Do Christians Worship Three Gods? - Part 10

Liz Iello: Stay with us as we discuss the doctrine. Do Christians worship three gods? Right here on Messianic Perspectives. Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first century Jewish point of view. I'm Liz Iello. Today, Dr. Gary Hedrick is discussing the doctrine of the Trinity. Does it really mean that Christians worship three gods, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Some people think so, and that's what we want to find out. I'll be back at the close of the program to tell you about our special offer. And now, with today's installment, here's Gary Hedrick.
Dr. Gary Hedrick: All right. Thank you. It's good to have you with us, listening friend, as we continue this series of studies on the subject of the Trinity. Do Christians worship three gods? Some people think that's what the doctrine of the Trinity means, that we worship three gods, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But that's not what it means at all. In fact, that's precisely what it doesn't mean. Tritheism is the worship of three deities, and tritheism has always been repudiated by the church of Jesus Christ. Christianity is not tritheistic. It's monotheistic, just like Judaism. We believe that God is a unity, just like the Shema says. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. We believe that. The Hebrew Christian viewpoint or the Messianic Jewish viewpoint differs from the traditional Jewish viewpoint in that we believe God's unity is not a simple unity, but a complex unity. That is, within the unity of God, there is a threefold complexity. And we've seen that the word supports that viewpoint because in scripture very often means a complex unity. We have also seen that in some of the mystical Jewish writings like the Zohar, there is a very definite teaching that there is diversity within God's unity. The difference is that we say it's a threefold diversity, while the Kabbalah says it's an infinite diversity. But the important thing for us to realize is that Jewish sources do accept the principle of diversity within God's essential unity. This is one of those little tidbits of information that the rabbis don't particularly want to be known outside their own circles. Many of them would rather leave us with the impression that the Trinity is absolutely contrary to everything Judaism stands for, but that's simply not the case at all. The truth is that the Jewish resistance to the doctrine of the Trinity is oftentimes more emotional than it is doctrinal or theological. Many of our Jewish friends, when they hear the word Trinity, conjure up all sorts of negative images in their minds, and it's understandable. When you read your history about how the Crusaders in medieval times rode into Jewish villages on horseback and ransacked Jewish homes and held Jewish people literally at the point of a sword, trying to force them to profess faith in the holy Trinity, quote unquote, and the Catholic church, it's a very heartbreaking chapter in church history, my friend. Many Jewish people bravely chose to die, to shed their blood rather than give assent to Roman Catholicism. The crimes that have been perpetrated against the Jewish people in the name of Christ are absolutely atrocious. And listen, I understand why a Jewish person couldn't convert to Catholicism. If I were a practicing Orthodox Jew today, I could not convert to Catholicism under any circumstances. You say why? Well, for one thing, the second commandment says thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. And of course, much of Catholicism is built around images and statues, statues of Mary, statues of Jesus and crucifixes and so on. Now, some of our Catholic friends will say, now wait a minute, we don't worship the statues. The statues merely represent the object of worship. But hold on, my friend, you're missing the point. The second commandment doesn't just say thou shalt not worship any graven image. It says thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. That's why when you walk into a Jewish synagogue, you won't find any statues whatsoever. No statues of Moses or Abraham or anybody else. The only thing you will find is the Torah, the scroll, and the two tables of the Ten Commandments. But no statues of any kind because it's a violation of the second commandment. By the way, do you know how the Catholics get around the second commandment? It's easy. They eliminate it. They drop commandment number two and then repeat commandment number 10 twice. That way they still have 10 commandments. But you see, for a true God-fearing Jew, those 10 commandments represent 10 basic unchanging principles that he's willing to die for if necessary. Now, it's true according to Jewish law, you're allowed to violate one of the commandments if it will save a life, even your own life. But Jewish history is full of accounts of brave men and women who chose to die rather than violate God's law. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were willing to die rather than bow down to the graven image of King Nebuchadnezzar. So that's why I say that if I were an Orthodox Jew, I absolutely could not convert to Roman Catholicism. And I have to admire those brave Jewish men and women who went to their deaths during the Crusades and during the Inquisition because they refused to convert to a religious system that they knew was a violation of God's law. You and I should only hope and pray that we would have the courage to do the same thing under those circumstances. But here's the point. The Trinity is not a Roman Catholic doctrine. It's a Bible doctrine. And just because the Catholic church believes in the Trinity doesn't automatically mean it's not true. The Trinity has historically been embraced by all true Christians, not just Catholics. So we need to encourage our Jewish friends to evaluate the doctrine of the Trinity objectively based on the data we find in scripture and not to evaluate it emotionally based on those unfortunate episodes in church history. Because when we delve into the scriptures, even the Jewish scriptures, the Old Testament, the Tanakh, we find that there are many indications of the tri-unity of God. For instance, there are many passages that allude to the deity of the Messiah. And again, this is totally contrary to traditional Jewish teaching. Most of the traditional Jewish sources, the