Claiming to be God & Having His Power?

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Description

Claiming to Be God & Having His Power?

Many people eventually grow bored with Christianity's central message: that Jesus Christ won the forgiveness of sins on the cross and continues to deliver that salvation through His external means of grace—His Word and Sacraments. In search of something more exciting, sensational, and personally empowering, some teachers begin making increasingly extravagant claims that subtly (or not so subtly) shift the focus away from Christ and onto ourselves.

In this episode, we examine statements and teachings from Kenneth Copeland, Tim Ross, and Steven Furtick that move toward self-deification—the idea that believers somehow become divine or possess God's unique attributes. We also offer an honorable mention of Christine Caine and her claims that we possess God's power in such a way that we can use our words to create our own preferred realities.

Rather than seeking secret knowledge, personal revelations, or divine status, Scripture calls us back to the crucified and risen Christ, who freely gives forgiveness, life, and salvation through His appointed means: the preached Gospel and the Sacraments.

Transcript

SPEAKER_08 0:00

I'm not incumbent with a person. I'm not incumbent with a political party. I'm incumbent with the money.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

The study. The study. The study. Steady, boys, we big. Yeah. Hey! What up, bro, bro? How you feeling, man? Doing good, man. Doing good. Doing good. Hey, I'm loving this series, man. This is this is this is good. We might have to keep these series going. I think, I think people are enjoying them. Already I'm seeing people suggest other topics. Like, man, y'all should do one on this. Y'all should do one on that. So I think uh, yeah, it was received well. You know what's interesting in thinking about the setup is in view of getting Christ wrong, like royally. It's one thing to be like the thief on the cross where you just are underexposed, right? Heat of the moment, you're just gathering what you can about Christ, and then the Holy Spirit reveals to you this is the Christ. And you like, oh man, hey, will you remember me? Right? That's one experience. But it's levels. It's levels. So when you, when you when you encounter these grave distortions of who Christ is from popular personalities, I I have observed, bro, that it leads to a particular expression. It's like you can just see it coming. It's almost like um what's the what's the phrase in economics? The law of diminishing returns. Oh, yeah. And people take it from that economic term and they use it in all other kinds of contexts. Like, for example, they'll say, like, your first high. Sorry, kids, for uh this particular part of the episode. You threw me with that as a pants guy.

SPEAKER_04 2:01

I thought you were gonna talk about a car or something like that. Mommy, I was like, I was like, that must have a that must be an acronym. You know what I'm saying? I'm not sure where he's going. I'm just over here looking at the camera like, I don't know if I should not should nod or what. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Stick with me, stick with me. Stick with me. But you know, like, so like your first high. And that could be anything. Your first time at a at a theme park, your first, the phrase just means your first encounter with something. And that first hit is like, woo! It just, it's the most satisfying, the most exhilarating. But then over time, it starts to diminish. And now it takes a little bit more to get you back to that experience that you once had. So now you're adding dose upon dose upon dose, chasing that first experience that sent you and your taste buds, and the synopsis in your brain start firing off, right? And it was so satisfying. And now you're chasing that, but you have to chase it in heavier and more heavier doses. And what that causes is for people to become more radical and more exaggerated to try to get that experience.

SPEAKER_05 3:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Well, that happens in this theological conversation, bro. It's like among the sort of radical extremists where they end up saying these outlandish things about Jesus, at some point it starts to lose its magic. Now they got to go even more radical with the things that they say about Jesus, with the things that they say about themselves, and they just keep doubling down. And it always, or at least a lot of the times, bro, leads to something you said about Jesus, and then it flips to exalting yourself, to making much of yourself. It's almost like the shocking thing that was super shocking at one point is no more. And now you make yourself in some type of way the punchline. And a lot of times it leads to people claiming deity for themselves, claiming to be stronger than what they really are, to be more powerful than what they really are. And this is something I've observed uniquely tied to false doctrine, bro. It leads to self-exaltation. Very interesting, bro.

