## [26] When Jesus gave his life for us, he became the second God to be worshipped like his father Jehovah

9 But just as it is written: Eye has not seen and ear has not heard, neither have there been conceived in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2).

We owe thanks to God and to Jesus and to the holy spirit and to a certain International Bible Student for this one. It all started like this:

27 Next he said to Thomas: Put your finger here, and see my hands, and take your hand and stick it into my side, and stop being unbelieving but become believing.
28 In answer Thomas said to him: My Lord and my God! (John 20).

Lets us clear our minds of any preconceptions and open our hearts to the love of God and be certain that he knows more than we presently do and that he will instruct us through his word. OK? Are we sitting comfortably? Right then...

Jesus did not rebuke Thomas for calling him his God. Jesus' response was:
29 Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me have you believed? Happy are those who do not see and yet believe (John 20)

So Jesus did not deny and therefore by omission confirmed that he was God to Thomas. Then Paul tells us:

9 For this very reason also God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every [other] name,
10 so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground,
11 and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2).

Whereas Paul also says of Jehovah:

11 For it is written: As I live, says Jehovah, to me every knee will bend down, and every tongue will make open acknowledgment to God (Romans 14).

So Jesus is getting the knee bending and vocal acknowledgement that Jehovah is getting. But we read in Revelation that John fell down at the feet of the angel (not the angel Michael) who was showing him the vision twice:

10 At that I fell down before his feet to worship him. But he tells me: Be careful! Do not do that! All I am is a fellow slave of you and of your brothers who have the work of witnessing to Jesus. Worship God; for the bearing witness to Jesus is what inspires prophesying (Revelation 19).

9 And there came one of the 7 angels who had the 7 bowls which were full of the 7 last plagues, and he spoke with me and said: Come here, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife.
10 So he carried me away in [the power of the] spirit to a great and lofty mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God (Revelation 21).

7 And, look! I am coming quickly. Happy is anyone observing the words of the prophecy of this scroll. (Says Jesus)
8 Well, I John was the one hearing and seeing these things. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel that had been showing me these things.
9 But he tells me: Be careful! Do not do that! All I am is a fellow slave of you and of your brothers who are prophets and of those who are observing the words of this scroll. Worship God (Revelation 22 - says the angel of Revelation 21:9,10).

Now making an acknowledgement on one's knees is not necessarily worship, but the point is that the holy spirit stepped in to prevent further idolatry in the case of John, so why did Jesus not rebuke Thomas?

The answer is that Jesus was elevated in status from an angel to a God requiring worship, after he died and was given the name above every other name named.

9 For this very reason also God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every [other] name (Philippians 2).

20 with which he has operated in the case of the Christ when he raised him up from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above every government and authority and power and lordship and every name named, not only in this system of things, but also in that to come (Ephesians 1).

5 For example, to which one of the angels did he ever say: You are my son; I, today, I have become your father? And again: I myself shall become his father, and he himself will become my son?
6 But when he again brings his Firstborn into the inhabited earth, he says: And let all God's angels do obeisance to/worship him.
7 Also, with reference to the angels he says: And he makes his angels spirits, and his public servants a flame of fire.
8 But with reference to the Son: God is your throne forever and ever, and [the] scepter of your kingdom is the scepter of
uprightness.
9 You loved righteousness, and you hated lawlessness. That is why God, your God, anointed you with [the] oil of exultation more than your partners (Hebrews 1).

4 but who with power was declared God's Son according to the spirit of holiness by means of resurrection from the dead yes, Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans1).

So God became Jesus' father in a new way when he was resurrected, in a way that no other angel had experienced, in a way that meant all God's angels should do obeisance to him or worship him. So he became a God to be worshipped, like his father Jehovah. He became his true divine son, a second true God. At the time Paul wrote his letters, in fact at the time of his resurrection from the dead, Jesus was a Mighty God, a God requiring worship like Jehovah, but he was not Almighty God, who is Jehovah himself...

6 For there has been a child born to us, there has been a son given to us; and the princely rule will come to be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9).

Jesus earned this increased status together with the rights of the firstborn angelic son of God, when he gave his life for us and to prove God's messianic prophecies correct. Satan lost these rights when he killed Adam and Eve. Hence Paul says...

