My Testimony: Dreams and Manifestations of Demons

 

    "Be sober minded; be watchful. Your adversary prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." (ESV, 1 Peter 5:8)

Dreams and Manifestations of Demons

    I wasn’t going to tell anyone about these experiences, until I watched a sermon about Jesus casting out a legion of demons into a herd of pigs from a man they possessed. This story is in Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-39, and in Matthew 8:28-34. What changed my mind about telling anyone what I experienced was after the man was in his right mind, he begged Jesus to go with him. In Mark 5:19-20, Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’ So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.” And so, I want to tell others what I experienced and of God’s mercy on me.

The Cold Dark Musty Basement

    First, I want to say that I spent most of my life not believing in demons or monsters. This really began for me at the age of 15. We lived in a house that had a cold, dark, musty basement and the door to the basement was next to the TV. I would often think that something would come up out of the basement to attack me, while I tried to watch TV. One night, I just got fed up. I went to the door, turned on the light, closed the door behind me, went downstairs to the middle of the basement, where the chain pull string was for the light and yanked the light off and waited. I put my hand in front of my face and I couldn’t see it. I though, "if it’s going to happen, now is the time." I waited and there was nothing. A few days later, I repeated my experiment and there was nothing. After this, I had no fear of the basement, and I have spent most of my life believing the things that go bump in the night were make believe, fueled by movies and the stories of ghosts and monsters told by people. Before you admire my courage to face my fear, know that I tricked my little brother to go down that very basement, and when he did, I turned the light out and closed the door and sat on the couch smiling and laughing to myself while he eventually found the chain link pull string to the light and made his way back upstairs. His story is one of courage, not mine.

Atheism

    I was an atheist for 16 years. Not only did I believe that demons were make believe, but I believed that God was make believe. I even doubted that Jesus ever existed. I believed that when a person died, there was nothing, just annihilation. In 2020, I had a mini stroke, and as the nurse was running down the hallway, pushing me in a hospital bed, to get me to X-ray for a PET Scan, I could only think of my wife and daughter and I was waiting for nothingness to over take me. For several months afterward, I developed and intense fear of dying because I believed I would end soon. I found it difficult to sleep because sleep was like dying in my mind. I thought to myself that life was meaningless and there was no purpose to life, but I didn’t want my life to end. Gradually, I started to recover from my intense fear, but a sense of dread was with me everyday. The dread that my life was ending and there was nothing I could do about it.

Opening Up to God

    Then in May of 2024, a You Tube video popped up on my feed and it was Joe Rogan interviewing Stephen C. Meyer about the existence of God, and it was like my mind opened. In the following weeks, I kept thinking to myself, “I think I believe in God. I think I’m coming back to God.” Then I watched another video with an Atheist debating a Christian and I believed. I broke down weeping and I knew what I had done and I asked God to forgive me, but there was something else, I knew God’s presence was before me. My sense of dread disappeared, and my life has been changing ever since.

    Before God brought me out of the darkness I was in, I just wanted people to leave me alone. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, and at times, even my wife and daughter. I harbored resentment and anger and hatred toward just about everyone, but that all changed. I wanted to love everyone. To help anyone I could, even in small ways. And I wanted to forgive everyone and to make peace with everyone, and so I did, and I still am. I used to have a step mom and two step brothers who were cruel to me when I was a kid. I sought to find them, and I found one of the brothers, so I wrote him a letter and told him I forgive you for how you treated me when I was a kid. And the reason I am writing you is because Jesus saved me and I hope you seek Jesus and that you are saved.

The Dreams and The Demons

    After I mailed the letter, I had this dream where I was standing at the top of the stairs and there were two skinny, human-like creatures with leather-like skin raging in anger and hatred, running up the stairs, reaching out to grab me. I flicked the light switch on and I woke up instantly. I sleep on my left side, facing the far wall. As soon as I opened my eyes, I felt intense hatred from a presence that was hovering over me. Hatred was emanating from this presence onto me, and I could feel it. I knew that what I felt was hatred, like hatred had a substance. And I could hear a sound from the presence, which was like a hiss. And I had a thought that said, "Serpent." You may have heard stories of how people felt intense love from God when they died and went to heaven, but returned back to their body. Well, I would describe this experience was like that except what I felt was intense hatred. It was the oddest thing to feel hatred, like it was being poured out onto me. This happen as soon as I opened my eyes from sleep. As soon as I felt the hatred and heard the sound, I felt no fear, but determination and without thinking, I moved to sit up saying, “In the name of Jesus, leave me alone.” It was gone even before I had begun to sit up in bed. Afterward, I spent the next few hours of the night praying for everyone I knew and reciting to myself every bible verse I could think of. I felt the cold chills. The hairs of my body stood on end, but I knew I could call on Jesus to protect me, which is something I had never done before. The only reason I can think that I called on Jesus was that he put it in me to say it.

    A few nights later, I had this dream where I couldn’t see the foot of my bed, but something was picking up the foot of my bed and slamming it down over and over. And in my dream, I turned to get out of my bed to turn on the light, but it stopped as soon as I started to move. I didn’t wake from this dream.

    A few nights later, I had this dream where I was sitting up in bed and this tall creature of shadows was walking toward the foot of my bed, like it was coming from some place other than my bedroom. The shadows poured from it’s open mouth, like rain falling. I felt no fear and in my dream I said, “In the name of Jesus. Leave me alone,” and I watched it disappear right before my eyes. I didn’t wake from this dream.

    A few nights later, as I was about to fall asleep, I felt a sharp jab to the back of my right shoulder. I thought, "Did my wife just finger jab me?" I didn’t know why she would jab me like that because she had never jabbed me. I turned to look at my wife. When I looked at my wife, she was asleep, under layers of blankets, but what I saw was a creature reclining on it side hovering just above her. It was trying to look like my wife, but did a bad job of it. I could see it through a shell that had the appearance of my wife. It's eyes were black. It smiled at me. I knew it was intentionally doing a bad job of looking like my wife to torment me. I turned away from the sight. I was full of rage and I screamed into my bed. I screamed a sound that I had never heard come out of my mouth. And I never felt such rage. Like, all that I was, was rage. Like, there was nothing else in me. Like everything of who I was, was gone. Like, I was imprisoned in a state of rage. It was so intense that by the end of it, I was exhausted and I passed out.

