Who said

Who said, 'God is one in person'?

Saddleback and the Trinity

But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good

(1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Rick Warren's Saddleback Baptist Church website offers "Small Group Information," where a list of 66 questions submitted from Saddleback members are answered by Saddleback Pastors' (click HERE).

Question #1 on the list is "What are Saddleback's beliefs?" In reply, Saddleback answers with:

"What We Believe: ABOUT GOD God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God. Genesis 1:1,26,27; 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14" [emp. theirs].

Of the Trinity, Tom Holliday (also of Saddleback), correctly states that:

"In trying to make this truth more easily understood, we often make the mistake of diminishing it. The fact that God is a trinity does not mean that He takes different forms at different times that greatly lessens this wonderful truth. Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the Father are all distinct persons within the Godhead. They are not just different 'personalities' or 'activities' of God" ("What is the Trinity?"--click HERE).

While the above is correct and Scriptural, one would think any additional answers from Saddleback on the nature of God and the Trinity would be equally correct and Scriptural.

Time to activate your discernment antenna.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).

Be diligent to present ! yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:14).

With question #1 in mind, question #56 asks, "Are God and Jesus one and the same, or are they two different people?" Again, a Saddleback pastor answers with:

"The Bible teaches very clearly that there is one God... not two or three or seven. It also teaches clearly that the Father is God and that Jesus is God and also that the Holy Spirit ! is God. The fact that there is only one God and yet three separate persons are called God leads us to the truth of the Trinity" of God. This means that although God is one in person, He also expresses Himself in three distinct personalities. That's why Jesus can talk to the Father and be sent by the Father and yet they are still one. This is a difficult truth to grasp. I tell people that it's one of the truths about God that reminds us that He is bigger than we are" [emp. added].

Stop! Re-read the bold print: "This means that although God is one in person, He also expresses Himself in three distinct personalities."

The question that needs to be asked is, How can the three Persons in

the Godhead be "one in person" at the same time?

The answer is simple: God isn't "one in person" and "three distinct

personalities" at the same time.

What is Modalism?

"Modalism is probably the most common theological error concerning the nature of God. It is a denial of the Trinity which states that God is a single person who, throughout biblical history, has revealed Himself in three modes, or forms. Thus, God is a single person who first manifested himself in the mode of the Father in Old Testament times. At the incarnation, the mode was the Son. After Jesus' ascension, the mode is the Holy Spirit. These modes are consecutive and never simultaneous. In other words, the Father, the ! Son, and the Holy Spirit never all exist at the same time, only one after another. Modalism denies the distinctiveness of the three persons in the Trinity even though it retains the divinity of Christ.

"Present day groups that hold to forms of this error are the United Pentecostal and United Apostolic Churches. They deny the Trinity, teach that the name of God is Jesus, and require baptism for salvation. These modalist churches often accuse Trinitarians of teaching three gods. This is not what the Trinity is. The correct teaching of the Trinity is one God in three eternal coexistent persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" (Matthew Slick, "Modalism," click HERE. See also "Monarchianism," "Dynamic Monarchianism" and "Modal Monarchianism" HERE).

This is not to suggest that Rick Warren and Saddleback Church outright deny the Trinity, or is purposely introducing heresy. But for whatever reason the "God is one in person" statement was included, Saddleback needs to correct it immediately, and educate its members on the dangers of Modalism and other forms of heresy.

Who else said "God is one in person"?

Emanuel Swedenborg: "It was foretold in the _Apocalypse_ (XXI, XXII) that at the end of the former Church a New Church was to be instituted, in which this would be the chief teaching: that God is One in Person as well as in Essence, in Whom is the Trinity, and that that God is the Lord. This Church is what is there meant by the New Jerusalem, into which only he can enter who acknowledges the Lord alone as God of Heaven and earth" (Divine Providence, n. 263 (emp. added, click HERE ).

In his article, "THE 'HEAVENLY HASH' OF MARY K. BAXTER," G. Richard Fisher of Personal Freedom Outreach warns of Swedenborg's mystic and occultic background:

"Baxter is simply following in the train of the 18th century occultist and mystic heretic Emanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg’s work, Heaven and Its Wonders and Hell, tells us not only of his finding secret meanings in every word of Scripture (called Arcana) but also of his purported trips to both heaven and hell. Amazingly, though Swedenborg predated the oneness Pentecostals by 150 years, he aggressively taught oneness doctrine" ( http://www.pfo.org/heavenly.htm ).

In short, Emanuel Swedenborg denied the Trinity.

Tony Alamo: "The Bible proves that God is one in person" ("The Oneness of God," emp. added, click HERE).

