Sermon: Strategies for Interfacing with Babylon without Becoming Assimilated (Part Five)

Explaining the Non-Trinitarian Position
#1789
David F. Maas
Given 02-Nov-24; 60 minutes 2024-11-02

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John 14:16-17 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

The Amplified Classic edition offers more detail on the role of function of the Holy Spirit:

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever—The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you.”

I like to connect John 14:17 to John 17:17 which assures us that God’s Word—our daily manna—replenishes our innermost being with truth and wisdom, creating in us a clean heart, renewing a steadfast spirit in us, as David requested in Psalm 51:6, 10. Fascinatingly, the Emphatic Diaglott renders John 14:17: “The Spirit of truth which the world cannot receive. Because it beholds it not, nor knows it; Because it abides with you and will be in you.” [Notice the change in pronouns from “he” to “it.” I will have more to say about that later in this message.]

My specific purpose today is to provide resources to protect the chosen saints of Almighty God from the nefarious doctrine of the Trinity, providing historical, biblical, grammatical, and analogical understanding of the non-trinitarian doctrine, practiced by all of the splinter groups departing from our previous fellowship, who refused to consume the antinomian Kool-Aid, a poison which subsequently caused many to accept Sunday as the Lord’s Day and embrace the Trinity, a closed triangular, co-equal Godhead, preventing Almighty God’s masterplan of reproducing the God-kind, adding to His Family.

In this fifth installment of the series “Strategies for Interfacing Babylon,” I would like to explain the nontrinitarian position espoused by the greater church of God, which includes the Church of the Great God, a position which maliciously brands, at least in mainstream Christianity, all of God’s chosen saints as heretics. Back in 1961, a Lutheran minister angrily informed me that to deny the Trinity is tantamount to blaspheming the Holy Spirit, making me a candidate for an ever-burning hell. I guess to mainstream Christianity, I have been a rebellious, stiff-necked heretic for over 63 years, something I calmly take in stride, accepting it as a badge of honor. In my recent Feast of Tabernacles message on the seventh day weekly and millennial Sabbaths, I made the case that (since our original parents consumed the forbidden fruit) God’s precious truth has seldom, perhaps never, been in the majority, and that as long we live in the flesh, God’s saints must resign themselves to be perpetually in the minority.

As Richard stated in his sermon last week, that for every single wise person, there are more than 50,000 fools, echoing English novelist W. Somerset Maugham’s statement, “If 50 million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.” According to the Pew Research Center, there are approximately 2.3 billion professing Christians living in the world, the vast majority believing that Sunday is the Lord’s Day and in the so-called Triune God or the Holy Trinity, as well as keeping pagan festivals such as Halloween, and annual fire festivals coaxing the sun to be reborn, as well as a spring fertility ritual dedicated to the goddess Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of sex, punctuating this event by highlighting the amazing fecundity of rabbits who allegedly bring multi-colored eggs to boys and girls.

The Catholic fathers were instinctively political, continually experimenting with the emotions and deep-seated feelings of the peoples to whom they proselytized. The adoption of the European fire festivals, as well as of the Roman Brumalia celebrations, would indicate that these men would utilize any compromise whatsoever in gaining a greater measure of power. We could amend W. Somerset Maugham’s quotation, affirming that if 2.2 billion people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. It is my firm belief that the heresy of the Trinity would have never gained foothold if the apostolic church had continued to honor the fourth commandment—the seventh day Sabbath command rather than replacing it with the “venerable day of the Sun,” shoved down peoples’ throats by Emperor Constantine and Bishop Eusebius.

Before I continue, I would like to pay my debt to contributors of several books and booklets, published by members of our sister congregations in the greater church of God, who have provided superb summaries of the spurious Trinity doctrine, and have shown the biblical, historical, and grammatical evidence disentangling the plain truth from the gross, murky error. Two works, both of which are free downloadable documents on the Internet, have the same title: “Is God a Trinity?” by George L. Johnson and Fred Coulter, and a UCG booklet “Is God a Trinity,” I believe prepared by Gary Petty.

An extremely valuable source of quotations from principal movers and shakers in the ruthless, aggressive trinitarian coup are found on the website: Historical Background of the Trinity Christadelphia.org. For additional sources concerning grammatical or translation difficulties, you might want to consult the Forerunner Ready Answer articles: “Misconceptions and Malarkey About the Holy Spirit, Parts One and Two,” derived from a paper I submitted to Dean Blackwell in his Comparative Religion class in the fall of 1974, which Richard Ritenbaugh later masterfully edited and submitted to the Forerunner in 2013.

