“God the Mother”?
“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
One of our members was recently handed a tract by someone going door to door distributing them. It contains a doctrine that neither she nor the rest of us have ever seen before. In fact, everything about the brochure is peculiar—even the size of the paper, which is 8 and 7/8 inches wide by 19 and 3/4 inches long. It is folded into five panels. The first one begins with what is touted as the “message of hope for all humankind” and is followed by words in large print, which say:
“I HAVE ALREADY COME!”
One only has to read the page following this one in order to see that whoever compiled this document is massively confused. The very first sentence is a tipoff when it states that 2,000 years ago God came to the earth in the name of Jesus. The heavenly Father sent Jesus into the world (John 3:17, 34; 4:34; 5:23-24, 30, 36, 37, 38; 6:29, 38, 39, 44, 57; 7:16; et al.). God the Father did not take the name of Jesus; He sent Jesus into the world. This tract sounds as though it is written by “oneness” Pentecostals, who believe Jesus is the only person in the Godhead, which brings up the question, “Who sent Jesus into the world?” The only answer they can give involves an absurdity: He would, of necessity, have had to send Himself, which would make Him both the Father and the Son at the same time! This religious group does not believe that there are three personalities in the Godhead—only one.
The second sentence is no improvement upon the first. It says that “people” did not recognize God Who came in the flesh. The fact is that “people” did. Consider the statements of those who understood the truth.
John the Baptizer: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! … And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:29, 34).
Andrew: “We have found the Messiah!” (John 1:41).
Philip: We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote…” (John 1:45).
Nathanael: “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel!” (John 1:49).
Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matt. 16:18).
Martha: “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world” (John 11:27).
“People” did not reject Christ; the rulers of the Jews rejected Him; they knew what He had claimed for Himself. They told Pilate the reason they wanted Jesus put to death: “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). Jesus claimed it because it was a fact, but the leaders of the Jews rejected the evidence which the multitudes accepted.
To say that “people” did not recognize that Jesus came in the flesh is to deny the gospel and its power. Mark certainly believed the truth concerning Jesus. He opens his writing with these words: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” These words and teaching formed the basis of “people’s” reception of the gospel in the first century. John wrote for the same purpose:
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:30-31).
“People” believed in the Deity of Jesus because of the miracles He performed. The author of this tract is setting forth premillennial doctrine, which is contrary to the Scriptures and depends upon the false assumption that has been refuted above.
Christ is Coming Again in the Flesh?
According to the message in this brochure (page 3), Jesus is coming again in the flesh. What is the Scriptural proof for this assertion? Hebrews 9:28 is presented although the translation being used is not stated (all articles in Spiritual Perspectives cite the New King James unless otherwise specified). What does Hebrews 9:28 say? Why not include verse 27 so that readers can have a fuller context?
And as it is appointed unto men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once for the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
The meaning of the passage is that men die once, and this is eventually followed by the judgment. In like manner Christ died once for all the sins of mankind. When He returns, it will not be to obtain salvation (as it was previously, since His one-time offering was all-sufficient); it will be to dispense salvation (eternal salvation) to those who have been eagerly waiting for Him! In other words, it will be for judgment—to punish those who know not or obey not the gospel but also to reward the faithful (2 Thess 1:7-10).
Premillennialism denies this truth, but in any case Hebrews 9:28 does not say a word about Jesus coming a second time in the flesh! Despite the fact that the one verse cited to prove that Jesus is coming in the flesh fails to do so, the author or authors of this message act as though they have proved their case, and they keep repeating it, but then they kick into warp speed and really say something bizarre—“Christ has already come a second time.” What?
When?
The next page begins with the question, “When Did He Come?” This is an excellent question because none of us is aware of Christ having come in the flesh a second time (as they insisted that He would and has). Unfortunately, no direct answer is given. They cite Matthew 24:32-33, which is a passage foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem and has nothing to do with His second coming. Later in Matthew 24, the second coming is described, but there are no signs of it: “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming” (Matt. 24:42).
The writer then cites a verse from Jeremiah 24:5, which pertains to the Babylonian captivity and has nothing whatsoever to do with the second coming of Jesus. If they had quoted the verse, the reader would have seen it in its context, but this is the way that false teachers work. They next include a picture of David Ben Gurion proclaiming the independence of Israel in 1948. Okay, but what does this have to do with Jesus coming in the flesh a second time? The answer is that Jesus must have come a second time, or Israel would not have been re-established.
Apparently Jesus came in the flesh a second time, but nobody knew anything about it. (This teaching is reminiscent of the Jehovah’s Witness doctrine that Jesus returned in 1914, but nobody knew it.) We would not know that He had returned if Israel had not been established as an independent state in 1948. So what does that mean—that Jesus was alive and on earth in 1948 and prior to that? Is He still here? After all, 1948 was 65 years ago, which means He has been on the earth more than twice as long as the first time—yet nobody knows Who He is or where He is!
Page 4 reiterates Hebrews 9:28 and claims that Jesus is now giving us salvation (eternal life). Yet there is no judgment. In this tract, logic is absent. Jesus was supposed to come again in the flesh (not proven); then it is affirmed that He has already come in the flesh a second time, but nothing is provided in terms of details. All that is given are some out-of-context citations that are supposed to prove He was here. None of this makes any sense.
What Did He Bring?
