Trending
By WALTER MANTHEY
In response to the Sept. 2 Ask Augustine article, I personally wonder what Jesus would say to Paul Tambrino if they were to meet on a street in Marshalltown. Jesus would certainly speak with love, as he always did, and perhaps he'd say something similar to the following:
"Paul, you are well aware I quoted a Scripture to the devil when he tempted me in the wilderness, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God'. So I'd ask that you quit putting words into my Father's mouth. Where in my Father's Holy Scriptures have you ever found the words trinity, tri-unity, three-ness, three-fold, unity-diversity of the three persons, Trisagion, all three persons are fully God in essence, three in oneness? Your stubborn fixation on squeezing 3 into 1 and 1 into 3 reminds me of the hard-hearted Pharisees I encountered 2,000 years ago. You claim adherence to the Truth, while concocting doctrines and using words not found in my Father's Word of Truth. Surely you remember my warning: 'Woe unto you, hypocrites!'
When you write, you proffer yourself as the font of Truth. But am I not The Way, The Truth, and The Life? If you believe that, then why don't you simply speak ALL the harmonious words that I spoke, as written down by the 4 men I hand-picked to do so? Quit contaminating my words with your words, infecting the good news with your bad interpretations.
For instance, have you not read what I told a man who addressed me as 'Good Master'? I used no unclear words in replying, 'Why do you call me good? There is none good, but One, that is God.' Only the willfully blind can read my clear reply and still think that I am God. Do you presume to know who I am better than I do?
When my beloved apostle John recorded a prayer I uttered shortly before being betrayed, he wrote down exactly what I prayed to God that night: 'that they might know You, the Only True God'. Why do you insist on promoting twisted logic that makes me look like an idiot, praying to myself, or 1/3 of myself, or whatever convoluted math you've invented that confuses the minds of innocent children? When I walked the earth, 'the Only True God' is who I prayed to, daily, and I'd ask that you leave my precious words alone, untouched by your unclean lips.
John also recorded my request of Mary shortly after God fulfilled His promise to me by raising me from the dead. I still remember that conversation vividly. Do you? I asked her to 'go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'. It's time for you to humble yourself, Paul, and stop using your warped words to redefine my relationship with my Father and my God. I am the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of mankind, the only begotten SON OF GOD, not GOD THE SON! Mark my words, the day will come when I will hold you accountable if you continue to falsely call me what neither I nor my Father called me. It's not too late to get it right.
I must be going now, but one last thing. I'll also hold you accountable for how you belittle my beloved brethren with the phrase 'quasi-Christian'. If someone has confessed me as their Lord and believed in their heart that God raised me from the dead, then I will forever regard them dearly as a vital part of our family, as a member in particular in my Body, my Church. They belong to me! I'd suggest you respect them as such.
You've got a lot of changes to make in your heart and mind, Paul. I'll leave you to it.
I'll be seeing you again, soon."
Walter Manthey is a non-denominational Biblical consultant and teacher from Apex, N.C.