Talmudim and the Midrashim and the Mishnah Torah by Moses Maimonides, for example, these traditional Jewish sources all teach that the Messiah will be a man, not a God-man like Jesus of Nazareth is portrayed in the New Testament, but just a man. He'll be a man of great spiritual power, they say, and he'll be a great Torah scholar and he'll be a great leader and some say he'll be a miracle worker, but he's still just a man, not God in the flesh. So we've been examining some of the Old Testament scriptures to see if it's true that there are no indications that the Messiah will be deity. And we've found numerous passages that indicate that he will be God incarnate. One of the passages we spend a great deal of time on was Isaiah 7:14. That's where Isaiah says therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. And we discussed at length the controversy over the Hebrew word alma and whether it means a young woman or a virgin. If you missed out on that discussion, I'd recommend that you send for the booklet. You see, what we need to remember is that the Bible is a supernatural book. It was written by men, yes, but what they wrote was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So it's a supernatural book. Its supernatural origin is evidenced by its unity, by its accuracy, and by its character. And it's interesting that researchers in Israel for the past several years have been analyzing the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, with computers. And they're coming up with amazing patterns that are woven into the Hebrew text of the Torah. And they say that mathematically it defies human explanation. And these researchers aren't crackpots either. They're building on the work of Rabbi Wise Mandel and they include people like Doron Wittom, Professor Elia Rips, and Yoav Rosenberg, all well-known researchers. They're working with Jewish professors from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, Yale University, Harvard University, and other places. This isn't just some lunatic fringe coming up with this stuff. Now, if you believe the Bible is a supernatural book, that it was inspired by God himself, then you'll agree that there is more to the Bible than what you see and read on the surface. There are all sorts of underlying themes and symbols and patterns and uh types and prophecies almost to the point where it's mind-boggling. For example, there are many Old Testament prophecies that had a dual fulfillment. That is, there was an immediate historical fulfillment and then later, sometimes centuries later, there was yet another fulfillment. Isaiah 7:14 is one of those passages. Not long ago I got a letter from a Jewish man who said, Gary, if you can find the virgin birth of Jesus of Nazareth in Isaiah 7:14, it's a figment of your imagination. And then he went on to say that Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled when Isaiah himself was still alive and a child named Immanuel was born. And in his letter this Jewish man said, I challenge you to show me from any Jewish source where a prophecy in the Bible had a double fulfillment. So I made photocopies of page after page of the Midrashim, interpreting the prophecies of Balaam in Numbers 23 and 24 where the rabbis show many examples of double prophecies where one line refers to King David and the next line refers to the coming Messianic king and then another line refers again to King David and the next line refers to the future Messianic king. And you see it over and over again in the Jewish commentaries. Two fulfillments, one in the immediate historical context and another in the distant future. That's what we have in Isaiah 7:14, a double fulfillment. Well, we're out of time again. I can't believe how quickly it slips by. Listen, it was good to be with you again today, listening friend. I hope you'll plan to join us again next time. We'll be talking about the most shocking words ever spoken. I'll see you then. Take care. Bye-bye.
Liz Iello: Thank you, Gary, and thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. Now, let me tell you about our special offer for this month. It's Gary Hedrick's booklet entitled Do Christians worship three gods? In this 70-page booklet, Gary addresses head-on the question of whether or not the doctrine of the Trinity makes Christianity incompatible with the teachings of the Jewish Bible or what we call the Old Testament. It's available for a suggested gift of $7. After all, the Jewish people have always been champions of monotheism. The central creed of Judaism is Deuteronomy 6:4, which says the Lord our God is one Lord, not three. So when a Jewish person becomes a believer in Jesus, isn't he forsaking his monotheistic Jewish heritage? Surprisingly enough, the answer is no. And you'll find out why in this interesting booklet. It has an informative question and answer section and also a helpful glossary of Hebrew words at the end. The title again is Do Christians worship three gods? Then we also have the programs you're hearing here on the broadcast available on two CDs with the same title, Do Christians worship three gods? This series is available for a suggested gift of $12. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, PO Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292. To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. Let me remind you that when you order the materials we offer here on the program, you're not only enabling us to remain here on your station, but you're also helping us take the good news of Yeshua Ha Mashiach to Jewish people and Gentiles all over the world. Even if you're one of our regular listeners, you still may not know that we're much more than just a radio program. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries, one of the largest missionary organizations in the world. We currently have missionary families serving the Lord all over the world, including the United States, Canada, South America, England, France, and of course, Israel. So when you write, consider helping us with a gift above the suggested amount. We'd be very grateful. And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Iello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on Do Christians worship three gods? Right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas and is made possible on this station by the free will contributions of our listeners in this area.