Jehovah pronounces himself god, in other words, testifies of himself: “For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy” (Is. 57:15). Jehovah himself declared: “I am God” (Is. 43:12). And Jesus declared the following: “If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid” (John 5:31). The one who testifies of Jesus Christ is God the Father, Jesus said: “It is another who testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is true” (John 5:32). And the same John wrote: “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God’s testimony which he has testified concerning his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn’t believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have God’s Son doesn’t have the life” (1 John 5:9-12). Jehovah, testifying of himself, dealt out condemnation and death to all men. And Christ, who did not testify of himself, was condemned in our place and gives us eternal life (Gal. 1:4). The one who testifies of himself reveals pride; the humble can be seen only when others testify of him. The proud and touchy man takes offense in any thing (Lev. 10:1-2; 2 Sam. 6:6-7). The humble is like a dumb sheep when it goes unjustly to the slaughter (Is. 53:7). No arrogant or proud are holy. We are going to offer various biblical arguments to prove that Jehovah is not holy:

1. Jehovah was offended by king Saul and put in him an evil spirit (1 Sam. 16:14-15). The Hebrew text says torments, but the defenders of Jehovah changed it to trouble. Where have you heard of a saint placing evil demons in needy sinners? Jesus, who is really holy, does not send evil spirits, on the contrary he delivers all the oppressed (Mark 1:23-26).
2. Jehovah supports the lie. When Israel was planning to kill Ahab, the king of Israel, he asked the opinion of the angels. An evil spirit came out from among them and said: “‘Who shall entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ One said one thing; and another said another. A spirit came out and stood before Jehovah, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ Jehovah said to him, ‘How?’ He said, ‘I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ He said, ‘You will entice him, and will also prevail. Go out and do so’” (1 Kings 22:19-23). The one who supports the lie has never been holy.
3. Jehovah kills innocent children when their parents sin: “Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up and possess the earth” (Is. 14:21). This commandment was given to the Chaldeans, but Jehovah uses the same measure with his most dear servants. David was the closest servant to Jehovah, who witnessed the following: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will” (Acts 13:22). For when David committed adultery and homicide, Jehovah said: Because with this deed you gave opportunity for Jehovah’s enemies to blaspheme, and also the son that will be born will die. David, knowing that Jehovah loved him, fasted and prayed seven days. But Jehovah did not forgive; on the contrary, he killed the newborn baby (2 Sam. 12:14-20). When he killed the child of David, Jehovah committed an injustice, and the unjust is not holy.
4. Jehovah keeps wrath and vengeance against those he dislikes for thousands of generations. The problem that presents itself in this attitude of Jehovah is the eternal wrath. Amalek made war with Israel in the desert when they left Egypt, and Jehovah said: “Jehovah has sworn: ‘Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation’” (Ex. 17:16). Four hundred and fifty years later Jehovah gave the following order to Saul: “I have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey” (1 Sam. 15:2-3). Wait there. Nine or ten generations had passed, and Amalek had already been dead for 400 years, and Jehovah was still turning the matter over and over in his mind with hatred and vengeance for over almost 500 years? He orders the death of people that did not have any remembrance of what had happened and were, therefore, innocent of the crime of their predecessors? A god that broods vengeful hatred for four centuries is far from being holy (1 Sam. 15:1-3).
5. When Moses refused to go to Egypt and deliver Israel, claiming that he was not eloquent but was slow of speech and slow of tongue, Jehovah said to him: “Who made man’s mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn’t it I, Jehovah?” Has Jehovah made the speaking and also the dumb? Does he make the seeing and also the blind? The god who does these things is not righteous or holy (Ex. 4:10-11).
6. One of the special punishments of Jehovah was to prostitute the wife of the disobedient sinner: “You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell therein: you shall plant a vineyard, and shall not use its fruit” (Deut. 28:30). Jehovah says, in the case of Israel’s apostasy: “Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them: for everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely” (Jer. 8:10). And at the end of the history of Israel, Jehovah decreed evil, saying: “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished” (Zech. 14:2).

The one who does these things claims to be holy. But this is a lie. Therefore Jehovah is the father of lies, has never been holy, and will never be.

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

Jesus said: “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness” (John 12:46). Light destroys darkness, and holiness destroys uncleanness. Jesus is the one who sanctifies us, for man cannot sanctify himself. As the will of God is our sanctification, and men cannot sanctify himself, God, the Father, sent his Son to sanctify us. And Jesus said: “Then he has said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will.’ He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:9-10). And: “For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers” (Heb. 2:10-11).

