NEWS: The Strange Facts Surrounding Juice WRLD’s Death
The rapper Juice WRLD died at a Chicago airport at the young age of 21. The bizarre circumstances leading to his death and the strange prophetic events that occurred prior to it immediately raised some eyebrows. What really happened to Juice WRLD?
Published 2 days ago on December 9, 2019 By Vigilant Citizen
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The Strange Facts Surrounding Juice WRLD’s Death
Christopher Lee Describes the Power of Satanic Rituals in 1975 Video
In this rare interview, actor Christopher Lee discusses the power of black magic and satanic rituals, adding that there’s “nothing fictitious” about them. He also explains why there was a resurgence of interest in occultism at the time. His answer remains fully relevant today.
Published 15 hours ago on December 6, 2019 By Vigilant Citizen
Christopher Lee’s career in the film industry was a long and fruitful one. While younger people know him for his role as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Lee’s filmography goes way back (nearly 70 years) and includes a long list of movies and television shows (over 200).
When one looks at roles taken by Lee throughout his life, two constants emerge: He often played the role of the villain and he often played in movies with dark, occult themes.
For instance, Lee played the role of Count Dracula in eight movies, the last one being The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973).
The 1968 movie The Devil’s Bride is about a Satanic cult in South England.
In the 1976 movie To the Devil a Daughter, Christopher Lee plays the role of a “priest” in a Satanic cult who offers a 14-year-old girl to the devil. Disturbing fact: The girl is greatly sexualized in the movie and there’s even full-frontal nudity.
The least one can say is that Christopher Lee appeared to know a thing or two about black magic and satanic rituals. In an interview about To the Devil a Daughter, Lee serves a lesson on black magic to the interviewer while explaining the power and the danger surrounding these rituals.
While the interview took place over 44 years ago, everything he says remains true and relevant today.
“A Children’s Book of Demons” Teaches Children How to Summon Demons
This children’s book presents the summoning of demons as a fun way of taking care of everyday problems such as chores, homework and getting rid of bullies. And it gets worse.
Published 3 days ago on December 3, 2019 By Vigilant Citizen
Although it might the worst idea for a children’s book in world history, A Children’s Book of Demons exists. It is published, widely distributed and it is sold on Amazon, at Walmart and some of the largest book stores in the country. Here’s the summary of the book by author Aaron Leighton:
Don’t want to take out the trash tonight? Maybe you’re swimming in homework? Perhaps that big bully is being a real drag? Well grab your coloured pencils and sigil drawing skills and dial up some demons! But be careful, even if these spirits are more silly than scary they are still demons.
A review of the book says:
Leighton integrates a hands-on craft element into this playful guide that invites readers to conjure gentle demons by writing their sigils, which serve as “a phone number” straight to the spirit. The demons necessitate specific summons (a riddler named Corydon requires a sigil “drawn in bright red, the colour of a clown’s nose–preferably while you’re giggling”), and express specific characteristics and abilities that range from pragmatic to gross. They include “Flatulus,” whose talent is passing gas; “Quazitoro,” an expert at finding missing objects; and “Spanglox,” “the best-dressed demon in the underworld,” who offers cutting-edge fashion advice. Leighton’s renderings of the multieyed, multiarmed, sharp-toothed demons are outlandish without being creepy, and the creative concept will likely inspire some readers to create demons of their own. Ages 5-10.
A Children’s Book of Demons is basically a grimoire (a manual of witchcraft to invoke demons and the spirit of the dead) for children. It contains 72 demons that can be conjured by children for their personal benefit (which is the definition of black magic). Each demon is accompanied by a sigil (a symbol representing a demon imbued with occult power) and a “cute” drawing (that is replete with occult symbolism).
Here’s an example:
There are several things worth noting here. First, the drawing of the demon is highly inspired by Baphomet, complete with the “as above, so below” hand sign.
Second, the name Corydon is not random. It is the name of a pedophile character in Virgil’s Eclogues: A shepherd who’s in love with a young boy named Alexis.
The name’s association with “boy love” was cemented by the French author André Gide’s who titled his book defending homosexuality and pederasty (a sexual relationship between an adult man and a pubescent or adolescent boy) Corydon.
So, yeah, this is a strange name choice for a book intended for children aged 5-10.
Here are some other demons.
To summon these demons, children are encouraged to reproduce their sigils, which are very similar to actual sigils in the Goetia – the classic reference work for black magic.
Goetia or Goëtia is a practice that includes the conjuration of demons, specifically the ones summoned by the Biblical figure, King Solomon. The use of the term in English largely derives from the 17th-century grimoire Lesser Key of Solomon, which features an Ars Goetia as its first section.
– Wikipedia, Goeita
About the Author
The book was written by a Canadian artist named Aaron Leighton. Here’s his biography.
AARON LEIGHTON is an award-winning illustrator and art director, as well as a fan of all things occult. His first book with Koyama Press, Spirit City Toronto, was published in 2010. Aaron lives in Toronto, ON and spends his free time wrestling with a black cat.
The author’s bio pic is rather odd.
If one can go past the annoying soyboy face, there’s other stuff going on in that pic. First, why is there a phallic object going into that cartoon’s mouth at the bottom right? Why is it crying? Finally, the author’s pose is rather reminiscent of a pic that is also highly symbolic. And, considering the fact that Leighton is a “fan of all things occult”, this might not be a coincidence.
Black Magic is Not a Game
A Children’s Book of Demons is yet another attempt at normalizing black magic and satanism to children. By catering to children’s wants and needs (chores, homework, etc.), the book over-simplifies the extremely dark and complex world of ceremonial magic and turns it into a fun game. However, any occultist will be keen to say: Black magic is not a game. And it is definitely not for children.
To truly understand black magic, one must read the words of actual occultists, not “witchcraft is fun” bloggers. Eliphas Levi (the guy who drew Baphomet) wrote in his classic Dogmes et Rituels de la Haute Magie:
Black Magic is really only a graduated combination of sacrileges and murders designed for the permanent perversion of a human will and for the realization in a living man of the hideous phantom of the demon. It is therefore, properly speaking, the religion of the devil, the cultus of darkness, hatred of good carried to the height of paroxysm: it is the incarnation of death and the persistent creation of hell. – Eliphas Levi, Dogmes et Rituels de la Haute Magie.
The other prominent occultist and 33rd degree Freemason Manly P. Hall explains the high price of black magic.
True black magic is performed with the aid of a demoniacal spirit, who serves the sorcerer for the length of his earthly life, with the understanding that after death the magician shall become the servant of his own demon. For this reason a black magician will go to inconceivable ends to prolong his physical life, since there is nothing for him beyond the grave.
The most dangerous form of black magic is the scientific perversion of occult power for the gratification of personal desire. Its less complex and more universal form is human selfishness, for selfishness is the fundamental cause of all worldly evil. A man will barter his eternal soul for temporal power, and down through the ages a mysterious process has been evolved which actually enables him to make this exchange.
– Manly P. Hall, Secret Teachings of All Ages
In short, summoning demons is the very last thing children should be playing with. Even if the demons are made-up, the sigils could very well be charged with actual occult powers.
To those who believe that this is all bunk, remember this: Some of the most powerful, intelligent and influential people in world history believed in this stuff and studied it extensively. So, as I like to say, the fact that you are not aware of something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
P.S. If you appreciated this article, please consider showing your support through a small monthly donation on Patreon. If you prefer, you can also make a one-time donation here. Also, you can own all of the best articles in VC history by downloading the VC e-book. Thank you for your support!
JESUIT SUPERIOR GENERAL OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH SAYS NO COUNTRY CAN TURN AWAY ILLEGAL MIGRANTS BECAUSE THE ‘LAND BELONGS TO EVERYONE’
The superior general of the Jesuits declared this week that no country has the right to turn away migrants, claiming the land belongs to everyone. “The challenge for a country that r2eceives migrants is not only reception, but integration, which means receiving the contribution that immigrants bring,” said Jesuit Father Arturo Sosa Abascal in an interview with Tempi.it. “They come to make a contribution, which is greater than what they receive from the host country,” he claimed, seemingly without evidence. “Italians must remember their own experience,” he continued.
by Geoffrey Grider August 29, 2019
READ MORE HERE
Christian Vs Catholic Beliefs
The year was 1517, which is a little over 500 years ago. An Augustinian monk and theology professor nailed his 95 Theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. This was the action which would set in motion the Protestant Reformation – and change the world! In fact, things have never been the same since.
Christian And Catholic Beliefs
[10 Important Differences To Know]
Catholics rejected the reformation, while the Reformers sought to bring the church back to the true gospel, as taught in the Bible. To this day, massive differences remain between Protestants (hereafter referred to as Christians) and Catholics.
What are those many differences between the Catholic’s and Christians? That is the question this post will answer.
History of Christianity
Acts 11:26 says, “the disciples of Antioche were the first that were called Christen.” (Tyndale NT) Christianity, as we know it today, goes back to Jesus and his death, burial, resurrection and ascension. If we had to assign an event to the birth of the church, we would likely point to Pentecost. At any rate, Christianity goes back to the first Century AD, with its roots going back to the dawn of human history.
History of the Catholic Church
Catholics claim the history of Christianity as exclusively their own history, going right back to Jesus, Peter, the Apostles and so on. The word Catholic means universal. And the Catholic Church sees itself as the one true church. So they see all church history (until the Protestant Reformation) as the history of the Catholic church.
However, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, with the Bishop of Rome as the Pope, goes back only to the 4th century and the Emperor Constantine (dubious Catholic historical claims notwithstanding). And a great many defining doctrines of the Catholic church date far after the 1st century, into the Middle and Modern Ages (e.g’s: Marian doctrines, Purgatory, papal infallibility etc.).
It wasn’t until the Council of Trent (16th Century), also known as the Counter Reformation, did the Catholic Church definitively and officially reject many central elements of the true gospel, as taught in the Scriptures (e.g., that salvation is by faith alone).
Thus, many of the distinctions of the present day Catholic Church (that is, ways that the Catholic Church is distinct from Christian traditions) goes back only to the 4th, 11th and 16th centuries (and even more recent).
Similarities
Christians and Catholics hold much in common. Both affirm the deity and Lordship of Jesus Christ, the triune nature of God, that man is made in the image of God. Both affirm that man is eternal, and that there is a literal heaven and a literal hell.
Both affirm much of the same Scriptures (though there are specific distinctions noted below). Thus, there are a lot of similarities between Catholics and Christians.
However, they have many differences as well.
Salvation
Christianity
Christians believe that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone (Sola Fide and Sola Christus). Ephesians 2:8-9, as well as the entire book of Galatians, make the case that salvation is apart from works. A person is justified by faith alone (Romans 5:1). Of course, true faith produces good works (James 2:14-26). But works are a fruit of faith, and not the or a meritorious basis of salvation.
Romans 3:28 “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.”
Catholicism
Catholics believe that salvation is multifaceted, and comes through baptism, faith, good works and remaining in a state of grace (i.e., being in good standing with the Catholic church, and participation in the sacraments). Justification is not a forensic declaration made based on faith, but the culmination and progression of the above elements.
Canon 9 – “If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; let him be damned.”
Baptism
Christianity
Christians hold that baptism is a symbolic ceremony meant to demonstrate a person’s faith in Christ and his or her identification with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. Baptism is not, in and of itself, a saving act. Rather, baptism points to the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye made safe thorow faith, and that not of your selves: For it is the gift of God, and cometh not of works, lest any man should boast himself.”
Catholicism
Catholics hold that baptism is a means of grace which cleanses a person from original sin, and is a saving act. An infant, apart from faith, is cleansed of sin and brought into friendship with God via baptism, according to Catholic theology and practice.
CCC 2068 – “The Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are obligatory for Christians and that the justified man is still bound to keep them. All men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments.”
Christianity
Prayer is an act of worship. We are only to worship God. Christians believe that we should pray to God, as instructed by Jesus (see Matthew 6:9-13 for e.g.). Christians don’t see any biblical warrant for praying to the deceased (even to deceased Christians), and many see this practice as dangerously close to necromancy, which is prohibited by the Scriptures.
Revelation 22:8-9 “I am John, which saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down, to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
And he said unto me: see thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant and the fellow servant of thy brethren the prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book. But worship God.” (Tyndale NT)
Catholicism
Catholics, on the other hand, believe that there is great value to praying to the deceased Christians; that deceased Christians are in a position to intercede with God on behalf of the living.
CCC 2679 – “Mary is the perfect Orans (pray-er), a figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends his Son to save all men. Like the beloved disciple we welcome Jesus’ mother into our homes, for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope.”
Idol worship
Catholicism
Both Catholics and Christians would agree that idol worship is sinful. And Catholics would disagree with the charge made by many Christians of idolatry concerning Catholic statues, relics and even the Catholic view of the Eucharist. However, bowing down to images is a form of worship.
CCC 721 “Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time.”
Christianity
Christians, on the other hand, view these things as dangerously close to, if not outright, idolatry. Further, they see the adoration of the elements of the Eucharist as idolatry since Christians reject the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation – that the elements become the actual blood and body of Jesus. Thus, adoring the elements is not really worshiping Jesus Christ.
Exodus 20:3-5 “Thou shalt haue none other Gods before me.
Thou shalt make thee no grauen image, neither any similitude of things that are in heauen aboue, neither that are in the earth beneath, nor that are in the waters vnder the earth.
Thou shalt not bowe downe to them, neither serue them: for I am the Lord thy God, a ielous God, visiting the iniquitie of the fathers vpon the children, vpon the third generation and vpon the fourth of them that hate me.” (Geneva Bible)
Life after death
Christianity
Christians believe that there is a literal heaven and a literal hell. That when the faithful die, they go immediately into the presence of Christ, and will dwell eternally in the New Heaven and the New Earth. And that those who perish in unbelief go to a place of torment, and will dwell eternally away from the presence of God in the Lake of Fire (See Philippians 1:23, 1 Corinthians 15:20-58, Revelation 19:20, 20:5, 10-15; 21:8, etc.).
John 5:24 “Verily, verily I say unto you: He that heareth my words; And believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into damnation: but is scaped from death unto life.”
Catholicism
Catholics believe that those who die in friendship with God either go directly to heaven or to a place called Purgatory for further purification through pain. How long a person endures Purgatory is not certain and depends on many factors, including prayers and indulgences of the living on their behalf.
Those who die while in enmity with God go directly to hell.
The Trentine Creed, of Pius IV, A.D. 1564 “I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful.”
Penance / Confessing sins to a priest
Christianity
Christians believe that there is one mediator between God and man – namely, Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). Further, Christians believe that the one-time sacrifice of Jesus Christ is completely sufficient to cover the sins of a Christian (sins past, present and future). There is no further need of absolution from a priest. Christ is enough.
1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, which is the man Christ Jesus,” (Tyndale NT)
Catholicism
Catholics believe in the need to confess sins to a priest, who has the delegated power of absolution. Further, penance might be necessary to cancel some sins. Thus, the forgiveness of sins is not based upon the atonement of Jesus Christ alone, but, in large measure, upon the works of contrition by the sinner.
CCC 980 – “It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized can be reconciled with God and with the Church: Penance has rightly been called by the holy Fathers “a laborious kind of baptism.” This sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been reborn.”
Priests
Christianity
Christians believe that Christ is the Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14) and that the Levitical priesthood in the Old Testament is a shadow of Christ. It is not an office which continues in the church. Christians reject the Catholic priesthood as unbiblical.
Hebrews 10:19–20 “Seeing brethren that by the means of the blood of Jesu, we may be bold to enter into that holy place, by the new and living way, which he hath prepared for us, through the veil, that is to say by his flesh.”
Catholicism
Catholics see the priesthood as one of the Holy Orders of the Church therefore uphold the legitimacy of the priesthood as an office in the church.
CCC 1495 – “Only priests who have received the faculty of absolving from the authority of the Church can forgive sins in the name of Christ.”
Celibacy of priests
Catholicism
Most Catholics hold that priests should remain unmarried (although, in some Catholic rites, priests are allowed to marry) so that the priest can focus on the work of God.
CCC 1579 “All the ordained ministers of the Latin Church, with the exception of permanent deacons, are normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend to remain celibate “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to “the affairs of the Lord,” they give themselves entirely to God and to men. Celibacy is a sign of this new life to the service of which the Church’s minister is consecrated; accepted with a joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God.”
Christianity
Christians hold that bishops/overseers/pastors, etc., can marry as per 1 Timothy 3:2 (et.al.).
1 Timothy 4:1-3 “The spirit speaketh evidently that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, and shall give heed unto spirits of error, and devilish doctrine of them which speak false thorow hypocrisy, and have their consciences marked with an hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with giving thanks, of them which believe, and know the truth,”
View of the Bible
Catholicism
There are significant differences in the way that that Christians and Catholics see the Bible, both in the actual contents of Scripture and the authority of the Scriptures. Catholics hold that it is the responsibility of the church to declare authoritatively and infallibly what constitutes Scripturep.
“The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ,” (CCC par. 85).
Christianity
Christians, on the other hand, hold that the church observes and “discovers” – not authoritatively decides – which books are inspired by God and should therefore be included in the canon of Scripture.
But the differences between Christians and Catholics when it comes to the Scriptures do not end with what constitutes the Scriptures. Catholics deny, while Christians affirm, the perspicuity, or clarity, of the Scriptures. That is, that Scriptures are clear and understandable.
