact it was added to the Bible is obvious because only two of the gospels mention such a thing, they disagree about the facts surrounding the birth, it is contrary to both reason and the law of God, and was a basic doctrine in paganism for hundreds of years before Jesus.

Consider the source.  Demigods were a tradition in Babylon and Rome .  The story of the virgin mother and her child were an integral part of paganism before the birth of Jesus.  "Now, when the mother of the Pagan Messiah came to be celebrated as having been thus 'Assumed,' then it was that, under the name of the 'Dove,' she was worshipped as the Incarnation of the Spirit of God, with whom she was identified.  As such as she was regarded as the source of all holiness, and the grand 'PURIFIER,' and of course, was known herself as the 'Virgin' mother, 'PURE AND UNDEFILED'... The purity of this 'Holy Virgin' did not consist merely in freedom from actual sin, but she was especially distinguished for her "immaculate conception.'" (The Two Babylons, p. 126)

"In Papal Italy, as travellers universally admit (except where the Gospel has recently entered), all appearance of worshipping the King Eternal and Invisible is almost extinct.  Exactly so, in this latter respect, also was it in ancient Babylon .  The Babylonians, in their popular religion, supremely worshipped a Goddess Mother and a Son, who was represented in pictures and in images as an infant or child in his mother's arms.  From Babylon , this worship of the Mother and the Child spread to the ends of the earth." (Ibid., p. 20)

“O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?” (Jer. 16:19, 20)

 

The law of God required that Jesus be of the seed of Abraham, the tribe of Judah , and the house of David; according to the flesh.  There is only one way this law could be fulfilled.  Joseph was noted as the father of Jesus (Luke 2:48 ; John 1:45 ). Jesus was called the son of David sixteen times, and the Son of Man eighty-eight times; but never God.

 

Only two accounts, contrary to the rest of the Bible, claim that Jesus was the product of an adulterous association between the Holy Ghost and a virgin female—the same as demigods in paganism.  The Old Testament is devoid of any Virgin Birth claim for Jesus.  Matthew and Luke are alone in their stories about a Virgin Birth of Jesus.  None of the other writers in the Bible wrote anything about either the Virgin Birth, or the Nativity of Jesus.  This would have been such a miraculous event that none would have failed to make notice of it.  Had Jesus made such a claim, He would have been legitimately rejected as the Messiah.

 

Matthew tells of an unnamed angel appearing to Joseph at home in a dream.  Luke tells of the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary.  Matthew tells of Joseph and Mary living in Bethlehem with Jesus born in a house.  Luke tells of their journey to Bethlehem with Jesus born in a manger.  Matthew tells of three wise men coming from the east.  Luke tells of shepherds who were in the field.  Matthew tells of a star that came out of the east and stopped “over where the young child was.”  Luke never mentions the star.  Such a miraculous stellar event would have been noticed by all and recorded for all posterity.  No such event was recorded.  Matthew, alone, tells of Joseph and his family fleeing into Egypt ; and of Herod killing all children “two years old and under.”  It is obvious the stories by Matthew and Luke are later forgeries; as they do not have a common source.  The nativity story never entered Christian writings until the second century.

 

Virgin births were a part of Roman religion and tradition.   The mysteries of Babylon had gods impregnating young girls who then had miraculous sons.  Perseus, Romulus and Remus, Plato, Alexander the Great, and Augustus Caesar were all reported to have been fathered by gods.  Heroes could only be such if their birth reflected the magnificence of their later achievements.  Alexander the Great became a model for Augustus; and Augustus a model for Jesus.  Early Christians believed Jesus became the Son of God through the resurrection.

 

This doctrine teaches that Jesus is the son of a ghost; and not of the Father.  According to this creed, the Holy Ghost only proceeds.  “The Holy Ghost is of the Father and the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.”  The Holy Ghost could not exist until the Father had begotten the Son.  This mysterious conception would make Jesus both God and His own son by an adulterous relationship with one of His own creatures.  Joseph and Mary were married at the time of conception.

 

The best definition supporters of the creed have provided is that this proceeding can be compared to light from a fire.  Not of substance; but only of essence.  A physical being cannot be conceived through a spiritual being.  If spirits can beget children upon women, women need to have great fear; as Satan’s followers are spirits cast out of heaven to the earth after the resurrection of Jesus (Rev. 12:9).