In the New Testament God is always the one who sanctifies: “May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23). And Paul adds: “For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who believe” (2 Thess. 2:13). We record here the three forms of sanctification of the New Testament: The sanctification worked by the Son, that is to say, Jesus Christ, through the oblation of his body; the sanctification worked by God the Father, worked by the Word, for Jesus said: “Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17); and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the Christian, filling him with virtue (Acts 1:8), filling him with love (Rom. 5:5), guiding him (John 16:13), opening his eyes (Eph. 1:17-18), regenerating (Titus 3:5), changing his nature (1 Cor. 6:10-11) and dwelling in him (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

Jehovah, the holy one of Israel (Lev. 19:2; 20:26), whose name is holy, for Isaiah said: “For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place’” (Is. 57:15), commands the children of Israel, saying: “You shall be holy; for I Jehovah your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2). How could this people be holy? They could not, for Jehovah demanded holiness from the personal value of each one. It was an ordinance, but the same Jehovah declared that there was no righteous man on the earth, one who did what was good and never sinned (Eccl. 7:20).

If speaking about the New Testament, where the three persons of the Trinity sanctify the Christian, the theologians, preachers, and Christians affirm absolutely that it is impossible to be holy, what is the chance of someone who lived before Christ? Not any. The fact that Jehovah did not take any initiative in leading an Israelite into holiness, but just demanded him to be holy, makes things worse. When a righteous man sinned a single time, the prophet of Jehovah declares: “But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die” (Ezek. 18:24).

There are aggravators in the justice of the holy one of Israel in relation to carnal men, for there were not spiritual men in the Old Testament. Jesus said to Nicodemus: “‘Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see the Kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into the Kingdom of God! That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit’” (John 3:3-6). In the Old Testament the new birth did not exist, and everyone was carnal, so they could not stop sinning (1 Kings 8:46). When they sinned, instead of receiving help, they were abandoned to the desires of their own hearts: “But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me. So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels” (Ps. 81:11-12). In the epistle to the Romans the narrative is more violent: “Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (Rom. 1:21-26). Instead of support, Jehovah handed them to the power of corruption and hardened them so that they did not turn back: “O Jehovah, why do you make us to err from your ways, and harden our heart from your fear? Return for your servants’ sake, the tribes of your inheritance” (Is. 63:17). Jehovah did everything he did for his own sake, and not for the love of his servants (Is. 48:9-11; Ezek. 20:8-9). Jehovah, the holy one of Israel, did not save them from the Egyptian oppression because he loved them, but for the love of his own name (Ps. 106:8). He wanted to be famous… He wanted to be worshipped by men… He wanted to be glorious in this world…

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

As we have seen in study number one, holy means set apart, in other words, the holy does not get united with the unclean, or with evil, lies, darkness, crime, uncleanness, hatred, injustice, sin, wrong, guilt, etc.

Jesus is this Holy One, as we read in the letter to the Hebrews: “For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26).

Jehovah, who declares himself to be holy (Lev. 19:2), and who declares that his name is holy, should fulfill all the requisites of holiness, that is to say, to be separate from all things of this world which are evil and unrighteous. John declares what this world is, saying: “Don’t love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s. The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God’s will remains forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

1.  Jehovah rules in this world, for it is written: “God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne” (Ps. 47:8). We conclude that Jehovah is not holy, for the works of this world are evil (John 7:7).

2.  Jehovah places the world in the hearts of men (Eccl. 3:11). Placing the world in the hearts of men, he places all the desires of the flesh and the pride of the world; therefore he is not holy.

3.  Jehovah is the one who makes the wicked for the evil day (Prov. 16:4); therefore he is not holy. Satan should be the one to make the wicked, not Jehovah; therefore Jehovah is not holy.

4. When someone does not turn to Jehovah he sharpens his sword and bends his bow and makes it ready with fiery shafts and prepares deadly weapons (Ps. 7:12-13). Therefore he is not holy, but vengeful and cruel.

5.  When Jehovah summons a simple man and he does not answer; when such a man finds himself lost and devastated, and distress and anguish come over him, and such a man cries out to Jehovah, this god mocks and laughs, and as much as this man may cry out, Jehovah does not listen to him (Prov. 1:23-28); therefore Jehovah is not holy, for he does not have pity.

6.  Jehovah, the holy one of Israel, oppresses his people, and he has delivered them in the hands of the plunderers; therefore he is not holy, for Satan is the one who oppresses (2 Kings 17:20).

7.  The holy one of Israel is a terrible politician, for he is the leader of those who are tyrannical and wicked: “The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men” (Dan. 4:17; Jer. 27:6-8). Jehovah has never been holy.

8.  Jehovah is the contaminant. He affirms: “I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through [the fire] all that opens the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am Jehovah” (Ezek. 20:26). Jehovah is a holy being that contaminates.

9.  The holy one of Israel is a tyrant: “As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, will I be king over you” (Ezek. 20:33).

10.  Jehovah corrupts the sinners’ children: “Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. ‘If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name,’ says Jehovah of Armies, ‘then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it’” (Mal. 2:1-3). Seed, in the Bible language is the children, the offspring. Besides corrupting children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, Jehovah curses the blessings he gives. Whoever does that is far from being holy, for the holy one does not change, or corrupts innocents.