Catholics deny perspicuity and insist that the Scriptures cannot be rightly understood apart from the Magisterium of the Catholic church – that the Catholic church has the official and infallible interpretation. CHRISTIANS REJECT THIS NOTION OUTRIGHT!
Further, Catholics do not regard the Scriptures as the sole infallible authority on faith and practice, as Christians do (i.e., Christians affirm Sola Scriptura). Catholic authority is like a three-legged stool: the Scriptures, tradition, and the magisterium of the church. The Scriptures, at least in practice, are the short-leg of this wobbly stool, since Catholics deny the perspicuity of Scriptures and rely more heavily on the other two “legs” as their infallible authority.
Acts 17:11 “These were the noblest among them of Thessalonia, which received the word with all diligence of mind, and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were even so.”
Holy Eucharist / Catholic Mass / Transubstantiation
Catholicism
At the center of Catholic worship is the Mass or Eucharist. Catholics believe that the elements of the Lord’s Supper (See Luke 22:14-23) become the actual body and blood of Jesus when a priest blesses the elements during a Mass (though Catholics also hold that the bread and wine maintain their outward characteristics of bread and wine).
In partaking of the Mass, Catholics believe they are partaking of and enjoying Christ’s sacrifice in the present. Thus, Christ’s sacrifice is an on-going a-temporal act, brought into the present every time a Catholic partakes of the elements at Mass.
Further, since the bread and the wine are the actual blood and body of Jesus Christ, Catholics believe that it is right to adore or worship the elements themselves.
CCC 1376 “The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: “Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation.”
Christianity
Christians object to this as gross misunderstanding of Jesus’ instructions regarding the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is meant to remind us of Jesus and his sacrifice, and that Christ’s sacrifice was “once for all” (See Hebrews 10:14) and was completed in history at Calvary.
Christians further object that this practice is dangerously close to, if not outright, IDOLATRY.
Hebrews 10:12-14 “but this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat him down for ever on the right hand of God, and from henceforth tarrieth till his foes be made his footstool. For with one offering hath he made perfect for ever them that are sanctified.”
Was Peter the first pope?
Catholics make the historically dubious claim that the succession of the Papacy can be traced right back to the Apostle Peter. They further contend that Peter is the first Pope. Most of this doctrine is based upon a faulty understanding of passages like Matthew 16:18-19, as well as to post-4th century church history.
However, Christians object that the office of the Papacy is nowhere mentioned in the Scriptures and is, therefore, not a legitimate office of the church. Further, the complex and precise hierarchy of church leadership employed by the Catholic church is also entirely missing from the Bible.
Are Catholics Christians?
Catholics have a wrong understanding of the gospel, mixing works with faith (while even misunderstanding the nature of faith) and emphasize for salvation many things that the Scriptures speak nothing about. It is hard to imagine that a thoughtful Catholic, who sincerely subscribes to the teaching of the Catholic church, can also be trusting in Christ alone for salvation. Of course, there are likely many who would describe themselves as Catholic who do, in fact, trust in the true gospel. But these would be exceptions, not the rule.
Therefore, we have to conclude that Catholics are not true Christians.
When Was Jesus Christ Crucified and Resurrected?
Did He Really Die on Good Friday and Come Back to Life on Easter Sunday?
Jesus Christ said He would be in the grave for three days and three nights. How can you count that from Good Friday afternoon to Easter Sunday morning?
In Matthew 12:38 some of the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign to prove He was the Messiah. But Jesus told them that the only sign He would give was that of the prophet Jonah: “for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40).
But how can we fit “three days and three nights” between a Friday-afternoon crucifixion and a Sunday-morning resurrection? This traditional view allows for Jesus to have been entombed for only a day and a half.
The choice of a Sunday date for Easter is based on the assumption that Christ rose from the grave early on a Sunday morning. The popular belief is that Christ was crucified on a Friday and rose on a Sunday. But neither of these suppositions is true. A close reading of the Bible makes that quite clear.
Some believe that Christ’s “three days and three nights” statement does not require a literal span of 72 hours, reasoning that a part of a day can be reckoned as a whole day. Thus, since Jesus died in the afternoon, they think the remainder of Friday constituted the first day, Saturday the second and part of Sunday the third. However, only two nights—Friday night and Saturday night—are accounted for in this explanation. Something is obviously wrong with the traditional view regarding when Christ was in the tomb.
Jonah 1:17, to which Christ referred, states specifically that Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. We have no basis for thinking that Jesus meant only two nights and one day, plus parts of two days. If Jesus were in the tomb only from late Friday afternoon to early Sunday morning, then the sign He gave that He was the prophesied Messiah was not fulfilled.
Let’s carefully examine the details from the Gospels. When we do, we uncover the real story of how Jesus’ words were fulfilled precisely.
TWO SABBATHS MENTIONED
Notice the events outlined in Luke 23. Jesus’ moment of death, as well as His hasty burial because of the oncoming Sabbath that began at sundown, is narrated in Luke 23:46-53. Luke 23:54 then states, “and that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.”
Many have assumed that it is the weekly Sabbath mentioned here, and that Jesus was therefore crucified on a Friday. But John 19:31 shows that this approaching Sabbath “was an high day”—not the weekly Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) but the first day of Unleavened Bread, which is one of God’s annual high, or Sabbath, days (Exodus 12:16-17; Leviticus 23:6-7). These annual Holy Days could—and usually did—fall on days of the week other than the regular weekly Sabbath day.
This high-day Sabbath was Wednesday night and Thursday, since Luke 23:56 shows that the women, after seeing Christ’s body being laid in the tomb just before sunset, “returned, and prepared spices and ointments” for the final preparation of the body.
Such work would not have been done on a Sabbath day since it would have been considered a violation of the Sabbath. This is verified by Mark’s account, which states, “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, [*which they would not have purchased on the high-day Sabbath], that they might come and anoint him.” (Mark 16:1).
The women had to wait until this annual “high day” Sabbath was over before they could buy and prepare the spices to be used for anointing Jesus’ body. Then, after purchasing and preparing the spices and oils on Friday, “and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.” (Luke 23:56). This second Sabbath mentioned in the Gospel accounts is the regular weekly Sabbath, observed from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
By comparing details in both Gospels—where Mark tells us the women bought spices after the Sabbath and Luke relates that they prepared the spices before resting on the Sabbath—we can clearly see that two different Sabbaths are mentioned. The first, as John 19:31 tells us, was a “high day”—the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread—which, in A.D. 31, fell on a Thursday. The second was the weekly seventh-day Sabbath.
SIGN OF THE MESSIAH
After the women rested on the regular weekly Sabbath, they went to Jesus’ tomb early on the first day of the week (Sunday), “when it was yet dark” (John 20:1), and found that He had already been resurrected (Matthew 28:1-6; Mark 16:2-6; Luke 24:1-3).
When we consider the details in all four Gospel accounts, the picture is clear. Jesus was crucified and entombed late on Wednesday afternoon, just before a Sabbath began at sunset. However, that was a high-day Sabbath, lasting from Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset that week, rather than the regular weekly Sabbath, lasting from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
He remained in the tomb from Wednesday at sunset until Saturday at sunset, when He rose from the dead. While no one witnessed His resurrection (which took place inside a sealed tomb), it had to have happened near sunset on Saturday, three days and three nights after His body was entombed. It could not have happened on Sunday morning, because when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb that morning before sunrise, “while it was still dark,” she found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty.
We can be assured that the length of His entombment that Jesus gave as proof He was the Messiah was exactly as long as He foretold. Jesus rose precisely three days and three nights after He was placed in the tomb.
Because most people do not understand the biblical high days Jesus Christ and His followers kept, they fail to understand the chronological details so accurately preserved for us in the Gospels.
Ichthys, The Christian Fish Symbol: 5 Origin and History Facts
1. The symbolism of the fish emerged from the Greeks – Ichthys.
The fish, which many may have seen in this form 🐟, originates from the Greek word for fish, “ichthys/ichthus.” This word is further defined in the acrostic IXNYy (with the N flipped) that translates to:
I – Iota or Iesous (which means Jesus)
X – Chi or Christos (which means Christ)
N – Theta or Theou (which means God)
Y – Upsilon or Yidos/Huios (which means Son)
Y – Sigma or Soter (which means Savior).
Basically, the fish represents the phrase of “Jesus Christ God’s Son is Savior.” Some research has suggested that the fish symbol emerged in the first century or even before Jesus died on the cross, but nothing has been confirmed as to when the symbol and its meaning first began 🐟
2. The fish (ichthys) was used as code for persecuted Christians to meet
During the times of persecution by the Romans in the first centuries, the fish symbol was used among Christians in hiding to display meeting places for everyone to meet and worship. They could be spotted on trees or doorways or even tombs and at the same time, the fish symbol was also used by several pagan religions so they wouldn’t bring about suspicion from anyone about what it could be 🐟
3. The fish (Ichthys) could be used in determining who was a Christian and who was an enemy
One story passed down about the fish symbol states that the fish was used as a way of communicating whether someone was a Christian or whether he/she was someone looking to persecute Christians. When two people encountered each other, the Christian would draw the first half of the fish in the sand. If the other person drew the remaining half of the fish, correctly, then the Christian knew he/she was with a fellow Christian. If it was drawn and the other person didn’t finish the fish, it would look as though an innocent person was just drawing in the sand. It also depicted a way for Christians to stand up against sinning through idol worship that was very prevalent among the Roman empire and other cultures at the time 🐟
4. The Christian fish relates to several Scripture references of fish in the Bible.
Several may be able to recall references in the Bible to fish, such as Jesus feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish (Matt. 14:15-21; Mark 6:34-44; Luke 9:11-17; John 6:5-13). There is also Jesus calling His disciples to be “fishers of men,” where Jesus called these men to present the Great Commission to others so they know Jesus is their Savior (Matt. 4:19). The kingdom of heaven is described as a “dragnet” to gather those of all kind to the kingdom, conveying the example of fishing as well (Matt. 13:47). Who could also forget that Jesus, after His resurrection from the grave, cooked fish for His disciples and proved He was their Lord and freed from the grave (John 21:9-14).
What all of these scripture verses relay is the notion that fish represents a meaningful element of the Bible, where it was not only used to bring fellowship and the love of Jesus to all but also present God’s kingdom in a visual, powerful way to believers. The verses encompass the belief that when we display the love and grace of Jesus to others (like a net), we will draw lost people to us who need to know the Savior loves them 🐟
5. There are several other forms of the fish used today.
So maybe you have seen the fish on car bumpers but they seem to be ones that say evolve inside it or have feet underneath it. Just as the Christian fish symbol became popular again in the 1960s and onward, those who believe differently from the Christian faith have made their own beliefs clear through alternative displays of the Christian fish 🐟
Evolutionists (those who believe we evolved from the earth, not God), fans of Star Trek (Trekkies), and even those who worship pasta (pastafarians) have altered the Christian fish 🐟 to represent their beliefs instead of what the Christian fish 🐟 symbol truly stands for. When you come across someone who is sporting these “unique” symbols on their cars, bodies, or another way, make the choice to pray for those people that they will recognize what God is trying to tell them and will find the peace they need in the Savior.
It’s an iconic representation of the faith that we hold dear to our lives; the belief that God sent Jesus to earth to show God’s love and died for our sins so that we could be reunited with God through acceptance of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Just having the Christian fish on a shirt, on your business card, or at the end of your email is not enough to take the place of a relationship with Jesus that you can have through faith 🐟
What is hoped is that by seeing this Christian fish symbol somewhere, you will be reminded of Jesus and His desire for all of us to be “fishers of men.” Take this knowledge of the Christian fish to heart and let it influence your life and daily choices. Read the scripture references; remind yourself of those who used this symbol to still worship their Lord when it was punishable with death; be amazing in knowing that the simple design of a fish kept Christianity alive and well during dark times in history. As you learn more of the truth behind this memorable symbol 🐟, the hope is that you will find yourself drawn to be fisherman leading others to Christ and to the love of God that never waivers or disappoints 🐟
🐟 🐟 🐟 🐟 🐟 🐟 🐟 🐟 🐟 🐟 🐟
From 11 Childhood Vaccines in 1986 to 53 in 2017 — Can You Guess Why?
A bombshell video snippet from Del Bigtree dares to ask the all-important question: Why have the number of vaccines given to children skyrocketed over the last three decades?
The answer may shock you. In 1986, Congress passed a law granting legal immunity to vaccine manufacturer, but only for vaccines on the childhood immunization schedule.
Since then, vaccine makers have worked to push as many vaccines as possible onto that schedule for the sole purpose of enjoying legal immunity from lawsuits for faulty products and vaccine damage.
Thus, children have become a “dumping ground” for faulty vaccines that are manufactured with near-zero quality control measures because forcing those vaccines onto the childhood immunization schedule grants Big Pharma corporations legal immunity from lawsuits.
The skyrocketing number of vaccines now given to children, in other words, has nothing to do with science or medicine. It has everything to do with maximizing profits and shielding vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits for all the millions of children their products continue to maim and kill.
Del Bigtree explains more in this Brighteon video that has been banned across all the tech giants and social media sites.
Sources: NaturalNews.com; Brighteon.com
California school district says parents can’t pull kids from new LGBT sex ed
NEWS FAMILY, FREEDOM, HOMOSEXUALITY, POLITICS – U.S.
Thu Apr 19, 2018 – 1:28 pm EST
ORANGE COUNTY, California, April 19, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – California is about to implement new abortion- and homosexuality-promoting sex education lessons, and one school district has told parents they have no choice but to expose their children to them.
California enacted the California Healthy Youth Act in 2015, but only now are its controversial provisions starting to take effect in classrooms. Under the auspices of health, the law says it will equip students to develop “healthy attitudes” on “gender [and] sexual orientation,” among other things. It also says it will inform students about the “effectiveness and safety of all FDA-approved contraceptive methods,” and facilitate “objective discussion” about “parenting, adoption, and abortion.”
RedState contributor Kira Davis, a resident of Orange County, California, warns that among the teaching materials approved for use under this law are a study guide for the transgender children’s book I Am Jazz, as well as a “Sexual Health Toolkit.”
This “toolkit,” funded in part by the George Soros-connected Tides Center, offers kids tips on using sex toys and anal lubricant. It defines “anal intercourse,” “phone sex,” and more as “common sexual behaviors.” It teaches that “abstinence” and “virginity” can mean engaging in a variety of sexual activities, but stopping short of intercourse.
“What if you don’t have time or money to buy sex toys?” the guide asks on page C-51. “Cucumbers, carrots, and bananas (with the peel) make great dildos. Just remember to use a condom!”
It teaches that one of the “cons” of abstaining from all sexual activity is that it “requires motivation, self-control and communication from both partners.”
The “toolkit” lists as resources Planned Parenthood and the radically pro-homosexual and pro-abortion group Advocates for Youth.
The law also mandates that lessons and materials “affirmatively recognize” varying sexual orientations, and that they “be inclusive of same-sex relationships.” Instruction must take a positive view of gender confusion, and explore “the harm of negative gender stereotypes.”
Davis notes that the California Healthy Youth Act expressly protects parents’ rights to “excuse their children from participation” in sex education courses without penalty of any kind, because “parents and guardians have the ultimate responsibility for imparting values regarding human sexuality to their children.”
The Orange County school district apparently interprets this differently.
In a memo dated March 29 to the Orange County Board of Education, Orange County Department of Education general counsel Ronald Wenkart says that the law’s opt-out provision “does not apply to instruction, materials, or programming that discusses gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, discrimination, harassment, bullying, intimidation, relationships, or family and does not discuss human reproductive organs.”
Parents who disagree with the state’s LGBT positions “may not excuse their children from this instruction,” Wenkart continues. He then suggests that parents still having the right to “advise their children that they disagree with” such lessons compensates for this restriction.
He also cites judicial precedent to claim that “parents do not have a constitutional right to excuse their children from portions of the school curriculum that they find objectionable.”
Heidi St. John, an author and speaker who covers faith, motherhood, and homeschooling as The Busy Mom, forcefully spoke out Wednesday against the memo.
“The Orange County Department of Education feels it is their right to GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO DISAGREE WITH THEM,” she wrote on Facebook. “These are our children! They do not belong to the schools.”
St. John advises California parents to contact their local school boards and Democratic Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, the law’s author, and to pull their children out of schools that force LGBT lessons on children.
She also urges parents to participate in the Sex Ed Sit Out on April 23, an event spanning the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia in which parents pull their children out of school for the day in protest of radical sex education programs.
RedState’s Davis has similar advice.
“Make noise. Lots and lots and lots of noise,” she writes. “When [lawmakers’] constituents get cranky, they pay attention…and so few people actually call and write anymore that just a few hundred voices go a very long way to making your representative and governor think twice about proceeding with something that seems unpopular.”
Davis also stresses that parents who pull their children out ensure the school does not record it as an excused absence.
“The reason your public school demands you call to excuse a child’s absence is because they lose state and federal dollars on every unexcused absence,” she writes. “If you really want to make an impact, hit them where it hurts.”
What Does it Mean to Pray in Jesus’ Name?
John 14:13-14 – And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the father may be glorified by the son.
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. (Tyndale Bible)
Some misapply this verse, thinking that “in Jesus’ name” is much like a magic formula. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Praying in Jesus’ name means praying with His authority and asking God the Father to act upon our prayers because we come in the name of His Son, Jesus. Praying in Jesus’ name means praying in line with the will of God (1 John 5:14-15).
Praying and meditating through the names of Jesus enhance worship, promote spiritual growth, and deepen our intimacy with Jesus.
