My good friend Anthony,
Yes, we are friends and I phileo you very much as a precious brother and friend. I don't mind you picking my post apart at all. For I admit that I am a flawed individual, and I encourage everyone to test what is said among the scriptures for truth and clarity. I know you're not being mean but seeking the truth, and I love you for that.
I do admit that it is possible to sense the unseen. Unclean spirits can be "felt" many times, and psychics can communicate with deceptional demons. However, despite this ability to sense their presence, we cannot fully perceive exactly what they look like in their invisible forms, nor how they move. Scientists with all their equipment have yet to find heaven or even build a device that allows them to see angels or even God Himself. Not only that, but look at Ezekiel. He got to see God face to face, but still had great difficulty describing Him. Ezekiel 1 : 26-28 "Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD . When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking." He didn't say, "I saw a man sitting on a throne who glowed brightly" He said he saw a figure like a man who looked like glowing metal and light surrounded him like an appearance of a rainbow. He was doing his best to use earthly terms to describe something he had never before seen. Even Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:10-12 “You are Israel's teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?" It is biblical men's attempt to describe heavenly visions as well as this passage combined with the fact that today's scientists cannot find and measure heaven nor God nor angels nor demons with all of their scientific equipment that leads me to believe that we know and understand so little about the world that God exists in. Even Job admitted in Job 26:12-14 that our understanding of God is extremely inferior. (Using the amplified version) "He stills or stirs up the sea by His power, and by His understanding He smites proud Rahab. By His breath the heavens are garnished; His hand pierced the [swiftly] fleeing serpent. Yet these are but [a small part of His doings] the outskirts of His ways or the mere fringes of His force, the faintest whisper of His voice! Who dares contemplate or who can understand the thunders of His full, magnificent power?" Yes, we are to seek God, and we are given spiritual eyes to 'see.' John 3:3 "In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." But feeling God in your heart and understanding the kingdom of God is far different then physically seeing the kingdom and knowing exactly where it is and what it looks like. (And keep in mind that the Revelation description of the pearly gates and of the golden streets is not of heaven, but of the new Jerusalem that was brought down from heaven. Revelation 21:10 "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God."
True, Jesus did not teach us to pray in the name of the three. But as Marcylene so wonderfully shared and corrected, He commanded us to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19. Paul recognized that Jesus was saying to Baptize in God's name. 1 Corinthians 13 "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?" Jesus was crucified for us, and so we baptize in His name. And Christ is not divided. We know that there are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and Jesus even admitted this. And I know you're not disputing the difference in personalities here. But the bible also mentioned many times that there is one God. Now maybe this can be translated loosely as there is one Godhead, but until tonight, I don't have the access to the original Hebrew/Greek to see what each word 'one' is meaning.
Isaiah 45:5-6 "I am the Lord, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have known Me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other."
1 Cor. 8:4 " . . . there is no other God but one."
Isaiah 46:9 ". . . For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me."
Deut 4:35 ". . . the Lord Himself is God; there is none other beside Him."
Deut 32:39 "Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me. . . . "
There are others, but its scriptures like these that brings scholars to the belief that there is one God, one being, one essense. Again, perhaps translated loosely, it means, there is one true Godhead and no other, but until I have access to the original script that we take these scriptures from (which I'll have access tonight), I will for now side with the biblical scholars who have already studied Hebrew and Greek and say that these passages mean that there is one being.
As for the separation, we know that God is separate into the different personalities. Like you said, the Son will sit at the right hand of the Father. We even see the three in different locations during Christ's baptism. Matthew 3:16-17 "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.' " God the Father was in heaven, God the Son was coming out of the water, and God the Holy Spirit descended from heaven down to Jesus. You also see what many scholors believe to be a major separation between Jesus and the Father. Matthew 27:46 "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Or as the amplified puts it, "And about the ninth hour (three o'clock) Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?--that is, My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me [leaving Me helpless, forsaking and failing Me in My need]?" Perhaps this again is a loose translation and doesn't mean that God the Father and God the Son were united as one, but upon the cross, were separated from that union. But many scholors believe (and this could use debate) that because God is perfect and righteous, He separates Himself from sin and uncleanliness. So it is theorized (as we don't know for sure) that God the Father maintained His holiness by separating Himself from God the Son, who was covered in the unclean sins of the world. So these scriptures is where the concept of the separation comes from.
I do ask that you forgive me that this response wasn't more detailed or better organized scripturally. Until today, I did not have access to some truly excellent biblical resources. I still felt the desire to respond to your questions with what I knew and understood from the bible. Tonight, when I have time, I will look into the subject much more deeply, but for now, I wanted to response so that 1. you could see where my understanding lies, and 2. so that you wouldn't feel forgotten. Hehe.
God bless you my friend.
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