The Mystery Of Godliness
The Bible tells us that great is the mystery of godliness, for God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, caught up into heaven. Paul said, I am a steward of the mysteries of God, and that a steward should be faithful. I want to expound this mystery as faithfully as I can. He also said to preach the Word, and that faith cometh by the hearing of the Word. By faith of the Word we are saved. Anything we believe outside of the Word is not salvation faith. It must be the faith which, by Him, is the Word. Peter said that the faith which is by Him (Christ) hath made this man whole, at the gate called Beautiful.
First, is it necessary to know who your God is? Yes! By all means! Because Jesus said, “Lest you believe I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” Notice, to begin with, it says in the beginning God created heaven and earth. We know that was God the Father, because Jesus, the Son, had not been born yet, for in the Scriptures we are told that when Mary the virgin conceived, she brought forth the Son of God. God said, “This day have I begotten Myself a Son.” Look at Saint John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God.” Look at the third verse! “All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.” See, in the 14th verse it says, “The Word was made flesh and we beheld His glory, as that of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Now look at the 10th verse: “He (God) was in the world and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.” Now, see what Paul said: “Because, when they knew Him, they glorified Him not as God, and God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient.” Notice this verse: “For, when by the wisdom of men, the world knew not God (recognizing Jesus), it pleased God that by the foolishness of preaching, men should be saved.” God is a Spirit. Jesus said, “Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord.” Jesus is the image of the invisible God. The Bible says in Matthew 6:24 that you cannot serve two masters, so God cannot be two or three.
In Matthew 1:23, we are told that His name shall be called Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, means God with us. That was the whole purpose of God: to show Himself to man through the body of flesh, Jesus Christ, the Son. Jesus continually confirmed, “It is not I that doeth the work, but the Father in Me.”
In John we are told that there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. There is no record of son-ship in heaven. He is called the Word in the beginning. He is called the Word in John’s vision (Revelation 19:13). God the Spirit made Himself vocal utterance, called the Word, the trump of God, to express Himself through and to create by.
He made Himself flesh to feel our infirmities and to taste death in human flesh; also to master every situation of man to become man’s master or to be worshipped of man. He made a fleshly creature, and then became the head of that fleshly creature by mastering its problems to show man His superiority and to give him a hope of something to rely upon. God robed Himself in a body of humanity to show oneness of man and God, the ultimate in God’s plan for man. Faith makes them one even as we are one: Christ the head; God the Spirit, the mind and controlling power; the Holy Ghost, the life.
We are the members of God, manifested in the flesh collectively speaking, just as Jesus was, individually speaking, the fullness of the godhead bodily, which means as far as the head to the church and as far as the body. There is no other human body manifested by God, the spiritual Word. The Bible says that we have known Him after the flesh, or son-ship. God gave His Son in death for our sins. He, the second man Adam, was made a quickening Spirit as God, to overcome and sit down on His throne with Him. Some people say they’ve seen Jesus at God’s right hand written in the Bible. This is right, but where is God’s right hand? Heaven is His throne and earth is His footstool. He is everywhere, and the Bible says that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. He was a Father and He beget a Son. He was a Son to show us discipline to God. He was the Holy Ghost. The son-ship relation is where the trouble is. That is why God wanted to do away with it and make us one. We are His temple, His body, His members, to sit on the throne as His bride, one with the head, and rule heaven and earth; to control the children of men who never came to this great revelation of oneness with God or His bride.
God, the Word, was made flesh. Philip said, “Show us the Father.” Jesus said, “Philip, have I been with you so long, and yet, you have not known Me?” The Bible says, “God is the great light whom no man has seen, nor can see.” You will never see God the Spirit, except through the veil of Jesus Christ His Son. Some say, “But God is in us! This doesn’t make us God!” Yes, it does make us God, manifested in the flesh, a member to the head of the body. We are the Word made flesh, collectively speaking, for we receive the Spirit by measure, and altogether we are the body, but He receives the Spirit not by measure. The fullness of God dwells in Him. We are in part. He is that which is perfect, the perfect man, Christ Jesus, the perfect stature of God, which is the head to the body. Part will be done away with. We, the members in part, will come together to see eye to eye, to speak the same things, unto the fullness of the stature of the perfect man, Christ Jesus. Then the head will come to claim His members, to perfect the body. Part will be swallowed up in completeness and perfectly bonded with the mortar of charity, the bond of perfection; love, that holds the lively members, a lively status, together in oneness. We will be one as He and the Spirit are one. Jesus is the express (given) image of God the Spirit. The Spirit made flesh, just like your spiritual man is made flesh in his identity, is made known to the human body. You are dead when the spirit leaves the body, for the Bible says that without the spirit, the body is dead. That is why Jesus cried, “Father, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Jesus said to Philip, “I and My Father are one. He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” No man can see God the Spirit, the great light, and live. The Bible says that Moses saw the Lord on the mountain.
