THE TRINITY: Satan's Ultimate Deception
By: John Fyfe
*Revelation 12:9b="that old serpent, called the
Devil, and
Satan, which deceiveth the whole world" *
The purpose of this discourse is twofold. First, to those
who believe in the "oneness" of GOD, hopefully this will be a
reaffirmation of their faith. Second to those who believe in the trinity, some
questions of logic. Some questions I will try to answer, others I wi11leave
for you to think about. There is more than sufficient evidence available
concerning the origin of many so-called "Christian" doctrines in historical works
such as Alexander Hislop's "Two Babylons" and Will Durant's "The
Story of Civilization" to make one think about how they view GOD and his holy
word, the Bible. "For GOD is not the author of
confusion, but of peace, as in all churches
of the saints"(I Corinthians 14:33). GOD has never asked man to
blindly believe anything that is incomprehensible. And the dogma of the trinity
is definitely incomprehensible.
Notice that I used the word dogma in association with the
trinity
instead of the word doctrine. Doctrine should be something the church teaches that can
be proven in the pages of scripture. Dogma is when man sets up a group of beliefs
as doctrine whether they can be proven or not.
If something cannot be found in the Bible, then it should not
be held as doctrine. To go beyond that and force people to believe something as
a dogma without substantiation is totally against GOD's will. Yet this is
exactly what has happened concerning the trinity.
Neither the word trinity or the concept of it is in the Bible. The
"oneness" of GOD is what is emphasized throughout the scriptures.
"Hear 0 Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD"(Deuteronomy 6:4).
"For there is one God, and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5). "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and
tremble"(James 2:19). Who is charge of devils and demons? Satan. What did
Jesus have to say about Satan's characteristics? "Ye are of your father the
devil and the lusts of your father ye will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is
a liar, and the father ofit"(John
8:44). What
was Satan's first lie? "Ye shall not surely die"(Genesis 3:4). And to
sugar-coat it, he added in verse 5, "ye shall be as gods". It was Satan who
introduced the idea of a plurality or multiplicity of gods of which a trinity is most common. It
was Satan who gave man the idea that he could elevate himself into an
alternative to the one, true, living GOD. When everyone thinks like that, you end up with many, many gods(plural). "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not
as God, neither
were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish
heart was
darkened"(Romans 1:21).
"Ye shall be as gods"(KN) or "you will be
like God"(ESV). As = like. A replacement or
substitution for the real thing. "I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds; I will be like the most High"(lsaiah
14:14). Satan has deceived man and man in turn has become a slave to his vain imaginations.
"Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever" (Romans I :25). Any variation of ancestor, animal, or nature worship is
an example of what Paul was talking about. No wonder man's imagination has come
up with multiple gods in his rebellion against Jehovah GOD. "Surely our
fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. Shall a man make gods
unto himself, and they are no gods?"(Jeremiah 16:19b-20).
Through Satan's influence, man started making false gods
and setting up religious systems to support them. The first system was in
ancient Babel! Babylon. In Strong's Concordance, two phrases are used to describe
Babylon: confusion[Heb.894] & a type of tyranny[Gr.897].
Babylon was founded by Nimrod. "He was a mighty hunter before the LORD:
wherefore it said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the
beginning of his kingdom was Babel"(Genesis 10:9-10a). Again from Strong's
Concordance: mighty[Heb.1368]=tyrant and before[Heb.6440]=
against. Nimrod the tyrant hunter against the LORD.
Notice that tyrant! tyranny is descriptive of both
Babylon and Nimrod. Tyrant means an oppressive ruler. They usually gain power unjustly and/or illegally. They are
a usurper and retain power through coercion.
"And upon her forehead was a name
written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH"
(Revelation 17:5). Mystery= cannot be explained. Babylon= confusion. Mother= the origin, beginning, or source. Harlots and
Abominations=all those who have rejected GOD and the false pagan religions they
have substituted instead.
Babylon was the beginning of organized pagan religious
systems. Over the years, these systems have been predominately polytheistic. They have major and
minor gods. And
the major gods get narrowed down to a trinity at the top. Be it a national religion (Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome) or a cultural religion(Hindu, Norse, Platonic Christianity); there is a trinity involved.