 

God is bound by His own law.  If Joseph and Mary had not been married, Mary and the Holy Ghost would have to be married to legalize the union.  In Judaic law, sexual unions are legal only in marriage.  “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” (Heb. 13:4)  “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ?  Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.” (1 Cor. 6:9)  A union between the unmarried is fornication, a form of adultery, and a sin deserving of death.  Jesus, under this doctrine, is the bastard son of Himself.

 

Joseph and Mary were married before the time Jesus was conceived.  “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph.” (Matt. 1:18)  An espousal was a legal contract of marriage.  A legal divorce was required to end an espousal, the same as marriage. Joseph and Mary had “come together” before the conception of Jesus.  Luke wrote, “To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.” (Luke 1:27)  Martin Luther’s Bible and modern editions use the proper term “young woman” in place of virgin.

 

Marriage was referred to as an espousal in the Old Testament.  “Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion , and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.” (Sol. 3:11)

 

Marriage is referenced as an espousal in the New Testament.  “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” (2 Cor. 11:2)  If the virgin birth is correct, Jesus is the result of an adulterous union between one of His creatures and Himself.

Mary, what do have to say about the father of Jesus?  “And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?  behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” (Luke 2:48)

What says the Apostle John on this subject?  “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth , THE SON OF JOSEPH.” (John 1:45)

 

The law of God required Jesus to be of the seed of Adam and Abraham, the tribe of Judah , and the house of David.  “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” ( Rom. 1:3, 4)

 

Jesus made it clear that he was born the same as all other men.  “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” (Heb. 2:17, 18)

 

Man and not woman were given dominion over this creation. “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” (1 Cor. 11:3)

 

Since the fall of man was by man—Adam—the redemption of man could only come through another man—Jesus.  Sacrifice by a God would not fulfill the law.  The fall of Adam—a man—was a similitude of the redemption of man through Jesus—a man—of the seed of Adam.  “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” (1 Cor. 15:21)  “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned… But not as the offence, so also is the free gift.  For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” (Rom. 5:12 , 15)

 

If Jesus was God, He was not man.  Trinitarians argue that God is of no material reality.  Even spirits have material substance.  Many angels have been seen of man.  It is written that Gabriel appeared to Mary.  They are “spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation.” (Heb. 1:14)  “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Heb. 13:2)

The seed of conception is carried only through the male.  “And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father [not his mother], when Melchisedec met him.” (Heb. 7:9, 10)  Jesus could only be of the correct lineage (seed) through his father Joseph (who was of the house of David).  Mary was of the tribe of Levi.  As a woman she did not carry the seed of life; and a ghost could not bestow it upon her.  She was a cousin of Elizabeth who bore John the Baptist of the tribe of Levi.  Matthew gives the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham to Judah , from Judah to David, and from David to Joseph.  Luke traces the lineage of Jesus through Adam, Abraham , Judah , David, and Joseph.  Why would both Matthew and Luke give us the lineage of Jesus through Joseph?  There is not a single woman noted in the genealogy of Jesus in either Mathew, or Luke (other than as a wife).  Biblical Genealogy is only counted in the male (seed).

 

The DOCTRINE OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH IS TOTALLY IRRELEVANT; and therefore cannot be true.  Conception only begins the development of a human fetus.  Man becomes a living soul when his spirit is united with the mortal body through the breath of life at birth (Gen. 2:7); and not at conception.

Jesus was the first spiritual man of this creation—the only begotten of the Father.  Jesus has been a separate identity from the Father since the beginning.  “And God said, Let us [the Father and Jesus—two separate entities] make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Ge. 1:26)   I am the root [creator] and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star [beginning of the spiritual creation].” (Rev. 22:16)  “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” (John 13:13) 

 

Jesus could not become a living soul until after He was born and His spirit was united with the fetus with the breath of life.  His conception had no bearing on His divinity; but, it did determine that Jesus was of the proper genealogy—as the seed of David; according to the flesh through Joseph.  Mary was not of the proper lineage.  The fable of a virgin birth is purely pagan.  The heathen were ignorant of the process of life and identity of the soul.

