The Revelation of Jesus Christ by Frank Ewart

[witness4jesus]

The Revelation of Jesus Christ
By Frank J. Ewart

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Foreword
The revelation of Jesus Christ that the Apostle Paul received to deliver to the church, was that Christ was the "mystery of God" (Col. 2:2, RV). In other words, according to Paul, Jesus Christ was the one, true God, veiled in flesh. 1 Tim. 3:16, "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh." Paul earnestly warns the church, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:8-9).
Now, this is the mystery that we are commanded to fellowship. It is the only possible way to sustain the absolute oneness of God. This revelation enables us to fellowship to the mystery of Jesus Christ's teachings: He disclaims any of the glory belonging to God, the Eternal Spirit, within Him. Jesus Christ was the last theophany: "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us in a son" (Heb. 1:1-2).

The seeming "separate identity" of Father and Son, is owing to the fact that Jesus invariably spoke from two distinct standpoints: That of the Son of God, our example in the flesh. As such, He was the "Sign Son." Then He spoke from the standpoint of the deity. Jesus tried to forestall this confusion in the minds of men, by the emphatic statements, I and My Father are one," and, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me."

To the earnest request of Philip, "Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth us," Jesus answered, "have I been so long time with you and dost thou not known me, Philip?" (John 14:9, RV). Philip's request was based on the statement of Jesus in the seventh verse; if ye had know Me, ye would have known My Father also, and from henceforth ye know Him and have seen Him." Jesus Christ, here gave the most revolutionary "NO" in human thought, to the universal tendency of all Christendom, to separate the Father from the Son. "No man knoweth who the Son is but the Father; neither knoweth any man who the Father is but the Son, and he, to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." The marginal reading of the best Bibles, sustained by the Greek, puts "It" in the place of "HIM" in this text. The word, "IT" relates to the Mystery of the Father in the Son. Jesus' own explanation is: "I am in the Father and the Father is in Me." So, William Phillips Hall, states, that the revelation of the Fatherhood of God is exclusively confined to the SON. If there was a separate identity of Father and Son as to individuality, Jesus would have answered His disciple Philip's query altogether different. His answer absolutely prohibits any separate identity. He was not here to hide the Father, or enshroud Him with mystery, impenetrable: He was here to reveal Him. The other disciples all shared in Philip's dilemma; but, after Pentecost this mystery of mysteries was perfectly clear. This was the fulfilment of His promise: "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the FATHER" (John 16:25).

To this pertinent question, on human lips ever since Jesus left the earth, "Who was Jesus Christ?" only one answer is scriptural: That is, He was God manifested in the flesh. Theologians call this union, the "God-man." But, the sad part of their vain theory about the Deity is, that they make Jesus a separate individual in Spirit Form from the Father -- the SECOND Person -- if you please. Bless His Name, He is not the second. He is the FIRST and the LAST -- "God Over All, blessed, forever, Amen."

Every man in pulpit or pew, in priestly or preacher's garb, or otherwise arrayed, the voice of a creed or a free-lance, who teaches that Jesus Christ was not the Eternal Spirit -- the Creator, manifested in flesh, labors under the same misapprehension of Him, as Philip and the other disciples, before the Spirit's revelation on and after the Day of Pentecost. The pathetic complaint of the Master, "Have I been so long time with thee, and yet hast thou not know Me," is directly applicable to them. To all who say that Jesus Christ is a second Person, making Him a secondary consideration in any sense whatsoever, Jesus is the "unknown God." Whom, therefore, they ignorantly worship. The pathetic and tragic statements made by the leaders in trinitarian circles, that they worship each one of the three persons or Gods separately, and that they know when they quit talking to one and commence talking to the other shows what abysmal ignorance characterizes their doctrine of true worship. It is written, "Thou shalt worship the Lord, thy God, and HIM ONLY, shalt thou serve."

Paul preached God to these Athenian philosophers -- "God that made the world and all things therein." If that God was not Jesus Christ -- the Logos, then John labored under an illusion; for he states: "He (Jesus) was in the world and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not," and lest anyone should be mislead about who created all things, he says, "All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made."

With this blinding flash the cross of Calvary becomes too big for human apprehension -- words fail to express the love and grace manifested there. God the eternal Father, did not send another, apart from Himself; it was He, Himself, that sacrificed His body! 1 John 3:16 declares that "God gave Himself for us." Calvary unlocked the flow of God's love, which is God's very nature, unto the hearts of His creatures, making the "New Birth" possible. It is to the fuller unfolding of this "Mystery of Mysteries," the following pages are dedicated.

[witness4jesus]

"A church, denomination, organization or assembly which refuses to take the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in Christian baptism could never have a place in His Bride." [Frank Ewart, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, p. 42, Ewart was one of the chief architects of the New Birth doctrine and a primary leader in the Oneness Pentecostal origins and development. His influence is probably as significant as any other person in Oneness Pentecostal history.]

[witness4jesus]

Dividing Over Oneness
The Oneness movement pushed Pentecostals to organize
by Kenneth Gill


Preach in Jesus' Name,
teach in Jesus' Name
Heal the sick in his Name;
And always proclaim,
it was Jesus' Name
In which the power came;
Baptize in His name,
enduring the shame,
For there is victory in Jesus' Name.

