Trinity, Fact or Fiction? (III Revision)
Scriptural Harmony Process
By John D. Sims

In the history of the Christian religious world and the twentieth century Pentecostal movement there have been many doctrines, divisions, contentions, and different interpretations of scripture. In this great turmoil has erupted at times in different places which has divided families, friends, churches, organizations, and even nations. Wars of every size and description have been fought over perceived truth against that which is viewed as false.

Looking at history your author has identified six different categories as to why the history of Christianity has been filled with such bloody strife, division, and turmoil. As you review the reasons below ask yourself the following question. What if these problems could be eliminated, where would the Christian world be now and in the future?

(A) Wrong interpretation of scriptures judged to be truth. (B) Developing doctrine with lack of knowledge of the scriptures. (C) Adding the traditions of men to the teachings of the scriptures. (D) Not receiving revelation knowledge from the Spirit on a Biblical subject. (E) Satan and his ministers of righteousness coming as angels
of light to deceive that which is to be lost. (F) God sending a delusion to a person because they did not love truth.

With the reasons above one would ask, has the Lord given to man a way to overcome these problems which would result in finding the truth of the word of God? The answer is yes if one stops to think about it.

Solving the religious turmoil problem I believe can be done with what I call Scriptural Harmony. By this I mean if one takes a subject found in the word of God and then runs a cross check of all the scriptures found in the Word of God on the subject, the true meaning will shine forth. By running a cross check study with the goal of Scriptural Harmony one is assured of perfect understanding of the Word of God about 90% of the time on any Biblical subject. For those subjects more difficult to understand, additional study tools must be used. These being word meanings, time, location, and setting of the scripture passage.

Always keep in mind, anytime one has a wrong interpretation of any of the scriptures in the Word of God a contradiction will pop up somewhere else in the scriptures. When one has correct interpretation of the scriptures the scriptures will be in harmony with each other. What this means is there is a way to allow the Bible to interpret its self and take man out of the picture in most cases. This fact about Biblical interpretation must be kept when doing a study on any subject in the Word of God.

As an example of religious debate and strife over scriptural interpretation we can look at the subject of the doctrine of the trinity. This doctrine has been debated, fought for and against for over seventeen hundred years. It is one that has cost millions of lives and one that has been hidden in mystery. In an effort to take away the mystery and establish fact, your author has taken this subject and run it through the Scriptural Harmony Process. In this report you will see an example of the Scriptural Harmony Process at work and the resulting answers given. May this information prove to be a blessing.

 

Rev John D. Sims, aurora238@juno.com, JSims238@aol.com

THE TRINITY, FACT OR FICTION?

Of all the doctrines listed as being major Christian teachings none is more controversial than the subject of the Godhead. For many centuries wars, persecutions, and debate have raged as to who and what is God? Inlooking at the subject of the Godhead there are two ways uncover what the truth is, concerning the Godhead. One is religious history and the other is the Scriptural Harmony Process. To fully comprehend the scope of the subject of the Godhead one should look closely at both approaches. The reason being, the Scriptural Harmony Process and religious history are in full agreement and harmony with each other. The two systems also form a check and balance system for each other.

Between the two study systems of greatest importance is the Scriptural Harmony Process. This is because of the power and importance of the word of God. As stated earlier anytime one has a wrong interpretation of any of the scriptures a contradiction will pop up somewhere else in the scriptures. When one has correct interpretation of the scriptures the scriptures will be in total harmony with each other. This basic fact about the Scriptural Harmony Process must be kept in mind when going a study on any subject in the Word of God. This is especially true when doing a study on the Godhead. In our study on the trinity we will first review history then move on to the Scriptural Harmony Process.

RELIGIOUS HISTORY AND THE TRINITY.

Amazing as it may sound according to the Church Fathers it took God one hundred years to reveal the first two trinities. This took place between 200 AD and 300 AD. For anyone who knows how spiritual revelation works one would automatically know something is fundamentally wrong with the trinity concept because it does not take God one hundred years to reveal anything.

