What water baptism means Part 2

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COLOSSIANS 3:7  “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

“God and the Father”. What is the difference between God and the Father?

Baptism represents the death, burial, and resurrection of the Man Jesus.

God the Father is a Spirit. He cannot be killed and buried.

Water Baptism gives the Bride the name of her Husband Jesus

The Israelites came alive out of the Red Sea because they followed in the name of Moses.

The Egyptians died in the Red Sea because they followed in the name of Pharaoh, which is a title, not a name.

The saved foolish virgins die in great Tribulation as their baptism takes on the name of 3 Titles which pretend to be a name.

The three Manifestations of God are:

The Father is ABOVE us, the Son is WITH us, and the Holy Spirit is IN us.

Peter's first Key bound or stopped John's nameless baptism. His second Key loosed baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.

The early believers were just called Christians. They belonged to Christ, not to a church.

They worshiped in homes in small groups. A Pastor was never made the head of a church in thr New Testament.

They were only interested in uplifting one name, Jesus.

JOHN 12:32  “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

The Godhead has thrown up two big problems

Problem 1.

If God consists of three separate Persons, then God loses His name because you cannot find one name for three Persons.

This problem cannot be solved. Trinitarians ignore the issue and are unconcerned about the fact that their God does not have a name.

But, the third Commandment tells us that God has got a name and we must not take the name of God in vain.

EXODUS 20:7  “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”

One meaning of this is that we must not use the name of God as a swear word.

Sinners, when hurt or frustrated, freely swear by saying, “Jesus Christ” as they know that is God’s name.

No sinner ever swears “in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost”. Sinners know that it is not a name.

The ultimate irony. Sinners know the name of God, but church-goers do not.

Problem 2.

The big problem is to explain how “Jesus” is the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The big mistake was to describe God in terms of Persons.

The Bible never uses the word “Persons” when speaking about God.

The Bible never shows us a picture of three Persons sitting on a throne in Heaven.

But the Bible does say God was “manifest” in the flesh.

I TIMOTHY 3:16  “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

Manifesting Himself means the invisible God was showing Himself in a body that could be seen.

God cannot be seen because God is a Spirit.

JOHN 4:24   “God is a Spirit:”

JOHN 1:18  “No man hath seen God at any time”.

God is not a man.

NUMBERS 23:19  “God is not a man,”

This is the problem. Jesus is God, but the Man Jesus is not God.

How do we reconcile these two statements?

In the Old Testament the supernatural God called Himself the Father (never “God the Father”) and was manifest ABOVE the Israelites. He appeared as a supernatural Pillar of Fire or a Pillar of Cloud or as the Angel of the Lord.

The Israelites called Him LORD. God appeared in a supernatural spirit body. You can call this a celestial body or a theophany.

Father always meant the supernatural God.

As the Father, the supernatural God had many names. Jehovah. Elohim. Adonai. El. Elah. I AM. Jealous.

EXODUS 34:14  “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD,

whose name is Jealous, 

is a jealous God:”

These many names were not actually names, because God is supposed to have one name.

“Jealous” is actually a characteristic of God.

He wants to be supreme. He does not want competition.

In reality, these Old Testament names describe God’s character, which has many facets.

“I AM” is not a name. It is an unapologetic statement of eternal self-existence.

Thus, the Old Testament Israelites preferred not to use a name for God.

They were known as the nation that worshipped a God Who had no name.

Samson’s parents asked for the name of the Angel of the Lord. They knew that this Angel was God. But God’s name was secret in the Old Testament.

JUDGES 13:18   “And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?”

JUDGES 13:22   “And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.”

Jacob met God and asked unsuccessfully what His name was.

GENESIS 32:24  “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.”

Jacob wrestled with God in the form of a man. God just picked up a handful of earth and made a body for Himself. After dealing with Jacob, God let the body return to being a handful of earth as the Spirit of God returned to Heaven.

GENESIS 32:29   “And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.”

Jacob asked God for His name. This was a great secret in the Old Testament.

God merely replied, “Why do you ask?”

Obviously, God’s name was a great secret that God was unlikely to disclose.