14 See therefore that we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens [like a child passes through a school, to rise above them and become a God to be worshipped], Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold on to our confessing [of him] (Hebrews 4).

Now here is the wisdom of God, given to a certain 16 year old sister, in 2003, Claire Matthews, who got this huge understanding. Because really what is the name that is above every other name? Not 'a' name, but 'the' name. Well it is 'Jehovah'. So Jesus was baptised into God’s name when he died - see I32. He finally took on the family name. That makes him a God, a God to be worshipped. The Holy Spirit was the priest for this baptism (because she wears God's name, being his wife, but no individual angel did at that time). It is the greatest of all of our understandings and it came from the youngest of all the LWs and a sister. That is our God for you. But this sister turned apostate and left, that is Satan for you. Mind you she has since returned - thanks to the love of God, her father.

25 At that time Jesus said in response: I publicly praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intellectual ones and have revealed them to babes (Matthew 11).

Do not think that God is unaware of the modern usage of the term 'babe'!

Jesus is God, a mighty God, a God to be worshipped, like Jehovah. But he is not almighty God. He has been elevated from a creation to a true God. He has also given up his angelic body for ransoming purposes and is now resident in a spirit body like God's spirit body, presumably somewhat different from an angelic body. This is a big understanding and we are not going any further with it here. We have enough to get through to you as it is. But we do come from a family of Gods, and our destiny is to be Gods, yes, Gods like Jehovah.

11 Also, I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I am coming to you. Holy Father, watch over them on account of your own name which you have given me, in order that they may be one just as we are.
12 When I was with them I used to watch over them on account of your own name which you have given me; and I have kept them, and not one of them is destroyed except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled (John 17).

This shows that Jesus took Jehovah's name at the last supper, presumably through his drinking of the cup of the ARC - see U15 on the research site. He also left the world when he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and went into the heart of the earth for 3 days and 3 nights (which means the centre of the organisation of God - see U251). This is why Jesus said: I am no longer in the world. His ministry to Isael had ended.

40 For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish 3 days and 3 nights, so the Son of man will be in the heart of the
earth 3 days and 3 nights (Matthew 12).

There is a simple slam dunk proof that Jesus is now a God in Revelation 20...

6 Happy and holy is anyone having part in the resurrection, the first, over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of the Christ [who therefore must be a God], and will reign with him for the 1,000 years.

There are some old testament scriptures which if not translated carefully appear at first sight to contradict the above...

39 See now that I--I am he
And there are no gods with me [ydm(] [standing with me, standing up to me, of equal status to me, of my stature].
I put to death, and I make alive.
I have severely wounded, and I--I will heal,
And there is no one snatching out of my hand (Deuteronomy 32).

45 I am Jehovah and there is no other, apart from me [without me, with me removed] there is no God (Isaiah 45).

### Charles Taze Russell knew that Jesus was elevated to become a God after he gave his life for us

In a tragic and blasphemous reversal the church he founded, the Watchtower, rejected this divine understanding of their cornerstone. Russell said in Studies in the Scripture Part2, the time is at hand, p155...

"It is the same Jesus who has experienced 2 changes of nature, from spirit to human, and from human to divine." (C.T. Russell)

### Who then should we pray to?

27 Next he said to Thomas: Put your finger here, and see my hands, and take your hand and stick it into my side, and stop being unbelieving but become believing.
28 In answer Thomas said to him: My Lord and my God! (John 20).

4 Now concerning the eating of foods offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
5 For even though there are those who are called Gods, whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many Gods and many Lords,
6 there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him (1 Corinthians 8)

32 'I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob'? He is the God, not of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22).

How can Thomas call Jesus his Lord and his God, without being rebuked, and yet Paul say that 'to us' there is one God, Jehovah? Well the answer lies in Jesus words, when he said that Jehovah was God of the living, the judicially living, the born again, those who have associated angels. But Jesus became a God after his resurrection and was undeniably a God of Thomas who was sanctified, living, but not sealed. Now God being a spirit becomes the father of those who are born again in spirit, those who are sanctified in holy spirit, those who gain the angelic resurrection whilst still alive as humans. But this fathership can evaporate unless the snctified one is sealed. Upon sealing Jesus becomes their eternal father, their eternal Lord but Jehovah is their one and only God. Jesus ceases to be their God upon sealing. But Jesus is God of the dead, God of the humans who do not have eternal life as angels as well. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by covenant.

