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JUST TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT!

By Tom Raddatz

There is a very well known verse of scripture in the Bible that bears repeating here-

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits... Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" -Matthew 7:15-22.

There is another verse that goes along with this one-

"If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 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 of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not... And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God" -John 8:40-47.

Although probably not understood as such by those of the present "do your own thing" generation- these are very loving words of Jesus'. Though spoken with authority, and severity, the love and compassion is not negated thereby. It is for committing the offense of using mere WORDS of this type, that I am defending my faith in this thread of posts to Zinger.

If you have followed my other posts, and especially the current one in which Betelgeuse has addressed with me, you know that I do not preach the doctrines of "normal evangelicals" or supposed "fundamentalist Christians." There is in fact 2 MAIN DOCTRINES that I preach that are radically different. First is the gospel, which is stated in 1 Cor. 15:1-4, obeyed through Acts 2:38, of which I have presented in the post titled to "Paul and Daniel." Secondly, which I would like to highlight here, is the doctrine of One God in the name of Jesus Christ! I preach very adamantly that a person MUST believe in One and Only One God, in the name of Jesus Christ, and deny the doctrine of a "trinity of separate persons" in the Godhead, in order to be a Biblical Christian.

The reason I bring this up here, is because, it is NO COINCIDENCE that throughout history this one particular doctrine- the Oneness of God in the name of Jesus, has shown to be the dividing line between who did and who did not violently physically persecute others.

Although ALL Christians attempt to prove that their religion is the closest to original Christianity, there is one doctrine that sets itself apart, historically. And that is the doctrine of the Oneness of God.

Historians refer to the early Oneness proponents as "Modalistic Monarchians." Please allow me to quote Webster's (1959) Dictionary under the heading "Monarchianism"'

"...an anti-Trinitarian doctrine or theory CURRENT in the church of the 2nd & 3rd centuries in several forms, the common principle of which was that God is a single person as well as a single being... The adherents of this... were numerous. In the West they were called Patripassians... while in the East they were usually grouped together under the name of Sabellius".

Historians have shown all the following early bishops in Rome to have been Monarchians (Oneness)- Linus (42-67 A..), Anacletus (79-90 A.D.), Clement (90-99 A.D.), Evaristus (99-107 A.D.), Alexander (107-116 A.D.), Sixtus (116-125 A.D.) Telesphorus (125-136 A.D.), Hyginus (136-140 A.D.),Pius (140-154 A.D.), Anicetus (154-165 A.D.), Soter (166-174 A.D.), Eleutherus (174-189), Victor ((189-198), Zephyrinus (198-217), Callistus (217-222). This fact is ironical in that the extremely Trinitarian Roman Catholic church attempts to trace her history back to the apostles through these One-God ministers who knew no Trinity doctrine as the Roman Catholic Church has propagated.

Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 69-156 A.D.) was a One-God preacher. He was a disciple of the Apostle John. As was a contemporary of Polycarp's- Ignatius (d. 115 A.D.). Ignatius wrote such Modalistic statements as- "...and expect him, who is above all time, eternal, invisible, though for our sakes made visible: impalpable, and impassable, yet for us subjected to sufferings; enduring all manner of ways for our salvation." -Polycarp 1:15.

Of this Ignatius, historians have written such things as- "If one term must be chosen to indicate the tendency of his thought, Ignatius must be said to be Monarchian" -St. Ignatius and Christianity, V. Corwin, Yale University Press, p. 140.

Though briefly given, it must be recognized that the doctrine of Oneness, or Monarchianism, must be seen as being an extremely early doctrine.

So when did the doctrine of the Trinity enter the Christian scene?

First, I quote the World Book, 1984, vol. l9- "TRINITY... belief in Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit was first defined by the earliest general council of churches. This was the First Council of Nicea in 325 A.D".

Encyclopedia Britannica, 1974, 15th edition, vol. 4, page 485- "The Holy Trinity- the basis for the doctrine of the Trinity... The question as to how to reconcile the encounter with God in this threefold figure (The Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit) with faith in the oneness of God, which was the Jews' and Christians' characteristic mark of distinction over against paganism, agitated the piety of ancient Christendom in the deepest way... This question was answered in the Neoplatonic metaphysics of being... Christian theology took the Neoplatonic metaphysics of substance as well as its doctrine of hypostasis AS THE DEPARTURE POINT FOR INTERPRETING THE RELATIONSHIP of the 'Father' to the 'Son'..."

"TRINITY... Judaism emerged...as the purest form of monotheism in the ancient world... The full development of Trinitarianism took place in the West, in the Scholasticism of the Middle Ages, when an explanation was undertaken in terms of philosophy and psychology, especially of the recovered Aristotlianism of the 13th century. The classical exposition is found in the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, whose views on this subject have dominated most of later Christian theology, both Roman Catholic and Protestant." -Encyclopedia Americana, 1983. (Remember- not all Christians are either Catholic, or Protestant. Protestants are basically just daughter churches of Catholicism)

Historical fact shows that it was the Oneness doctrine that was current immediately following the apostles. It was the Trinity doctrine that was the late comer, not even being defined until the 4th century. The council of Nicea, in 325 A.D., is the actual beginning of the Roman Catholic Church. It is at that point in history that a Roman emperor merged his pagan theological empire with nominal Christianity. Oneness Christians, though in the majority up until that time, were not invited to Constantine's "party."

