From: Paul Cohen
To: Gayla
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 10:02AM
Subject: RE: Magnetico
Question for you: When you pray to God, are you praying to Jesus Christ?
Paul
From: Gayla
To: Paul Cohen
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 10:31 AM
Subject: RE: Magnetico
No, when I pray to God, I pray to God. However, I do pray through Jesus as the mediator to get to God. This is the only avenue available to approach God, as you know. 1 Tim. 2:5, 6; Ph. 2:5-11
Best regards,
Gayla
From: Paul Cohen
To: Gayla
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 5:38 PM
Subject: The One True God
Hi Gayla,
Here are the Scriptures you gave me about Jesus being “the only avenue to approach God” (which is true):
1 Timothy 2:5-6 MKJV
(5) For God is one, and there is one Mediator of God and of men, the Man Christ Jesus,
(6) Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
“For God is one.” You take this to mean Jesus Christ isn’t God. But that’s not what the Scripture is saying. If Jesus Christ wasn’t God, Paul would have left out those words altogether. But because Jesus is God, Paul is making clear that while God took on human form to atone for our sins, He is still only one God.
Here’s why we’re told God is one: As the Son of Man, God made Himself the Way for men to become connected to Him and completed in His image.
“Yet I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but Me. For there is no Savior besides Me” (Hosea 13:4 MKJV).
No other Savior besides the Lord our God.
Furthermore, God continues to manifest Himself in the flesh through those who receive His Spirit and become part of His Body, as Paul goes on to say in the verse following your Timothy quote:
“Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity” (1 Timothy 2:7-8 KJV).
Jesus Christ (God in the flesh) is here and manifests Himself wherever He sends His servants.
The other Scriptures you cited:
Philippians 2:5-11 MKJV
(5) For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
(6) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
(7) but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
(8) And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
(9) Therefore God has highly exalted Him, and has given Him a Name which is above every name,
(10) that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly ones, and of earthly ones, and of ones under the earth;
(11) and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
If we bow at the Name of Jesus and confess Him as Lord, aren’t we praying to Him? I know that having confessed Him as Lord, we do indeed pray to Him, and what’s more important, He answers us. How could that happen if Jesus Christ wasn’t God? Who but God answers prayer? And isn’t this what Jesus said would happen to those who believe in Him?
John 14:11-14 MKJV
(11) Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the very works themselves.
(12) Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes on Me, the works that I do he shall do also, and greater works than these he shall do, because I go to My Father.
(13) And whatever you may ask in My Name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
(14) If you ask anything in My Name, I will do it.
It’s not a formulaic prayer, “I ask this in Jesus’ Name,” but prayer coming from union with Him, which is what “in His Name” means.
Praying to the Lord Jesus Christ is Scriptural:
“And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’” (Acts 7:59 ESV).
Stephen was praying directly to Jesus, not just through Him. The hosts of Heaven, which includes all believers, worship the Lord Jesus Christ:
Revelation 5:8-13 MKJV
(8) And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having harps and golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
(9) And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals, for You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.
(10) And You made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign over the earth.
(11) And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures and the elders. And the number of them was myriads and myriads, and thousands of thousands,
(12) saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
(13) And I heard every creature which is in the Heaven and on the earth, and under the earth, and those that are in the sea, and all who are in them, saying, Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever.
The angels worship Him:
“But when He again brings the Firstborn into the world, He says: ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him’” (Hebrews 1:6 EMTV).
Surely only God is worthy of worship, because only He can save us from our sins:
“Therefore I said to you that you shall die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins” (John 8:24 MKJV).
You’ve inherited a false bill of goods, Gayla, from another in a long line of manmade religions. Nothing personal here against Jehovah Witnesses. God is not to be found in any of the sects. All His saints know this to be true, as declared in the Scriptures and on our website.