GENESIS 32:30  “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

The name of God, when He was manifest as the Father above the Israelites, was a great mystery that nobody knew.

But God was never called “God the Father” in the Old Testament.

Trinitarians cannot explain why.

The truth is that Jesus is the supernatural God, Who is the Father, made flesh.

Jesus never revealed His name in the Old Testament when He was manifest as a supernatural Spirit that lived in a theophany or spirit-body called a Pillar of Cloud or Pillar of Fire or the spirit-body of the Angel of the Lord.

JOHN 1:14  “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,

(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Then came a big change.

The supernatural Father (the Old Testament God) decided to fully live inside a human body, the body of Jesus.

COLOSSIANS 2:9  “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

JOHN 14:10   “Believest thou not that I am in the Father”

[Jesus was fully in the will of the invisible Father God],

“and the Father in me?”

[The supernatural Father, Who is Spirit, fully dwelled inside the human body of Jesus]

“the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself:

but the Father that dwelleth in me,

he doeth the works.”

For the first time, the supernatural Father Who dwelled in the Man Jesus Christ, is called “God the Father”.

God was never called “God the Father” in the Old Testament.

Jesus, as a Man, is not God. But because the fulness of God dwells in Jesus, that is what makes Him God.

NUMBERS 23:19  “God is not a man,”

God has not got flesh and bone like a man.

Thus, you can never say “God the Son”. That would mean that God has flesh and bone.

The body of flesh and bone that God dwells in is called the “Son of God”.

But there is one important qualification.

The Man, the Son of God, has to be totally obedient to the indwelling supernatural Father.

Jesus is our role model.

We cannot be sons and daughters of God unless a portion of God dwells in us and we are totally obedient to His Will and leading.

But, while Jesus lived on earth, the manifestation of God changed subtly.

The human Nature of God developed from Child to Adult. God developed His Humanity.

You are everything that is in you.

Jesus is God because the fulness of God dwelled inside Him.

All of God dwelled in one Man.

This was the second manifestation of God. God revealing Himself in the Man Jesus.

The invisible Spirit of God revealing Himself by the speech and behaviour of the only Man that God fully dwelled in.

Emmanuel, God with us.

But the supernatural Father Who demands perfection was now merged with His human Son Who understands us, because the Son is human too and understands us fellow humans.

COLOSSIANS 3:7  “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

“God and the Father”.

What is the difference between God and the Father?

The Father is still the supernatural Spirit.

But the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ. So, God is now a combination of the supernatural and the human. In Christ, God manifests a human nature that merges with the divine nature of the supernatural Spirit.

On the other hand, the Father still remains the appropriate supernatural Spirit.

As an example, you have a subconscious mind or spirit that keeps you breathing when you sleep. Call the subconscious “father”. You also have a conscious mind that you can call “son”.

You do not have two minds. Your mind has two ways of manifesting itself.

You control your conscious mind but your subconscious mind, in its own time, suddenly recalls facts that you had forgotten. Your subconscious mind suddenly argues with you through your conscience when you deviate from the straight and narrow.

As the Son, Jesus was manifest as the man-God.

Both human and supernatural manifestations in the body of one Man. The Son of God.

Never called “God the Son” because God, Who is a Spirit, has no flesh.

In Christ, we have the merging of the supernatural Spirit with the perfect human spirit or nature.

The “Son” represents God “coming down” to our level.

That is a reason for His baptism in the River Jordan.

(Jordan means “coming down” or descending).

JOHN 3:34  “For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.”

The second manifestation of God was allowing the fulness of both God’s human and supernatural powers and wisdom to be compacted inside one Man, Jesus.

As the Son, this is the only time that God took on a clear-cut name.

The many names of God in the Old Testament fell away and are not mentioned in the New Testament.

The supernatural God was called I AM in Moses’ day.

EXODUS 3:14  “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”

Jesus said, before Abraham was, I AM.

He did not refer to God the Father, He refered to Himself.

JOHN 8:58  “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”

That simply means that Jesus is the supernatural God that appeared to Moses because that supernatural God, the Father, dwelled in Him.