The word trinity means triune and three. In the so called trinity Christian religious world the concept of a trinity of the godhead means three persons who make up the godhead. The idea of three persons in a godhead was not new when the Christian trinity concept was first developed in the Christian religious world by the early Church Fathers.
The concept of a trinity godhead system goes back to the first city nation called Babylon. The timing of original development of the first religious trinity system would be between four and five thousand years ago. This took place during the time of Nimrod and Semiramis. In this first pagan trinity Nimrod the king was the first person, Semiramis his Queen was the second person, and Tammuz their son was the third person, of this godhead system. In this system Semiramis was also declared to be the Queen Mother of Heaven and earth, and the goddess of love sex and fertility. This original pagan trinity system was based on the following characteristics.

A three person godhead.
A woman known as the Queen Mother as a part of the godhead system.

Astrology Mystery as key parts of the religious system.
Human-animal sacrifice.
Mystical practices which evolved into witchcraft.
Temple prostitution.
Hidden knowledge only revealed to the priesthood or those with the
proper education.

After the flood and then the scattering from the tower of Babel, the earth was in a repopulation process by pagan trinity believers initially from Babylon. As the original Babylonians scattered across the face of the earth from the tower occurrence, they took their religious system with them even thought they expressed their religious system in their new languages. Even in their new languages the general characteristics of the trinity system remained the same.

Over the many following centuries after the scattering from the tower this Babylonian pagan religious system mutated through evolution, was modified many different ways, sectioned off into splinter groups which developed into new movements, and systems of religion. This process of never ending change and modification in the original Babylonian trinity system has been going on even down to today. This system eventually infected the Christian religious world and is spoken of in hidden detail in Revelation chapters seventeen and eighteen.

It should also be noted. With several thousand years of the indoctrination for mankind to the concept of a three person godhead religious system, the RELIGIOUS gentiles of the world have been fully convinced there are three persons and there is a trinity. This was also the situation when God first called Abraham at Ur and revealed to him there was only one God and not three or more.

Once the pagan trinity system was firmly established in the minds of most religious gentiles in the world, God then did something rather amazing to illustrate his nature of being one. He called Abraham and his seed to follow him and only him. From Abraham to Moses God raised up a ONE GOD people known as the Nation of Israel. They were different from all religious systems around them because they did not worship three or more, they worshiped only ONE. This is stated clearly in the
Shamah of Deut 6:4-5:

Deut 6:4-5
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all shine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Form Abraham forward in time the Jews practiced their monotheistic ONE GOD religion in the middle of a three person god head pagan religious world. During these years until the coming of Jesus Christ, the Nation of Israel was constantly tempted by their trinity neighbors to convert to several pagan religious systems. As history shows the Nation of Israel and later Judah, when faithful to their ONE GOD religion were blessed of God. Anytime they adopted any of the pagan trinity systems around them they were cursed of God and fell to destruction. The Jews of the promised land were not cured of their backsliding from their ONE GOD religion until the first destruction of the temple, and the seventy years of captivity which followed.

Once the remnant of Judah returned to Jerusalem from Babylon and rebuilt the temple and the city, the seed of Abraham dwelling in the promised land remained fairly successful in remaining faithful to their monotheistic ONE GOD religion up until the last twenty five years of the twentieth century. Even during the occupations of the Greek and Roman empires the promised land Jews were very successful in not backsliding either to the Greek or Roman mythology trinity religious systems which ruled over them.

Amazing as it may sound we now find at the end of the twentieth century a very small portion of the Jewish population of the world has now returned to the three god trinity religious world in worship and belief. They call themselves the Messianic Jewish Christian movement. These people are believers in God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ as the three separate persons in the Christian godhead. They follow and believe the theory of the Western trinity as do most Protestants and which means they are Roman Catholic at the core. Needles to say their salvation plan is not as the Apostles taught but they follow the plan of salvation developed by the Reformers under Martin Luther. How the development of the trinity Christian religious world took place follows a little later in this report.