    I wasn’t going to tell anyone about these experiences because I thought, “who would believe me?” Seven months went by before my wife and I watched the sermon about Jesus saving the man from a legion of demons and telling him to tell others. Then, I decided to tell my wife. It was hard because I didn’t want to scare her. She said she woke up that night when I screamed and looked at me to see if I was okay. She saw I was sleeping and went back to sleep. My wife believed me, and we continue to pray together that God will keep everyone from the dominion of darkness. Two months after talking with my wife, I told my brother in Christ what had happened. He recommended I write about it, which up to that point, writing about it never crossed my mind.

Our Enemy

    In Ephesians 6:10-12, Paul said, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” According to Paul, we are not the enemy. Our enemy is not of “flesh and blood.” Our enemy is “evil” and is in the “heavenly places.” Our enemy is an enemy who hates us with such intensity and yet, we are oblivious to them. Instead, we hate one another. Our hatred of one another fills our lives. No matter where you look, you will see someone hating another or someone hating you or you hating another. I’m here to tell you that “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” are real. And they want to destroy you. And they want you to hate one another. Instead, I encourage you to forgive one another. To own what you have done and not give any excuses. Even if the other person does not forgive you or ignores you. Forgive them and don’t retaliate. Pray to God for forgiveness and turn away from sin. Write a list and forgive each person. Ask God to forgive them. Let go of the anger and hate, no matter what they did. Leave vengeance to God. Instead, forgive them and love them. And I don’t mean emotional love. Be kind, patient, understanding, and gentle, but that doesn’t mean you have trust them or you have to put up with them. Help them in anyway you can, but keep your distance from them, even avoid them if need be, but in your heart, harbor no resentment, no anger and, no hate.

Why Me?

    Why did I experience these dreams and manifestations? I think there are a few reasons. One is I think God showed me what separation from him will be like. Hell is separation from God’s presence as seen in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” God’s presence is with us now, that is why we can love one another, but separation from God’s presence and “the glory of his might” is the absence of God’s love. In the absence of God’s love, we will become hatred, and we will become rage, and we will become unrecognizable from the people we were in life. We will become whittled down to nothing but hate. Jesus said in Matthew 13:41-43, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” The “fiery furnace” and the “weeping and gnashing of teeth” show what separation from God will be like. The “fiery furnace” is like burning rage. The “fiery furnace” is like burning hatred. That is just a part of what the fire of hell will be. The “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is what burning hatred and burning rage becomes. There is fire in hell, but I think that fire in hell also comes from what we become in the absence of God. In the absence of God, you will become unlike anything you were.

    Another reason I think I experienced these dreams and manifestations is God showed me what I had attracted in my life because of my sin. Before God brought me out of the darkness I was in, I was full of hatred and anger. I rejected God. Essentially, I followed the will of the devil. To look at me, you never would have thought I was evil because I seemed fairly good by our standards. For example, I was full of anger and hatred, but I rarely showed it. I kept it inside, stuffing it down, often simmering on the surface, so I would have to lie and say, “No, I not mad.” My hatred and anger opened a door for the dominion of darkness to enter into my life and influence me. Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” According to Jesus, be careful with anger because it can lead to murder, even the thought of murder is enough to be “liable to judgment.” To have anger and hatred in your heart, you commit murder in your heart and you are in danger of the fire in hell. Paul said in Ephesians 4: 26-27, "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportuinity to the devil.

    Another reason I think I experienced these dreams and manifestations is because God wanted to show me why he died for me and what he saved me from. Jesus died on the cross and defeated our enemy and has made a way for anyone to be saved through Jesus. Whoever believes that Jesus died for their sins are given his righteousness and eternal life with God.

Our Adversary

    The devil and the dominion of darkness rule our world. We just don’t see it. We believe we rule it. In 1 John 5:19, John said, “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” We have lost control of this world long ago because of sin. The dominion of darkness is here with us and when we sin, we open a door for them to influence us. When we sin, they gather to us, and are intent to fill us with their hatred and rage and even more than that, also pride and envy, and even more than that. Peter said in, 1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”

    Our “adversary” is not one another. Our “adversary” is the “devil.” Our adversaries are “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” And they prowl around looking for victims. When we sin, that opens the door for them to influence our lives. When we let them into our lives, we move anyway from the love of God and toward hatred. Paul said in, 2 Timothy 2:24-26, “And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” When we are “captured” by our adversaries to do their will, our will becomes their will and we don’t even realize what we are doing. We come to our “senses” not through quarrels, but through kindness and correction, and if anyone is open, then God leads them toward “repentance” and “truth.”

A Brief Study of Our Adversary

    If we want to know our adversary, then one place to look in scripture is when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil. In Matthew 4:1-11, we read, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered, “It is written,

‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

and him only shall you serve.’”

    Notice that the devil is the “tempter” and in this situation he is speaking to Jesus. Here the devil is targeting Jesus’ physical vulnerability, which is severe hunger. The goal of the devil is to get Jesus to think about himself. The goal is less about the food, it’s more about getting Jesus to follow his own will instead of following the Father’s will. But Jesus, instead of taking matters in his own hands to feed himself, he looks to God. It may be that the devil speaks to us, whispering to us in the spirit, but the devil’s goal is to lead us away from God. It may be that he targets our vulnerabilities, such as anger, lust, pride, envy, power, depression, and etc. The reason the devil tempts us is because our sin leads us away from God, and toward the belief that we are god.

“Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

‘He will command his angels concerning you,’”

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,

Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’

    Notice the devil quoted scripture. He changed his tactic to use scripture in an attempt to persuade Jesus to jump from the “pinnacle of the temple.” Here, the goal of the devil was to get Jesus to test God, like the devil wanted to see the angels bear Jesus up or even down to the ground, where many Jews would see Jesus float down from the temple. The Jews often asked Jesus to give them a sign, even though Jesus showed many sings, but this sign probably would have convinced the Jews to follow Jesus. However, this sign would not have been from the Father, but from pride.