 

The first chapter of Matthew is “1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas… 6 And Jesse begat David the king… 16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary.” (Matt. 1)  There is not a female in the whole genealogy; as the female does not carry the seed of man.  The female does not carry both the X and Y chromosomes required for human conception.

 

The genealogy of Jesus was complete with Verse 17.  Verses 18 through 25 were obviously added later to the original text.  There are six frauds in this section. It is written that Joseph was the husband of Mary (espoused) when she conceived.  First, this section would have us believe that that Mary conceived before she came together with Joseph.  “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” (Matt. 1:18)  Before they came together was translated from the Greek sunelthein, which means that they had come together.  An espousal was a legal contract of marriage.  Joseph and Mary were married; and came together after the marriage—before the conception of Jesus.  The wedding ceremony was often conducted at a later time.

 

Second, this section would have us believe that Mary was an undefiled virgin at the time of Jesus’ conception and birth.  This was a deliberate error in translation.  The Revised Standard King James Version changes “virgin” to “young woman.”  Luke’s account gives the angel Gabriel visiting Mary, “To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.” “Luke 1:27) A more accurate translation would be “a young woman married to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.”  Only through the lineage of Joseph could Jesus have claim to being the Messiah.  “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.” (Luke 1:32)

 

Mary was a young married woman.  If she conceived through the Holy Ghost outside of wedlock, she was not pure; but was defiled.  The Holy Ghost would have to commit either adultery, or fornication to beget seed on Mary without being married to her.

 

Verse 19 notes, “Then Joseph her husband.”  This verse tells us that Joseph and Mary were married.  By tradition they came together after they were espoused, or married.

 

Third, this doctrine has Jesus conceived by the third party of the Trinity.  Jesus became the son of a ghost—something from nothing.  The Creed of St. Athanasius states that the Holy Ghost “proceeds” from the Father and the Son. This would make Jesus the son of the Holy Ghost and of Himself.  Nowhere in Scripture is Jesus called GOD.  He was the only begotten spirit of the Father and is the God of this creation.

 

Bishop Ambrose noted, “when God is thought of, our thoughts should dwell on no material reality whatsoever.”  The best explanation given by Trinitarians for the existence of the Holy Ghost is like light from a fire.  A fundamental rule in nature is that like begets like.  A ghost cannot beget seed on a physical being.  If that was possible, all women need to live in fear; as the spirits who followed Lucifer have been among men since Adam.  From this “no material reality” we are to believe that a ghost which “proceeded” from the Father and the Son begat seed upon a married woman and became God.  It would have us believe there was no God from the time Jesus was conceived until Jesus was born in the flesh.  Then, we would have to believe that God was a helpless infant; and learned obedience by the things which he suffered.  We would have to believe that God can be tempted with sin; when God cannot be tempted with sin.  We would have to believe that God died, was resurrected, and received all power from Himself.

The birth of Jesus could only fulfill the law of God, if He was the actual seed of Abraham , Judah , David, and Joseph.  Jesus had a physical body like every other man.  “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” (Heb. 2:17)

 

Jesus became a living soul when His spirit, which was the beginning of this creation, was united with His fetus.  “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” ( Rom. 1:3, 4)  We have only to look to mythology to find the demigod doctrine.

 

Fourth, it is written that “Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily ( 1:19 ).”  Joseph could not be a just man without obeying the law of God.  The law required her to be stoned to death (Deut. 22:21 ).  According to the Creed of St. Athanasius, Jesus was the bastard son of Himself.

 

Fifth, the Immanuel insertion is an obvious fraud.  It is written, “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us (Matt. 1:22, 23).”  The prophecy referred to is by Isaiah.  “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.” (Isa. 7:14-16)

Young’s Analytical Concordance To The Bible notes, “Immanuel, a symbolic name given to the child who was announced to Ahaz and the people of Judah as the sign that God would give them deliverance from their enemies.”  Insertion of the name “Immanuel” (God with us) in the text was a deliberate fraud.  The sign was to Ahaz; and had no reference to Jesus.  It was fulfilled in the next chapter, over 700 years before Jesus.  “And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son.  Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria .” (Isa. 8:3, 4)

 

Sixth, the final verse notes, “And [Joseph] knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS ( 1:25 ).”  Joseph and Mary had come together when they were espoused or married—before the conception of Jesus.  Some time after that, Mary was found to be with child.  The stories do not tell when Jesus was conceived.  It was already too late, when she was found to be with child, to claim that Joseph knew her not.

