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Shocked by the Bible p.3

Becoming Children, becoming gods

People who make it to the kingdom of God will no longer be made of flesh and blood, but their new bodies will actually be composed of spirit, becoming the actual children of God in every sense.”...So that we will actually be born into the spirit world, not composed of flesh and blood anymore, but looking like yourself, composed of spirit just like God the Father and Jesus are composed of spirit.

 http://www.wnd.com/2009/10/112253/#fJxzQXiAJ9xTJOQb.99

Here Kovacs changes what the believer has in the present and makes it for the future.

This teaching is very disturbing because it it is far from what is said or meant in the Scripture.

Does the Bible say we will become gods? The Bible says when we believe the gospel we become the children of God - NOW. We are sons of God - Now. Are we Gods? Are we to be gods? Not now, not ever.

Does the term sons of God mean they are gods? Angels are not gods, yet the Bible calls them sons of God, benei elohim.

John 1:12-13 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God.” Gal. 3:26 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

We become a child of God when we believe in the gospel. Raise your hand if you became a God, in the family of Elohim? Are you a spirit creature?

John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him.” Children is present tense. We don’t wait for the resurrection to become his children. We call him Father now. Being like him and becoming him, are two very different concepts.

We are adopted into a Family who is ruled and cared for by God

“Just like the whole model we have on planet earth here right now, our families, when you have parents you have authority over children… the children actually grow up from the state of knowing nothing to the state of being just like their parents,… AND THE CYCLE CONTINUES.” (paranormal palace radio)

Jesus in Jn.10 said I am the Son of God? Singular, there are no other sons like him. Jesus is the Eternal Son by his nature, as God. We on the other hand are adopted.

In the New Testament there are two Greek words that are used for “Son.” Those who have experienced the new spiritual birth are called Sons by adoption (John 1:12); this is the Greek word is teknon (Romans 8:14-15, 19:23; Gal. 4:5, Eph.1:5). We find that this word for “son” is NOT used for Jesus; instead, the Greek word huios is used. This word refers to his nature, not origin and is exclusively applied to Jesus as the Son. It means He is the unique one of a kind, no other is like Him. He alone has that nature and position. Jesus is God’s son by nature and was able to say, “I and my father are one.”

The Interviewer asks the question how can there be many offspring when the Bible says there is only one begotten son?

Kovacs response: “Jesus is the only begotten son by virtue of the way he came into the world but the Bible also says God is having many sons and daughters. That is a Bible quote.” (Ed. Note: no that is not a Bible quote, that is your words, a spin on the words of the Bible.

Kovac speaking of getting into a womb of human being (Mary). He then tells us Jesus Christ is the creator God of the Old Testament (which is correct). The only begotten means far more than coming into the world by a virgin birth, it means he is Gods only Son, the only God/man, two natures that are united forever.

John 1:14 speaking of Jesus having, “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” Meaning Jesus is unique one of a kind human who is God, the only God man. To say we will be children (sons and daughters like him) is to say Jesus will no longer to be unique. Which means you do understand the incarnation which was done through a virgin conception.

Children of the Resurrection

Rom. 8:16-17 explains we are “joint heirs with Christ.” V.19 the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” Which are the resurrected ones.

Jesus said of man, “in the resurrection … are like angels of God in heaven.” (Matt 22:30).

The question is how? The answer is found in the Bible.

Luke 20:35-37 “the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” Notice what Jesus actually said, and you will be shocked. Jesus said we'll be “like” the angels, not become angels (spirits). 

And it gives us the how, being deathless and no longer marrying to have families. Furthermore, angels worship the only true God. They are not going to be made gods, as this myth of a God family that Kovacs presents as Bible teaching.

Heb. 1:5 “For to which of the angels did He ever say:  "You are My Son, Today I have begotten You"? If angels are not Yahweh Elohim certainly man who is to liken to angels will not be Yahweh Elohim.

We are to be called sons of the resurrection. It is ALWAYS the body that is resurrected. Every resurrection in the Bible that took place including Jesus’ was physical, the body is brought back to life. Kovac’s denies this is what happened to Jesus and this is our future.

Furthermore he said we become sons of the resurrection. How would this be interpreted if we become spirits by being sons? Then the body not resurrected and death is not defeated.

