HomeARC ML 1305
JESUS ONLY? Malta, 21/8/78 DFO 1305
1. I HAD THIS DREAM, & I don't know what it's got to do with what, unless maybe some of our kids are getting into that, I don't know. I can't give them the whole thing today, it would make a whole Bible study.
2. I DREAMT THAT SOME OF OUR KIDS WERE GOING TO SOME KIND OF A PENTECOSTAL BIBLE COLLEGE, & some of the professors were "Jesus Only" people. Have you ever heard of them?--Well, it's quite a popular "ism" of the United Pentecostal Church. Oh! By the way, that's the church which had the missionaries who got slaughtered, the United Pentecostal Church International, & they are "Jesus Only." (No.874, "The Mrs. Mugabe Nightmare" Dream.)
3. ALSO, ORAL ROBERTS, THE FAMOUS HEALING EVANGELIST IN THE STATES CAME OUT OF THE JESUS ONLY CHURCH, & a lot of the Pentecostals are Jesus-Only. They believe, & they are so strong on Jesus being God.
4. THE TRINITY IS ONE THING, & THE CATHOLICS ARE EXTREMELY STRONG ON THE TRINITY, & that's very offensive to the Jews, the Trinitarian God, a God in three Persons. The Jews, if they don't know any other scriptures at all, can quote you that one in Hebrew with their eyes shut, or backwards or whatever. I used to know it in Hebrew, "Yahweh Elohim Yehovah Echud!" "The Lord our God is one God." When it really says: "The Lords our Gods are one God!" (Deut.6.4) Anyhow, the way it was translated in the English text was a mistake.
5. I STUDIED HEBREW, & THE "ELOHIM" IS THE PLURAL FORM, definitely even the Adonai, "the Lords our Gods." When they translated it, even in our King James Bible, they must have had some Jews involved, I'm sure, as our Bible says, "The Lord our God is one God."
6. NOW, YOU WOULDN'T THINK THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT, "The Lords our Gods are one God."--But every time we start talking to these Orthodox Jews about Jesus they quote you that, "The Lord our God is one God. We have no other God, we have no Jesus, we don't worship two Gods, we just worship one God!" They're very bombastic about it!
7. BUT, I HAVE SEEN IT & I CAN SHOW YOU IF WE HAD A HEBREW TEXT. Well, you don't know Hebrew anyway, but it used the word "Elohim Adonai" meaning," the Lords, our--Elohim--Gods are one God!" That's what the Hebrew text literally says, & I used to show those Jews and it would just make them furious! "Ahhh!--That's just some book by these Christians." I'd open it up & say, "LOOK, Hebrew Publishing House!" "Ahhh, it's the wrong Bible, blah, blah, blah, blah!"--just like they do about Isaiah 53.
8. I WOULD READ TO THEM FROM ISAIAH 53, & THEY THOUGHT I WAS READING TO THEM FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT! I was reading this & saying, "Now, Who is this talking about?" "Oh, that's your Jesus!" I'd turn the Bible around & say, "Look, it's right from Isaiah!" "Oh, that's the new Testament." They didn't know the prophets themselves! I had one guy knock the Bible right out of my hand." Don't read me that stuff!" But the literal translation from the Hebrew is, "The Lords, our Gods are one, one God,"
9. IN OTHER WORDS, IN SPIRIT & IN UNITY, GOD & JESUS & THE HOLY SPIRIT ARE ONE! Jesus said, "I & the Father are one," & boy, do the Jesus-Only people use that one! Whew! They literally teach that Jesus is the Father!--That He is God & beside Him there is nobody else. They say the Holy Spirit is Jesus, God the Father is Jesus, it is all Jesus. They have gone to the opposite extreme of the Jews.
10. IN ONE WAY, THEIR DOCTRINE IS EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE TO THE JEWS, but in another way, the Jehovah's Witnesses capitalise on this idea, & they took this forbidden word from the Old Testament, Jehovah, which is the Old Testament word for Jesus, which is so sacred to the Orthodox Jews that they will never even pronounce it out loud! They call it the most sacred Name of God. Well, I'm sure the Devil did that so they wouldn't use it & they wouldn't get the point it was Jesus!
11. EVERY TIME YOU FIND THE WORD JEHOVAH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, IT IS TALKING LITERALLY ABOUT JESUS, believe it or not! He was in existence from the very beginning of the Creation, in fact, contrary to what some fundamentalists teach in the eternal existence of Christ, Jesus Himself said in Revelation, I am "the beginning of the Creation of God." (Rev.3:14) So what does that mean?--
12. THE FIRST THING GOD EVER CREATED WAS JESUS! I mean, long before He was ever born on earth, God created His Own Son, Jesus. Where's your Bible, I'll read it to you. (Reads Rev.3:14.)
