The Trinity brings out an Ugly Spirit!
May 25th, 2010 by Ron S.
I’ve been wanting to do this post for a couple of weeks now, but somehow could never find the time to get it totally finished until today. I hope my fellow posters here on KR won’t mind if I go out of turn. Just think of this as my long lost “Saturday” post. 
One of the truly great things about going to such a conference is being able to come into contact with such a diverse group of people from all over the United States and even the world itself. I met many really wonderful people that journeyed far & wide to come to the conference so that they could hear the speakers, meet others of like faith, and hopefully take home with them some new knowledge, encouragement, and a feeling of being united together in the pursuit of the real truth of Scripture.
Throughout the week of the conference (and a post-conference class I attended) I did my best where possible to talk to as many of the attendees that I could at times. I wanted to get to know everyone’s faith viewpoints and experiences. In so doing, I began to discover an unfortunate and all-too-common shared experience. Though I myself had come across the same thing over the years (perhaps to a much lesser degree), it was disconcerting that the majority of the attendees I spoke with shared very similar stories of this happening to them in such profound ways. What I’m speaking of is the usual reaction one tends to get from someone who believes in The Trinity when you tell them that you do not. Over and over again, person after person spoke of the fact that once they began to attempt to explain to others that after studying the Bible in earnest they came to the conclusion (usually after much prayer and reflection) that The Trinity was false and they believed that Scripture plainly taught that Jesus was not “God the Son”, but simply the “Son of God” – God’s chosen fully human Messiah, the person (or persons) who believed in the Trinity, almost instantly became agitated, angry and often downright mean-spirited. Time and again attendees spoke of people who they considered to be Christian friends, fellow church members, clergy, or even fellow believers in their own family, suddenly turning nasty and becoming outwardly hostile in their demeanor towards them on the issue. It was like that they abruptly switched to being a different person. A Christian attitude of love, patience and compassion suddenly if not instantly is overtaken by an attitude of contempt, bitterness, and barely constrained rage.
To me this kind of behavior speaks volumes about its authenticity and ultimate source. Matthew 7:16 & 20 says “you will know them by their fruits”. If that type of outward hostility isn’t a clear indicator of bad fruit, I don’t know what would be. Where did the proper Christian mindset and attitude go? What happened to Paul’s instruction to “be kind to all”, to be “patient when wronged”, and “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition” (2 Timothy 2:24-25)? What about Peter’s admonition to be “brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:8) and again to employ “gentleness” – “always be ready to make a defense to every one that ask you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;” (1 Peter 3:15). And why is Paul’s teaching from Ephesians 4 not followed by these so-called brothers & sisters in the Christian faith – “Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Eph 4:31-32)? Many times over the instruction is to be humble, kind, patient, and loving towards others in the faith. Paul explained this in 1 Timothy 5:12 when in discussing how to teach others he said: “in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe”.
Of course these very Apostolic instructions went right out the window very early on in Christian history. From the time that the Trinity became official orthodox dogma through numerous church councils in the 2nd to 4th centuries (mainly the Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, and Chalcedon), belief in the Doctrine of the Trinity was enforced BY FORCE. Dissenters were excommunicated, imprisoned, tortured, and put to death for daring to disagree with the Trinity. Jesus’ commission to “love your enemies” and to “turn the other cheek”, became “believe that Jesus is God the Son of the Holy Trinity or we’re going to kill you”. Those who saw themselves as defenders of Christian orthodoxy tortured and murdered their fellow Christians because of their refusal to accept a requirement to believe Jesus was a co-equal, co-eternal member of a triune Godhead. But how could this ever come to fruition? What type of Christ-like behavior could possibly condone much less participate in such barbarous cruelty? How could thousands upon thousands of Christians (and many more times that for Jews) be forced to suffer persecution and violence by those who profess to love and believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob and His Christ? Could they not see that by their very actions they were the ones that Jesus himself predicted would come to be in John 16:2-3? “…an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.”