The third manifestation of God was very unexpected

The combined human and supernatural Spirit of God was then going to be manifested in human beings down on earth, while God stayed in Heaven.

God would send a portion of His Holy Spirit to come down (Jordan) into the hearts of the believers. The Book of Acts saw God splitting up the Spirit that He projected down to earth into about 120 tongues of fire as a public demonstration that the New Testament church was being launched by God.

ACTS 1:15  “And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)”

ACTS 2:3  “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.”

COLOSSIANS 1:27   “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;

which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:”

JOHN 15:5  “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

The secret of success for a Christian is to have the Holy Spirit of Christ  controlling his or her life from within.

PHILIPPIANS 4:13  “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

The indwelling Spirit of Christ enables us to do what has to be done to fulfill God's Will.

PHILIPPIANS 2:13  “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

Our hidden strength comes from the fact that it is that portion of God’s Spirit in us which gives us the will and the desire to do what God wants done.

God’s Spirit wants to be in full control of us.

As the Holy Spirit, God would be manifest IN the hearts and lives of His church. The people are the church.

(Historians have never found a building just used for worship that was built before AD 220. The Jewish Temple was destroyed in AD 70).

God in us has a very important application for us.

The portion of the Holy Spirit that comes into your heart brings with it both a portion of the supernatural Spirit (God the Father) as well as the portion that is the proper human spirit (the Son of God) that God wants you to be.

Then, that portion of God can be manifest in the speech and behaviour of your physical body.

For you to be totally subject to the will of God, it is then necessary for you to die to yourself.

I CORINTHIANS 15:31  “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord,

I die daily.”

God’s ways are not our ways.

Our thinking, however clever, can never reveal God’s Will for our lives.

ISAIAH 55:9  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

We have to die to our own ideas  and ambitions if we are to find God’s Will in our lives.

The three Manifestations of God are:

The Father is ABOVE us, the Son is WITH us, and the Holy Spirit is IN us.

The Holy Spirit never has a name in the Bible.

Lord is not a name, it is a title.

Baptism represents death, burial, and resurrection

ROMANS 6:3  “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?”

A corpse is laid on its back and covered with earth in the grave.

This is acted out by lowering the person backwards into the water until they are covered in water.

ROMANS 6:4   “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Then the person who acts as if he or she is dead, because eyes are closed and there is no breathing, is then raised up out of the water. This represents the resurrection from the dead.

ROMANS 6:5  “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:”

A person is only buried once, not three times. Some Trinitarians baptize three times for Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. That does not represent an actual burial.

People are not buried by having soil sprinkled over their heads.

Sprinkling water onto a person's head does not baptize them.

"The church at one time practiced immersion. This was up to the thirteenth century. The Council of Ravenna, in 1311, changed the form from immersion to pouring."

(Roman Catholics. Our Faith and the Facts, p. 399).

Our English word "baptism" is from the Greek word "baptisma" and means "immersion, submersion, and emergence"

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, p. 94

Let us look at an example of water baptism.

ACTS 8:38  “And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.”.

:39  “And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.”

They would not both go down into the water if Philip was just going to sprinkle some water over his head.

Baptism represents the death, burial, and resurrection of the Man Jesus.

God the Father is a Spirit. He cannot be killed and buried.

If the Father is a separate Person, then He never died and never got buried. Thus, He has got nothing to do with our water baptism.

The same applies to the Holy Spirit. If He is a separate Person, then He never died nor was buried. Thus, the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with our water baptism.

Even worse. The Holy Spirit never has a name given to Him in the Bible. Why?

The Holy Spirit is the Father of Jesus.

MATTHEW 1:20  “But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”

The man who places the seed of life in a woman’s womb is the father of that child.

Thus, the Holy Ghost is the Father of Jesus.

It was the Holy Ghost Who spoke when He descended and rested on Jesus after His water baptism. Saying, Thou art my beloved Son.

Just like Jesus, sitting on the Mercy Seat in Heaven, projected His Holy Spirit to look like a bright Light as He spoke to Saul on the road to Damascus.

The Holy Spirit supernaturally created the Seed of Eternal Life in Mary’s womb.