“So that we will actually be born into the spirit world, not composed of flesh and blood anymore, but looking like yourself, composed of spirit just like God the Father and Jesus are composed of spirit http://www.wnd.com/2009/12/118220/#1WIDCuuOlSjMHde7.99 underline mine

Why is it that again Kovac’s teaching is the same as the worldwide church of God, whom most consider aberrant?

“Jesus Christ experienced a “spiritual resurrection,” no longer being “flesh and bone.” “The Son of God, (was) now no longer human, but composed of SPIRIT - a Spirit Being,” and that “Christ’s body did disappear. Christ was raised as a divine spirit being!” (WCG reprint, “If You Die...Will You Live Again?” (p. 5).

Actually Jesus was raised in a physical body, he was no longer flesh and BLOOD, but flesh and bone, still physical, raised in a glorified material body.  To deny He raised in the body he died in is a denial of the third point of the gospel, which means you have denied God’s glorious gospel that saves the soul.

How is any of the obvious  missed by this man who claims to reveal what so many others have missed? He doesn't believe we are raised in the flesh because he does not believe Jesus was either. Paul explaining the gospel that saves wrote, 1 Cor 15:4 He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. What rises again is the body, for it is the body that died, not His Spirit that died (which is God). 

Jesus proved it was actually him  because he had the same scars in His hands and feet proving he did indeed raise His body from the grave (John 2:19-22). A spirit does not scar. He shows them the scars and then eats with them to prove it. The word for flesh is the same word that John uses "and the word became FLESH." (sarki in Greek). Jesus' grave was empty, the body was risen

Rev. 5:6 and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain.”This indicates that Jesus still has the scars in his body from the crucifixion in heaven. So he is not Spirit but in a material body.

Kovacs says “Jesus became (temporarily) a flesh-and-blood human being like the rest of us when He lived some 33 years on this Earth. Once He was resurrected, He was back to His eternally alive Spirit body.”

That is about as close to a rejection of the resurrection as one can get, just like the Jehovah Witnesses teach, who are unbelievers in the resurrection of Christ.

Kovacs resurrection? Our spirits do not die or one could not go to any of the two sides in Hades after death. It is the body that dies (Gn.3:19)

And declared the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead” (Romans 1:4).  Resurrection has to do with the body not the Spirit.  It is “the body without the spirit is dead” (James 2:26)

1 Tim 2:5 Paul tells us the Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,He is still in his human body that was resurrected, glorified.

Jesus says to the disciples after his resurrection, Luke 24:39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have”

Jesus said I am not a spirit but I have FLESH and bones. (not blood. So here is the answer to flesh and blood not able to enter heaven). If you have flesh and bone as Jesus did after the resurrection than you are not a Spirit.

They ran to the grave the first day they could, the day after the Sabbath. When Jesus rose was it not in the body? It was missing as Mary stood before “where the body of Jesus had lain.” (John 20:12 also Luke 24:3) What’s the point of determining the body is gone if he didn’t resurrect?

How can one see the risen Lord and cling to him if he is not material, physical? (John 20:17,18)

Kovac's is denying physical resurrection of Jesus who claimed to be the firstfruits of the resurrection.

Rev. 1:18: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen” What died? His body, not his spirit. What needs to be resurrected? His body.

John 20:25 the other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord. Thomas did not take their word he came back to life. Jesus appeared to Thomas and said “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." (John 20:27)

A resurrection means what dies is brought back to life. It is the body that is brought back to life.

From the beginning of his ministry Jesus answered them, Jn. 2:19 "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days. V.21 Destroy this temple He was speaking of the temple of His body (soma -- Greek - body not spirit not soul – body). Those who say he is not in a physical body misunderstand and misrepresent the word.

If you don't believe in the resurrection of the body then you are not believing the gospel. And you’re not saved by the gospel. If Jesus did not rise from the dead physically, then the Christian faith is untrue. Because Paul writes, 1 Cor. 15:14-15 “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up-- if in fact the dead do not rise.”V.17 “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!”

Writing after the Resurrection, John declared that Jesus "came [and remained] in the flesh" (1 John 4:2; 2 John 7). The body that emerged from the tomb was the exact same body that went in the tomb. He also showed His crucifixion scars on his hands and side on two occasions because of doubt.

John 4:3: “that every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.” Those who deny that Jesus came in the flesh are of the anti-Christ spirit. This is one of the main ways to identify a false teacher from a true one.

