The Mystery of the Godhead

“Three persons” sounds simple until you ask what a “person” actually means. I walk through the doctrine of the Godhead with an open Bible and a sober look at church history, because I’m convinced the clearest path forward is the one the apostles walked: God is one, and Scripture speaks of him with singular personal pronouns, acting alone as Creator and Redeemer.

We trace how later creedal formulations and Greek philosophical categories shaped Nicene Christianity, then put the Athanasian Creed side by side with passages like Deuteronomy 6:4, Galatians 3:20, Isaiah 44:24, John 4:24, and 1 Timothy 2:5. Along the way we tackle the practical questions that keep coming up: If God is Spirit and omnipresent, do we really need separate divine persons to explain heaven, incarnation, and the Holy Spirit? If the Son is “begotten,” can the Son also be eternal in the way the creeds claim? And if Jesus grows, prays, submits his will, and mediates, what does that tell us about the humanity of Christ and the indwelling God who is “in Christ, reconciling the world”?

We also connect the Godhead to real-world discipleship by examining baptism and the “name” of Matthew 28:19 through the consistent pattern of the book of Acts (Acts 2:38, 8:16, 19:5). If you’re searching for biblical monotheism, clarity on Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and a framework that doesn’t turn God into a committee, this conversation is for you.

Subscribe for more Bible teaching, share the episode with a friend who loves Scripture, and leave a review with your biggest question about the Godhead so we can address it next.

Transcript

Welcome And Why Godhead Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today, we're gonna look at the teaching of the Godhead. I want to examine the true doctrine of God in light of the errors that come to us out of church history. And in so doing, I want to return back to the original teaching of the apostles in the Bible. Greetings, Bible believers and followers of the end time message. Welcome to another episode of the Jason Demars Podcast, the place where we explore the incredible mysteries hidden within the pages of the Bible. I'm your host, Jason Demars. It's time to get started on another journey into the heart of God's Word. If it's your desire to grow in Revelation and see the message in the light of the Bible, you're in the right place. Today, brothers and sisters, we delve into the scripture, guided by the extraordinary revelations that God chose to unveil through Brother William Marion Branham, a messenger with a unique calling to fulfill Malachi 4 and Revelation 10 7 and unlock the secrets of the end time message. Our purpose isn't to have another basic Bible study. We're going to dig deep and peel back the layers of prophecy, decoding the signs and perhaps discovering how the Bible resonates within the very fabric of our present day and time. In this podcast, my purpose is to help you grow in your faith through solid Bible teaching through the lens of the message of Malachi 4. So grab your Bible, a cup of coffee, and let's get started. And remember that your feedback, testimonies, questions, and prayer requests are always welcome. Please send them on social media or at jasendamars.com. With that said, let's get into today's podcast. I want to thank the supporters of this podcast once again. These are the ones who've subscribed to send three, five, eight, or ten dollars a month to support the podcast. You've been doing that a long time, many of you, and I greatly appreciate that. That helps cover the cost of the podcasts. And once that is covered, it goes towards supporting ministry and missions. Once again, you can do that on my Buzzsprout podcast link that you'll find connected to this video or this podcast. As I said, we're going to begin looking at the doctrine of the Godhead, and we're going to do that both in light of the scriptures and of the message, and we're also going to address the doctrine of the Trinity of three persons. And so we'll begin to look at that. I want to pull that up. I've got a PowerPoint that I want to share. And so we'll get that pulled up just in a moment. Appreciate your patience as we do that. So the mystery of the Godhead is what we're looking at. Examining the true biblical doctrine of God. Galatians 3.20. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. So that's that's our King James version, our our favorite version of the Bible. We look at the amplified version, and the amplified version says this. Now a go-between, intermediary, has to do with what to do with and implies more than one party. There can be no mediator with just one person, yet God is only one person, and he was the sole party in giving that promise to Abraham. But the law was a contract between two, God and Israel. Its validity was dependent on both. So here we have the scripture itself lending us to the fact that God is one person. Well, let's let's take some time to look at this. It may take several parts, and it and yet again, I may just go through the entirety of this PowerPoint in uh one setting, and you can take your time to listen in. If it takes you a few days to listen, that's just fine. So balance is the key term when approaching the subject of the Godhead. There are multiple aspects that must be balanced out from multiple angles. This is a whole subject that we be that we're going to be covering. You know, you look at you look at this and you see just one part and you speak about one part, and somebody says, Hey, what about this? Well, let's just take our time and we'll go through it step by step, little by little, and you'll get the big picture of it. So, did you know? The term trinity is not in the Bible. Now I want to just say this. I don't have a problem with using terms that are not in the Bible, but it should be revealing that we're requiring people to confess a trinity in order to be saved when that very terminology is not in the Bible. I believe salvation comes to us through the word of God, and that is our final authority. And so if Trinity is not in the Bible, we also can't require belief in a trinity in order to be saved. The Theophilus of Antioch is the first Christian writer to use the term in roughly 183 AD, and Tertullian is the first Latin writer to use it in roughly the year 200 AD. So there we have several, we have 150 years in one case and almost 180 years in the other case, where no Christians were using the term Trinity. So were they saved during that time, or were they all lost from the year, you know, everyone before the year 200 was lost because no one believed in using this term trinity that was a believer that was a believer in all of history until that point in time. Neither the phrase three persons and one essence is also not in the Bible. The terms God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are not in the Bible. None of the early church fathers prior to the year 300 teach three co-eternal, co-equal persons. So even they use the term Trinity, they didn't mean it the way modern theologians mean that. So the simple truth unveiled. We'll keep it, we're gonna start simple and then we're gonna build from there. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three gods, not three separate and distinct gods. Father, son, and spirit are three attributes or three different ways the one true and living God is revealed. Now we go from there and we look at, even though these are not perfect expressions of it, but these are types of it and are good illustrations, you are body, soul, and spirit, one person. And those are three different aspects of your being: body, soul, and spirit. Those are not three different persons, those are one person that has three different parts to himself. Those who believe in the three persons trinity also use these explanations, but they're hollow because none of them speak of three distinct personalities. This is three different aspects of the same person. An egg is white, yoke, and shell. Three parts make up the egg, the sun, the light from the sun, and heat produced by the sun. Three manifestations of the same person, God. So in Trinitarian terminology, I know some of this is going to get technical. Forgive me for that. If if if you're just listening in, just try to take it in and don't get too worried about it. If you want to do some research on your own as well, you can do that. I'll do my best to provide uh as much complete information as I possibly can. Hypostases, it's this is what they say, three hypostases or hoopostases in one essence. So hypostases is a sub is the word substance, foundation is personality, or it means foundation or personality. So hypostasis means substance, foundation, or personality, according to them. The Greek word for person is persona or person. Persopone speaks of the actual person, homoousia, one essence or being. So they take it and they say three hypostases in one oosia, homoousia. So as we look at this and as we examine this, we have to also realize that there are varying orthodox doctrines of the Trinity. When I say Orthodox, I'm speaking of the Eastern Orthodox Church versus the Western Orthodox Church, which we call the Roman Catholic Church. So in the West, theologians around the time of Nicaea, like Augustine, illustrate the Trinity using memory, understanding, and will. And in the East, Gregory of Nyssa states that Peter, James, and John are three persons, and they share the same essence of humanity. Three persons making up one, made up of one species. And so obviously, there's a great distinction in that, and one lends towards a more emphasis on one person, and the other is more of an emphasis emphasis on one species. So the Western Orthodox Trinity, the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. In Eastern Orthodoxy, this the Holy Spirit proceeds just from the Father. Even even the doctrine of Christ. When we say Christology, it's speaking of the doctrine about Christ's Christ's person. Eastern and Western Orthodoxy has a different viewpoint than the Church of the East or the Oriental Orthodox Church. Those the Church of the East and the Oriental Orthodox Church are accept what we call a Nestorian view, which is two natures that are separate and distinct. Whereas the West says there are two natures fused together in one individual. And so modern the modern Protestant, their practical outworking of the Trinity is a closet oneness. Most people, if you most Protestants, modern-day Protestants, if you speak to them about the Godhead in a very oneness way, they will accept what you say. Just don't start saying that the Trinity of three persons is wrong. Just explain oneness doctrine and they will embrace it with you. Not that I embrace oneness doctrine, because I don't. And it's different than the Orthodox Protestant Trinity. Most modern Christians are effectively oneness while confessing Trinitarianism. In my discussions with believers over the years, that's been what I've found is that when I explain what I believe without using any terminology, they entirely agree with it. But when I begin to use terminology and say the difference between the Trinity and what I believe the Bible teaches, then they have differences with it and disagreements with it. So the early church fathers, you can you can document and see a progression that they had over time. After the death of the apostles, there was a gradual shift from Hebrew biblical thought to Greek philosophical thought. So as we look at this, you're gonna see this there's a process, a progression. So Justin Martyr in the mid 2nd century, the from one roughly 150 to 160, Justin Martyr confesses that he believes the word of John 1 and 1 is a second God. Around the year 200, Tertullian, who's the first rat Latin writer to use the word Trinity, borrows the term from heathen teaching that spoke of a father, son, mother trinity. Now, at this time, there's no doctrine of three coequal, coeternal persons. They don't have the concepts fully developed yet. Around the year 230, Origen from Alexandria, Egypt begins teaching that the Son was eternal. Before this, all teachers confess that the Logos came forth from God just prior to creation. Then we fast forward about a hundred years, we see the Nicene Council recognize that the Son was a second person, co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father. And so also at this council, it's interesting to note that the bishops of Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople were made to be patriarchs, which is means they were made to be bishops over other bishops, metropolitan bishops over all the other bishops in the areas. Then at this point in time, the creed, Nicene Creed, simply says, and we believe in the Holy Spirit. So they had made no formal decision regarding whether the Holy Spirit was a third person or not. And so then in the year 381, they held a Constantinople council, and the church debates whether the Holy Spirit is a person or the Holy Spirit is the power of God or just an emanation that comes forth from God. And at this council, the most politically connected one says the Holy Spirit was the third person of the Trinity. And also interesting to note, the person that was presiding over the council was an unbaptized city official. He wasn't even a believer. And so as we begin to look and examine the church councils and which churches accept which councils, it becomes absurd. So the Church of the East accepts as ecumenical. Now Church of the East that would be that would be the churches that were in like Iraq and Syria and Iran and those areas. And they accepted as ecumenical only the first two councils. But the Oriental Orthodox churches accept the first three. The Eastern Orthodox Church accepts the first seven. Accept either the first seven or the first four as ecumenical councils. So how do we know when we should accept or not accept the councils? That's the real question. Martin Luther says, If the Holy Spirit had been so foolish as to expect or trust that the councils or fathers would do everything well and make no mistakes, there would have been no need for him to warn the church against them, saying in 1 Corinthians that one should examine all things and be on one's guard wherever men build with straw, hay, and wood on the foundation. So even Luther himself is warning that the councils need to be searched out by the Bible, the foundation, the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. So now we want to take a moment and we want to look at the major creed, and really when we see the fully formulated doctrine of the Trinity, the man by Athanasius is the man that's really responsible for codifying and going and putting forth the history. And so the final creed for the church that's put together, that completes the Trinity and goes into all details on what the Trinity is, is called the Athanasian Creed. And so I want to look at that, I want to break it down, and I want to take it back to Scripture. That we worship one God in Trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty co-eternal. So as we look at this, we want to examine these thoughts. So this is Keith Ward from his book Rational Theology and the Creativity of God, page 863. He says to admit many centers of awareness in God would split the divine unacceptably, entailing that none of their none of them are omniscient or omnipotent. This view is indistinguishable from a more robust polytheism and must be rejected by thoroughgoing monotheists such as Christians are supposed to be. So if we're going to put God into, as we see in that illustration, three distinct persons, this this splits God up and which one of them is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. None of them are. See, it's three persons, right? It's got to be three persons. Well, again, ignores many realities about God. John 4 24 tells us God is a spirit. So God is a spirit. God is our Father, and God is a spirit. God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. He can speak from heaven and descend from heaven at the very same time. He dwells in believers all around the world, and he's still one spirit. He can speak to us all as individuals at the very same time, dwell in us separately all around the world in different countries and different places, and he is still one spirit. There's no need for God to be the Father in heaven, separate person from the Spirit that descends. It's all one in the self-same spirit. God is a spirit. The Father seeks such to worship him, for God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. So next question is Does Jesus have two fathers? In the Trinity, the Spirit and the Father are two distinct persons. Matthew 1 18. 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 God the Father? No. She was found with child of the Holy Ghost. So the Holy Ghost is his father. John 5 18. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but also Also said that God was his father, making himself equal with God. So who is the Father of Jesus? Is God God the Father his Father, or is God the Holy Ghost his Father? Well, the truth is the Father and the Holy Spirit are the same person. Matthew 10 20. For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of your Father. The Father is Spirit. That's what He's made up of. That's what God. God is not a man, He's not a human being. God is a Spirit. Next we see that Scripture calls it the Spirit of Jesus, Ephesians 4, 4 through 6, for there's one body and one spirit, even as you're called and one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all. So who's dwelling in us? God the Holy Spirit or God the Father? God our Father is dwelling in us, who is the Holy Spirit. He is Spirit. He is a Spirit, and He is Holy, so He's the Holy Spirit. And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having for been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mycia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So is this a distinct spirit from the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit? Is this the third spirit? No, it's one and the self, same spirit. It's the God and Father of all, who's above all and through all, and in you all. Isaiah 9, 6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. So this is a this is a child that's born, a son that's given, has a beginning in s in space and time, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called. Wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. So he's given the name everlasting father. So the Son is the everlasting Father. Strange, but that's the scripture. Athanasian creed, let's go back to that. So we're looking, we're trying to establish in the scripture the oneness of God, the unity of God. So what quality the Father has, the Son has and the Holy Spirit has. The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated. The Holy Spirit is uncreated, the Father is immeasurable, the Son is immeasurable, the Holy Spirit is immeasurable. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Holy Spirit is eternal. And yet there are not three eternal beings, there is but one eternal being. So too, there are not three uncreated or immeasurable immeasurable beings, there is but one uncreated and immeasurable being. So the Son is eternal and uncreated. How can the Son be eternal and uncreated when the Son was begotten on a specific day in space and time? It's impossible. Son, by definition, has a beginning, has a time he is begotten. This day is a specific time in history, and therefore an eternal son is entirely impossible. Begotten in Hebrew is the word Yalad, a primitive root to bear young, cause causatively to beget, specifically to show lineage. Time of delivery. So we can't see this cannot be to be begotten and to be uncreated and eternal is two different things. Webster's dictionary beget to procreate as a father or sire, to generate, as to beget a son, to produce as an effect, to cause to exist. So to bring into existence is the word begetting. Matthew 118. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this why, when as his mother 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. Birth in Webster's dictionary, the act of coming into life. So the birth of Jesus Christ, or the beginning of Jesus Christ, was on this wise. Luke 135, and the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. So why is he called the Son of God? That word therefore means because of this. So why shall he be called the Son of God? Because the Holy Ghost overshadowed Mary. So he's the Son of God in regards to his birth in Bethlehem through the Virgin Mary. Galatians 4, 4. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. So to be made is the word Ginomai. It means to become or to come into being, to generate. So when did when did the Son of God come into being? He was came into being of a woman, not in eternity, but through a woman. This day have I begotten thee, a specific day in time and in history. Luke 2 252. So it also says in that uh spot that the Son is immeasurable. Luke 252 says, And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. So can someone immeasurable in wisdom grow in wisdom? No. Can some who someone who is immeasurable grow in size? No. So when we're referring to sun, Trinitarians are referring to sun, they're referring to something quite quite different than what scripture is referring to. All right, let's continue as we look at the Athanasian Creed. I hope this isn't too boring for you. I know most people that are listening to my podcast are believers, but my real desire is to help you be established in the present truth and to walk in this present truth. And we need to be able to address these things about the Trinity head on. And once again, I don't have any problem with using the terminology Trinity. If you look through, Brother Branham says it's a true, it's a triunity of being, not beings, but tri-unity of being, not three persons. Three separate and distinct persons is three gods, but it is a trinity of manifestations of attributes. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not three separate persons, they're one being manifested in three different ways. Continuing to look at the Athanasian Creed similarly, the Father is Almighty, the Son is Almighty, the Holy Spirit is almighty, yet there are not three almighty beings, there is but one almighty being. Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three gods, there is but one God, the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord, yet there are not three lords, there is but one Lord. Three persons, I don't care how you cut it, how you separate it, three persons is three gods. GHW Lamp described the social trinity. So when we see social trinity, we look at that PowerPoint that I have displayed, and you see three distinct persons. One is the Father in the middle, on the right is the Holy Spirit, and on the left is the Son, three separate persons. And so Lamp says a unity of human persons in a social trinity in which three persons in the full psychological sense of persons are bound together in mutual love, implies the existence of three divine consciousness. In other words, three gods. Continuing on the Athanasian Creed, just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually is both God and Lord, so Catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords. The Father was neither made nor created, nor begotten from anyone. The Son was neither made nor created, he was begotten from the Father alone. The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten. He proceeds from the Father and the Son. Again, so they're trying to force words to meet something that they don't really mean. There are three gods and three lords, but don't say it that way. You're forbidden to say it that way. Well, we're just gonna go ahead and say language means something, and it literally is. You're teaching three gods and three lords. So the son was not made or created. Again, these are nonsense terms that have no basis in scripture. We already read it, I'll refer to it again. Galatians 4, 4. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made on the under the law. So he was literally made of a woman. He was literally made under the law. He was begotten, the only begotten son. And again, his his flesh was certainly created. The life that was within him came forth directly from God. And we'll address that more in detail. Acts 20, 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he's purchased with his own blood. So God created a blood cell, created the means of manifestation of himself in the womb of a virgin, and it's the blood of God. So let's look at this more closely, looking at genetics. In many ways, as we understand genetics today, it helps us understand more deeply the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus could not have been born with Mary's DNA. If that was the case, he would have been born a sinner by nature, because Mary was a sinner. Contrary to Roman Catholic doctrine, as the scripture says, Mary, Mary, in her great song that she sang, a prophetic word that the Holy Spirit gave her, she called him, said she needed a savior. She's a sinner, she needs a savior. And so if Jesus would have been born with Mary's DNA, he would have been a sinner. But the truth is, God created both sperm and egg within Mary to make Jesus. So the full genetic spectrum of Jesus came directly from God. Genetically, Jesus was God. Though he was born amongst the Jews, he wasn't a Jew, he wasn't a Gentile, he was God. So the Son of God is by genetics God. Jesus is the life and DNA of God. So it's literally Jehovah God, his own life in a manger as a teenager, hanging on the cross. Let's continue looking at the Athanasian Creed. And we will, this won't go on forever, so don't get nervous. Accordingly, there is one father, not three fathers, there's one son, not three sons, there's one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. Nothing in this Trinity is before or after, nothing is greater or smaller. In their entirety, the three persons are co-eternal and co equal with each other. So in everything, as was said earlier, we must worship their Trinity and their unity and their unity in their trinity. Three persons is three gods. You can't get around that. Three coequal and co-eternal persons are three gods. Oxford University Press says this because the Trinity is such an important part of later Christian doctrine, it is striking that the term does not appear in the New Testament. Likewise, the developed concept of three co-equal partners in the Godhead found in later creedal formulations cannot clearly be detected within the confines of the canon. The canon means scripture. So the Trinity is a part of later, the Trinity of Persons, I want to be very specific, is a part of later Christian doctrine. Doesn't appear in the New Testament, neither does the concept of three coequal partners in the Godhead. So in there it says in the Athanasian Creed, in their entirety, the three persons are co-eternal and co-equal with each other. There, each other. These are plural pronouns. Now I want to see how the scripture describes God. Isaiah 44, 24, thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he, singular personal pronoun, that formed thee from the womb, I, singular personal pronoun, am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself. These are all personal pronouns, singular personal pronouns, and then in order to make it even more clear, we have God saying, alone. So that means by himself means that there wasn't co-equal and co-eternal partners next to him. It was God, one person, all by himself, creating everything. Ephesians 1 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him. So there was one will, not three wills involved. There was one will making the plan, making the purpose, predestinating, etc. etc. John 10, 29, where the Athanasian creed says, nothing is greater or smaller. Jesus says different. No one can pluck them out of my father's hands. So the Father is greater than the Son. Let me not get ahead of myself. John 14, 28. You have heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again unto you. If you love me, you would rejoice, because I said I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I. So the Father is greater than the Son. This is Scripture. You say, Oh, oh, that's the that's the humanity. Again, when we look at the term son in the Bible, that is referring to the humanity. That's when when the title Son of God appears, it appears first in manifestation in the New Testament when the birth of Jesus Christ comes. John 5, 18 and 19. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but all said also that God was his father, making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do. For what things soever doeth the Father, that doeth the Son likewise. So the Son doesn't do anything of himself, he does the will of his Father. And even though you see on the one hand it says the Father is greater, here it says it's making himself equal with God. So there is a distinction where the Father is greater than the Son, but then there is an equality between the Fat of the Son. Equality of manifestation, but a subordination of wills. The Son subordinates his will to the Father. Before we go further, that was the scripture that I was wanting to refer to. Is the Bible tells us the head of the woman is the man, the head of the man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God. So looking at Trinitarian terminology, we have the two terms we've referred to earlier of persons and essence. And so Hebrews 1, 1 through 3 uses one of these words: God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his son or in his son, in whom whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by also who by whom also he made the worlds. This were where he says, by whom also he made the worlds, you could look at that, and that's by whom he also ordained the ages, or planned the ages, who being the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down in the right hand of the majesty on high. So where that says express image of his person, express image means the exact imprint or an engraving. And the word person is hupostasis. It speaks of a foundational nature or essence. So the Trinity says there's three hoopostases in one Usia, but here we find the scripture using the terminology quite different. It says the sun is the exact imprint of God's hoopostasis. So this hupostases means the foundational nature or essence. So the sun is the visible imprint, he's the exact imprint or he's the engraving of God's nature, God's substance. So when you're looking at the son of God, you're seeing the Father made manifest. Right? So this is a critical point to understand with all within all of this, is that it doesn't say that the Son is a separate hypostasis, but he is the exact imprint of God's hoopostases, God's nature. So he's the visible expression of God's invisible hoopostases. So it isn't two hoopostases between father and son. The son is the invisible expression of the invisible hoopostases of God. God is a spirit, one spirit, he's invisible. So I found this. Forgive me for finding it on Wikipedia, but I did verify that it really was written by Trinitarian. Scholar and Christian apologist Alistair McGrath, and I believe it makes an important distinction, one that I would suggest to all Trinitarians, those who believe in uh three persons in God. I believe that that terminology is deficient and doesn't explain things correctly. He writes this the word person has changed its meaning since the third century, when it began to be used in connection with the threefoldness of God. When we talk about God as a person, we naturally think of God as being one person. But theologians such as Tertullian, writing in the third century, use the word person with a different meaning. The word person originally derives from the Latin word persona, meaning an actor's face mask, and by extension the role which he takes in a play. By stating that there were three persons but only one God, Tertullian was asserting that all three major roles in the great drama of human redemption are played by the one and the same God. The three great roles in this drama are all being played by the same actor, God. Each of these roles may reveal God in a somewhat different way, but it is the same God in every case. So when we talk about God as one person, we mean one person in the modern sense of the word. And when we talk about God as three persons, we mean three persons in the ancient sense of the word. Confusing these two senses of the word person inevitably leads to the idea that God is actually a committee. And so I believe this is exactly what Brother Branham was arguing in his point is that God is not three persons as in three personalities. To say that God is three persons as in three personalities makes him a committee and puts it forth that you're worshiping three different gods. But when we look at this, is that God has three different personas or three different masks, three major roles in the great drama of human redemption that are this all played by the same God who is one person. And each of these three different roles are God revealed in three different distinct ways. And so as we begin to break this down and understand that if if this is what's being expressed by the terminology Trinity, as Alistair McGrath is is saying, is this what the original understanding of the Trinity was, then as message believers, we can certainly embrace that. We believe that, just as Brother Branham taught it, that when he uses the terms trinity or triunity, these these terms that