The THREE in ONE

Jesus says:
I can of Mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me. John 5:30

Some believers claim that there is only One divine person.
According to them this person is Jesus Christ.
To them, Jesus is also the Father and at the same time the Holy Ghost.
The saying is, there is only ONE God, which is Jesus, who has the titles of Father and Holy Ghost.
Their waterbaptism, therefore, is in the name of Jesus ONLY.

Let us meditate upon God's word and advise The Holy Bible.
It is not what WE think, because human thoughts are not God's thoughts.
God's TRUTH is to be found in the Scripture.

To know divine TRUTH, one needs to fully recognize God's Word,
believe it, go by it and stick with it.

Below are just a few scriptures referring to the Godhead;
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who are Three in personhood/function/entity, but ONE as being God in spirit.

Genesis 1:26...And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness:

US and OUR, refers to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Jesus was with the Father, before the foundation of the world.

Matthew 3:16,17... And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

John 3:16... For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The Father speaks about His Son while Jesus was baptized and gives recognition to Jesus Christ by addressing Him as "His Beloved Son".

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 1 John 4:9

The Father gave His Son as a ransom, Who was sacrificed for our transgressions. God, the Father did not sacrifice Himself.

Again, the Father and the Son have two separate identities, but each is God in mind, authority, power and likeness of spirit.

Matthew 28:19... Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

If Jesus was the Father as well as the Holy Ghost He would have taught to baptize in His name only. But Jesus didn't teach that since He knew He had a Divine connection/partnership with His Father and with the Holy Ghost.

The Divine Three are inseparable since They are ONE in the Spirit, and therefore They need to be included in all Christian functions; in prayer, praise, baptism, administering services as well as in Holy Communion.

Mark 14:36... And He (Jesus) said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt.

Jesus is communicating with His Father. He would not be talking to Himself.

Matthew 27:46... Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Certainly Jesus would not cry out to Himself, but to His Father. This clearly shows communication between two persons; the Son and the Father.

Matthew 1:18... Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

It is easy to recognize that the Holy Ghost is not the same as Jesus Christ, in the above Scripture. Two separate entities, but One in the Spirit as being God.

John 14:26... But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name (Jesus), He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

John 16:7... Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I (Jesus) go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him (The Holy Ghost) unto you.

John 15:26... But when the Comforter (The Holy Spirit) is come, whom I (Jesus)will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He (The Holy Spirit) shall testify of Me (Jesus):

The above scriptures are another great example of the Trinity. Jesus speaks of another "Person" the Comforter, whom the Father will send in Jesus name.

The Son did send the Holy Spirit after His descending, to dwell in the heart of believers.

God, the Son is seated at the right hand of God, the Father, while God, the Holy Spirit convicts the hearts/souls of sin and righteousness. Can this be any clearer?

There are many more scriptures which are very clear in identifying the Godhead; the Trinity; the Three in One.

The Trinity and Godhead is no point of human argument, since we can read and understand/take God's word for its face value.

The Three are One, not in personhood, but in Spirit, Direction, Holiness, Authority; each One of the Divine Persons is recognized to be God; recognizing distinctions among these Three Persons in that there are interactions between Them.

Three persons, Three functions, One in essence.

God, the Father
God, the Son
God, the Holy Spirit

Glory to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

AMEN AND AMEN!

In His glorious service,
Dr. Trudy Veerman

Sacrifice and Humility

Lessons from Ukraine: The Radical Humility of Sunday AdelajaUkrainian pastor Sunday Adelaja fears that some American preachers are spreading a deadly virus.

He is one of the most successful pastors in the world. The church he started in Ukraine in 1994 has grown to 25,000 people—to become the largest Christian congregation in Europe. A prolific author, he has sold half a million books—all in Russian—in the last decade.

But on the day I met with pastor Sunday Adelaja in his office at his Embassy of God church in Kiev, our discussion did not focus on success or how it is defined. Adelaja wanted to know why American preachers are so focused on money and fame.

It seems everyone who has a big church thinks they are supposed to be president for life,” Adelaja told me. They never move on.

At the moment, Adelaja is thinking about moving on. His main church in Kiev will celebrate its 12th anniversary later this month with a large conference. But the 38-year-old pastor, a Nigerian who earned a degree in journalism from a Russian university, is thinking of how he can work himself out of a job so he can plant more churches.

I have given all I have, Adelaja said. I have reproduced myself. I want the younger ones to go farther than I have.

Currently, 100 leaders trained by Adelaja serve as pastors for Embassy churches in Kiev. The movement spawned by the mother congregation now has 450 churches, including 13 in the United States. But each church is autonomous, and congregations do not tithe to the headquarters. Adelaja is vehemently opposed to starting a denomination, and he doesn’t want his name on anyone’s marquee.

Americans who visit Adelaja’s cavernous church in Kiev are sometimes surprised when they see the modest lifestyle of this modern apostle, who is known for his boisterous laughter and Nigerian passion. The Embassy of God’s building—a former Soviet-run sports arena—is rented, not owned. Behind the church’s stage, in an adjacent room rented by another tenant, athletes often disrupt services with their loud music. The owner of the building often turns off the church’s power, forcing Embassy staff to light the building with a generator.

Adelaja is not cut out of the same mold as the prosperity preachers who air their television programs here from the United States. Although he dresses tastefully, his lifestyle is not that different from the average Ukrainian. His Nigerian wife, Bose, and their three children live in a three-bedroom apartment that Adelaja bought for $40,000. He drives a 2002 Dodge Caravan.

When Adelaja hears about the glamorous lifestyles of some American ministers, he gets a puzzled look on his face. Is this a virus? he asks. Then he laughs hysterically, stands up and walks across the room with his arm raised. He smacks me with a big high-five.

Then he tells of one American minister who recently sent word that he must stay in the presidential suite in the most expensive hotel in Kiev when he visits. Adelaja frowns as he relates this story. He can’t understand why ministers of God need to be pampered like rock stars.
Everybody is busy building a big church. Let’s build the kingdom, he says.

Adelaja will keep his base in Kiev when he turns his church over to nationals, but he plans to spend more time training leaders and planting churches in Western Europe as well as in his native Nigeria. He is concerned that the virus of religious empire-building is as much a threat to his homeland as the bird flu is.

I asked Adelaja to share the secret of his spirituality, and the answer was simple yet profound.I spend one week out of each month with the Lord, he said. Fasting. I have to leave the family, the church and the pressures. That is what keeps me going.

Then I begged Adelaja to spend at least part of his time in the United States, where we need a dose of his New Testament faith—as well as a brotherly kick in the rear for our arrogance and materialism.

He wasn’t sure if American Christians would want to hear a message that calls for sacrifice and humility. I assured him that we are all ears.

J. Lee Grady is the editor of Charisma and an award-winning journalist. He spent the first week of March in Kiev and reported on Ukraine’s Christian revival in his last three columns.