How was this fraudulent section inserted into the Biblical text?  After Constantine established the Trinity and Virgin Birth as the central doctrine of his new church, he canonized the Bible.  The Bible is what the unbaptized, pagan Roman Emperor, Constantine , wanted it to be.  Biblical scholars recognize that changes, deletions, and insertions were common place in those days.

 

Many believe that the Bible is infallible.  Every deliberate student of the Bible is aware there are many errors in the Bible.  Let us consider one major error.  “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:36-40)

Take out your copy of the Ten Commandments and you will find this second greatest commandment is missing.  It is missing in the accounts of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and Deut. 5.  The various sectarian Christian churches have divided them at their pleasure to arrive at ten.  It would take a volume to relate all the errors.

 

There is not a work in Scripture that was given through a Gentile.  “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation [the word of God is given through Apostles and Prophets]. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man [like Constantine ’s Bible]: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (1 Pet. 2: 20, 21)  Many books of Scripture were either destroyed, or hidden rather than let them fall into the hands of Gentiles.  The Dead Sea Scrolls are an example.  Would God condone one of the most evil men in history to establish a creed for His church, canonize Scripture, and then stand as God on earth?  “And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” (Heb. 5:4)

 

There were many books of Scripture which were not included in Constantine ’s Bible.  The Apocrypha is included in some Bibles and left out of others.  Among the lost books of Scripture is one held the most sacred of all:  the Book of the Law.  It is noted twenty-two times by name and hundreds of times as the law of God.

 

Twenty-two other books of Scripture, noted in the Bible, were not included.  Many prophecies from books in the New Testament do not match any book; because those books are not found in Constantine ’s Bible.  We are fortunate that as much truth as existed in Scripture is now found in the Bible.  The Bible was not intended by Constantine to be a book for the people; but, only for the Priests.  It was not until the sixteenth century, when King Henry broke with the Pope, that the Bible was printed and became a public book.  This is the King James Version.  Hundreds of other versions from various other texts came into use.  Could it be said that one Protestant Bible is more accurate than another, or more accurate than the original Catholic?  Is it possible that newer translations, using more recent texts, could be more accurate?

Praise Jesus

Faith in Jesus is possible only through knowing the real Jesus—the seed of David.  Jesus is not GOD; although He is the God and Savior of this creation.  Jesus was the beginning of this creation.  It was through Jesus that all things in this creation came about.  Praise our Lord.  Praise Jesus for our existence; and for all the rest of this wondrous creation.

 

The gospel and laws of God are the plan by which man can inherit the most wonderful existence in eternity.  The most perfect way man could progress from a spirit to an immortal, physical man was by giving him a mortal body with a free moral agency.  Our future in eternity becomes the result of our own choices.  Jesus taught that He was created in the flesh in all things like the rest of man; except He was of the seed of Abraham , Judah , and David (through Joseph).  He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.  He was tempted of Satan; but, always turned to the will and law of God.

 

Praise the Lord for His faith and obedience.  Jesus was the only man to live a perfect life—having neither sinned, nor ever letting an evil thought have a place in His mind.  “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” (1 Pet. 2:22)  God cannot sin.  Jesus had to make the choice; as he was a man and not a God until after His resurrection when He was given all power from the Father.  He gave His whole life, after entering the ministry, for His fellow man.  For three years He made every effort to bring man into the kingdom of God ; and teach them the path to the highest glory in eternity.  He was persecuted, reviled, and scorned.  “And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” (Matt. 8:20)  “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.” (Matt. 11:19)

 

Praise Jesus for the example that he left for all men to follow.  “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” (1 John 4:6)  He taught all of the laws that had been given to the people of God since the days of Adam.  “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matt. 517, 18)  “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21)  “…he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” (Matt. 10:22)  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.” (John 15:10)

 

Praise the Lord for his dedication to us.  Jesus allowed Himself to be tortured and killed in the most horrible manner.  He knew of this death; and sweat blood in its contemplation.  He could have stopped it at any time.  “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Matt. 26:53, 54)  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” (John 15:13, 14)