For further information on Tony Alamo, refer to "REMEMBER THE ALAMO! THE SECOND COMING OF TONY ALAMO" by G. Richard Fisher and M. Kurt Goedelman at http://www.pfo.org/rememberalamo.htm.

Charles Taze Russell (founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses): "There is consistency in the Scripture teaching that the Father and Son are in full harmony and oneness of purpose and operation, as we have just seen. And equally consistent is the Scripture teaching respecting the holy Spirit that it is not another God, but the spirit, influence or power exercised by the one God, our Father, and by his Only Begotten Son; in absolute oneness, therefore, with both of these, who also are at one or in full accord. But how different is this unity of the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit from that held and taught 166 under the name of Trinitarian doctrine, which in the language of the Catechism (Questions 5 and 6) declares, There are three persons in the One God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: 'these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.' This view suited well 'the dark ages' which it helped to produce. The period in which mysteries were worshipped instead of unraveled found a most choice one in this theory, which is as unscriptural as it is unreasonable. How could the three be one in person, in substance? And if only 'one in substance,' how could they be 'equal?' Does not every intelligent person know that if God is one in person he cannot be three? and that if three in person there can be only one sense in which the three could be one, and that not in person but in purpose, in mind, in will, in cooperation?" (emp. added)

Russell continues his diatribe against the Trinity, stating, "Verily, if it were not for the fact that this trinitarian nonsense was drilled into us from earliest infancy, and the fact that it is soberly taught in Theological Seminaries by gray-haired professors, in many other ways apparently wise, nobody would give it a moment's serious consideration. How the great Adversary ever succeeded in foisting it upon the Lord's people to bewilder and mystify them, and render much of the Word of God of none effect, is the real mystery which will probably not be solved until we 'know even as we are known,' in glory" (Charles Taze Russell, "The Channel of the Atonement," Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 5, Study VIII, p. 166, emp. added).

Along with their denial of the Trinity, the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society (Jehovah's Witnesses) deny the deity of Jesus Christ, salvation by grace, the bodily/physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, the physical return of Jesus Christ, and are guilty of numerous false prophecies concerning the end-times.

United Pentecostal Church: "No record you will find that the New Testament Church ever believed or taught the doctrine of the Trinity. For the Scriptures prove that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are only manifestations (not three Persons) of the ONE GOD; and God is ONE IN PERSON" (The Truth About ONE GOD, United Pentecostal Church pamphlet, emp. added).

The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity (not an exhaustive list of Scriptures)

Within the nature of the one God there are three separate and distinct personalities--Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Each Person is called God, but there is only one God.

THE FATHER IS CALLED GOD

For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (2 Peter 1:17).

THE SON IS CALLED GOD

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:1-3).

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:56-58. Compare this with Genesis 18:1-3 and Exodus 3:13-14).

And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God (John 20:26-28).

But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. The Holy Spirit is God (Hebrews 1:8. Note that the Father calls the Son "God" ).

Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty (Revelation 1:7-8. Compare with Isaiah 44:6).

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS CALLED GOD

But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God (Acts 5:3-4).

Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon! that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them (Acts 13:1-2. Only God can answer prayer).

THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

(1 Timothy 2:5).

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour (Isaiah 43:10-11).

List of Heresies from Matthew Slick's Christian and Apologetics Research Ministry (CARM) at http://www.carm.org/heresy.htm:

Adoptionism - God granted Jesus powers and then adopted him as a Son.
Albigenses - Reincarnation and two gods: one good and other evil.
Apollinarianism - Jesus divine will overshadowed and replaced the human.
Arianism - Jesus was a lesser, created being.
Docetism - Jesus was divine, but only seemed to be human.
Donatism - Validity of sacraments depends on character of the minister.
Gnosticism - Dualism of good and bad and special knowledge for salvation.
Kenosis - Jesus gave up some divine attributes while on earth.
Modalism - God is one person in three modes.
Monarchianism - God is one person.
Monophysitism - Jesus had only one nature: divine.
Nestorianism - Jesus was two persons.
Patripassionism - The Father suffered on the cross
Pelagianism - Man is unaffected by the fall and can keep all of God's laws.
Socinianism - Denial of the Trinity. Jesus is a deified man.
Tritheism - the Trinity is really three separate gods.

Articles on Oneness Pentecostalism may be found at Mike Oppenheimer's Let Us Reason Ministries at http://www.letusreason.org/Onendir.htm.

Bud Press, Director

Christian Research Service

www.christianresearchservice.com

Jude 3

February 19, 2006

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