John writing after the resurrection uses the perfect tense in Greek which denotes a past action with continuing results into the present, and into the future. He came in the flesh, rose in the flesh, and is still in the flesh. The same body that He was born and died with, He rose in. If one claims that Christ rose as a spirit creature, not physically, they are of the anti-Christ spirit and are denying the third point of the Gospel. In fact it proves they do not have salvation the way the bible explains.

The bible tells us our bodies when resurrected will be like Jesus’.

To deny this is a denial of what took place with Jesus and is a denial of the gospel 1 Cor.15:4 “and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures”

What was buried? The Body.

There is a condemnation for those who deny the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus.

Christianity from the bible teaches immortality which involves the whole person, which includes the body. If Jesus did not rise in the same physical body in which He died, then we have no real hope for immortality and it does not confirm whom He said he was.

If Jesus did not have victory over physical death than: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55). Paul said to the Corinthians, “if Christ has not been raised ... those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost” (1 Cor. 15:18).

Peter’s first message to Israel bore witness that Jesus’ body was raised. Acts 2:24-28 “Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death.” In vs.31 “he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades nor his flesh see corruption.” His flesh did not decay because he was brought back living in it, glorified. V.32 “This Jesus God raised up of which we are all witnesses.”

If the body that died was not raised, there is no resurrection! One is presenting a DIFFERENT Jesus.

Did not Lazarus come back in his same body? What of Jairus’ daughter? Why would Jesus’ resurrection be different than ALL the others in the Bible? Mt. 27:52-53: "and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and were seen by many." These were believers who had a resurrection after Jesus did.

 Why does Paul use Jesus' resurrection as the model for all Christians who have died? If Jesus did not rise from the grave in a physical body then what is the significance of an empty tomb?

Why again is Kovacs teaching like the Worldwide church of God considered an aberrant church.

Herbert W. Armstrong, who wrote, “All true Christians [who died] before Christ’s coming shall rise first—in a resurrection—and then all Christians still alive, in mortal flesh, shall be instantaneously—in the twinkling of an eye—changed from mortal to immortal—from material flesh to immaterial spirit….exactly like Jesus in His glorified body” (Armstrong, Just What Do You Mean, Born Again? 13-15). Underline mine

Why does Kovacs agree with the Jehovah Witnesses “We deny that he (Jesus) was raised in the flesh, and challenge any statement to that effect as being unscriptural.” (Founder J. T. Russell -The Finished Mystery p.57 1917)

Resurrected Spirits

The resurrection the bible teaches is a glorification of the human body, from corruptible to incorruptible. From mortal to immortal. Kovacs teaches the resurrection of the body is actually discarded and we become spirit, gods, just like elohim.

In an interview Morris asks: “So when’s that supposed to happen to us? Is that after we die, or is that after Armageddon?”

Kovacs said: “This happens in the future when Jesus Christ returns to Earth, raises dead followers out of the ground, and if anybody happens to be left alive still on Earth at that time they will be changed in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye as the Bible puts it, into their immortal, spirit bodies.… It is a glorious event with a just incredibly fantastic future coming.” On http://www.wnd.com/2009/12/118220/

He may be quoting portions of the Bible but it is his interpretation and how he is putting the Scripture together that makes this to be error. It’s not anyone on earth but only believers that partake of this transformation. Mortal people will enter the millennium not transformed.

Our transformation to become spirit

Kovacs states, “All through the Bible it talks about the glorious divine destiny. We’re not going to be made up of flesh and blood anymore. We’re going to be made up of spirit, because flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.”

In 1 Cor. 15:44, we read that the natural body is raised a spiritual body. “The resurrection body is called a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44). This, does not mean that it will be a body consisting of  Spirit. This is often misunderstood to mean an invisible spirit body. The Greek term is “pnumaticas soma.”  Soma is physical, it means a spirit-dominated physical body instead of a blood operated body. It is a body sustained by the Spirit.

All Paul is saying is that man in his mortal or sinful state cannot go to heaven without a transformation, flesh and blood is basically a synonym for mortal man or the Adamic man. Jesus partook of flesh and blood (Heb.2:14 see Heb.9:14). We know he is the exception because he was virgin born, having no sin transmitted. But he was mortal in his body, so he could die and fulfill his mission (He.10:10) Yet we read 1 John 3:5 “and in Him there is no sin” so he committed “no sin” (1 Peter 2:22).

