The Real Battle

So what is the Trinity? Basically the doctrine of the Trinity teaches that God is one in essence and that He manifests Himself in three different persons. This is what I believe and it is what is called mainstream and orthodox. Most of the cults deny the Trinity not because they see a different nuance but because they want to strip the Lord Jesus of His divinity hence the term cult. They are false teachers and perverters of the truth.

There are those who believe that God is one in essence and that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are revelations of that one God but not distinct persons. Follow me on this because it is widely misunderstood. The doctrine of the Trinity which most would believe is not taught in the New Testament. That’s right, it seems to be revealed through the interactions and ministries of the three persons of the Trinity but it is not actually taught. To be more clear we have to piece it together to arrive at what seems to be the truth because let’s face it, it deals with the essence of God. So here we are finite man attempting to dissect and examine the essence of the eternal God, so you see our monumental task.

Now if a person believes in all the cardinal doctrines of the Scriptures that for instance you and I would espouse, but he believes that God is one “person” revealed in three manifestations of that one person, then he still can be saved. He then believes that Jesus is God, the Father is God, and the Spirit is God, but they are all manifestations of the same person. There is a departure from the orthodox teaching in that view but it is not heretical. It took many meetings of the early church fathers and many arguments before they finally agreed upon the Trinitarian view that we believe. And to be fair that view is what the Scriptures seem to fully indicate but here again it is somewhat open to minor nuances. If one retains the deity of the three persons but calls them one person you are not blaspheming any of the Godhead.

Now recently the preacher T. D. Jakes has been invited to speak at a conference(don’t you just love these meaningless conferences and cruises?) and his background is in the Oneness Pentecostal circles. They believe that God is not three persons but one and that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all divine revelations of one person called God. OK, so we don’t believe that but that is not the core of the matter. I again reiterate my position, if a person retains the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit but they believe that they are revelations of the same person called Jehovah God it isn’t apostate. I cannot remember Mr. Jakes ever mentioning his view of the Trinity so even if he still believes what oneness people believe about the Trinity he doesn’t seem to teach it.

The much more important issue is that Oneness Pentecostals teach salvation by works and that subject is taught in the New Testament and that is first class heresy. They teach you must be baptized in Jesus name and you must speak in tongues to be saved. So here is the issue about T. D. Jakes, has he now or ever rejected publicly those positions? That is the primary issue. And of course his entertaining, feel good preaching and his prosperity teachings are also an issue but they fit right in with the others in the conference. Southern Baptists have now over the last thirty years come to espouse the prosperity message and have also resorted to relevant and entertaining preaching, so Mr. Jakes fits right in. I am just taking a wild guess but I can see waves of people at the conference on their feet shouting and waving during Mr. Jakes’ messages because that is the norm when he and others speak. These get togethers are nothing more than entertaining carnivals that pass as Spiritual but have only a counter productive effect on the people. And oh the money that will be made by the entertainers from their honorarium, their books, their tapes, and the new followers they will reap for future financial rapes. Disgusting and anti-christ at its core.

Back to my point about the Trinity. Many of you would disagree with me about the necessity of the three person doctrine but against the backdrop of salvation by works, the prosperity gospel, the new age influence, the relevant nonsense, and the overall hedonism and prayerlessness of the visible church, the argument over the Trinity seems moot. Anyway, there is much more to the battle than the Trinity, much more.

Pray for revival, for us.