After Jerusalem was rebuilt along with its second temple being dedicated to the one true God, the nation of Israel was concurred by the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great, then the Romans of the Roman Empire. It was during the occupation of the Roman Empire the first appearance of God being MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH of Jesus Christ took place. Why this event took place at this time in history we do not know. We do know with the manifestation and birth of Jesus Christ as the son of God and God being made visible in human form the introduction of a New Covenant to replace the Old Covenant and the Law of Moses was ushered in. In the old covenant only Jews of the seed of Abraham could be saved by believing and obeying the Old Covenant commandments. In the New Covenant beginning in Acts 2, anyone could be saved by believing and obeying ALL the New Covenant commandments. These New Covenant commandments were given to the original Apostles by Jesus during his time of ministry on this earth and later they were revealed to the Apostle Paul after his conversion in Damascus.
In this New Covenant and for the first 170 years of the Christian religious world the concept of a Christian trinity based on three separate persons did not exist. This was mainly due to the fact the early Christian church was a Jewish church who believed totally in the ONE GOD teachings in the Law of Moses. In this Apostolic church world initially headed up by the original Apostles, everyone in general believed Jesus Christ was God himself MANIFESTED in the flesh as well as being the Son of God born of the virgin Mary. To the early Jewish Christians God was the INVISIBLE Holy Ghost-Holy Spirit who was the one Devine Spirit who was also the FATHER in creation. The early Apostolic church believed Jesus Christ was the express image of the invisible God and he was both fully man and fully God. To the early Apostolic Christians Jesus Christ was never the second person of the godhead, HE WAS THE ONLY PERSON OF THE GODHEAD. This is also the main reason the religious leaders in Jerusalem and the temple wanted to kill Jesus. Not only did he claim to be the Son of God, he also claimed to be the ONE true God at the same time. The Jews could accept Jesus as the Son but not as God him self. Sad but true even to this day the Jews down through history and the trinity Christian world have never fully understood Isa 9:6.

Isa 9:6
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name (Jesus Christ) shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The Birth of the Trinity Christian World.

After the Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ and through the ministry of the Apostle Paul, gentiles were introduced into the Christian world in large numbers. As thousands of gentiles slowly came into the Jewish Christian Apostolic world between 50 AD and 200 AD, they brought their pagan concept of three persons in the godhead with them. From these thousands of gentile converts came intellectual leaders known as the early Church Fathers. These men who were mostly lawyers, scholars, and philosophers, claimed to have new revelation of the scriptures. Their feeling was the Apostles were not educated men and thus could not understand the deep mysteries of God. They felt God had left to them the true revelation of the mysteries of God because of their secular education and high levels of intelligence.

With this claim of new revelation based on higher education the first Church Father named Justin Martyr changed the teaching of the Apostles on the doctrine of water baptism. Even though Justin agreed with the Apostles water baptism was central to salvation his change in water baptism application was introduced into the Christian world around 150 AD. Justin’s change in water baptism application was to add the words of Jesus Christ in Mt 28:19 to the name of Jesus Christ as found in Ac 2:38, Ac 8, Ac 10, Ac 19:1-7, and Ac 22:16. By adding the titles of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to the Name of Jesus Christ in water baptism the functions and purposes of water baptism were destroyed for those who followed his teaching. The reason being this change represented a change in the gospel of the Apostles. According to Apostolic teaching water baptism was to be done only in the name of Jesus Christ and all those following Justin’s doctrine became false Christians and were lost because they were no longer believing and obeying the gospel of the Apostles. Of course for those following Justin’s revelation they believed they were correct and still do to today. The truth is, Justin changed the gospel of salvation which means no salvation with any kind of change away from the doctrine of the Apostles.