11.  Jehovah practices evil in his wrath and in his fury. He confesses: “For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good, says Yahweh: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire” (Jer. 21:10). Jehovah was overcome by evil; therefore he is not holy. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, said: “Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).

12.  The people sinned against the law of Jehovah, and then they were stricken with pestilences, plagues, and curses. Jeremiah prayed for his people, and this irritated Jehovah, who gave them the following command: “Jehovah said to me, ‘Don’t pray for this people for [their] good’” (Jer. 14:11). As Jehovah forbid Jeremiah to pray for good, this prophet began to pray for evil. Let us read: “Let them be disappointed who persecute me, but let not me be disappointed; let them be dismayed, but don’t let me be dismayed; bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction” (Jer. 17:18). Jeremiah says somewhere else: “Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, [and] their young men struck of the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you shall bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. Yet, Jehovah, you know all their counsel against me to kill me; don’t forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be overthrown before you; deal you with them in the time of your anger” (Jer. 18:21-23). How can that be possible? Is a prophet of the stature of Jeremiah summoning curses over the people of God? Since Jehovah forbade Jeremiah to pray for the good of Israel, and since he declared that he had set his face against them for evil and not for good, Jeremiah cast curses against his brothers and sinned against holiness and love, but he pleased Jehovah, the holy one of Israel (Jer. 21:10).

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

Jehovah declared to Moses: “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite” (Ex. 3:7-8). Whoever reads this pronouncement concludes that Jehovah is a compassionate and merciful god, and one who seeks the welfare of the needy and afflicted. The reality, however, is disappointing. Jehovah used Moses by giving him power to perform signs and bring on plagues, wonders never yet seen by men, with the only purpose of becoming famous. The psalmist reveals it to us: “Our fathers didn’t understand your wonders in Egypt. They didn’t remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power known” (Ps. 106:7-8).

Jehovah did not save Israel because he loved them, but for the love of his own name, which was going to become famous. It is easy to prove that Jehovah was after fame: “In that day I swore to them, to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands. I said to them, Cast away every man the abominations of his eyes, and don’t defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am Jehovah your God. But they rebelled against me, and would not listen to me; they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt” (Ezek. 20:6-9). And he repeats it soon after, in Ezek. 20:14. The nations are the audience, and the stage, carefully prepared by Jehovah over 400 years, was Egypt, powerful nation, rich and famous (Gen. 15:13-14).

What mattered to Jehovah was his great name: Israel could suffer in the advertising captivities. The more Jehovah oppressed Israel, and for the reason of their disobedience to his laws, the more nations trembled before that name. Therefore the psalmist says: “Jehovah reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned among the cherubim. Let the earth be moved” (Ps. 99:1).

Moses knew that Jehovah was after fame. When the twelve spies, returning, defamed the land (Num. 14:31-33), Jehovah was filled with fury and decided to send pestilence to destroy them all. Moses, then, said to Jehovah: “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them; and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Jehovah are in the midst of this people; for you Jehovah are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying, Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness” (Num. 14:11-16). Jehovah, then, forgave them; not that he loved them, but in order that his famous glory would not be dishonored. But he killed them all in the desert, proving that he did not love his people and was concerned exclusively with himself and the repute of his name (Num. 14:19-23, 34-35).

What holiness can we see in this homicide and deceitful god?

Israel is the footstool of Jehovah’s feet. In the book of Lamentations, we read: “How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has cast down from heaven to the earth the beauty of Israel, And hasn’t remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied” (Lam. 2:1-2; Ps. 99:5). Footstool is a low stool used by monarchs for resting their feet. Israel is the footstool, for it is the base of the project of glorification of Jehovah. For this reason Isaiah, the prophet, wrote in the name of Jehovah, saying: “Don’t be afraid; for I am with you. I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west. I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’ and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back!’ Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth–everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made. Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears” (Is. 43:5-8). Israel is the doormat where Jehovah wipes his feet. This same Jehovah wrote the following: “It shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles” (Is. 66:18-19).

It is thus proven that the holy one of Israel has never been interested in the salvation of Israel, but in becoming famous and obtaining glory, in being worshipped and praised: therefore he dwells in the midst of the praises, not only of Israel, but of all the nations (Ps. 22:3).

Jehovah has never considered the possibility of saving men from this infernal world, either, for he hated the gentiles, that is to say, all the non-Jewish peoples (Ps. 10:16). The holy one of Israel has always been anxious about personal glory and fame, and whoever seeks fame and glory is not holy! Jesus declared: “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but He who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him” (John 7:18; 8:50).

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

Saint, in the Hebrew is KADOSH, which is translated SEPARATED. Jehovah, the god who revealed himself as god, said to the people of Israel: “You shall be holy; for I Jehovah your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2). That means the same as: “You shall be set apart; for I Jehovah your god am holy”. It is evident that Jehovah was set apart from all the other peoples and so Israel would also have to be set apart, in other words, holy. Jehovah spoke again, saying: “You shall be holy to me: for I, Jehovah, am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, that you should be mine” (Lev. 20:26).

