Jehovah and Jesus Christ Are One and the Same

It should become apparent considering the examples below, that the Old Testament God Jehovah and the Lord Jesus Christ are one and the same person.

 

THE FIRST AND THE LAST

Isa.44:6 (also 41:4, 48:12) 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.

 

Rev. 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.  And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

18  I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

 

THE CREATOR

Isa. 45:18 (also 48:12,13)  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.

John 1:1-3 IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  The same was in the beginning with God. 3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Col. 1:15,16 (also Eph. 3:9) Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:16  For by him [Jesus] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

 

EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW

Isa. 45:18-24 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.

19  I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20  ¶ Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21  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.
22  Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23  I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
24  Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.

Phil. 2:9-11Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Rom. 14:10,11 But why dost thou judge thy brother?  or why dost thou set at nought thy brother?  for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

 

THE ROCK

Deut. 32:3,4 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Ps. 18:2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

 1 Cor. 10:1-4 MOREOVER, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

 

THE JUDGE

Deut. 32:36  For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

John 5:22  For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:

Rom. 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother?  or why dost thou set at nought thy brother?  for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
 

THE SAVIOR

Isa. 43:11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

Isa. 49:26 26  And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
Hosea 13:4 4  Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.

John 4:42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

Acts 4:10-12  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
11  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

 

THE SHEPHERD

Ps. 23:1 THE LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

John 10:14-16 [Jesus speaking]  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

THE LIGHT

Ps. 27:1 THE LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

 

THE CONQUEROR OF DEATH

Hosea 13:14  I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

1 Cor. 15:55-57 O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory? 56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Note:

Though God stated many times “Besides me there is no God,” he was speaking in the plural. Isaiah 44:6 “God” comes from the Hebrew “Elohim” or “Eloheim” meaning “Gods” in the plural. This corresponds perfectly with the creation story in Genesis. Gen. 1:1 says “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heaven and the earth.”

That God the Father and the Son are two distinct and individual Beings is quite evident from New Testament scriptures. Perhaps this can be expanded in another post later.

A Review of “Starting at the Finish Line” by John B Wallace – Part 1

At the invite from an Evangelical acquaintance, I have started reading a book titled “Starting At The Finish Line” by John B. Wallace, a former Mormon.

My acquaintance also requested my response to the book. He was undoubtedly hoping that I will join other LDS members who have been hoodwinked into apostatizing, not convinced that my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel as presented by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints long ago surpassed faith into the realm of pure knowledge. Of course, there are many areas of the Church which I accept based on faith, but my root testimony the Church is THE true Church of the Living Christ is one of knowledge and not one of mere belief.

It did not take long before I ran into, what I consider,  some gross falsehoods, and which in my opinion should not be left unchallenged. This article is to be the first of what I expect will be a larger number of challenges to the misrepresentations made in his book.

I skipped over Chapter 1 wherein he explains his history, and part of Chapter 2 “She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not.” But further into Chapter 2, p.14 he states: “As for the identity of this devious church, which according to verse 26 [in 1 Nephi ch13] is ‘most abominable above all other churches,’ the LDS Church definitely identified it as the Roman Catholic Church – that is until 1966, when Elder McConkie was asked to remove this designation from his encyclopedic work, Mormon Doctrine.”

Stephen E. Robinson, an associate professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, voiced his opinion on the subject of this abominable church, in a thorough article “Warring against the Saints of God” (Jan. 1988):

“Some Latter-day Saints have erred in believing that some specific denomination, to the exclusion of all others, has since the beginning of time been the great and abominable church. This is dangerous, for many will then want to know which it is, and an antagonistic relationship with that denomination will inevitably follow.”

An analogous concept in the Book of Mormon is the “great and abominable church” (1 Ne. 22:13) which must fall and the “great and spacious building” which must likewise fall and the fall was “exceeding great.” They are the same thing. Is it a real church, or something that is worshipped and in that respect is a “church?” The Book of Mormon (1 Ne. 11:36) answers: “the great and spacious building was the pride of the world; and it fell, and the fall thereof was exceeding great. … Thus shall be the destruction of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that shall fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (bold added)

So it is clear from the Book of Mormon that the Roman Catholic Church cannot be correctly isolated as the abominable church, but rather the abominable church is pride! Pride that exists in the form of those who contend against the true Church – against the true teachings of the original twelve apostles, whose teachings we find in part in the Bible.

To my knowledge, the Church has never officially declared the Roman Catholic Church as the “abominable church.”

With regard to Bruce R McConkie’s statement in his book Mormon Doctrine, in the first 1958 edition of it, the Church correctly had him revise it. We should note that Elder McConkie was an apostle of the Church and not the President of it. In his book Mormon Doctrine, he clearly states in the Preface: “For the work itself, I assume sole and full responsibility.” In other words, the opinions he expressed in his book are his and not the Church’s.

Further, in Mormon Doctrine, we read “President Joseph Fielding Smith [of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles] has said: ‘It makes no difference what is written or what anyone has said, if what has been said is in conflict with what the Lord has revealed, we can set it aside. My words, and the teachings of any other member of the Church, high or low, if they do not square with the revelations, we need not accept them. Let us have this matter clear. We have accepted the four standard works as the measuring yardsticks, or balances, by which we measure every man’s doctrine. You cannot accept the books written by the authorities of the Church as standards of doctrine, only in so far as they accord with the revealed word in the standard works.” (p.609, second edition).

Therefore, Mr. Wallace’s claim, by referring to Elder McConkie’s statement as the “LDS Church definitely identified it as the Roman Catholic Church” is false!

The truth: an apostle in this dispensation wrote in a book he published something that might be regarded as unnecessarily inflammatory against a great institution, the Roman Catholic Church, which was incorrect. The leaders of the Church asked him to correct it. He complied and the incorrect doctrine was removed. Unlike Paul, McConkie did not behave as Paul did when he confronted Peter, boasting in a letter to the Galatians: “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.” (Gal. 2:11), but rather he submitted to authority and corrected his oversight.