SPEAKER_04 4:31

Nah, that's a great point. I mean, I would have used a different example, but I get what you're saying, though. Like, like, like, example I probably would have thought of my we were saying was your first time scoring in a basketball game or your first hit in a baseball game. Yo, you're you're excited. Oh, jump in, ah man, I got a ball on base. That next time you get a single, it ain't the same. Ain't the same. Now you're you're trying to get doubles, you're trying to get home running, you're going further and further. And that as you're saying, it plays in this. Now people are trying to be so creative. So everybody wants to be, oh man, have the revelation of an apostle, or I wanna be I I tr I truly think people take on the title of apostle and prophet because they want that cliche. They want to be one up, they want to go further, they want to show how elevated they are in a sense. But as you mentioned from the pulpit, a lot of these people, they might have went quote unquote church viral. And this is even before internet, you know what I'm saying? Where it's like, oh, people they never heard a teaching like this before. Oh, this and this. Now I gotta come with something new, something even more. I want I gotta test your theology. There's things like that where it goes further and further and further. When we're taught, no, you need to point back and back to the prophets and apostles revealed to us about our Lord and Savior and our salvation and things of that nature. This isn't about creating. Maybe you find a new way to express it to somebody, but that fundamental baseline truth is the gospel once given for all. It's not there's no room for creativity in this. That's not no, gosh reveals himself in a certain type of way, and that's what it is. And you say amen, or go be a heretic and smile. That's those are your options.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Yeah, yeah. And leave the people of God alone. My goodness. They always want to mix in the space where the saints are and and recruit. And this is this is why we have to do these types of episodes to make it clear. So, with that being said, man, let's get into this first clip. Um, you'll see some of this rank boldness where people are sort of over saying cool things about Jesus. They're over saying cool things about what he can do. And and and and now you need something more shocking. And uh, we're about to see a real good example of that, man. Let's get into that.

SPEAKER_08 7:06

I'm not in covenant with a person, I'm not in covenant with a political party. I'm in covenant with God Almighty. I am God Almighty. Get that off you! That's not your name, that's not your station, that's not your end. It's in me, it's in me, it's in me, it is God that worketh in you.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

All right, so so listen, people. We glanced at these before, but sometimes you forget one of them or you you something refreshes your memory. So let's just say it's like seeing it for the first time.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

So Flame, your your thoughts, please. Bro, it is it is so interesting to watch the crescendo. It is very interesting to, and for those who don't know what a crescendo is, sorry, I have a history in music and and and I played the cello, the saxophone, all that. So a crescendo is just a slow, gradual incline, a buildup that just explodes at the top. So it's it's it's so interesting to watch that happen in these moments, bro. And they they start saying something about God, they super lit, super turnt up, but they ain't really where they're trying to get, and then they explode. I am God.

SPEAKER_04 8:44

Like wild.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Bro, that is insane that the whatever's stirring up in them leads them there. That is wild, bro. That is wild.