Jesus Christ is holy, too, for the angel Gabriel said to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Peter said to the Jewish people that he had joined him because of the healing of a crippled man: “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you” (Acts 3:14). When Jesus taught in a synagogue in Capernaum, there was a man with an unclean spirit who exclaimed, saying: “Ha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24).

Jehovah and Jesus are holy. This can lead us to the conclusion that they are the same person, and that the god of the Old Testament is the same god of the New Testament. Let us take a look at this:

Jesus, being holy, is set apart from this world. He declared this himself to the Pharisees: “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world” (John 8:23). And why is not Jesus of this world? That is because he testified that the works of this world are evil (John 7:7).

Jehovah, on the contrary, is not set apart from this evil world. The men who lived before the Flood were evil. They were so evil that Jehovah destroyed them all, except Noah’s family. The Assyrians were wicked, the Egyptians were wicked, and Jehovah declares that his people were worse then them. And Jehovah established his kingdom in this world. At Mount Sinai, he said to his people Israel, before delivering the law: “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6). What is even worse than that is that it is written that Jehovah rules over the nations of this world. Jehovah rules over the nations because the kingdom belongs to him (Ps. 22:28). “For God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with understanding. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne” (Ps. 47:7-8). How can Jehovah, being holy, rule over the wicked and idolatrous nations? If he is holy, he is set apart from them and cannot ever rule over them.

Jesus is consistent in this area, for he declared that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).

When he is connected to this world Jehovah is not holy. He was the one who commanded the armies of Assyria. Isaiah said: “Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks” (Is. 8:7). Jehovah Tsebaoth was the commander and the leader of the Assyrian armies. Jehovah was politically connected to those warrior nations and promoted the wars; therefore he is not set apart or holy. Speaking of world politics, Jehovah declared centuries later: “I have made the earth, the men and the animals that are on the surface of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to me. Now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the animals of the field also have I given him to serve him. All the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bondservant” (Jer. 27:5-7). It is Jehovah who delivers the nations to be slaves in the hands of a tyrant. And he also delivers the nations as slaves in the hands of a tyrant. And he also declared that the tyrant Nebuchadnezzar was his servant, and was pleasing in his eyes. And, if Nebuchadnezzar was pleasing to Jehovah and was also his servant, Jehovah was never holy, but worldly, for the Chaldean people was aggressive, conqueror, and cruel. Whoever wishes to know what the Jews went through in Babylon can simply read the five chapters of the book of Lamentations. To have an idea of the cruelty of Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah, king of Judah ran away, but was caught, and his children were beheaded before his eyes, and they put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon (2 Kings 25:5-7). There in Babylon the king roasted Zedekiah in the fire (Jer. 29:22).

Besides the cruelty, the Babylonians, as to their religion, were idolaters. Their two main gods were Bel, the Sun, and Milita, the Moon. Milita was the goddess of providence and fertility. The temple of Milita was vast, and all the women had to serve as priestesses for one whole year. During this period the priestesses prostituted themselves with anyone that went by the temple. The married women who wished so could serve Milita as sacred prostitutes for the period of a year. After that they returned to their homes.

Jehovah called the king of Babylon his servant, said that he was pleasing in his eyes, and also that, for this reason, he had delivered all the kingdoms to serve him, and, if by any reason, any nation or kingdom did not serve Nebuchadnezzar and did not put his neck under the yoke of this cruel king, Jehovah himself would visit this nation with the sword, with pestilence, and with famine until they were totally consumed (Jer. 27:8). And Jehovah delivered Judah to this monstrous king (Jer. 27:12-13).

This is what the holiness of Jehovah is like. That is to say, instead of being set apart from the low human behavior, he is the head of this baseness himself. The unbelievable fact is that he does this while declaring that he is holy. Jehovah and Jesus are not alike. Their concepts on holiness are different.

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

“For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite’” (Is. 57:15). Jehovah is so sublime that the psalmist says: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1). David declares: “Give us help against the enemy, for the help of man is vain” (Ps. 108:12).

The oppressed of this world, the poor and hungry, even though they do not know him, they call out to God. In a moment of desperation their lips utter: God, help me. In the last moment, when there is no more hope, their eyes look up to heaven.

Solomon said: “That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago” (Eccl. 3:15). As Jehovah declares in Mal. 3:6 that he does not change, so, whatever he has done in the past, he is going to do in the future.

Jehovah created a people for his glory, a people whom he called by his name (Is. 43:7). Jehovah declares everlasting love for his people (Jer. 31:3). He declares in Deut. 14:1 that they are his children. Let us look at the way he treats his beloved children:

1. JEHOVAH AFFLICTS HIS CHILDREN – The Bible text says: “The generation to come, your children who shall rise up after you, and the foreigner who shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which Jehovah has made it sick; [and that] the whole land of it is sulfur, and salt, [and] a burning, [that] it is not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: even all the nations shall say, ‘Why has Jehovah done thus to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’ Then men shall say, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah’” (Deut. 29:22-25). Can a holy and pure father treat his children with such fury, to the point of destroying them by the fire, plagues and curses until they are completely destroyed? If this is holiness, it does not bring forth love and mercy, but deadly and vengeful hatred.