The Holy Spirit then indwelt that Seed and the Fetus that formed so that God could become a Man.

LUKE 2:11  “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

The Baby Jesus was born as Lord. Christ means the Anointed One.

Jesus was born as the Anointed One. The anointing of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

At His water baptism, Jesus received an outer anointing that was visible to the prophet John.

This happened in order to indicate that His ministry was starting. Jesus, as the Son, was Emmanuel, God with us.

Similarly, the Holy Spirit was physically manifest as an outer visible anointing of tongues of fire on the Day of Pentecost.

Baptism gives the Bride the name of her Husband Jesus

The only time that God took on a clear-cut single name was when God became a Man and called Himself Jesus.

The first perfect man was Adam and God made a bride for him, called woman.

The second perfect man was Jesus but He is called the last Adam because He is the last perfect man. There would never be another perfect man after him.

I CORINTHIANS 15:45  “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”

Being a Man, Jesus is also looking for a Bride.

Marriage involves a woman taking on the name of her husband.

How does that affect us?

There is only one event whereby a person can take on the name of Jesus, and that is water baptism.

If we do not take on His name, then we will not be invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Heaven, while the saved church world goes into great Tribulation.

The saved foolish virgins of Matthew Chapter 25 mistakenly took on the titles of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. They were fooled into thinking that titles are a name. Like the Egyptians who followed Pharaoh, they follow titles to their deaths.

Who is our Moses Who can rise up from the threatening waters of death?

The Bridegroom Jesus is coming for the Bride, those who can see that the three Persons of the Trinity cannot have one name.

But the Bride are able to see that Jesus is God above us as the Father, He is God with us as the Son, and most importantly, He is God in us as the Holy Ghost.

Jesus is above us, with us, and in us. Thus, He gives us total protection.

That is the true attribute of a Husband, protecting His Bride who carries the single name of her Husband, Jesus.

Moses, surprisingly, gives us a preview of the water baptism.

This demonstrates the vital difference between the water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ (A name and a title. Christ is a title to tell us which Jesus we are referring to) and a baptism based only on a title that has no name.

Baptism in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is just pretending that three titles are a name.

That is just like a person saying, “In the name of the King”.

The person has not told us what the King’s name is, because King is not a name, King is a title.

A title just tells us who the person is.

The title shows the rank or position of the person but gives no information about the person’s name.

 I CORINTHIANS 10:2  “And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;”

The depth of the Red Sea opened up a narrow channel for the Jews to pass through.

They walked through this narrow channel of dry land with water piled up above their heads on both sides of them. If God had not held back the water they would be totally buried under the water. (Symbolic of baptism by total immersion).

Paul claimed that this represented the water baptism.

The significance is that a huge amount of water was available.

This event is not symbolic of sprinkling some water on a person’s head.

The Israelites came out alive because they were baptized unto the name of Moses.

The name is of critical importance because the name reveals the main characteristic of the Person.

EXODUS 2:10   “And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.”

The name Moses means that he will come out of the water alive.

In baptism, instead of being covered by earth, water covers us as a symbol of burial.

But Moses was the Deliverer because he would come out of the water, symbolizing the resurrection from the dead.

Thus, Moses acted out the most important portion of the future ministry of Christ.

This event is important as it links the water baptism unto Moses to the idea of a vital name. A name that can be drawn out of the water of death in a resurrection of life.

Only Jesus could perform that.

The Father and the Holy Ghost, if they are the titles of separate Persons, cannot die and be buried. So, they are not part of this event.

The Egyptians were also keen to follow their baptism as they plunged into the opened waters in the name of Pharaoh. But it was a baptism of death.

Why, because Pharaoh is a title. All the Egyptians perished as they ended up being drowned. A preview of the saved foolish virgins who miss the Coming of the Lord and are killed in great Tribulation.

This deep-sea event is a warning to us. A title is no substitute for a name.

Warning. We must not desire the death of others, as the Egyptians wanted to kill their religious opponents but ended up dying themselves.

Baptism by sprinkling or baptism in the name of three titles, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost will take us to our deaths in great Tribulation.

Consider the actual baptisms that took place in the New Testament.