SPEAKER_04 8:55

That I can't think of one scenario in a dream. Any scenario where I've ever had that is option one B or one C or two or a hundred where I'm even considering to yell. I want to say now, I am like can you think of any scenario in life to where you would literally I can see someone misspeaking. I can see someone misspeaking, right? I get it. That's not really misspeaking. Like I I don't even see what would you misspeak, what'd you intend to say then? Like I don't understand. And I like like you mentioned before about people in the crescendo and um people having to rank rank up their their levels for excitement or for the uh the build-up in a sense. I get after he said that rank heresy, it was like it's in you. So I took it at, oh, he's trying to tie the Holy Spirit being inside of us to God being inside. I don't I still don't see that two plus two it equal 25. I don't understand how you got to there. Like the math is not mathing. I'm trying my hardest with best construct to see how did you get there, but I even with the Holy Spirit being inside the believer, I don't get how it's I am God because I yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Um it is insane. It is insane. And you know what it is, bro? It it's it's almost like the the person who gets some authority, and then he starts to get drunk off of that authority, and then he starts to abuse it. I think that's how they're processing these concepts that start off as probably biblical ones, and then they mix it with their heresy. Like they'll take a concept like we have the Holy Spirit, who is the third person of the Trinity. God, the Holy Spirit lives in us. So it's a sweet mystery, right? They'll take that truth, and and once they mix it in with the thing Paul says, they're swollen with caseit, once they mix it in with that poison, it goes from the Holy Spirit living in us to I got the authority now. The power is in me. I'm the strong man. And it's I'm the strong. It's like the it's like the disciples who came back, like, whoo, man, we just got through casting out demons, man. We just got through healing the sick. And Jesus says, don't rejoice over that. Don't rejoice over that. He says, rejoice that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life. That's the wrong passion that's been stirred up in you. That's what this is. It's like it's power hungry. They get, they get drunk off of the power. And in this case, since they're heretics, it's not real power. What they're experiencing is the charge from their performance. It's almost like a basketball player who's in a zone and he's killing it. And then he does something crazy, and you see that same celebration. Like, don't let them dunk on somebody. And they look at the person they dunked on like, and they might have some choice words for them. What they're celebrating in that moment is their prowess, their performance, how they overcame a bunch of quick obstacles, and just instinctively they did the step. Bop, bop, bop, and then they just slithered through and made the shot. That's what these performers end up celebrating is whoo, I'm killing it right now. I'm in a zone. But since it's mixed with the false doctrine, bro, the punchline for them is I am God. It's like, bro, that is terrible. That is terrible. That's what happens when when Jesus is, he's, you can't use him anymore. He's not a flex anymore. You've already said cool things about him. The audience at your church is kind of used to you saying Jesus died for your sins, Jesus loves you. They kind of, you know, blah, blah, blah. And as a performer, you standing on stage, you can sense that. So what do you do? You reach to your bag of tricks for the more exalted, exhilarating thing. And ain't it wow that in these occasions it leads these men to proclaim that they are God. And we're not making this up. We're about to play some more clips where these personalities end up in the same place, declaring their own deity, bro. Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 13:44

And um we know that, okay, the Holy Spirit is what gives faith and sustains faith. But you'll hear a lot of these people say that um they're almost willing to overlook the errors or the heterodox or whatever you want to word it, and they'll rely on the aspect of, well, they're bringing people to Christ. And we we've talked about it before, and we hinted at it before and talked about, like, yeah, but is it the right Christ? So they'll lean, I would say all that to say they'll lean on their creativity or they'll idolize someone else's creativity to um build that up and say, oh, but look at the end result, as if that creativity or those errors or those false statements or those twists in the scriptures is a good thing because it's needed, as if the Holy Spirit's not enough. Um, a Bible passage that um I like to mention every now and then, uh Psalms 5012, this is God talking to mankind. And he says, If I were hungry, I would not tell you for the world and its fullness are mine. Think about that for a second, man. Like you think that your God needs your creativity to bring people in, or you look at other people saying, I can ignore their misreputation of God because they're bringing people to practice Christ. The Holy Spirit does that, and he doesn't need your creativity, he doesn't need your ranked heresy, he doesn't need you up here saying that, oh, Christ sinned to make a sinner feel better. He doesn't need you saying, oh, Christ is a stripper to relate to people. The Holy Spirit doesn't need that. Give God's word, give God's word. God doesn't need anything from you if he was hungry, he would not ask you. That's a base bare need. If I'm hungry, I'm taking food from anybody. Just know you can throw me some Arby's. I don't even eat Arby's. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying it wasn't on my stop. I don't know if they have a dollar menu or not, but now I've been get sidetracked. I'm taking it. I'm taking it. I heard they had some horseradish. Never tasted it before. It's going on a sandwich. If I'm hungry, I'm taking it from whoever. Uh it's just happening like that. God is like, bro, I'm not taking it. Even if I was hungry, I'm not going to you. That's that's the difference. And that ties into everything we're talking about of people trying to bring, trying to look at Christ's humanity and then equate him with us as um, oh, we're just like him. We're equal to God. We might have to run back some of these old clips, because I'm thinking, all these fitness stuff we've been talking about.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Yeah, no, I love that, bro. And I love the thing about that text too. Well, everything I love about it. Um, but thinking about this, where it says, he says that the earth and its fullness are mine. That's that's something we cannot say as human beings. As much as you want to declare, I am God, the earth is not yours. You do not own the earth. So, so please humble, please humble yourself. You you do not have the earth and and its fullness in your own disposal. So, anyway, but to your point, bro, sort of personality cults where we get into, man, I really like this person. They're so sincere, they're so passionate, he's so genuine. You could tell he loves God. We people you get into people's pietism and you become lulled by it. And it this happened in the scriptures, right? Where Paul was dealing with the Corinthians, and some was like, Man, I am of Cephas. Some was like, I am of Apollos, some was like, I am of Paul. Now check this out. Paul says, and some even says, I follow Christ. But Paul is saying, if you're using Christ, to mean he set against Apollos, Cephas, and me not a man to that use of Christ. That's in the same cluster of you can't use Jesus that way. So even in Paul having to rebuke this sort of love, this personality cult bent that people have, he still had to correct how people are using Christ. In that context, they're trying to use Christ to the exclusion of his apostles. And Paul says, nah, not even that. I know you think you're doing something slick by using Christ, but we even reject that use of Christ. So it is in this case, it's like you cannot distort who Christ is, and you can't be so caught up in the personality of a person that you also don't care about how they talk about Jesus. All of those are errors. You have to hold fast to the one true mediator between God and man. So let's get into this next clip and just sort of see how people are lulled to sleep when they get into personalities and start sympathizing with people just by their humanity. Man, I like his humanity, man. He's a he's a real person, and then they end up ignoring what's important. So, anyway, let's check that out.