Page 5 proclaims that the answer to this question is that Jesus brought the Passover of the new covenant. But wait a minute! He brought that the first time. As any Bible student knows, Jesus showed His disciples the proper way to remember Him at the Passover feast before He was crucified (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20). Paul recounts this event in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29. The same apostle stated that “indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). Therefore, Jesus did not need to appear a second time to do any of this because He did it the first time! This tract is wrong in just about every statement it makes.
Page 5 claims that 2,200 Churches of God in 150 countries of the world observe this Passover of the new covenant and invite the reader to do so as well. They show a picture of their observance of it in Seoul, South Korea in 2000, which prompts the question—“Is this an annual event for them?” They do not say. They do not provide any details. The New Testament tells us to observe the Lord’s death each week (Acts 20:6-7). What would be the purpose of an annual observance, then? The tract is silent regarding that.
“I, TOO, HAVE ALREADY COME!”
If the reader has stayed with this publication thus far, he has completed the five panels of side one and now looks at the other side, which contains the words cited above on page 6. Probably, he thinks things could not become any more weird than he has already experienced, but he would be wrong. He is about to be introduced to God the Mother! The only way that false teachers can get away with travesties such as these is to take Scriptures out of context, twist them, contort them, and then present them as if it were good Bible scholarship. What happens next serves as an excellent example of mishandling the Word of God.
“Most people think that there is only ‘God the Father’” (7). No, that is not true. Most people think that there is “God the Father,” “God the Son,” and “God the Holy Spirit.” Once again, this branch of the Church of God does not believe that there are three in the Godhead—only one. But their next statement is wild beyond imagination. They affirm that “it is recorded in the Bible that there is ‘God the Mother’”! The first clue that this claim is false is that the reader has probably never heard of such a thing. He knows that he has never seen it recorded in the Bible. He may take any concordance (paper or electronic) and will not find those words in the Scriptures anywhere.
So where do they get this claim? Believe it or not, they quote Revelation 22:17: “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’” They claim that the Spirit and the bride are both God! Sure, it’s sheer lunacy, but apparently they find people to believe this hogwash. They explain how they arrive at this conclusion. The bride is the wife of the lamb, which is the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. This may be the only truth in this tract, but they soon ruin it by attributing Godhood to her. Their one Scripture of “proof” is Galatians 4:26: “But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.” To attempt to tie this verse to Rev. 21:9-10 is to yank both of them out of context.
In Galatians 4, Paul is dealing with an allegory, in which Hagar represents Mount Sinai and Ishmael the child of bondage, while Isaac is the child of promise, born of a freewoman, Sarah (Gal. 4:22-26). These are symbolic of two covenants—the covenant involving the literal Jerusalem (the Law of Moses) and the covenant of the spiritual Jerusalem (Christianity). The phrase, mother of us all, refers to the spiritual Jerusalem—the one in heaven. The term mother fits with the analogy.
The bride of Christ is not technically a mother, since the marriage supper has yet to occur and at any rate refers to the church. This relationship between Christ and the church is seen more fully in Ephesians 5:22-33. While the church is Divine in origin and Divine in the purchase price—the blood of Christ, it is not God or equal to the Father.
Who Gives the Water of Life?
Page 7 also clearly contains a misuse of the Scriptures. Below is the way they present Revelation 22:17:
“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ . . . let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
Never mind that this is a very poor translation; the word gift is not in the Greek. Below is an accurate translation:
And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
Why did the authors of the tract leave out the middle part of the verse? They had more than enough room on the page to include it all. They were trying to make it look as though the Spirit and the bride were offering the free gift co-equally when that is not the case. They are co-equally inviting people to come, but God is the one who provides the water of life.
They also say that “the Spirit” refers to “God the Father according to the Trinity.” In other words, Holy Spirit is just another name for God the Father. What they mean by according to the Trinity is anyone’s guess.
Page 8 is mostly repetitive, quoting Scriptures already quoted. The claim is made that, like Jesus, God the Mother has already come. And she gave us the water of life! Really? That’s a stretch—especially from Revelation 22:17. Jesus is the One Who offers the water of life freely (Rev. 21:6). This water of life proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. 22:1). All that the bride does is join in the plea for people to come partake of it. Why did the tract leave out this vital information?
The Water of Life Equals the Passover Wine?
The Water of Life refers to salvation, but not according to the doctrine spewed forth in this tract. No, the unequivocal claim is made that “the water of life is the Passover of the new covenant that has the promise of eternal life” (9). Once again, they cite what Jesus said at the Passover but do not show what this has to do with what they refer to as “the Passover of the new covenant.” They still do not define what they mean by that, but it is evidently something that is different from the Lord’s Supper that the Bible discusses. How anyone could read this and not be confused would be a wondrous thing—especially those who know the Bible. It is so much unsubstantiated gibberish.
The final page attempts a summary, but it does not help. Affirmed once again is that “God the Mother has already come and performs the greatest miracle—giving us eternal life through the Passover of the new covenant” (10). An invitation is extended for all to come to God the Mother without delay.
Salvation is through Christ—not this metaphorical mother. “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). “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The way to remember Jesus is through remembering His death—each week—in the proper way (1 Cor. 11:23-29).
Jesus did not command people to gather together annually in some sort of “Passover.” We remember His body and blood each week just as He taught the disciples. No one will profit from these fictional inventions that various religious groups concoct and then try to justify by twisting the Scriptures. We must always obey Jesus, who is the way of salvation (Heb. 5:9).