First, Peter the great fisherman, pulled in the Jews on the Day of Pentecost.

Peter was the apostle who had the keys to open the Door to Heaven.

Jesus spoke to Peter, saying:

MATTHEW 16:19  “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.”

The first step to Heaven was repentance. Repentance is the only way to wash away sin. That saves us from Hell. Then we can get to Heaven.

The second step was baptism in the name of Jesus Christ in order for the Bride to take on the name of her Husband. We cannot be part of the Bride in Heaven, unless we have His name.

The Bride will be closest to Jesus so they will be in the best part of Heaven.

Acts 2:38  “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Repent first, before getting baptized. So, babies cannot get baptized.

The name is Jesus. The title Christ tells us which Jesus.

Then Philip preached to the Samaritans (part Jew and part Gentile).

Acts 8:12  “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”

Again, the name of Jesus Christ is linked to their water baptism.

But Peter was the apostle who had the keys to open the Door to Heaven. So, Peter had to be called to pull in the Samaritans.

ACTS 8:14  “Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:”

ACTS 8:15  “Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:”

ACTS 8:16 “(For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)”

See. When the apostles preached Jesus, they baptized in the name of Jesus.

Lord is also a title that specifies that Jesus is God.

Thomas said, My Lord and my God.

JOHN 20:28  “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.”

Thus, Lord Jesus tells us precisely which Jesus we are referring to. Because His name is Jesus.

The name of "Jesus Christ" is Jesus. Christ is the title.

The name of "the Lord Jesus" is Jesus. Lord is a title.

The name of the "Lord Jesus Christ" is Jesus. Lord and Christ are titles.

Thus, there is no difference between the "name of Jesus Christ", the "name of the Lord Jesus", and the "name of the Lord Jesus Christ". Because, in each case, the name is Jesus.

Peter, as the fisherman with the keys, also pulled in the Gentiles.

ACTS 10:36  “The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)”

Thus, Jesus Christ is Lord.

ACTS 10:48   “And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.”

Since Jesus Christ is Lord, the name of the Lord is Jesus.

Peter’s second Key bound John the Baptist’s baptism***

But one problem area remained. The baptism of John the Baptist.

John the Baptist did not baptize in a name.

But Peter’s new baptism mentioned the name Jesus that the Bride had to take on in order to belong to her Husband.

John had left the scene but what about those who had been baptized by him?

Was John’s baptism still valid? No, because John’s baptism had no name.

A Bride cannot be without the name of her Husband.

Paul spoke to a group of John’s converts at Ephesus.

ACTS 19:4  “Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”

John the Baptist warned the people that Jesus would take over after him.

John’s baptism was an in-between step. It depended on what Jesus would do when He came along after John. John was just preparing the way for Jesus.

Jesus in turn gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven (that represents an understanding of the seven Gentile church ages as described in Matthew Chapter 13) to Peter.

Peter had to open the Door to Heaven for the Gentile people.

Peter had to bind something before he could loose something.

MATTHEW 16:19  “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.”

MARK 1:4   “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”

The blood of Jesus had not yet been shed. Thus, God temporarily accepted  John’s water baptism as a valid repentance.

Peter had to stop the baptism of John the Baptist as it was no longer valid once the blood of Jesus had been shed.

HEBREWS 9:22  “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”

Peter loosed the idea of repentance for remission of sin to get into Heaven, and then followed that by baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.

That enables the Bride to take on the name of Jesus as their Husband.

Then they belong to Christ, just like a bride belongs to her husband.

HASTINGS ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION
Vol 2, Pg 377 on ACTS 2:38
NAME was an ancient synonym for “person”. Payment was always made in the name of some person referring ownership.

Therefore, one being baptized in Jesus Name became his personal property. “Ye are Christ’s.”

A woman cannot be married to a man unless she has taken on his name.

But, by using the name of Jesus, Peter had a new baptism with the authority of a new name, Jesus, which effectively bound and ended John’s nameless baptism.

ACTS 19:5  “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

The best way for Satan to oppose this new baptism was to somehow get rid of the name Jesus.

MATTHEW 28:19  “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”

The churches call this the baptismal formula.

