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WHY CHRISTIANS CALL JESUS GOD

We are taking just a little break from our usual topic IS THE CHURCH REPROBATE, to consider a bunny issue, one that I have tried to explain to my Muslim friends. I decide today to publish this topic here because of my belief that it would benefit several people both Christians and non-Christians alike. Happy reading

   To the non-Christians, this is the most controversial aspect of Christianity that they cannot fathom. They would ague, ‘’why must you equate any one with God?’’ This feeling of human beings always trying to fight for God did not start today. In fact it was why Gideon’s father named him Jerubaal, meaning, ‘let baal fight for himself'. The Jews, during the Old Testament era, FOUGHT very hard to see that nobody ‘dethroned’ God. But do we really need to defend God? Can’t God defend Himself? He can, and He always did defend Himself when He needs to.

   For clarity and simplicity purpose, we would consider this topic under sub-topics. We would see the positions of Jesus IN THE BEGINNING, WHILE HE WAS ON EARTH, and WHEN HE WAS GLORIFIED.

1) IN THE BEGINNING

a) JESUS THE WORD OF GOD

It is important, in the first place, you believer in the HOLY BIBLE before you could appreciate this discussion. The Bible consists of the 39 books of the Old Testament, and the 27 books of the New Testament. In fact if there is any part of the scripture you do not believe then this article would not be beneficial to you. All scriptures, including the New and the Old are products of God’s inspiration 2Timothy 3:16.

      Jesus was in the beginning with God as HIS WORD. Revelation 19:13 says ‘’He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called THE WORD OF GOD.’’ Also in John 1:1,2 the Bible says ‘’In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God. He was in the beginning with God.’’ These Bible passages clearly showed that JESUS was in the beginning with God as His WORD.

b) ALL THINGS WERE CREATED BY JESUS AND FOR JESUS

The book of Genesis has a vivid account of the creation of the world. In chapter 1:3, it says ‘’Then God said, let there be light, and there was light.’’ Here makes it quite unarguable that God did not use His hand, or His legs in creating the World but He used His Word. Remember in section (a) above we have shown that Jesus was the World of God at the beginning. By God using His Word to create the world, it simply means that Jesus was used to create the world, hence John 1:3 says ‘’ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.’’ Also, read Colossians 1:16, 17.

2) JESUS AS GOD’S MESSENGER

a) JESUS DECLARED THE SON OF GOD

We have seen how that in the beginning  Jesus was with God as His word. But in the process of time when God needed to fulfill the salvation plan He declared in Genesis (read Genesis 3:15), He needed to send a Savior into the world. Note that what a Savior was coming to remedy was sin, so there was the need for one that was not born by ‘’the will of the flesh’’, that is sexual intercourse. So in that light God needed to first and foremost declare His Word as his son. Psalm 2: 7 says ‘’ I will declare a degree: the LORD has said to Me, you are my Son, today I have begotten You.’’ So for those who argue if God had a wife, Jesus became the Son of God by DECLARATION. Besides, Jesus is also called the Son of God because He is a product of God, that is, His Word, just like THINGS FALL APART could be called the brain child of Chinua Achebe.

b) JESUS MADE FLESH

 The redemption of man needed to be undertaken by a man. There was no way God would use an Angel to redeem man, that is pay for man’s sin. The person that was to do that, like we said earlier must not be by the will of the flesh, but He must carry flesh so as to relate with man and feel the pains of man. For that reason, Jesus was transferred as a fetus into the womb of a woman: ‘’The WORD was made flesh and dwelt among us…’’ John 1:14. Read also Hebrew 2:9-11. Remember that man was also first created before he was made flesh. Read 1:26, 27 and 2: 5-7; so like man, Jesus was made flesh to perform the priestly assignment: ‘’ For we do not have an High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in our point tempted as we are, yet without sin.’’ Hebrew 4:15.

     Having been made flesh, Jesus became subject to the frailty of the flesh; He needed to rely on the Father to overcome. This underscored his constant prayers and His self-confessed reliance on the Father: Hebrew 2:13, Psalm 16:10. Besides, having been flesh, Jesus became less honorable than the Angels: ‘’But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the Angel s, for the suffering of the flesh crowned with glory and honor, that He, by grace of God , might taste death for everyone.’’ Hebrew 2:9.

    This understandably was why Jesus made it clear why on earth that the Father who sent Him was greater than Him because He could of His own self do nothing: ‘’I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the Father who sent me.’’ But in spite of making it clear that He was on the assignment of God, and the Son of God, the Jews crucified Him because they felt that He was promoting Himself. Note that Jesus never disproved the existence of the Father, and His authority over Him, but the Jews only could not understand why He made Himself so special as though He was not the child of Joseph: ‘’ therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father, making Himself equal with God.’’ John 5:18

    So, we have examined the three stages Jesus had gone through. In stage one; He was the WORD OF GOD. In the second stage, He was MADE THE SON OF GOD; and the third stage, He was MADE FLESH. Understandably, the word ‘made’ presupposes that another being was doing the making, and that was the FATHER.