There are some 200 names and titles of Christ found in the Bible. I selected some of the more prominent ones as examples of how we may deepen our understanding and relationship with Jesus.
When you are reading the Bible and come across one of Jesus’ names, pause for a moment and draw a mental image of Jesus enhancing that particular name. Then, personally interact with that name and be blessed.
Jesus: (Matthew 1:21; Luke 2:11; John 6:35; 6:48)
Picture yourself carrying a huge bag of sins. You’re stumbling, falling, thirsting, and growing weaker by the moment. Sin is mercilessly driving you down into the dirt. Then, Jesus approaches out of nowhere. Imagine him putting his arms around you and loving you. “If you’d like,” he says, “I’ll carry that big bag for you.” The relief is incredible. Sins are gone and a new life begins.
Thank you, Jesus, for forgiving my sins and sacrificing your life on the cross for me. Amen
Bread: (Luke 4:8; John 6:35, 48)
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”
“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. . . . I am that bread of life.”
He’s preached all day. It’s getting late. Imagine 5,000 hungry people with nothing to eat. Jesus says to his disciples, “Feed them.” Peter says, “But, there’s no grocery store in sight!”
Andrew brings him five small pieces of bread and two small fish.
Now watch carefully. Jesus rubs his hands together and a piece of bread appears. He rubs his hands again and more bread appears. Who planted the seeds? No one. Who watered the crops? Who harvested the grain? Who pounded out the flour? Who heated the oven? No one.
How about the fish? Who caught the fish? No one. They were never caught. Who brought charcoal? No one. Jesus was creating a Galilean delicacy. These fish were about 103 mm (5 inches) long with a pickle-type relish for moisture. He’s not just creating fish. He’s making pickles!
As bread sustains life in the flesh, Jesus is the Bread that sustains life in the spirit.
Jesus, I’m hungry. Feed me. Ask Savior bread of life. Amen.
King of kings and Lord of lords: (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 19:16)
Imagine Jesus sitting on a throne surrounded by a host of people from all around the world. All are worshiping Jesus Christ. You kneel and declare with them: “Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
Then, suddenly, Jesus is standing right with you. You exclaim: “I’ll never turn back, wherever you lead I’ll go.”
Lord, make me a spiritual father or mother; I don’t care what it costs.
Light of the World: (John 8:12)
You enter Carlsbad caverns with your tour guide. Floodlights reveal multicolored stalactites and stalagmites hanging from the ceiling and growing from the ground. Drip, drip goes the water. “Do you want to see dark like you’ve never seen it before?” He turns off his flashlight. “It’s so dark you can taste it.” He turns on his flashlight. Instinctively, you turn toward the light.
It’s a dark world out there. Think about how he brought you into the light. Did it happen in a moment of decisive commitment? Or was your salvation a process that occurred over time?
Some are still in darkness. Paul says that satan has blinded the eyes of unbelievers so that they cannot see the glorious light.
Think of a friend or two who need Jesus. Pray that the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of your friends so they can see the light.
Thanks for bringing my friends and me into the Light. Amen.
The Word of God: (John 1:1-4; 1 John 5:7-8)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
The Greek word, “logos,” is translated in English as, “word.” The “logos” is a Greek philosophical term referring to the “unrevealed wisdom of God.”
Jesus is the Word of God. John tells us that at a point in time, the unrevealed wisdom of God put on a body so he could dwell with us.
John also tells us that at a point before time Jesus created the universe. Pictured Jesus standing on the edge of nothingness and tossing 100 billion stars into existence. In addition, 1,000 billion planets now populate the universe.
Lord, I praise you because with all the things you have going on today in the universe, you have time for me. Amen
Good Shepherd: (John 10:11, 14)
In Bible times, a good shepherd was willing to risk his own life to protect his sheep from predators. Jesus laid down His life for His sheep, and He cares for and nurtures and feeds us.
“The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.” David imagined himself to be a sheep looking up at his shepherd. Think of yourself as a little lamb looking up at your Shepherd. He’s looking down at you with such love and compassion. Sheep need to be led, not driven. Think of Jesus the last time he took you through the valley of the shadow of death and all was well. Imagine yourself being secure in the arms of Jesus.
But there’s more to your Shepherd. Revelation shows us Jesus as a bleeding lamb slain on the altar for our sin.
The Lord is my shepherd He’s all I want.
Northam on Abortion Bill: Infant Could Be Delivered and Then ‘Physicians and the Mother’ Could Decide If It Lives
Paedophiles ‘targeting’ children through TikTok app as schools warn parents – Daily Record
[Paedophiles ‘targeting’ children through TikTok app as schools warn parents – Daily Record], have a look at it! https://buc.kim/d/63fo3TUFZUZS?pub=link
LATEST NEWS: What is Happening to Céline Dion?
Céline Dion has been making headlines for all kinds of strange reasons as her career and entire persona took a radical turn. What is happening to Céline Dion?
Published 2 days ago on January 31, 2019 By Vigilant Citizen
To find out more, please go here
10 Things You Need to Know about the Unforgivable Sin
People regularly ask is, ‘Can I commit a sin that God cannot forgive?’
According to Jesus, there is one sin a person can do for which there is no forgiveness or pardon either in this age or in the age to come: blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. But what does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit?”
Dr. David Jeremiah explains how the only way to understand these words is by seeing them within the context of the whole passage.
Here are 10 things you need to know about the “unforgivable sin” or “unpardonable sin”.
1. Jesus Mentions It In The Gospel Of Mark.
Jesus addressed the topic in Mark 3:20-30, a passage that ends with these words: “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:” (Mark 3:28-29).
This is the verse that gets quoted whenever Christians address this issue. But the passage doesn’t stop there.
2. To correctly understand it, you need to look at the very last phrase.
Take a look again at Jesus’ finishing statement in verses 28-30: “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: 30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.”
This paragraph has been the source of great misunderstandings in Christendom. To arrive at the correct interpretation, we have to begin with the last phrase, which explains why Jesus made this statement. He gave this teaching because His foes were accusing Him of having an unclean spirit (verse 22). Our Lord was telling them, in essence, ‘There is a sin that you are on the verge of committing. You should be very careful, because you’re about to do something for which there is no forgiveness.’
3. It’s Not A Thoughtless Mistake.
Let me take a moment and say the unforgivable sin isn’t something that someone commits randomly. The scribes who came from Jerusalem didn’t just do this on a whim. If you follow the references to these scribes throughout the book of Mark you’ll see there is a progression to their unbelief. They were initially curious about Jesus and His ministry. Then they had questions. In time, they grew indifferent; but then their indifference changed into a malicious attitude that became so hateful and vengeful that it ultimately nailed Jesus Christ to the cross.
4. There is a Greek verb that proves it’s not an instant reaction.
In our story in Mark 3, there’s an interesting fact that’s only apparent in the Greek New Testament. According to verse 22, the scribes said, “He hath Beelzebub…” The verb form for “said” is in the imperfect tense. It can be translated as, “They kept on saying”. It wasn’t just a matter of a sudden thoughtless word or an instant reaction. Their words represented a hardened attitude and an embittered and impenitent heart.
5. It shows us that progressive rejection can be the most dangerous.
When God convicts us of sin and presents us with the Gospel, it’s dangerous to neglect it, especially if our procrastination becomes chronic. We resist and resist and resist. After a while, we can become so hard-hearted and sin-hardened that we grow calloused of soul. Our ears can’t receive the truth. Our minds shake off the conviction of the Spirit. We become cynical of conscience. Although the grace of God is still available to us, we push away from it.
6. Knowing the Word of God isn’t enough.
These scribes had become Jesus-resistant because of the time-lapsed attitudes of their own evil hearts. It’s tragic, for these scribes had devoted their lives to copying the Word of God. Note the relationship between the words scribe and scribble. These men had copied and recopied the Old Testament. Every day they copied an ancient Scripture scroll by hand.
They had copied Isaiah 53, about the Suffering Servant. They had copied Psalm 22, about the death of the Messiah. They knew Micah 5 and the prophecy of our Lord’s birth. Yet their hearts had become so hardened they couldn’t receive His grace when it arrived in the person of Jesus.
7. We can be hardened to spiritual truth by living in the middle of it.
We can go to church and read the Bible so much that the words no longer register with us. The scribes had come to the place where they were so familiar with religious things that when the Son of God showed up, they didn’t know who He was and they accused Him of being from satan.
8. The unforgivable sin is denying the deity of Christ.
By ascribing the miracles of Jesus to satan, the religious leaders were denying the deity of Jesus Christ. They were saying He could not be God. Yet by His miracles He was showing Himself to be nothing and no one less than God. Only God Himself could do what He had done. His followers believed in His deity.
9. Rejecting the Holy Spirit and rejecting the deity of Christ are connected.
It’s the Holy Spirit who witnesses to the deity of Christ in our world today.
So when you refuse to accept the ministry of the Holy Spirit or you ascribe His ministry to satan, you give up the final opportunity to be saved. You must believe in Jesus as the Son of God. We have to accept the witness of the Holy Spirit and act upon the conviction He brings.
10. If you’re worried that you may have committed a sin God will not forgive…you’ve likely not committed this sin.
The thought of an unforgivable sin has haunted sensitive people in every Christian century, and maybe it has haunted you. I want to be clear in saying that if you’re bothered in your spirit that you may have committed a sin God will not forgive, the very fact that you have anxiety over that is evidence you’ve not committed the sin. If He is still working in your heart, it’s not possible to have committed the unpardonable sin. The very fact that you’re reading this article is a tremendous indication you’ve not committed the unforgivable sin described in the Gospel of Mark.
In summation, this is the “unpardonable sin“:
In its essence, the unforgivable sin is hardening your heart against God and repeatedly refusing to respond to His entreaties to your soul. By continuing to resist and reject the Lord, you build calluses on your soul until the conviction of the Spirit of God no longer registers on your heart. Over a period of time you become hardened. You hear the Word of God and it makes no impact on you. If you die in that condition, there’s no further forgiveness available. For those who reject Jesus Christ, there’s no forgiveness anywhere else, anytime, either in this world or the next. He died for you, and if you reject that, there’s no other sacrifice for sin.
So don’t worry that you’ve committed the unpardonable sin. But if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, be concerned that you might.
Closing thoughts:
HAVE YOU RESISTED?
If you’ve resisted Christ and refused Him as your Savior, and if something happens and you die, you will have committed the unpardonable sin. You don’t get a second chance after death. Whatever we do concerning Christ, we do in this life. Don’t gamble that you will have time or that you can respond later. The Bible says, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while He is near:” (Isaiah 55:6).
I’m here to tell you that Jesus is who He claims to be. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only way to God. He is Son of God and Son of Man, our Savior, the Word made flesh, the Firstborn from the Dead. He is our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. He is Christ the Lord, the Rock of Ages, the Sure Foundation, the Cornerstone. When He is your unforgettable Savior, you’ll never have to worry about the unforgivable sin.
Adapted from the original article “Have You Committed the Unpardonable Sin?” by Dr. David Jeremiah.
Jews Are NOT The “Chosen People”
HOW CAN THE JEWS who oppose their own Messiah, Jesus Christ, be the “Chosen People?”
Did not St Paul, the Hebrew of Hebrews, say that the Jews are the enemies of the Cross of Christ? (Philippians 3:18)
When St Paul said, “…for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:” (1 Thessalonians 2:14-15) did he not make it crystal clear that the Jews are not the “Chosen People”?
Did not Jesus Christ Himself reveal that the Jews are of the Synagogue of Satan? (Revelations 2:9). Jesus Christ also revealed that the Jews are not true Jews when He said to the Christians of Asia Minor, “I will make them who say they are Jews but are not, but do lie, to come and worship before thy feet.” (Revelations 3:9).
How then can the so-called Jews who are now the enemies of the Cross and of the Synagogue of Satan, and who must worship at the feet of Christians, be the “Chosen People”?
Jesus Christ the Messiah of Israel denounced the Jews for rejecting Him when He said, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Matthew 23:38-39) How then can the Jews whose house is now desolate be the “Chosen People”?
When the Jews cast it in Jesus’ teeth that they were the seed of Abraham, Jesus replied, “Ye are of your father the devil . . . He was a murderer from the beginning, …” (John 8:44).
Indeed the Jews committed the crime of all crimes, namely, Deicide, when they brought Jesus Christ to Pontius Pilate demanding that Jesus Christ be crucified even when Pilate judged Christ innocent and desired to set Him free. (Matthew 27).
How then can the Jews, whose father is the devil, and they being murderers like the devil himself by crucifying the Lord of Glory, be the “Chosen People”?
DID NOT JESUS CHRIST say, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”? (Matthew 23:15).
Even secular Jews defer to the rabbis as their leaders when it comes to interpreting Jewish dogma. How then can the Jews who are children of hell be the “Chosen People”?
How could the Jews to whom Jesus Christ said, “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep,…” (John 10:26) be God’s “Chosen People”? For to this day the majority of the Jews do not believe in Jesus Christ. What then is their “chosen-ness” if they are not of the Messiah’s sheep?
John the apostle said, “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” (2 John:7).
How then can the Jews who to this day deny that Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God became man for our salvation be the “Chosen People”? Will we be “deceived” by the Jews that they are the Chosen People? What then is the Jews’ “chosen-ness”?
In Revelation 21:8 it is written: “But the fearful, and unbelieving and the abominable . . . shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire. . . . which is the second death.”
1. The Jews are fearful of death.
2. They do not believe in the God of the Bible but in the god of the Talmud.
3. The Jews are liars. For they say that they are God’s chosen people when God says that they are an “accursed people” because of their sins. (Isaiah 66).
Thus the only “chosen-ness” of the Jews is their being chosen to experience the “second death” that is, the “lake of fire”.
MOSES WHOM THE JEWS boast as being their hero pronounced a blessing and a curse on the Jews.
God would bless the Jews if they showed their love for Him by accepting the “servant“, (Isaiah 52).
But the Jews crucified the “servant” rather than receiving His teachings on repentance and confession of his Divine right to demand obedience. The curses that Moses pronounced upon the Jews have been the Jews’ experience over the last 2000 years. (Deuteronomy 28).
Hated, persecuted, censured, (rightly so), wandering from nation to nation when expelled from their host nations, and wreaking havoc wherever they go in their hatred of Christianity, the Jews have indeed experienced the curses predicted of them by Moses and the desolation that Jesus Christ predicted of the Jews for rejecting Him.
JEWS ARE NOT THE “Chosen People”, Christians are the “Chosen People” God said to Abraham, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3).
What “blessings” have the Jews brought to the world since 33 A.D.? Just read today’s headlines and one can clearly see that “curses” have been brought upon society by the Jews.
The War in Iraq serves only the interests of the Jews and their promotion of the Christ-hating State of Israel. The tragedy of the World Trade Center was a result of the Zionist agenda.
The secularization of Western society is caused by the Jews, which has debased the morals of once Christian nations, now rife with the abominations of anal sex of homosexuals and the perverse sexual conduct of lesbians. Jews are on the forefront of promoting these perverse “alternate lifestyles”.
Are all of these things “blessings” from the so-called, “seed of Abraham”, the Jews? No. These are all “curses” brought upon us by the “seed of the devil”, the Jews.
Christians ARE God’s “Chosen People” – Not Jews. Christians are the “seed of Abraham”. This is what Paul the Hebrew of Hebrews said over and over again. Here is one instance of Paul’s many assertions that Christians NOT JEWS are the seed of Abraham: “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29).
WHEN JESUS CHRIST said to his disciples, “… but I have chosen you … that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain:...” Born again Christians were sealed as God’s Chosen People for all time. Jews can share in the Christians’ “chosen-ness.”
Jews do not have to continue in a state of “accursedness” and “desolation”. Jesus Christ offers the Jews the chance to embrace Him and have His blessed name called upon them. Yes Jews if they will repent can be called Christians too!
Yes Jews, like myself, a former Jew, and thousands of others like me, can say, Blessed is He Who Comes in the name of the Lord. Then the Jews can look forward to heaven and not the lake of fire.
Brother Nathaneal Kapner
Symbolic Pics of the Month 01/19
In this edition of SPOTM: Samuel Jackson, Iggy Azalea, David Beckham, Travis Scott and irrefutable proof that the occult elite controls mass media.
THIS MAKES ME SOOO ANGRY WHEN THESE SICK BASTARDS USE CHILDREN!!!!!!!
Read more here:
10 False Versions of Jesus People are Falling For
When I fell into the loving arms of Jesus way back in 1978, I began a genuine relationship with the Saviour of the world—the One who died for me.
He is everything He promised and so much more. Our culture presents us with so many versions of Jesus, letting us make Him in our own image. Maybe you’ve come to depend on a false Jesus and didn’t even realize it. If you are struggling to find peace, read about these false Jesuses with an open mind. Consider what Jesus said about Himself and test your beliefs against the truth from Scripture.
Here are 10 false Jesuses you keep falling for:
1. MEAN JESUS
Perhaps this image of Jesus comes from social media and the rants we see from devoted churchgoers. Maybe it is our constant news sources bickering over who is better. Or it could be you had a hellfire and brimstone pastor growing up, and this became your earliest depiction of Jesus. Mean and angry, full of wrath, ranting and raging about how sin would destroy you. But balance this image of Jesus with the story of the little children gathering to him, with his compassion for the sisters of Lazarus, with his acceptance of the woman at the well. While Jesus called out sin when He saw it, He was never cruel. Jesus, the lamb, went to slaughter so that you would be free.