Praise the Lord as our Savior.  When Jesus arose from the grave, He had only a spiritual body.  “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” (John 20:17) 

 

Jesus having lived a perfect life, Satan had no power over Him; including death.  Jesus opened the dispensation of the gospel to the spirits in prison (hell).  God raised Him to an immortal, physical life for eternity in the celestial glory.  “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.” (Acts 4:10; 2:32 ; 3:15 ; 10:40 ; 13:30 ; 13:37 )

Jesus appeared to the disciples in His resurrected body.  “39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” (Luke 24:39)  When the disciples returned from fishing, “Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine.” (John 21:12)

Jesus received all power from the Father; and received the keys of our resurrection.  “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matt. 28:18)  “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Rev. 1:18)

Jesus will return to be the King of Kings of this creation.  “I am he [Jesus] that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Dan. 2:18)  “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Rev. 19:16)

 

Praise the Lord for our care after death.  Those who know God, honor Jesus, obey the gospel, and live faithful and obedient have the promise after death of living in the bosom of Abraham while awaiting the resurrection.  All others must spend this time with the spirits in prison (hell).

 

Praise the Lord for the faith and hope of our coming resurrection.  Jesus will bring all men an immortal, physical body; regardless of the glory inherited in eternity.  “For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.” (1 Tim. 4:10)

Those who are faithful and obedient in life have reason to hope of being included in the first resurrection.  “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Rom. 8:17 )  “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” (Job 19:26, 27)  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:6)  Those who know not God and Jesus will spend the interim between death and resurrection with the spirits in prison (Rev. 19:20).  “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” (Rev. 20:5)

 

Praise the Lord for our hope in eternity.  After the seven thousand years of mortal man has come to an end, there will be a new heaven and a new earth.  The earth will enter its celestial glory; and will become the abode of the Father, Jesus, and all the saints of God.  “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” (Rev. 21:7)  “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” (21:21, 22)  “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2, 3)

 

Praise our Lord AND the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matt. 22:37)  “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.  And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:22 , 23)  “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matt. 22:37) “15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel , The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” (Ex. 3:15)  

 

Why is God Silent?

Some have thought God to be dead.  The problem is not with God; but, with man.  “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isa. 59:1, 2)  Here is a great warning.  Jesus commanded the seven churches to either repent, or they would no longer be part of the kingdom of God .  “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works [baptism]; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Rev. 2:5)  Their light went out after John.

 

God spoke with man from Adam to Malachi (except for the 400 year captivity in Egypt ).  God spoke to man in the days of Jesus and the Apostles.  The Jews rebelled against the authority of Jesus; and had Him crucified.  The gospel was taken from them and given to the Gentiles.  But sadly, the Gentiles had been reared for fifteen hundred years on pagan doctrines and traditions.  They returned very quickly to their pagan ways.  Jesus gave them a final warning (Rev. 2, 3); but, they would not.  It was not God that turned from man; but, man that turned from God.  When the Gentiles would not live by the law and will of God, the Church of Christ was taken from the earth, the Apostles were all martyred by 70 AD (except John), and God no longer spoke to man.

“And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman [Church of Christ] fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days [1260 years]… 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed [holy priesthood], which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Rev. 12:5, 6)  “…for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev. 19:10)

The early Christians had been drifting back into paganism since before the death of the Apostles.  Jesus organized the church with, “some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists [patriarchs]; and some, pastors [high priests and Elders] and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:11-13)  These officers were required “for the work of the ministry;” and “for the perfecting of the saints.”  They were to last, “till we all come in the unity of the faith.”  Any church that does not have these officers has no claim to being the Church of Christ .

 

There are only two priesthoods noted in the Bible:  the Melchisedec and the Levitical or Aaronic.  The office of Bishop was that of a Priest in the Levitical Priesthood.  The duties of his office were involved with the temporal affairs of the people.  Very early the Christian Bishops usurped their authority and thought to stand above the people; as spiritual guides.  They soon drifted back into paganism.  As early as 105 AD we find Ignatius writing, “He who forms all men in the womb, was Himself really in the womb, and made for Himself a body of the seed of the Virgin, but without any intercourse of man.”  How soon men forsook God and the Savior and returned to heathen mythology.