“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

‘You shall worship the Lord your God

Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.”

    Notice that the devil knew the goal of Jesus was to save the world. The devil rules the world and he was willing to give it to Jesus, if Jesus would “fall down and worship” him. The devil knew who Jesus was, and he knew Jesus wanted to save the world, and he knew Jesus loved the world. By offering Jesus the world, it may be that the devil saw this as an opportunity for himself to become god, which is what he has been seeking since the beginning. The devil knew that Jesus was here to save the world, but he didn’t seem to know how Jesus was going to do it. I think if the devil knew how Jesus was going to save the world, he wouldn’t have offered him the world. This shows that the devil has limited knowledge and cannot read our thoughts.

    The main goal of the devil is to lead people away from God by getting them to focus on themselves. The goal seems to be to get anyone to question something greater than themselves, like the truth, and then to persuade anyone that something greater, like truth is within themselves. Also, it seems that he tempts us when we are most vulnerable, such as in a hardship or tragedy, but it’s not the hardship or tragedy in of itself, it’s how we react to the hardship or tragedy.

Open Doors

    I ask myself? How does the dominion of darkness “capture” us and influence us after we let them into our lives because of our sin? I truly don’t know, but I have an idea of one possible way. I felt intense hatred emanating from the presence that was hovering over me. It was the oddest thing. Its hatred felt like energy that had movement, like being close to a radiator emanating heat. I think they influence us by emanating their hatred and rage or pride or envy or whatever else into us. They want to fill us with it, which leads us to sin more. I think this happens because we open doors to them when we sin. And once they find a door that is open, they influence us, so that we become “captured.” My door was anger and over time they cultivated it into hatred. And in my anger and hatred, I planted seeds of anger and hatred in many people throughout my life. In Matthew 6:22-23, Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

    These creatures of destruction are removed from God’s love, and they are in the world with us. They are in the spirit. We see the material world, but they can see and interact with us. Many are not in hell. They are here with us. They are the absence of love and are full of hatred and anger. And because they are full of hatred and anger, they want us to be full of hatred and anger. In this way, they want to destroy us. They are blinded by their hatred and anger, and they want us to be blinded by our hatred and anger toward each other and God. They hate God. They know God loves us, so they want to destroy us. They want to destroy as many of us as they can before they will be thrown into the lake of fire for eternity. They know that their time here is ending. When I say destroy, I don’t mean annihilation. I mean we become like them.

In the Name of Jesus

    Who saves us from becoming like the demons in the dominion of darkness? Our savior, Christ Jesus. He is God, who came down from heaven to save us from the horrors of “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” and from an eternity in the pit of hell. That I called on Jesus to save me after waking from the first dream and within the third dream, symbolizes that Jesus will save us. When you believe, you are protected by God. According to John, in 1 John 5:18, “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.” Jesus protects all “who [have] been born of God,” and the “evil one” cannot “touch” them, but the “evil one” can still influence them. Peter said in, 1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” The “evil one” cannot take away your salvation as Jesus said in John 10:28-30, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

The True Light

    I think the light in my dreams symbolize Jesus. Turning on the light instantly brought me out of the darkness in the first dream and then showed me what I had attracted. The thought of turning on the light ended my second dream in an instant. My thought to turn on the light symbolizes my decision to believe in the true Light, and since I believe in the true Light, the true Light saved me. In John 1:4-5, we read, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Jesus is life and from him we are given life and that life is the light that shines within all who believe and when we look to his light, we are brought out of the darkness of this world in an instant. Once you believe in the true Light, in an instant, you are saved and you will receive eternal life. The power of the true Light that gives us life is greater than the darkness. The darkness can only exist because of the of the true Light. The true Light doesn’t need the darkness to exist.

Close The Door

    I had this dream. I was standing in a room and I was wet and I was drying myself off with a towel. Through the doorway was another space, like a hallway or a room and there was a woman moving about in darkness. I could see through the darkness. I decided to close the door to my room. The door was not a strong door, just a cheap, hollow bedroom door. As the door was just about close, I felt some resistance. I saw the darkness pressing against the door, so I pushed a little more and the door shut. I was in the room away from the door, still drying myself off, when I heard the woman screaming in agony on the other side of the door. I knew she was on fire because I could hear the flames. I moved to open the door to help her, but I stopped and stood there watching the door and listening to the woman scream and press against the door, until I realized that the woman wasn’t screaming in agony. She was screeching in hatred at me in a language I could not understand. I could hear dense scratching and pressing at the door, and I could see black smoke seeping between the door and the frame into my room. I realized in horror, she was not a woman. Then, I woke up.

    The door is a figure of speech that represents our decision to bring beliefs into our lives and these beliefs become a part of us. These beliefs make us into who we are. In Revelations 3:20, Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Jesus said this to the church in Laodicea because they were not following him. They were following in the way of their heart and the way of the world. They cared more about themselves and about their wealth than they did about the kingdom of God. They believed in Jesus, but they had turned away from him. Jesus wanted them to open the door and return to him, and to close the other doors. Instead of looking to their wealth and not having any cares, Jesus wanted them to leave that way of thinking and living and use their wealth to care for others and to understand that their wealth was given to them by God. We have many doors open to us in the world, but there is only one door that really counts.

His Mercy

    I don’t deserve his mercy. I deserve to be cast away from God. I don’t deserve his presence. But God entered our reality in the man Jesus and died on the cross to pay for the sins of all who believe in him. Jesus satisfied God’s justice by taking my punishment. I get what I don’t deserve in God’s mercy. I receive forgiveness at the cost of Jesus taking my punishment on the cross because I am incapable of doing anything to save myself. And because God has mercy on me, I receive his grace, which I also don’t deserve. His grace brings me into his presence and gives me eternal life with him. After the manifestation that tormented me by looking like my wife, I became rage. God showed me in an instant what I was to become. God saved me from an eternity of losing myself and becoming rage in the pit of hell. He saved me from eternal separation from him. Everyone in hell is alone because they do not have God. We were created to be with God. To be with God is our natural state, but now sin separates us from God. Paul said in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I think what Paul means by “death” is not physical death, but a death that separates us from God forever. Our way back to God is through Jesus Christ our Lord.