Following Justin Martyr came Tertullian of Carthage North Africa and Origen of Alexandria Egypt. These two men entering into the Christian religious world from the pagan religious world also brought with them the concept of the three godhead system known as the trinity. Between 175 AD and 225 AD these two men became followers of Justin Martyr theology on water baptism. As so called early Church Fathers both men during these years also developed the first TWO Christian trinity theories to support their change in water baptism. One trinity was
known as the Western trinity by Tertullian which laid the doctrinal foundation of the Roman Catholic Church system. The other was the Eastern trinity of Origen which laid the doctrinal foundation of the Orthodox churches in the world. Once the developmental process of the first two trinities began these two men and their followers removed the name of Jesus Christ in water baptism and just repeated the words of Jesus in Mt 28:19. This was another major departure from the Doctrine of the Apostles on water baptism. According to the Apostles the end result will be the same. Change the gospel and loose salvation.

Between 200 AD and 325 AD religious debate and warfare ensued between the followers of the Apostles and their one God belief, and the Western and Eastern trinity believers. All three groups fought each other for control of the Christian Religious World for over one hundred years. In this many thousands died fighting for what they believed to be the truth.

In 325 AD the Western trinity believers and their theology gained political approval and power by becoming the official state approved religious system of the Roman Empire. This took place at the Council of Nicaea via the Creed of Nicaea. In this development the Roman Catholic Church was born with the Roman Emperor being its high priest and Pope. (As a side note the title of Pope was not adopted by the bishop of Rome until the fall of the Roman Empire in the sixth century. This means it is impossible for Peter to be the first Pope because the Roman Emperor held that title until the fall.)

With the development of the different trinities (in which there are at least six in the world today) the early church world which had been dominated by ONE GOD Christian Apostolic Jews now found the new trinity theology to be a violation of their ONE GOD beliefs and the teachings of the Apostles. In this situation even Jews looking at possible conversion to the Christian world rejected these three god systems as they called them as nothing more than a new twist of the old pagan religious systems which were based on the trinity.

Once the Western trinity was in official position as the only true religion of the Roman Empire the gentile takeover of the public Christian world was complete. As for the Jewish Apostolic Christian world they just faded away in a short time.

As for the teachings of the early Apostolic Church world and the Apostles. History shows contrary to trinity teaching there has always been somewhere in the world an Apostolic movement of truth. Never very public, never large in numbers even to this day, and always being attacked by the trinity religious world as being false and of the Devil. In this situation of the trinity religious world always attacking the Apostolic Christian world the following prophecy by the Apostle Peter had and has come true.

2 Pet 2:1-2
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom THE WAY OF TRUTH SHALL BE EVIL SPOKEN OF.

Of special attention, the following should be a matter of deep consideration. The Apostle Peter has told us in the word of God (2 Pet 2:1-2) the day would come when the way of truth would be evil spoken of by all false prophets. The Apostle Paul tells us in Gal 1:8-9 anyone preaching a different gospel than preached by the Apostles would be cursed of God. In Jude we find the term, COMMON SALVATION, being spoken of and a warning for any who would change this COMMON SALVATION. Jude tells us the very same thing would happen to anyone changing the COMMON PLAN OF SALVATION as happened to the children of Israel who made the golden calf. Searching what happened to the Golden Calf makers in the Word of God we find those who made the Golden Calf had their names taken out of the Lambs Book of Life.

It is very evident when Justin Martyr changed Apostolic teaching on water baptism and when Origen and Tertullian developed the first two trinities, exactly what Peter, Paul, and Jude, said would happen did happen. This means all who follow the teachings of the Church Fathers as well as the Church Fathers themselves will not be saved. This also means anyone or any type of professing Christian or non Christian will not be saved until they BELIEVE and OBEY the COMMON SALVATION – GOSPEL as taught and believed by the original Apostles of the Lord.

THE REFORMATION AND THE TRINITY

Between 325 AD with the birth of the official Roman Catholic Church and the Reformation of the 1500’s AD, great battles took place between Western Trinity believers, Eastern Trinity believers, and any religious groups who were not trinity based. Of prime focus of attack was the trinity believers both East and West against any who followed the teachings of the Apostles and water baptized in it name of Jesus Christ. At the same time and for over one thousand years the Roman Catholic Church lost its control of the Eastern trinity world and the developing Orthodox religious world. During these years millions of non trinity Christians were murdered by the Roman Church and the Orthodox religious world. In the Western religious world this was known as the Inquisition.