But we were not asked to be baptized in a formula. We must be baptized in a name.

Baptism in the name of Jesus fulfills Matthew 28:19 as Jesus is God manifest in the flesh.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost describe the fulness of God.

But the fullness of God dwells bodily in Jesus Christ.

COLOSSIANS 2:9  “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

So, the human name of the fullness of God is Jesus.

Thus, the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is Jesus.

Jesus is God, coming down (Jordan) to our level.

The apostle John died around AD 100. With his death, there was no recognised authority who could establish what was truth.

Ambitious churches wished to dominate others and made certain changes to establish their authority.

As time went by the church wanted to convert pagans with their trinity beliefs and this became easier if the church adopted a Trinitarian belief.

The church fathers, after the deaths of the apostles, used Greek philosophy to merge Christianity and paganism. This made it easier for pagans to feel at home in the church.

Greek philosophy paganized Christianity to make the church acceptable to the pagans.

Over the centuries, this new concept of Trinity evolved from its pagan roots.

“The basic form of our (Matthew 28:19 Trinitarian) profession of faith took shape during the course of the second and third centuries (between AD 101 – 299) in connection with the ceremony of baptism. So far as its place of origin is concerned, the text (Matthew 28:19) came from the city of Rome."

Source: Cardinal Ratzinger, Joseph (1968. Introduction to Christianity, Munich, pp. 82,83)

Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict 16 from 2005 to 2013.

The Catholic Encyclopedia

"The baptismal formula was changed from the name of Jesus Christ to the words Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by the Catholic Church in the second century." (p. 263)

Notice the term “words” because Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is not a name.

Pope Pelagius (556 - 560)

"There are many who say that they baptise in the name of Christ alone and by a single immersion."

Source: Burrage, H. S. (1879). Act of Baptism in the History of the Christian Church. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, p. 38.

The Pope was admitting that some Christians still obeyed the New Testament apostles, even though the Pope no longer did so.

Catholic Catechism

"Into Christ. The Bible tells us that Christians were baptized into Christ. They belong to Christ. The Acts of the Apostles (2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5) tells us of baptizing "in the name (person) of Jesus." — a better translation would be "into the name (person) of Jesus."

Only in the 4th Century (AD 300 – 399) did the formula “ln the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" become customary."

Source: Kersten, J. C. (1973). Bible Catechism. NY., N.Y.: Catholic Book Publishing Co., p. 164

The term Trias was first used by Theophilus of Antioch (c AD 180)

Council of Nicaea: The Council of Nicaea in AD 325 solidified the use of the Trinitarian formula in the administration of baptism, affirming the equality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit within the Godhead.

In AD 325 the Roman Emperor Constantine forced the Bishops at the Nicene Council to accept the Trinity doctrine.

BRITANNICA ENCYCLOPEDIA
11TH edition, Vol 3, Pg 365-366
The baptismal formula was changed from the name of JESUS CHRIST to the words Father, Son, & Holy Ghost by the Catholic Church in the second century.

BRITANNICA ENCYCLOPEDIA
Vol 3, Pg 82
Everywhere in the oldest sources it states that baptism took place in the name of Jesus Christ.

CANNEY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION
Pg 53
The early church always baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus until development of Trinity doctrine in the 2nd century.

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
Vol 2, Pg 263
Here the Catholics acknowledged that baptism was changed by the Catholic Church.

HASTINGS ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION
Vol 2, Pg 377
Christian baptism was administered using the words “In the name of Jesus”.
Vol 2, Pg 378
The use of a Trinitarian formula of any sort was not suggested in early Church history.

Tertullian (ca. 165-220) asserted the threeness aspect of God, being the first to use the word Trinity. However, he did not have a full and accurate understanding of the Trinity.

The Bishops were still trying to work out the contradictions of trying to prove that three Persons are in one God. Each of the three Persons is God but there is only One God.

Despite centuries of probing, the Trinity remains a mystery,  a puzzle that cannot be solved.

St. Anselm, who in his Augustinian spirit proclaims 'Three I know not what' (tresnescio quid)

(St. Anselm, in Marsh 1994:133).