    The dreams and manifestations are unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I am nothing, but dust, saved by the righteousness of the One who died for the sins of the world. Don’t look to me or to other people, look to Jesus to help you and to save you. If you believe in Jesus, then I praise God because you have received eternal life. Then I urge you to follow Jesus and not this world. If you follow Jesus, then I praise God for your reward is in heaven. I'm writing about my experience not to draw attention to myself. I was an atheist. Now I testify that there are spiritual forces of evil. I was an atheist. Now I testify that there is a God.

    May the peace and grace of the only true God, the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit be with you.

Letter to a Sailor

Dear Sailor,

    Lyle was a friend of mine. He was in his 70’s and I was 26 years old. I worked for him at his RV and boat storage lot. He had his office set up in a fifth wheel trailer by the entrance. Much of our time was spent waiting for customers to come in to rent spaces, and so we had time to talk or just hang out not saying much while he smoked cigarettes. I had some theology books on the shelf in the trailer to read on the days when Lyle was off for the weekend. One day he asked me if I was going to become a priest. I told him I was thinking about becoming a Roman Catholic Priest because I had been attending the Roman Catholic Church that he and his wife also attended, though I wasn’t Roman Catholic. This was during a period in my life when I visited several churches to see what I could learn from them. This was the last church I visited before I decided to go my own way, away from God.

    One day, while we were sitting at the table, Lyle seemed kinda uncomfortable. We were just hanging out waiting for someone to drive into the lot, when he told me he was on a ship in the Pacific during World War 2. This really peaked my interest because he had told me when I was first hired that he was in the Navy during the war. I was expecting some good stories, but he told me just one story and it changed me. He said that during one battle there were a bunch of Japanese sailors in the water and he was ordered to shoot them with the 50 caliber machine gun he was manning. It was gruesome and it was the kind of story you think you’d want to hear from a veteran, but I could see that he was very concerned, and I didn’t know how to react. Then he asked me, “Do you think God will forgive me?”

    I was at a loss for words. How can I possibly answer him I thought, but then I remembered that Jesus died for our sins. I asked him something like, “You believe that Jesus died for your sins right?”He nodded his head and said, “Yes.”Then I said something like, “Yes, I think God has forgiven you.” Then I added something like, “You was just following orders” and “These things happen in war.” He knew this, I just thought he might want to hear me say it.

    I wasn’t sure if I helped him. It was quiet for a short time as we sat there at the table, until we went on about our day helping customers. What changed me was how I realized I couldn’t help him. I felt inadequate and I wasn’t sure what I could do for anyone, so I decided to not become a priest. I returned the theology books to a friend who had given them to me.

    Looking back now after 34 years, I know I gave Lyle the right answer. Although, what I failed to understand was the answer was not in me and what I could do for him. The answer was in Christ Jesus. Is there anything else I would say to Lyle today? Yes, there is. I’d tell Lyle to ask God for forgiveness. To open up to God in prayer. To speak to God and tell him what you have done and what troubles you. To go to a room and shut the door or go to a private place outside and speak to God in your mind or say the words from your mouth. To be honest and open, like you were talking to a friend. That’s what I’d like to say to Lyle.

    If you have yet to believe in Jesus, consider what Jesus did for you. God the Son came down from heaven and became the man Jesus. He was tempted in every way, but lived a sinless life. He was crucified on the cross and died. He was buried and was raised on the third day. He appeared to many of his disciples. They talked with him and walked with him and ate food with him until after 40 days he ascended into heaven, where he is with the Father now. His death on the cross is for you. The reason he died for you is because sin separates us from God, who is Holy and Perfect. When you believe in Jesus, that he died for your sins, he gives you his righteousness. He takes your punishment to satisfy God’s justice. And you receive God grace, which is a gift, and you get to live with God for eternity. Only God can save us from ourselves. Why would the Father accepted any other way after sending his Son to die on the cross for our sins? The truth of salvation and eternal life is found only in Jesus.

    I encourage you to learn about Jesus in the bible. To be persistent in your search. To not be distracted by what others may say. Many will tell you, directly or indirectly, to not follow and to not believe in Jesus. If you believe in Jesus, I praise God because you are saved and you have received eternal life. Therefore, I encourage you to follow in the way of Jesus. If you follow in the way of Jesus, then I praise God for your reward in heaven will be great. I also encourage you to join a church that teaches from the bible if you haven’t already. May God bless you and I thank you for your service in the Navy.

Jesus is God

    "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." (ESV, Titus 2:11-14)

Jesus is God

    There are many beliefs people have about the nature of Jesus. I think by comparing a few of the different beliefs about the nature of Jesus will help us to understand what the bible says about Jesus. In this study, I will compare the belief that states God shifts from the Father to become the Son, asserting that Jesus is the Father, and also, I will compare another belief that states that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are three distinct gods, but are one in unity, asserting that Jesus is one of many gods. I will compare both of these beliefs to the belief that Jesus is a distinct person, but is the same in divine nature with the Father and with the Holy Spirit and all are one God, asserting that Jesus is God in the Trinity. There’s significant evidence in the bible that point to the Trinity and that Jesus is God the Son, who was sent by his Father. I hope to show that Jesus is not the Father and not one of many gods, but that Jesus is God.

    Why is the nature of Jesus important? Why can’t what people choose to believe about Jesus be truth? I look to 2 John 1:7-9 to answer my questions. The Apostle John wrote to a woman and her children, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son” (ESV).

