Chag sameach Rosh Chodesh - a blessed New Moon Day - and welcome to the beginning of the third biblical, creation month of the current year. Last month (9 April) we had no assembly as I was too ill but I did make you a short 20-or-so minute video entitled, The Nature of Christ & the Historical Creeds (ITS066) in which I shared the history of the Chalcedonian Creed and the reasons the Council was convened to formulate it.

It's purpose was to resolve various doctrinal disputes regarding the divinity and humanity of Christ which it did by taking a moderate position that has essentially been the position of Western Christianity ever since. It did not, however, at all satisty the who extremes who became excluded, marginalised and sometimes persecuted as a result of what was the decision of 600 Bishops and the Roman State which at that time had its capital in Constantinople, today's Istanbul. The two radical positions, who became ostracised as a result of this Council's decision, were the Monophysites (whom I have started mentioning to you in recent times) and the Nestorians, names I know will be unfamiliar to many of you. Yet the Monophysites in particular are revevant and millions today hold to their position - which was, and is, that the two natures of Christ - His humanity and His divinity - became inextricably mixed or blended together so as to create essentially one nature.

The Nestorians went to the other extreme, declaring the natures were so separated as to virtually make of Christ two separate persons - a human Christ and the divine Christ. Today's Monophystites are the Coptic Christians of Egypt, the Assyrian Christians of Iraq and Syria, and many others who do not identify as either Roman Catholic, Protestant or Eastern Orthodox. Modern Nestorians per se are more difficult to identify because they have evolved into many different schools and belief systems but they would include the original Arians who taught that Christ was a created being and not therefore fully Elohim (God).

The best representatives of Arians today would be the Jehovah's Witnesses who claim Christ is a little 'god' with a lower-case 'g' and an increasing number of Messianics who deny the deity of Christ and claim He was only a human being. Typically the latter reject the apostle Paul to whom was revealed the theology that essentially forms the core teaching of Chalcedonianism.

I should therefore state for the record that we, as Messianic Evangellicals, have always been essentially Chalcedonians - we believe, and affirm most emphatically, that Yah'shua (Jesus) is both Elohim (God) and Man though how this fusion takes place we do not care to speculate on, nor to necessarily commit to every detail of the Chalecedonian Creed or the Trinitarian Creeds (that maintains Father, Son and Holy Spirit are co-equal) that emerged from it later. So whilst we affirm that Father, Son and Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) are persons who together are Elohim (God), we affirm (as Scripture testifies) that though the Son has been given a dispensational jurisdictional authority that is equal to the Father, that this is only temporary, and will be returned to the Father when all Yahweh's enemies have been subdued and placed under his feet, as the apostle Paul taught (1 Cor.15:22-28). Therefore we insist that the Son was, is and shall be (until the end of the æon or age) subject to the Father without in any way diminishing his Elohim- or God-hood.

Perhaps the best illustration of this would be a family: my son (who let's, for the sake of argument, represents all his siblings as the eldest) is subject to me, his father, but that does not make him any less 'family'. And though the analogy is limited (since humans are mortal and Elohim/God is immortal) it does make a point: my eldest son (or whomever I appoint my successor based on his faithfulness) will assume my rôle as head of this family after I die which parallels the temporary appointment made by Yahweh to Yah'shua (Jesus) when He made Him His plenipotentiary at the meridian of time.

I never did get to follow up on the ex tempore talk I gave last month because of a change in plans. I had intended to take another sabbatical but Father cancelled that for now and instructed me to rewrite and conclude the important Reconstructing the Johannine Community series which has been an enormous challenge as I had to postpone yesterday's long sermon owning to illness. Today's message will, however, be a short one, that should not physically tax me too much (to reassure those worried about me), as I have been instructed to be sensible and rest when I need to too.

