THE PERFECT EXAMPLE

(Why Christian teachings of Christ's Deity

rob you of your inheritance and keep you from
GLORY)

By Jeffrey David Dean, Sr.

Many ask me the question "what's wrong with believing Jesus is God?" There
are many who want to preach HOLINESS and PERFECTION through the Holy
Spirit within and also want to believe the Christian tenant that Jesus is God!
They don't see that if Jesus is God we can NEVER truly be like HIM! If Jesus is
God all of the commands and exhortations by the Apostles to be "like Christ"
were wasted words and, worse, outright deception! The word Christian literally
means "little Christ," yet, none of those who believe in Christ's deity seem to
understand that if Christ is God, and if Christ's ability to obey the Father and live
sinless in his lifetime comes the fact that he IS God there can never be a hope of
us repeating Christ's works, for we are NOT God!

Some of late have written me and accused me of twisting what Christianity

teaches on the subject of Holiness. They have pointed me to basic Catholic
doctrine which teaches clearly that we can live without sin through the power of
the Holy Spirit! Yet, these people (and those who created the teachings that
Christians can live without sin while at the same time believing that Jesus is God)
fail to see how fundamentally CONTRADICTORY are these two teachings!
These same teachers point to Christ's sinless perfection (and the resulting
POWER he received on high) as PROOF that Jesus IS God! The only LOGICAL
conclusion is that those of us who are NOT GOD have NO HOPE of ever
repeating Jesus' works! Not really.

This is precisely why I state in my book "Another Jesus" that the antichrist
system would pay "lip service" only to the sinless perfection available through
Messiah. The system, for a time, encourages the "daily sacrifice" of mortifying
the deeds of the body through the POWER of Messiah but, through doctrine and
sacriments and through behavior, deny this very thing because they believe that
ONLY GOD INCARNATE can ultimately live sinless. In fact, without exception
those who teach Jesus is God offer his sinless perfection and his resulting
POWER to do miracles as the MAIN PROOF that he is GOD!

I recently found an apologetic treatise on the subject of Christ's Deity right here at
Scribd. I realized immediately that this document, more than many I have seen,
is the perfect example of Christian teaching which shows just why the teaching of
Jesus as God is so very dangerous to the true believer. The link to this article is
found at EveryStudent.com written by Paul Little.
http://www.everystudent.com/features/faith.html?gclid=CNejpqTi258CFRJinAodS1XdGQ

I will now quote directly from parts of this article and show CLEARLY why those
who cling to the notion of Jesus is God do so because it forever FREES them
from the demand to be "holy even as he is holy," and thereby destroys the work
and ministration of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those who cling to it.

CHRISTIANS ARE EXCUSED FROM RIGHTEOUS LIVING

BECAUSE ONLY GOD INCARNATE CAN LIVE RIGHTEOUS
The following is an excerpt from the article:

