Jakes Change Bishop T.D.

Jakes is the senior Pastor of the Potter's House megachurch which is located in Dallas, Texas. Jakes has said that he has recently moved away from a "Oneness" view of the Godhead to embrace the trinity. He was raised as a Baptist, but claims to be ordained a Bishop by the Greater Emmanuel Apostolic Church over twenty years ago. Jakes -- who once made the cover of Time magazine, which asked if he might be the next Billy Graham -- said he was saved in a Oneness Pentecostal church. Oneness denies the separation and division of the trinity and instead states that God is a Spirit. He is One God with many manifestations but primarily three in the New Testament. In Oneness there is no division in God - He's simply One. The doctrine of the trinity -- which is embraced by all Catholics and her break away daughters, the Protestants-- holds that God is three persons, each person is distinct, each person is fully God, and that they all are somehow still just one God in unity." Jakes who has been long a controversial figure among evangelicals because of his past unwillingness to affirm the trinity, had stated his new belief system on January 27, 2012 at the second-annual Elephant Room, an event that brings together so-called Christian figures from different backgrounds for what organizers call "conversations you never thought you'd hear." This year's Elephant Room was held at Harvest Bible Chapel in Illinois and was simulcast to other locations nationwide. James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel in Illinois and Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle interviewed Jakes. Here are some of his responses. Note, not everything Jakes said will make all trinitarians happy. He said he considers both sides of the issue to be Christians, and that his church has affiliations with both camps. He also said "we're all saying the same thing." But under questioning from Driscoll, Jakes again affirmed the Trinity: Driscoll: "Do you believe this is the perfect, inspired, final authority Word of God?" (Driscoll held up a Bible.) Jakes: "Absolutely." Driscoll: "So you believe there's one God, three Persons -- father, son and Holy Spirit? You believe Jesus was fully God, fully Man?" Jakes: "Absolutely." Driscoll: "You believe He died on the cross in our place for our sins?" Jakes: "Absolutely." Driscoll: "You believe He bodily rose from death?" Jakes: "Absolutely." Driscoll: "You believe that He is the judge of the living and the dead?" Jakes: "Yes."

Driscoll: "And you believe that apart from Jesus there is no salvation?" Jakes: "Absolutely." Yet the Bishop once held to this Scriptural or if you prefer, Biblical belief: "There is but one person who is God who acted in three separate manifestations (aka modes). In the Old Testament they say he acted as father; in the New Testament he was the son Jesus, and now he is acting as Holy Spirit. Not three persons, but one person acting in three different ways or roles." And on the T.D. Jakes Ministries Web site, there's an older but still accessible version of their Statement of Faith which reads, There is one God, creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and existing in three Manifestations: father, son, and Holy Spirit. However, their new doctrinal statement has been altered to read: Three dimensions of one God (1 John 5:7, Matt. 28:19, 1 Tim. 3:16) We believe in one God, who is eternal in His existence, triune in His Manifestations, being both Father, Son and Holy Ghost and that He is Sovereign and Absolute in His authority. "The trinity is not a biblical term, to begin with. It's a theological description for something that is so beyond human comprehension that I'm not sure that we can totally hold God to a numerical system. The Lord said, Behold, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one, and beside Him there is no other. When God got ready to make a man that looked like Him, He didn't make three. He made one man. However, that one man had three parts. He was body, soul and spirit. We have one God, but He is Father in creation, Son in redemption, and Holy Spirit in regeneration. It's very important that we understand that, but I think that the first thing that every believer needs to do is to approach God by faith, and then having approached Him by faith, then they need to sit up under good teaching so that they can begin to understand who the God is that they have believed upon. (Living by the Word on KKLA, hosted by John Coleman, Aug. 23, 1998) Now Jakes had also said this in the February 1, 2000 edition of Christianity Today: "While I mix with Christians from a broad range of theological perspectives, I speak only for my personal faith and convictions. I am not a theologian, and I avoid quoting even theologians who agree with me. To defend my beliefs, I go directly to the Bible. My views on the Godhead are from 1 John 5:7-8, For there are three that bear record in heaven: the father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. I believe in one God who is the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. I believe these three have distinct and separate functionsso separate that each has individual attributes, yet are one. I do not believe in three gods." So Why Change? First of all do not forget that God never changes. (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8) Jakes had received pressure from the Southern Baptists who wanted LifeWay Christian Stores to stop selling his books. Most probably this weighed heavily upon his mind as he came out with his new doctrinal statements. Also he's a regular on the Trinity Broadcasting

Network. A Baptist Preacher named Ken Silva began openly attacking his views on God. He mocked Jakes views on the Godhead by tweeting this nonsense. BishopJakes: "Which God are you talking about? The triune god... or the fictitious god of modalism? Which one do you believe in? Another trinity holder tweeted this message of compromise to him. BishopJakes: "The church must lift up a standard of unity." Many pastors throughout time who once knew the truth, turned away from the faith once delivered unto the early church saints. (Jude 1:3) Still, not one of the Apostles ever spoke of or taught about a trinity. But today the whole wonders after this system of worship. He claims this is his official reason for the doctrinal change. "I began to realize that there are some things that could be said about the father that could not be said about the son," Jakes said. "There are distinctives between the working of the Holy Spirit and the moving of the Holy Spirit, and the working of the redemptive work of Christ. I'm very comfortable with that." Jakes said he uses the term "manifestations" instead of the term "persons." It's a position he has stated before. Instead of using the term "persons," Jakes has long confessed he believes the "one God" is "eternally existing in three manifestations: father, son and Holy Spirit." Jakes then proceeds to use "manifestations" in ways he hopes that both trinitarians and Oneness might find acceptable. Jakes, moreover, argues that "manifestations" derives from 1 Timothy 3:16. But he misuses the term's meaning in that passage, wrenching it from its Christological context and transferring it to the trinity. The only "manifestation" to which 1 Timothy 3:16 refers is the incarnation of God in Christ. God was "manifested" in the flesh of Christ; this Christ was "justified" or "vindicated" by the Spirit through the Resurrection; this Christ was "received up into glory." The manifestation of God was Christ in 1 Timothy 3:16, not the father and not the Holy Spirit. Jakes does not offer a proper exegetical basis for his unique theological term. T.D. Jakes now wants to have both trinitarians and Oneness Believer's classified as brothers in Christ at the same time. Jakes calls both groups saved, yet they both serve two different masters. (Matthew 6:24) Nevertheless, one cannot be double minded. (James 1:8) A divided kingdom or house will fall. (Mark 3:25) Nobody is both hot and cold at the same time. (Revelations 3:16) In other words, there's only one way to God - through the name and person of Jesus Christ. (John 14:6) This is the same Bishop that said these very things in the past as well. "Christ in you - the hope of Glory! You are no greater than what you believe. You are no stronger than your belief system. You cannot have victory without conflict." How have the mighty have fallen! (2 Samuel 1:25) This same thing was once said of Saul a man who was king over God's inheritance, Israel. But when he disobeyed God, his fall came in time. And not only that, he took his beloved son Jonathan with him into a battle, of which he knew that he was destined to fail at because of his rebellion against God! (1 Samuel 15:23-26; 28:4-20; 31:1-6) Stand strong Christians in the power of His (Christ's) might - to overcome all things. (Ephesians 6:10-16; Revelations 21:7) What is gained if you control the whole world, yet lose out with God? "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26) Absolutely nothing! But Jakes now has a sweet book deal, lots of airtime on TBN and plenty of respect from the triniarians now, this seems more than

enough for him.