http://www.2ndchancechristiannewsletter.com/index.html "I believe: 1] in the Holy Scriptures: accepting fully the writings of the Old and New Testament as the very Word of God, Divinely inspired and preserved in the 1611 King James Bible also known as the Authorized Version. 2] There is one God the Almighty, who exists in three distinct persons.(I do not accept the 3 person God theory; I see and accept that the one God has manifested Himself in three very real forms; In two forms God in the Spirirt form, In the third manifestation, God has reveal His person in the body of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I have allowed the writings of thgis aouthor to stand, as a demonstration of the truth of Jeremiah 15: 19, In that as we return always to God, we learn through the teaching od God's word to take forth the presious from the vile. We learn that as we continue on in the teachings of Jesus Christ, we become students indeed and we learn to know the truth and the truth sets us free. Always,  it we must accept that God through Paul has said,, in the book of Collossians, "For it pleased the Father that in Him, Jesus, should all fulness dwell; and that the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Him, Jesus. and in Hebrews, He Jesus is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of God's pesron...") The trinity of God: (1)God the Father, (2)God the Son and (3)God the Holy Spirit. (We can, and do, rationalize the fact that if you have three separate and distinct persons and each one of tyose persons is God, then both divine and natural math demands that there are three Gods. ) 3] In the literal existence of the person of Jesus Christ (including the virgin birth): The Word incarnate, God manifest in the flesh, the fulfillment of the Godhead bodily, Holy and perfect in nature. 4] Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried and rose again. This death, burial and resurrection was literal and represented the Holy and acceptable payment for sin in the eyes of God the Father. 5] The literal existence of Satan. 6] The pre-tribulation rapture of the Church. (Here again, is a poibt of departure for me, in the pre-trubulation rapture teaching. I must admitt, that on this point I have a lot to learn. However, when there is  as much disagreement as there is, with the Pre-, Mid- and post tribulation rapture theories, all cannot be true.) 7] The literal return of Christ to set up His kingdom to rule and rein on earth. 8] The literal existence of Heaven and Hell. 9] Eternal security of the believer.

10] One must choose to believe in the person of Jesus Christ, confess with his mouth that he is a sinner in need of redemption, repent of sin, ask Jesus Christ to be his or her personal Lord and Saviour, believe in the redemptive power of the shed blood of Jesus Christ (Propitiation for sin), and believe in his or her heart that God can and will forgive his or her sin and give him or her eternal life. With out choosing Jesus Christ as one’s personal Lord and Saviour, thus denying Christ in his life, salvation for his soul is not possible. Choosing instead to die in his sin his soul is destined for Hell, as it is written in the scriptures."

    

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     The matter that concerns me most is the fact that we use these revelations of God to separate the body of God just as Satan use the truth of God to separate man from God in the Garden plunging all creation into sin. God is not the author of Confusion, yet, in the midst of the confusion that we have plunged ourselves into, God come in and brings light, understanding and unity; if we are open to the Holy God, in our attitude, and actions, if we are open to God, God will give us wisdom, strength to accomplish the things that God has appointed unto us to do.

 

 

"An investigation into the nature of man and human sexuality properly begins in the Book of Beginnings, Genesis. Indeed, the God-given model for sexual identity, for marriage (the oldest of all human institutions), and for the structure of society (under God) stretches back to the very time of creation:

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them...the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, 'this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.'" (Gen. 1:26,27; 2:22-25)

The name of God used in Genesis 1 is Elohim, a uniplural noun. El is singular, Eloah is dual, whereas Elohim apparently implies three or more persons. Yet the three Persons of the Godhead act as One God in all they undertake in creation, in redemption and in the management of the universe we live in (Ref 1). The creation of man was not an afterthought in the mind of God. From the beginning the plan and design of the cosmos had human being in view. The universe is God's house and men number among the inhabitants, in fact we are the highest of God's creations.

Countless volumes have been written on what is meant by the statement that man is man in the image and likeness of God. This complex subject will not be examined in detail here, but only noted in passing. God is a Spirit and not a material being---we do not look like God physically. The image of our Creator which we all bear is primarily an invisible, inner likeness. In regard to attributes of personality, mind, creativity, capacity for love and express emotions, the existence of will, conscience, imagination, memory and moral responsibility, and capacity for worship---God has made us very much like Himself.

What is more important-for our discussion is that God also made the first man male and female. In paraphrasing Genesis 1:26, 27 we could say that God created (bara) the first individual human being as male/female. The creation of the man Adam was accompanied by the simultaneous creation of Eve. Thus, the first man was originally Adam/Eve. Bara is a Hebrew word used only of God in the Bible. Man can himself invent and create because he has been made like his Creator, but only God can bring into existence the things that do not exists, only God can create ex nihilo, (out of nothing). God speaks and matter springs into existence or life into being where previously there had been nothingness. The word bara is therefore unique to God.

Genesis 2:22-25 elaborates on the creation of man. Adam, the probable original author of this section of scripture, tells us that his body was first formed (yatsar) from the dust of the earth (Ref 2). Yatsar means to mold as a potter molds the clay, (see Jer 18:2ff). Man was thus created ( bara ), but in the process his body was also molded and fashioned by the hands of the Master Potter. Next, Elohim breathed into the man's body the breath (ruach) of life and man became a living being (nephesh, soul). One can think of the soul of man as springing up from the interaction of spirit and body. The soul is the realm of personality, of mind, emotions, will, and conscience. Man is thus both a material being, and also a spiritual creation of God. We are intended to live simultaneously into two worlds: the physical and the spiritual. The Bible reveals that man is a tripartite being, body, soul, and spirit. The presence of a living spirit in us is what determines the difference between a corpse and a living person (see James 2:26).

