Can Man Actually Become a God?

In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.  Here is this week’s question:Dear Dave and Tom, I’m curious about what the Bible says about created beings becoming gods.Genesis seems to indicate that Eve was offered Godhood by the serpent.The books of Daniel and Revelation tell of the Antichrist being worshiped as God.Can a man actually become a god?

Tom:

Dave, this question I think is an important question because I think when the Bible talks about THE lie, I think it’s about man becoming a god and that is the lie from Genesis through Revelation.

Dave:

Amazing!Mormonism is based upon the belief that the lie the serpent told is the truth.Remember Brigham Young said I do not blame Mother Eve for eating the forbidden fruit.That’s how we become gods.In fact, he said, I’ll quote him verbatim, “The devil told the truth!”Then we have Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Paul Crouch—

Tom:

Many of the Word Faith teachers.

Dave:

Yes, and they say that man was created as a god over this world.That when he sinned he lost his godhood to Satan who became the god of this world.The Bible does say Satan is the god of this world.And the whole idea of Jesus coming and redeeming us was to take this world back from Satan and to become gods again.We have Paul Crouch for example in a newsletter, in print, saying, “If we are not little gods, I will apologize before 10,000 x 10,000 in front of the Crystal Sea.”According to the Bible, if he’s a little god he won’t be before the Crystal Sea.It’s that simple.God says in Jeremiah:10:10-11 [10] But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. [11] Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
See All..., “You say to the gods (spelled with little “g”.In fact, Charles Capp says be sure to spell it with a little “g”.And the Bible spells it with a little “g”.)You say to the gods that have not created this heaven and earth, they will perish from under this heaven and from this earth.”So anyone who claims to be a little god, they are flaunting their rebellion before the one true God who says, “Is there a god beside me?I know not any.”There is no true god, so any god would be a false god.Now interestingly the Jehovah’s Witnesses turn Jesus into a god with a little “g”.John:1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
See All..., “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was (it says God in the proper translation).

Tom:

No article.

Dave:

No, they say the Word was “a god” spelled with a little “g”.So now we’ve got two gods in John:1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
See All....We have the true God, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God”—that’s the true God.Then we have another little god, that’s Jesus.So you’ve got two god for all your claim that fits only one God.Is Jesus a false god?Oh no, they wouldn’t say he’s a false god, so now we have Jesus is a god spelled with a little “g” but he’s not a false god.Tom, this is really an entanglement in the lie of the serpent, by any number of religions and you can tell us what the Catholic Church itself says.

Tom:
Dave, so people don’t think I’m just doing this from memory as a Catholic, let me direct them to the Catholic catechism, paragraph 460, it says: “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.”That’s with a capital “G” by the way.And then it goes on to say: “The only begotten Son of God wanting to make us sharers in his divinity assumed our nature so that he made man, might make men gods.”Now that’s stunning to some people.And if somebody says to me “Well Tom, what you think about this is not really what the Catholic Church is teaching.”But here is a basis for promoting this doctrine within the official teachings of the Catholic Church.Now Dave, where is all this going to go?The question had to do with the Antichrist being worshiped as God.Isn’t he going to offer godhood to all men?Isn’t this part of THE lie, as we mentioned from the beginning?

Dave:

This is the foundation of yoga, self-realization, realize that Atman the individual soul is identical with Brahman the universal soul.This is the foundation of the New Age movement, the whole human potential movement.If human potential is infinite as they say, and you just don’t know the power within then you can develop it and you can become a god.This was the serpent’s lie.I’m sorry; this is what Yonggi Cho basically teaches in his book The Fourth Dimension with the foreword by Robert Schuller, who says, “I’ve tried it, it works.Don’t try to understand it.”And he says that man is a fourth dimension being, just like God, like Satan, like angels and demons.And that man as a fourth dimension being can create by visualizing exactly as God created the universe.So Tom, we could go on and on.You will find this lie everywhere.The idea that there is some power and the whole idea of palm reading and psychics and Ouija Boards and shamans and witchdoctors—they’re in touch with some power that they can really identify with and they can use it.Star Wars Force.

Tom:

Now Dave, jump all over me for this, but I think it’s very simple and in a sense I agree with the Mormons that what Satan offered to Eve was really true.That she would become a god, that she would become a rebel!

Dave:

Right, a little god with a little “g” that’s true.

Tom:

A little god and that’s to our condemnation.I mean first of all what could we do with it.We’re finite beings.I mean how could we have godhood? But in aspiring for godhood, we become a rebel after God.

Dave:

We have a bunch of little gods running around trying to rule their own universe and their egos are clashing with one another.You know what I’ve often said Tom.If you’re god and I’m god that would explain why the world is in a mess!It wouldn’t offer any hope.And if everybody can develop this psychic power with these godlike powers, that frightens me! You just have a bunch of Obi-wans and Darth Vaders zapping one another with psychic power each one trying to rule the universe.That is what Satan wanted to do.That was the idea that he planted in Eve’s mind and you could almost say it’s in the blood stream of all of her descendants ever since.What a tragedy!