    What was John’s intent in his letter to the woman and her children? He was warning them about false teachings. Notice that John was concerned people believed Jesus did not come in the “flesh.” He called them a “deceiver” and an “antichrist” because they were changing the nature of Jesus. He was concerned because if anyone changed the nature of Jesus, they deceived other people to believe in a false Christ. He stated that believers will lose their “full reward” they have “worked for” if they believed that Jesus did not come in the “flesh.” This is important because John is talking to believers and he is telling them to “watch” themselves, so that they will not be mislead and loose their “full reward” in heaven. He also warned that anyone who “goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God.” This is important to understand. If anyone “goes on ahead,” teaching that Jesus did not come in the “flesh,” they are going beyond the truth and they do “not have God” because they are making up their own god. A false Christ cannot live a sinless life, and cannot make the Father known to us, and cannot die on the cross for our sins and reconcile us to God.

    John was concerned because people changed the nature of Jesus into a spirit and denied that he came in the “flesh.” He’s not writing about changes, such as adding works, like circumcision, but he was writing about changing Jesus into a different nature. To believe that the Father came as the Son is to deny that the Son came in the flesh because this asserts that the Father is the Son, making the Son non existent. And to believe that the Father and the Son are two distinct gods in unity is to deny that the Son came in the flesh because this asserts that the Son is a distinct god among many, making the Son a non-god and non existent. Both of these beliefs change the nature of Jesus into something false and will not be of any use to you.

The Father is Not the Son

    In John 17:3, Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” We see that Jesus is praying to his Father, and we also see that there is a relationship between two persons. Jesus said that to have eternal life, is to know the Father, “the only true God, and Jesus Christ.” Jesus and the Father are two distinct persons, but they are equal because they both must be known to have eternal life. Jesus said that the Father “sent” him to be the Christ. The Father did not send Jesus as himself, but that the Father sent Jesus. By Jesus’ own words, He is talking to another person, who is the Father and He said that the Father sent Him. It’s clear that the Father is not the Son. In this verse we also see that Jesus called the Father the “only true God,” meaning that there is one God, not two separate gods.

There is Only One God

    In John 17:5, Jesus said, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” Jesus prayed to his Father to “glorify” him in the Father’s “own presence.” The Father’s “own presence” is distinct from all creation because it is the “presence” of the only true God. It is a “presence” that Jesus said, “I had with you” meaning that Jesus and the Father shared in the Father’s “own presence” that is distinct from all creation before the “world existed.” Jesus wanted to return to his Father's "own presence" that only God can enter into, showing that Jesus is God. Jesus is not going to change to become the Father to enter into the Father’s “own presence.” And two gods would each have their own distinct presence from each other even while united as one.

    Additionally, Jesus prayed to the Father to “glorify” him in the Father’s own presence with the “glory” that he had with his Father before the “world existed.” The Father’s “glory” is distinct from creation because it is the “glory” of God that was before creation. We also see in Isaiah 42:8 that God does not give his “glory” to no one, but God.

“I am the Lord; that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to carved idols.”

    Since God does not give his “glory” to “no other,” there are no other gods. And since the Father does not give his “glory” to “no other,” and Jesus was “glorified” in the Father’s “own presence” with the “glory” that Jesus had with the Father before the “world existed,” then Jesus is God with the Father. Two disticnt persons sharing the same "presence" and "glory" as one God. Two distinct persons sharing the same nature as one God.

Jesus is Before All Things

    When Jesus said he was with the Father before the “world existed,” (John 17:5) what did he mean? I think Colossians 1:15-17 answers my question. Paul stated of Jesus our Lord and Savior, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

    Since Jesus is “before all things,”and this is before the "world existed," then there was nothing before creation that was of creation. There was only God. Not only was Jesus before all things, but that he created all things. Since Jesus created “all things," nothing of creation existed before creation. This means that all things in “heaven and on earth,” and all things “visible and invisible” and all things “whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities” did not exist until Jesus created them. This means that Jesus was with the Father “before all things.”

    Since Jesus was with the Father "before all things," and Jesus wanted to return to his Father, then the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Father because the Father and the Son are two persons, who were with each other "before all things" as the only God. There was no other existence. There were no other gods. There were no other beings in existence "before all things."

The Firstborn is a Title

    In Colossians 1:15, Paul stated that Jesus is the “firstborn of all creation,” which sounded confusing since Jesus is “before all things” (Col 1:17). If Jesus was the firstborn in all creation, then he could not be "before all things," which means that all things could not have been created by him and for him because he would be a part of creation. But the “firstborn of all creation” does not mean that Jesus is of creation. It means that Jesus is of first importance over all creation. Paul’s intention in stating that Jesus is the "firstborn of all creation" was to show the position or rank of Jesus over all creation, not that Jesus is a part of creation. 

    To be “firstborn” was a title used by Paul to show Jesus’ supremacy above all creation. For example, the firstborn title was given to King David to show King David’s supremacy above all “kings of the earth” as seen in Psalms 89:27,

“And I will make him the firstborn,

the highest of the kings of the earth.”

    King David was seventh born as seen in 1 Chronicles 2:13-15, “Jesse fathered Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third, Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, Ozem the sixth, David the seventh.” Paul’s use of the firstborn is meant as a title and does not mean that Jesus was the firstborn child of God. Paul’s use of the firstborn title was to show Jesus’ preeminence above all creation, like in King David’s preeminence above all kings.

    Another example is that the Israelites gave the firstborn title to the first born son. In Genesis 49:2-3, we see that Reuben was the first born son of Jacob, but also was the heir to inherit and rule.

"Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,

listen to Israel your father.

Reuben, you are my firstborn,

my might, and the firstfruits of my strength,

preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power."

    To be the firstborn was to be bestowed with preeminence in “dignity” and preeminence in “power.” To be the firstborn had a literal meaning of being the first born son, but also the firstborn was to be given the authority to rule over family members and over other people. This authority was to be bestowed on Reuben at the time of inheritence from his father, but instead it was all given to another son, Judah, which shows that the firstborn title could be taken from the first born son and be given to another son. 