Some of the significant historical details are summarized in George L. Johnson’s book, “Is God a Trinity,” include:

1. The Trinity teaching originated in the latter half of the second century—a hundred years after the New Testament had been written and canonized.

2. The Trinity doctrine was first proposed at Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, but officially adopted at the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD, forcefully ramrodded through by the same scoundrels that did away with the seventh day Sabbath.

On March 7, 321 AD, Emperor Constantine (the prototype of the Cultural Christian which Richard Ritenbaugh described at the keynote message of the Feast) and his fawning, obsequious, sycophantic prelate Bishop Eusebius, who, incidentally, later baptized Constantine on May 22, 337 AD, issued a decree making Sunday an official day of rest and worship. In his book, A History of Christianity, Paul Johnson asserts that Constantine,

. . . appears to have been a sun-worshiper, a member of several of the late pagan cults which had observances in common with Christians. Worship of such gods was not a novel idea. Every Greek or Roman expected that political success followed from religious piety. Christianity was the religion of Constantine’s father. Although Constantine claimed he was the thirteenth apostle, his was no sudden Damascus conversion. Indeed, it is highly doubtful that he ever truly abandoned sun-worship.

After his professed acceptance of Christianity, he built a triumphal arch to the sun god and in Constantinople set up a statue of the same sun god bearing his own features. He was finally deified after his death by official edict in the empire, as were many Roman rulers. [Johnson continues], His private life became monstrous as he aged . . . His abilities had always lain in management . . . [he was] a master of . . . the smoothly worded compromise.

Unlike most professing Christians, God’s chosen saints cannot and dare not compromise one iota with His holy and spiritual law.

Johnson concludes,

It would be an understatement to say that Constantine was a crooked politician; yet this is the man who is mainly responsible for the Nicene Creed’s doctrine of the coequal, coeternal, one substance three in one God. One day he is setting the doctrine for the Christian church—another day he is murdering people. It would seem that to anyone with common sense that formulating church doctrine should not be done by a non-repentant murderer. How many of us would like to have a non-repentant murderer setting our Christian doctrine? Yet if we believe the Nicene Creed, we have just done that.

In his 1975 article, “Pagan Origins of the Trinity,” Victor Paul Wierwille asserts that

Long before the founding of Christianity, the idea of a triune god or a god-in-three persons was a common belief in ancient religions, having many minor deities, they nevertheless distinctly acknowledged that there was one supreme God who consisted of three persons or essences. The Babylonians used an equilateral triangle to represent this three-in-one god, now the symbol of the modern three-in one believer. The Hindu Trinity was made up of the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. These three were said by the pagans to ‘agree in one.” One of the largest pagan temples built by the Romans was constructed at Baalbek (situated in present day Lebanon) to their Trinity of Jupiter, Mercury and Venus. In Babylon the planet Venus was revered as special and was worshipped as a Trinity consisting of Venus, the moon and the sun. This triad became the Babylonian holy Trinity in the fourteenth century before Christ. Although other religions for thousands of years before Christ was born worshipped a triune god, the Trinity was not a part of Christian dogma and formal documents of the first three centuries after Christ. That there was no formal, established doctrine of the Trinity until the fourth century is a fully documented historical fact. Clearly, historians of church dogma and systematic theologians agree that the idea of a Christian Trinity was not a part of the first century church. The twelve apostles never subscribed to it or received revelation about it. So how did a trinitarian doctrine come about? It gradually evolved and gained momentum in late first, second, and third centuries as pagans, who had converted to Christianity, brought to Christianity some of their pagan beliefs and practices.

Consequently, the concept of the Trinity has its roots not in Christianity, but in pagan mythology.

According to Alexander Hislop in The Two Babylons, “Babylon was the primal source from which all of these systems of idolatry flowed, so the deductions of the most learned historians, on mere historical grounds have led to the same conclusion.” Hislop goes on to add that, in terms of variations of the belief, what is lacked in one country is added in another, a practice that could be analogous to the needless proliferation of slightly different automobile models. Each culture must modify the stock symbols a little bit to suit itself, but the germinal idea remains. Consequently, from one source of idolatry flows all these tributaries:

• Original Trinity of Babylon: Nimrod, Semiramis, Tammuz

• Sumerian: Anu, Enlil, Enki

• Egyptian: Osiris, Isis, Horus

• Greek: Zeus, Athena, Apollo

• Roman: Jupiter, Hera, Minerva

• Arabian: Al-Lat, Al Uzza, Manat

• Hindu: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva

• Scandinavian: Odin, Thor, Freya—which as we can see are inscribed into the days of the week: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday: Woden’s Day, Thor’s Day, and Freya’s Day

It is certainly no surprise that the major encyclopedias and reference books, including the Encyclopedia of Catholicism, admit that the word Trinity cannot be found in the Bible, in either the Old or New Testament.

