THE UNKNOWN GOD [The Mystery of God]

Old Paths Baptist Mission © 2016 Richard St.James

 1. A Good Confession

Lockman Foundation member, Dr. Frank Logsdon’s, renunciation:

“I must under God renounce every attachment to the New American Standard Version. I'm afraid I'm in trouble with the Lord ... We laid the groundwork; I wrote the format; I helped interview some of the translators; I sat with the translator; I wrote the preface ... I'm in trouble; I can't refute these arguments; it’s wrong, terribly wrong; its frighteningly wrong; and what am I going to do about it. When questions began to reach me at first I was quite offended ... I used to laugh with others … However, in attempting to answer, I began to sense that something was not right about the New American Standard Version. I can no longer ignore these criticisms I am hearing and I can't refute them … The deletions are absolutely frightening ... there are so many … Are we so naive that we do not suspect Satanic deception in all of this? Upon investigation, I wrote my very dear friend, Mr. Lockman, explaining that I was forced to renounce all attachment to the NASV. The product is grievous to my heart and helps to complicate matters in these already troublous times … I don't want anything to do with it. [T]he finest leaders that we have today … haven't gone into it [the new version's use of a corrupted Greek text], just as I hadn't gone into it ... that's how easily one can be deceived … I'm going to talk to him [Dr. George Sweeting, president of Moody Bible Institute] about these things. You can say the Authorized Version [KJV] is absolutely correct. How correct? 100% correct! I believe the Spirit of God led the translators of the Authorized Version. If you must stand against everyone else, stand.”

If you start wrong, you will end up wrong!
If you get it right, you will end up right!

The greatest testimony that one can have in the whole world is this, found in the First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians, chapter two. We read:

“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” [1 Thessalonians 2:13]

May this thing be said of you and me! Amen!

2. There Is None Else

If you start wrong, you will end up wrong!
If you get it right, you will end up right!

The following is a very clear and very concise statement, which is based on believing what THE BOOK says, whenever THE BOOK says it.

Are you ready for this?

Here we go.

The true God has had no beginning, and the true God has no end. Further, the true God has not evolved from one level of being to another level of being. The true God is the I AM:

“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” [Exodus 3:14]

Therefore, the true God is infinite … boundless … and is outside of the bounds of time!

Something else: It is absolutely critical for both you and me to get this one thing right: “there is none else beside him.”

“Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.” [Deuteronomy 4:35]

There is none else!

Now, to insure that this truth gets burned into the very warp and woof of your heart, read this from the BOOK: “Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.” [Deuteronomy 4:39]

It behooves us to testify to everyone all around us, that “the LORD is God, and that there is none else.” “That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else.” [1 Kings 8:60]

Scripture explains the Scripture: “I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:” [Isaiah 45:5]

Now, when will we ever learn the TRUTH, and get into our thick skulls this … God’s word? “That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.” [Isaiah 45:6]

There is none else: “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.” [Isaiah 45:18]

There is none else: “Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.” [Isaiah 45:21]

There is none else: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” [Isaiah 45:22]

There is none else: “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,” [Isaiah 46:9]

There is none else: “And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.” [Joel 2:27]

Conclusion: The true God is the ONE WHO you will deal with in your end. There is none else!

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” [Acts 4:12]

If you start wrong, you will end up wrong!
If you get it right, you will end up right!

3. The Appearance of God

There was once a man many years ago who saw the LORD with his own eyes [2107c AM, 2817 JP, 1897 BC].

This man’s name was Abraham.

Now, the LORD appeared unto him.

The LORD appeared unto him as a man.

“And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,” [Genesis 18:1-2].

Abraham literally saw God!

Now we have in the same BOOK [THE BIBLE] a seemingly contrary truth … located in the Gospel according to John.

[Paradox - A tenet or proposition contrary to received opinion, or seemingly absurd, yet true in fact.]

The cardinal doctrinal truth is, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” [John 4:24]

Conclusion: God is Spirit!

Therefore, men cannot see God! And why is this so? The answer is this. We are in the flesh! We have physical bodies. Further, we are limited by these physical bodies. These physical bodies cannot see spirit. Therefore, we cannot see God.

Then, how could Abraham have seen God as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day?
Question: Is the AUTHOR of the Bible a liar, or at the least guilty of having inserted errors and contradictions into the Scripture?

Question: Is the Bible a 100% accurate [or pure] and a 100% complete book, and is it in fact God’s word to all mankind?

The answer from God resounds with these words:

“The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” [Psalm 12:6-7]

Now, an apparent contradiction in the Bible will in the end prove to be no contradiction at all.

The finite, limited understanding of a man is at fault 100% of the time when he is up against the BOOK of God. It is rather best for a man to approach the BOOK of God with a broken spirit and with a contrite heart … as God had found in David:

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” [Psalm 51:17] The Holy Ghost will teach such a man! [John 14:26, 16:13]

4. The True God

If you start wrong, you will end up wrong!
If you get it right, you will end up right!

There is something right under your nose, having been there all this time, that nonetheless is hidden to you. It is something you had better come to grips with in life, in order to get the thing right for your very life’s sake, for the good of your eternal soul.

The thing is this: You had better step up to … by both acknowledging, and accepting … the mystery of God as it is revealed in the word of God [THE BIBLE] if you are ever to have true life.

Now, true life is eternal life.

True Life = Eternal Life

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” [John 17:3]

Now, who is this true God? We shall surely find this thing out!!!

The true God is the ONLY ONE WHO gives eternal life.

Question: Do you thirst for this eternal life? If you do, then come to this water and drink: “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” [John 4:14]

There is something else that is true. The true God knits us believers together in love to a great understanding of the mystery of God.

See what we see, when we are knit together in love:

“That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;” [Colossians 2:2].

In the process of time, the true God came down from Heaven to Earth to become a man. Scripture says: “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” [Philippians 2:7].

Now, being in the likeness of men involves something called the flesh. Mankind is … flesh: “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:” [1 Peter 1:24]

The true God manifested himself … plainly … in the flesh … for manifold reasons, chiefly this- to be believed on in the world: “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” [1 Timothy 3:16]

Do you believe this God? Do you believe this record of this God? “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” [1 John 5:11]

God was manifest in the flesh! Jesus Christ is God! This whole thing involves understanding the mystery of the nature of God. This includes understanding “the mystery of godliness” … found in a record.

The BIBLE is the RECORD!

This RECORD is true!

The record is the word of God: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” [1 John 5:7-8]

If you start wrong, you will end up wrong!
If you get it right, you will end up right!

Next  5. Arianism