SPEAKER_09 19:34

And he looks at me and he starts crying. I don't think anyone else in the room saw this. She just goes, like, I really need Jesus. Like, I need him. When I'm looking at an 89-year-old man who's crying over the fact that no one on camera or on recording is seeing that he's looking at me and says, I need Jesus desperately every day. Crying to me. Um, it made me have a soft spot for him that I don't think a lot of people see.

SPEAKER_06 19:55

Hold on, what are you talking about? Hold on, what are you doing? Resisting, bro, hey man, somebody, hold on, what are you doing, bro? This officer came up here to to to put me in a position that I did not want to go into. This would be called resisting arrest.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Honestly, guys, Mike Todd is pretty funny. After reacting to like all of these people who I truly do think are false prophets, I personally don't think Mike Todd is that bad anymore. Like at first, that was all we reacted to, but now looking back, he just uses a very extravagant way to get a message across. But if he is leading people to Christ and getting people closer to God through that, then I can't sit here and judge him for it. I can't deny how good this man's production team is and how good he is at acting these things out. Would I do it? No, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily completely wrong. But yeah, no, I have nothing really bad to say about this one. Mike Todd, in my opinion, has really gone up the rankings after looking at these actually false prophets who just try to steal your money. So, hey, shout out Mike Todd.

SPEAKER_04 21:04

Nah, that that perfect examples in the clips, perfect examples. One thing you said that I really uh loved and caught on to was the aspect of people using Christ against the apostles that Christ and God has chosen to use. That's real big today, when you really think about it, as people saying things like, Oh, well, I'm just a red letter Christian. They'll say things like that. Or they'll say things like, Well, Christ was all about love. So I'm able to support or do X, Y, Z because of that. As if Scripture isn't all God breathed. Well, they'll use something that's not clear in Scripture, they'll go off something they um interpret Jesus doing and then offshoot and disregard scripture. As you're saying, that's the same. Exact thing, where it's like you can't do that, you can't use Christ against who Christ sent out to teach and preach the message. If anything, that means you have a false uh definition or interpretation of what Christ did. Because the apostles are the ones he taught to go out and spread his word to the ends of the world. And you think 2,000 years later, you crack the code. Like you that's I I I love that point you brought up because that is something that we face a lot today in regards to people using their creativity to come up with some new novel concept. And then they'll try to tie it, well, well, Jesus, he was all about this. Well, the scripture doesn't say that, and his boys, the apostles, don't say that, and they actually say something different. You can't just rewrite this and come up with your own definition. That is you creating your own God in a sense.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

Yep. And I love your point with that because it leads to what we're talking about. The when people do that, they're they're trying to, I guess, display some form of piety. Look, I'm uniquely focused on Jesus, which in actuality allows them to mostly give their own interpretation of something, right? Which puts them at the center. It's like I am the final orbiter because I follow Jesus alone. I only follow Jesus and he speaks to me. And now you've set yourself up as an authority because you've made this pious statement that sounds like you are uniquely focused on Jesus without distraction, like these other people. So everybody listen to me because of my level of devotion and centrality on Christ. That's how they use that language, and when they end up separating Christ from his means. No, God is a God who uses means, physical means. And in that context, the apostles, the prophets, or means whereby which God communicates his will, his law, his gospel to us, to his people, to his church. So you can't isolate Christ and misuse him so that you can give yourself some type of authority, which is again where all this leads, where buddy erupts and says, I am God. All this leads to self-exaltation, bro. And it's dangerous.