2. JEHOVAH OPPRESSES HIS CHILDREN WITHOUT MERCY– The prophet Ezekiel says: “As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, will I be king over you” (Ezek. 20:33). In the second book of the Chronicles of Israel it is written about the kingdom Rehoboam, son of Solomon: “When Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, ‘They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them; but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries’” (2 Chr. 12:7-8). It is common practice in the government of Jehovah to deliver his people in the hands of the wicked. “I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men; and I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I, Jehovah, have spoken it” (Ezek. 30:12). This type of behavior cannot coexist with holiness, for holiness is the highest degree of virtue, and Jehovah treats his children tyrannically.

3. JEHOVAH TORMENTS HIS CHILDREN – To torment is a practice of demons and unclean spirits. The evangelist Luke reveals this to us: “He came down with them, and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; as well as those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and they were being healed” (Luke 6:17-18). Peter followed the steps of Jesus, healing and delivering: “Multitudes also came together from the cities around Jerusalem, bringing sick people, and those who were tormented by unclean spirits: and they were all healed” (Acts 5:16). It is astonishing: Jehovah placed an evil spirit in king Saul, which tormented him: “Now the Spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Jehovah troubled him” (1 Sam. 16:14). Those who defend Jehovah changed the expression, “an evil spirit from Jehovah TROUBLED HIM” to “AN EVIL SPIRIT TROUBLED HIM”, to protect him. The truth is that Jehovah confesses that he torments his people, for his name is Jehovah Jireh, which means, Jehovah will provide. He said: “I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away; and you will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it” (Lev. 26:16). How could a god who declares that his name is holy act like filthy demons, while tormenting as they do?

4. JEHOVAH DESOLATES – Jehovah declares that he created the desolator to destroy “I will lay your cities waste, and will bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not take delight in the sweet fragrance of your offerings. I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies that dwell therein will be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you: and your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste” (Lev. 26:31-33). “I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men; and I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I, Jehovah, have spoken it” (Ezek. 30:12). Jehovah declared to Abraham that he is the Almighty — El Shaddai. The Almighty is precisely the king of the desolators. The prophet Isaiah is the one who says: “Wail; for the day of Jehovah is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone’s heart will melt. They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be in pain like a woman in labor. They will look in amazement one at another. Their faces will be faces of flame. Behold, the day of Jehovah comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it” (Is. 13:6-9).

Is the task of the holy one of Israel, Jehovah, the Most High, to lay waste the inhabitants of the earth? Is this his holiness? If it is, it is false, for the true holiness forgives, loves, serves, heals, guides, teaches, and, finally, acts like Jesus acted (Heb. 2:9-11).

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

El Shaddai means, GOD ALMIGHTY, that is to say, he can everything, he is omnipotent. In order to be Almighty, he has to be perfect. Can you imagine an omnipotent God who is not perfect? Can you imagine the havoc he would play? Wherever there is power without perfection there is chaos. But El Shaddai is perfect. Zophar declares this: “Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” (Job 8:3). Moses confirms this, saying: “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice: a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he” (Deut. 32:4). Jehovah visited Abraham, and said to him: “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless” (Gen. 17:1). As Jehovah and El Shaddai are the same person, both their works are the same. Now, Job was a servant of Jehovah (Job 42:7). And Jehovah testified about the righteousness of Job, saying to Satan: “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). Satan, with the evil intention of making Job sin, incited Jehovah against him, saying: “‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.’ Jehovah said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t put forth your hand’” (Job 1:8-12).

Job never blamed his sufferings on Satan, but on Jehovah (Job 19:21). Job’s complaints are not directed at Jehovah, but at the Almighty.

Let us analyze:

1. Job complains against the Almighty because he had made his soul bitter (Job 27:2). If Job was a servant of Jehovah, a sincere and righteous man, who feared god and ran from evil, it seems like the Almighty had not been righteous toward him, neither had he acted with perfection. It seems that the Almighty perverted justice and righteousness.

2. Job call out, saying: “I haven’t gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12). And Job, disheartened, follows it by saying, “For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me” (Job 23:16). Only a satanic god could act like this toward such a devoted servant as Job, who would rather go without food for the love of the word of God.