The Christadelphia.org website, Historical Background of the Trinity identifies several sources, including the following:

• In the New Bible Dictionary, published in 1982, we read the following admissions: “the word Trinity is not found in the Bible.”

• “ It did not find a place formally in the theology of the church until the 4^th century.”

• “It is not a biblical doctrine in the sense that any formation of it can be found in the Bible.” “Scripture does not give us a formulated doctrine of the Trinity.”

From the Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism 1995, we read the following admissions:

• “Scholars generally agree that there is no doctrine of the Trinity as such in either the Old Testament or the New Testament.”

• “If the Trinity is the cornerstone of Christianity, then how did the church of the first three centuries get along so well without it? If the Trinity is the cornerstone of Christianity, then why is it not mentioned anywhere in the Bible?”

• From The Encyclopedia Americana 1956 we read that:

• “Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian (believing in one God). The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicaea did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary, a deviation from this teaching.”

Consequently, the Trinity is a deviation from believing in one God; it is a deviation from Scripture. From The New Catholic Encyclopedia 1967, we learn that: “The formulation ‘one God in three persons’ was not established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith prior to the end of the 4^th century.”

Despite the obvious fact that the term Trinity did not appear in the Scriptures for four centuries, an errant scribe or translator, having apparently consumed too much of the Nicene-Constantinople Kool-Aid (similar to the manner of activist judges in the United States), decided to play around with the text of I John 5:7 adding the spurious words, “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one,” surreptitiously inserting it into the Latin Vulgate, the New Testament of Erasmus, and eventually the King James Version where it still is lodged to this day.

Last week Richard reminded us that one evil fool can sabotage something out of whack. Sadly, the New King James Bible (the one which most of you are using) contains this bogus verse:

I John 5:7-8 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.

Now, let us look at this passage from the Amplified Bible:

I John 5:7-8 For there are three witnesses: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these are in agreement [their testimony is perfectly consistent].

Peake’s Commentary assures us that “no respectable Greek [manuscript] contains it. Numerous commentaries agree most modern translations omit the passage. Consequently, I John 5:6-8 should read:

I John 5:7-8 This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus the Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that bear witness on the earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three witnesses unto the one truth.”

In a July 22, 2022 article and mp3 audio titled “A Spurious Reference to the Trinity Added in I John 5:7-8” published by the United Church of God, we read, “In the New Revised Standard Version, I John 5:7-8 correctly and more concisely reads, “There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree.” John personifies the three elements here as providing testimony, just as Solomon personified wisdom in the book of Proverbs. Earlier in this message, I read John 14:17 from the Emphatic Diaglott (a work you can order electronically from several sources on the Internet). It reads, “The Spirit of truth which the world cannot receive. Because it beholds it not, not knows it; Because it abides with you and will be in you.” Again, notice the change of pronouns from the masculine he to he neutered.

Back in 1961, I took issue with a radio preacher who defended the notion that because Jesus used the pronoun “him” to refer to the Comforter (or Helper) that he must be the third person of the Trinity—citing John 16:7, “it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” The Greek word for “Comforter,” parakletos, is in the masculine gender, while pneuma spirit) is in the neuter gender. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for “spirit,” ruach, is in the feminine gender. Consequently, it cannot be deduced that this parakletos is a personality any more than we could say a Germen pen is a girl and a German pencil is a boy—even though the article die in die Feder (the pen) denotes a feminine word and der in der Bleistift (the pencil) denotes a masculine word.

It may be surprising to learn that “girl” in German, das Madchen, is neuter in gender. Before the Norman Invasion in 1066, English was as much an inflected language as German or the Scandinavian languages, such as Danish, Swedish, or Norwegian. Thankfully, Modern English has only one article “the” to use for its nouns, while Old English differentiated between masculine articles, se mann, feminine articles, seo hlaefdige (the lady), and neuter articles, daet Maedgen (the girl, showing its relationship to modern German.

One prominent radio preacher, oblivious to this grammatical differentiation, gullibly asserts in his tract on the Holy Spirit that there has been a faulty translation of the English Bible. With cocksure, sophomoric naivete, this radio preacher complains that, in many cases, the Spirit is spoken of as “it” or “that” instead of “he,” “him,” or “whom.” To give an example, he quotes Romans 8:16, “the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit.” However, since in this verse is auto, the pronoun itself is correctly rendered just as it is in the Emphatic Diaglott.

Please turn over to Acts 2:38, which we recognize as the apostle Peter’s message to the crowd assembled on the first day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the mane of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The Amplified Classic edition adds the following additional details: “And Peter answered them, ‘Repent (change your views and purpose to accept the will of God in your inner selves instead of rejecting it) and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness from your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

Now please go back to Luke 11:13 (a passage which also appears in Matthew 7:10-12).

Luke 11:13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy spirit to those who ask Him!”

If the Godhead consists of three triangular, co-equal partners, how is it that two of the co-equal partners can seemingly manhandle, giving the third co-equal partner as a gift, engaging in spirit trafficking? Moreover, the Holy Ghost is not allowed to speak on His own. Consider:

John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

If the third person of an unequal Trinity can be manhandled (or God-handled by the other two trilateral members), he is not receiving much respect or dignity from the other two co-equal members. Consider the greetings at the top of all of Paul’s epistles:

1. Romans 1:7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God called to be saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. I Corinthians 1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus through the will of God, and Sostenes our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Jesus Christ, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

3. II Corinthians 1:1-2 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in Archaia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4. Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle ( not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia; Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

5. Ephesians 1:1-2 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ.

6. Philippians 1:1-2 Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

7. Colossians 1:1-2 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8. I Thessalonians 1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

9. II Thessalonians 1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

10. I Timothy 1:1-2 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. To Timothy, a true son in the faith; Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

11. II Timothy 2:1-2 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, a beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

12. Titus 1:1-4 Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me, according to the commandment of God our Savior. To Titus, a true son in our common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

13. Philemon 1-4 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer, to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we have seen, the apostle Paul has snubbed the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost, 13 times, perhaps making him a candidate for the Lake of Fire.

Matthew 1:18-20 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

In the Nicene Creed, which was formulated in 325 AD at the First Council of Nicaea and amended by the First Council of Constantinople in 381 AD, the following statement appears describing the Holy Spirit: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified who has spoken through the prophets.” But if the Holy Spirit is a coequal personality in a closed triangular, trilateral Godhead, why does the Holy Ghost get no respect from the apostle Paul, who ignores him in every salutation? Furthermore, as a separate co-equal entity in a closed triangular Godhead, why does not Jesus Christ pray to the personality who begot Him, having impregnated the Virgin Mary. If the Holy Spirit indeed were a person, that would make the Holy Spirit Christ’s Father.

In John 10:30, as well as John 17:21-22, Jesus Christ asserted that, “I and My Father are one,” but He never mentions that the third co-equal person of the Trinity (the Holy Ghost) as being one with Him and His Father.

In Psalm 110:1, the psalmist David, Jesus Christ’s human great grandfather and a man after God’s own heart, declared, “The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand,” implying only two members of the Godhead.”

In Daniel 7:13, describing the Son of Man coming before the Ancient of Days, the prophet Daniel, a loyal servant of God, spoke of only two members of the Godhead.

In Acts 7:55, describing Stephen’s martyrdom, we read, “But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”

He saw two personages, but not three. Likewise, in John’s vision of the throne of God in Revelation 4 through 5, he saw only the Father and the Son. He did not see a third person designated as “God, the Holy Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit is a person rather than the power, mind, and character of God, we have to account for some rather bizarre behaviors and characteristics. In John Ritenbaugh’s October 28, 2000 sermon, “Stirring Up God’s Gift,” John Ritenbaugh declared,

Whether we do or not make it to Feast of Tabernacles next year depends on our faithfulness at stirring up the gift of God’s Spirit within us through consistent prayer, Bible study, and hearing God’s Word. Distractions bought about by love of the world, neglect of Bible study, neglect of prayer, or neglect of God’s word could seriously erode our faith, making us vulnerable to false doctrines and cares of the world.

The stirring up metaphor or image came from Paul’s admonition to Timothy encouraging him and other believers rather than letting them lie dormant, reminding them that the gifts are meant to be developed for God’s purposes (II Timothy 1:6-7). If, however, we interpret the Holy Spirit as the third person of a triangular closed Trinity, we might suspect the Holy Ghost to be a kind of spiritual Rip Van Winkle.