Towards the end of the Inquisition period came the Protestant Reformation. The result of the Reformation was to split the Roman Catholic Church and western Europe between Catholics and Protestants. In this Reformation period millions died in contending for what they believed to be the truth.

In Reformation theology salvation became just a matter of believing in Jesus Christ and obeying the New Covenant commandments of the Gospel of the Apostles was declared to be legalism and bondage not to be given what so ever.

As the early Reformation leaders developed the doctrine of the movement the question of the godhead had to be established. In looking at this, Apostolic teaching on the godhead was declared to be a heresy, and a decision had to be reached as to which trinity was correct. After years of study the Reformation leaders picked the Western trinity as the true revelation of the godhead. This means even though the Protestant church world split from the Roman Catholic Church, they remained Roman Catholic at the core because of the trinity they followed.

Whether eastern trinity, western trinity, or non trinity, any change or modification in the gospel of the Apostles can result in only one end according to the Bible. NO SALVATION, NO NAME IN THE LAMBS BOOK OF LIFE.

THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH WORLD

Matt 5:8
8 Blessed are the pure in heart no man will see God.)

Heb 12:14
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall SEE the Lord: (The word see is the same in both verses and it does not mean just a visual observation.)

Mark 16:15-16
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that BELIEVETH (The Gospel as the Apostles believed it) and is BAPTIZED shall be saved; but he that BELIEVETH NOT (The Gospel as the Apostles believed it) shall be damned.

II Th 1:7-9
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that OBEY NOT the GOSPEL of our Lord Jesus Christ:9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
2 Cor 4:3-7
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the LIGHT of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.6 For God, who commanded the LIGHT to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

One must also keep in mind. Millions of so called Apostolics in the world today and down through history have never been saved and have died lost even though they were water baptized correctly. The reason they remained lost is because they have never been taught how to BELIEVE and OBEY the true gospel as the Apostles as the Apostles believed it. The Word of God tells us in Ho 6:4 the people of God are destroyed for lack of knowledge. This means one can believe and obey the truth in part and still be lost because one does not have the full truth. This is why anyone who does not BELIEVE and OBEY the full truth will not be saved whether one is oneness, trinity, or whatever.

The reason the Apostolic movement world wide has never been UNITED in how they believe Ac 2:38 and the full Gospel along with the trinity believers having never seen the true gospel, is because all those who have not believed it have not had pure hearts and this is why they have never been shown the full truth. In not revealing the true gospel to the lost God has just let them be destroyed for lack of knowledge. This means believing and obeying the true gospel is connected to the condition of the heart of man and not his intelligence, education, and preaching ability. Always keep in mind, visual signs, wonders, and miracles, are not signs of doctrinal truth and do not indicate the presence of the full Apostolic truth. In this we can quickly see why and where the Church Fathers and the Reformers were so far off base in their doctrine and why so many millions of Apostolics have missed salvation also. We have to many sign followers and not enough truth followers.

Also keep in mind, organizational size is not an indication of truth. Even the so called Apostolic Pentecostal groups like the ALJC, ACJC, PAW, and the UPC allow as many as five to six different plans of salvation to be believed and preached in their organizations. As far as you author has been able to research none of these different gospels in these oneness Apostolic groups is the true Apostolic plan of salvation. While parts of the full truth are present in these man made organizations none of these organization represent nor contain the full truth required for salvation.

This indicates salvation is based stickily on a one to one relationship between the believer and the Lord Jesus Christ with those who have knowledge of the full truth

We can now see the following, truly is the road of salvation narrow, much narrower than we ever dreamed.

Just a little food for thought from you author.

Section B. the most powerful revelation since Jesus Christ walked on the earth.

Rev. John D. Sims
Pastor-Teacher
Apostolic Bible Center
PO Box 1595
Rockwall TX 75037

The Above Material Is Copyrighted And May Be Used For Study & Research Purposes Only.