1 Cor.15:50 “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God... “Our present state is corrupted, subject to disease, and decay. Paul is answering the question of what kind of “body” believers will have in the resurrection (vs. 35). It will be a “spiritual body” (vs. 44). A “spiritual body” is defined by the ONLY example we have, the body of Jesus, the firstborn from the dead unto eternal life in the body. In verses 51-52, Paul then proceeds to tell us a mystery which involves the change that all believers will go through, that corruptible will put on incorruption, and mortality will become immortality. We will have a complete change to make us suitable for eternal living, whether it is in heaven or on earth. ‘a spiritual body’ (I Cor. 15:44. Is the Greek term “pnumaticas soma,” soma is physical; Paul is describing a spirit-dominated body or a physical body no longer subject to mortality. It will dominated by the Spirit which will give us life eternal.

I Corinthians 15:51-52, Paul then proceeds to tell us a mystery which involves the change that all the church will go through together. The corruptible will put on incorruption, and mortality will become immortal. This is a conversion of our same physical bodies to a body dominated by spiritual qualities. The statement characterizes the resurrection body as one completely filled and governed by the Holy Spirit

Paul states that the dead body is sown and will be resurrected to new life. (1Cor.15:38). The old body puts on (is swallowed up) by the new body, it is transformed into something permanent.

Rom. 6:5 “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.

I Cor. 15:50-58: Corruption is changed to incorruptibility in reference to these bodies that turn to dust at death. Mortality will put on immortality. Vs.43 Dishonor will be raised in glory. This is referring to being free from aging, scars, and traces of sin. From weakness to power refers to the effects of age, loss of strength and vitality, to a body not subject to these mortal limitations.

Col.1:22: We will be holy and blameless. Free from guilt and shame.

Rom.8:21: We will no longer be subject to sin and the sinful nature that corrupts.

Eph.5:27: We will all be holy with no blemishes or defects.

Phil 3:21: “who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”

Rom. 8:29-30: Our body will be conformed to the image of the resurrected Jesus. Our sanctification process will be complete.

James. 2:26: “the body without the Spirit is dead.” So it is the Spirit coming back into the body that raises it back to life (I Kings 17:20-22; Luke 8:54-55)

it is good news of the coming kingdom, so when Jesus comes back he’s going to raise all his believers, all his followers out of the grave. Grant them life. Change their bodies from the corruptible perishable blood bodies into spirit… “into eternally alive shining glimmering powerful”  (Paranormal Palace Radio interview)

“Human beings will actually have their bodies’ composition of flesh and blood changed into spirit and be born into the very Family of God, existing on the same spirit plane as Jesus, and even be given a certain amount of rulership in the kingdom of God once Jesus returns,”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2009/10/112253/#yxvTW9PQZQtwOsLt.99

The distance of the creator and the created will always exist, they do not merge. How any Christian can entertain this when this teaching is clearly not monotheism, but polytheism.

Kovacs goes further mimicking word faith teaching

“we will…be born into the spirit world, not composed of flesh and blood anymore, but looking like yourself, composed of spirit just like God the Father and Jesus are composed of spirit, and be members of the actual Family of God…. This is exactly what the Bible says and it calls us the children of God. God is having children. God is reproducing Himself after the God kind” (http://www.wnd.com/2009/12/118220/)

After the God kind is a term that is often associated with heresy in the word faith camp. You will not find it in the Bible. Also you will be hard pressed to find the words spirit world in the Bible.

“So that we will actually be born into the spirit world, not composed of flesh and blood anymore, but looking like yourself, composed of spirit just like God the Father and Jesus are composed of spirit, and be members of the actual Family of God; where yes, we’ll be immortal” (http://www.wnd.com/2009/12/118220/

Since God is a family according to Kovacs when you become a child you are now god, just like the Father and son are the family.

In his interview on paranormal palace radio He states Jesus is God. However he also states, “its not just about saying Jesus is God, even the Devil and demons believe Jesus is God.

You need to check the Scripture on this because it does not say this. “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe --and tremble!” (James 2:19) Its saying they know there is only one true God. So this refutes Kovac who thinks we will become gods, plural? There is only one God who does not change.