Billy Graham, the best-known evangelist, spoke on the Trinity and admitted that he did not understand it.

But a day will come when it should be possible to understand the mystery of the Godhead.

“Should be”, if we are not too brainwashed by the churches’ impossible and unscriptural three-in-one that they got from the ancient pagans.

REVELATION 10:7   “the mystery of God should be finished”

When the mystery of the Godhead is revealed, then obviously, God will be a single Person and not a Trinity (that cannot be understood).

 Babylonians invent a pagan trinity

Noah’s Flood covered the earth like a baby is covered in water in the womb.

GENESIS 9:11  “And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.”

God promised that another Flood would not destroy the world.

Nimrod and the Babylonians wanted a tower that could ascend up to heaven. The top would be above any future flood. Nimrod did not believe God’s Word of Promise.

GENESIS 11:4  “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

The tower top reaching heaven means they are closer to God than any other humans.

There are more than 2000 different types of churches and denominations today. Each one has the same mistake which is to feel that their church is closer to God than the other churches.

Yet no end-time prophecy concerning the end-time church says anything good about us.

No parable concerning the end-time church says anything good about us.

“Make us a name” means they are more famous and important than others.

“Lest we be scattered” means they relied on “group think” and enforced conformity.

They wanted to make a name for themselves.

That is why people gather in groups, so that the group name becomes famous.

Churches make the same mistake.

Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostals, Full Gospel, Roman Catholic, Message church.

A group wants to make a name for themselves as the bigger the group is, the closer they feel they are to heaven. Big groups are important in their own eyes.

The early believers were just called Christians. They belonged to Christ, not to a church.

They were only interested in uplifting one name, Jesus.

JOHN 12:32  “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

GENESIS 9:1  “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and

God said multiply replenish the earth.”

That means God wanted them to spread out. Scatter.

But then they could not make a big name as they would be in small, scattered groups.

The early church of the apostles could not form a huge group as they met in houses for the first 200-odd years.

The earliest evidence of a church building that has been dug up was dated about AD 220.

So, the Babylonians rebelled against God. They did not like His way of thinking.

They built a huge tower to keep the people in one place, as a denomination under one man’s domination. One man who made a big name for himself, Nimrod.

The tower was called Babel, which meant the Gate to heaven or Confusion. Babble.

Churches have the same problem. They regard themselves as the Door to heaven until you ask them what the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is. They cannot find one name for three Persons and thus serve a nameless God. But they have made a great name for their church and church leader.

God created different languages for these Babel tower-builders so that their languages became confused.

But these different cultures each had a trinity of gods that were co-eternal and co-equal.  

Their trinity gods were made of one substance.

Two men, father and son, and one woman.

Babylon:     Nimrod - father    Semiramis - mother     Tammuz the re-incarnated son

Tammuz was the only man to be called El Bar  (god the son).

The Bible never mentions “God the Son”, because God is not a man.

The modern church with its unscriptural Trinity, unscriptural Christmas, unscriptural 25 December, and unscriptural Good Friday, happily include an unscriptural “God the Son” as well. Then an unscriptural “God the Holy Ghost” is also thrown in.

Egypt: Isis – mother    Osiris - father   Horus - son

Three persons on one throne.

Three Persons on a throne is the most common picture of the trinity godhead.

Greece:   Zeus   Apollo   Athena

Rome :   Jupiter  Mars  Venus

India:   Brahma   Vishnu    Shiva or Siva      Three male heads on one neck.

India had an interesting variation as they had three men in their trinity.

Alexander’s empire went from Greece to Egypt to India, then ended.

From Egypt was the picture of three persons on a throne. Two men and a woman.

From India came the modification that all three were men.

From Greece came Greek philosophy with the ideas of three-in-one, and eternal-sonship, and of-the-same-essence (whatever that means), and co-equal.

Three Persons in one God (three-in-one) directly contradicts  I John 5:7 that says the three are one.

I JOHN 5:7    “And these three are one”.

This verse is not mentioned in modern Bibles.

Co-equal between Father and Son is invalid.

John 14:28  “for my Father is greater than I”.