Are Jesus and God the same entity as members of the Trinity?

In your book Heaven, you often interchange Jesus for God. Jesus and God are not the same entity even though they are both part of the trinity. There is God, the Father; Jesus, God's Son; and the Holy Spirit. They are not exactly the same thing. God did create Jesus and the Holy Spirit, however, with specific purposes and tasks.

On page 36, you have Jesus saying something that God actually stated: "He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son." There are some other references to Jesus in the book where it's actually God the Father.

Answered by Randy Alcorn

You wrote, "Jesus and God are not the same entity, though they are both part of the trinity."

Jesus said in John 10: "I and the Father are One." Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is God; the Son is God and the Father is God. If Christ is a member of the trinity, then Christ is God by definition. I agree there is a distinction between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore, I don't call Jesus the Father or Jesus the Holy Spirit, but I do call Jesus God because He is God. God did NOT create Jesus and the Holy Spirit, as they are in fact God, not created beings.