he's using, they're not they're they're not meaning what modern people mean it. When you say three persons in the modern sense, that's as we said before, that's a social trinity. That's you know, three persons in the full psychological sense of persons. So then that that's no different than believing in three gods. But if we understand it the way the ancient writers put the word person, persona, you know, that's exactly you can go look at the sermon Unveiling of God. You can look at the sermon, I think ashamed, it's called, a number of different sermons that Brother Branham speaks about the Trinity in this way, that it's three different masks or three different roles played by one and the same person. And I could say amen to that. That's the truth. Of course, there's more details to that. That's just the big picture of understanding the Godhead. Even the early church fathers presented it the same way Brother Branham did about the unfolding of God into the Logos, the Theophany, and then the birth of Jesus Christ coming forth and that same Logos coming to take on human flesh. And so there's more to it than just that. You know, there's there's real manifestation and distinction in those manifestations as God is unfolding himself uh into his people for the purpose of redemption. And so, as we look at that, I think that clears many things up. And, you know, I wish there could be a true and honest conversation about this, and we could come back to the original truth of the Bible, just as Alistair McGrath is explaining there. So now let's turn and look at the fruits of Nicene Christianity, as this is uh many times referred to and maybe sometimes even overblown about Nicaea and the creation of the Roman Catholic Church. It's much more nuanced than that. And there's much more to the history of that, and it's not as though the Trinity was of three persons was hatched out of nowhere. There's a progression and a process to it, and even as Alistair McGrath details, there's confusion, uh, modern confusion about terminology that leads to a false understanding. And so let's look at the fruits of Nicene Christianity and see that it was pretty it was it was laying in the wrong seed, and so it laid in the wrong seed, and the wrong fruit began to grow. So Christianity had spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond into Britain, Norway, Germany, Russia, Sudan, Somalia, all of North Africa, into all of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Arabia, Afghanistan, India, even into China a bit. So this subsequent to the church declaring the Nicene, Constantinople, Constantinople, and Ephesus Creeds, it began to settle down into formal religious acts. The church was now connected politically in Rome and Constantinople, the two capitals of Rome. And just so people don't get terribly confused, I realized that prior to prior to the Nicet Creed, uh, Christianity had barely, barely made its way into Britain, barely made its way into Norway, barely into Russia, Germany and Russia. That that was later the real places that it had spread into, is as we mentioned, North Africa, all of North Africa, all of the Middle East, and even into Central Asia, and into India and to China, and so it really hadn't made a great headway into Europe yet, and it's not until the Protestant Reformation that the church went into Sub-Saharan Africa and into deep into Southeast Asia. So just to clarify, so again, the church was now politically collect connected in Rome and Constantinople, two separate capitals of Rome. Around this time, Constantine had his vision and turned Christianity from being illegal to making it a legal religion. And when this happened, it began to spiritually die. It formed layers of hierarchy, and even did that early on in many ways. It continued to formulate its own doctrines, loosely based on scripture, but mostly based on the authority of the church fathers of history. Roughly 300 years later, after Nicaea, Muhammad began his crusades and revelations that directly opposed the Christian faith. As a result, the territories where there were Christians diminished and receded mostly to the Byzantine Empire and Mediterranean Europe with a few few spots here and there in northern and western Europe. The fruits of Nicaea, based upon history, were actually spiritual death. God cursed the world as a result with the spread of the Dark Ages, though we can look at that terminology, but the Roman Catholic Church took over in Western Europe and Islam took over in the East, in the Byzantine Empire. So the world did not change at all during that time, in a major way, until the Bible began to be restored to its rightful place as the final authority of the church, starting with some of the reformers pre-Luther, but Luther was the one that God used to spread it far and wide through Western Europe. Martin Luther says, if the as we saw before, we read this before. Let me just skip past that. This is what I wanted to get to. So Luther's words at the Diet of Worms. I know that's a strange way of saying, but it was it's an imperial diet, which means it's a gathering of those who were decision makers in the Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, and religious leaders and government leaders gathered together to make the decisions of the day. And so Luther was called there. And Luther said this when he was interrogated and cross-examined in front of them and said, Give a clear answer, and he says, Unless I'm convinced by the testimony of the scriptures or by clear reason, for I do not trust either in the Pope or in the counsels alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves. I am bound by the scriptures. I have quoted, and my conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen. So his heart was bound to scripture, and that's where he stood, and he wasn't going to depart from that understanding and from that revelation. And so that's where he stood. He was not going to go against conscience in that place. Alright. So now let's go back to Jewish thought. And I'm not so much interested in modern Jewish thought, but I'm more interested in historical Jewish thought as connected to what Jesus and the Apostle Paul and all the apostles would have believed. Now that doesn't make it the final authority. We don't look to that, but we look at the continuity of the Old Testament and the New Testament. But we could find an unbroken chain of understanding in Jewish belief that God is one. God is an undivided unity. And the Jewish creed or the Jewish confession is found in Deuteronomy 6.4. Hero Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And Jesus and Paul both reaffirmed this simple confession confession. Mark 12, 28, and 29. And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is Hero Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And Paul in Galatians 3 20. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. So a Jewish thought, God is an undivided unity. God is one, He's one person. So there we have, if you're listening to the podcast, you'll miss this portion of it. But we have on the left an illustr a picture illustrating the Trinity, three separate persons sitting on three different thrones in heaven. And then we have biblical truth. And with an illustration showing that which is in Revelation chapter 4. We have God seated upon a throne, a rainbow around, about the throne, supernatural light emanating from that throne, seven seven golden lampstands, and then four beasts and twenty-four elders. So there's one sitting upon the throne, not three sitting upon the throne. And we see this theme through scripture, Isaiah 6 1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I also I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. So the Lord, one Lord, sitting upon one throne. And then Ezekiel 126, and above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone, and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. So one man, one throne, one Lord, one throne. Not three thrones, not three persons. If God wants to show himself to three be three separate and distinct persons, this is his great chance to do it. But he doesn't. He shows himself as one person sitting on the throne. Revelations 4, 2 through 4. And immediately I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne, and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone, and there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald, and