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conceived, but that he did not die on the cross. Judas, or perhaps Simon of Cyrene, died in his
place. Yet another substantial group is convinced that God has several wives and that God was a
man before He became God. What does this say about the fundamental beliefs of bodies of people
ostensibly committed to the Bible?

Back to the question of the Son in the Christian faith. Without that doctrine of "eternal gen-
eration" there can be no Trinity in the orthodox sense. The Trinity has its major building block in
the fact that the Son of God has been forever. All protests that eternal generation is not found in the
Bible are likely to be shouted down vigorously as "heresy." Innocent believers have actually died
(at the hands of the Church, using the strong arm of the law) for their dissent from the doctrine of
"eternal generation." We are here not just discussing academic technicalities. These issues and ar-
guments are backed or opposed by powerful spiritual forces. The reader must discern who is on
which side.

Let us make it plain that there is no such Person as an "eternal Son of God" in Scripture. If
you will trace the prophecies, abundant in the Old Testament, in regard to the existence and ap-
pearance of the Son of God in the future (i.e., future to the OT prophecies) you will find the fol-
lowing facts:

1) God promised that the future Savior would be the offspring of the woman. This means of course
that he was not alive or existing at the time of the prophecy (Genesis 3:15).

2) The Israelites were assured that they would not have to hear the alarming voice of God directly
any more. God would graciously "produce for them [raise up] a prophet like Moses taken from
among their brethren [fellow Israelites]," and anyone who would not listen and follow that
prophet's words would be cut off from the people (see Deuteronomy 18:15-18). This most impor-
tant indicator of who the Savior would be was expressly applied to Jesus by Peter and Stephen
(Acts 3:22; 7:37).

3) In the time of David (roughly 1000 BC) a confirming promise of the yet future Son of God was
given. The promise came through Nathan the prophet and it guaranteed this marvelous event: "I
[God] will produce for you [raise up] a descendant who will come forth from you, and I will be a
Father to him and he will be My Son." God would further grant a permanent Kingdom to that future
Son of God (II Samuel 7:12-17).

4) More information about that Son was provided by the all-important "Messianic" Psalm 2. We
find here a description of the future Son of God (v.7). God his Father would empower him for a fi-
nal military triumph, as he seized power from a hostile world. God would even mock at the feeble
attempts of world-summit conferences and confederations of angry nations who would try to resist
the Messianic takeover of world government. The picture is one of the most dramatic revelations
of the coming Kingdom. And the Kingdom of God was the main subject of the Gospel as Jesus and
Paul announced it (Matthew 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Luke 4:43; Mark 1:14, 15; Acts 19:8; 20:25; 28:23,
31).

5) Psalm 110:1 supplied further thrilling detail about the status and function of the promised
Son/Messiah. He would be the lord (small "l" to represent the Hebrew adoni, which in the

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