WHEN PROTESTANTS ARGUE LIKE ARIAN HERETICS PT. 2

I continue where I previously left off: WHEN PROTESTANTS ARGUE LIKE ARIAN HERETICS.

THE DAY OF YHWH JESUS

Another way we know that Paul was not identifying Jesus as an archangel, particularly Michael, but was rather describing the risen Christ is YHWH Almighty Incarnate is by his expressly referring to the time when Christ returns to resurrect the dead, judge the world and usher in the age to come, as the Day of our/the Lord Jesus Christ, or any other similar attributions. Note the following examples:

“For they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God,and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10

“For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?” 1 Thessalonians 2:19

“But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first;then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

“But as to the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need to have anything written to you.For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.When people say, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as travail comes upon a woman with child, and there will be no escape.But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that day to surprise you like a thief.For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.But, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him.Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing… May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, 23

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition… And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, 8

“so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ; who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 1:7-8

“you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 5:5

“And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel thus about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:6-11

“Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” Philippians 2:14-16

“Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but take your share of suffering for the gospel in the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, and therefore I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.” 2 Timothy 1:8-12  

To call this remarkable would be to put it mildly since the Hebrew Scriptures never associate this day to a mere a creature, but always and only to YHWH!

“Woe, you who are longing for the day of Yahweh, For what purpose will the day of Yahweh be to you? It will be darkness and not light; As when a man flees from a lion And a bear meets him; Or he goes home, leans his hand against the wall, And a snake bites him. Will not the day of Yahweh be darkness instead of light, Even thick darkness with no brightness in it?” Amos 5:18-20

“Be silent before Lord Yahweh! For the day of Yahweh is near, For Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice; He has set apart His guests Then it will be on the day of Yahweh’s sacrifice That I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, And all who clothe themselves with foreign garments. And I will punish on that day all who leap on the temple threshold, Who fill the house of their Lord with violence and deceit… Near is the great day of Yahweh, Near and coming very quickly; O the sound, the day of Yahweh! In it the mighty man cries out bitterly. A day of fury is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and thick darkness, A day of clouds and dense gloom, A day of trumpet and loud shouting Against the fortified cities And the high corner towers. I will bring distress on men So that they will walk like the blind Because they have sinned against Yahweh; And their blood will be poured out like dust And their flesh like dung.” Zephaniah 1:7-9, 14-17

This is the time when YHWH himself comes to personally judge the nations in perfect justice:

“But Yahweh abides forever; He has established His throne for judgment, Vav And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will render justice for the peoples with equity.” Psalm 9:7-8 Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)  

“Before Yahweh, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.” Psalm 96:13

“Before Yahweh, for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness And the peoples with equity.” Psalm 98:9

“Behold, Lord Yahweh will come with strength, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him.” Isaiah 40:10

“For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land… Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves. There, bring down, O Yahweh, Your mighty ones. Let the nations be roused up And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations. Send in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their evil is great.” Joel 3:1-2, 11-13

These next two cases are rather interesting:

“Enter the rock and hide in the dust From the dread of Yahweh and from the splendor of His majesty (kai apo tes doxes tes ischuos autou). The lofty look of man will be made low, And the men made high will be bowed down, And Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day. For Yahweh of hosts will have a day of reckoning Against everyone who is proud and high And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be made low. And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, Against all the oaks of Bashan, Against all the high mountains, Against all the hills that are lifted up, Against every lofty tower, Against every fortified wall, Against all the ships of Tarshish And against all the desirable craft. The loftiness of man will be bowed down, And the men who are high will be made low; And Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day, But the idols will completely vanish. Men will go into caves of the rocks And into holes of the ground Before the dread of Yahweh And the splendor of His majesty (kai apo tes doxes tes ischuos autou), When He arises to make the earth tremble. In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats Their idols of silver and their idols of gold, Which they made for themselves to worship, In order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs Before the dread of Yahweh and the splendor of His majesty (kai apo tes doxes tes ischuos autou), When He arises to make the earth tremble.” Isaiah 2:10-21

“For behold, Yahweh will come in fire And His chariots like the whirlwind, To return His anger with wrath, And His rebuke with flames of fire. For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire And by His sword on all flesh, And those slain by Yahweh will be many.” Isaiah 66:15-16

I have included the Greek words employed in the LXX in order to highlight the connection between the aforementioned texts and with what the inspired Apostle writes in regards to Christ coming in flaming fire with his powerful angels to unveil his majestic splendor and might:

“This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be made worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering—since indeed God deems it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant rest with us to you who are afflicted, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might (kai apo tes doxes tes ischuos autou), when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.” 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10

Paul has deliberately taken the very language of the Greek rendering of the book of Isaiah in its depiction of YHWH manifesting his power and majesty as he comes to destroy the wicked in flames of fire, and attributed to Christ!  

 PRAYING TO YHWH JESUS

The final line of evidence from Paul that Christ is none other than the human incarnation of YHWH God comes from the worship, which this blessed servant attributes to the risen Son of God.

For instance, the Apostle begins and concludes his epistles with invocations and benedictions for spiritual blessings to be bestowed upon the churches and/or individuals he is writing to. What makes these prayers astounding is that Paul not only invokes God the Father but Christ as well.

In fact, there are even places where the Son is invoked all by himself!