In the early fourth century a pagan Roman Emperor by the name of Constantine took Rome by the sword.  The pagan priests advised him that his killing and iniquities could not be forgiven (he even killed his wife and first born son).  A Christian Bishop advised him that he only needed to be baptized.  How much they had fallen!  No murderer can receive forgiveness in this life.  Constantine was not baptized until his death bed—evidently when he could resist no longer.  He was a loyal follower of the sun god.

Constantine saw in Christianity the opportunity to control both the civil and the spiritual life of every citizen of Rome .  He made his new Catholic Church the state religion; and made a law that to dissent was heresy—a civil crime punishable by death.  Many died and others were banished; including St. Athanasius who held the first Catholic council and formed the foundation doctrines of his new church under his supervision.

Constantine simply amalgamated pagan doctrines into Christianity by giving them Christian names.  At the Council of Nicea, in 325 AD, pagan mysteries were officially adopted for the identity of God and Jesus.  He adopted the Trinitarian and Virgin Birth doctrines, which were begun by Nimrod, King of Babylon.  He cared only for his beloved sun god; and the mythologies of Rome .  As an unbaptized, pagan Roman Emperor, he knew nothing of the true and living God of Israel.  The Spirit of God cannot dwell in unholy temples (bodies).  Without proper baptism, man remains filthy still.  “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?  even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” (1 Cor. 2:11-12)

 

The Creed of St. Athanasius, with its Trinity and Virgin Birth, has become the corner stone of almost all Christian doctrine.  Adopted under Constantine at the Council of Nicea, it declares, "And the Catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity...  Such as the Father is, such is the Son; and such is the Holy Ghost... The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal... The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible... So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty... And yet they are not three Gods, but one God... The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created, but begotten.  The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.  And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another... He therefore that will be saved, must think of the Trinity. Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation, that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ... This is the Catholic Faith; which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved."

Saint Augustine wrote of the teachings of Saint Ambrose (339-397) on this subject, “when God is thought of, our thoughts should dwell on no material reality whatsoever.” (Constantine’s Sword, James Carroll, p. 200)

Volumes have been written on how this doctrine was borrowed from pagan mythology.  More volumes could be written on the errors of this doctrine when compared with the Bible.  All that is really required is to compare this “incomprehensible” god to the true and LIVING God of the Bible.  Paul wrote, “For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.  Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.” (Acts 17:23 )

The God of the Bible was not only comprehensible; He appeared to men from the time of Adam.  “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17: 3)  Jesus was “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” (Heb. 1:3)  Jesus will soon return, “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thess. 1:8)

 

It is easy to understand why men of this age still worship pagan gods.  Constantine made it a civil crime to defy the doctrines of his new church.  Some, like the Ariens, who believed in the real Jesus were driven away and eventually killed under the popes.  Constantine enforced his doctrines with the sword.  Thousands were killed and others were banished.  Pagan Christian Rome fell in 476 AD; but, Papal Rome rose in 570 AD.  Like Constantine , the popes thought to stand as God on the earth.  It has been estimated that 50,000,000 were martyred for opposing Catholic doctrine.  For many centuries people either worshipped according to the pope, or they died.  This practice has been the tool of evil men since Cain.  Today, pagan doctrines have become tradition; and knowledge of original doctrines has been almost lost.  Ecclesiastical historians and church leaders understood what happened.  Biblical scholars and church leaders have noted the mysteries of Babylon in catholicity.  The King James Version even capitalized Rev. 17:5, “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

 

