One thing I've heard many times from leaders of various Christian churches is that the Trinity is a central doctrine of Christianity. Central, mind you! That means that if you don’t accept the Trinity, you can’t really call yourself a Christian.
But that raises a serious question: If the doctrine of the Trinity is central to Christian faith, then why didn’t Jesus teach it? If you examine the four gospel accounts, you won’t find Jesus teaching us that he and the father and the holy spirit are all God, three co-equal, co-eternal persons but only one God.
The Trinity doctrine was partially defined in 325 CE at the council of Nicaea. That’s three hundred years after Jesus walked the earth. It was another half century before the doctrine of the Trinity was fully defined at the council of Constantinople in 381 CE. Yet even then there was disagreement and disputing and a power struggle among Church leaders. It took the authority of the state of Rome to impose the teaching.
Roman emperor Constantine the Great was the one who convened the Nicaea council. He enforced its decisions politically, exiled dissenting bishops. All the while he was not a Christian himself. He only got baptized as one shortly before his death.
Then, over half a century later, in 380 CE, Roman Emperor Theodosius I issued the Edict of Thessalonica which declared Nicene Christianity the official religion of the empire. He criminalized non-Nicene forms of Christianity and used state power to enforce doctrinal uniformity.
Ask yourself, why would God not reveal the Trinity in all its fullness and splendor to those upon he poured his holy spirit so that they could speak in tongues, heal the sick, and raise the dead? You know, the men who wrote the Christian Scriptures we all study down to this day?
If we accept that the Trinity is true, then we have to accept that our heavenly Father waited over three hundred years to reveal it to his people through the use of political power, infighting, followed up by persecution and death for anyone disagreeing. I see no basis for that in Scripture, do you?
The Bible tells us that wisdom is proved righteous by its works. What works did Jesus point to as a means to identify his true disciples in contrast to those falsely claiming to follow his path? This is what he gave us:
“I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34, 35 NASB)
Those are the works—works of love—that identify true disciples of Jesus Christ. He didn’t say that all will know you are my disciples if you believe the Trinity. So why don’t those churches that claim the Trinity is the doctrine that identifies true Christians obey Jesus’ commandment to love one another?
Words come easy to a liar, but deeds speak truth. What are the deeds or works of the religion that originated the doctrine of the Trinity?
At its inception in the 4th to 6th centuries, the Trinitarians persecuted “heretical” Christians like the Arians and Donatists after Christian churches aligned with imperial authority. One of the first such martyrs was Priscillian (385 CE) who was executed for heresy.
Then during the medieval period (1096 to 1291 CE) we have The Crusades: Christians massacring of Muslim and Jewish populations. And let’s not overlook are the persecutions, torture, and executions under the Medieval Inquisition (13th–15th centuries), the Spanish Inquisition (1478–1834), and the Roman Inquisition (1542–1908).
There is so much more—hearing about it all is enough to make sick to your stomach— but just some highlights include the French Wars of Religion including St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572); the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648); persecution of Catholics in Protestant England; Persecution of Protestants in Catholic regions. And last, but not least, the Witch Hunts in which thousands were executed in Europe and colonial America, including the Salem trials, all occurring in Catholic and Protestant territories.
Brother murdering brother. Hmm, well, they can hardly lay claim to the identifying mark Christ gave of loving one another the way he loves us, can they? So, rather than accept the identifying brand that is love, the brand themselves with a false doctrine, the Trinity.
When I say “they” I’m referring to the religious leaders. I do not presume to condemn individuals. Most people in the churches of Christendom say they believe the trinity because that’s what they’ve been taught to believe, but they can’t explain it. So then, why do they believe it? Because they trust and follow men. This is nothing new. It started to occur in the Christian congregation back in the day that the Apostle Paul was preaching. He had this to say to the congregation in Corinth.
“These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15 NLT)
Paul was speaking to Christian about Christians. Satan has already found men who would become his unwitting servants, passing themselves of as righteous apostles of Christ, but they were only there to do the bidding of the Satan who himself pretended to be the light bearer.
Today there are approximately 2.5 billion people who claim to follow Christ and call themselves Christians. Almost all of them believe God is a Trinity. Why would Satan promote that particular teaching. Why would the “angel of light” want his ministers of righteousness to promote a teaching that makes Jesus into God and the holy spirit into God?
Satan is many evil things, but he is also quite intelligent. He has a plan. What does Satan fear? This event:
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years. The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. (Revelation 20:1-3 NLT)
Now bear with me, because this is going to take a little explaining before we can get the full picture and understand why the Devil promotes, through his ministers of righteousness, the doctrine of the Trinity.
We’ll begin with this question: When will the devil and his demons be throne into the abyss?
The next verses of Revelation chapter 20 tell us:
“Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They all came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years…This is the first resurrection.” (Revelation 20:4, 5b NLT)
So, the Devil and the demons are thrown into the abyss at the start of thousand-year reign of Christ.
So, why hasn’t the already happened? What is God waiting for?
Did you notice that there is a group of people—very unusual people—who are resurrected and are given authority to judge along with, but under, their king, Jesus Christ?
It follows that the kingdom cannot start until the full number of these people has been reached. This isn’t speculation. We learn this from another vision that John received.
“And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been murdered for the word of God and for the testimony of Yeshua which they had. And they cried with a great voice, and they were saying, "How long, LORD JEHOVAH, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood upon the inhabitants of The Earth?" And to each and every one of them was given a white robe, and it was said that they should rest for a little season of time until their companions and their brothers were also perfected, who were going to be killed, even as they had been.” (Revelation 6:9-11 Aramaic Bible in Plain English)
What we’ve been waiting for, and what Satan wants to avoid, is the completion of the number of those God is perfecting for the role of serving with Jesus in the kingdom.
