THE TRUE BAPTISM & SALVATION OF CHRIST
THE TRUE BAPTISM & SALVATION OF CHRIST
Rev. Steve Marlowe, Evangelist for Christ
Trinitarians have propagated this, “You cannot be saved if you do not believe in the Trinity!” This is critical. In the past, the Roman Catholic Church has caused hundreds of thousands of Christians to be tortured, excommunicated, and persecuted for not believing in the Trinity. Trinitarians, both Catholic and Protestant, have executed many believers in Christ for not believing in the Triune doctrine. One of the most notorious executions was done by the Protestants: the execution of Michael Sevetus! Christians are to “Test all things; hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The freedom to test all things is a fundamental right for all Christians, and Christians should never be denied the right to pursue all truth. Censorship exists in most churches and open discussions on certain doctrines are discouraged. We are admonished, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed” (1 Peter 3:14-16). How does one defend something that God never revealed to be true, and only exists as a (Trinitarian) doctrine because men gathered in two or three Councils (the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, the Council of Constantinople in 381 CE, and the Council of Chalcedon 451 CE) with the audacity of defining God? The confused minds of these bishops have caused a doctrine of confusion. Modern Theologians admit that the Trinity is “beyond the grasp of human reason” (THE ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA, Vol. 27, “The Trinity,” 1980). Could the God of the Bible be the author of such confusion, never! The doctrine of the Trinity is all about confusion. Confusion, such as the Trinity, has no place in the doctrines of God, or the Bible, as “God is not the author of confusion” (1 Corinthians 14:33). “Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament…The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies… It was not until the 4th century that the distinctness of the three, and their unity were brought together in a single Orthodox doctrine of one essence and three persons” (see “Trinity”, THE NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, Vol. 11, p. 928, 1985 ed.). In other words, the God of the Bible has never been revealed to be a Triune God, a Trinity. Christianity had no concept of God being a Trinity until the 4th century when bickering men of the clergy sought to define God, not by His revelation, but according to their terms, “homoousios,” “essence,” indeed! Apostolic “Christianity did not have an explicit doctrine of the Trinity such as was subsequently elaborated in the creeds” of the 4th-century church (see “God”, THE NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, Vol. 2, p. 84).
If one must believe in the Trinity doctrine to be saved, what of the early Christians who knew nothing of the doctrine of the Trinity up to the 4th century CE?
Historian writer H.G. Wells, stated: “There is no evidence that the apostles of Christ ever heard of the Trinity–at any rate from him” (The Outline of History, Vol. 2, p. 499).
Martin Luther, of the Protestant Reformation, in a documented sermon preached, “It is indeed true that the name ‘Trinity’ is nowhere to be found in the Holy Scriptures, but has been conceived and invented by man” (THE SERMONS OF MARTIN LUTHER, Vol. 3, p. 406).
Two major Scriptural pillars of the Trinity are Matthew 28:19, and 1 John 5:7, and scholars consider these verses to be interpolations, words that were added later to the Bible. Scholars such as F. C. Conybeare have shown that the Trinitarian baptismal formula of Matthew 28:19 was not original to the text of Matthew, and therefore is, in fact, an interpolation (F.C. Conybeare, "The Eusebian Form of the Text of Mt. 28:19," ZNW 2 (1901): 275-88). Christ never said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost…” (Matthew 28:19 KJV). In other words, this phrase in the text "baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," was not known in the Apostolic Church before the third and fourth centuries. Indicating that the disciples never knew to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Was this phase inserted at a later date (say, for example, after the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451)? The statement of Christ, as opposed to Matthew 28:19 an interpolation, appears to be in the Gospel of Luke, and we read, “Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’” (Luke 24:46-47).
Where is the evidence of Matthew 28:19 being an interpolation? According to the church historian, Eusebius, who quotes Christ, according to the original text, saying in Matthew 28:19: “Go and make disciples of all the nations in My name” (Eusebius, THE HISTORY of the CHURCH, p. 68, Penguin Classics, 1965, completed by Eusebius c. 316 CE, see “Introduction,” p. xxxii). This explains why the disciples of Christ never baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” because the Lord never said to them to go baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Another glaring proof is that the disciples were never baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” Proving that Christ’s quote in Matthew 28:19, in the Gospel, as written today, was not original. The baptismal formula of Matthew 28:19, as it presently stands is in direct contradiction with all of the following passages:
[Acts 2:38 NASB] “Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
[Acts 8:12 NASB] “But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.”