SPEAKER_04 24:33

I saw some clip where they're talking about we need a new testament. Where we need um this, and there are literally conversations about this. And I hate to use the word liberal Christianity because it means so many things. People go political, but let's just say the groups that people can sound them in, you know, we're saying that, oh, we need a a New Testament, we need a new epistle, or can't we say epistle because that's a letter to the church, but we need more revelation in a sense, as if God's word isn't complete and serve its purpose, appointing us to Christ and salvation. And this leads to this point, like you're saying, people have to keep coming up with new concepts and new novel things as if Christ is not enough. And looking at our overall presentation of going through this, it points to the fact that that's where problems arise. Once Christ is not enough, to where you start not looking at his character and defining him how you want to define him, you start using him against messengers and means that he's set aside saying, No, I did this for you. When you start making other topics being the heart or the thesis of the gospel rather than forgiveness of sins, where it's not talked about no more. We have to realize who the main character is and why we are laser pinpoint focused on that main character. Because once you start getting the wrong character as the main character, the ending's not gonna make sense to you. You're gonna be lost in that book. You're not gonna know anything going on. You're gonna oh, but I thought that the Bible says don't judge and and this and this, and you're gonna hear I my law is my law. I told you you're all sinners and you need a redeemer. Oh, I I thought that there is no that's not how it goes. When we say faith in Christ and He died for your sins to unite you to him being in Christ to redeem you, that's not a game. That's not a um, well, let me see. That's not like the the one we saw last episode, or episode before last. I think or Elon Musk, uh 70 or 80 percent. Uh that's not the game we're playing here. It's not the game we're playing here. So it's a big deal. It's I'll say probably the most important deal.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

Yeah, yeah. That's real, bro. And I think in view of that, uh, let's let's see another clip of how this becomes the punchline. When Jesus is diminished, when his when his sort of uh his goal for us is old news, boring news, it it the focus shifts, but some type of way, the preacher becomes the punchline, and they all end up declaring their deity. So let's get into this next clip, man. We've seen this one before, but you will see it now in this context, as this is where this leads to self-exaltation. And and and guess who's behind exalting self above Jesus, the enemy of God, the enemy of the church, Satan himself. So let's get into this next clip, man.

SPEAKER_07 27:57

What if what if you've what if you've thrown everything in the fire and it's still like light up? Throw yourself.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

Case in point. All right, um case in point, bro. So case in point.

SPEAKER_04 28:47

I think people, I I know we have people who, you know, um are big fans of old boy, right? What I will say is this, it's a lot of in hip hop terms, double entendres and things that people have to be in the culture or aware of to catch. When Jesus in the Bible said, Before Abraham, I am, that's pointing to his divinity. So when someone's saying, I am, I am, and you're a pastor, you know what is being communicated. Now that's on the deep level right there. When someone says, I am the burning bush, that's the part that I would hope people would catch more so because that's the nursery rhymes. That's the that's the story we all hear about of Moses talking to the burning bush. That the bush didn't burn up because of God was sustaining it. God himself was sustaining it. It wasn't burning, it was just on fire. That was God speaking right then. You tie yourself to I am the burning bush, I am the unquenchable fire. I don't see how people um don't correspond these. That's problematic. That's problematic. And as we mentioned before, and we showed this clip last time. I would like to run it back right after this one right here. It's a similar type message.

SPEAKER_03 30:20

Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery, to be equal with God. And you do not think it robbery, you don't, it's not taking anything away from God. To be equal with our Father, to be equal with our Lord Jesus, He's the one that caused it to happen. And our good God said, Oh yeah, they're my children. Of course they're equal to me. I gave birth to them.