Thankfully the death penalty for not believing in the Trinity fell by the wayside a little over 300 years ago. But those that are misguided and don’t truly know God and his Messiah still have the same anger and violent predisposition of their bad-spirited forefathers. To this day there are those who would be willing to be like John Calvin and have non-trinitarian dissenters like Michael Servetus murdered in cold blood. There are those who would light the first match and fan the flames to burn all those believed to be heretical to the orthodox position on the Trinity. Don’t believe that could happen in this day and age? I think it could happen given the right circumstances. For example, recently some unitarian Christian friends of mine were on an online Evangelical Christian forum and were engaging in a debate with some Trinitarian believers on the Trinity. After my friends commented on the historical persecution of non-trinitarians, a couple of the Trinitarian posters openly made the suggestion that it would be good if they were “put to death – like in the old days” for spreading their heresy online. In jest or not, that is NOT the way a Christian should think or talk to anyone – much less fellow believers in Christ.
Today even when Trinity espousers do not advocate the evil extremes of the past, there typically remains that hostile spirit. Not only did I hear of it in the numerous personal experiences from so many of the conference attendees and also from other Christian friends who don’t believe in the Trinity, but I myself have encountered it on many an occasion. I’ve seen it occur in debates I’ve had with people online, over email, and in person. I’ve seen it happen in other public debates presented online and on the radio. Typically when discussing with someone how Scripture actually provides far greater evidence that the Trinity is false, it seems that the majority of Trinitarians immediately start exhibiting behavioral signs of agitation, animosity, indignation, and resentment. I’ve witnessed repeated examples of Trinitarians giving debate responses that were highly sanctimonious, haughty, and condescending. I even had a preacher tell of a fellow preacher who was a friend of his but they differed in their belief in the Trinity. In a discussion about it, the one who believed in the Trinity told the other one that they had to stop their discussion because he was becoming “full of rage” towards his friend. Again, these behaviors are the exact polar opposite of what the apostles said we are to have. Traits such as kindness, brotherly love, gentleness, humbleness, patience just are not usually there when it comes to a defense of the Trinity – something that most who believe in it, say comes from God.
Yes by their fruits we will know them. And the fruit of the Trinity is bad to the core. It doesn’t come from God. It doesn’t come from His Holy Spirit. And it sure doesn’t come from His Messiah who practiced and preached peace and love to all. It doesn’t even come later from any of the Apostles or Paul. No such a hostile, dark spirit can only come from one source – the god of THIS age (2 Cor 4:4). Who else but Satan could be behind such acrimony and ill will? Who else would cause Christians to feel rage and wish to do violence to their fellow Christian over a belief who’s very term (Trinity) never exists in all of Scripture? Who else could be behind the almost demonic possession of people who find themselves filled with malice and antagonism when defending the Trinity belief to those that feel it isn’t true? It has to be the one that Paul warned us about. He said that the same serpent that deceived Eve by his craftiness would lead them astray from the “simplicity” in Christ (2 Cor. 11:3) – and the Trinity is anything but simple when it typically is admitted to be an “incomprehensible mystery”. Paul went on to say that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” and that there were “false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ” (2 Cor. 11:13-14). Were the actions in enforcing the Trinity belief with such violence down through the centuries done by true apostles or “false” ones? Was such evil behavior done by true workers or “deceitful workers”? The answer is clear. Such vile fruit comes from its architect – Satan. The Apostle John said that “the WHOLE WORLD lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). It shouldn’t be surprising that the Trinity belief took over the Jewish “Shema” and its view of God as a single person. Lies, misinformation and confusion are Satan’s favorite tools. Jesus called Satan for what he really is – “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand for truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Peter called Satan our “enemy” and said that he “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). And with the construction of the Trinity, Satan has been able to “devour” a lot of good people. He has deceived the majority of the world. Throughout history he has bitterly persecuted and murdered those that dared to oppose it.
