As the heading of the second part of “The Worst Blasphemous Words...,” J. S. quotes Peter’s statement to Cornelius in Acts 10:26: “I myself also am a man.” Peter uttered these words when Cornelius fell down at Peter’s feet and worshipped him. J. S.’s quotation here indicates that he is still occupied with the same false accusation—the base yet baseless charge that Brother Lee claims that the believers become God in the sense of having the Godhead and of being an object of worship.
J. S. introduces this second part by saying, “Recently, many dear brothers and sisters have been confused by the serious heretical teaching, that man can become god (or God).” (It is ironic that J. S., purporting to dispel confusion, succeeds only in adding to it.) J. S.’s expression “serious heretical teaching” refers, of course, to a teaching which J. S., in a most dishonest, disreputable, and despicable way, ascribes to Brother Lee. Then J. S. goes on to discuss, or comment on, five matters: the background of Psalm 82; the background of John 10; 1 John 3:2; condemnation on all who want to become God; and the teachings and attitudes of the apostles. The first two matters need not concern us here, since Brother Lee has not used these verses in teaching, based on the Bible, that the believers in Christ may become God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. The remaining three, most serious in their use by J. S. to attack Brother Lee, require brief attention.
First John 3:2 tells us that when Christ appears, we, the children of God, “will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is.” With respect to this verse, J. S. says, “To be like God does not mean that we become gods.” Brother Lee does not claim that it does. He does not take this verse as a basis for saying that we will become God in the Godhead. What he does say (in the Life-study of 1 John, p. 225) is this: “Since we are the children of God, we shall be like Him in the maturity of life when He is manifested....This indicates that the children of God have a great future with a more splendid blessing. We shall not only have the divine nature, but shall also bear the divine likeness. To partake of the divine nature is already a great blessing and enjoyment; yet to be like God, bearing His likeness, will be a greater blessing and enjoyment.” In a passage quoted earlier, Brother Lee points out that “when Christ comes, He will make us fully the same as God in life and in nature (v. 2). However, none of us are or can be God in His Godhead as an object of worship.” It is evident, then, that Brother Lee does not use 1 John 3:2 to teach heresy, in particular the heresy that the believers will share in the Godhead and become an object of worship.
J. S. asserts: “We like to be like God in His righteousness and holiness, in His light and in His love.” According to his opinion, to be like God, who is light (1 John 1:5), is simply a matter of walking in the light as God is in the light (v. 7). According to other portions of the New Testament, we may not only walk in the light—we actually are light. First John 1:5 says that God is light, and Ephesians 5:8 says that we are light in the Lord. In John 8:12 Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world,” and in Matthew 5:14 He says, “You are the light of the world.” Do these verses not indicate that, in a very real and wonderful sense, we become what God is as light? How do we, who once were darkness, become, with Christ, the light of the world? The word of the Lord Jesus in John 12 reveals that we become light by being born of the very God who is light. The Lord Jesus came as a “light into the world” (v. 46), and those who “believe into the light...become sons of light” (v. 36). Having been born of God who is light, we are not like light—we are light in the Lord!
Concerning being “like God” in His righteousness and holiness, J. S. makes this remark: “It is very strange that those who say that they are gods are not very holy nor righteous.” This is aimed at Brother Lee. J. S. not only falsely accuses Brother Lee of believing and teaching that he is a god; J. S. presumes to pass judgment on Brother Lee by insinuating that he is “not very holy nor righteous.” What is J. S.’s standard of measurement? Is “The Worst Blasphemous Words...” an expression of the righteous and holy God it purports to defend?
Next, J. S. says that the Word of God condemns all who want to become God. According to the context of the entire document, here J. S. is actually saying, by evil insinuation and innuendo, that Brother Lee wants to become God with the unique Godhead and as an object of worship. But J. S. goes even further; he quotes without comment passages about some of those who wanted to become God: the prince of Tyrus (Ezek. 28:1-10); Satan, the former anointed cherub, Lucifer (Ezek. 28:13-19; Isa. 14:12-20); Herod (Acts 12:21-23); and Antichrist, the man of sin, the son of perdition (2 Thes. 2:3-8; Dan. 11:36-37). We need to be clear what J. S. is really doing here: He is categorizing Brother Lee not only with heretics and with Herod but even with Antichrist and with Satan himself. First, J. S. wrongly accuses Brother Lee of wanting to become God as an object of worship, and then J. S. goes so far as to associate Brother Lee with Antichrist and Satan. How evil, hateful, and malicious!
Finally, J. S. refers to four passages related, in his view, to the teachings and attitudes of the apostles with respect to the notion that man can become God in the Godhead and as an object of worship. He comments on Barnabas and Paul at Lystra (Acts 14), Peter at the house of Cornelius (Acts 10), the old apostle John at Patmos (Rev. 19:10; 22:8-9), and the New Jerusalem (Rev. 22:3-5). J. S. uses each of these cases to make a twofold point: that the apostles did not teach that we are gods or ever will become gods and that Brother Lee (classified by J. S. as one of the “modern day false apostles”) does teach the “devilish heresy, that man will become god (or God).” Not satisfied with falsely accusing Brother Lee by presenting a distorted and perverted account of his teaching, J. S. attacks Brother Lee’s person, calling him a heretic and a false apostle and classifying him with Antichrist and Satan. Such an accusation is not only untrue—it is ungodly, wholly unbecoming of a brother in the Lord and a servant of God.
Three additional matters related to J. S.’s accusation and attack should be noted.