“Paul, Silva′nus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalo′nians IN God the Father AND the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.” 1 Thessalonians 1:1

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:28

“Paul, Silva′nus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalo′nians IN God our Father AND the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace FROM God the Father AND the Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thessalonians 1:1-2

“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his call, and may fulfil every good resolve and work of faith by his power,so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God AND the Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

Remarkably, Paul not only prays to Christ either along with the Father or all by himself, but this inspired emissary even goes as far as to say that the churches are in union and fellowship with both God and Christ!

This presupposes that the Son is omnipresent and omniscient since he is able to have fellowship and communion with, as well as oversee, all believers to the same extent that the Father does!   

Even more astonishing are the next two examples:

“Now may our God and Father himself, AND our Lord Jesus, direct (kateuthynai)our way to you;” 1 Thessalonians 3:11

In the following text, Paul mentions Christ ahead of the Father!

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved (ho agapeesas) us and gave (dous) us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,comfort (parakalesai) your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

The verbs employed in both of the aforementioned passages are all singular, even though the Apostle ascribes these actions to both God and Christ. I.e., Paul has just prayed to the Father and the Son to direct and give love and comfort to the believers he writes, by invoking them together through the use of singular verbs.   

What this shows is that, for this inspired envoy, the actions of God and Christ are one and the same, not because they are the same Person but because they are one and the same God!

Here are more cases of Paul praying to the Lord Jesus directly:

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine; it is the way I write.The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16-18

“If any one has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come (Maranatha)! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.” 1 Corinthians 16:22-23

This one is truly astonishing:

“To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace FROM God our Father AND the Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 1:2-3

Paul not only again prays to both God and Christ, but he also describes believers as being characterized by their practice of calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus.

To help the readers appreciate the implications of this habitual prayer pattern of the very first Christians, contrast this with following OT references:

“And to Seth, to him also, a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of Yahweh.” Genesis 4:26 LSB

“Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to Yahweh and called upon the name of Yahweh.” Genesis 12:8

“And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.” Genesis 21:33 LSB

“For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is Yahweh our God whenever we call on Him?” Deuteronomy 4:7 LSB

“Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who called on His name; They would call upon Yahweh and He would answer them. He would speak to them in the pillar of cloud; They kept His testimonies And the statute that He gave them.” Psalm 99:6-7 LSB

I love Yahweh, because He hears My voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, So I shall call upon Him in all my days. The cords of death encompassed me And the distresses of Sheol found me; I found distress and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of Yahweh: ‘O Yahweh, I beseech You, provide my soul escape!’… I shall lift up the cup of salvation And call upon the name of Yahweh… To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of Yahweh.” Psalm 116:1-4, 13, 17 LSB

Qoph Yahweh is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.” Psalm 145:18 LSB

“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” Jeremiah 29:12 LSB

“And it will be that everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As Yahweh has said, Even among the survivors whom Yahweh calls.” Joel 2:32 LSB

“And I will bring the third part through the fire And refine them as silver is refined And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.” Zechariah 13:9 LSB

The foregoing cases demonstrate that the practice of calling on the name is an act of worship, which true believers were/are to render only to YHWH God Almighty. Therefore, that Christians such as Paul became known for their habitual practice of calling on the name of the risen Christ would have been a blatant act of idolatry on their part if the Son is a mere creature.

The only justifiable way that Jewish monotheists steeped in the Hebrew Scriptures could attribute this worship pattern to Jesus is if Christ’s Jewish disciples did not view him as a mere creature. Instead, the first Christians came to believe as a result of Jesus’ physical bodily resurrection and ascension into heaven that Christ is actually YHWH God Almighty Incarnate (even though he is not the Father or the Holy Spirit). There’s simply no way around this point.

If this wasn’t amazing enough, we even have a Trinitarian benediction where the holy Apostle invokes the Holy Spirit as well, thereby showing the Spirit’s essential coequality with the Father and the Son!

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13:14

With the foregoing in view, can there be any doubt left that Paul in no way was claiming that the risen Lord is the Archangel Michael? Isn’t it obvious that this blessed and inspired emissary of Christ was emphatically affirming that the Son is none other than YHWH God Almighty that became a Man?

CHALLENGE TO THE ARIANS

I issue the following challenge to arian cult leader Greg Stafford and other anti-Trinitarians to cite a single OT text where the inspired authors ascribed the day of YHWH to someone besides and/or alongside of YHWH, i.e., the day of Michael, the day of Gabriel, the day of YHWH and the archangel etc. I further challenge them to show where believers in the Hebrew called upon the name of someone else alongside that of YHWH, or where they invoked YHWH and a creature to bestow spiritual blessings upon the people of God.

In the next installment I will be wrapping my discussion and refutation of arian cultist Greg Stafford and the inconsistency of anti-Catholic/Orthodox Protestant polemicists for employing the same kind of arguments that anti-Trinitarians employ to attack the Triunity of God and the Deity of Christ.

4 thoughts on “WHEN PROTESTANTS ARGUE LIKE ARIAN HERETICS PT. 2

  1. Hi sam,

    The LORD has given you amazing knowledge of the scriptures through which I could see LORD JESUS all through out the ood testament. The old testament has become more meaningful to me after listening to your videos.

    My prayer for you.

    Dear YESHUA my LORD,

    Unite Sam’s daughter’s with sam ASAP and bless his efforts what he does to glorify your name. Grant him excellent health in mind and body.

    Bring your super natural peace into his life and bless his daughters that they may also join this mission and become mighty warriors for YOU.

    I make this prayer in your holy and mighty name O LORD MY JESUS.

    Amen.

    Like

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