The description in Genesis 2 of the origin of the woman Eve is preceded by Adam's naming of the animals. He was to study and analyze the thousands of kinds of animals God had made. He was to choose names that suited the characteristics of each of the animals. Adam's training was intended by God to show him his relationship to nature and help him in role of exercising dominion and stewardship over the earth. The animals were already divided into male and female animals, birds, fish, so sexuality did exist at this time. But, Adam found no counterpart to himself in the animal kingdom. There was no one there who "corresponded to him." For the first time, God declared that something in the creation was not good. "It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helper (''azer) corresponding to him." "Not good" does not imply that evil existed in the universe at that time. God is saying that further creative activity was now appropriate to bring the creation into its intended state of completeness. (By the way we must assume that it was God who taught Adam speech and language).

The originally one human being Adam/Eve was now to be separated into two---differentiated in two separate persons. Both Adam and Eve already existed as a single unit---as the word bara implies. Having already created (bara) the soul and spirit of Adam/Eve, and after having molded the body of the first man, God now makes a division of this one compound man into male and female. Placing Adam into a deep sleep, God took a rib from the side of Adam and made a woman. The Hebrew root (banah), translated made, described God's making of Eve by taking her out of Adam/Eve. Banah means to construct or build, as when one builds a house or constructs an Ark---this word implies creative artisanship by God. Adam was formed but Eve was made!

In summary, after God made "Adam/Eve" in His own image, He subsequently separated the man whom He had made into two---Adam and Eve. Thus, an original unity of "man" was replaced by a division into two complementary opposites. The image of God in our race is therefore carried by the man and the women in equal weight. Whatever other terms we may wish to associate with man being made in the image and likeness of God, the existence of two separate sexes is a very important part of the image of God which we, as men and women, jointly bear. It is as if half of life is to be understood and interpreted from a man's point of view and half from a woman's point of view. These two points of view are not identical, they are complementary!

The existence of two sexes and the fact that it takes male and female persons to adequately reflect the nature of God implies that the Being of God is as much masculine as it is feminine. This is a difficult concept because God Himself does not describe Himself as a sexual being. All the persons of the Godhead are called by masculine nouns and pronouns. Furthermore the godhead consists of a union of three Persons, not two, as in human marriage. We will have more to say about the inner nature of God as containing both masculine and feminine attributes as we move along in our study.

For purposes of discussion let us a build a model of sexual identity based on what we have examined thus far concerning the creation of man and woman as described in Genesis 1 and 2. First, let us divide man and woman into conscious and unconscious realms. Consciousness is related to awareness and priorities in life that we are. God has made us in such a way that many of our bodily and emotional functions run automatically without our conscious control or intervention. Heart rate rises or falls to meet the energy demands of our activity, we digest our food, and we breathe automatically. Instincts alert us concerning hunger and thirst.

Our brain's memory banks record virtually everything we learn and experience and store these records in centers of immediate recall or for later retrieval from deeper archival sources. Memory is both conscious and unconscious. Under the stress of a sudden accident, many people gain temporary total recall and see their entire life story running before their mind's eye---on a fast-forward, instant-replay mode.

We respond emotionally to situations in life with shame, fear, guilt, joy, tears, or depression. Over most of these reactions we have little control. The are built-in or they are conditioned responses shaped by past response patterns. Our memory circuits record not only experiences but associated colors, odors, sensations and emotions experienced at the time. Unpleasant experiences and traumatic experiences in life tend to be repressed (buried in the unconscious). Pleasureful vs. painful experiences produce conditioned responses in us which become more or less automatic.

Finally, we are fallen creatures and subject to deeply self-centered motivations, lusts, cravings, rage, hatred, murder, envy, sloth, covetousness and the like. Accompanying our fallen nature is the blindness of pride, self-deceit and closets of inner darkness where the Enemy has established strongholds of bondage to habits, obsessions, destructive behavior patterns---and so on. Thus it will be necessary to discuss both unfallen and then fallen masculinity and femininity in order to arrive at a realistic model of our humanity and our sexuality. Our goal is discover the path to wholeness and completeness.
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It seems to me that if Joseph Smith or Brigham Young were around today they would be well accepted by the Charismatics who teach likewise. Does teaching matter? We find that it is teaching that distinguishes Christianity from the cults.

Looking at who’s image Christ is in, Col.1:15 “He is in the image of the invisible God.” Christ alone is this image. Man will not be  what Christ is in his nature, even when we are glorified.

The Greek word for image is eikon indicating a perfect image. It is related to his nature and substance, It is a spiritual image. Meaning he is the very substance and nature of God. In Jn.14 when Jesus used the expression “if you have seen me you have seen the Father” he is meaning that as the Son he is expressing his nature. Making the Father known. Meaning he is the very substance and nature of God. An exact reproduction we can see, because before that he states no man has seen the Father.

Heb.1:3 “who's being the brightness of his glory and express image of his person .

He is the perfect representation of another person therefore he too is a person of like nature. Jesus is the exact image, the word used is an illustration of an engraving tool that would stamp its impression on a coin or seal. It bears the image produced by it having the exact reproduction of the original. Yet the image is not the same identity as the seal. Neither is the Son the identical person as the Father except in his nature.

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In Rom. 8:29 we are told that we are “to be conformed to the image of his Son.” This is a continual process even though it was started the time we were born again. When we a renewed we don't become God nor will we be exactly like him in the resurrection. We are creatures and will stay this way. We shouldn't strive to be something we clearly are not . If the faith teachers would learn from the mistakes of the cults they wouldn't be so prone to repeat them!

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   Isa. 8:20 "If they do not speak according to this word they have, what? NO light in them,""