    Another example of the use of firstborn title is seen in Exodus 4:21-23, “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.’” Israel is the “firstborn son” because they are the people God first chose to set apart from all other people to reveal himself to the world, through the prophets and through Christ Jesus. 

    To believe that Jesus is the firstborn in creation is a misuse of the firstborn title and an intentional misinterpretaion of Colossians 1:15-17. This is important to understand because it changes the nature of the Son of God into a created being. But wasn’t Jesus born of the virgin Mary? Here, we begin to see Jesus’s nature of being truly human and truly God. Jesus the man was formed in his mother’s womb, but Jesus, God the Son never had a beginning and was never created and was with his Father “before all all things.” Jesus the man was born of a woman and was formed in the womb, and Jesus, God the Son was also born of a woman, but was not formed in the womb because he existed eternally. When Paul said, “in him all things hold together,” Paul was stating that Jesus retained his divine nature as a man. So, when Jesus was in the womb, and while Jesus grew up and when He began His ministry, He held “all things together.” Jesus was truly human and truly God. 

No Other Gods

    In John 10:30, Jesus said, “I and the Father are one,” to the Jews in the temple. Jesus separated the person of himself from the Father when he said, "I and the Father." There are two distinct persons. We also know that Jesus shared in his Father’s “own presence” and “glory” (John 17:5) before all things were created as two distinct persons. They are not two distinct gods united as one, and they are not one God in the sense that the Father changes and becomes the Son. Jesus and the Father are "one," meaning that they have the same nature, that they are "one" God. In Deuteronomy 32:39, the “one" God said,

“See now that I, even I, am he,

and there is no god beside me;

I kill and I make alive;

I wound and I heal;

and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”

    God said, "there is no god beside me," so there are no distinct gods united as one. There are no other gods. And since God identified himself as “he” and “me” and “I,” he is a person, and therefore can’t be multiple shifting persons, where the Father changes to become the Son.

    Additionally, In Isaiah 45:5-7, we see that there are no other gods;

“I am the Lord, and there is no other,

besides me there is no God;

I equip you, though you do not know me,

that people may know, from the rising of the sun

and from the west, that there is none besides me;

I am the Lord, and there is no other.

I form light and create darkness;

I make well-being and create calamity;

I am the Lord, who does all these things.”

    And in Isaiah 45:22-23,

“Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other.

By myself I have sworn;

from my mouth has gone out in righteousness

a word that shall not return:

‘To me every knee shall bow,

every tongue shall swear allegiance.”

    You can believe in the Father. You can believe that the Father sent his Son. You can believe that Jesus died for your sins. You can believe that Jesus resurrected from the grave, but if you change the nature of God into something false, you are still lost in your sins. There is only one God to turn to and be saved, and that is the God of the bible who said, "For I am God, and there is no other" (Isa 45:22).

Jesus Told the Jews He is God

    Jesus claimed to be God in multiple places in scripture. His claims are direct claims that the Jewish leaders understood. In John 10:30, the Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant when he said, “I and the Father are one.” In response to Jesus’ claim, “The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God’” (John 10:31-33).

    The Jews wanted to stone Jesus because they believed he was offending God by claiming to be God. The Jews recognized that Jesus was claiming to be God, but the Jews did not understand what Jesus told them about God. They did not understand that Jesus and the Father are God. Both the Jews and Jesus were talking about one God, not two gods, or the Father as the Son, or of any other form of a god. The Jews didn’t understand that Jesus meant that both he and the Father are the only true God.

Jesus is the Great I Am

    In John 8:56-59, Jesus said to the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” 

    When Jesus said, before Abraham was, “I am,” he was quoting Exodus 3:14, when God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” This is significant because Jesus clearly knew who he was, and he told the Jews that he is God in a way that they would understand. The Jews thought Jesus was insulting God by claiming to be God and were going to stone him to death if he had not hid himself and escaped out of the temple. The discussion between Jesus and the Jews was about one God, not multiple gods or any other form of a god. Jesus did not claim to be a god, and he did not claim to be the Father. Jesus claimed to be the only true God, the great “I am,” who spoke to Moses and Abraham. When Jesus said he was the "I am," he meant, “I and the Father are one.”

Jesus the Son of Man

    In Mark 14: 62-63, Jesus was brought before the council of the chief priests, and they were trying to find a way to kill him. Many people could not agree on their testimony against him, so the “high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’ And the high priest tore his garments and said, ‘What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?’ And they all condemned him as deserving death.”

    Jesus was crucified because he claimed to be God. Jesus claimed to be God when he said, he was “the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” To be at the “right hand of Power” is to claim the authority of God and to come with the “clouds of heaven” is to claim to be God. The high priest responded with tearing his clothes and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy.” Beforehand, the priests couldn’t judge him because they couldn’t find witnesses who agreed in their testimony. But, when Jesus claimed to be God, they all witnessed his claim right before their eyes.

    The high priest asked Jesus, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Here, we see that the high priest called God “the Blessed.” And the high priest knew that the “Christ” would be “the Son of the Blessed.” And Jesus answered the high priest, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Here, Jesus is linking “the Christ, the Son of the Blessed” to being “seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Jesus said this to the high priest, and in front of other priests and witness, and he knew that they would kill him for saying it. To be seated at the “right hand of Power” is to claim all authority. The high priest was there to judge Jesus, but Jesus claimed that his authority was higher than the high priests’ authority, and that he would judge the high priest. Only the high priest could go into the Holiest place within the Jewish temple to be in God’s presence once a year. But Jesus claimed to be “seated at the right hand of Power,” which is to claim the presence and glory of God (John 17:5). This enraged the high priest and he tore his clothes because the high priest believed himself to be the highest authority in the world.

    When Jesus called himself “the Son of Man,” he was referring to Daniel 7:13-14, which is a prophecy about the Messiah,

“I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven

there came one like a son of man,

and he came to the Ancient of Days

and was presented before him.

And to him was given dominion

and glory and a kingdom,

that all peoples, nations, and languages

should serve him;

his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

which shall not pass away,

and his kingdom one

that shall not be destroyed.”