3. Job did not forget about God. Job did not sin against God. When his ten sons were killed, and when Satan destroyed all he had — houses, flocks, fields — Job said: “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away. Blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). For the second time Satan incited Jehovah against Job. Jehovah said one more time: “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life” (Job 2:6). And Satan went out and smote Job with sore boils. Job’s wife incited him to curse Jehovah for the great injustice and cruelty. However, the Scriptures say that Job rebuked his wife and did not sin with his lips (Job 2:7-10). How can this be? When he handed the faithful and righteous Job into the hands of Satan, Jehovah acted like an unrighteous judge who delivers an honest man in the hands of executioners to be tortured. And what about the perfection of the Almighty? Is not there in him injustice, and does he not pervert the right of men? If, in this pit where we live a judge acts the way Jehovah acted, he is arrested.

4. Let us read the words of Job: “Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me; when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was in my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me” (Job 29:2-5). Job makes it clear that the Almighty abandoned him. He reveals that the Almighty was his adversary (Job 31:35). As an adversary, he overturned the life of Job, fenced him with his net, entrenched Job’s path, set darkness in his ways, stripped him of his honor, removed his crown, wrested his crown from him, and took away the hope of that faithful servant (Job 19:6-10). Is this the perfection of the Almighty? Is this the righteousness that does not pervert the right of a righteous man?

5. Job complains, suffocated by the storm that tumbled down over his head without cause, for the very Jehovah confesses this (Job 2:3): “For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me” (Job 6:4). When he sent poisonous arrows it becomes clear that the Almighty El Shaddai and Satan are the same person, for Paul says: “above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one” (Eph. 6:16). How is it possible that God, the Father, who wants to save all men, would throw deathly poisonous arrows at those he wants to save? God, the Father, is not inflamed with fury to kill sinners, but he is inflamed with love to save them; and so he sent his only begotten Son, not to condemn, but to save. Jehovah, on the other hand, lived in murderous fury against his children (Deut. 32:22-25).

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

Jesus said to the disciples: “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him” (John 14:7).

“Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us’” (John 14:8).

“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, “Show us the Father?” Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works’” (John 14:9-10).

Since God, the Father, is the one who spoke in Christ, and the one who did the works, let us be bold, exchanging the word Jesus Christ for the word Father, instead.

1. The Father said: “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him” (John 14:8). “Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us’” (John 14:8). “Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, “Show us the Father?” Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works’” (John 14:9-10).

2. The Father is so humble that, when he lived among men through the flesh of Christ (John 1:14), chose to be born in a manger, instead of a palace in a golden crib (Luke 2:6-7).

3. The Father is so humble and free of vanity that he walked the streets in carpenter’s clothes and dressed like the pilgrims who visited Jerusalem. “It came to pass, when the days were near that he should be taken up, he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face. They went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, so as to prepare for him. They didn’t receive him, because he was traveling with his face set towards Jerusalem. When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from the sky, and destroy them, just as Elijah did?’ But he turned and rebuked them, ‘You don’t know of what kind of spirit you are. For the Son of Man didn’t come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them’” (Luke 9:51-56).

4. If God was in Christ, why was Christ disfigured? Isaiah said: “Like as many were astonished at you (his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men)” (Is. 52:14). The explanation is in the flesh. In the gospel of John we read: “The Word became flesh, and lived among us” (John 1:14). The reason is that flesh is sin, and the seed of sin is so strong that it made the law to be weak (Rom. 8:3). The law of Jehovah, weakened by the flesh, works sinful passions on the flesh, which lead to death (Rom. 7:5). Peter says: “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment; but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries” (2 Pet. 2:9-10). And Peter also says: “Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11). The flesh is so rotten that the disciples of Jesus hated even the clothing stained by the flesh (Jude 23). The carnal pleasures are so poisonous, that they are able to kill; the only medicine capable of counteracting the poison of the desire of the flesh is the Holy Spirit in daily doses (Rom. 8:13). This is the reason why Paul says: “For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6). And Paul concludes, saying: “Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit the Kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Cor. 15:50).

5. For the word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The disfigured appearance of Jesus was the radiography of the flesh, which Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, described in Gal. 5:19-21.

6. In the person of Jesus, THE WORD, that is to say, God, became flesh, rather, put on our rotten and contaminated clothing in order to save us, delivering us from the flesh by our new birth (John 3:3-6).

7. Paul said: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me” (Gal. 2:20). The old Saul, persecutor of the Church, did not exist anymore. He had died on the cross. The one now resurrected was Christ. The word became flesh in Paul. That is why Paul had the revelation of the mysteries hidden in God (Eph. 3:1-5).

Likewise, God was in Christ, for he said to Phillip: “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?” (John 14:10). Jesus says in this same verse: “The Father who lives in me does his works”. That is what “EMMANUEL” means, which translated is: “God is with us.”

Paul declared in the first letter to Timothy: “who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen” (1 Tim. 6:16). In the same epistle the great apostle said: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Tim. 1:17). And he further said: “[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15). This is to say that God can only be seen in Jesus Christ, and so he said: “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). In Christ, God is EMMANUEL — GOD IS WITH US.

God with us does not refer only to salvation, but to total union. When Christ is with us, God is with us; when Christ dwells in us, God dwells in us; when the love of God is in us, God is in us. When the Holy Spirit of god is in us, God, the Father, is in us (Eph. 2:20-22). John declares: “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us” (1 John 4:12). EMMANUEL!