However, today's message is important because there are amongst us, principally in our online social communities, those who are modern-day Arians, in the broadest sense of the category, who deny the deity of Christ. They are often very nice people, very erudite and well-informed, with kindly hearts, who have increased their presence amongst Chalecedonian Messianics like ourselves without saying who they are unless pressed, gradually winning over our confidence. They're not Jehovah's Witnesses (who represent a non-Torah-observant branch) or indeed like that group at all but are mostly to be found in the ranks of Messianics.

The Messianic and Hebrew-Roots Movements have, unfortunately, become a new breeding ground of most of the old heresies like Ebionism plus some new ones, and these I need to make you aware of. Not all of their number behave like ladies or gentlemen, some are quite brash, big-mouthed and rude, thus making he latter easier to spot and deal with. Both of them, though, deny that Yah'shua (Jesus) is the 'Son of God' (with an upper-case 'S') and will often speak of him as a 'son' (with a lowercase 's') and often put 'S/son of God' in speechmarks so that they don't (in their own minds) commit a 'blasphemy'.

In this matter they possess the same spirit as Judaism and Islam, both of which vigorously denounce Yah'shua as the Father's Son. To my mind, this puts all three squarely outside the pale of the New Testament Gospel. I don't say outside 'Christendom' because they don't claim to be a part of it anyway but habitually denounce all Christians as pagan. Now whilst different Christian groups and denominations draw their boundaries of orthodoxy and acceptability somewhat differently - some being ultra-conservative and some being ultra-liberal (something you need to be aware of so that you don't get hurt or offended if they reject you as fellow believers) - we can be, and are, united on the core truth of the Incarnation and of every tenet of the Apostles' Creed which all of our people should learn by heart as the early believers did.

The simultaneous deity and humanity of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) is a non-negociable fundamental of the Christian/Messianic faith. We may differ on tithing, sabbaths, calendars, Hebrew-names, tongues and the like but this particular one is sacrosanct. It is the grand mystery that lies behind our deliverance and salvation. A purely human Christ could not have, and cannot, and will never be able to save anyone from death or wipe away their sins which are things only Elohim (God) can do. The true Messiah bears His Father's Name, Yahweh, because He is Yahweh-in-the-flesh, Yahweh the Son. Everything about Him screams 'Elohim (God)' and yet He is Man too.

Now whilst I am not a Monophysite (and remember they believe both natures are completely blended into one nature) I do believe as far as immunity to the false doctrine of the Arians and others like them is concerned, they are by far walking on the safest ground because they are the farthest away from Arianism. And before any of my Monophysite friends take this as a signal that I am interested in joining them, I must also add that they, along with Catholics and Eastern Orthodox subscribe to a heresy I could never embrace, namely, that Mary is the 'Mother of God' and an intermedary to the Son, which is a particular kind of idolatry which like most Protestants I utterly repudiate. I am simply crediting Monophysites where credit is due. It is perhaps for this reason that the Monophysites have ( and to a certain like the Eastern Orthodox), for the most part, managed to deflect the equally blasphemous plague called liberalism which likewise (for the most part) denies the deity of Christ or anything supernatural for that matter like miracles. So they would reject the Virgin Birth and Incarnation.

We live in a theological and denominational end-time period of time very different from the controversies of 1,000 to 2,000 years ago and yet many of the old controversies have re-emerged again, albeit it clothed someone differently - some clothed to look respectable and other closthed to obviously look like open, defiant rebellion.

Which brings me to another and critically important point: we don't defend true doctrine just for doctrine's sake but because true doctrine shapes the spiritual vessels we inhabit to fit the dimensions of the true Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), making the many counterfeit ones a misfit for those well tutored and therefore discernable as 'not right'. In the end it's the kind of supernatural life dwelling in you that counts, and that indwelling can only occur if your mind and heart are rightly aligned to truth.

To make matters more complicated, Yahweh does indwell us in spite of some of our false beliefs so long as we yet hold to them in ignorance. But as the light of truth dawns on us, we are expected to immediately reject the false and embrace the new as a condition for retaining the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) that we have received only through Yahweh's grace. This means that the Ruach (Spirit) may very well inhabit a heretic in the days of his or her ignorance and yet depart later if he or she rejects the truth he has been confronted with.