    In his vision, Daniel saw the “one like a son of man” was given “dominion” over “all peoples, nations, and languages.” He was given all authority from the “Ancient of Days,” who is the Father. When Jesus called himself “the Son of Man,” he was referring himself to be the “one like a son of man,” who the Father has given all authority.

Jesus has All Authority

    In Matthew 28:16-17, Jesus claimed all authority, but some disciples doubted. We read, “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted." 

    At first, I didn’t understand why some “doubted” after all they had witnessed Jesus walking on water, feeding thousands with a few loaves of bread and a few fish, calming the storm, casting out demons, healing the sick, and resurrecting the dead, and that they were with Jesus who was himself resurrected. They were talking to and eating with a man who resurrected himself from the grave, but some doubted? Then I realized that they were not doubting all they had witnessed, but that some of the disciple were doubting if they should worship him. 

    Jesus knew this and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

    For Jesus to claim that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” is to claim to be the judge of all. And that Jesus said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” is to claim to be omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Only God can make these claims. Jesus said to the disciples to baptize people in the “name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Here we see the Trinity. Notice that Jesus said in the “name of,” not in the names of. Jesus, who has “all authority” stated that there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who are all one “name.” Since we know that Jesus and the Father are “one,” and since we know that there is only one true God, then the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are the only true God.

    Jesus has been given all authority. He has been given authority to judge us all. This is important because all of us will face judgment. Those who believe will face judgment of their good deeds that will result in their reward in heaven, and those who reject Jesus will face judgment that will separate them from God. It is my hope that you dear reader will follow the will of the Father, And this is the will of the Father according to Jesus in John 6:40, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” If you believe that Jesus died on the cross for you, then I praise God because you have been given Jesus’ righteousness and you have been given eternal life with God. Therefore, I urge you to follow in the way of Jesus. If you follow in the way of Jesus, then I praise God because the Light of the Son is shining in you for others to see and your reward in heaven will be great.

Jesus is Distinct from the Angels

    In the book of Hebrews, we see specific language that states that Jesus is distinct from the angels, that the angels worship him, that the Father calls Jesus God, that Jesus was the creator in the beginning before all things, that Jesus sits at the right hand of God, and that Jesus has no beginning or end.

“For to which of the angels did God ever say,

You are my Son,

today I have begotten you?

Or again,

I will be to him a father,

and he shall be to me a son?" (Heb 1:5).

    The Son is distinct from the angels because no angel has “ever” been called “my Son” or has “ever” been “begotten” by the Father. 

The Angels Worship Jesus

“And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

Let all God's angels worship him” (Heb 1:6).

    The angels are God’s servants who worship God, and they also tell us to worship God only. We see this in Revelations 22:8-9, John fell down to worship an angel, “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’”

The Father Says Jesus is God

“Of the angels he says,

He makes his angels winds,

and his ministers a flame of fire.

But of the Son he says,

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,

the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;

therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness beyond your companions” (Heb 1:7-9).

    The angels were made for specific purposes, but the Father said to his Son, “Your throne, O God is forever and ever,” and said “therefore God, your God, has anointed you.” Here we see that the Father, who is God, called his Son God. And said that his Son will rule his kingdom. We can see that Jesus is above the angels, and that Jesus is God, and that Jesus and the Father are one God.

Jesus Laid the Foundation of Everything

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,

and the heavens are the work of your hands;

they will perish, but you remain;

they will all wear out like a garment,

like a robe you will roll them up,

like a garment they will be changed.

But you are the same,

and your years will have no end" (Heb 1:10-12).

    The Father calls his Son Lord and praises him for the creation of the heaven and the earth by his own hands. Also, in Hebrews 1:1, we read, “But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” We see that the Father also created the heavens and the earth through his Son. The Son “laid the foundation” of the earth and the heavens, and the Father “created the world” and the heavens through the Son. The Son does the will of his Father in all things, and the Father and the Son are one in all things.

Jesus Sits at the Right hand of God

"And to which of the angels has he ever said,

Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?

Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve 

for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” (Heb 1:13-14)

    No angel sits at the “right hand” of the Father. No angel will the Father make “enemies a footstool for [their] feet.” No angel will the Father give all authority. All angels are  "ministering spirits” for those who are to “inherit salvation.”

No Beginning and No End

    The heavens and the earth will be rolled up, “like a garment” and “changed,” but the Son’s “years will have no end” (Heb 1:11-12). Our years have a beginning and an end, but the Son has no beginning and has no end. In Psalm 90:1-2, we see that God always has been and always will be;

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place

in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

    And in Isaiah 57:15,

“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,

who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy.”

    The Father and the Son are before all things. The Father and the Son "inhabits eternity," but our world and the heavens will be rolled up, like a garment and will be changed. The Son was with the Father before creation and during creation. The Son was in the Spirit when he was with the Father before creation and during creation. The Son, who became the man Jesus was crucified and was buried and was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven and is now with the Father. The Father is not the Son because if the Father is the Son, then the Father did not create all things through his Son in the beginning, and the Father and the Son did not "inhabit eternity" together. If the Father is the Son, then the Son was not crucified, did not die, was not buried, was not resurrected, and did not ascend into heaven, and is not now with the Father.

Jesus is God in the Old Testament

    In Exodus 3:2-6, we read, “And the angel of the Lord appeared to [Moses] in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, ‘I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.’ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then he said, ‘Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ And he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.’”

    The angel of the Lord appeared in a “flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. The angel of the Lord “saw that [Moses] turned aside to see.” Then God “called to [Moses] out of the bush.” Since the angel of the Lord “appeared in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush,” and God called out to Moses from the bush, then the angel of the Lord and God are one in the same. We also see the angel of the Lord call himself, “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” The angel of the Lord is not messenger of the Lord.

    In the Hebrew language, the title “Lord” means Yahweh, which is the name of God. What this means is that the angel of the Lord is the name of God, and to be more specific, the name of God is in the angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord is far more than a messenger. I think the angel of the Lord is the Son of God. 