13. NOW, IN PROVERBS 8, SOME JEWS HAVE INSISTED ON CALLING HER "HE," depending on, in fact, the pronouns, because they have no feminine pronouns in Hebrew. In speaking, in nearly everything, you've got to try to interpret it according to how it sounds or how it looks, by the context, & it's a miracle they every interpreted that as "She" in the Proverbs. But it was obvious, so obvious from Proverbs, that She is female she, & a list of all Her activities & things She did.
14. SO, THE HOLY SPIRIT, IF YOU READ "THE GODDESS OF LOVE" & THOSE PASSAGES IN PROVERBS, it says that She was there before the seas were created, before the mountains were created. She said, "I was always with Him & always by His side." (Pro.8:30)
15. SO IF ANYBODY WAS ETERNALLY CO-EXISTENT WITH GOD IT WAS THE HOLY SPIRIT, as the Fundamentalists try to teach about Jesus, saying He was eternally co-existent with God see? If you carry that far enough, as far as the Jesus-Only people have, they say He was not eternally co-existent with God, He was God!--And He is the Father! They claim Jesus is God the Father--His Own Father!
16. AND OF COURSE, AS I SAID, THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES HAVE TAKEN THAT, & they say, "Well, this sacred Name of God, Jehovah, this is the real Name of God," & all the time it was Jesus! It either horribly offends the Jews, or it gives them an out to believe in Jesus! "Well, you don't have to worship three Gods, we don't worship three God, we just worship one God, your Jehovah.--But your Jehovah is Jesus!"
17. SO THIS JEHOVAH WITNESS DOCTRINE IS A JESUS-ONLY DOCTRINE, really, because they claim that Jehovah was Jesus & He was the only God. And they did all that because the first Jehovah's Witnesses' place of worship was the Brooklyn Tabernacle in Brooklyn, of all places, & if you know anything about Brooklyn, it's all Jews!
18. IT WAS ORIGINALLY A SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST MISSION UNTIL RUSSELL & RUTHERFORD BROKE AWAY FORM ELLEN G. WHITE. Ellen G. White was the head of the Seventh-day Adventists, a prophetess, who got that you were supposed to keep the 4th commandment, blah, blah, & the 7th day, keep it holy & so on. (Ex.20:8)
19. THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS ARE REALLY UNDER THE OLD MOSAIC LAW, more than most of the churches. But in the old days, when tabernacles were popular, they had this huge big barn-like building, & they got a big crowd in those days, thousands of people. Gospel Tabernacles had what I call Gospel entertainments.
20. THEY HAD MUSICAL SHOWS & BANDS & SOMETHING LIKE YOUR ALL NIGHT GOSPEL SINGS & stuff like that. And they really had entertainment, entertainers, comedians, singers, all kinds of stuff, big entertainment. This was before the days of television & many motion pictures. People had no place else to go but church or plays, except when these groups came round with lectures & music & would show slides & pictures, & they'd quote their poetry. My grandfather used to travel on one such circuit. Revivals were Gospel entertainments, & these big Tabernacles served virtually as Gospel entertainment centers. I think the one in Brooklyn held about 3,000 people, & they packed them in! My mother's in Miami held 5,000 & she had that monster full every night for months at the height of her career there!
21. BUT THESE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, FORMER SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS who broke away from Ellen G. White, were right about saying that she was wrong about the seventh day, they didn't have to worship on the seventh day. But they found this was quite popular with the Jews, to find Christians who honored the sabbath. So originally, having been the Seventh-day Adventist Mission, honoring the Sabbath & having worship on the Sabbath, Jews thought that it didn't break too far from their tradition, but they still strangled over this Jesus business!
22. SO, DEAR RUSSELL & RUTHERFORD GOT SMART, & I STILL BELIEVE THEY WERE CONVERTED JEWS TO BE THAT SMART, they decided one way to get around the Jews antipathy to Jesus was try to prove to them that their God of the Old Testament was Jesus, Jehovah! And that's how they got to be known as Jehovah's Witnesses.
23. ALTHOUGH THE NAME JESUS ITSELF WAS VERY OFFENSIVE TO THE JEWS, THEY FOUND THIS SACRED NAME JEHOVAH that the Orthodox Jews wouldn't even pronounce or say out loud, since it was in their Old Testament, this name was not offensive to the Jews! So they could talk about Jehovah instead of Jesus! Very clever little Jewish Trick! Who but the Jews!
24. WELL, THE JESUS-ONLY PEOPLE HAVE TAKEN IT EVEN FURTHER THAN THAT! They don't mind using the Name of Jesus, but they just say that Jesus was the God of the Old Testament, the only one, & the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, & the Father He talks about is Jesus Himself! Well, they've got a lot of incongruities. You can quote Scripture after Scripture to them about Jesus talking or going to the Father, all to no avail! "I & the Father, are one," they say means He is the Father. But He goes on to say, "That they may be one as We are one." (Jn.10:30; 17:11,21,22.)