Is Jesus God? Some Points to Consider

First, His moral character coincided with His claims. Many asylum inmates claim to be
celebrities or deities. But their claims are belied by their characters. Not so with Christ.
He is unique -- as unique as God.
Jesus Christ was sinless. The caliber of His life was such that He was able to challenge
His enemies with the question, "Can any of you prove Me guilty of sin?" (John 8:46). He
was met by silence, even though He addressed those who would have liked to point out a
flaw in His character.
We read of the temptations of Jesus, but we never hear of a confession of sin on His part.
He never asked for forgiveness, though He told His followers to do so.
This lack of any sense of moral failure on Jesus' part is astonishing in view of the fact
that it is completely contrary to the experience of the saints and mystics in all ages. The
closer men and women draw to God, the more overwhelmed they are with their own
failure, corruption, and shortcomings. The closer one is to a shining light, the more he
realizes his need of a bath. This is true also, in the moral realm, for ordinary mortals.
It is also striking that John, Paul, and Peter, all of whom were trained from earliest
childhood to believe in the universality of sin, all spoke of the sinlessness of Christ: "He
committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth" (1 Peter 2:22).
Pilate, no friend of Jesus, said, "What evil has He done?" He implicitly recognized
Christ's innocence. And the Roman centurion who witnessed the death of Christ said,
"Surely He was the Son of God" (Matthew. 27:54).
The author here clearly states that Jesus' character of sinless perfection is the
ULTIMATE proof that HE IS GOD!
Those who teach and believe in the deity of Christ have forever excused
themselves from living as Christ lived on the earth (tempted in all ways yet
without sin). They pay lip service to the NOTION of sinless perfection but will tell
you to your face that such a thing is not possible because ONLY JESUS
succeeded in this (and that because he was God Incarnate).
Another excerpt:
Second, Christ demonstrated a power over natural forces which could belong only to
God, the Author of these forces.
He stilled a raging storm of wind and waves on the Sea of Galilee. In doing this He
provoked from those in the boat the awestruck question, "Who is this? Even the wind and
waves obey Him!" (Mark 4:41) He turned water into wine, fed 5,000 people from five
loaves and two fish, gave a grieving widow back her only son by raising him from the
dead, and brought to life the dead daughter of a shattered father. To an old friend He
said, "Lazarus, come forth!" and dramatically raised him from the dead. It is most
significant that His enemies did not deny this miracle. Rather, they tried to kill Him. "If
we let Him go on like this," they said, "everyone will believe in Him" (John11:48).
Those who point to Christ's miracles as proof he is God are most definitely falling
into PAGANISM! The Hebrews were UNIQUE in that they did not deify God's
prophets and servants merely because they performed supernatural feats. The
FOUR BEAST KINGDOMS ALL DID THIS! Their Religious Histories are
REPLETE with the deifying of men because of supposed demonstrations of
supernatural power. Hebrews knew better. When was the last time you heard a
Jew claim that Moses is God because he parted the red sea? The
demonstration of God's power through mortal men has NEVER been a reason to
deify them except among the PAGAN religions.
Those who want to deify Christ because of his miracles fail to realize that Christ
made it clear he did NOT do the miracles, his Father in heaven did them (which
of course would have been an outright LIE on Christ's part if in fact he WAS, in
reality, the Heavenly Father come down to Earth! Yet Christ stated clearly that it
was because of his "OBEDIENCE," his "LOVE OF THE FATHER" that he was
able to do these miracles! He also stated that those who believed upon his name
would do "these works and even greater!" Which, again is something that is
IMPOSSIBLE if the Christian tenant is correct and Christ's works PROVED he is
God Incarnate! The very minute one of Christ's mortal followers equaled his
works or surpassed them the argument that Christ's works proves He's "God
Incarnate" is null and void! (See my book "Is Jesus God?")
In fact, any follower of Messiah who ever CLAIMED to equal or surpass Christ's
works would be immediately branded a blasphemer by the Christian Man/God
proponents, for, according to them Christ's works proved he was God Incarnate!
If you claimed to equal (much less surpass) Christ in works, to the Trinitarians,
you're claiming to be God!
So, not only does teaching that Jesus is God deny our hope of living SINLESS
and in total OBEDIENCE to the Father, it also denies that Christ's POWER to do
miracles is available to those who believe upon His name!
Third, Jesus demonstrated the Creator's power over sickness and disease. He made the
lame to walk, the dumb to speak, and the blind to see. Some of His healings were of
congenital problems not susceptible to psychosomatic cure. The most outstanding was
that of the blind man whose case is recorded in John 9. Though the man couldn't answer
his speculative questioners, his experience was enough to convince him. "One thing I do
know. I was blind but now I see!" he declared. He was astounded that his friends didn't
recognize this Healer as the Son of God. "Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of
a man born blind," he said (John 9:25, 32). To him the evidence was obvious.
Again, the Trinitarians (which are really polytheists when you examine their
beliefs and compare it to the Gospel accounts) are certain that Jesus' miracles
PROVED he's God incarnate. (I say that trinitarians are polytheists because
Christ clearly spoke of the Father as SOMEONE ELSE other than himself all the
time and the only two explanation is that either there are THREE GODS OR
CHRIST WAS A HORRIBLE LIAR, if the Trinitarians are correct). If Christ is
God, but yet speaks of the Father as "another" God, (and the Holy Spirit as yet
another) then there are THREE GODS who COEXIST in the person of Jesus OR
all this talk of the Father as a separate being was just a lie! Clearly the
Trinitarians are POLYTHEISTIC in their doctrine while claiming to be MONO-
THEISTIC!
It bears repeating that if performing works of GOD make one GOD then ALL the
prophets, all the way back to MOSES the Deliverer were ALL GOD INCARNATE.
How did the Hebrews miss this all these years?