WHY THEN DO THE CHRISTIANS CALL JESUS GOD?

It should be noted that the John 1:1 that most Christians quote to explain why Jesus is God did not even say ‘’THE WORD IS GOD’’, but ‘’THE WORD WAS GOD’’. That means John was not speaking in the present tense but in the past. Having said that, why do Christians call Jesus God? The reasons are as follow:

i)                   JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD.

 When you call somebody a son, you are indirectly saying that that person is you. What would you call the son of a man? Man, of course. What about the son of a lion? A lion. The Jews understands this such that even though Jesus did not tell them directly that He was God, they said: ‘’…He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, MAKING HIMSELF EQUAL WITH GOD.’’ (Emphasis, mine) John 5:18. So being God’s Son makes Jesus God.

ii)                 HE PROCEEDS FROM THE FATHER.

‘’Jesus said to them, if God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God …’’ John 8:42. As The Word of God made flesh, Jesus was right to say He proceeded from God, and being a product or issue of God He is God.

iii)               GOD GAVE THE NAME TO JESUS

Isaiah 9:6 -   ‘’ For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor,  mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.’’

Psalm 45:6 - ‘’ Your throne, o God (Jesus) is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom’’ Also Hebrew 1:8

John 10:34- ‘’Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law, I said you are gods? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken) do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said I am the Son of God?’’

iv)                WE MUST HONOR THE SON AS WE HONOR THE FATHER

‘’…That all should honor the Son as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him’’ John 5:23

3) JESUS AFTER RESURRECTION

After God raised Jesus from death, He was glorified and honored with a name that is above all names, and made the ONLY SAVIOR OF MANKIND. So presently, what concerns the believer is not JESUS AS THE WORD, JESUS AS THE SON, JESUS MADE FLESH, but rather JESUS AS THE CHRIST: ‘’ And I say unto you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gate of hell shall not prevail against it.’’ What did Jesus mean by the rock? Read verse 16, ‘’ And Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’’ HE IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. That is the Rock, the foundation of the New testament Church. Anyone who disbelieves this does not belong to Christ.

WHAT WAS PROPHESIED OF JESUS THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE HIS BIRTH

1)    HE IS THE SEED OF THE WOMAN:  Genesis 3:15

2)    HE IS THE PROPHET THE PEOPLE ARE TO LISTEN TO: Deuteronomy 18:15, 18; John 5:46

3)    HE IS THE PROMISED CHRIST: Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:4-6; John 4: 25, 26;

4)    HE IS THE PROMISED LAMB OF GOD:  John 1: 29, 30; Isaiah 53: 1-12; Acts 8:32-35

WHAT JESUS SAID OF HIMSELF AFTER RESURRECTION

‘’I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the LORD who is and was and to come the Almighty.’’ Revelation 1:8. If JESUS who humbly identified Himself as THE SON OF MAN, and THE SON OF GOD now says He is THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, BEGINNING AND THE ENDING, would you continue to fight Christians because they called JESUS GOD? JESUS IS GOD!

 OHIMAI DANIEL, +2347032452945

    

WHY CHURCHES DO ALMS IN THE OPEN

IS THE CHURCH REPROBATE?

In my last blog, I did promise that we were going to study bunny issues about the Church of God; I told you that the Church is blatantly violating the word of Christ without giving a damn. In that blog, I posted a LORD’S CHOSEN CHARISMATIC REVIVAL MINISTRY member who physically rejoiced that President Muhammadu Buhari was ill. Besides, I related how a WINNER chapel member claimed that Nigeria is in economic hardship today because Christians voted against Former president, Goodluck Jonathan; and how a pastor friend told me that some church congregations are praying for the President to die. It is unbelievable! But how did the Church get here?

      Before we try to answer that question, I would still want to dwell on other issue in which several congregations in Nigeria and elsewhere are living in blatant violation of Jesus’ teachings. Today we shall look at ALMS GIVING. In Matthew chapter 6:3-4, Jesus clearly aught ‘’therefore when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.’’ (NKJV)The import of this scripture is that Christians must make effort to ensure that their good works are kept secret as much as possible. Christ even used the hand analogy to show that our charitable deeds must be kept deliberately secret, hence He said ‘’your left hand must not know what your right hand does’’.

    Faith in one, I think, presupposes obedience, total obedience to one’s principles. But unfortunately the Church claims to believe in Christ, but doesn’t believe in Christ’s principles. So nowadays, you discover many churches want to show through every available social media how great their church is at helping the less privileged. Everybody is hailing Synagogue Church of all Nations for advertising their ‘great’ alms deeds, so every other church wants to do the same. Christ Embassy, Day Star Christian Assembly, etc have joined in the madness. But anybody who understands the Sermon on the Mount knows that when you do anything in other to be praised for the good you did, you have gotten your reward already. No more God’s reward for such deed.