2. POLITICAL JESUS
How would Jesus vote? Since there were no Democrats or Republicans in His day, we don’t know. What we do know is that He loved. The side He took was the side of those in need. Today, we are all in need in one form or another, and we all need Him. As a believer in Jesus Christ, He is on your team. He is for you. He is for your redemption. He is for your sanctification. He died for you while you still sinned. Right or left, wrong or right, He is for you. He is patient with us as we learn and grow and understands the frustrations that we face. He walks with us through the valleys, and He delights in our newfound wisdom and growth.
3. GENIE IN A BOTTLE JESUS
Your wish is not necessarily His command. We’re often mystified when we clasp our hands tightly together and summon Jesus to answer our every request … and nothing happens. We become deflated by what we believe is unanswered prayer, allowing our faith to increase or decrease by what we perceive. If you’re a parent, chances are you desire a good relationship with your child. But if your child asks for 10 bucks and you say no, does that mean they stop believing in you and the relationship is destroyed? Of course not. In the same way, you must consider what you are asking of Jesus. What are your expectations? Are you still going to believe in Him even when you don’t get your way?
4. I’LL TEACH YOU JESUS
Imagine what your relationship with your child would look like if these were some of the requirements: You will meet me at 5:00 every morning, I don’t care if you didn’t sleep. Now tell me what you want. I may or may not give it to you. If you have been completely impossible to deal with, I might sprain your ankle or give you a brain tumor to teach you something. Laughable? Sure. But how many of us believe in this works-based and punishment-loving Jesus? He died while we still sinned. He came to bind up the brokenhearted, not break our hearts and spirits to keep us in line.
5. YOU LOOK LIKE YOU CAN TAKE IT JESUS
“God won’t give you more than you can handle.” Do I look like I can handle cancer? Bankruptcy? Natural disaster? The death of a child? Do I even look like I could handle an itchy rash? Scripture teaches that we can’t handle anything apart from Christ. Far from doling out sickness or discomfort or tragedy, He promises to be with us in times of need. In our weakness, He shows Himself strong.
6. I COULDN’T CARE LESS JESUS
Sometimes we feel like He is nowhere to be found. We call, and there is no answer. This Jesus is not the compassionate Christ who laid down His life for ours. Still, in times of heartache, it is hard to understand why He doesn’t answer. He has shown me it is okay to question Him. My most favorite prayer in these seasons? “Lord, help thou my unbelief.” A relationship with Jesus is a journey. There will be ups and downs. He can take the heat—He proved that through the cross. It is okay to ask why. He always shows up, every time. Ask, seek, knock. He will answer.
7. CHURCH JESUS
“The Law is Holy and Good, but it doesn’t make me Holy and Good”, says author and teacher Tricia Gunn. No matter how good a church and it’s teaching of the Word of God, it does not make me holy. Paul reminds us, to not neglect the assembly of ourselves (Hebrews 10:25). Yes, hold each other up, hold each other accountable, and by all means encourage one another. But if the pew is shaken, guess what shouldn’t be? You and Jesus. Your relationship with Jesus is separate and not dependent on the church. No matter what unexpected challenges happen in the church, you and Jesus should still be on solid ground. The church is made up of imperfect people, while Jesus is perfect and holy.
8. RULE-PLAY JESUS
This Jesus and I have been super tight for many years. I obeyed all the rules. I even laminated a list and used color-coordinated markers to check off my accomplishments, believing they counted me worthy. Beloved, salvation is the Cross plus nothing. The thief on the cross was asked only to believe. There was really nothing left for him to do. He couldn’t attend a service, memorize Scripture, sing in the choir, take a meal to a neighbor, volunteer, or wash the altar clothes. He was made righteous because he said yes to Jesus. There was no other requirement to fulfill. There is nothing that can make the perfected work of the Cross anymore perfect. Your yes to Jesus counts you as righteous. Toss out the rules of religiosity and bask in the refreshment of relationship.
9. CONFUSED JESUS
A couple years ago I went to a pastor and asked some questions about the Sermon on the Mount. The pastor laughed and said, “Yes, ours is not to understand. Ours is just to obey. Jesus was a confusing guy.” I lived with this, heavy on my heart. It would be two more years before I heard a sermon by another pastor and was undone by the revelation that Jesus was not confusing. Jesus fulfilled the Law and set us free from this heavy burden of condemnation. Jesus died to set me free. There is nothing confusing about this. We walk free from condemnation in the grip of grace.
10. IF/THEN JESUS
This is the most elusive and deceptive Jesus. If I do such and such, then Christ will do what I expect. But Jesus cannot be manipulated, and our works do not make Him move. Our good deeds do not make him love us more. And most importantly, nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus. The belief that “If I do or do not do, then Jesus will or won’t do” is a Jesus of colossal works. This Jesus keeps us in bondage to busyness and striving that keeps us apart from the good nature of a Jesus who just simply loves. He loved perfectly so that we might be together for eternity. That was all. Simply Jesus.
Was there even a twinge or flutter in your spirit? One that said, “Oh, that is the Jesus I have been serving?” I know as I came to a place of knowing and loving the real Jesus I saw pieces of the false Jesuses falling away and more of His natural and good character shining through. Will you pray this prayer with me?
Jesus, I said yes to you. I want only you. The real you. All of you. You promised that if I seek I will find. Help me seek the truth and keep my eyes wholly fixated on the true you. Amen.
Break The Silence End Caucasian Genocide In South Africa
Kayla Mayer
would have turned 12 today.
Unfortunately Kayla died tragically in a farm murder with her family in March 2016
Kayla and her families memory still lives on.
*Words of sympathy*
“You may cry. You may be heartbroken. It is an emotional day for us, but she is in heaven now,” She was a beautiful and loving child. Her smile used to brighten everyone’s day. She loved everyone unconditionally,”
~ ~ Words from the Primary school teacher at Kayla’s memorial service at the time ~ ~
“A child is always with us. First in their lifetime, then forever in our memory.
We hope the remaining family find strength in loved ones to help them get through this awful tragedy”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Brief Summary of Incident:
The deceased – Monty McCormack, 73, his son Kennith McCormack, 42, Kennith’s fiancée Marietjie (Pr. marie-key) Meyer and her nine-year-old daughter Kayla (picture shown), were brutally murdered by terrorists on a Randfontein farm in Rodora, Doornfontein.
Randfontein Police spokesperson Captain Appel Ernst said the victims allegedly all sustained blunt force trauma, Randfontein Herald reported.
The South Gauteng High Court sentenced Elvis Gobodwana and Eric Baliki to a total of eight life sentences for this massacre in March, 2016.
Please help to further world wide awareness by sharing this post far and wide. Thank you.
Kind Regards
From, Team Admins
For – BreakTheSilenceEndCaucasianGenocideInSouthAfrica
JESUS PROMISED THE END OF THE NATION ISRAEL
There will be no “regathering” of the Jews in Israel. That is what Jesus prophesied. All of today’s hub-bub about the state of Israel being re-founded in 1948 by Jews is pure nonsense! Satanic propaganda. And anyone helping the Khazars to set up a nation called “Israel” today is fighting against God and is in league with the diabolical schemes of the Synagogue of Satan.
Jesus’ prophecies tell us the truth. God gave the Jews opportunity after opportunity to repent. Finally, Jesus told them:
“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how shall ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matthew 23:33 Tyndale)
“Behold, your habitation shall be left unto you desolate.” (Matthew 23:38)
“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.”
“And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you: There shall not be here left one stone upon another, that shall not be destroyed.” (Matthew 24:1-2)
Christian Zionists are working against God’s plan by aiding unrepentant Khazar Israel. They unwisely misuse the Old Testament to do so, failing to read and heed God’s words in the New Testament. In fact, if they were to read the New Testament they would understand that God has absolutely no role for physical Israel to play in future world events.
Matthew 21:41-44 documents that the Kingdom of God was taken from the Jews by Jesus and given to the Christians:
“Therefore say I unto you, the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to the Gentiles which shall bring forth the fruits of it.
And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall also be broken…
And when the chief priest and Pharisees had heard these similitudes, they perceived that he spake of them.”
In His mercy, Jesus Christ continues to reach out, even to the Jews who despise and hate Him. A remnant will repent and believe in Him and shall be saved (Romans 11:23).
Our mission, then, as Christians, is to witness to the Jews, not help them build a kingdom.
Can I get an “Amen”?
A Demonic, Psychedelic Sorcery
The Book of Revelation speaks of sorcerers and sorceries. It’s something that was going to be a part of The Last Days. And, the core of that word, ‘sorcery’, in the original Greek is ‘pharma’. Drugs.
We don’t normally think of sorcery as something drug-related, but the Bible says differently. And, there is something growing in the US that is directly tied to this meaning of that word.
It’s all about psychedelic drugs, and it’s about to go mainstream. They are utterly demonic, and you should stay as far away from them as you possibly can.
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Satanic Sculpture Installed at the Illinois Statehouse
A sculpture submitted by the Satanic Temple is on display at the Illinois Statehouse alongside a Christmas tree and a Nativity scene.
The Illinois Statehouse installed several holiday decorations this year: A Nativity scene depicting the birth of Jesus, a Christmas tree, a Menorah and … a Satanic sculpture.
Entitled “Snaketivity”, the display depicts a snake wrapped around a woman’s hand as she holds an apple. On the side of the sculpture is the logo of the Satanic Temple – the head of Baphomet inside an inverted pentagram – and the words “Knowledge is the Greatest Gift”.
The satanic display at the Illinois Statehouse rotunda.
The symbolism of this sculpture refers to the book of Genesis and goes to the very core of Luciferian philosophy. It represents Eve grabbing the “forbidden fruit” of knowledge that was given to her by Lucifer who took the form of a serpent. Lucifer told Eve that biting the fruit would allow Adam and herself to become “like gods, knowing good and evil”. This is known as the “original sin” which God to expel Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.
To Luciferians, the serpent is not a deceiver but a “savior” who allowed humanity to access the knowledge required to achieve divinity through its own means. The marking under the sculpture saying “Knowledge is the Greatest Gift” refers to the “gift” given from Lucifer to man in the form of divine knowledge. This interpretation of the book of Genesis has been, for centuries, a core difference between theistic religions and occult schools.
Despite the very biblical meaning of its display, the Satanic Temple insists that its goal is not about proselytizing for its own religion. Next to the sculpture, the Satanic Temple also installed an also inscription saying: “Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds”.
In a Gofundme campaign to raise money for the sculpture, the Satanic Temple wrote:
“The Satanic Temple—Chicago will no longer allow one religious perspective to dominate the discourse in the Illinois State Capitol rotunda during the holiday season. … Please consider what you may do to help us bring Satan to Springfield!”
Another sign near the sculpture contains a disclaimer from the state:
“The State of Illinois is required by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to allow temporary, public displays in the state capitol so long as these displays are not paid for by taxpayer dollars. Because the first floor of the Capitol Rotunda is a public place, state officials cannot legally censor the content of speech or displays. The United States Supreme Court has held that public officials may legally impose reasonable time, place and manner restrictions regarding displays and speeches, but no regulation can be based on the content of the speech.”
Dave Druker, the spokesman for the secretary of state, confirmed that the Chicago-based Satanic Temple had the right to place its sculpture on display inside the statehouse.
“Under the Constitution, the First Amendment, people have a right to express their feelings, their thoughts. This recognizes that.”
Satanic PR
This is not the first PR stunt conducted by the Satanic Temple. And, every time the Temple does something, media sources make sure to emphasize that the Satanic Temple is “not a group of devil worshipers, but liberal political activists who oppose the increasing influence of the religious right in American politics”.
However, despite its venerable speeches about its “principles” and “separating church and state”, all it actually accomplishes is having Satanic stuff put on display in public spaces. Here are some examples of its stunts.
In 2014, the Satanic Temple installed a “holiday” display in front of the Michigan Capitol. The snake and the cross form the symbol of the Satanic Cross, which is based on the alchemical symbol of sulfur. Why sulfur? Because the Bible says that Hell smells of sulfur. (Revelation 20:10)
Next to the display was a warning to potential vandals.
In 2015, the Satanic Temple unveiled a massive statue of Baphomet in Detroit in what was dubbed “the largest satanic event in history”.
Two children looking up to Baphomet.
The unveiling took place in an industrial building near Detroit River after attempts to have the Baphomet sculpture installed at the Oklahoma State Capitol failed. Entry to the venue required guests to sign a contract “selling their souls to the devil”. The proceeds from the event went to support abortion rights – one of the Temple’s favorite causes.
In 2016, the Satanic Temple created an after-school program called After School Satan. The program is up-and-running in several cities across the United States, including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Pensacola, Washington, D.C., Tucson, Springfield, MO, Seattle, WA, and Portland, OR.
The logo alone should be a red flag to parents. A devil-horned, one-eyed creep offering candy to children while doing Baphomet sign “As above, so below”. The spiral in one of the eyes is similar to the symbol used to identify “child lovers”.
The Satanic Temple is also working on other projects. The West Michigan Friends of The Satanic Temple are currently raising money on a GoFundMe page to bring their own “Satanic holiday monument” to the Michigan state Capitol.
“The concept is a clean, bold shape of the Baphomet head as a star with solar LED lights shining up from the base for striking shadow and light, a flickering light emanating from the flame of universal balance will make the lines between them dance. A nearly complete halo will connect the horns and ears but stop at the bottom to represent the inherent imperfection of the material form but also allowing the mouth of Baphomet to interact with the base to indicate the sharing of worldly knowledge.”
Although media love to say that the satanic Temple is about “science” and “rationality”, the fact remains that it did not advance any of these causes throughout the years. The only thing the satanic Temple actually managed to accomplish is on par with the elite’s agenda described on this site: To normalize satanism and its symbolism in the public space while making it appealing to the masses.
Source:
Babel: More Historical Confirmation of the Bible
The Bible possesses the attributes of divine inspiration with sufficient internal evidence to establish its divine origin. Hence, when it relates a historical incident that occurred thousands of years ago, one would naturally expect that such an incident might well be noted in other historical accounts from antiquity. Of course, one would not expect all, or even many, of the details to match exactly for at least two reasons: (1) the oral transmission of history is inevitably subject to human frailty, including both accuracy of memory and temptation to embellish, and (2) false religion has the tendency to distort and recast history in order to suit its own purposes and achieve its own agenda. An excellent example of these tendencies is seen in the multiplicity of, and variety in, the multitude of accounts of the great Flood of Noah’s day.1 Though they differ widely from culture to culture, country to country, and century to century, nevertheless, they share substantial agreement in too many significant features not to have arisen from the same historically factual event.
Consider another great event whose historicity is set forth in Scripture as factual:
“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”(Genesis 11:1-9)
The great Joseon (Chosun) nation was a Korean dynastic kingdom that flourished for five centuries (1392-1897).2 During the 17th century, Korea was largely closed to the West and somewhat of a mystery to Europeans. But for a group of wayfaring Dutchmen on a journey to Japan, that all changed in 1653 when their ship “De Sperwer” (The Sparrowhawk) was shipwrecked on Jeju (formerly Cheju-do) Island off the coast of South Korea. The 36 survivors were taken into custody by the local prefect and, within a year, transferred from the island to the capitol of Seoul on the mainland where they spent the next 12 years. At the end of 13 years, in September 1666, eight survivors managed to escape to Japan. One of those survivors, Hendrick Hamel, spent the ensuing year in Nagasaki writing an account of his observations and experiences in Korea, which was published in 1668 under the title Journal van de Ongeluckige Voyage van ‘t Jacht de Sperwer. In what was essentially the first Western account, Hamel provided the world with a firsthand description of Korean society and culture. Only recently was his account translated accurately by a Dutchman based on the original manuscript.3
Apart from his fascinating assessment of Korean life in the 17th century, Hamel provides a portrait of religious life, including the customs and practices of Confucianism. At one point in his narrative, he makes a passing remark concerning the beliefs held by the Confucian monks: “Many monks believe that long ago all people spoke the same language, but when people built a tower in order to climb into heaven the whole world changed.”4 Keep in mind that Hamel encountered the monks’ belief circa 1660. No one knows for how long this belief was part of the religious traditions of Korea. Hamel claims that “many” of the monks believed the matter, and that the event occurred “long ago.”
Observe that the belief of the non-Christian monks regarding the Tower of Babel contained four salient points that explicitly and directly connect with the biblical account:
- The entire world’s population spoke a single language;
- The people constructed a tower;
- Their stated goal was to climb into heaven;
- Their efforts affected the entire world.
All four of these features are included in the biblical record found in Genesis 11:
- “the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.” (vs. 1).
- “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower,” (vs. 4).
- “a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven;” (vs. 4, AKJV).
- “So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.” (vs. 8).
Christianity and the Bible have nothing to fear from the unbelief, skepticism, and hostility of infidelity. The more information surfaces from history and nature, the more the Bible is confirmed in its uncanny accuracy and supernatural endowment.5
Endnotes
1 See Kyle Butt and Harrison Chastain (2015), “Noah’s Flood and The Epic of Gilgamesh,” Apologetics Press, http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=13&article=5194&topic=100; Eric Lyons and Kyle Butt (2003), “Legends of the Flood,” Apologetics Press, http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=9&article=64.
2 The following historical details are gleaned from Gari Ledyard (1971), The Dutch Come to Korea (Seoul, Korea: Royal Asiatic Society); Keith Pratt and Richard Rutt (2013), Korea: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary (London: Routledge).