As I read history I cannot deny that there have been, and will continue to be, believers of all sorts of doctrinal belief systems who possess a measure of the Ruach (Spirit) whom Yahweh uses in the days of their ignorance. If we are honest we can look both into the past, and in some cases the present, and see those who belong to heretical and errant groups like the Calvinists, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Aramaic, Jehovah's Witness, Charismatic, Pentecostal, Mormon and other churches who have a portion of our Father's Ruach (Spirit), reflecting His love and goodness in their lives whom He uses. But equally I have noticed that these, when confronted with biblical truth who then consciously and willfully choose to reject it, start losing that gift Father so generously gave them in the first place in spite of their false ideas on many things. They start losing that original grace, especially when they turn on the truth-bearers whose messages they reject, because Yahweh cannot justify such behaviour. There are always consequences for willful disobedience.

The fact the our Heavenly Father justifies such a diverse group of people in the days of their ignorance is not, I underline, NEVER an endorsement of their denominations, traditions, groups or organisations, and especially not those who claim to be on-and-only-true-church'ers who frequenrly showcase such obviously spiritual people to the world in order to justify their own false spirit. Father does not give a fig about their organisations. He tolerates them in the days ignorance but He will not always bear with them and indeed He will sweep them all away by the by as we have recently learned in the Book of Revelation. Father must work with fallible, human sinners possessing different levels of knowledge and truth - He ministers to, and uses, them accordingly. This we should not be surprised by for it is the nature of earth-reality.

That does not mean we should not try to form ever purer and holier associations that collectively acknowledge and embrace all truth, progressively throwing out the lies and untruths. We need organisation for orderly witness, large scale discipleship and spiritual nourishment, in the same way we need families. This is an imperfect world and we must accept it as it is for now. But the day is coming, and is already arriving, when this pot pourri of chaos will be swept away leaving only the Kingdom of our Elohim (God) with one headquarters and capital, the New Jerusalem which we proclaim and aspire to imitate. That's what this year's series of sermons is about. That's why we exist. And our witness, together, is not simply our knowledge base of spiritual truth but the lives that have been transformed by the Divine Messiah who gives us all this in the first place. That is our raison d'être, that's why we were called in 1984, and why we continue to cling on to that calling until others are awakened to the same call and for whom we patiently await like Elijah in the wilderness.

So test these people. Find out early on what your new online friends actually believe in about Christ and Elohim (God) for that is the priority. I had a very close friend who walked closely with us and was on the verge of formally joining us who got seduced by a false scripture that is Arian in origin called the The Clementine Homilies but unlike many who are waylaid by that book took it to its logical occult conclusion and became a shaman spouting utter nonsense, strongly deluded by demonic spirits. Others scared to go the whole way and 'pause', as it were, remaining within the general confines of the Gospel territory whilst chopping away at Paul and other canonical Scriptures. These are the ones you have to look our for. In many cases their hearts toward people are in the right place but their intellects have deceived them, leading them to worship false gods. They're a lot like many fine Calvinists, possessing much love in their hearts for Christ and people who yet espouse the horrible TULIP doctrines of Calvinism that reflect badly on the character of God, an unbliblical, unloving, élist god who predestines billions to hellfire I do not know and never want to know. So you have to learn to discern what's going on and not paint everyone with the same broad brush. Those 'stuck' in the middle are still rescuable whilst others may have gone too far and crossed that fatal dividing line leading to the blasphemy of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) (Mt.12:31-32; Lk.12:19).

So my prayer is that you be slow to judge other believers and fast to discover what their fundamental beliefs about the character of Elohim (God) and the Divine-Human nature of Christ are, not so you can bash them but so you can help them see the love in you and why that love has permanent residence. That is my prayer in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.

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