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

All creation was made by one only God: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). We may understand by heavens, all the visible and spiritual things. By earth, we may understand all the visible and material things that exist in the universe. The Hebrew word designated for God is ELOHIM. It is in the plural form, for the singular of ELOHIM is EL. The Christian theology of the first centuries understood that Elohim is, therefore, the trinity; in other words, The Word; in other words, the word that proceeded from the mouth of God, when he said: “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3). And this word is in John 1:1-3. We have here the Father and the Son. And what about the Holy Spirit? In Gen. 1:2 we read: “God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters”. In Hebrew the word RUAR is spirit. There it is the trinity from the beginning.

The Tetragrammaton, in other words, Jehovah, does not show up in the first chapter of Genesis: only the word Elohim. In chapter two, when Adam is formed from the dust of the earth, Jehovah and Elohim are found together. Now, if in chapter one only Elohim shows up, and in chapters two and three Jehovah and Elohim show up, it is obvious that they are two gods. Is it possible to prove that? Let us prove it:

The trinity is one God that is manifested in three different forms (1 John 5:7). And Paul says: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen” (2 Cor. 13:14). Now, none of the three could say, in the trinity: “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:22). If one of them, in the trinity, knew about good and evil and the other ones did not, the trinity would be undone; therefore, the difference was between Jehovah and Elohim, or between Jehovah and Jesus.

We know that the tree of life is Jesus, because Jesus himself declared: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer” (John 15:1). And who planted the tree of good and evil? Jesus declares that there are plants that God, the Father, has not planted; and these plants shall be uprooted (Matt. 15:13). Let us analyze the tree of the knowledge of good and evil:

1. This tree has light, but also has darkness. David says: “Jehovah is my light and my salvation” (Ps. 27:1). The same David says: “For with you is the spring of life. In your light shall we see light” (Ps. 36:9). On the other hand, the same David says: “He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies” (Ps. 18:11). In Jehovah we can find light and darkness existing together. In God the Father, only light (1 John 1:5).

2. In the tree of the knowledge are good and evil, and also in Jehovah: “Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?” (Lam. 3:38). When Jehovah promises good and the beneficiary does evil, Jehovah repents from the promised good and trumps up evils in its place. Where love and evil are together, evil prevails over good (Jer. 18:9-11).

3. There are two spirits in the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The spirit of good and the spirit of evil. The good one comes from Jehovah, for Nehemiah says: “You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them” (Neh. 9:20). And Jehovah places evil spirits in man (1 Sam. 16:14-15). Jehovah pours wicked spirits (Is. 19:14).

4. There are blessing and curse together in the tree of science. Solomon says: “Jehovah’s curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous” (Prov. 3:33). As wherever evil and good are together evil prevails, Jehovah says: “‘Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name,’ says Jehovah of Armies, ‘then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart’” (Mal. 2:1-2).

5. Love and hatred are side by side in the tree of the science of good and evil. Jehovah loves his people (Hos. 11:1; Deut. 23:5). But Jehovah, when his people sinned, began to hate him (Ps. 78:58-59; 106:40-41). Wherever love and hatred are found together, hatred prevails (Deut. 32:22-25).

6. Good and evil, and freedom and slavery are in the tree of the science of good and evil. Jehovah descended from heaven to deliver Israel from the Egyptian slavery and to take them to a paradisiacal land (Ex. 3:7-8). Jehovah really took them to the Land of Canaan, land flowing with milk and honey. After they had settled there they found out that the truth was not quite as they had thought, for they had been taken to the fiery furnace (Is. 31:9). And they were subjected to a worse yoke that that of Egypt.

7. In the days of Solomon, Rehoboam abandoned the law of Jehovah and took with him all Israel, and for this reason Jehovah sent Shishak, king of Egypt, with a great army and also with the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians, and took Jerusalem. Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves, and Jehovah said: They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them; nevertheless they shall be Shishak’s servants, that they may know the difference between my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries (2 Chr. 12:1-8).

8. Salvation and condemnation are in the tree of the science of good and evil. We read in the New Testament: “Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who didn’t believe” (Jude 5).

In the tree of life there is only salvation, and not condemnation: “For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him” (John 3:17). There is also only light, for Jesus said: “He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). In the tree of life there is only one Spirit, which is love (Eph. 4:4; Rom. 5:5). In the tree of life there is no curse, for Jesus has delivered us from the curses of Jehovah being himself made a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). In the tree of life there is only love. The Father is love (1 John 4:8). The Son is love (John 13:34). The Holy Spirit is love (Rom. 15:30). In the tree of life there is only freedom, and never slavery. Jesus declared: “If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

This is a matter of common sense. Those of Jehovah will always be the serpent’s food (Is. 65:25). Those of Christ will have eternal life in the kingdom of God (1 Pet. 1:3-4).