3 Hendrik Hamel (1668), Hamel’s Journal: And, A Description of the Kingdom of Korea, 1653-1666, trans. Jean-Paul Buys (Seoul, Korea: Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch, 1994 edition).
4 Ibid., p. 61.
5 My thanks to Shane Fisher, missionary to Korea, for calling my attention to this fascinating incident.
Faint Not
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16 KJV
If God Doesn’t Need Anything, Then Why Does He Command Us to Serve Him?
God doesn’t need our work.
He doesn’t need our money, either. God can get everything done without a heavenly Kickstarter campaign. He didn’t ask for any help when he created the galaxies. He can get along just fine without our peewee contributions to the universe.
He doesn’t need our worship either. He doesn’t need our praises to bolster his self-esteem.
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
(Acts 17:24-25 KJV)
God doesn’t need anything. He doesn’t need our worship, our work or our money. So why does God command us to worship, serve, and give our money to him?
First of all, for his glory. Wait a second. If He doesn’t need our work or worship, how does it glorify Him? It certainly doesn’t add anything to His glory. Yet it does display His glory. When we sing His praises together, we display to one another God’s greatness, kindness, and love. When I hear you give thanks to God, I’m reminded afresh of His goodness. You display God’s glory to me. And it builds my faith and helps me love and trust Him more. And when we do works of love, we display the character of Christ God is forming in us.
Another reason God commands us to worship, serve, give and obey is for our joy.
When God tells us to sing and raise our hands to Him, it’s not because He needs our praise to feel good about Himself. It’s for our pleasure in Him. When we express our appreciation of God it enhances our enjoyment of Him. Like when we express appreciation for a great painting, or a great steak. It enhances and completes our enjoyment of it. When God commands us to give, it’s not because He needs the money. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. It’s for our benefit and good. When we give, God pours blessings back on us. When we sow, we reap. All God’s commands are for our benefit and joy. That’s why we should serve Him cheerfully:
Serve the Lord with gladness! (Psalms 100:2)
It doesn’t glorify God to serve Him cheerlessly. It’s not enough to serve the Lord, we must serve Him with gladness. Parents, ever ask your child to do something for you and he responds with as much enthusiasm as if you’d asked him to have a root canal? How does that make you feel? He may do the chore, but if he does it with grumbling or ingratitude, it doesn’t please you. You almost feel like saying ‘don’t bother.’
God loves a cheerful giver. Do you think it glorifies God when we grudgingly say ‘Alright, here’s my buck’? He loves a cheerful giver because glad giving displays the value of Christ. That He is more valuable than all our money. It shows we believe he’s generous and good and will bless and provide for us.
God doesn’t need our work or our praises or our money. He gives them to us as gifts to display His glory and enhance our enjoyment of Him. So let’s serve the Lord with gladness today.
Jesus Through the Bible
Christians believe in a Christ-centered Bible. The salvation that was expected in the Old Testament is exhibited in the Gospels and then explained in the rest of the New Testament.
From Genesis we learn that Jesus is the seed of the woman who will crush Satan’s head, and the son of Abraham who will bless all the nations of the earth. From Exodus we learn that Jesus is the Passover Lamb whose blood saves us from the angel of death, and the wilderness tabernacle where God dwells in glory. From Leviticus we learn that He is the atoning sacrifice that takes away our sin. From Numbers we learn that He is the bronze serpent lifted up for everyone who looks to Him in faith. From Deuteronomy we learn that He is the prophet greater than Moses who comes to teach us God’s will.
So much for the Pentateuch.
What do we learn from the historical books?
From Joshua we learn that Jesus is our great captain in the fight. From Judges we learn that He is the king who helps us do what is right in God’s eyes, and not our own. From Ruth we learn that Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer. From 1 and 2 Samuel we learn that He is our anointed king. From 1 and 2 Kings we learn that He is the glory in the temple. From 1 and 2 Chronicles we learn that He is the Son of David — the rightful king of Judah. From Ezra and Nehemiah we learn that He will restore the city of God. From Esther we learn that He will deliver us from all our enemies.
Then we come to the poetic writings. From Job we learn that Jesus is our living redeemer, who will stand on the earth at the last day. From the Psalms we learn that He is the sweet singer of Israel — the Savior forsaken by God and left to die, yet restored by God to rule the nations. From Proverbs we learn that Jesus is our wisdom. From Ecclesiastes we learn that He alone can give us meaning and purpose. From the Song of Solomon we learn that He is the lover of our souls.
This brings us to the prophets, whose special mission it was to prophesy about the coming of Christ. Isaiah tells that He is the child born of the Virgin, the son given to rule, the shoot from the stump of Jesse, and the servant stricken and afflicted, upon whom God has laid all our iniquity. Jeremiah and Lamentations tell us that Jesus is our comforter in sorrow, the mediator of a new covenant who turns our weeping into songs of joy. Ezekiel tells us that the Spirit of Jesus can breathe life into dry bones and make a heart of stone beat again. Daniel tells us that Jesus is the Son of Man coming in clouds of glory to render justice on the earth.
These are the Major Prophets, but the Minor Prophets also bore witness to Jesus Christ. Hosea prophesied that He would be a faithful husband to His wayward people. Joel prophesied that before He came to judge the nations, Jesus would pour out His Spirit on men and women, Jews and Gentiles, young and old. Amos and Obadiah prophesied that He would restore God’s kingdom. Jonah prophesied that for the sake of the nations, He would be raised on the third day. Micah prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. Nahum prophesied that He would judge the world. Habakkuk prophesied that He would justify those who live by faith. Zephaniah prophesied He would rejoice over His people with singing. Haggai prophesied that He would rebuild God’s temple. Zechariah prophesied that He would come in royal gentleness, riding on a donkey, and that when He did, all God’s people would be holy. Malachi prophesied that before He came, a prophet would turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children.
From Genesis to Malachi, the Old Testament is all about Jesus. But of course it is in the New Testament that Jesus actually comes to save His people. Whereas the Old Testament gives us His background, the New Testament presents His biography.
The gospels give us the good news of salvation through His crucifixion and resurrection. The Gospel of Matthew is that Jesus is the Messiah God promised to Israel. The Gospel of Mark is that He is the suffering servant. The Gospel of Luke is that He is a Savior for everyone, including the poor and the weak. The Gospel of John is that He is the incarnate Word, the Son of God, the Light of the world, the Bread of life, and the only Way of salvation. But all the gospels end with the same good news: Jesus died on the cross for sinners and was raised again to give eternal life; anyone who believes in Him will be saved.
Then the New Testament turns its attention to the church, which is still about Jesus because the church is His body. The book of Acts shows how Jesus is working in the church today, through the gospel, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Then come all the letters that were written to the church — letters that tell about Jesus and how to live for Him. In Romans Jesus is righteousness from God for Jews and Gentiles; in 1 and 2 Corinthians He is the one who unifies the church and gives us spiritual gifts for ministry. In Galatians Jesus liberates us from legalism; in Ephesians He is the head of the church; in Philippians He is the joy of our salvation; in Colossians He is the firstborn over all creation. In 1 and 2 Thessalonians Jesus is coming soon to deliver us from this evil age; in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus He shepherds His people; and in Philemon He reconciles brothers who are separated by sin. This is the gospel according to Paul.
Hebrews is an easy one: Jesus is the great high priest who died for sin once and for all on the cross and who sympathizes with us in all our weakness. In the epistle of James, Jesus helps us to prove our faith by doing good works. In the epistles of Peter He is our example in suffering. In the letters of John He is the Lord of love. In Jude He is our Master and Teacher. Last, but not least, comes the book of Revelation, in which Jesus Christ is revealed as the Lamb of God slain for sinners, Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the great Judge over all the earth, and the glorious God of heaven.
The Bible says that in Jesus “all things consist” (Colossians 1:17) and this is as true of the Bible as it is of anything else. Jesus holds the whole Bible together. From Genesis to Revelation, the Word of God is all about Jesus, and therefore it has the power to bring salvation through faith in Him. It is by reading the Bible that we come to know Jesus, and it is by coming to know Jesus that we are saved. This is why we are so committed to God’s Word, why it is the foundation for everything we do, both as a church and as individual Christians.
We love the Word because it brings us to Christ.
How is God eternal?
The word “eternal” means without beginning or end. In reference to God, therefore, to be eternal is to exist as the one Being without beginning or end, uncreated and never able to die. As such, He serves as the power behind all created things (Genesis 1:1).
Many passages of Scripture affirm this biblical concept of God as eternal. For example, Psalm 90:2 notes, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” Deuteronomy 33:27 refers to the Lord as the “eternal God.” Romans 1:20 speaks of God’s “eternal power.” Ephesians 3:11 speaks of God’s “eternal purpose.” First Timothy 6:16 notes God’s “power everlasting” or rule. Isaiah 9:6 refers to God as an “Everlasting Father.” Isaiah 26:4 calls Him an “everlasting strength“
As part of the Triune God, Jesus Christ is also revealed as eternal in nature. He existed in the beginning with God (John 1:1). Jesus taught that He was the “I AM,” a reference to the Lord in Exodus 3:14 (John 8:58). Colossians 1:16 teaches, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”
The Holy Spirit is also noted as eternal in Scripture. God’s Spirit was involved in the creation of the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:3). Hebrews 9:14 refers to the Holy Spirit as God’s “eternal Spirit.”
Scripture also speaks frequently about both eternal life (John 3:16) and eternal destruction (Matthew 25:46; 2 Thessalonians 1:9). There is an eternal dwelling for God’s people with the Lord, revealing the Bible’s clear teaching regarding eternity future (Luke 16:9; 2 Corinthians 5:1).
In Genesis 21:33, we are also told that one of God’s names is the Everlasting God: “And Abraham planted a grove in Beer–sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.” Psalm 145:13 affirms that God’s kingdom is likewise everlasting: “Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.”
It is clear that the One who created all things existed before all space, time, matter, and energy. Scripture also notes God has everlasting love for His people, has an eternal purpose, and an eternal destination that includes eternity in His presence for those who believe in Him.
Blessed by the Lord
I’d been having problems with my android phone.
As I was coming from the phone technician, who tried to repair my phone, after he told me that my phone was dead, I complained to the Lord. As I walked to our local library to go and use their computers I have to walk through a passage-like area in-between a couple of businesses before getting to the library, and as I walked through I happened to look on the ground and there was a pamphlet or some paper lying there and three clear words were visible to me, ‘Don’t Give Up”! I knew it was the Lord speaking to me and I thanked Him and told Him that I wouldn’t give up.
This past Sunday, while getting a lift home with our pastor’s daughter’s fiancé I spoke about my “dead” phone and how I was planning on buying a new one through a retailer and to pay it off. I am semi employed at the moment and only get paid when I work.
At about 2 on Sunday afternoon Lindsay my daughter ran to me with my wife’s phone telling me that Matthew (the fiancé) was on the phone. I answered and he asked me if could come downstairs quickly – we live in an apartment. Well I went down and he stood there with a package in his hand. He said that the Lord laid it on his heart to buy me a phone and there he was.
Its smaller than my old one but it’s an android 6.0, much better than the old which was 4.4. So; I did not give up and was rewarded. God is just great!!
If he can do it for me as a follower of Jesus Christ, a born again person He can do it for you and more IF you believe the Gospel and repent of your sins.
Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was crucified, died and was risen from the dead three days later; believe that and turn your back on your sin and you will be saved.
666 or 616? – The Number of the Beast
666 or 616
Some modern versions of the bible as well as recent news articles call the accepted reading of Revelation 13:18 into question. Do these claims have merit?
Pick up almost any English version of the Bible, and turn to Revelation 3:18. It will read something like, “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” While this Biblical verse may not be the best known, the number six hundred and sixty six contained within it is recognized by most. This number’s association with the last days’ character known as the antichrist has caused it to be popularized, sometimes glamorized, and often feared by religious and non-religious people alike. However, some have cast doubt on the authenticity of this reading, and asked the question, “Is 666 really the number of the beast?” For example, the margin of the New Revised Standard Version (a corrupted translation) reads, “Other ancient authorities read six hundred sixteen.” The notes in the New American Standard Bible say, “One early manuscript reads 616.” Furthermore, news articles have appeared with such ominous titles as, “Beast’s Real Mark Devalued to ‘616’” and “666 Wrong Number of Prophetic Beast?” All of these things raise the question, “What is the real number of the beast as recorded in Revelation 13:18?”
Answering this question accurately is of great importance for two reasons. First, this verse was not penned in a casual work of literature. Its origin is the King James Holy Bible, God’s Word. How important is the Bible? Deuteronomy 8:3 states clearly that, “Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD.”
The Book of Revelation gives clear warning that its words are precious, and are not to be tampered with. In Revelation’s closing verses, we find Jesus saying,
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” – Revelation 22:18-19.
Knowing the number of the beast as given to John by God and not changing it is essential, if we are to please the Lord. The second reason for seeking an answer to this question is found in Revelation 13:18, the verse under discussion. It begins, “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast.” It is God’s will that mankind gain wisdom and understanding from His Word with respect to end time Bible prophecy and the signs given therein – including the number of the beast. Only by having an accurate understanding of the number of the beast can mankind successfully interpret Bible prophecy as it relates to the person of the antichrist. Given that we live in the last days, where many of these prophecies are now being fulfilled, this understanding is essential. Because Revelation 13:18 is found in God’s unchanged Word (KJV), and because we know that God wants us to understand Bible prophecy, let’s look at the evidence and answer the question, “The number of the beast – 666 or 616?”
NEW TESTAMENT MANUSCRIPTS
Understanding why some question the reading “666” in Revelation 13:18 as well as determining the correct reading of this verse requires an investigation into the area of New Testament studies known as textual criticism. Textual criticism is a branch of philology that studies manuscripts or printings to determine the original form of a text. New Testament textual criticism seeks to study the large body of manuscripts, early quotations, lectionaries (readings used for church services), and translations in an effort to ascertain the accurate reading of the New Testament. Some would ask, “Why is this necessary? Don’t we have the original manuscripts, as penned by their authors?” The answer unfortunately is no. No original New Testament writings exist today. However, we do have an abundance of New Testament manuscripts written in the original Greek language. In addition we have many citations of the New Testament contained in quotations from early church writers and lectionaries, as well as numerous ancient translations into other languages such as Latin, Coptic, and Syriac. With such a large number of documents spanning such a long period of time, it is no surprise that some differences have emerged between manuscripts, including those of the book of Revelation. New Testament textual criticism seeks to understand and resolve these differences. Textual criticism is an area of study that is very deep and very wide. In fact, some scholars are dedicated to nothing but the study of New Testament textual criticism. In light of that, it is impossible to present a complete treatment of the textual factors that go into determining the number of the beast in this article. In addition, research in this field continues and new discoveries are continually made. However, what follows is an overview of key factors that help to explain the questions and seek to provide reasonable answers.
TEXTUAL WITNESSES
“The Text of the New Testament”, a well known text on New Testament textual criticism, over 2300 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament exist today [“Text of NT” 83]. Of these manuscripts, more than 280 contain some or all of the Book of Revelation. Examining Revelation 13:18 in these manuscripts reveals that here are differences between them. Some manuscripts spell out the number using Greek words, some use letters to represent numbers (similar to Roman numerals). Although the vast majority of manuscripts give the number of the beast as six hundred sixty six, four (two pre-sixth century and two no longer existent post-eighth century) are known to state 616 as the number and one 11th century manuscript gives 665. This explains why the question about 666 vs. 616 has been raised. Although one could argue that the fact that the majority of manuscripts contain 666 closes the question, textual criticism acknowledges that not all manuscripts are created equal. Some are more reliable than others, based on numerous factors, including age, condition, and history. So, let’s look at some of the oldest and most respected Greek manuscripts that contain this passage.
Much of the recent stir about 616 has arisen due to renewed studies of a group of very old manuscripts originally discovered in 1895 by archaeologists at the site of an ancient garbage dump in Oxyrhynchus in Egypt (today’s false “bibles” are derived from this manuscript). Many of the Oxyrhynchus manuscripts consist of New Testament papyri, and are very old when compared to other manuscripts. One of them named P115 (also called P. Oxy. 4499), dates from around 300 AD and contains some or all of 12 chapters from the Book of Revelation, including Revelation 13:18. It records 616 as the number of the beast using Greek letters. Because of this manuscript’s age, some have jumped to the conclusion that this must be the original reading. However, this conclusion cannot be made. Other evidence must be considered. For example, three manuscripts from the Chester Beatty Papyri include portions of the New Testament. One of these named P47, dates from the 3rd century and contains chapters 9-17 of Revelation. In its reading of Revelation 13:18, it states that the number of the beast is 666, using Greek letters. So, two equally old papyri have both readings – 666 and 616.
Other ancient manuscripts contain similar differences. The uncial manuscripts consist of those written with Greek capital letters. Around 100 of these date from before the 7th century. Six uncials are known to contain Revelation 13 [“Text of NT” Chart 6K] and are noteworthy in this discussion. Codex a(Aleph – the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet), also known as Sinaiticus, was discovered by Constantin von Tischendorf in St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai in 1859 (today’s false “bibles” are also derived from this manuscript). It dates from the fourth century and is one of the most revered (falsely so) NT manuscripts, due to its age as well as the fact that it contains all of the New Testament. Its reading of Revelation 13:18 denotes 666 as the number of the beast, spelled out with Greek words. Codex Alexandrinus (A/02), a fifth century uncial as well as Codex P/025 of the ninth century, and codices 046 and Codex 051 of the 10th century all agree with Codex in their reading of 666 (with slight spelling differences). However, Codex C/04 of the fifth century has 616 spelled out with Greek letters as the number of the beast. So, it agrees with P115 as the only other ancient witness of this alternate text.