If you have been a believer in the Trinity and have found yourself getting angry while reading this or while reading or hearing other logical and Scriptural arguments against the Trinity, think about if those feelings are the feelings you should be having. If you feel bitterness and animosity towards people like myself and others who try to show that Scripture overwhelmingly disproves the Trinity, then is your viewpoint really the truth of God? Shouldn’t you be calm, compassionate, and feel a warm sense of Christian love for your brothers & sisters that aren’t on the path of truth? Wouldn’t the correct response to be to try and convince those of us that are mistaken with tenderness and great patience? If you find yourself agitated, resentful, and just generally unfriendly in defending the Trinity, shouldn’t that speak volumes to you about its probable source? Think long and hard about that ultimate source. Would God want or cause people to behave and feel in such ways? I don’t think so. And if you’re really honest with yourself, I believe you’ll come to the same conclusion.
As Scripture tells us – the side of truth and love, the side of righteousness will exhibit the right behavior:
1 John 3:7-10
“Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.“
Interesting that you would mention “demonic possession.” I was dating a girl once whose dad was a deacon in a Baptist church. Her mother I think has not graduated from high school, as I recall. In one of the many discussions with her parents, her mother’s face became contorted, she gnashed her teeth at me and was barely comprehensible in her speech. I had not witnessed such rage in all my life.
It was only later that I did some reading on demon possession and found some of these same characteristics described. I am not saying that she was demon possessed, but this was one of the more extreme cases that I have witnessed.
To this day, I don’t understand why people react that way and how they can justify it. These people do not have the same reaction to Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens or any of the other current crop of God-deniers.
Tim
You said, “These people do not have the same reaction to Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens or any of the other current crop of God-deniers.”
I believe it is because they can look down on these people as lost souls that are ignorant of the truth. They therefore they don’t see them as a threat to their own interpretation of scripture. But they see Unitarians as leading people astray (away from the truth) and they see us a threat to their own interpretation of scripture.
Some probably consider us to be representatives of the Anti-Christ (the great deceiver). Most probably don’t perceive us as being their brothers in Christ and fellow children of God. Of course not all are like that. All three of my best friends are Trinitarians. I have never actually met another Unitarian (in person that is)…
Hey Tim!
Yeah you mentioned that to me awhile back and I forgot about it. That’s another great example of this. It is like the Agents in “The Matrix”. They could take over any regular person still plugged into the Matrix in order to quickly go after those that were unplugged & trying to expose everything. Satan’s Matrix of the Trinity must have his “agents” (demons) take over those fully plugged into it to lash out at those of us who try to expose it!
And you’re right that they don’t get that way with an Atheist or Agnostic who denies God & Scripture.
DT – you’re probably right in that they’re not perceived as a threat. Though I believe that the reason for this is because that’s just another one of Satan’s tools – the lie that God doesn’t exist and the Bible is just a story book. Satan won’t strike out against his own chosen machinations. Makes sense doesn’t it?
Hi Ron S
What a thought provoking article! Before I was halfway through it, I thought- “this sounds very much like Satan and his demons behind this”. Think of the response of the demons inhabiting sufferers’ bodies, during Jesus’s ministry. They were all very quick to pick up on the fact that He was the Son of God, and hence a threat to them (Mark 5:7 and others). Is it therefore a stretch to think that the same thing, in a lesser form, is happening when the trinitarian meets the non-trinitarian? I think not. Changing from being trinitarian to non-trinitarian is actually the thin edge of a wedge. Once the person sees the errors of the trinity, other incorrect doctrines soon come to light. Maybe the demons know this, so go all out to prevent people from accepting the deception of the trinity?
Wow-that’s quite mindblowing!
Fiona
Sorry, I know we are not supposed to do two blogs in a row, but I just read something that really lends weight to the idea of demons. This is a scripture familiar to us all, Paul talking to Timothy in 2 Tim2:25,26, but much better to read the whole chapter for context.
“Those who oppose him, he must gently instruct,in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”
Fiona
Thanks Fiona!
Yes it is “quite mind-blowing” when you start to really consider the ramifications for such hostile reactions.
You make a great point about the demon-possessed people that Jesus encountered during his ministry. Though the people at large didn’t know who Jesus really was, the demons instantly knew EXACTLY who Jesus was. They called him the “Son of God”, “The Son of the Most High God”, “the Holy One of God”, and “the Messiah”. I posted an article last summer on this & that Scripture’s record of how the demons addressed him gives further evidence against the Trinity (“Demons don’t believe in The Trinity“) since they never once referred to him as God.