THE DEITY OF CHRIST DENIES THE RESURRECTION

Another excerpt from the Perfect Example:
Fourth, Jesus' supreme credential to authenticate His claim to deity was His
resurrection from the dead. Five times in the course of His life He predicted He would
die. He also predicted how He would die and that three days later He would rise from the
dead and appear to His disciples.
Surely this was the great test. It was a claim that was easy to verify. It either happened or
it didn't.
Both friends and enemies of the Christian faith have recognized the resurrection of
Christ to be the foundation stone of the faith. Paul, the great apostle, wrote, "If Christ
has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (1 Corinthians 15:14).
Paul rested his whole case on the bodily resurrection of Christ. Either He did or He
didn't rise from the dead. If He did, it was the most sensational event in all of history.

This is the most ILLOGICAL of all arguments for the deity of Christ! Why?
Because in point of fact Christ was NOT the first to rise from the DEAD! There
were several others. Elijah was involved in raising someone from the dead.
There was Lazarus who rose BEFORE CHRIST and there were others! Yet,
putting those facts aside the most ILLOGICAL part of the teaching that Christ's
Resurrection proves he is God is that God is ETERNAL and NEVER DIES.
There are SO MANY SCRIPTURES that prove this I won't bother pointing you to
them! If Christ is God and God is eternal and does not die, then Christ never
really DIED! If Christ did not die, then he did not REALLY rise from the Dead!
(Because he was never dead to begin with). Here we have the Trinitarians
teaching us that Christ's death itself is proof that he is the EVER ETERNAL
LIVING GOD! You can't get more illogical than this!

The grand irony is, as usual, the false teacher's choose 1 Corinthians 15:14 to
prove their argument and the very scripture they choose is the one that
completely refutes their argument. "If Christ has not been raised our preaching
is useless and so is your faith." It never occurs to the Trinitarians that indeed if
Christ is God Incarnate he NEVER REALLY DIED (being an eternal God) and
therefore NEVER ROSE FROM THE DEAD!

Not only that there can be NO resurrection from the dead for us mortals, for we
are NOT GOD INCARNATE and rising from the dead is reserved for GOD
INCARNATE. (If the resurrection of Messiah proves he is God Incarnate,
therefore if ANYONE ELSE rises from the dead afterward then either they TOO
are God Incarnate or Messiah's resurrection proves NOTHING). It's interesting
to note that Evangelical Christians believe that the ANTICHRIST will rise from the
dead by the DEVIL'S POWER and do not see that if the Devil has power to raise
people from the dead then Christ's resurrection PROVES NOTHING about his
deity!

The fact that Christ DIED at all is the biggest proof that he is NOT GOD. Judas
KNEW this to be true, which is why he went out and hanged himself after
Messiah was crucified. He thoroughly believed that Christ, being God, could not
be killed! (There are other man/god figures in Pagan religion who proved their
deity by challenging others to try to kill them). It's common sense that you can't
KILL AN ETERNAL GOD! The resurrection of Messiah from the dead proves
that Messiah was NOT GOD more than any other single fact in scripture, for if
Messiah were God, he could not be killed!

I now submit that if Messiah were God, then the teaching that he died on "the
cross" is a complete and total lie and so is the teaching that he was "raised from
the dead by the Father."

I will end this here. There will be more to follow believe me.

Shalom

Jeffrey Dean