25. WELL, NOW HOW ARE GOD'S CHILDREN ONE?--WE'RE NOT ALL ONE PERSON LIKE THEY CLAIM, SEE? The very same Scripture they use defeats them if you carry it on. The Lord says, "May My disciples be one," & He is praying to the Father.
26. WHY IS HE PRAYING TO THE FATHER IN THE FIRST PLACE IF HE IS THE FATHER? Why does he pray at all? "Oh," they say, "well, that's just a method He used to try to, you know, help the disciples. They couldn't understand the fact that He was the Father & so He just sort of pretended to be praying to the Father because it was too hard & difficult for them to understand." But He goes on & says, "May they be one," in other words, He is talking about the disciples, "as We are one." Now, I'm not you, & you're not me, & yet we're one.
27. ALL OF US ARE ONE, ALL BELIEVERS AROUND THE WORLD ARE ONE, WE'RE ONE BRIDE, YET WE'RE NOT ONE PERSON, RIGHT? We're one, how?--In Spirit, in unity, in love, in faith, as the old song says, "We're not divided, all one body we, One in hope & doctrine, one in charity." And that's what the Lord was talking about. Of course, "I & the Father are one," but the Jehovah's Witnesses & the Jesus-Only people take that & twist it around & say," Well, see? Jesus is the Father." It's a very subtle doctrine, & they find a whole lot of Scriptures where they point out, "See? See? Jesus is the Father. Jesus is the only one!"
28. THERE IS ONLY ONE PLACE IN THE WHOLE NEW TESTAMENT THAT SAYS ABOUT BAPTISING IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER & OF THE SON & OF THE HOLY GHOST. And they even claim that was inserted by the Catholics, because in actual practice, all the way through the New Testament & in the Book of Acts you will find they baptised in Whose Name?--They baptised in the Name of Jesus. So they use that as part of their, "Ah ha! See?--You only need to baptise in the Name of Jesus & that's another proof that it's Jesus only!" But that doesn't prove a thing. Just because they baptised in the Name of Jesus, it only meant they were a believer in the Name of Jesus as the Messiah. It didn't mean that Jesus was Father or that there was no Holy Ghost, or that the Holy Ghost was just the spirit of Christ. Well, of course, the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Christ in a way, but they are still spoken of as three separate entities or personalities or persons, definitely.
29. JESUS SAID, "I HAVE TO GO AWAY THAT THE SPIRIT, THE COMFORTER CAN COME," & so on. Oh, they use that right away, instead of showing that there are two different personalities, they use the very same scripture to try to prove to you that they are the same! "See?--Jesus had to go away so He could came back & be in us." Very subtle.
30. IT JUST SWEPT THROUGH THE RANKS OF PENTECOST WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT SOME YEARS AGO. When I was young, it got to be a very popular doctrine, & I think it arose largely to try to help satisfy the Jews, really, just like Jehovah's to satisfy the Jews by changing Jesus to Jehovah. The Jesus-Only people went to the other extreme & harped & harped on the Name of Jesus, but their whole kick was, Jesus is the Father, He is the God, there isn't any other, to try to help satisfy the Jews if they could be persuaded that Jesus is God, & the only God, that all the time the God they have been worshipping supposedly is Jesus, see, because He's Jehovah.
31. ANOTHER THING YOU'LL NOTICE ABOUT THE FALSE CULTS & FALSE PROPHETS ON THE MISSION FIELD: They spend more time trying to convert those natives & all who are already Christians to their split-off doctrines than trying to convert the heathen to Christ! In other words, deliberately bringing division. Their whole idea is demonic, it's satanic, trying to bring division in the ranks of the Christians! On the field, the Seventh-day Adventists, the Jehovah's Witnesses & the Jesus-Only people & all, ask any missionary, they spend most of their time trying to divide the Christians & persuade the Christians to their doctrines, instead of converting the heathen!
32. THIS DOCTRINE SWEPT THROUGH THE RANK OF MISSIONARIES, PENTECOSTAL, UNTIL THEY DIVIDED INTO THE HUGH BIG DENOMINATION CALLED THE UNITED PENTECOSTAL, & even called it the United Pentecostal Church International, & I think it was the Pilgrim Holiness Pentecostal, or something like that, that Oral Roberts came out of--& that was Jesus-Only too.
33. AND WILLIAM BRANHAM!--THAT BY THE WAY, WAS WHEN HE FINALLY GOT KILLED IN AN ACCIDENT! First he just preached the Lord, & did his miracles & his signs & his knowledge & his wonders & so on, & didn't get off into any split-off doctrines, at first he worked with all the Pentecostal boy combined & evangelicals, but not so much with the evangelical type fundamentalists who are anti-Pentecostal. But all those who were sort of pro-Pentecostal & pro-Holiness, William Branham worked with them until, in his last days, he began to come out & preach two things.--He began again to come out strong for his old background Holiness-Pentecostal, Jesus-Only doctrine, which he hadn't emphasised before. He was trying to unite the people, to unite the Pentecostals & say, "We gotta all get together & have a great nationwide revival & save the world," etc., at first.