And thanks for highlighting the entirety of the verses of 2 Timothy 2:25-26! I listed a segment of that, but I should have posted the entirety of it. In fact, I’ll do that right here and now so that everyone can look at the details of what Paul is saying there. But let’s back up to verse 22 and examine the whole paragraph.
Wow indeed!
Hi Ron,
Thanks for that article; it was very interesting. I have encountered some of that same behavior from Trinitarians myself – in fact, in one case I was told that I was not a Christian at all, because I don’t believe in the Trinity…
A friend of mine did raise a question about this article, though. She basically asked, “Why would the devil try to spread the doctrine of the Trinity? After all, if a person believes in the Trinity, then that person is saved, right?”
So, what do all of you think about that question? Is a person who believes in the Trinity saved? If so, then it doesn’t seem to make sense that the adversary would try to promulgate that doctrine.
The only rationale that I can come up with, for why Satan would try so hard to keep the Trinity doctrine going, is that that doctrine is much more difficult for people to believe than the simple Unitarian doctrine of Scripture. (Some Trinitarians even admit that the Trinity is a “mystery”, which cannot be understood by humans at all!)
As a result, if churches teach the Trinity, then churches will (presumably) have a more difficult time convincing people to have any belief in God or Jesus at all. In other words, if churches teach the Trinity, then that will end up causing fewer people to become Christians. Certainly, that is something that the adversary wants to happen. What do all of you think?
Brian
Brian
Your friend asked, “Why would the devil try to spread the doctrine of the Trinity? After all, if a person believes in the Trinity, than that person is saved, right?”
I believe that Satan has had 2,000 years to try his best to pollute Jesus’ very clear and simple message that he himself received directly from God. He has divided the body of Christ into several thousand separate groups. This not only makes us appear very weak with a weak message, it actually does make us very much weaker than we otherwise could have potentially have been.
I know when I first became a Christian, about 15 years ago, I was totally confused as to which doctrine (out of the huge number of doctrines available) I should believe. I personally let two things guide me. First I looked at the behavior of the various groups and secondly I ignored everything I had been taught as a child (about doctrine) and tried to search for the truth myself in the scriptures (as best as I could).
This was a time consuming process that took me over a decade of studying and searching. I am convinced now that I have finally found the right group of people here at this website. I thank God for giving me all these knowledgeable people here to communicate with and to learn from. I have learned so much since coming to this website. I have learned about things that I don’t think I ever could have learned on my own.
I believe God does want us to commune (communicate) with other Christians. It is built into our nature to be social creatures with social needs, love, compassion, friendship, companionship etc…
This is what gives each of us the strength in our own struggles with our doubts and with our faith…
Brian,
Oh yes, the old “You’re not a Christian if you don’t believe in the Trinity”, or “you’re not saved”, or even more fun – “you’re going to HELL if you don’t accept the Trinity”. All of those have been said to me over the years. I tried to pin one person down once that said I was “lost” for not believing in it to where in Scripture it says that you have to believe in the Trinity (never mind that the word itself is not anywhere in there), and he said John 8:24. According to him and one or two others I’ve run across, when Jesus says “you will die in your sins unless you believe I am he”, the “I am” part of that is code for linking back to the Exodus 3:14 “I AM”. In other words Jesus was calling himself God there and saying you have to believe he is God or you’ll die in your sins. A very, VERY weak argument!
Your friend asked – why would the devil spread the lie of the Trinity? Well I can think of a good number of reasons why. For starters the spreading of misinformation is a great way to sow confusion and cause problems all over the place. You yourself came up with a result in that it causes people to disbelieve.
