Sabbath 27/1/37/120

Dear Friends

It is a matter of fact that the Holy Spirit is dealing with the false doctrines in the churches of God especially among the offshoots of the WCG.  It reached so much of a problem that the UCG produced an issue of the Good News magazine dedicated to the title Who was JESUS? for the March April issue of 2014 over the Passover.  As usual it was full of the same errors of Ditheism and Binitarianism that was a result of the poor scholarship of the WCG under Herbert Armstrong.  It also contained a number of errors dealing with the calendar and the death of Christ that have riddled their theology with lies and false doctrine over the years.

Let us examine again some of the basic false doctrines and false statements and unbiblical comments that litter their theology and corrupt their brethren as taken directly from this magazine.

Creator
The first article on page 4 written by Bill Bradford of UCG AU titled Who was Jesus poses the questions: Where did Jesus Christ Come From? Who Was He? He states that this is a mystery that far too few really understand.  He then says that is matters and your future and salvation depend on it.  The sad fact is that he then proceeds to demonstrate that he does not have a clue about the questions he poses.  And yes Mr Bradford your salvation does depend on the correct answer as does that of anyone that listens to the false doctrine you and the offshoots teach regarding the matter. 

The first issue arises from the bolded text on page 5 that constitutes the main point of the article. "Jesus clearly was the awesomely powerful Being who, submissive to the will of the one He would refer to as Father, served as Creator and exercised authority to rule the entire creation- angelic beings included."

Now this statement has two and in fact three implicit false premises in it.  The first implies that it was Christ that introduced the term Father in his declarations.  This rests on a false teaching of Herbert Armstrong that the Father was not revealed in the OT.  This ministry still teach this blatant lie.  The second states clearly that Christ was the creator.  The third is that he exercised authority to rule the entire creation Angelic beings included.  This false statement is completely untrue as Christ has still not assumed authority to rule the entire Host and Psalm 110 states clearly that he was taken to the heavens and sat at the right hand side of God until the One True GOD made his enemies a  footstool.

The premise that Christ created all things is derived from a known forgery and false translation of the Receptus in the KJV of Ephesians 3:9.

The KJV reads: And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all things. The words "by Jesus Christ" have been translated from the Receptus. The word in the Greek texts for world is actually ages i.e. "hidden from the ages." It is not as though this forgery and addition to the Receptus was not known for centuries before Armstrong and Bradford were born.  Bullinger makes the note that the texts omit the words in his fn. to verse 9 in the Companion Bible.  The Greek Interlinear texts omit the words "by Jesus Christ" except for those using the forged text of the Receptus. The RSV omits the words both in its text and the Marshall's Greek English Interlinear using it as the base translation. So Marshall, Hort, Tregelles and every other reputable scholar knows of this forgery but it suits Bradford and the UCG and the other offshoots to use it and make the claims from it that Christ is the Creator contrary to all the biblical texts. 

Col. 1:15 is clear that Christ is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of All creation.  What the Greek attributes to Christ is the organisation of the principalities and power and the rulerships in the universe either visible or invisible. In this text the word archai is used of rulers as primary beings being set in order by Christ as he himself was made by His God.  This is the same sense as used of Christ in Rev. 3:14.

John chapter 1 states that the divine oracle or logos was with God in the beginning and not one thing came into being but that does not include the Sons of God of which there were multiple as we know from many texts as we have seen. John 1:18 states clearly that this theos was in the bosom of the Father and was the monogenes theos or only born God who spoke.  The KJV text based on the Receptus used monogenes uion or only born son but it is only born God that is in the original texts.
 
The elohim were the sons of God and Satan was among them as we know from Job 1:6; 2:1.      
We know that it was Eloah the One True God that created the earth as we see from Job 38:4-7.
[4] "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
[5] Who determined its measurements -- surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
[6] On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, [7] when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Eloah is referred to in the texts and the word admits of no plurality whatsoever.  Eloah began to extend Himself and become Elohim as an extended being of which He was Ha Elohim or The God. We know that Eloah was creator also from proverbs 30:4-5. 
[4] Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is his son's name? Surely you know!

Verse 5 goes on in the Hebrew to immediately answer this question and the word used is Eloah which can and does refer only to the Father who is the One True God. The next four verses go on to identify the Yahovah of Israel as the second being or son in question.

We know this also from Deuteronomy 32 where it is Eloah that appoints the nations according to the number of the sons of God (RSV, LXX, DSS etc) and Israel was given to the Yahovah of Israel as his inheritance.  The MT was changed after the fall of the Temple to disguise the fact that the Yahovah of Israel was the subordinate God appointed by His elohim above his other partners who were all elohim as the sons of God. The text was altered to read according to the sons of Israel but that is now a proven forgery evident from a number of sources.

Psalm 45:6:7 and Hebrews 1:8-9 show that Christ is referred to as the elohim of David who was appointed by his elohim with the oil of gladness above his partners.  There is no doubt that comrades or partners is used to refer to the other elohim or sons of God as the Greek uses the word metaxous or partners to translate the Hebrew and the same context is applied. These partners are the council of the elohim referred to in the Psalms and also in Revelation chapters 4 and 5 and there can be no doubt whatsoever that these beings are the heavenly council and completely divorced from humans (see the paper Psalm 45 (No. 177)).

Also Genesis 18 and 19 show that there were three Yahovahs that went to Abraham and then to Lot at Sodom and the three were all referred to as Yahovah (meaning He Causes to be) and the two with Lot called down fire from a fourth Yahovah in the heavens (see also the paper Angel of YHVH (No. 024)).

Jacob identified the Angel of Redemption as the elohim of Israel in Genesis 48:15-16. Job identifies the Angel of Redemption as one of the core thousand of the sons of God in Job 33:23.

As we have seen Christ was a subordinate elohim. He had many other sons of God as Elohim.  The One True God sent Jesus Christ and on understanding this fact and these beings rests eternal life (Jn. 17:3). Unless you understand that there is one True God who created all things and whom no man has ever seen or can see and who alone is immortal (1Tim. 6:16), you will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now what we will do over the next few weeks is analyse these articles and the false doctrine of the UCG/LCG/RCG and other offshoots for the un-academic sham that it is.  We have to deal with this issue and this seems to be the year that God has chosen to deal with the ministry that teaches these doctrines and the brethren that choose to believe it for the sake of belonging to a social club based on falsehood claiming to be the churches of God.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General