James J. Strang wrote, “This is not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”  “And, as by their faith, these three gods are one and the same god, it follows that the Lord God Almighty, uncreate, incomprehensible, and eternal, became a Priest unto himself, and offered himself a sacrifice unto himself, to make propitiation unto himself for sins against himself, and became a mediator between himself and his rebellious creatures; and has risen from the dead, though he alone hath immortality, and ascended on high, where he has received all power from himself, and sat down at his own right hand; where, with his human body, flesh and bones, and all that pertains to the perfection of man’s nature, raised to immortality and everlasting life, he ‘is the express image of the invisible God,’ (Col. i, 15. 2d Cor. iv, 4,) ‘and the express image of his Father’s person,’ (Heb. 1, 3,) who has not any such body or any part of it, and is nevertheless the same identical person with himself… Ye shall not bow down to the God of Babylon, for the God who spoke in Sinai, said, ‘Thou shalt not bow down unto, nor adore anything that thy imagination conceiveth of; but the Lord thy God only.’ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was not the offspring of adultery; nor was he born of woman; he was not carried about in a nurse’s arms, nor dependent on his mother’s milk for sustenance; he never died, nor did he cry to himself, and find no helper. (Matt. 27:46. Mark 15:34 .)  Eternal ages are but pulsations in his lifetime, and his might is omnipotence.”

Consider the source.  "In the unity of that one Only God of the Babylonians, there were three persons, and to symbolise that doctrine of the Trinity, they employed, as the discoveries of Layard prove, the equilateral triangle, just as it is well known the Romish Church does at this day.  In both cases such a comparison is most degrading to the King Eternal, and is fitted utterly to pervert the minds of those who contemplate it, as if there was or could be any similitude between such a figure and Him who hath said, 'To whom will ye liken God, and what likeness will ye compare unto Him?"  (The Two Babylons, Rev. Alexander Hislop, pp. 16, 17)

 

John, the beloved Apostle of Jesus, prophesied of this new so-called Christian church as a beast.  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” (Rev. 13:1)  “And here is the mind which hath wisdom.  The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman [ church of Satan ] sitteth.” (Rev. 17:9)  Only Rome has synonymously been known as the city of seven hills.

Then John saw a beast that was wounded and survived.  “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” (Rev. 13:3)  Pagan Christian Rome, founded by

Constantine , fell in 476 AD.  Papal Rome rose in 570 AD.  John gave us a great warning, “And there are seven kings: five are fallen [ Egypt , Assyria , Babylon , Persia , and Greece ], and one is [Pagan Rome], and the other is not yet come [Pagan Christian Rome under Constantine ]; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space [325-476]. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth [Papal Rome], and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” (Rev. 17:10, 11)

 

This beast and church of Satan was to have complete power over the souls of man for 1260 years.  “5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months [1260 years]… 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” (Rev. 13)

 

There is another ominous side to this beast.  “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast.” (Rev. 14:15)  Who could be this image of the beast—the harlots of Rome ?  The Reformation removed many of the evil practices of the Catholic Church; but, these churches still worshipped the same Trinitarian god and Virgin Birth.  They even retained sun day in place of the Sabbath.  They offered a new gospel:  man can be saved by faith alone.  “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” (Gal. 1:8)  “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:19, 20)

 

John Wesley a founder of the Methodist Church wrote concerning the gifts of the Holy Ghost, "The cause of this was not, as has been supposed, because there was no more occasion for them, because all the world was become Christians.  This is a miserable mistake; not a twentieth part of it was then nominally Christian.  The real cause of it was that the love of many, almost all Christians, so-called, was waxed cold.  The Christians had no more of the spirit of Christ than the other heathens.  The Son of Man, when He came to examine His Church, could hardly find faith upon earth.  This was the real cause why the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer to be found in the Christian church--because the Christians were turned heathens again, and only had a dead form left." (John Wesley's Works, Vol. 7, 89; 26-27)

 

The Church of England in the Homily Against Peril of Idolatry, first published about the middle of the sixteenth century, admitted of the great Christian apostasy.  "So that laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women, and children of whole Christendom-- a horrible and most dreadful thing to think-- have been at once drowned in abominable idolatry; of all other vices most detested of God, and most damnable to man; and that by the space of eight hundred years and more."

 

Why did God no longer speak to the Gentiles?  They worshipped the Trinitarian god of Babylon ; and thought of Jesus as a demigod born of a virgin.  Constantine even changed the holy Sabbath that was sanctified by God to “the venerable day of the sun.”  Jesus did not change the Sabbath.  The Apostles did not change the Sabbath.  It was changed by a pagan worshipper of the sun god.  “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” (Ex. 31:16, 17)

 

God did not speak to man, because man no longer worshipped God.   Constantine turned Christianity into Mystery, Babylon the Great.  There is no “Thus saith the Lord in Babylon .”  “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” (Rev. 18:8)  “And the beast was taken [Papal Rome], and with him the false prophet [Mohammad]  that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast [violate the Sabbath], and them that worshipped his image [Christians that adopted the doctrines of Rome ].  These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” (Rev. 19:20)

 

God Spoke Again

 

God did speak again.  Exactly 1260 years after the beast, Papal Rome was established in 570 AD, Joseph Smith claimed to have been ordained to the Prophetic Office under the hands of angels; and restored both the Melchisedec Priesthood and the original gospel of Christ.   The Church of Christ was organized on April 6, 1830 .