I remember a lyric in a song by an alternative rock band I liked back in the 90′s (Concrete Blonde) and their song “Tomorrow Wendy” (about a woman dying of AIDS) had a lyric that went “don’t count on any second coming, God got his @## kicked the first time he came down here slumming“. That lyric always made me uncomfortable (naturally as you may have just in reading it now), but if you accept the lie of the Trinity, that seems like what really happened. Instead of a human Messiah being murdered by his fellow man, you have God being beaten, tortured, and killed by his creation. How many intelligent people have seen through the logical fallacy of that and been turned off towards Christianity – thinking that’s beyond absurd? And there’s the devil’s main goal – get people turned off towards belief in God in general.
For those that remain believers, Satan wants to get us believing in the wrong facts (and then argue & splinter regarding those facts). “Oh there’s no way a human man could pay for the sins of mankind, only God himself could do that”, is a great way to belittle the accomplishment of Jesus as well. And it is also way to blasphemy God and sow confusion with his word (God is not a man nor a Son of man – no somehow he was fully God and fully human at the same time, but God is immortal, well yeah God didn’t die, only his human side did, etc. etc..). All these are perfect ways to make people doubt God & his written word. For those of us that fight through it for the truth, how many more give up on it all together. And for those that just cave and accept it blindly, how many of them lose focus and only go along with Christianity in basic name only – because they couldn’t wrap their minds around such illogical absurdities?
Pushing the Trinity is also a great way to cause strife between Christianity and the other two Abrahamic, monotheistic faiths. How much blood-shed have the Jews suffered at the hands of Christians over their refusal to believe in Jesus as “God in the flesh”, a “three-in-one” God vs. the “one-in-one” God of the SHEMA? Muslims get turned off from Christianity too because they also recognize that believing in a three-in-one God is plain & simple polytheism. One can look at the bloody history of Christianity’s treatment of both of those faiths (in addition to Trinity dissenters within Christianity) and see what evils have come out of the strict Trinity dogma of Orthodoxy.
Now as far as Trinitarians being “saved”, I don’t know. Of course they feel like that are. But I really don’t know for sure. Jesus did say some scary stuff in Matthew 7:
and then further
How narrow is that gate? How many are meant by “FEW”?? The majority of Christianity now & throughout the last 1700 years has been Trinitarian. That’s a LOT of folk. “Few” would apply a lot more appropriately to those that have not believed it and see Jesus as the Messiah OF God.
But thankfully that is not up to me or anyone else. That is up to God and his Messiah. God has given Jesus all authority and rule and he will make the call at his return. Hopefully all those good people who have been duped by the great Trinity lie will be included. But I’m not so sure about those who persecute and harm others (emotionally, mentally, or physically) over the Trinity. We’ll just have to see how it plays out in the end. For me, right now, I’m always in truth searching mode to ensure I find that “small/narrow gate/road”.
“How narrow is that gate? How many are meant by “FEW”?? The majority of Christianity now & throughout the last 1700 years has been Trinitarian.”
Ron
You would do well to read Jude with these questions in mind.
3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Then ask yourself whether common salvation(Grace) is the narrow or wide gate, I think you will see the path that leads to the narrow gate comes from the message delivered unto the Saints. The Saints are those who have chose to set themselves apart from All the other nations by chosing to wear the mark of Israel. therefore it is of no use to you to not be a trinitarian unless you are also willing to set yourself apart from all other nations by marking yourself with the signs of Israel giving by the OT. Salvation is a gift which will be given as God choses but His Rest is for those who have set themselfs apart and is a reward.
I am not sure if there is any of this age that will enter by the narrow other than those of the early followers of Jesus. There has been way to much deception and corruption the past 1700 years to know for sure. I myself would love to enter by the narrow gate By trying to follow the faith delivered to the Saints but have doubts that it will make a difference. one thing for sure is it gives me better knowledge of God than i had before coming to this faith.
I’ve had my suspicions about the trinity being ‘satanic’, glad to know I am not alone. But, I still tread lightly in thinking that trinitarians might be demon possessed – that is, after all, what was thought historically of non-trinitarians and why they justified murdering them. I want to make sure I am not bearing that same fruit.
But as to why Satan would do this, perhaps Revelation 13 provides some background? Laying the foundation that Jesus is God clears the way to have people believe that the beast is the ‘second coming’ and due to the trinitarian confusion, more likely that people would worship the beast.