In summary, of the almost 300 Greek manuscripts containing Revelation, almost all of them state 666 as the number of the beast. The two oldest papyri are evenly divided in their reading, and over 80%of uncial manuscripts hold the reading of 666.
EARLY CHURCH WRITINGS AND TRANSLATIONS
In addition to the evidence of Greek manuscripts, we can also look to Biblical quotations found in early church writings, as well as ancient translations of the New Testament. One early church writer by the name of Tyconius recognized 616 as the number of the beast in his 4th century Latin version. In contrast, the writings of Origen and Hippolytus (both of the 3rd century) attest strongly to the value of 666 as the correct reading [Burgon 136]. Most noteworthy however are the statements of Irenaeus, the 2nd century bishop of Lyon, known to be a disciple of Polycarp. Polycarp is believed to have been a disciple of John, the author of Revelation. In his treatise, “Against Heresies”, Irenaeus deals with the subject of Revelation 13 and the number of the beast. In Book 5, Chapter 28 of this work, he states that the number of the beast is 666. In addition, Chapter 30 of the same work makes the following statement regarding the number 666:
“Such, then, being the state of the case, and this number being found in all the most approved and ancient copies [of the Apocalypse], and those men who saw John face to face bearing their testimony [to it]; while reason also leads us to conclude that the number of the name of the beast, [if reckoned] according to the Greek mode of calculation by the [value of] the letters contained in it, will amount to six hundred and sixty and six…(portion elided)…I do not know how it is that some have erred following the ordinary mode of speech, and have vitiated the middle number in the name, deducting the amount of fifty from it, so that instead of six decads (author’s note: a decad is 10) they will have it that there is but one. [I am inclined to think that this occurred through the fault of the copyists, as is wont to happen, since numbers also are expressed by letters; so that the Greek letter which expresses the number sixty was easily expanded into the letter Iota of the Greeks.] Others then received this reading without examination; some in their simplicity, and upon their own responsibility, making use of this number expressing one decad; while some, in their inexperience, have ventured to seek out a name which should contain the erroneous and spurious number.” [Roberts 558]
In this illuminating passage, Irenaeus states that 666 is the reading found in the most reliable copies of Revelation, including those copied by men who saw John. In addition, he acknowledges the existence of the 616 reading, but considers it erroneous, attributing it to copying errors and the failure of some to properly examine the authenticity of the alternate reading.
As the knowledge of Greek decreased in the ancient world, many translations of the Greek New Testament into the common languages of the people were created. These early translations agree in their readings of Revelation 13:18. The 5th century Armenian, the Syriac of the 6th century, the Old Latin of the 13th century, the Coptic, and the Latin Vulgate all agree that the number of the beast is 666.
PROVIDENCE OF GOD
While New Testament textual criticism seeks to understand and resolve differences among versions of the Greek New Testament, our confidence in the text of the Bible is not reliant upon the intellect of men or the tools of science. Most importantly, we have a promise from God that He will always preserve the integrity of His Word. Psalm 100:5 states that, “His truth endureth to all generations.” With this promise, we can rest, knowing that God has carefully watched over the transmission of the New Testament from its original writing to the present day. Whereas 666 has always been the dominant reading of Revelation 13:18, it is clear through faith in God’s promises that this is the original reading of the verse as penned by John on Patmos.
CONCLUSION
“And his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” This statement from the last days’ prophecy of Revelation 13 gives a clue to the identity of the antichrist. God’s stated purpose in this verse is that we understand it correctly. This is especially true for those of us who live in the days immediately preceding the coming of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, some have questioned the accuracy of 666 as the number of the beast. Some have suggested that 616 is the real number. However, the majority of almost 300 Greek manuscripts, including the oldest and most valued (and corrupted), along with the evidence of early church writings and translations, all stand together as a great witness to the authenticity of 666 against a rather small set of four manuscripts and one early writer that make their claim for 616.
By Dave Novick
Endtime Magazine – Nov/Dec 2007
Why sound doctrine is so crucial
Most churches have doctrinal statements, written creeds filled with absolutes. Such documents pose a problem for people who view absolute statements with suspicion. Modern culture downplays the importance of doctrine or rejects it as divisive and insensitive, but does that mean that churches should adapt their theology or jettison creeds altogether? Does it make a difference what the church teaches?
Biblically, yes, what the church teaches does matter. Sound doctrine is crucially important. Perhaps we should define sound. In this blog, we’ll take it to mean “solidly orthodox, conforming to biblical truth.” Sound doctrine is teaching that agrees with the Bible.
Paul tells Titus “…speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:” (Titus 2:1). Titus’ teaching had to correspond with God’s Word. The apostles were the pitch pipe, so to speak, through which God sounded the note to harmonize His church.
So, the main reason sound doctrine is important is that God directed us to teach it. There are other, secondary, reasons such as the fact that our faith is centered on a specific message. The Bible defines this message explicitly: “Christ died for our sins according to the dcriptures … he was buried … he rose the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). This is the clear-cut news we are to share. Paul said he “….delivered unto you first of all ” Change the original message, which is done in modern “bibles”, and the basis of faith crumbles. JESUS WARNED US TO BUILD OUR LIVES ON THE IMMOVABLE ROCK OF HIS TEACHING, NOT ON THE SHIFTING SANDS OF MAN’S PHILOSOPHY (Matthew 7:24-27).
Another reason sound doctrine is important is that the gospel is a sacred trust. WE DARE NOT tamper with God’s communiqué. We are the couriers of the message, not its editors. Jude was insistent that the church defend sound doctrine: “…earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 1:3; see also Philippians 1:27). To “contend” means to strenuously fight for something and to hold nothing back in the struggle. We should neither add to nor subtract from God’s Word as modern “bibles” do (Revelation 22:18-19). We receive what has been entrusted to us and we must “Hold fast the form of sound words, ….. in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 1:13).
Also, sound doctrine is important because what we believe has an impact on what we do. There is a direct correlation between belief and behavior. Maya Angelou put it this way: “When you know better, you do better.” A belief that one is invincible can easily lead to foolhardy behaviour. In the same way, a man who rejects the idea of God and judgment will make very different choices than a man who fears God. First Timothy 1:9-10 mentions a list of sins and concludes with “whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine.” In other words, bad behavior is out of sync with true belief. Sound doctrine curbs corrupt conduct.
Sound doctrine is also important because we must be able to distinguish truth from falsehood. “...because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). Jesus said there are tares among the wheat and wolves among the flock (Matthew 13:25; Acts 20:29 . The best way to spot a counterfeit is to be familiar with the real thing; to identify the lie, we must know the truth.
Sound doctrine is important because of its end. Sound doctrine leads to life. “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” (1 Timothy 4:16). On the other hand, unsound doctrine leads to ruin. Jesus spoke of the “great … fall” awaiting the one who builds his house on the sand (Matthew 7:27). Jude wrote of false teachers whose condemnation was sealed. Their crime? Teaching unsound doctrine, specifically, “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness,” and rejecting Jesus Christ (Jude 1:4). Preaching another gospel (“which is really no gospel at all”) brings down an anathema: “let him be accursed.” (see Galatians 1:6-9).
Finally, sound doctrine is important because it encourages believers. A pastor “holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.” (Titus 1:9). Believers naturally “desire the sincere milk of the word,…” because they want to grow (1 Peter 2:2). Sound doctrine is that “sincere milk“, wholesome, unadulterated, and vital.
Did Jesus Sweat Blood?
HEMATIDROSIS
Luke, the author of the New Testament books of Luke and Acts, who himself, by profession, was a physician. His writings manifest an intimate acquaintance with the technical language of the Greek medical schools of Asia Minor.
Of the four gospel writers, only Luke referred to Jesus’ ordeal as “agony” (agonia). It is because of this agony over things to come that we learn during His prayer “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:44). Only Luke referred to Jesus’ sweat (idros)—a much used term in medical language. Only Luke referred to Jesus’ sweat as consisting of great drops of blood (thromboi haimatos)—a medical condition alluded to by both Aristotle and Theophrastus.1 The Greek term thromboi (from which we get thrombus, thrombin, et al.) refers to clots of blood. 2Bible scholar Richard Lenski commented on the use of this term: “‘As clots’, thromboi, means that the blood mingled with the sweat and thickened the globules so that they fell to the ground in little clots and did not merely stain the skin.”3
The Greek word ώσεί (osei {in context, “as it were”}) refers to condition, not comparison, as Greek scholar Henry Alford observed:
The intention of the Evangelist seems clearly to be, to convey the idea that the sweat was (not fell like, but was) like drops of blood;—i.e., coloured with blood,—for so I understand the ώσεί, as just distinguishing the drops highly coloured with blood, from pure blood…. To suppose that it only fell like drops of blood (why not drops of anything else? and drops of blood from what, and where?) is to nullify the force of the sentence, and make the insertion of ίματος (aimatos {blood}) not only superfluous but absurd.4 We can conclude quite justifiably that the terminology used by the gospel writer to refer to the severe mental distress experienced by Jesus was intended to be taken literally, i.e., that the sweat of Jesus became bloody.5
A thorough search of the medical literature demonstrates that such a condition, while admittedly rare, does occur in humans. Commonly referred to as hematidrosis or hemohidrosis 6, this condition reults in the excretion of blood or blood pigment in the sweat. Under conditions of great emotional stress, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can rupture7, thus mixing blood with perspiration. This condition has been reported in extreme instances of stress8. During the waning years of the 20th century, 76 cases of hematidrosis were studied and classified into categories according to causative factors. The most frequent causes of the phenomenon were found to be “acute fear” and “intense mental contemplation”9. While the extent of blood loss generally is minimal, hematidrosis also results in the skin becoming extremely tender and fragile10, which would have made Christ’s pending physical insults even more painful.
From these factors, it is evident that even before Jesus endured the torture of the cross, He suffered far beyond what most of us will ever suffer. His penetrating awareness of the heinous nature of sin, its destructive and deadly effects, the sorrow and heartache that it inflicts, and the extreme measure necessary to deal with it, make the passion of Christ beyond comprehension.
ENDNOTES
1 William K. Hobart (1882), The Medical Language of St. Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1954 reprint), pp. 80-84.
2 W. Robertson Nicoll, ed. (no date), The Expositor’s Greek Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans), 1:631; M.R. Vincent (1887), Word Studies in the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1946 reprint), 1:425.
3 R.C.H. Lenski (1961), The Interpretation of St. Luke’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg), p. 1077.
4 Henry Alford (1874), Alford’s Greek Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1980 reprint), 1:648, italics in orig.; cf. A.T. Robertson (1934), A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press), p. 1140.
5 Cf. A.T. Robertson (1930), Word Pictures in the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker), 2:272.
6 A.C. Allen (1967), The Skin: A Clinicopathological Treatise (New York: Grune and Stratton), second edition, pp. 745-747; “Hematidrosis” (2002), Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary, p. 832, https://goo.gl/U192fY.
7 R. Lumpkin (1978), “The Physical Suffering of Christ,” Journal of Medical Association of Alabama, 47:8-10.
8 See R.L Sutton, Jr. (1956), Diseases of the Skin (St. Louis, MO: Mosby College Publishing), eleventh edition, pp. 1393-1394.
9 J.E. Holoubek and A.B. Holoubek (1996), “Blood, Sweat, and Fear. ‘A Classification of Hematidrosis,’” Journal of Medicine, 27[3-4]:115-33. See also J. Manonukul, W. Wisuthsarewong, et al. (2008), “Hematidrosis: A Pathologic Process orStigmata. A Case Report with Comprehensive Histopathologic and Immunoperoxidase Studies,” American Journal of Dermatopathology, 30[2]:135-139, April; E. Mora and J. Lucas (2013),“Hematidrosis: Blood Sweat,” Blood, 121[9]:1493, February 28.
10 P. Barbet (1953), A Doctor at Calvary: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ as Described by a Surgeon (Garden City, NY: Doubleday Image Books), pp. 74-75; cf. Lumpkin, 1978.
Was the Darkness of the Crucifixion Merely an Eclipse?
For those who have experienced a total solar eclipse, the event is awe inspiring. Solar eclipses are incredible because they are a multi-sensory experience, from the amazing environmental changes of temperature and weather, to the sounds of nocturnal animal life, to the visual changes of the slowly dimming daylight and the brief darkness of totality. Lunar eclipses are similarly compelling as the Moon gradually changes from its usual bright white appearance to a more dim reddish hue. Yet, when we compare these physical events that have happened throughout history with the history changing event of Jesus’ crucifixion, can we understand the element of darkness on that day as an eclipse event?
While this question has been posed by many people from many different contexts, we want to confront the reasoning of some who deny any supernatural descriptions for biblical events. This type of blatant denial of any supernatural elements is a ploy toward an ultimate denial of God. Rather, when we consider the historical reality and the blending of both God’s supernatural power with God’s establishment of physical laws, we find a full account that has both investigative and descriptive power to understand the unique events depicted in Scripture.
A MATTER OF TIMING
As we discuss the timing of the crucifixion, we need to note the particulars necessary for solar and lunar eclipses to occur. First, a solar eclipse supposedly involves the Moon passing between Earth and the Sun, casting its shadow on Earth. This means that the Moon’s phase is always a New Moon during solar eclipses. In contrast, a lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth supposedly passes between the Sun and Moon, casting its shadow across the Moon. During a lunar eclipse the Moon’s phase is always a Full Moon.
As an overview, here is the timeline for the relevant events of the crucifixion. According to Mark 15:25, Jesus was crucified at the third hour of the Jewish day or 9 a.m. which, from the context, we can understand as the initial placement of Jesus on the cross. Then at the sixth hour (12 p.m. noon) there came darkness over all the land for a duration of three hours until the ninth hour or 3 p.m. (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44). At this point, Jesus cried out three of His recorded sayings on the cross: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34); “… Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” (Luke 23:46); and “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished:…” (John 19:30). At the point of Jesus’ death, the darkness appears to have ended, as each account describes the darkness lasting for three hours, then Jesus giving His life.
With the particulars of both the crucifixion timeline and the necessary timings of eclipses established, we can address whether a solar or lunar eclipse could be a possible explanation for the darkness that occurred. We can quickly rule out a lunar eclipse as the cause, since lunar eclipses do not affect the appearance of the Sun and would not have any impact during the time of Jesus’ crucifixion from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
When we consider solar eclipses, there is a definite affect on the Sun and the daylight levels as they occur. Solar eclipses, especially in the narrow path of total solar eclipses, have dramatic periods of darkness. However, we can confidently say that the darkness during Jesus’ crucifixion was not the result of a solar eclipse event. This statement can be made based on the timing particulars that the Bible defines: first, the time of the month that the Jewish Passover occurs and, second, the duration of darkness outlined by the text.
Jesus’ trial and crucifixion happened near the feast of the Passover, which occurs every year in the same month and the same day of the month. According to Leviticus 23:5, the Passover began on the evening of the 14th day of the first month. Important is the fact that the accounting of Jewish time is based on a lunar calendar, where each month follows the lunar cycle beginning on the New Moon. This connection can be seen by the Hebrew word often translated as month, chodesh, which originates from a root meaning “new.” In context, this word is either translated as “month” in regards to time, or as “New Moon” in regards to a physical description. We can see a use of the physical “New Moon” translation in the account found in 1 Samuel 20 involving David and Jonathan: “And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even.” (20:5). Here we have the New Moon (chodesh) used in conjunction with a time period of waiting till the “third day” of the month.
Thus since Jesus’ crucifixion happened near the middle of the month at Passover, the phase of the Moon was near a Full Moon instead of a New Moon, which is the complete opposite for a solar eclipse in apparent and physical orientation.
While the time of month for the crucifixion completely dispels the possibility of a solar eclipse, reasoning based on the darkness duration provides additional evidence for a supernatural origination. The Bible describes a three hour timeframe for the darkness (Mark 15:33). As we consider a solar eclipse, it is true that the entire event can be approximately three hours. However, this period includes the entire process from the point when the Moon begins to cover the Sun until the Moon finally completes its recession off the Sun. The partial eclipse phase of a total solar eclipse is a gradual process of slowly dimming to a point of maximum eclipse, then slowly brightening after maximum. This gradual variation does not match the succinct description of darkness over all the land that the Bible defines. Those who have witnessed a total solar eclipse would agree that “darkness” does not characterize the Earth until the brief maximum darkness phase of the eclipse. The duration for the maximum darkness of a total eclipse, however, is only a matter of minutes, not hours. The 2017 total solar eclipse that crossed the United States only had a maximum duration of two minutes and 40.2 seconds.1 In fact, the maximum duration possible for any total solar eclipse is less than seven minutes.2
CONCLUSION
When we reach the climax of God’s plan at the cross, we see God using all elements of the event to highlight the incredible uniqueness of Jesus’ innocence, sacrifice, and love. One of these elements was God causing a great, supernatural darkness to cover the land and extend to the point of Jesus’ death. This darkness was not a simple coincidence, nor was it simply some usual event. Rather, it played a part in showing those at the cross then, and those who come to the cross today, the crucial message of salvation that Jesus brought to the world.
ENDNOTES
1 https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html
2 Jean Meeus(2003), “The Maximum Possible Duration of a Total Solar Eclipse“, Journal of the British Astronomical Association, 113[6]:343–348, December.
What is the whole armour of God?