Whether it is worded three persons= one person or three persons are co-equal,
it is still a trinity. Does a trinity sound like the words of Isaiah? "Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the
LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no
God"(Isaiah 44:6). ""Fear ye not, neither be
afraid:
have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are
even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea,
there is no God; I know not any"(Isaiah 44:8). Isaiah, like many other Bible writers, emphasized the "oneness" of
GOD.
If GOD is triune, why is there no mention of it in the scriptures? Why is
there instead a continual reiteration of GOD's "oneness"? Because it
doesn't
matter what kind of convoluted math you use; you cannot make three=one or one=three! Remember we said
earlier that GOD was not the author of confusion. He does not want or expect us
to believe something that contradicts his "oneness". He does not want
or expect us to believe something that is incomprehensible. GOD does
want and expect us to believe him and obey him as sole creator and sustainer of
the world. A major point of emphasis in the Bible is the one, true, living GOD
differentiating himself from all the man-made false gods of the world. So does it make any
comprehensible sense for GOD to be portrayed in like manner as dozens of pagan
deities? That is all the trinity accomplishes. It is man changing GOD into what
man wants instead of man changing himself into what GOD wants.
Even those who promote the trinity recognize that it is not
Biblical.
The Illustrated Bible Dictionary:
"The word Trinity is not found in the Bible .. .It did not find a place formally in the theology of the church till the
4th century."
The Encyclopedia of Religion:
"Theologians today are in agreement that the Hebrew
Bible does not contain a doctrine of the Trinity."
The New Catholic Encyclopedia:
"The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not taught in the
Old Testament."
The Triune God by Jesuit Edmund Fortman:
"There is no evidence that any sacred writer even suspected the existence of
a Trinity within the Godhead ... Even to see in the Old Testament suggestions or foreshadowings
or 'veiled signs' of the trinity of persons, is to go beyond the words and
intent of the sacred writers."
The New Encyclopedia Britannica:
"Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine
appears in the New Testament."
The Paganism in Our Christianity by Arthur Weigall:
"Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon, and
nowhere in the New Testament does the word 'Trinity' appear. The idea was only adopted by the Church
three hundred years after the death of our Lord."
The Encyclopedia Americana:
Fourth Century Trinitarianism did
not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it
was, on the
contrary, a
deviation from this teaching."
The New Catholic Encyclopedia:
"From the middle of the 4th century onward, however, Christian thought was
strongly influenced by Neo-platonic philosophy and mysticism."
History of Christianity by Edward Gibbons:
"If Paganism was conquered by Christianity, it is equally true
that Christianity was corrupted by Paganism. The pure Deism of the first Christians ...
was changed, by
the Church of Rome, into the incomprehensible dogma of the trinity. Many of the
pagan tenets, invented by the Egyptians and idealized by Plato, were retained as being
worthy of belief. "Compare the above statements to the Apostle Paul's
warning: "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, and after the rudiments of the world, and not after
Christ"(Colossians 2:8). Clearly the trinity is the embodiment of philosophy, tradition, and deceit.
One more bit of history. You have probably heard the Code
of Justinian. It was an update of earlier Roman law that has influenced
international law to the present time. Justinian was much like Constantine and Nimrod: force
a certain set of religious beliefs on the people at large. Here is an excerpt from
the Code of Justinian: Book 1-- Title 1.
CONCERNING THE MOST EXALTED TRINITY AND THE CATHOLIC FAITH AND PROVIDING THAT NO ONE SHALL DARE
TO PUBLICL Y OPPOSE THEM.
"... we should believe that
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit constitute a single Deity, endowed with equal
majesty,
and united in the Holy Trinity.