round about the throne were four and twenty seats, and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold. So one sat on the throne, one throne in heaven, for one God who is one person. So let's look at some important verses about the oneness of God. First Timothy six sixteen, who only hath immortality dwelling in the light, who only one person. God alone has immortality, who is one person, dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen, nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting, amen. So God himself is invisible. No man has seen him, nor can you see him. And all you see there is light. So he's dwelling in the light. So that light is a visible manifestation of the invisible, but the true and living God is invisible. You cannot see him. First Timothy 2 5, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There's one God. Not two, not three, not one God in three persons, one God. As we read before, Isaiah 44, verse 24, thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I, single personal pronoun, am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself. So God did it alone. Isaiah 43, 10 and 11, you are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am He, and before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior. So there is one personal pronoun, I, even I am the Lord. You're my witnesses, I am he. There's no other God formed before me or after me. He alone is God. John 4 24, God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. God is three spirits, two spirits, God is a spirit, one spirit. So looking at this, the attributes of God. God is one, God is invisible, God is spirit, God is holy, God is love, God is creator, God is judge. Brother Branham teaches us also that we're not following Jesus' only doctrine. In the Feast of the Trumpets, Brother Branham says the mysteries, even of the baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus, and away from the oneness idea. Look through the book of Acts. We can find the church in practice, and you can also look at this. We'll cover this in another one is the only way the early church baptized was in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, why does Jesus say Matthew 20, 18, the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? Because the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is the Lord Jesus Christ. Father is not a name, Son is not a name, Holy Spirit is not a name. The name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is Acts 2.38, Acts 8.16, Acts 10, Acts 19. Every time baptism was named in the book of Acts in action, they showed that they understood what the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost was. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. So Brother Branham says, Many of you get off on the wrong track when you try to think that God is one like your finger is one. He can't be his own father. He can't be. John 1 18. No man has seen God at any time. So God cannot be seen with your with the naked eye. But the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. So the Son is the visible manifestation of the invisible God. Colossus one fifteen, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. The Son is the invisib image of the invisible God. We read this before that the Son is the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person, upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. So the right hand of God means the authority and the power and the mercy of God. If we f when we look at Revelation 3, Jesus says, I overcame and sat down on my Father's throne. So who's sitting upon the throne in heaven? Jesus Christ. Why? Because he's the visible manifestation of him who cannot be seen. John fourteen, eight through ten. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father. And how sayest thou, show us the Father? Oh how how is that? When we see Jesus, we see the Father, says this, believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. So how do we see the Fat the invisible Father? By seeing Jesus. When you see Jesus by revelation, you're seeing the Father. Why? Because the Father is dwelling in the Son, and the Son is the exact imprint of his nature. Second Corinthians five nineteen, to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and had committed unto us the word of reconciliation. So God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. So it's God in Christ. Second Corinthians 4.6. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face, in the prosopone of Jesus Christ. So the glory of God is manifested in the visible prosopon, the face of Jesus Christ. First Timothy three sixteen, 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. So the Son is the flesh, and God is the Spirit that was in the flesh. Matthew sixteen, thirteen and sixteen and seventeen. Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say I, the Son of Man and? And then they give him various answers, just one of your one of the prophets, Jeremiah, etcetera, etc. says, Who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered, said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon, bar. Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. So who is Jesus? He's the Messiah, he's the anointed one, the Son of the Living God. Colossians 2 9 says, For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So all the attributes of God are revealed through Christ. So this verse shows us that Jesus is actually not the a member of a three-person trinity. Instead, we find that all the fullness of God's divine nature is bodily in Christ. So Christ is the body, and his father is the Godhead. When you see the body, the Son of God, you're seeing the invisible God manifested. Alright. So Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah, he's to be a prophet. Deuteronomy 18, 15 through 18 tells us that the Lord will, thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hearken. And I'll put my words, and I'll raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. So the Messiah will be a prophet like Moses, a deliverer and a leader, and he'll be of thy brethren. He'll be born amongst the Jewish nation. So he's the Messiah will be a man who is a prophet. 2 Samuel 7, 12 through 14. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. And so we also read Luke 135 the Holy Ghost shall overshadow you, and the power power of the highest shall overshadow you. That holy things which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God. So Son of God means the chosen king. And the Son of God speaks of his conception by the Holy Spirit. Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. A day in time and history when he was begotten, not eternally begotten, son assumes beginning. When did he begin? In the womb of a virgin. The birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When as his mother was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found of child of the Holy Ghost. Birth. The word birth there is Gana'o, or the word we get in English for Genesis, which means beginning. So the beginning of Jesus Christ was what? When the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. The first Lord there is the Hebrew word Yahweh. So Yahweh spoke to Messiah. Yahweh, the invisible God, spoke to the man Christ Jesus. And we find also here that this term used for it says, said unto my Lord is the word Adonai. It's not the word Adonai that you'll find in other places for Lord, but it's the word Adonai, which is used in conjunction with human leaders, 1 Samuel 24, 8. David also arose afterward and went out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, My Lord, my Adoni, the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself. So my Lord. So the right hand of God means he shares in the power, majesty, and glory of God. Just as Joseph represented Pharaoh, he was at the you could say he was exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh. Jesus is exalted to the right hand of God. That means he sits upon God's throne and he's God's representative. When you see Jesus, you're seeing God. All right, let's keep going. Psalm 2, verse 2. The kings of the earth set themselves together, set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, So there is there it is, anointed. Messiah means anointed. We find this in a few places in the Old Testament, Isaiah 11 2. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and of might, spirit of knowledge and the of the fear of the Lord. Acts 10 38 bears that out, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. So the Messiah is anointed with the Spirit of Yahweh. Isaiah 42, 1. Behold, my servant whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. So Messiah or the anointed one is elect. He is chosen. So the terms Son of God, Jesus, Christ, they all refer to the humanity of Jesus, Jesus. And they all come into existence and begin to be used at his birth in Bethlehem. As we saw before in Luke 135, that word therefore, and he says, Therefore, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Therefore it means because of this, because of what? It's because of the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary that Jesus is the Son of God. It's not because he existed eternally in heaven as God the Son, it's because the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary. That's why he gets the title Son of God. This is so plain in Scripture. We've referred to it before, Galatians 4 4. When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. Made meets to come into existence. So the Son didn't exist eternally, he came into existence from a woman and under the time of the law of Moses. So the the Holy Ghost overshadowed Mary and created a little embryo within her. Both sperm and egg were created directly by God, and God also placed his very own life within that embryo. So it was birthed forth as the son of God. So when when God gives birth to a son, what life is that? God. A horse has a horse. What is a horse gives birth to a horse? A cow gives birth to a to a cow. Horrible. A dog gives birth to a dog. A human gives birth to a human. God gives birth to sons of God. So he he had to be born without the nature of sin that would have been inherited from Mary. That's why God had to create both sperm and egg and fuse them together in the womb of Mary. The Bible calls him the last Adam in 1 Corinthians 15. He was a direct creation of God in a virgin, just as Adam was a direct creation of God from the dust. The word became flesh. The plan, purpose of God from before the foundation of the world became human flesh. The express image of God was born through a virgin. Brother Branham, in the sermon, God's always gifts always find their places. Says the man, the body, was not deity, but deity was in the body. Then he says in the harvest time, Jews don't try to claim as is yours. He was neither Jew nor Gentile. He was God, see, you are what your blood is, see, and of course your flesh. And Mary, of course, Mary didn't have any conception with the Holy Ghost, giving her a sensation. God the Father created a germ or an egg in Mary and a blood cell in her also, and it was the blood of God. So the very life of God himself was born in human flesh as the Son of God, and that man, the body, it was not deity, but deity was dwelling within that body. But that body that was living, that human flesh that was living, had the life of God in it, just as God intended for us to all be born that way. Luke 6 12. And well, I just said something that was probably confusing is when God in the beginning designed us all to be the image and likeness of God, he didn't design us to have a hybrid life from the sons of God and daughters of men line, the serpent seed line, and the sons of God line. No, he didn't design us to be hybrid in the flesh, he designed us to carry the very life of God in our bodies. We were born tainted with that serpent nature within us, fallen nature within us from Adam and then from the serpent that came forth. And because of that hybridization, we need to be born again. But Jesus bypassed that all and had the very life of God without hybridization in his human flesh. Luke 6, 12, and it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. Luke 22, 41 and 42, and he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. So there were two wills. There was the will of the Son of God, and there was the will of God, and the Son of God had to surrender his will to the will of God. So the Son of God prayed, the Son of God had to surrender his will. So does God need himself need to pray it to himself? No. But a man who is the Son of God needed to pray and needed to surrender his will to Almighty God. Luke 2, 39 and 40. And when they had performed all these things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. So he grew in wisdom and grace and the grace of God. So does God need to grow in the grace of God and in wisdom and favor with God and men? No. But the Son of God, the man Christ Jesus needed to. Did God die for our sins? First Timothy 2 5 says, the man Christ Jesus died for our sins on the cross. Cannot kill God because he's a spirit and is immortal. And Brother Branham tells us that clearly, that the anointing left him in the Garden of Gethsemane, and that he had to die a man, because if he went there as God, he wouldn't have been able to be killed. Matthew 24, 36, but of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my father only. So God knows the future completely, but the Son of God did not know the future completely unless the Father showed him, as we read in John 5. Does God Himself mediate between Himself and mankind? No. It's not the God Christ Jesus, but the man Christ Jesus that is the mediator between God and men. Is the Holy Spirit a third person, a separate person? Let's look at some scriptures. John fourteen, seventeen and eighteen, even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave your comfortless, I will come to you. John fourteen twenty-six. But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and brief bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Matthew ten twenty, for it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you. Galatians four six, and because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father. So we see all this. The Holy Spirit is spoken in so many different ways. How do we understand this properly? Jesus says, I will come to you in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Father sends the Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. It's the Spirit of your Father and speaking in you. It's the Spirit of the Son. All right, which is it? Yes, it's all of it. First Corinthians 2 11. Let's look at that to help us understand. For what man knoweth the things of a man, the save the spirit of man which is in him, even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. So are you a separate person from your spirit? No. So the mind of God and the spirit of God and God Himself are all one and the same. Different aspects of one person. Right? The things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. So the mind of God and the Spirit of God are one. First Corinthians eight, six. So as you know, as we look at that, we see this is it's one it's one spirit. You can say the Holy Spirit comes forth from the Father. Absolutely. Because the Father, God dwells in heaven, God dwells on earth, God dwells in all his people, God dwells in fullness in Jesus Christ, he dwells in fullness in his bride. Say, how is it possible? Scripture says so. That's how it's possible. God's not limited to one space. First Corinthians eight, six. But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. So there again speaking of the distinction: one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ. We have to see the revelation of the distinction. John 17 3, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. So we need to know the Father, who is the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Ephesians 1 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him. So the Lord Jesus Christ has a God, the Father. John 20, 17, Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I'm 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 to your God. So there's one God, the Father, who is a Spirit, and one Lord Jesus Christ, the man Christ Jesus, the Son of God. So the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all revealed in one name. Matthew 28, 19. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name singular, one name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So if we're going to be grammatically correct, and Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are names, then we have to say baptizing them in the names of the Father. But it's not names, it's the singular name. Why? Because it's a spiritual riddle given to us to catch the revelation of what he's pointing. He says, All power in heaven and earth is given unto me. Go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So all power is given to who? Jesus Christ. John 5 7, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three three are one. Note it doesn't say three persons in one. It says the three are one. Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost are all one person. Acts 2.38. Then Peter said unto him, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remissions of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. So there we have Acts 2.38 is the fulfillment of Matthew 28.19. Jesus isn't telling them to do something different, and Peter's disobeying the commands of the Lord. This is all scripture. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter is fulfilling exactly what Jesus said. The name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is Jesus Christ. Acts 8.16, for as yet he was fallen upon none of them, the Holy Ghost, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts 19.5. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Right? So we see then John 5.43, I am come in my Father's names, and you received me not. So what is the Father's name? Jesus. John fourteen, twenty-six, but the comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. So the Holy Ghost is what? Jesus. Acts four, ten through twelve. Be it known unto you all and all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you. This is the stone which was set at not of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. So there's only one name by which we're saved, and there's only one name by which we must be baptized. So when we realize that the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is the Lord Jesus Christ, now you can see why has the entire church for the last 1500 years fallen away from the original faith. They have it's longer than 1500 years, 1700 years. They've turned away from what the scripture says to baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they've taken title the titles Father, Son, and Holy Ghost had baptized in them. We've got to return back to the original faith. We've got to go back to the Bible and baptize just the way the Bible tells us to do that, not according to church history, church tradition, but according to the Bible. So it is the image of God made flesh, visible image of God made flesh. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called, his name, one name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. So if you look at that, Elijah means God is Yahweh, right? Eliah, God El is God, Yah, Yahweh. Isaiah means Isaiah means Yahweh is salvation. So Jesus was given his Father's name. Yahweh is salvation, Yeshua, Jesus, showing that Jesus, the Son of God, born in Bethlehem, is the re perfect reflection of his Father, John 1 14. And the word was made, the word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This is such a wonderful picture, like the picture of when the tabernacle was fully erected in the Old Testament that was fully erected, and the glory of the Lord came down, supernatural glory came down and entered into the tabernacle. So Jesus at his baptism, the glory of the Lord came down in the form of a dove and entered into him, and that became he became the tabernacle of God. So the word, the logos of God, tabernacled in human flesh. Simple truth made plain. God is a spirit. That means that's speaking of the invisible Father, the man, Christ Jesus is the visible Son. So if I look into the mirror, the image in the mirror is not me, and that yet that image is a perfect reflection of me. The one true and living, immortal, invisible, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent God is revealed in his own Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Another another illustration of it is I am not I have a A Facebook uh profile, but I'm not me, my me as a person, I'm not limited to the Facebook uh world, the Facebook dimension. I dwell in another dimension outside of it, but I control what happens within my personal Facebook dimension, so that in Facebook, my profile is not me, but my profile is how I'm put on display within the Facebook world. So that that Facebook profile is me, and yet I'm not limited by that, I'm outside of that. That's the same way with God and Christ. In this world, Christ is God made manifest, and yet God isn't just limited to that one space and time, he is over and above, and in another dimension from that. And we want to do this more as we go forward. I really want to take time to uh dig into a lot of quotes and uh more scripture, especially looking at Logos and different aspects of his teaching. But Brother Branham has some wonderful synopsis as he speaks about the Godhead in 1957 in the sermon Blind Bartimaeus. He says, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of Jehovah God, that God overshadowed Mary, created a blood cell in her, and she brought forth a son, Christ Jesus. God came and dwelt in this body, reconciling the world to himself. I believe that this Jesus is the Son of Jehovah God. And then in 1955, the sermon Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. And the day that when John baptized him, God vindicated him, God spoke from the heavens. John saw him coming in the form of a dove and said, This is my beloved son, in whom I'm pleased to dwell. The right translation there is, in whom I am pleased to dwell in. Jesus immediately anointed with God, he was just a man till that time, but now he becomes the God man. In things that are to be, Brother Branham says, Now Jesus here is speaking about, he's gone ahead to prepare a place for us. Let not your hearts be troubled. Now he was talking to Jews, said, Now you believed in God, believe also in me. You've as you have believed in God, believe in me, because I am the Son of God. See in God, other words, I and my Father are one, my Father is dwelling in me, and what you see me do, I'm doing. It's not me, it's my Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. It was easy for those Jews who had been taught through generations to believe that there was a great supernatural God, but to think that that God had come down and was manifesting himself through the person of his son, Jesus Christ, God tabernacled in a body of flesh, that was a little too much for them to understand. So God bless you. I trust that that was a blessing and a help, and it wasn't too much confusion as far as that goes. I believe there's there's it's a it's an incredible subject. It's one that we should really take more time to look into and to study more. It's one of my favorite subjects personally. So thankful for what how the Lord used Brother Branham to reveal himself to us and to open up the scripture in such a marvelous way. As I read before, I think great synopsis is what Alistair McGrath wrote about how uh modern Trinitarians use the word person and mean the modern sense of the term, and so they say three persons, and that would lead someone to believe, think that God is a committee of gods and that there's three gods. And if if God is three persons in the full psychological sense of a personality, then that wouldn't be any different than believing in three gods, and that's not what scripture is teaching, and it's even really not what the early church was teaching, but they were using the term person in the sense of persona, which speaks of the mask of an actor on the play. So it's three different roles that the same person played God in the great drama of redemption. So I believe that's a great synopsis of it, and that God is a spirit, and that he's manifested, you know, uh excuse me. God is a spirit, and that he manifested himself in the old testament in in various forms as their as their great father, but then in the new testament, he came down and dwelled in a body of flesh, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the perfect man. He was manifested there, and then by the Holy Spirit, he comes down and dwells within his body believers, and it's God condescending and revealing his own life all the time. So God bless you. Any once again, any questions or prayer requests or testimonies, please let me know at jasondemars.com. There's a contact form there. Appreciate you listening in. Make sure to share this and also subscribe and comment as well.