So went one of the hymns of the Oneness Pentecostals, for whom Jesus was the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Their desire to recapture the mantle of the apostolic church started with questions over the proper formula to use in water baptism. But they were soon questioning even the doctrine of the Trinity.

In April 1913, a Pentecostal-Holiness meeting was held in Arroyo Seco, California. Between 1,500 and 2,000 Pentecostals, mainly pastors, attended the meetings each night, with hundreds more filling the camp on Sundays. It was here that Robert Edward McAlister, a respected Canadian minister, observed that though Jesus had told his disciples to "baptize [disciples] in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," the New Testament invariably records the apostles baptizing only "in the name of Jesus."

Pentecostal preacher Frank J. Ewart later said, "The gun was fired from that platform which was destined to resound throughout all Christendom."

In fact, by January 1915, the message had spread across the continent. Many of the Pentecostal faithful were rebaptized to follow the ways of the apostolic church. They believed older doctrines, long diseased by generations of unfaithfulness and the inability to heed God's Spirit, were being uncovered by this "new light" of the Holy Spirit.

For most of the new adherents, this was just a different formula for baptism, not a conscious rejection of the Trinity. Eventually, however, while Oneness Pentecostals worshiped God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the terms Trinity and persons were rejected as unbiblical.

Two in the Spirit
J. Roswell Flower, later secretary of the Assemblies of God (AG), was anxious not only about the apparent denial of orthodox doctrine but also with the potential this "new issue" had for creating division. He urged other leaders to call a meeting of the General Council to prevent it from spreading.

On October 1, 1915, 525 delegates met in St. Louis, ready for a confrontation. The Oneness adherents did not present an aggressive front, so no strong effort was made to censure them. Instead the council proposed a compromise. It specifically denounced the practice of rebaptism as well as a few other Oneness doctrines. But it acknowledged both formulas for baptism as Christian.

The Oneness Pentecostals became increasingly vocal after the council, and within a year, the AG delegates were back in St. Louis. They were to decide once and for all whether the denomination was big enough to accept Oneness adherents.

Since its formation in 1914, the group had rebelled against formal organization. They wanted to reestablish the church of the New Testament, and the New Testament gave no examples of organization beyond local churches. Creeds, "tradition," and power structures had corrupted the church and stifled the Holy Spirit.

So rather than address the doctrinal issues of the Trinity, the Oneness contingent (made up largely of African-Americans) stressed that they did not want to establish a set of doctrinal statements for the AG. In fact, they voted against every proposition that was raised.

Their strategy failed. A "Statement of Fundamental Truths," almost half of which was a repudiation of Oneness beliefs, was accepted as the AG standard. More than a quarter of those attending, 156 members, were forced to leave the AG and form new organizations (the most important of these were the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and—via several future mergers—the United Pentecostal Church.) But because of the AG's reaction to the "new issue," the group became solidified as a denomination early in its history.

Many small Oneness groups formed after 1916, though many have remained independent. Today scholars estimate there are between 1.5 and 5 million Oneness Pentecostals worldwide, and they make up only a fraction of one percent of the world's Pentecostals.

[witness4jesus]

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus name.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand.

---G.T.Haywood

[nightwatchman]

Present statistics estimate that there are over 18 million Oneness Pentecostals worldwide. The Oneness Movement, perhaps more than any other branch of Pentecostalism, has dedicated itself to Apostolic doctrine. Oneness Pentecostals have a great Pentecostal heritage, a history marked by the pioneering spirit of Oneness believers dedicated to the truth and the power of a New Testament theology that truly distinguishes this segment of the Pentecostal Movement.

[witness4jesus]

Let's lift up a higher standard.
Let's bring people to the standard of Jesus Name.

Let us continue to separate ourselves from those
who hold the truth in unrighteousness, who know
not God and dont obey God.

Let us show the power of Jesus name and let the
signs follow us; let us not flock to a banner just
because of the outward signs.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.

sis pam

[witness4jesus]

Adoniyah, take a look at what Ewart has to say about
our fellowship. Obviously he did not feel that it was
with people who CONTINUED in the trinity.

The whole thing is this: If we are in trinity, and we are
presented with the truth of One God, we then have a
choice, whether to CONTINUE or not.

If one is ignorant of the truth, that is one thing, but if
someone has been presented with the truth of One God,
that is another. And the Assembly of God had obviously
heard the word on who Jesus is. Are we then to fellowship
those that have rejected the truth? I dont think Jesus would,
or His disciples.

Those that ignorantly worship God we are to declare Him to
them. But to those who know who He is and still reject.....

sis pam

[Faithchild]

Witness4Jesus, one of my favorite Frank Ewart quotes was taken from his book,"The Name and the Book." Ewart declared, "We are a supernatural church, endowed with supernatural power, gathered in a supernatural name!" May we never forget these words of a Pentecostal pioneer.

[truemessianic]

Now, that quote is completely awesome! We are indeed a supernatural church. We have supernatural power, and we are of THE supernatural NAME:
JESUS
Wow! What a thought! What a life!

[BroDane]

I am glad pastor Rutledge walked into a AG church one day.

I was there then...and I believe because he went there that I am here today.

Thank God for people willing to go to the byways......

Read More here about it: (scroll down to the testimony)

http://www.goodnewscafe.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=11324#post11324