(1) We order all those who follow this law to assume the name of Catholic
Christians, and
considering others as demented and insane, We order that they shall bear the infamy of heresy ... "
This is part of the very first law in the Code; which shows that the
trinity was the cornerstone of the Roman religious system. Forced to believe in
the trinity or you were a criminal in the eyes of the Roman Empire! Does this sound like worshipping GOD willfully, lovingly, and correctly? No! It is coercion and
control in the tradition of Babylon, home of the original Trinitarian religion. This part of the Code was finished in
529. Is it coincidence or not that within a dozen years of this coercive law
going into effect; the first great outbreak of bubonic plague wreaked havoc on Europe and the
Dark Ages began? Interestingly, the plague was brought to Europe on grain ships from Egypt;
home of one of the best known ancient Trinitarian religious systems. To this
day, volumes
of books have been written trying to explain the trinity. Yet for all the
convoluted, philosophical, and legalistic sounding
explanations offered; the only one that most Trinitarians agree with is that it
is a "mystery of faith". Mystery=unknown, cannot be explained. "That all the
people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else"(1 Kings 8:60). How can you truly know
GOD if you cannot explain him? Still, the vast majority of
"Christians" regard the trinity as the "central dogma of
faith". Of all the things brought into question during the Protestant Reformation, the trinity was not one of
them. Protestants were just as fervent as Catholics in their hatred of Michael
Servetus. Why? Because he did not believe in the trinity and
argued publicly against it. Servetus was burned at
the stake as a result of two charges brought against him; he did not believe
the trinity and was against infant baptism. Only GOD knows the real number of
people who have been killed over time for refusing to
believe in the trinity. And like Michael Servetus, many have been killed not by heathens, but by
"supposed" Christians.
So, if the trinity is the "central dogma of
faith" for Christianity, why is it NOT mentioned in the Bible??? If it is so
important, shouldn't
it be mentioned; frequently and in some detail??? No, it is NOT the trinity that is mentioned in
the Bible; it
is the "oneness" of GOD! Frequently and in detail.
In the Old Testament, it was this "oneness" that differentiated the one, true, living GOD from all of the false gods of mankind's
imagination. This
same theme held true in the New Testament when spreading the gospel to the
Gentiles. Think
of Paul's encounters at Athens and Ephesus. There was always a clear distinction between Jehovah GOD and all the man-made impostors
of the world.
"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is trans- formed into an angel of light. Therefore
it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (II Corinthians 11: 13-15). "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" (II Peter 2:1). "They went
out from us, but they were not of us; for if they
had been of us,
they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be
made manifest that they were not all of us" (I John 2:19). "Who is a
liar but he
that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is an
anti-christ, that denieth
the Father and the Son"(1 John 2:22). Satan has attacked Bible-based
Christianity from within; slowly incorporating pagan religious ideas originating in Babylon (such as trinity) into a philosophically-based Christianity. It was this religious
"hot potato" that Constantine dealt with at Nicaea in 325. But
Constantine was more concerned about political unity in the Roman Empire than keeping the doctrines of
Christianity pure. The resulting Nicene Creed looked like a document put out by the legal firm of
Wee, Cheatim, and
Howe. And ever since, countless
numbers of professing Christians have been cheated by the Nicene Creed and its denominational variations.
They have followed the traditions of man instead of the Bible. Incidentally, the real Saint Nicholas(Santa
Claus) was there and he was a Trinitarian. Nicaea formally made Catholicism the "official
church" of Christianity. What Constantine started at Nicaea, Justinian ftnished with his Code of civil law.
Believe the trinity, or be considered a heretic and a criminal; subject to any
kind of punishment up to and including death.
Again, the trinity is not in the Bible; but the
"oneness" of GOD is in the Bible. GOD is never spoken of as a
triune being; but there are many warnings concerning false prophets and their
deceitful message. "And many false
prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many" (Matthew 24: 11 ). "For there shall arise false Christs, and false
prophets, and shall shew
great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect"(Matthew 24:24). "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an anti-Christ"(11 John 7). When someone says that Jesus is God, they
are denying Jesus as a separate and unique individual capable of making his own decisions. They are denying
Jesus as
mediator between GOD and men. This
has been accomplished through the subversion of pure Christianity by Platonic philosophy passed down from Babylon and
Egypt. And the crowning feature of this paganizing of Christianity has been the
trinity: Satan's ultimate deception!
He started in the Garden of Eden by telling
man "ye shall be as gods"; then his followers made Jesus GOD. Satan is a deceiver, a liar, and a murderer because
he misleads man into not obeying GOD's commandments. "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him"(I John 2:4). The final
admonition in the Bible warns against adding to (ex:the
trinity) and taking away (ex:"oneness" of GOD). "For
I testify unto every man that heareth the words of
the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto
him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book
of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy
city, and from the things which are written in this book" (Revelation 22:18-19).