[Acts 10:48 NASB] “And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.”
[Romans 6:3 NASB] “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?”
[1 Corinthians 1:13 NASB] “Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
[Galatians 3:27 NASB] “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
According to the Church historian Eusebius, the original Matthew 28:19 quotes Christ, saying, “Go and make disciples of all nations in My name.” This would conform with baptizing in Christ’s name only by the disciples as commanded by Christ. The conspiracy to change the words of Christ in Matthew 28:19 to bolster the Trinity doctrine also included redacting of the Didache (7:1), and all church writings previous to the 4th century. It includes the proven and well-known interpolation of the Johannine Comma, 1 John 5:7. Despite the Orthodox/Roman Catholic thoroughness to conform all writings of the early church to their Trinitarian doctrine, they evidently overlooked Eusebius’ History of the Church, and so the exposed conspiracy continues to this day!
Followers of Christ are to make disciples in His name, as He commanded, “...that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations…” (Luke 24:46-47). What is the revealed name of the Savior? Does it matter? The apostle Peter testified, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Historian Ernest Renan makes it clear that the Savior was never in His lifetime known as “Jesus” (Ernest Renan, The Life of Jesus, p. 90). So, what name did the apostle Peter testify to? Looking at a 1611 English Version of the Bible, we do not find the name Jesus (gee-sus), but we do find the name Iesus (ee-sus). Who authorized this name this change from Iesus to Jesus? This means that the name Jesus in its present form has only existed since the 17th century! Where did the name Iesus come from? It came from the Greek name Iesous (ee-sous). Iesous is a transliteration of the Aramaic name Yeshua. It is time to face the facts. Christ was never known by, nor did the angel reveal, any of these names of Jesus, Iesus, and Iesous, thus making these names counterfeits because there is “no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). What is the true name of salvation whereby we must be saved?
The prophet Isaiah tells us, “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For YAH, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation’” (Isaiah 12:2 NKJV). Did the Savior ever tell us that He is YAH, as in “the I AM” {HaYAH}? “I AM” means YAH.
The Savior told the people, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). He told them in Hebrew that He is YAH, and therefore, He is their God, and there is no other God, to the glory of His God and Father, Christ alone is our only God until all things are fulfilled (1 Corinthians 15:20-28). Where did the name YAH come from? “Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘HaYAH Ashar HaYAH’ [“I AM WHO I AM”]. And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ Moreover God said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations’” (Exodus 3:13-15). It is said that God has many names, but this is not true. God has many titles, Emmanuel, Savior, and Redeemer, but only one essential name YAH. “And God spoke to Moses and said to him: ‘I am the Lord {YAH}. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as EL SHADDAI, but by My name Lord {YAH} I was not known to them” (Exodus 6:2-3). Behold, the name which is above every name! The apostle Paul testifies to the name which is above every name (Philippians 2:9).
“While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am YAHSHUA, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 26:12-15). Does our Savior have “the name which is above every name”? The apostle Paul writes, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of YAHSHUA, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that YAHSHUA the Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). The apostle Paul never heard of the names Jesus, Iesus, or Iesous, names that came sometime after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD by the Romans. The apostle Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, lived from c. 5 – c. 64/65 AD.
Many who love the name “Jesus” have objected, saying, “I have seen miracles in the name of Jesus, and demons cast out in the name of Jesus!” They need to take this warning from the Savior, found in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Is doing the will of the Father something to be considered as “legalism”? It is not legalism to obey God unto salvation or be cast off as a worker of lawlessness.
When God reveals His name, the very name of salvation, and one rejects the revelation of God, that one is practicing lawlessness and will be considered condemned. This is the essence of the Gospel, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:16-18).
If one rejects the revealed name of YAHSHUA, that one stands condemned! In Matthew 4:4, we read, “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” When man makes doctrines outside of the revelation of God and establishes them as a doctrine of God, this is called “the Traditions of Men!” As it is written, “Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, ‘Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders…?” He answered and said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men…and many other such things you do.’ He said to them, ‘All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition’” (Mark 7:5-9).
Many have reasoned, that Christianity is the number one religion in all the world. They can’t all be wrong. Consider this: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). “‘And now, O priests [pastors, teachers, and evangelists], this commandment is for you. If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to My name,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will send a curse upon you, And I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart” (Malachi 2:1-2).