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

What is vanity? It is the desire to shine, to draw attention to one’s self, to cause admiration; it is ridiculous presumption, vainglory, ostentation, to seek fame, cause a sensation or amazement, to be applauded, celebrated, praised; it is to show up, make oneself the center of attention, overshadow everyone and everything; it is to sit on a high throne; it is to praise oneself, boast of one’s own actions, promote oneself, etc., etc.

Vanity is the mother of ostentation and pride. The proud loves himself more than anything, for this is what vanity does: to value the gifts excessively. If beauty is not accompanied by humbleness and modesty, it becomes presumption. The excess of justice becomes cruelty, as the excess of mercy becomes harmful tolerance.

When someone performs an act worthy of praise, the vain person seeks to depreciate it to avoid being overshadowed. The vain person is always critical and his eyes are evil. Satan is vain, so vain as to consider himself worthy of sitting on the throne of God. The prophet Isaiah reveals this: “Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you. How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north! I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit” (Is. 14:11-15).

When we examine the scriptures of the Old Testament we do not find anything written on Satan’s vain wish to be like God. All the passages portray Satan as the tempter, deceiver, murderer, adversary (Gen. 3:1-6; 1 Chr. 21:1; Num. 22:31; Job 1:6-12; Zech. 3:1-2; Ps. 109:6). Worldwide theology affirms that Satan was the one who submitted creation, there in Eden. This affirmation lacks proof.

1. By the definition of vanity described above, we find a vain person in the Bible:When Moses asked to see the glory of Jehovah, he, Jehovah, said to him: “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of Jehovah before you” (Ex. 33:19). Now, Jehovah said about his people Israel: “For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good” (Jer. 21:10). And said more: “Does evil happen to a city, and Jehovah hasn’t done it?” (Amos 3:6). And said more: “I will heap evils on them” (Deut. 32:23). To practice so many evils and still exalt his own goodness, this is thoughtless vanity (Ps. 107:31; Is. 63:7).

2. Jehovah uses war to promote himself, and every war is genocide. Jehovah declares that he is the Lord of the Armies himself — JEHOVAH TZEBAOTH. And he says that he was glorified in the victory over the Egyptian armies in the Red Sea.  Being glorified in the killing of the impotent humans is immense vanity (Ex. 14:17).

3. Jehovah thinks he is beautiful: “Ascribe to Jehovah the glory due to his name. Bring an offering, and come before him” (1 Chr. 16:29; Ps. 29:2; 96:9). How is the holiness of Jehovah? No priest of the line of Aaron who had any deformity — blind, lame, flat nose, broken foot, etc. — could offer burnt offerings to their god. Jehovah did not take into consideration moral perfection, but only the physical and exterior perfection. This holiness is false — pure vanity.

4. Every vain person wants to be appreciated, applauded, praised, and flattered: “Let them praise Jehovah for his loving kindness, for his wonderful works to the children of men! Let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with singing” (Ps. 107:21-22). Whoever publishes his deeds is vain and wants to promote himself. Jesus was against this method (Mark 7:36; 5:43; Matt. 9:30; 12:16; 17:9).

5. Jehovah dwells in the middle of the praises of Israel (Ps. 22:3). Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (605 through 562 B.C.), was so powerful and so vain, that he ordered a statue of himself to be built, which was 25 meters high. The announcer proclaimed in a loud voice, saying: “Then the herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, peoples, nations, and languages, that whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up; and whoever doesn’t fall down and worship shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace” (Dan. 3:4-6).

The desire to be worshipped, praised, and acclaimed is a trait of vain, proud, and mediocre men. If a god acts in a similar manner, he makes himself like men in his boastfulness, even because Jesus, which is God (1 John 5:20), was meek and humble (Matt. 11:29), and taught the disciples never to seek after great things and glory (Mark 10:36-45). The example of Jesus was to serve, not to be served. He forbade anyone to proclaim his works (Mark 1:44).

As Jehovah used all means to promote himself, he was destitute of humility and full of vanity.

PAUL DECLARES: “For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:20-21)… while Jehovah, in his vanity, says that he is all-powerful (Gen. 17:1); while in his vanity proclaims that everything he wants, he does (Ps. 135:6); while he declares in a loud voice that Israel is the clay, and he is the potter (Jer. 18:6); while he proclaims that his kingdom dominates over all (Ps. 103:19; 99:1); while he declares that his counsel is determined over all the nations and that which he determines no one can change (Is. 14:26-27).

All the history of the kingdoms remains under corruption, in the fratricide wars, in betrayals, hypocrisy, lies, and vanity. And the kingdom that Jehovah has created for his glory (Is. 43:7), and in which he, Jehovah, who is the potter, forms the heart of his people, has always been worse than the nations, to the point that Jehovah destroyed both kingdoms, the temple, everything (2 Kings 23:27; 24:1-3). It was all talk and vanity!

Jesus did all his work without vanity!

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira