John 20:26-28 relates that Jesus, having ascended to the Father, then returned to earth and appeared to His apostles. At that time Thomas called Him “… my Lord and my GOD.” Earlier, Peter, when asked by Jesus who He was, replied, “Thou art the Christ, the SON of the living God” (Mat. 16:16). They were both right. Notice that Peter did not call Jesus “God,” which he surely would have had He been a God at that time. He called the Father “God,” therefore he would have called Jesus “God” had he been a God at the time. Instead, he called Him what He was–the Christ, the human Son of God. Thomas, on the other hand, was addressing the born again Christ Who, having risen from the dead and totally spirit, was once again a God. Therefore Thomas called Him “God.”

Hebrews 5:7-9 graphically depicts Jesus as a man like all other men. Here Jesus is praying to God with strong CRYING and TEARS. He was heard by God (only) BECAUSE HE FEARED GOD, not because He was a God or was partially a God. Though He was God’s Son, Jesus, being human, had to LEARN OBEDIENCE and to be MADE PERFECT by suffering and overcom- ing numerous trials, tests and temptations. This does not describe a God; it describes a man–a Son of God–just like all other sons of God/saints. Using His supposed God status to justify sin in this life has no Scriptural basis (see 1 Jn. chapters 2,3/Rom. ch. 8). God tolerates no excuses–we must “overcome even as He overcame” (Rev. 3:21) and “walk even as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6) in this life in order to qualify to inherit eternal life. “Adam made me do it” has no Scriptural basis. God demands obedience of His later sons just as He did His original Son. The parable of the ten virgins (church members) reveals the final position of those who meet His demands and those who do not.

Luke 2:40,52 tells us that the child Jesus GREW and BECAME STRONG IN SPIRIT, WISDOM AND FAVOR WITH GOD. Notice that He had to GROW spiritually as does any other human being. A God does not become or grow; He is all He has ever been and will ever be–perfect and complete in every way. Having all wisdom, He does not need to BECOME WISE OR GROW IN SPIRIT.

In Mark 13:32 Jesus was asked when the end of the age would come. He replied that HE DID NOT KNOW, that ONLY GOD KNEW. If He was a God on earth He would have known. If He was a God and knew, then He lied to the disciples, thereby disqualifying Himself from being man’s Savior. This did not happen. In John 8:28 Jesus openly stated that He could do nothing on His own power, that even His WORDS were given Him by God. JESUS KNEW AND COULD DO ONLY WHAT GOD ENABLED HIM TO KNOW AND DO THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRIT–just like the rest of us.

So, one might ask, how did Jesus know things He had no human way of knowing, like the fact that Lazarus was dead, or the number of husbands a woman had had, etc? God has been speaking unknowable things to His servants and empowering them to do the humanly impossible throughout Biblical history. I have heard God’s spiritual voice and seen His visions on several occasions. He has told me such things as who would die and why. He has performed many acts of healing through me and has used me to cast out many demons, just as He promised in John 14:12. The fact that Jesus did miraculous things and knew unknowable things does not prove that He was a God while on earth. The gifts of the Spirit are available to modern day sons of God just as they were to Jesus of Nazareth.

In John 20:17 Jesus told Mary that she, a human, had the same relationship with God that He had as a human: “… I have not yet ascended to MY Father and YOUR Father … I am ascending to MY Father and YOUR Father, to MY God and YOUR God.” Notice that He made no distinction between His relationship with God and the saint’s relationship with God. He was returning to God as a MAN and, as a MAN He intercedes for the saints (1 Tim. 2:5). Saints, upon being born again, will also, as men, sit with Jesus on His throne in the Kingdom of God (Rev. 3:21). We, like Him, will be men in spirit form.

In John 7:16 Jesus said that His doctrines were not His, but the Father’s Who sent Him. As a man He could not formulate His own doctrines as does religious man in concocting his various church customs, traditions, etc. When the Counterfeit Church rejects Jesus’ doctrine she is rejecting the doctrine of God the Father. But all is well, she declares. Why? Because the God Whose Word she rejects has save her. How does she know this? Because He said so in His Word. The irony of such religious gibberish is inescapable.

