The Sh'ma (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) renders useless the "greater and lesser YHWH" idea. While Yeshua did "submit Himself" to the Father (John 17:4), it did not make Him "lesser" in any way, shape, or form. For instance, when we were submitting ourselves to learn from our parents, teachers, bosses - it didn't make us "lesser" human beings. Neither did Yeshua's submission to "God the Father" make Him "less".

YHWH, our Creator, is indeed, ONE. He said so! It is futile (not to mention, blasphemy) to attempt to downplay God's power in whatever form He chooses to present it. Whenever we attempt to illustrate the concept of God to the atheists who write to The Refiner's Fire, we like to compare the idea of Him to a fiber optic lamp with its myriad lights emanating from the ends of long, thin tubes. The lights appear ONLY because of the base that is powered by electricity. Without the base, there would be no light. The Entity of YHWH is the "base" with His light emanating everywhere via whatever "form" He chooses. He didn't divide Himself in half in order to present Himself as Yeshua on earth. He used the "form" of Yeshua to reveal Himself in a personal way that MAN could understand with his limited, human mindset. God wasn't wanting man to worship the flesh of Yeshua, but YHWH Whom Yeshua represented as part of the Echad, the "one-ness" of God!

The Bible tells us YHWH is all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal, and everywhere at once. Our minds can't comprehend Him - and they won't, until we're taken out of our "earth-suits" to be present with Him. He didn't lose control of the universe while an aspect of Himself was presenting Yeshua to the world! He didn't lose control of the universe while He was guiding the Israelites via pillars of cloud and fire, or while speaking through a burning bush or a donkey, or presenting Himself in the form of "three men" at the Oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18:2). When God was physically with Adam and Eve in the Garden (Genesis 2:15-16 and 3:8-9), was He then the "lesser" God or the "greater" God? What arrogance on our parts to determine what degree of "god" YHWH is in ANY FORM! Please read our article, Yeshua is Elohim.

Throughout Scripture we see over and over again that YHWH is a "One-ness" in whatever "form" He presents Himself! Examples:

Deuteronomy 4: 39 ...know today, and establish it in your heart, that ADONAI is God in heaven above and on earth below - there is no other.

Isaiah 45: 5 I am ADONAI; there is no other; besides me there is no God.

The Bible goes on to tell us that Yeshua was God Incarnate (John 10:22-39). The Bible does NOT tell us Yeshua was "partially divine" nor does it ever mention "two YHWHs". Teaching that is FALSE DOCTRINE!

Isaiah 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Micah 5: 2 "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity."

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

Colossians 2: ⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. ⁹ For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.

Matthew 16:15-17: ¹⁵"But what about you?" he (Yeshua) asked. "Who do you say I am?" ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Yeshua replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

John 1: I and the Father are One, He who has seen me has seen the Father....

John 1 also tells us: ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things came to be through him, and without him nothing made had being. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness not has suppressed it.

John 4:26: Then Yeshua declared, "I who speak to you am he."

John 17:1-3: After Yeshua said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: ²"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Yeshua Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. ⁵And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Matthew 1: 23...they shall call his name EMMANUEL, which being interpreted is, GOD WITH US.

John 8: 24...if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

God, through the FORM known as Yeshua performed all kinds of miracles that included raising the dead and controlling nature. Psalm 90:1 and 1 Timothy 1:17 show that YHWH did NOT have a beginning or an end. The same cannot be said for a "lesser god". YHWH will return in the "form" of Yeshua to defeat the Antichrist and then rule the world for a thousand years. Does this mean we will be following a "lesser God"? No! YHWH is doing this for US, to help us understand Him better before He brings down His "new heaven and new earth" (2 Peter 3:13, Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 66:22, Revelation 21:1-5, Luke 18:30) where everything will be far more different than our human minds could ever comprehend! We don't know/weren't told in the Bible exactly what "form" we will be looking upon in eternity when we look upon our Creator.

Yeshua was here once and His flesh died, yet HE will be returning! What's "lesser" about that? Can a mere man die and return again to rule the world? Can a mere man walk on water, turn water into wine, control nature, or raise the dead? Jeremy 32:17 tells us YHWH is all-powerful. Psalm 147:5 and Acts 15:18 say He is "all-knowing". A "lesser" YHWH could not be "all powerful" or "all-knowing", let alone, "eternal".

1 Timothy 3: 16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God (not a "greater or lesser" in any way) was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Yeshua was Divine in a human form - something only God could have made possible. But to relegate Him to a "lesser god" is simply not Biblical - not to mention, it makes things more confusing for those who are sincerely trying to understand Him. Is it any wonder that Muslims think that we worship "three gods"? If we can't stick to the BIBLICAL definition of ECHAD without inserting Gnosticism and Kaballah (which is where the "greater and lesser god" idea started), then how can we expect others to understand exactly who it is that we worship?

To back up our stance, we suggest a document written by author Tim Hegg who wrote an excellent challenge to the "Greater and Lesser YHWH" nonsense.

Furthermore, for those who want to insist that Yeshua is "just" Messiah but not God Incarnate we challenge you to tell us what you going to do with verses such as Isaiah 9:6, John 20:28, Mark 12:32, Romans 3:30, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Galatians 3:20, Ephesians 4:6, 1 Timothy 2:5, and James 2:19!

The bottom line is: The teachers mentioned above and their ilk are suggesting "another Jesus". We are warned that there would be a plethora of false teachers in the end times!

2 Corinthians 11: 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

Paul warns: Galatians 1 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

Yeshua is never called "our Father" in the New Testament although he is called "Everlasting father" in Isaiah 9:6. In the New Testament, Yeshua always appears beside the Father or with the Father. This does not compromise the dual truth that Yeshua is divine, having the nature, character, mission and capacity of God in every respect, and Yeshua is God manifested in human form. Paul constantly demonstrates this principle (Romans 1:7, 2 Thessalonians 1:1, 2:16, Philemon 1:3).

There is both equality and hierarchy between Yeshua and the Father. (John 10:24, 14:28, 1 Corinthians 11:3). The subordination of a faithful messenger has a major part in the role of the Messiah and his Father...

There are unique characteristics of God which appear in Yeshua and which make Him equal to God and a part of the very nature of God and man (Phillipians 2:6-11, Hebrews 5:8, Colossians 1:19, 2:9).

As is evident in Bible hermaneutics: Scripture amply interprets Scripture!

For a thorough study on the above subjects, we recommend the writings of Baruch ben Daniel called, Ephaimites: A Case of Stolen Identity; and author Tim Hegg's: The Two House Theory: Three Fatal Flaws and his challenge against Rabbi Koniuchowsky's Greater and Lesser YHVH Nonsense.