Who is the antichrist? How can we know the antichrist spirit? Watch here, how John said that if any man denies that God is a Spirit and that He is come into our body of flesh as the Holy Ghost, to walk and talk in us, that that man was anti to the teachings of truth, and that he would make God like unto corruptible man. God is the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or three specific acts or offices as one God.
Man is made in the trinity image of body, soul, and spirit, the three in one. How could man be made in the image of God if God was three persons as the denominational teachings say? If God was three human bodies, we would have to be triplets to be made in His image. These three are one: body, soul and spirit. There is one Father, Son and Holy Ghost. There is one body of Jesus, the fullness of the godhead bodily; that is to say, as far as a God-body, Jesus is the only one. Someone has asked, “Who was Jesus praying to in the garden?” The Spirit of course, the one that we pray to. If God was in Christ reconciling the world back to Himself, as the Bible said He was, then where did His prayers go? The Bible says that His prayers returned into His own bosom. Read it for yourself!
Some people say that the godhead cannot be understood, and that we will get confused if we try to understand the godhead or Jesus name baptism. This is not true. They say the same thing about predestination, all because they do not understand it themselves. If these things are confusing, then Paul the apostle was the author of confusion. He taught them, and he was one of the greatest apostles. The truth of the Word is that all of the things of God are clearly seen by the things which do appear (types and shadows) even to the eternal godhead, so that we are without excuse. Jesus was a man when He slept on the boat. He was God when He controlled the sea and storm, made Himself twain, and said to them, “These things you see Me do, you can do also.” The trinity churches, as well as the oneness churches, are missing the mark when it comes to the revelation of Jesus Christ. Each of them have some of it. God is sifting the trinity and oneness churches to bring out the elect of God, the sons and daughters, and the bride of Christ.
There is but one revelation, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, that God gave unto Him to show unto His servants. We have in us a puzzle in many parts of revelation, but we must put it together; the Baptist, the Methodist, the Catholic, the Presbyterian, the Pentecostal, all of the churches; but we must come out of her and be a separate body called Christians. They were first called Christians at Antioch; Christian meaning Christ-like. He said, “If they which are called by My name shall humble themselves and fast and pray, I will hear from heaven and heal their lands.”
All of the denominations will go to make up the beast of Revelation’s body (brute beast) whose image is the National Council of Churches. They came from the beast in the garden, and will go back to the beast in the end. This is why scientists keep tracing their lineage back to the beast, and we keep tracing our lineage back to Adam. Adam was called a son of God.
The antichrist, the head of the beast’s body of many members, will come to his image of sinful people, who love the things of this world and its pleasures. Jesus said, “If you are a friend of this world, you are the enemy of God.” He also said, “If the love of this world is in you, then the love of the Father is not there.” Love not the world nor the things in the world, for the world and its lusts will pass away. Sin is in the world because of lust (desire -- Greek rendering). Seek the kingdom of God and all these other things shall be added unto you. Seek then, the glory of God, and don’t place your affections upon the things of this world, but place your affections upon things above, for where your treasures are, there shall your heart be also. A wise man’s substance is precious in his sight, and we should take care of the things that God gives us. This is why people don’t get anything from God. They consume it on their own lust. The whole duty of man is to fear God and to keep His commandments. All other things are to be a sideline which follows. God will not have second place. He said that you must offer Him the firstfruits of your life.
Thomas said, “My Lord and my God!” Why did Thomas call Him both? It is because the Bible says that He hath made Himself twain, both Lord and Christ. Trinity isn’t mentioned one time in the whole Bible. The number three is only mentioned where he said, “These three are one.” To the churches which teach three gods who are coequal, He said, “Who is My equal? I know not any.” God did not let Israel make an image of God at any time, though He appeared in many forms: in a donkey, in a burning bush, in a cloud of fire, and in many other ways; but He did not let them make an image, because He was to give them His true image as a man. We are made in His image. If they had made other images they would have been led astray.
By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.
Founder and first President of Jesus Christ’s Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc.
Holiness Unto The Lord