The irony is that while Satan doesn’t want this number to be completed because that means he reign over the earth ends, he is actually contributing to the completion of their number. He can’t help himself. He keeps trying to thwart God’s purpose, but his efforts only speed up his demise. First, he tried it with Jesus, but look at the result:
“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” (Hebrews 5:8, 9 BSB)
Through the things Jesus suffered at the hands of the Devil and his human minions, he was made perfect for the role of King of God’s kingdom. Returning to John’s vision of those crying out from under the altar asking God how much longer they’d have to wait, the answer was for them to be patient and to “rest for a little season of time until their companions and their brothers were also perfected, who were going to be killed, even as they had been.” (Revelation 6:11 Aramaic Bible)
Humans, true disciples of Jesus, are being perfected for the role of serving with Jesus in the kingdom of the heavens. These ones are the adopted children of God.
So, when the full number of the children of God is completed, the Devil will have had his day. He’ll be out of the picture. That is what he fears. That is what he is trying to stop.
How does the teaching of the Trinity come into play?
In two ways. First, it confuses the issue.
John tells us that…
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” (John 1:12 NIV)
They are given the right or authority to accept the adoption as God’s children. What does that mean? Consider these passages:
“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:17 NIV)
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says:
“I will proclaim Your name to My brothers; I will sing Your praises in the assembly.” (Hebrews 2:10-12 BSB)
Here it is very clear that the Children of God are brothers of Jesus and co-heirs of Jesus. But if Jesus, as part of a Trinity, if God, then that makes them brothers of God. That’s nonsense. How can Jesus, ergo God, be their father and their brother?
The phrase is always “children of God”. God is our Father. If Jesus is God, then we are his children, yet he calls us his brothers and points to Yehovah as his Father and our Father. After his resurrection he told Mary Magdalene…
“Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17 ESV)
You see the problem? Yehovah is God Almighty. He is vast, eternal, spirit, incomprehensible to our finite human brains. How can we relate to such a being who sets whole galaxies of starts spinning in space? We can only do so by metaphor. Yehovah calls himself Father, and we are his children. We know what a human father is, and even if our own father was not up to par, we know what a loving father is supposed to be. He is caring, loving, protective, nurturing. He instructs us for our good, warns us of things that might harm us. That is the metaphor we can relate to. We see Yehovah not as some vast ethereal spirit but as we would view a human father. It’s such a simple metaphor that Yehovah uses to reach us and form a personal relationship with us. He is our Father and Jesus is our brother. I get that. You get that. But Satan doesn’t want us to get that, so…The Trinity! Oh, and don’t forget the holy spirit is also God according to the Trinity, so are we children of the Holy Spirit, or are we brothers of the Holy Spirit? I’m confused.
I said there were two reasons for Satan to promote the Trinity. The second has to do with truth. We get to understand the truth of God by means of the holy spirit.
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” (John 15:26 ESV)
Truth is not the possession of all.
“He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17 CSB)
Why is the truth via the holy spirit, the spirit of truth, granted to some, but hidden from others. Is it because God is partial? Of course not. Then why? The answer to that is found in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.
“At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to infants.” (Matthew 11:25, 26 NASB)
Wise and Intelligent ones come up with convoluted, difficult to explain or digest theologies like the 1914 invisible presence of Christ from Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the doctrine of the Trinity from the mainstream churches. But the truthful relationship of God as our Father and Jesus as our brother is something even infants can relate to.
“The Wicked One will come with the power of Satan and perform all kinds of false miracles and wonders, and use every kind of wicked deceit on those who will perish. They will perish because they did not welcome and love the truth so as to be saved. And so God sends the power of error to work in them so that they believe what is false. The result is that all who have not believed the truth, but have taken pleasure in sin, will be condemned.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 GNT)
The key phrase here is “they did not welcome and love the truth.”
I don’t have all the truth. No one does. But I love truth. I love it so much that I was willing to throw away my entire life of sixty years in the Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses when I found out that they didn’t have the truth. I lost all my friends and my social status. I have become a pariah, and all those who called me friend, now turn their backs on me. I feel so very sorry for them, because they have chosen to believe the lie.
The allure of belonging to a community is very strong. It is hard to go it alone, at least initially. Jesus told us that we’d lose everything for his name’s sake, but that we’d gain a hundred times more after. It’s just that the initial leap of faith that is the challenge. If we are going to be adopted as God’s children, we have to believe in and obey the promise he has made to us.
I’ve seen brothers and sisters break away from the lie that is JW.org. I’ve seen them gather together in small bible study groups meeting online. They are experiencing the fulfillment of Jesus’ words. But in some cases, the allure of wider social acceptance took hold. It might start with the idea that we should pray to Jesus. That might seem innocent enough, but it turned out to be the entry way into full acceptance of the lie that is Trinitarianism.
If we follow men so that we can belong to a religious community, we must accept what they teach. If they teach a lie, and we continue with them, then the spirit of truth will leave us and we’ll lose out on eternal life with Jesus in the kingdom of God as one of his adopted children.
“But these things are eternal life: 'They shall know you, for you alone are The God of Truth, and Yeshua The Messiah whom you have sent.'” (John 17:3 Aramaic Bible)
Satan doesn’t want us to know God, so he promotes a false image of God’s nature in his Trinity doctrine.
Now I’m sure I’m going to get a number of objections from staunch trinitarians about what I’ve expressed in this video. They are going to cite all their favorite proof texts supporting their belief.
Fair enough. This debate can only be decided based on what is written in Scripture. So, in the following videos in this series, I’m going to analyze every proof text used in support of the Trinity to show why none of them actually do provide the ironclad support people ascribe to them.
Thank you all for staying to the end and thank you for your financial support of this work.