The armour of God is described in Ephesians 6:10-18. In this passage we are told that our primary battles are of a spiritual nature and that we need spiritual armour to be able to stand firm in the midst of these battles. The armour includes the following pieces:
Loins girt about with truth: Truth is as a belt and the first item in our arsenal. A belt holds the other pieces of clothing and armour together. It secures the outfit and allows a soldier to move freely. Truth both secures us and gives us freedom (John 8:32). One of satan’s greatest offensive tactics is to deceive us; he is the “father of lies” (John 8:44). With the belt of truth around our waists, we are prepared to defend against this. This truth also applies to the way we live our lives. When we live with honesty and integrity, the other pieces of our armour – what could be considered our spiritual selves – stay intact. A life of integrity is not easily torn asunder.
Breastplate of righteousness: The breastplate of righteousness covers our hearts and other vital organs. In a sense, the breastplate covers the most vulnerable areas of a warrior. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” The righteousness that guards a believer’s heart is the righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Feet ready with the preparation of the gospel: Our feet are to be “…shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;” (Ephesians 6:15). Because we know the good news of Christ and by that knowledge experience peace in Him (John 14:27), our feet are willing to move. In obedience to Christ, we will flee temptations (1 Corinthians 10:14; 1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:22) and walk into whatever He has called us to (Psalm 86:11; Isaiah 30:21; John 15:10).
Shield of faith: The shield of faith is used to “… be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” (Ephesians 6:16). When satan attacks us, our faith in Christ lessens the blow. We are able to withstand the attack because we know whom we have believed (2 Timothy 1:12).
Helmet of salvation: A helmet protects the brain, basically our minds. It is because of salvation that our minds can be sound. We are assured of our eternities, and made righteous recipients of peace, practitioners of faith, and knowers of truth. Our minds are protected because of Jesus’ work on the cross; we have been given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:12-16). A helmet can also serve as a signifier. When the enemy looks at us, he sees that we belong to Christ. We carry with us the seal of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14).
Sword of the Spirit: Which is the Word of God. This includes God’s written Word (the KJV Bible), God’s incarnate Word (Jesus as Logos), and God’s spoken Word (Holy Spirit within us). The sword is the one offensive weapon in the list. We are told, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12). 2 Timothy 3:16 speaks of Scripture as being “…given by inspiration of God.” When God spoke, creation came into existence. As He breathed life into Man so He also breathed into His Word. There is power in the Word of God; this is why it is our best offense.
Praying: Prayer is an often forgotten part of the armour of God, but is essential to using the armour of God well. Prayer is the way we draw strength from God and rely on Him. In essence, it is what “activates” the armour. Apart from God, and reliance on Him through prayer, our efforts in spiritual battle are ultimately futile. 2 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to “Pray without ceasing.”
The full armour of God is a way to describe some of the blessings of God in the life of a Christian and the tools with which He has equipped us to stand firm against the evil one and have spiritual victory over the enemy.
Jesus Wept
2 Simple Words with Incredible Depth
The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35: “and Jesus wept.” But for all its grammatical simplicity, it’s packed with unfathomable complexity.
Jesus wept after speaking with Lazarus’ grieving sisters, Martha and Mary, and seeing all the mourners. That seems natural enough. Most of us would have wept too.
Except that Jesus had come to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead. He knew that in a few short minutes all this weeping would turn to astonished joy, and then tearful laughter, and then worship. He had come to Bethany to bring these mourners the best news they could have imagined.
So one would think that Jesus would be a confident, joyful calm in that storm of sorrow. But he was “troubled” (John 11:33) and he wept. Why?
One reason is simply the deep compassion that Jesus felt for those who were suffering. It is true that by not speaking healing from a distance like he did for the centurion’s servant (Matthew 8:13) or by his delay in coming (John 11:6) he had let Lazarus die. He had really good and merciful and glorious reasons for doing that. But this did not mean Jesus took the suffering it caused lightly. “For he doth not afflict willingly
nor grieve the children of men.” (Lamentations 3:33). Even though Jesus always chooses what will ultimately bring his Father the most glory (John 11:4)—and sometimes, as in Lazarus’ case, it requires affliction and grief—he does not take delight in the affliction and grief itself. No, Jesus is sympathetic (Hebrews 4:15). And as “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), in Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus we get a glimpse of how the Father feels over the affliction and grief his children experience.
Another reason Jesus wept was over the calamity of sin. As God the Son who had come into the world to destroy the devil’s works (1 John 3:8), Jesus was about to deliver death its deathblow (1 Corinthians 15:26). But sin grieves God deeply and so do the wages of sin: death (Romans 6:23). Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve he had endured sin’s horrific destruction. Death had consumed almost every human being He had created [Enoch and Elijah are the only exceptions in the biblical record]. It had taken Lazarus, and it would take him again before it was all over. Tears of anger and longing were mixed with Jesus’ tears of grief.
A third reason for weeping was the cost that he was about to pay to purchase not only Lazarus’ short-term resurrection, but his everlasting life. The cross was just days away and no one really knew the inner distress (Luke 12:50) Jesus was experiencing. No one really understood yet what he was about to do. Lazarus’ resurrection that day would look free and be experienced by Lazarus and everyone else as a gift of grace. But oh, it was not free. Jesus was going to die a horrific death to purchase it. And the most horrific part was not crucifixion, as unimaginable as that alone would have been. He was dreading his Father’s wrath. Jesus, who had never known sin, was about to become Lazarus’ sin, and the sin of all who had or would believe in him, so that in him they would all become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
He was looking to the joy that was set before him (Hebrews 12:2). But the reality of what lay between was weighing heavily.
A fourth possible reason for Jesus’ tears was that he knew that raising Lazarus would actually cause the religious leaders to finally take action to put him to death (John 11:45-53). In this account, most of us probably marvel at Jesus’ incredible trust that his Father would answer him. We have such little faith. If Jesus had any struggle that day would not have been whether his Father would answer, but what would result when his Father answered. Calling Lazarus out of the tomb would have taken a different kind of resolve for Jesus than we might have imagined. Giving Lazarus life was sealing Jesus’ own death.
Just these few reasons for Jesus’ weeping at Lazarus’ tomb give us a glimpse into how God views our suffering and death. His reasons for not sparing us these things are righteous and glorious. But in them he is full of compassion (Psalms 103:13), he hates the calamity sin brings, and he himself has suffered more than we ever will ever know in order to pay the full cost of our eternal resurrection.
WHO is (the) Holy Spirit?
Many people misunderstand the identity of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is commonly thought of as an impersonal force. Some people think of it as a healing or protective power to which God gives a believer access. But what does the Bible say about the Holy Spirit? Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit is not just an impersonal power or a force, but a person – the third person of the Trinity, in fact. The Holy Spirit is God Himself.
(The) Holy Spirit appears synonymously with God in many places in the Bible, both in the New and Old Testaments. In Acts 5:3-4, Peter asks Ananias why he has lied to the Holy Spirit, and it is clear that lying to the Holy Spirit is the same as lying to God. He shares the characteristics of God, such as omniscience and omnipresence, as seen in Psalm 139:7-8, which says “Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:
if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.”
Again in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11, God’s attribute of omniscience is also present in (the) Holy Spirit: “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”
The Holy Spirit is a divine person, and He is intimately involved in our salvation, along with the Father and the Son, as shown in Romans 8:11 which says, “11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” The Holy Spirit has thoughts and knowledge (1 Corinthians 2:10), and He can feel sorrow and grief (Ephesians 4:30). (The) Holy Spirit can make intercession for believers (Romans 8:26-27). He also has a will and makes decisions (1 Corinthians 12:7-11).
In Summary, Holy Spirit is God. He is the third person of the Trinity. Only as that divine person can Holy Spirit be to believers a Comforter and a Counselor, according to the promise of Jesus (John 14:16, 26; 15:26).
The Lord’s Prayer
How is the Lord’s Prayer a model for our prayers?
The Lord’s Prayer, also sometimes called the Disciples’ Prayer, is found in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4. It has been memorized by countless people throughout history and is often recited corporately. Rather than view the prayer as a sort of magical formula or rote prayer, it is helpful to see it as a model.
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name: Jesus begins His exemplary prayer by acknowledging to whom He is praying. God is our Father, meaning that He cares for us. God resides in heaven, implying that He is above us (Isaiah 55:8-9). We hallow His name, meaning we declare that it is holy. This opening line, then, recognizes that God is both our Father and our King. He loves us, and He is far greater than we.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven: After acknowledging the character of God, we pray for His purposes. Because God cares for us and is greater than we, we submit our will to His. We trust that His way is better and pray that His will be accomplished on earth.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors: We not only desire God’s will on a grand scale, but also on the smaller scale of our lives. We look to Him for our daily needs—spiritual, practical, relational, emotional, and physical (Matthew 6:33).
Our biggest need is to be forgiven. Without God’s forgiveness, we are dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1). With His forgiveness, we are made alive in Christ (Colossians 2:13). Because we are forgiven, we are called to forgive. Forgiveness restores our fellowship with God and with others. With forgiveness, we can obey the command to love God and love others (Matthew 22:37-40).
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: This final request demonstrates a heart that is eager to please God. God will not lead us into temptation (James 1:13); He is not the author of evil. This prayer is an agreement with God that we do not want to sin against Him. We pray to be aware of the evil that tempts us and to readily see the escape He has provided (1 Corinthians 10:13). Some say that “temptation” in this verse may also refer to trials. In this sense, we are asking God to keep us from harm.
The Lord’s Prayer is a model provided by Jesus for how to pray. We recognize who God is, ask for His will for the earth, ask for His provision in our lives, seek forgiveness, seek protection, and seek continued obedience. We praise God for who He is, submit to Him, and make requests based on our knowledge of Him.
Did Jesus Bear Our Sins? Our Sicknesses? Or Both?
Was healing included in the Atonement? is a question often asked by Christians pondering the topic of divine healing. A simpler and more broadly understandable question would be: “Did Jesus bear only our sins, or did He bear both our sins and sicknesses?” For that answer let’s look, not to man’s experiences, but to the Scriptures.
DID JESUS BEAR OUR SINS? YES!
Matthew 1:21 “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”
An angel had appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that his virgin wife-to-be Mary was miraculously pregnant by the supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit. Joseph was instructed to name the child Jesus, “…for he shall save his people from their sins.”
It was God’s intention, from even before Jesus’ earthly birth, that He would be the Saviour, the One who would bear the sins of mankind and thus open the way to salvation by God’s grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8).
Matthew 26:28 “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
At the Last Supper, shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus clearly alluded to the blood He would soon shed at the cross “for the remission of sins.” He was crucified that very week, and rose from the grave on the third day, and as a result has freed us from our sins by his blood (Revelation 1:5).
1 Peter 2:24 “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
Jesus bore our sins. He bore them and the punishment due to them on the cross. This truth is unmistakable and is held dear by all genuine Christians. Our sins had separated us from God the Father. Then the only perfect sacrifice, Jesus the Son of God, came to earth and bore our sins and sin’s penalty upon Himself at the cross on Mount Calvary.
Luke 24:47 “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
This message of the salvation that Jesus wrought through His death and resurrection is to be preached in all nations. The Son of God died for us, He bore our sins, the perfectly just and holy One on behalf of us lost sinners. He rose from the dead and commissioned His people to tell the world this Good News and to encourage them to faith in Jesus Christ and for “…repentance and remission of sins”.
So yes, to answer our opening question, Jesus did bear our sins. Now what about our sicknesses?
DID JESUS BEAR OUR SICKNESSES? YES!
Matthew 8:16-17 “When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, .”
The inspired writer of Matthew’s Gospel is generally believed to be the apostle Matthew, one of the Twelve. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Matthew speaks of Jesus healing the sick as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s beautiful prophecy, where the prophet wrote (53:4, KJV): “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:”
Jesus bore the infirmities and diseases of the people 2,000 years ago. Jesus still bears the infirmities and diseases of those who come to Him in faith for healing, because the Bible declares that He is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). The Jesus who bore diseases in the first century is “the same” Lord who bears our diseases in this 21st century.
IN SUM, JESUS DID (AND STILL DOES!) BEAR BOTH OUR SINS AND OUR SICKNESSES
This is not a new thought that started with the New Testament in the first century. Far from it. Many centuries before Christ came to earth, the Psalmist King David wrote: “Bless the Lord , O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;” (Psalm 103:2-3). A few centuries later — still long before Jesus’ time on earth — the prophet Isaiah wrote his famous 53rd chapter, called by many “the Fifth Gospel.” Isaiah saw and wrote of this twofold blessing the Messiah would bring:
• 1) He would bear our iniquities (vs. 11). With prophetic future insight, Isaiah said, He carried the sin of many (vs. 12). The apostle Peter confirmed this (1 Peter 2:24): He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross.
• 2) Isaiah also saw the Messiah [Jesus] bearing our diseases: (Matthews 8:17, quoting from Isaiah 53:4).
Jesus did both these things while on earth twenty centuries ago. He still forgives sins and heals sicknesses today, because He is the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb. 13:8).
Look to Jesus the Savior for the forgiveness of your sins. Look to Jesus the Healer for the healing of your sick bodies. “Bless the Lord , O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:...“
Beware of Spirituality Without Theology
John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
Alice Ann Bailey’s (1880-1949) occult writings are archived and promoted by the organization “LUCIS TRUST,” which originally began in 1922 as “LUCIFER TRUST.” She was extremely intelligent as a writer, but unsaved and a devout Luciferian-worshipper. She woefully lacked the wisdom of God. For obvious reasons, the devil-loving company changed their name in 1925 to avoid public scrutiny…
“The Lucis Trust’s publishing company was founded in the early 1920s as the Lucifer Publishing Company. The Lucis Trust says that the name was probably chosen to honor Lucifer. The name was changed in 1925 to the Lucis Publishing Company. In Latin lucem ferre means “to bear light” and lucis means of light. The company has headquarters in New York City, London, and Geneva.”
SOURCE: – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The stated purpose of Lucis Trust is to help prepare the world to receive the coming Antichrist…
“The coming world Teacher will be mainly concerned, not with the result of past error and inadequacy, but with the requirements of a new world order and with the reorganisation of the social structure. World Goodwill distributes educational and informative literature on these themes.”
SOURCE: Lucis – Purposes And Objectives
As I was doing some research today, I ran across the following disturbing writing by Alice Bailey, which prompted me to warn my page visitors about an increasing trend in the world, society and churches to pursue spirituality without theology. That’s all we hear nowadays from Oprah Winfrey and umpteen new agers, who speak of spirituality while expressing disdain for organized religion and Christian fundamentalism. I think it is safe to say that Alice Bailey could be called the mother of new age today. According to Alice Bailey, this trend is ushering in the New World Order (NWO) faster than we think.
Listen to what this evil woman, devil in disguise and mega false prophetess says…
“The new world religion is nearer than many think, and this is due to two things: first, the theological quarrels are mainly over non-essentials, and secondly, the younger generation is basically spiritual but quite uninterested in theology. The intelligent youth of all countries are rapidly repudiating orthodox theology, state ecclesiasticism and the control of the church. They are neither interested in man-made interpretations of truth nor in past quarrels between the major world religions.
At the same time, they are profoundly interested in the spiritual values and are earnestly seeking verification of their deep-seated unvoiced recognitions. They look to no bible or system of so-called inspired spiritual knowledge and revelation, but their eyes are on the undefined larger wholes in which they seek to merge and lose themselves, such as the state, an ideology, or humanity itself. In this expression of the spirit of self-abnegation may be seen the appearance of the deepest truth of all religion and the justification of the Christian message.
Christ, in His high place, cares not whether men accept the theological interpretations of scholars and churchmen, but He does care whether the keynote of His life of sacrifice and service is reproduced among men; it is immaterial to Him whether the emphasis laid upon the detail and the veracity of the Gospel story is recognised and accepted, for He is more interested that the search for truth and for subjective spiritual experience should persist; He knows that within each human heart is found that which responds instinctively to God, and that the hope of ultimate glory lies hid in the Christ-consciousness.
Therefore, in the new world order, spirituality will supersede theology; living experience will take the place of theological acceptances. The spiritual realities will emerge with increasing clarity and the form aspect will recede into the background; the new emerging truths. These truths will be founded on the ancient realities but will be adapted to modern need and will manifest progressively the revelation of the divine nature and quality. God is now known as Intelligence and Love. That the past has given us. He must be known as Will and Purpose, and that the future will reveal.” [emphasis added]
SOURCE: Alice Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, pp.201-202.
Alice Bailey was a devil. I don’t know if you caught it in the preceding quote, but Miss Bailey teaches that Jesus doesn’t care if people accept or reject the Gospel, just so long as they have what she terms, “the Christ-consciousness”…
“Christ, in His high place, cares not whether men accept the theological interpretations of scholars and churchmen, but He does care whether the keynote of His life of sacrifice and service is reproduced among men; it is immaterial to Him whether the emphasis laid upon the detail and the veracity of the Gospel story is recognised and accepted, for He is more interested that the search for truth and for subjective spiritual experience should persist; He knows that within each human heart is found that which responds instinctively to God, and that the hope of ultimate glory lies hid in the Christ-consciousness.” [emphasis added]
SOURCE: Alice Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, pp.201-202.