The Gentiles were once again afforded the blessings and opportunities of the holy priesthood and the gospel.  They were given the same laws of God as saints before them.  Sadly, they preferred the will of man.  Joseph Smith was murdered near Nauvoo , Illinois by a mob from Missouri ; while presumably under the protective custody of the Governor of Illinois.

 

The same hour of Joseph’s death, James J. Strang, some four hundred miles away, claimed an angel of God had ordained him as Apostle, Prophet, and Lawgiver to succeed Joseph.  The Letter of Appointment from Joseph Smith, which he wrote about a week before his death, arrived later by regular mail.  God had established His people and spoke to man once again.  God told the people through James, “if ye will therefore possess these things, remember my law, to keep it… if ye will not live by it, the promise is not unto you.  It is a vain thing for you to witness my, if ye will not regard it, to live by it.”

 

But again the Gentiles preferred the delights of the world over the blessings of the kingdom.  They failed to obey the commandments given to them from God.  James was shot and later died.  The people were scattered and their land stolen.  The prophecy of Micah had been fulfilled.  “And thou, O tower of the flock [James J. Strang], the strong hold of the daughter of Zion [God’s people in America ], unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem [ July 8, 1850 ]. Now why dost thou cry out aloud?  is there no king in thee?  is thy counseller perished?  for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to [spiritual] Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.” (Micah 4:8-10)

 

The promise was for a very small remnant to remain until the return of our Lord.  You have been given the wonderful knowledge of God and Jesus.  Joshua once told the people of God, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods.” (Joshua 24) You now have the knowledge to choose between the gods of Babylon and the true and living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matt. 22:37)

A remnant of the Melchisedec Priesthood remains to administer the saving ordinances of the gospel.  The keys to the kingdom of God are here; and the gate is still open.  James J. Strang was ordained by angels from the throne of God.  He ordained L. D. Hickey an Apostle, who ordained Samuel Martin a High Priest, who ordained Lloyd Flanders a High Priest, who ordained Samuel E. West an Elder.  “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt. 16:19)  The keys to the kingdom, the Melchisedec Priesthood, are in my hand.

 

A Special Invitation

 

You’re invited to walk on the path of light and know the living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Discover the truth about the real Jesus and His sacrifice.  Obey the gospel of Christ; and become a member of the kingdom of God .  If you are able to understand this special invitation, you have been given the greatest opportunity ever given to man in the flesh—an opportunity to inherit the earth with the Father and the Son; and enter eternal life in the celestial glory.  “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” (Job 19:25-27)  “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” (Rev. 21:7, 8)

Here is a truly special invitation.  The kingdom of heaven is at hand (within your reach).  Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you will be born of the Spirit, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enjoy all the blessings prepared for saints of God.

  Apostle W. W. Phelps wrote Joseph Smith in January, 1843:

Go with me, will you go to the saints that have died,-
To the next, better world, where the righteous reside;
Where the angels and spirits in harmony be
In the joys of a vast paradise?  Go with me.

Go with me where the truth and the virtues prevail;
Where the union is one, and the years never fail;
Not a heart can conceive, nor a nat'ral eye see
What the Lord has prepar'd for the just.  Go with me.

Go with me where there is no destruction or war;
Neither tyrants, or sland'rers, or nations ajar;
Where the system is perfect, and happiness free,
the life is eternal with God.  Go with me.
Go with me, will you go to the mansions above,

Where the bliss, and the knowledge, the light, and the love,
And the glory of God do eternally be?-
Death, the wages of sin, is not there.  Go with me.

  You are invited to go with us.

  Samuel E. West
Elder in latter day Zion
Samuel270@aol.com