SPEAKER_02 31:00

The same crescendo, bro. The same crescendo. They start off making mention of something about God or Christ, and it leads to themselves being equated with God. It's the same crescendo. And you know what it reminds me of? It's like, you know, there's a there's a Trinitarian through line or thumbprint when something is of the true and living God. It's it's detectable. And as Christians, you could say that's our baptism. We are watermarked in our baptism. Baptism is God's word and water joined together, and by it, God washes away sins. That's how we're marked, um, and that comes with a new identity, and things follow as a result, right? But there's this other thumbprint out there. Um, it's not Trinitarian in nature, it's not based on baptism, it's based on something evil, bro. Bro, doesn't this sound like in the garden, bro? In the garden of Eden, where Satan has this conversation with with Eve, and he says, Eat the fruit, right? Eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. See that it is good for wisdom, it is good for to the eye and to the to the flesh, right? And he says that you too will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil, bro. This crescendo has a thumbprint, and and it just it reeks of the the ancient serpent, the ancient foe, the ancient enemy of God in the church, where people want to be God. We want that. We want that. We want to be able to proclaim our own autonomy. I rule myself, I rule, I got power. That's why right now everybody's talking about affirmations, manifestations, decree and declare. So many people want to decree and declare by some power that they believe that they've been given. They think I have access to something Jesus has, and I can, I can wield it whenever I want. And it goes from Jesus' power to your power. And it and it has that same sort of identity watermark from the ancient serpent, bro, and it's disgusting. And it it reminds me of um, we've addressed this person before on on the study boys, and we'll get, I'll play this clip. It's very short, but just in advance, what she says, she says, God's word in my mouth are the exact same as God's word in his mouth. And in context, she's not saying pronouncing the forgiveness of sins. Right. That's what I was thinking. Yes, exactly. Right? She's not saying that I go out and and and and I, man, I give the absolution to someone with a crushed conscience, where the law has worked on them, and I tell them that God has forgiven you, that there's now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. That's not what she's saying. She's saying God's creative power. Where in a book of Genesis where he says, Let there be light, she's saying, that very ability through God in my mouth is the exact same creative quality coming from his. And with that, she's saying, go out and create your own reality. Go out there and decree and declare. And then she started listing off a bunch of things for you to start decreeing and declare. Losing weight, healthy home, a fixed marriage, obedient children, as if our words create reality like God's.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

Proverbs 18 21 says, there is the power of life and death in our tongues. If we believe that God spoke this word into being, that the words of God in my mouth are as powerful as the words of God in his mouth. Do you realize how much your life would change if you really believe that? I believe that this word has creative power, it is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. And if I believe that, I believe this word in my mouth is as powerful as this word in God's mouth. And God spoke this world into being. So, what are you speaking over your relationships? What are you speaking over your finances? What are you speaking over your health? What are you speaking over your destiny? What are you speaking over the world around you?

SPEAKER_02 36:09

And this is a problem where it are all roads lead to the same lake in this context, where people start off talking about God and Jesus and the power that he has, and that in Christ we have access to, and they don't use it, and the stewardship that he says that we should use it in, it leads to the beating of the chest. I am God. I am the burning bush. I am equal with God.

SPEAKER_04 36:37

It bro, that is It's a classic through line. You're right, though. When we look at this, it's a classic through line we're seeing.

SPEAKER_02 36:44

Nasty work, bro. Nasty work.

SPEAKER_04 36:48

Yeah, and I was gonna say it's it's something also, um, we don't use this terminology as much as we did probably in the 2010s and things of that nature, but the little God doctrine. Where it that's what it used to be termed as. And I know a lot of people now aren't familiar with that. So when these old heresies, I won't even say old because only 10, 15 years old, but when they reappear, we have to be aware of church history and the doctrines of who Christ is, to be able to point it out to say, no, we are not equal to Christ. If that was the case, why'd he have to come die for you? Go do it yourself. We have to be able to spot these things. And that little God complex is what we're talking about, where people think that mischaracterize the reason why we tie this to the personhood of a mishandling and misunderstanding of the personhood of Jesus is because they're tying us having the Holy Spirit, God in us, and us being man to Christ being a man and the Holy Spirit resting on him as if that's parallel. It's not. It's not. He came to save us. His whole category is different. We say thank you and praise and worship and go from there. There's nothing equal about it, but this little this little G God doctrine these live people have, they don't mention no more, really. They found more nuanced ways of wording it, as we can see by these clips. Yeah. It leads to you thinking that you can do this. You can decree and declare, you can all these sorts of notions. And it's quite blasphemous in a lot of cases.

SPEAKER_02 38:37

And the Bible is clear, bro. Psalm chapter 90, verse 3. It says, You return man to dust and say, Return, O children of man. Right?

unknown 38:51

Right.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

Hebrews 9 27. It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment. When you die, you are not equal with the father. You will die.

SPEAKER_04 39:05

And that judgment, that judgment, you'll you don't want God looking at you saying, So you're God, right? Like the pastor I read in Job. Okay, now judge me. Where were you when this happened? You don't want that conversation.

unknown 39:17

No.

SPEAKER_04 39:18

You don't want that conversation. Or, and this right here, I don't want to offend nobody watching, but maybe think of it. It's a uh it's a clip of this dude in hell, and uh the devil's like, So tell me how you rebuked me again. Tell me what you used to do again, and he's like, Shummon it up, shut me down. Right? And the devil just falling out laughing, like, bro. All that to say the power is in Christ. Yes. Powers in Christ. Don't think it's you fending off the devil, it's you fighting off the devil, it's you accomplishing this. That is God's work in you. In you, that's God in you. That's not you are God, that's not some innate ability you done evolved into, or now it's yours. No, no, no, that's the gift of the Holy Spirit. That's God.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

Yep. That's real, bro. That's real, man. So, yeah. In closing, gang, I mean, we can go on forever, but just in closing remarks, just hear this, y'all. Hear this. The Bible never teaches that man becomes God. That's that's not what the Bible is teaching. We do not become God, we do not become equal with the Father. Um, it teaches something far more astonishing. That God became man. That's far more astonishing. Why? Because that has everything to do with our redemption. He became man so that he could redeem us. Since Christianity is not the story of humanity ascending to God. That is not the message of Christianity, that we climb up the ladder through pious exploits, sacrifice, um, honing in on our abilities, like learning how to become the superhero over time. Like Buddy said, podcast episodes away, you come in riding on a donkey, trying to use the Palm Sunday as a metaphor, and God take you through this low, humble route on a donkey so that you can rise one day and ascend to your Godhood. That is not the Christian message. Christianity is the story of God descending to save humanity. That is the glory of the incarnation. It is the second person of the Trinity who incarnated, which means he took on humanity. He is the one who descended, who sort of condescends to move into our experience to be tempted on every hand, yet without sin. That is the Christian message. We do not have this crescendo where man is going upward to becoming equal with God. And whenever you hear someone on that crescendo and they erupt in this sort of declaration that they are God, that they are powerful, run, run for dear life, and grab some people with you. Grab some people with you, and all y'all are leave out of that burning building because it's it's it's a dangerous building to stay in and camp out because the person that's saying it is super cool, makes great music, fashion, and outfits are fly, a huge following on social media, funny, charming, handsome, cute, smart, likable, charitable, do great deeds and exploits, dismiss all that. Paul says, if I was trying to be a pleaser of man, I would not be following God. He says, if anyone comes to you preaching another gospel, even if it's me, an angel, whoever, he says, let them be a curse. Those are Paul's words. That's not Lex and Flame being mean. We're repeating back what Paul said. If anyone comes to you preaching another gospel, if it's me, if it's an angel, let them be anathema, condemned to eternal hellfire. Those are Paul's words. Waity, pray for people that they will repent. Uh mark and avoid the people that are dangerous. Don't go beyond what's written, 1 Corinthians 4, and don't follow those who do. We follow what the apostles taught because the Holy Spirit revealed it to them. So this is good stuff, man. It's been a good three, three episode series. This was just a summary and uh much more to come. Let us know in the comment section what else y'all want us to cover, and we'll get to it. So the study boys. Study boys. Hit that hype button. You that's real. The study. The study. The study.