When Paul said that we only have one God, he meant that the congregation as a whole only has one God, since some of that church were sealed. Jesus and Jehovah are coregent in Godship for sanctified unsealed Christians. Jesus alone is God of the dead, the sons of Abraham, and Jehovah alone is God of those declared righteous in spirit, those sealed in the spirit, those with eternal life from the eternal father Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Lord of the living church, Jehovah is its God.

So in covenant terms Jehovah alone is the God of Michael. By this we mean Jehovah alone is the God of those in the ARC whose eternal father is Michael. But both Jehovan and Jesus are Gods of the unsealed born again.

So all those who are dead but have faith should pray to and worship Jesus Christ. This amusingly would include Jews, Muslims, Roman Catholics, Hindus, Seikhs, Falun Gongs, Pentecostals, Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Evangelicals, Buddhists, New Age Travellers in fact all of mankind with faith in a deity, for they are the covenant sons of Abraham. But all those who are alive should pray to and worship Jehovah, and those who are sealed should only pray to and worship Jehovah.

In the days of the LCC, Jehovah was the God of Abraham and his sons genetically who were to be circumcised. The land inheritance went eventualy to Jacob and his sons, not any other sons of Abraham. But all the sons of Abraham who were circumcised were God's covenanted people whilst the LCC was in force. But that covenant ended in 36Tishri. At that time Jehovah became exclusively the God of the born again in spirit, spiritual Israel, the sons of the JAC.

### Blessings

59 And they went on casting stones at Stephen as he made appeal and said: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60 Then, bending his knees, he cried out with a strong voice: Lord, do not charge this sin against them. And after saying
this he fell asleep [in death] (Acts 7).

Stephen called Jesus Lord, after Pentecost, and of course Stephen was sealed, so Jehovah was his one and only God. Yet he could cry out to Jesus, his Lord and eternal father. Jesus was the father of his spirit, hence he entrusted the same to him. So today we can ask our Lord Jesus to bless us out loud, this is not an act of worship. But we cannot pray to Jesus if we are sealed in the spirit.

### How Precisely did Michael become a God?

We know from the Gospel of Philip that Jesus entered into the body of God to be born as a God. Quoting from this Gnostic text...

The chrism [is a passing of a baptism test, a particular type of anointing] is superior to baptism [which is the entrance into a baptism test], for it is from the word "Chrism" that we have been called "Christians," certainly not because of the word "baptism" [Well that nails the baptist church!]. And it is because of the chrism [the passing of the test of Jesus baptism as far as death on the stake] that "the Christ" has his name [which name is Jehovah]. For the Father anointed [chose] the Son [God anointed Jesus and Jesus anointed Paul], and the Son [Jesus of God and Paul of Jesus] anointed [chose] the apostles [Jesus chose those of FDS1 and Paul chose those of FDS2], and the apostles anointed us [they water baptise in a chain every member of their tribe]. He who has been anointed possesses everything [he has everlasting life]. He possesses the resurrection, the light, the cross, the Holy Spirit. The Father gave him this in the bridal chamber; he merely accepted (the gift). The [the character of the] Father was in the Son and the [spirit of the] Son [was] in the [the divine body of the] Father [after his resurrection before he split off in his own divine body becoming a true God]. This is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Once the son has grasped and accepted and fully incorporated the righteousness and love of Jehovah into his own character, then God will incorporate the spirit of that son into his own body and then divide that body in two creating a new God. And there is the whole plan of the Kingdom of Heaven in one sentence.

This is not such an alien concept. Every mother gives birth in this way. In fact the Father becomes the mother when he gives birth to a God, and to paraphrase Jesus, what has been born from flesh is flesh, what has been born from spirit is spirit and what has been born from God is God. So God is the father of our flesh and our spirit but the mother of our divinity.