     But painfully, how many people want the heavenly reward? Even teachers prefer their reward now and here. That is the madness our churches are into. They want to be called ‘the good church’. They want to be in the good book of the government, or they want to be in the good book of sponsors. Shame! Like Christ, I say shame unto any congregation that publicizes whatever good it thinks it has done.

   We need repentance because several churches are in for show and competition. May the good Lord recover the Church, Amen.

  This is the much we can look at today. I plead with you to COMMENT on this issue so we can have a robust discussion. Look forward for more. God bless the Church

Ohimai daniel, ohimaidaniel@yahoo.com, ₊₂₃₄7032452945

A CHOSEN MOPOL CELEBRATES BUHARI ILLNESS

IS THE CHURCH REPROBATE?


I would continue to ask this question over and over again as we watch the Church, and the so called men and children of God continue to descend into the unimaginable and the un-Biblical. Yesterday, i was shocked to hear from a Winner Chapel member, a neighbor that the suffering in Nigeria was a payment for Christians to have voted against a non-christian in the 2015 elections.
   Dissatisfied with that, i went to a pastor friend and rold him what my neighbor said. He confirmed that some churches he knows are even praying for the president to die.

 A CHOOSEN MEMBER CELEBRATING THE SICKNESS OF THE PRESIDENT

I was shocked. Could that actually happen in the Church? It was difficult to believe.
  To crown this abnormality was a Lord's Chosen member who openly clapped and rejoiced when she was told that President Buhari was sick.
    For a Chritian to rejoice that her president is sick is very abnormal to me. It can never be said that a Christian would want the death of a fellow human being to the extent that some even pray to God for another person to die. it is quite disheartning and unbelievable. where did we get it wrong? How did e get here? Didn't  the Bible ask us to pray for our leaders, even our enemies? How did tribalism and politics of biterness sneaked into the Church?
  In my next blogs, i would outline more of the abnormalities in today's Churches. We would see the origin of the Church's woes; and also consider the way out of these aberations
Please follow me so we can consider this together.

An illucidating narrative that would remind you of the exciting village experience( a fiction). Get the book on createspace.com

THE VILLAGE SCHOOL BOY        by Ohimai Daniel

 Holidays period was a period of rest and enjoyment for our counterparts in the city, ours was full of hard labour in the farm and at home. I truly had not noticed how hard my father worked until now. Papa, everyday, woke up before all of us. He did not have any alarm to wake him up, yet he woke up almost at the same time every morning. He woke up before 5am every day. 

      When he woke up, he checked around the house, possibly to see that everything and everybody was intact. When he came to our rooms, he pointed his touch light on our faces. He moved the brimming ray of the touch light from one face to the other like a doctor examining his patients. After Papa had examined his ‘patients’, and was sure they were in good condition, went back to his room. He would later go to the kitchen chimney to get his bitter leave dried root which he used as chewing stick. Papa would bring out this cane-like chewing stick, dip one end into his mouth, chewed this end for about five minutes like young grass cutters battling with cashew stem with their tiny incisors. Once Papa had successfully ground one end of his chewing stick into usable sponge-like form, he started to brush them rigorously against his cola-nut-stained teeth. At various intervals, Papa hit the chewing stick against his seat and blew out particles of the stick. He first stuck out his tongue like when my primary school teacher wanted to pronounce theater sound.

    Papa always did his teeth brushing outside with his big wrapper over his neck down like the Muslim woman I saw the day I followed Mama to Sabo. Once Papa finished brushing, he gulped in a hand-full of water, rinse his mouth, and pour it out; took in another, poured it out; hit the chewing stick against anything available- stool, wall ,etc. papa went in after to put on his farm wears which included a shirt, pair of jean trousers, and a pair of boot. Papa said he preferred jean trousers because it lasted longer than the material trouser. Boot allowed Papa for easy movement in the thorny and stumpy farm. Papa went with a hoe hung on his shoulder, a cutlass on his left hand, and a keg of water balanced on his head; and a burning coal in his armpit, while a bag dangled on his right shoulder.

‘Ejere, Ejere!’, Mama called my elder brother who was still asleep at this time.

‘I don’t know why my husband would always leave to farm without this boy.’, Mama quarreled.

      Papa did not bother us when he went to farm. He allowed us to sleep until we were tired. Was it not Mama, we would not know, possibly, the road to the farm. Although, Papa pointed out that his first son, Ejere must learn the act of farming, ‘but it must be at his pace’, Papa explained. Mama never liked seeing us sleeping while Papa was in the farm. Even if we did not followed Papa to the farm, we should be awake doing house chores. Mama was sweeping the house surroundings with a long broom made from several canes. She usually did this every morning, and I have had to wonder if Mama would sweep all her life.

‘Is your brother awake?’, Mama asked.

‘No ma’, I replied.

OTHER FOR THIS STORY ON createspace.com