A favorite Scripture used by sin-excusers is Matthew 9:6 where Jesus said: “The Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins.” Can man forgive sin? Let God’s Word answer the question. In John 20:20-23 Jesus bestowed His Holy Spirit on the apostles, sending them out to do what He had done as directed by the Father through His Holy spirit. Here Jesus told the disciples that if they forgave anyone’s sins, those sins were forgiven by the Father, and if they did not forgive anyone’s sins, those sins were not forgiven. In Matthew 18:18 He tells them that “… whatsoever you bind on earth shall be BOUND IN HEAVEN, and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be LOOSED IN HEAVEN.” Notice that He did not say which would come first–the heavenly binding and loosing or the earthly binding and loosing, the Father’s forgiving of sin or the disciples’ forgiving of sin. Strict Scripture study (precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little) reveals that God does the telling and doing, THEN the saint simply follows His instructions. Remember, Jesus said that He could do NOTHING by Himself, that He depended on the Father of ALL things. In modern day English we would say that whatsoever things a saint binds or whatsoever sins he forgives have already been bound and forgiven by the Father in heaven. The saint has simply heard from God and is voicing what He has told him. Catholic priests who claim the power to arbitrarily forgive sins are false prophets who have usurped the power of God. Notice that on the cross Jesus did not say that He forgave His killers, but instead ASKED GOD TO FORGIVE THEM. The same was true of Stephen as he was being stoned to death for speaking Truth to the religious leaders of the day. Both Jesus and Stephen asked God to do what they, as men, could not do on their own power. As Jesus said, “I can of Myself do nothing.” The totality of His power came from God through the Holy Spirit. Recall that Jesus did nothing ministry wise before receiving the Holy Spirit (power) from the Father. This is why He told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4,5). They would have been powerless had they tried to minister without the Holy Spirit.

Another compelling proof of the total manhood of Jesus is found in Psalms 2:7 where God is speaking to His future human Son through David: “Thou art my son; THIS DAY I have begotten thee.” Here God is prophesying about a POINT IN TIME when He would, by His Spirit, supernaturally impregnate a human woman. In John 1:1-4 we find God stating through John that the Word/Jesus had existed IN THE BEGINNING. We know from Hebrews 7:3 that Melchisedek who, being “LIKE THE SON OF GOD,” had neither mother nor father, neither beginning nor ending. Melchisedek was the Word Who would later be begotten by God the Father and would come to earth as Jesus of Nazareth, having been born of a woman. In Acts 2:22 we are told that GOD did miracles THROUGH Jesus. In verse 28 we find that GOD MADE KNOWN to Jesus the ways of life. A God does miracles on His own power and does not need to be taught the ways of life. In verses 32,36 we find that GOD MADE JESUS LORD. As the Word (Jn. 1:1-4), He had been Lord from the beginning. As a man He had to be made Lord by the Father.

The most powerful proof of Jesus’ humanness while on earth is found in 1 Timothy 2:5: “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS. Note that Jesus, though now a GOD, is still a MAN as He sits at the Father’s right hand mediating between the Father and His saints. What does this mean for His saints’ future? Following rebirth at Christ’s return, they will be like Jesus (1 Jn. 3:2) in the kingdom. They will be men with spirit bodies exactly as Jesus is a man with a spirit body. In this way God is revealing to us that Jesus, a former FLESH MAN, is now a SPIRIT MAN in His Father’s kingdom. The destiny of saints is, following rebirth, to become AS JESUS IS NOW–totally spirit in bodily composition. Note in 1 Timothy 6:11 that the word “man” used to describe Jesus in the present as He sits at the Father’s side in heaven is the same word used to describe Timothy in his flesh body–ANTHROPOS–a human being, person, humankind; used to describe human beings as contrasted with animals OR DEITY (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible). Jesus the spirit God came to earth as a flesh man who, being born again, returned to the Father as a spirit MAN. The saint, upon being born again at Christ’s return, will join Him as a spirit MAN in the Kingdom of God. No wonder Paul exclaimed upon visiting the third heaven: “Eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for THEM THAT LOVE HIM.” Note the qualifier–LOVE FOR GOD. So who loves God?

“If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jn 14:15,21;15:10) “If thou would enter into (eternal) life, keep the command- ments” (Mat. 19:17). “For this is the love of (for) God, that we keep His commandments” (1 Jn. 5:3). This includes #4–the Sabbath commandment–God’s test commandment. To break one (#4) is to break the total Law, making one a “worker of iniquity–Lawlessness” whom Jesus will reject on judgment day (Mat. 7:23) for rejecting His commandments and following the commandments of men. The Counterfeit Church is an iniquitous organization that has as its foundational principles the heathenistic beliefs and practices of pagan man.

In Matthew 4:4 is summed up the responsibility of man: That he must live by EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD–just as Jesus did. As a man Jesus was TOTALLY MAN AND TOTALLY DEPENDENT ON GOD. Man’s contention that we cannot WALK AS JESUS WALKED AND OVERCOME AS HE OVERCAME because the fix was in for Him has no Scriptural basis. Have questions or comments? Contact me at LPJ4141@gmail.com or (903) 677-5642 or P.O. Box 2352 Athens, Tx. 75751. I speak and read only English.