In Acts 11:15, we learn that the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples at the first Pentecost, creating an image of clumsiness and awkwardness in the Holy Spirit third person of the Trinity.

Other images in Acts 2:38 are also difficult to process if we assume the Holy Spirit is the third person in a Trinity. Consider, the Holy Spirit was “poured out” on Pentecost and was “poured out” upon the Gentiles in Acts 10:45. A person is not generally “poured out” except in figurative usage, as Paul suggested he was being poured out as a drink offering in Philippians 2:17, indicating that He willingly poured out his whole life as an offering to God. Similarly, the image of a rushing wind and cloven tongues do not apply to a person (Acts 2:3).

In Deuteronomy 6:4-5, we find the insistence from our forebears on the Sinai that Almighty God is to be regarded as one.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

One what? A single being? A closed equilateral triangle? Or one Family? God’s stated purpose is to add to the God-kind by impregnating our minds with His Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 1:5, we read that Almighty God has predestined His called-out ones to adoption as offspring by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. The Amplified Classic edition renders this passage: “For He ordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His kind intent].” Consequently, Almighty God is expanding His Family by means of His Holy Spirit, not barring our access by creating a closed triangular Trinity.

Back on July 22, 2011, the United Church of God, in an attempt to battle another annoying heresy about the nature of God, published an online article and audio titled, “Seven Scriptures That Debunk the Trinity as a Single Being,” claiming that many biblical passages demonstrate to a rational Bible reader that the Trinity teaching is unbiblical.

Hebrews 1:5 tells us that Jesus was begotten by His Father. Did He beget Himself? In Matthew 22:44, the Father said Jesus would sit at His right hand until His enemies were made His footstool. Was Jesus to sit at His own right hand? In Matthew 24:36, when Jesus told His disciples that no one knows the day or hour of His return but the Father only, did He really know but made up an excuse not to tell them?

In John 14:28, Jesus said His Father was greater than He was. Does this mean He was greater than Himself? In John 17:1, Jesus prayed to His Father. Was He praying to Himself? In Matthew 27:46, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Had He forsaken Himself? In John 20:17, Jesus said He would ascend to the Father after His resurrection. Did He ascend to Himself?

These and many other biblical passages demonstrate to a rational Bible reader that the Trinity teaching is not only unbiblical, but also utterly illogical!”

So, if the Holy Spirit is not the third person of a closed triangular Trinity, what exactly is the Holy Spirit? The late Herbert W. Armstrong stated repeatedly that the “Holy Spirit was God’s law in action. The Holy Spirit is the mind and character of God enabling God the Father and Jesus Christ to make their abode in us.” Consider John 14, verse 23:

John 14:23 Jesus answered, “If anyone [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home [abode, special dwelling place] with him.

John 15:26 tells us that God’s Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (AMP): “But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) comes Whom I will send to you from the Father, the spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father,” He [Himself] remembers that parakletos is a masculine word in Greek, so the pronouns will be masculine though because it is an essence rather than a person. In English we could use the pronoun “it” throughout.

The Holy Spirit is actually the mind, intellect, and character of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as well as the mind, intellect, and character of our heavenly Father. Permit me to read to you my last scripture from the Amplified Classic edition.

I Corinthians 2:11-16 (AMPC) For what a person perceives (knows and understands) what passes through a man’s thoughts except the man’s own spirit within him? Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to the world, but the [Holy] Spirit Who [which] is from God, [given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God. And we are setting these truths forth in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the [Holy] Spirit, combining and interpreting spiritual truths with spiritual language [to those who possess the Holy Spirit].

But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense to him); and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated. But the spiritual man tries all things [he examines, investigates, inquires into, questions, and discerns all things], yet is himself to be put on trial and judged by no one [he can read the meaning of everything, but no one can properly discern or appraise or get an insight into him]. For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart. Consequently, the holy spirit is not a person, but instead is the marvelous, dynamic power God uses to accomplish His work.

Yes, we do believe the words of the Shema, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is one,” but not the oneness understood by the Pharisees or oneness understood by the Trinitarians. God is an open Family, not a closed, triangular Trinity. Converted, begotten believers can be born into the Family of God at the first resurrection. Satan’s religions, which are in the overwhelming majority, teach the doctrine of the Trinity, but Almighty God teaches the Family.

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