34. BUT IN HIS LAST DAYS, HE BEGAN TO GET OFF ON TO THAT, it was kind of a throw back to his old denominational doctrine of Jesus-Only, Jesus-Only, Jesus-Only, & proclaiming that he was "Elias who was for to come" before Christ, that Elijah had not yet come, & that just before Jesus comes Elijah has got to reappear & that he was Elijah.
35. IT'S EXACTLY THE SAME THING THAT THAT FAMOUS GUY IN CHICAGO SAID, remember, what's his name? We went there & visited in Chicago when we were on the road & we parked at his church. Well, he came out of that famous group of early Pentecostals which originated near Chicago, Zion City. Alexander Dowy, his name comes back to me, how about that?
36. ALEXANDER DOWY WAS THEIR PROPHET, & HE WAS A GREAT PROPHET, A REAL PROPHET OF GOD, & DID MIGHTY MIRACLES--particularly they stressed healing. He did mighty signs, wonders & miracles & established this whole Christian community called Zion City, Illinois. I remember our teacher in school used to talk about it & make fun of it & say they were nothing but a bunch of fanatics & they won't allow any smoking in the city, & they don't allow any liquor in the city & you have to dress just so in the city & blah, blah, a whole community of Christians! They had our idea of communes, only on a vast scale! But that's about all they had, they didn't get too much further after that!
37. BUT FINALLY, HE GOT SO FAR AFIELD, GOD FORBID THAT I SHOULD EVERY GO HAYWIRE LIKE THAT, that he also began to proclaim that he was Elijah! But how could they ignore the Scriptures? The thing about it is, Jesus said in another place about John the Baptist, "This, if you will receive it, is that Elias,"--or Elijah, Elias is the Greek form--"which was for to come." (Mt.11:14) In other words, He said John came in the spirit & the power of Elijah. I believe Elijah was with him and he was anointed with Elijah's spirit & power & he was gifted.--Just like I have Abrahim, he had Elijah! but they didn't understand that.
38. AND SO, THESE PEOPLE LIKE WILLIAM BRANHAM & LIKE ALEXANDER DOWY EVENTUALLY PROCLAIMED THEMSELVES THE PROPHET ELIJAH! This was just before Branham got killed in an automobile accident. They said he had begun to get a little discouraged & so on, because here he was supposed to be Elijah & the Lord still hadn't come like John the Baptist got a little discouraged.
39. ALEXANDER DOWY GOT SO CONVINCED HE WAS ELIJAH HE BEGAN TO WEAR ROBES IN THE PULPIT. Well, there's nothing wrong with robes, but he began to really dress & look & act like it. Well now, he really looked great, had a nice big beard & he really looked like a prophet & sometimes it helped to sort of play the part like Makarios did. He looked like a real prophet or something out of the Bible. There's no harm in looking like you look, if you look like the character you are supposed to be.
40. BUT WHILE HE WAS PROCLAIMING HIMSELF TO BE ELIJAH & PROPHESYING ONE DAY IN THE PULPIT, THE ROBES CAUGHT ON FIRE & HE BURNED ALIVE RIGHT BEFORE THEM! Maybe they thought it was the Chariot of fire!--But it was more likely the consuming fire of his pride!
41. MY GRANDFATHER IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, if you know anything about them, they are about as modernistic today as you can get! They hardly believe anything anymore. But he was pretty fundamental, my Grandfather was, really preached Salvation, he was a real revivalist & evangelist & on fire & really believed in salvation. You've read his story, how, he got saved. (No.172.) One of his disciples became one of Dowy's & helped found Dowy's Zion City!--Very Pentecostal!
42. THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH WAS VERY ANTI-PENTECOSTAL & SO WAS MY GRANDFATHER, very anti-Pentecostal, & oh, when my Mother got into Pentecost, as he called it, he was furious! Through her healing & all, she got even too Pentecostal for the Alliance because she had the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she spoke in tongues, she prophesied & had all these gifts & healing & miracles, etc. My Grandfather hated it, he didn't like it, but in later years he got much more mellow about the whole thing--after he lost his millions! Ha!
43. SO YOU CAN REALLY GET MIXED UP IF YOU LISTEN TO SOME OF THESE FALSE PROPHETS & FALSE DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCHES!--So watch out!--Use'm but don't get sucked in by'm! (Mt.24:23-26.) Don't be led away from the simplicity of the Gospel (2Cor.11:3), the good News of God' s Love in Jesus!--Amen? GBAKY, in Jesus' name, amen.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
