gods “little g”
“God intends us to be gods. The great awakening that needs to come to all our hearts, and that has come so gradually to the world, is that there is a God-power and a soul- force in the nature of man.”- John G. Lake 1925
The bible makes it clear that many will refer to themselves as gods. BUT for us there is only one God and it is NOT us:
Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. (1 Co 8:4–6).
Paul clearly argued against the idea that we are or become gods:
“Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God,” (Acts 14:11–15).
Notice that Paul made it clear that he was of the same nature as those lost men that he was preaching to. Even the angels refused to be considered gods and said that they are merely servants like man, confirming a wholly different nature than Godness:
Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” (Re 22:8–9)
One thing I run into quite often when talking to someone who is captive to the little gods heresy is that they have seen miracles. The teachers of these doctrines have healed people, they claim. So what they are saying must be true. The bible has three things to say to that:
- Just because they do miracles does not mean they are not false teachers.
“false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Mt 24:24) - God does miracles not man. People are healed by their faith in God, not a teacher or man.
“And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” (Mk 5:34) - Those you teach false doctrine will not be saved by any wonders they did in God’s name.
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me.” (Mt 7:22–23)
So false prophets can do signs and wonders and it is said that signs and wonders will accompany believers (Mark 16:17-18). Therefore we can conclude that signs and wonders are not to be used to decide what is true doctrine. Does the bible teach us what IS to be used? YES! We are to study the bible and make sure their doctrine lines up with what it says. “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” (Ac 17:11)
Let us be clear about what the bible says about “gods”. The word “gods” appears in the bible 98 times. All 98 times it is a negative connotation. Some have pointed out that Jesus called humans gods in John 10:34. So let’s look at it: Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’? (Jn 10:34) Jesus is quoting Psalms 82. How do we know that? Well, it is the only place in the bible (the law) that says that. So what context is it used in Pslams 82? I suggest you read the whole chapter but here is the relevant part:
God stands in the congregation of the mighty;
He judges among the gods.
How long will you judge unjustly,
And show partiality to the wicked?
…
I said, “You are gods,
And all of you are children of the Most High.
But you shall die like men,
And fall like one of the princes.”
Now does that sound like a good thing that he called them gods? No! The Hebrew word here in psalms is the word for holy judge. The point of the psalm is that God or The True Judge will judge the so-called judges. It’s a condemnation of false judges. So is Jesus trying to turn that around and make it a good thing? Well let’s look at the John 10:34 passage in context and see:
The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” (Jn 10:33–38)
Notice that again we are dealing with judges and specifically a judgment of blasphemy. Jesus is admonishing them and reminding them that they (others in their office) have been called false gods before by God himself. There is no way of reading John 10 in which Jesus refers to them as “gods” by quoting Psalm 82 is a positive or affirming thing.
Partakers
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Pe 1:2–4).
To partake means to take into yourself, to join or share from. Partake does not mean to become. So in what way are we partakers of the divine nature? When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are saved (Acts 16:31). At that moment we are sealed by the Holy Spirit: “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Eph 1:13–14) This makes us a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). But the point is that we are in Christ. (Romans 8:1).
History Lesson
Let’s introduce a really interesting man, Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-1866) or PPQ for short. He came up with the idea of “new thought”. Or at least that’s what it came to be called. He wrote a lot and you can read it if you want online for free here. The idea was that our mind is actually god of our physical body. Most of his writing is vague and hard to nail down but this is the general sense of it. He said that Jesus came to teach us that. Here is a quote “God made Himself manifest in the flesh, and came into the world, suffered, and died, and rose again, to show us that we should all rise from the dead.” He said that he could heal people by convincing their minds that they were well. He also taught that we could heal ourselves by thinking it because our minds were gods of our bodies. He spoke in a lot of metaphors and equated God with Science (using a capital S).
Then came a very religious but sickly woman, Mary Baker Eddy. She went to PPQ as a patient and he convinced her she was well. She studied his methods and ideas. She twisted a lot of scripture to fit the ideas into the bible and founded a church that became Christian Science whose core doctrine was that medicine is evil. She fell on the ice one day and hurt her back then supposedly cured herself by just reading the bible. “As I read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and the result was that I arose, dressed myself, and ever after was in better health than I had before enjoyed.” Then she sued the city claiming “still suffering from the effects of that fall”. Oh well.
Quimby’s work also influenced Joseph Smith who founded the Mormons and taught that we will become Gods (capital G).
And Charles Praham who was one of the leaders of the new pentecostal movement. According to Praham he and his newborn son both became deathly ill in September 1897. He had read some of Mary Baker Eddy’s work and since medicine was not helping them he gave it a shot. He then claimed he had been divinely healed. Parham renounced medicine and doctors and committed himself to preaching divine healing only. Charles had one very important convert in the name of John G. Lake. He became very famous as an evangelical missionary to Africa. And wrote “God-Men” in 1925. In that work, he claimed that when we are saved, we become gods. Having the power to heal in and of ourselves. It’s available online for free here.
Now lets back up in history a bit and visit a Methodist Preacher named E. W. Kenyon (1867-1948) who was taught “new thought” by A.J. Gordon. Kenyon repackaged the ideas and called it “positive confession”. In “The Hidden Man” he says ” I am of God. If I am of God, you may expect me to act like God, to speak like God.” and “You understand that man is in God’s class of being. When he was created in the Garden he was made in the image and likeness of God. He had to be a spirit being because God is a Spirit… He had to be a spirit being, an eternal being who would live as long as God lives. Man had to be in God’s class.” and “Faith’s confession creates realities.” Many of Kenyon’s pupils credit the following to him “Adam and Eve were placed in the world as the seed and expression of God. Just as dogs have puppies and cats have kittens, so God has little gods. Seed remains true to its nature, bearing its own kind. When God said, “Let us make man in our image,” He created us as little gods, but we have trouble comprehending this truth. We see ourselves as “little people” with very little power and dominion. Until we comprehend that we are little gods and we begin to act like little gods, we cannot manifest the Kingdom of God.” -Earl Paulk, Satan Unmasked.
Kenneth Hagin, who actually plagiarized Kenyon often, said “You are as much the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ was. Every man who has been born again is an incarnation.” And there are many others that subscribe “new thought” teachings to Christianity. The “Little Gods Doctrine” is also taught by Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton, Cello Dollar, Joyce Meyer, Paula White, Kenneth Copeland, Oral Roberts, Benny Hinn, Todd White, and others. Many others are careful to not mention the doctrine but endorse and use Hagin’s “Positive Confession” teachings like Joseph Prince, Joel Osteen, Robert Tilton and more that are popular today.
The Point
The word of God teaches us about God. One of his main teachings is that there is only ONE true God. And gods are always false gods.
Let us return to a biblical church model. Prior to Augustine and Pelagian and Calvin and Quimby. Let us as a church stop bringing man-made doctrines to the bible and let the Word of God lead and teach us.
by 