Let me say this. The closer one gets to God and the more one reads the Bible if they are honest with what they see in the mirror the clearer they understand how infinite God is and that we are separate and will never be like him as the way Kovacs describes. We will stay creatures that were given grace to reflect his nature. His view diminishes the greatness of God and exalts man. This is a new age message not a Biblical one.

Man and God

“in case you didn’t get the word image. It says image and likeness. So yes, we do look like God. God looks like us. God does not look like a tarantula or a worm or a butterfly or a puppy dog. He has a head and a torso and arms and legs. He just happens to be made out of spirit because the Bible says God is a spirit.”
at http://www.wnd.com/2009/12/118220/#1WIDCuuOlSjMHde7.99

Kovac’s, “we’re not separate from God. We’re kind of a prototype. God is creating us in phases. We’re in the form and shape of God. We look like Him. God has a head and torso and arms and fingers and feet. We look like Him, but we are not complete.” (Journal Issue No. 150 (July 27, 2012)

The divine family are having kids…. God is having children that will become divine. Our flesh bodies will be transformed in a blink of an eye says the New Testament. Where we will be spirit beings, looking like yourself but will be made out of spirit just like God is spirit.”

He then tells us when angels appear on earth “they have a form of a human being.” “Because the form of a human body is the form of God. Remember all the way back in Genesis we were created in the likeness, in the image and likeness of God.” (Remnant call Audio interview with Joe Kovacs “The Devil doesn’t want you to know the truth”)

This is uncannily like Mormonism and William Branham, which is also similar to what we read in the Kabballah and other metaphysical writings. We are not a physical image of God, it means we have spiritual qualities like our creator.

William Branham “And now, when he receives God, he becomes a son of God again. He was made in the image of God. God had hands; God had feet; and so therefore a man was made like Him.” (61-0205E, Jesus Christ The Same Yesterday, Today, And Forever, Central Assembly Of God, Tucson, AZ).

Which is nearly identical to Mormon Brigham H. Roberts, “First, we believe that God is a being with a body in form like man's; that he possesses body, parts and passions; that in a word, God is an exalted, perfected man” (Brigham H. Roberts conference of the Mutual Improvement Associations of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, August 18,1901, published in both the Deseret News and the Improvement Era)

“We look like Him. God has a head, eyes and fingers that he wrote the 10 commandments with. He’s got feet, hands and nostrils. ... so you look like God because God is having kids like him, just like human parents when they deliver their own children, guess what their children come out with all the same features as their parents.” (Remnant call Audio interview with Joe Kovacs “The Devil doesn’t want you to know the truth”

The Bible says God is not a man, image and likeness has to do with man’s spiritual nature, we have a moral nature, that is our likeness to God. He put in man finite qualities that He himself has which are infinite, so we reflect our creator. In His image it does not mean that our body is made like God, this is the error of the Mormon Church and other cultic teachings.

For example we have the ability to think, we have communication skills using language. The image of God consists, in the spiritual personality of man. We have feelings and emotions such as love. In man, the image and likeness is expressed through reason, speech, will, and our creative ability. We are able to hear and see and the ability to create. All these are finite attributes that reflect our creator. God is unlimited in knowledge and power; (Isa.40:13, 14; Ps. 147:5) man is limited in his knowledge and power (Isa.55:8-9).

If man is an exact image, then is God both male and female? Man and women were both made in the image of God? Taking terms in their solid literal sense sometimes makes no sense at all, especially when they are not intended to be interpreted that way.

God is described as having feet, hands, fingers, arms, back, ears, mouth, and a heart.  None of these should be taken in the solid literal sense. God who is Spirit, does not have a physical form as a human creature. In Deut.4:12 the Israelites were prohibited to make any image of Him because God is incorporeal, He has no body He consists of eternal spirit. So to say he has human features is a lie.

God the Son became a human being but he did not look like a human prior. The Bible uses anthropomorphisms describing God, this does not mean they are literal descriptions. There is figurative language that describes certain characteristics of God or describes His divine actions from a human point of view. He is called a vine, a door, a way, a mother hen and a lion. These are terms used to communicate on a human level something of his nature or purpose. They can be symbolic or allegorical of an attribute or characteristic or activity of God. In the same manner mankind is called sheep, lambs, salt, branches, and trees.

 

Shocked by the Bible p.4 Works for salvation?

 

 

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