Yes, history does point to certain individuals who paved the way to the council of Nicea. They were called Christian apologists. They took on themselves the nasty job of reconciling Christianity with Roman paganism. These were men such as Athenagoras, Irenaeus, and Justin Martyr to name a few.

But it was at that council of Nicea that the tide was turned against truth, and true Christianity. It was at the council of Nicea that Paganism/Christianity was given the blessing and backing of the Roman Emperor. And what kind of men were these that the Emperor assembled in the name of his new "Christian" state?

"This (Trinity doctrine of separation of persons in one substance)- LET LOOSE A FURY AMONG MANKIND THAT HAS RARELY BEEN PARALLELED. Millions suffered violence or death in the pursuant wars and persecutions. Hundreds of bishops were exiled or murdered at the command of other bishops who, when the tide turned, visited the same treatment upon their rivals." The Story of Christian Origins, M.A. Larson, New Republic Book, p572.

The killing did not stop at the council of Nicea, nor with the Roman Catholic Church. Through history, many Protestant Trinitarians continued the violence of their mother church. Martin Luther condemned Oneness groups with these words- "The Second Person in the Godhead... alone became true man... that neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit became true man, AS CERTAIN HERETICS HAVE TAUGHT" -Luther's Works 37, R. Fischer and H. Lehmann, eds., fortress Press, p.361.

And what kind of fruits did Martin Luther display by which "Ye shall know them by their fruits"? Well, to Prince John Fredrick, after Luther's break with the Catholic Church, advising on how to handle revolting peasants, MARTIN LUTHER ANSWERED- "SMITE, STAB, SLAY AND KILL" -Christian Attitudes toward War and Peace, R.H. Bainton, Abingdon Press, p. 140.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564) OPENLY AND UNABASHEDLY PHYSICALLY VIOLENTLY OPPOSED ONENESS proponents. A contemporary of Calvin's, a Oneness preacher by the name of Michael Servetus taught- "I do not separate Christ from God any more than a voice from the speaker or a ray from the sun... An amazing mystery it is that God can thus be conjoined with man and man with God. A great wonder that God has taken to himself the body of Christ that it should be his peculiar dwelling place..." -Quoted in Hunted Heretic, R. Bainton, Beacon Press, p. 49.

"Calvin became so angry over the writings of Michael Servetus (1511-1556 A.D.), who taught against the Trinity, and taught One God, that HE HAD SERVETUS BURNED AT THE STAKE in Geneva... Although Calvin must bear the primary guilt of the murder of Servetus, many other Catholics and Protestants were in favor of it." --Ancient Champions of Oneness, W.B. Chalfant, Word Aflame Press, p. 153.

"The false and wicked doctrine of the troublesome Spaniard (Servetus) goes far to do away with the whole of Christian religion... Therefore do everything possible that such dreadful blasphemy get no further wind to the detriment of Christianity" -Ulrich Zwingli, quoted in Ancient Champions of Oneness, W.B. Chalfant, Word Aflame Press, p. 153.

If you wish to continue clinging to your bloody Roman Catholic or Protestant roots- KNOW that Jesus said- "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" -Revelation 18:4. THE HISTORY OF THE TRINITY DOCTRINE IS AS BLOODY A HISTORY AS MAN HAS EVER SEEN! THE CHURCH OF CHRIST (THE TRUE AND THE FALSE) HAS KNOWN NO PEACE SINCE IT'S INCEPTION.

"Do not think, however, that Oneness Christians used force or physical violence AT ANY TIME" -Ancient Champions of Oneness, W.B. Chalfant, Word Aflame Press, p. 138.

I, TomR, stand before you under the umbrella of a doctrine that has proven it's faithfulness to ANTI-physical violence under even the most extreme forms of torture for two-thousand years. And yet, I have been accused of being like those murderous heretics who have persecuted MY SPIRITUAL HERITAGE for those same thousands of years.

WHAT OTHER CHRISTIAN SECT CAN MAKE THIS CLAIM, WHO HAVE NOT VIOLATED THEMSELVES THROUGH PHYSICAL FORCE OR VIOLENCE, and who can trace their spiritual descendants sharing a common faith through a line of believers parallel to, but not part of, the Roman Catholic Church, ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF JESUS CHRIST'S CHURCH ON EARTH? Not ONE Protestant organization can say that!

WHERE IS FOUND ANY HISTORICALLY ACCURATE PRECEDENCE FOR THESE ACCUSATIONS MADE AGAINST ME, A PROPONENT AND FOLLOWER OF THE *ONENESS* OF GOD IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST????????????

The Bible didn't say that everyone who was witnessed to would understand immediately, or accept that what His servants spoke is truth. Rather, Jesus said this- "Ye shall know them by their fruits..." -Matthew 7:15-22.