    For example, in Exodus 23:20-21 God said, “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.” The angel of the Lord is God because God’s “name is in him.” Additionally, when God said to the Israelites, “Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice,” we see this repeated in the New Testament.

    In Matthew 17:5, during the transfiguration, God spoke to Peter, James, and John when a “bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." Here, the Father is telling Peter, James, and John to listen to his “beloved Son.” 

In Exodus 23:20, God said to the Israelites, “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.” Here, God sent the angel of the Lord to show the Israelites the way to the place God had prepared for them. 

    In John 14:2-3, Jesus came to prepare a place and to come again to bring those who are his to himself. And in John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." And in John 17:3, Jesus said that he was sent by his Father.

    In Exodus 23:21, God said to the Israelites, “do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression.” Here, the Father has given the Angel of the Lord all authority to be the judge of the Israelites. 

    In Matthew 28:18, when Jesus said to the disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Here, the Father has given all authority to his Son, Jesus. 

Jesus and the Father are Distinct Persons

    Now let’s look at an example that shows that Jesus and his Father as two distinct persons. In John 4:31-34, we read, "Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, 'Rabbi, eat.' But he said to them, 'I have food to eat that you do not know about.' So the disciples said to one another, 'Has anyone brought him something to eat?' Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.'"

    Jesus’ food is to do the "will" of his Father and to “accomplish” his Father’s work. We see that Jesus did his Father’s will in place of his own will. This shows two wills and two persons, but of one person doing the will of the other person. We also see that Jesus was “sent” by his Father, not to do his own will, but the will of his Father. Because the Son is "sent" by his Father, the Son did not send himself and the Father did not send himself as the Son. Whoever believes that the Father is the Son and the Son is the Father is not abiding to the truth.

Our Food

    Jesus’ food is to do his Father’s will, and his Father’s will is not a food that temporarily satisfies hunger, but is a food that you eat once and never hunger again. What is our Food? Our food is Jesus, who said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst,” (John 6:35) Our food is to eat the “bread of life” and to drink the living water that Jesus freely gives simply by believing in him. To eat the "bread of life" and to drink the living water is to believe. To believe is to take Jesus into yourself that you may be born again into eternal life.

Who Do You Say That I Am?

    It was important to the Apostle John that people believed in the true nature of Jesus. Within a short time after Jesus’ death on the cross, people were already changing the nature of Jesus into something false. John knew that they were wrong and he was careful to show this in his writing to the woman and her children. This is important because Jesus himself wanted to know what people thought of him. In Matthew 16:13-17, we read, “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?' And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Simon Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.'" Peter knew that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God. Peter did not know this from other people, who believed Jesus was “one of the prophets.” He knew it from the Father.

    In Matthew 17:1-8, we read about the transfiguration, “And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’ When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”

    Jesus chose to take Peter, James, and John to witness his transfiguration because some of people believed Jesus was “one of the prophets.” Some people said he was, “John the Baptist, others [said] Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” They were changing Jesus’ nature into something false, so Jesus wanted Peter, James, and John to have no doubt of who he was because of what other people believed. Jesus showed Peter, James, and John, that he was not “one of the prophets.” Jesus “shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light,” and Moses and Elijah appeared “talking with him,” and a “bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.'" Peter, James, and John “fell on their faces and were terrified.” They were not scared or frightened, but they were “terrified.” When people see and hear God in glory, they always fall on their faces terrified. We commonly think of being terrified because of something horrific, something evil, but to be in the presence of a Holy God is terrifying to us because we are evil. We cannot handle the presence of a Good and Perfect God.

Hold Fast to the Teaching of Christ

    Why is it important for Jesus to be recognized for who he is? Because without the truth, people will believe in a lie and be deceived. It’s important what we believe. What we believe will determine where we will spend eternity. There are two choices. An eternity with God or and eternity without God. And God desires that everyone believe in the truth. In 1 Timothy 2:3-6, Paul said, “God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” God our Savior desires all people to be “saved.” And God our Savior desires all people to “come to the knowledge of truth.” Jesus is the “ransom for all,” and Jesus is the “one mediator between God and men.” There are no other mediators and there is no other ransom and there is no other god. To be “saved,” you must believe Jesus died for you. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

    We often believe that what is relative to the person is good, so it’s no surprise that we think we can make God into our own image. We often declare what is false to be truth, so it’s not surprising that in the lifetime of Jesus and the Apostles, other people wanted to change the truth. The Apostle John said in 2 John 1:9, “Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” And Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2:14-15, “To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” John urged believers to abide in the teachings of Christ. Paul urged believers to “stand firm” to the “traditions” that they were “taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” There is no wiggle room here. The apostles do not want other people adding to what they taught because it matters where we place our faith. Genuine faith can be placed in a Christ that did not come in the flesh, but that faith will not save anyone. Genuine trust can be placed in a Christ that did not come in the flesh, but that trust will not save anyone.

It Matters What you Believe

    You can believe that Jesus is God. You can believe that the Father and the Son are one. You can believe in the Trinity. You can believe that Jesus died for your sins. You can believe that Jesus rose from the dead. You can believe all these things, but if you change the nature of Jesus into a spirit, or an angel, or into the Father, or one of many gods, or a form of another god, or into a prophet, or into a teacher, or into an idea, or into a brother, or into a man becoming god, or into a moral example, or a part of all things, or that you are the Christ in you, or any other form, you are believing in a false god. I encourage you to study the bible, and to abide in the teaching, so that you may know Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. 

    One of the reasons why I think God said “I am” to Moses is to state that he is not what others make him out to be. God is who he is and there is no other like him. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons and they are one God. The Father is a distinct person and is God. The Son is a distinct person and is God. The Holy Spirit is a distinct person and is God. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Father. The Father and Son are not the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is not the Father and is not the Son. All three are one God. They are one God because they have the same divine nature. Three distinct persons, but one divine nature.

    There are many more examples of Jesus is God in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. I have shown only just a few of the examples in this study.

    Paul ended 2 Corinthians 13:14, with the Trinity, and so I end this study with Paul’s words, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”