In other words, Alice Bailey is teaching people to reject everything that the Word of God teaches, except for Christ’s life of sacrifice for others. In the shameful, satanic world of Miss Bailey, Christianity is summed up and limited to living for others without being born-again. This is why we often hear new agers talking about Christ’s love, helping others and forgiveness; but they reject Christ’s preaching against sin (John 7:7), the need for the new second birth, His command to “SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES” (John 5:39) and the Lord’s teachings on everlasting Hell, fire and damnation for the unsaved (Matthew 18:8; 25:41). Effectively, new age retains the outer shell of Christianity, while hollowing out the interior and instead filling it with Luciferian doctrine. In other words, new age is repackaging devil-worship in a Christian wrapper. The Bible warns us that this is how satan normally operates…
2nd Corinthians 11:13-15, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”
My Christian brethren and sisters, what I have just shared with you ought to compel you more than ever to do three things:
Support your local King James believing new testament church. You can learn all about the Church from Pastor Jack Hyles’ awesome Scriptural Bible study titled, what else, “THE CHURCH”. Alice Bailey said that the NWO is happening faster than expected because today’s youth are uninterested in orthodox theology (Bible fundamentals) and the Church. Again, as you just read, she states: “the younger generation is basically spiritual but quite uninterested in theology. The intelligent youth of all countries are rapidly repudiating orthodox theology, state ecclesiasticism and the control of the church. They are neither interested in man-made interpretations of truth nor in past quarrels between the major world religions.” Isn’t that terrible. Do you know why youth are no longer interested in the Church? It is because the Church is no longer interesting.
interesting.
Pastors don’t preach with authority anymore, because our churches have been infiltrated with corrupt authorityless Bible versions. The churches have lost their authority. We’ve been hearing a lot of talk lately from actors, singers, athletes and religious people, saying that they are “spiritual” but not religious. They are caught up into new age without even realizing it. This is why believers must support their local fundamental churches, who use only the King James Bible, go soul-winning, run bus routes, preach the simplicity that is in Christ and teach Biblical theology. Remember, the Church is the pillar of truth, which is build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ (1st Corinthians 3:11). 1st Timothy 3:15, “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” Matthew 16:18, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter (Greek: petros, pebble, a small piece of rock), and upon this rock (Greek: Petra, a mass of rock, a mountain) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The foundation of new age is Lucifer and their pillars are manmade occult doctrine.
Preach and teach the great theological doctrines of the inspired Word of God in our churches.
It is alarming that so many churches these days are telling children’s stories, singing songs, watching religious YouTube videos on large overhead projection screens, having Watchcare (cell block) Groups, enjoying special music and orchestras; but the doctrines of the Word of God are not taught, or barely taught. Every pastor and Christian worker ought to regularly teach the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith; namely, the Godhead, Christ’s deity, the inspiration and inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures, the blood applied in Heaven on the mercy seat, the virgin birth of Jesus, Christ’s sinless life, the simplicity that is in Christ (the Gospel), Christ’s imminent return (Rapture) and the Second Coming, Christ’s vicarious (substitute in our place) death on the cross, the Lord’s bodily resurrection, and all the Word of God.
Beware of spirituality creeping into the church without theology.
Theology is the study of God. Increasingly we are hearing America’s most famous preachers give motivational speeches (like Joel Osteen), deliver political speeches (like Mike Huckabee), and teach religious psychology (like Pat Robertson and James Dobson). This is not Biblical preaching! The great need of the hour is preaching preachers who preach nothing but the pure Word of God. I agree with Brother Lester Roloff that our Bible colleges ought to require preacher boys to memorize one full chapter of the Holy Bible each month. Our churches have lost their authority because our preachers don’t abide in the Word of God anymore.
Jesus said concerning the human heart of man, “for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45). Most preachers merely surf the internet, read blogs, listen to liberal heretics like MacArthur and it shows in their lame authorityless sermonettes on Sunday. We’ve got to get into the Word of God if we are to preach with authority, because the Word of God is authoritative. Acts 4:13, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”
These days our church pulpits are filled with all kinds of substitutes for Biblical theology. Beware of teachings of spiritually that are empty of the Scriptures, and talk of bettering human nature without the need for the new birth by faith in the Gospel (good news) of the Lord Jesus Christ. Religious humanism and new age go hand-in-hand. Any spirituality without the Holy Bible is satanic. “Ye must be born again” (John 3:5-7).
God deliver our churches from the curse of Joel Osteen’s motivational messages, Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life ecumenical garbage that eviscerates the old-time religion, Billy Graham’s Catholic-embracing ecumenical nightmare, John MacArthur’s false plan of Lordship Salvation and his error that Jesus’ blood is not applied to the heavenly mercy seat, and so forth! Our churches are in trouble. Rick Warren is a member of The Council On Foreign Relations (CFR), which is affiliated with Lucis Trust…
Lucis Trust is run through an international board of trustees whose membership is said to have included: John D. Rockefeller; Norman Cousins; Robert S. McNamara; Thomas Watson, Jr. (IBM, former U.S. Ambassador to Moscow); Henry Clausen, Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, 33rd Degree, Southern District Scottish Rite and Henry Kissinger. This would then tie Bailey’s influential occult organization into the international conspiracy of elitists, including the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Bilderbergs, and the Trilateral Commission. [emphasis added]
SOURCE: Lucis Trust, Alice Bailey & World Goodwill
Remember that Helena Blavatsky said occultists would infiltrate the churches. The founder of “Lucifer” Magazine in 1887, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), and editor Annie Besant (1847-1933), along with other occultists believed that Christian churches were the key to introducing the doctrines of Lucifer to large masses of people. The 1904 annual report of the Theosophical Society stated:
“I believe it is through the Churches and not through the Theosophical Society that Theosophy [the worship of Lucifer]… must and should come to large bodies of people in the West.”
SOURCE: Transactions of the Theosophical Society, H. P. Blavatsky, Annie Besant, 1904, p. 377.
Alice Bailey Mentions “Christ” 666 Times in Her Book!
In all her ungodly writings, Alice Bailey continually speaks of Jesus and Lucifer both as “Christ.” She does this deliberately to confuse, deceive and mislead the naive reader into believing that the coming Antichrist will be Christ himself.
The preceding quote comes from Alice Bailey’s book titled, “The Externalisation Of The Hierarchy”, in which the word “Christ” appears 666 times!!! Yes! Search the document for yourself! This is a .pdf document, which opens with Adobe Acrobat. Every computer/smartphone/android device should have this free program/app installed, so you can read .pdf files.
It is no coincidence that Bailey mentions Christ 666 times, for this is the number of the Beast! Revelation 13:18, “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” Alice Bailey is as satanic as can be, mocking the Lord Jesus Christ by associating Him with 666. It should be visibly clear to the Christian reader that Miss Bailey wants to deceive her readers into recognizing the coming Antichrist (the Beast) as the true Messiah, the Christ.
It is not a coincidence that Christ-rejecting Jews (Judaism) and Arabs (Islam) are both awaiting their messiah, who will be the Antichrist. Both Judaizers and Muslims reject Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, the Christ, Who came 2,000 years ago to die on the cross to redeem men from their sins. Judaizers and Muslims are still awaiting their messiah (who will be the Antichrist – 2nd Thessalonians 2:4). We are now living in the end times, in which we will increasingly hear more about the coming Antichrist, who is called: the teacher, Maitreya, Mahdi, a world leader, Messiah, Christ, et cetera. Matthew 24:23, “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.”
Even more frightening is that the word “church” appears 119 times in the same book, evidencing Miss Bailey’s burning passion to corrupt the churches with her Luciferian doctrine!!! Read the following blasphemy by Miss Bailey, where she denies Christ as being the only begotten Son of God…
“The Christian Church has laid so much emphasis on Christ’s unique position as the one and only Son of God that great error has crept in and has been fostered for centuries; Christ Himself foresaw the possibility of this error and tried to offset it by pointing out that we are all the “sons of God” and that “greater things than I do shall you do”—a statement which no commentators have ever understood or adequately explained. The occult fact is that there is no being on Earth, from the very lowest form of life to the very highest, who is not moving onward towards a greater and finer expression of divinity, and Christ Himself is no exception to this universal evolutionary law.” [emphasis added]
SOURCE: Alice Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, pp.201-202.
As evidenced by the preceding demonic quote (which is nearly identical to what Mormons teach), the philosophy of new age is that all men can be gods just as Jesus Christ. New agers and Mormons believe that Jesus was no more God than what is attainable by all men through religious enlightenment. In sharp contrast, the Holy Bible teaches that Jesus is Almighty God. The Godhead indwelt the fleshly body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses errantly teach that Michael the archangel became Jesus. That is blasphemy! Jesus never was, nor ever will be, an archangel. Jesus is God, “the almighty” (Revelation 1:8 – King James Bible). John 1:1-3,14 and John 10:33 evidence that Jesus is God Almighty! If you want to get to know God, then you must get to know Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, by abiding in the Word as a born-again child of God.
All Modern Bible Versions Hide Lucifer, Just As Alice Bailey Does
In her writings, Alice Bailey continually makes references to the Kingdom of God, Christ, God, the church and many other religious terms; yet she deceptively hides her true allegiance to lucifer, satan! Likewise, all modern Bible versions have been corrupted, removing the only mention of “Lucifer” from the Bible in Isaiah 14:12. The following is a drastic comparison between the beloved King James Bible and the New International Reader’s Version (a teen Bible version that’s virtually identical to the NIV)…
KING JAMES BIBLE — Isaiah 14:12-15, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”
NEW INTERNATIONAL READER’S VERSION — Isaiah 14:12-15, “King of Babylonia, you thought you were the bright morning star. But now you have fallen from heaven! You once brought nations down. But now you have been thrown down to the earth! You said in your heart, ‘I will go up to heaven. I’ll raise my throne above the stars of God. I’ll sit as king on the mountain where the gods meet. I’ll set up my throne on the highest slopes of the sacred mountain. I will rise above the tops of the clouds. I’ll make myself like the Most High God.’ But now you have been brought down to the grave. You have been thrown into the deepest part of the pit.”
Praise God for the trustworthy King James Bible!!! If you have a corrupted modern Bible (and they’re all corrupt), Lucifer is gone!
The New World Order Will Be Implemented By Apostates in the Churches!
Alice Bailey foretold that the satanic New World Order will be implemented and developed in the churches…
“Nothing can prevent the new world religion from eventually emerging. It always has down the ages and it always will. There is no finality in the presentation of truth; it develops and grows to meet man’s growing demand for light. It will be implemented and developed by the spiritually minded in all churches, whose minds are open to the new inspirations of God’s Mind, who are liberal and kind and whose individual lives are pure and aspiring…. The problem of the freedom of the human soul and its individual relation to God Immanent and God Transcendent is the spiritual problem, facing all the world religions at this time.” [emphasis added]
SOURCE: Alice Bailey, Problems of Humanity, pp. 138-139.
If your church is using any Bible version other than the King James Bible, or in addition to the King James Bible, then Alice Bailey’s Luciferian doctrine is already in your church!!! All modern Bible versions totally remove the word “Godhead.” “Calvary” is gone too! And don’t look for the “Comforter,” because He’s missing as well!!! In the 1984 NIV, Jesus (the chief cornerstone) is changed to the “Capstone” (see the All-Seeing-Eye at the top of the pyramid on back of every U.S. one dollar bill). Remember, Lucifer-lover Alice Bailey mentions the word “Christ” 666 times in her book, “The Externalisation Of The Hierarchy.” Literally, Miss Bailey wants to mislead you into thinking that the coming Antichrist is the Christ. The Devil is envious of God’s authority, just as feminists resent men being in authority. The God of the Holy Bible is an authoritative God. It is His way or the Highway to Hell.
My friend, Luciferian-worshippers are behind all modern Bible versions and very few pastors care enough to research the matter, or else they are too cowardly to go against their apostate headquarters (Moody Bible SINstitute, Bob Jones PANTSiversity, GAYlor University)! I was disgusted reading today that the student senate at Baylor University (a Baptist Bible college) want the school administration to remove the ban in their policy against “HOMOSEXUAL ACTS”. There is no controversy if you believe the Holy Bible!!! No Christian is right with God who supports LGBT rights! Homosexuality is a deviate form of behavior and a sin according to God’s Word (Romans 1:24-32). If your church or college supports gay rights, please leave if you love God! You cannot love sin and be God’s friend (James 4:4). Tragically, our churches are becoming indifferent, apathetic and complacent. This is why so many young people no longer respect the Church. They’ve lost their Biblical authority!
I think in the future, if the Lord tarries His return, that the time will come when there will be a big push to completely rid the churches of the beloved King James Bible. As the vile homosexual agenda is pushed upon American society and the churches, most of them will eventually embrace LGBT homosexual rights. At such a time, liberal churches and the leftist media will intensify their smear campaign against the King James Bible, demonizing God’s Holy Word is a terrorist’s manual, bigotry, hate-speech and inappropriate for the new reorganized social order.
All of the following words (and there are many more) are missing in the New International Version (NIV), which is tragically the most popular and best-selling Bible version in the world today…
…Sodomite, regeneration, mercyseat, Calvary, remission, Jehovah, immutable, omnipotent, Comforter, Holy Ghost, Godhead, quickened, infallible, fornication, trucebreakers, propitiation, winebibbers, impute, carnal, slothful, unthankful, effeminate, backbiting, vanity, lasciviousness, whoredom, devils, Lucifer, damnation, brimstone, and the bottomless pit.
Whoa, they eviscerated the Holy Scriptures! The new corrupt Bible versions all attack Christ’s deity, remove the Godhead, diminish Christ’s preeminence and remove all of the important theological terms—thus changing the Word of God from a theological book into a spiritual book. It should be obvious to you now why—because satan wants to weaken, water-down, and corrupt the Word of God, so that the next generation of churchgoers will be much more susceptible to embrace the coming Antichrist. You can expect to see SYMBOLS of The Great Pyramid and the All-Seeing-Eye increasingly creeping into the churches. At present, the symbols are being crept in on Bible covers (see the Triqueta 666 symbol on the corrupt New King James Version), symbols on religious music CD labels, et cetera. Many churches are saturated with occult symbols, from the building architecture to the crosses on the altar.
There is much information available online.
The corrupters at Biblica got smart. Instead of publishing a new Bible version every few years to make money, they just keep updating the NIV. The NIV 2011 changed 38.8% of the content from the NIV 1984. Can you imagine, if the Lord tarries His return, how much more they will hollow-out the Word of God in the next 20-30 years? If the present trend continues, the NIV Bible version in 10-15 years will be so lacking of any theological terms that it will become a mere spiritual book for the unconverted, shallow, religious but lost, new age crowd. As the churches become more worldly, so also is the world becoming more churchy!
Notice that the updated NIV 2011 is 38.8% different than the original NIV 1984…
The NIV 2011 should be considered the offspring of the TNIV (Today’s NIV), and the grandson of the NIV 1984. The genetic stock shared by all three translations is 18859 verses, which is 60.7% verse similarity. Some genetic traits skip a generation, and this is the case 0.6% of the time, where the NIV 1984 and the NIV 2011 share 171 verses of commonality against the TNIV. But as one would imagine, the child is more similar to the parent, and the TNIV and the NIV 2011 share 31.3% genetic makeup, or 9736 verses. But genetics alone cannot prevent mutations and variation, so the NIV 2011 is unique 7.5% of the time, or 2320 verses of originality. Broken down, this means that the NIV 2011 is 38.8% different than the NIV 1984 and 8% different than the TNIV. (See Robert Slowley. John Dyer has slightly different figures).
SOURCE: SBC VOICES and see also, NIV2011 comparison with the NIV1984 and TNIV.
The dark predictions of Helena Blavatsky and Alice Bailey concerning the churches being infiltrated by the occult is a present-day reality. It’s already happening! If today’s churches are embracing the vile homosexual agenda, and are voting for sex-perverted Mormon leaders like Mitt Romney, and have bought into the state’s 501c3 licensing bribe, and worship present-day apostate and satanic Israel, and are using satanic corrupted Bible versions—you can be assured that they’ll also embrace the Luciferian doctrine, which substitutes new age spirituality in place of Biblical theology. Without the time-tested, pure, preserved, inspired, inerrant, infallible, precious, Words of God in the King James Bible, the churches won’t stand a chance against the devil.
Please get you a King James Bible if you don’t have one already; love it, use it, read it, preach it, study it, memorize it and keep it by your side at all times. Don’t let the devil’s crowd take your King James Bible in exchange for a satanic “bible” version that has removed or changed 64,000 words in the butchered NIV as compared to the trustworthy King James Bible. satan is diluting the theological integrity of the Bible, making it read like a comic book. The devil’s greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born-again, which is exactly what new age is doing! JESUS IS PRECIOUS!!! END
QUESTION: Where does the Bible confirm that the Earth is round?
ANSWER: NOWHERE
The bible does not state anywhere that the earth is round.
People who try to justify that the bible describes the earth as spherical fail miserably.
The Hebrew and Canaanite cosmology and creation myth was in all likelihood borrowed from the neighbouring Babylonian (and possibly Egyptian) flat earth cosmology, which considered the earth as a flat ciscular disc, covered by a semi-spherical dome (called “vault”, “firmament” or heaven in the Bible), with the sun, moon and stars as small objects inserted into (not above) the dome. The firmament (sky) was seen as a solid semispherical “ceiling“:
Other ancient cosmologies at the time (for example the Greeks and Egyptians) also had flat earth cosmologies. The Egyptian cosmology described the earth as a flat square, but the Babylonians described it as a flat circular disc.
From their geographical and historical context, one would expect the ancient Hebrews to have a flat-earth cosmology.
… students with remarkably disparate points of view independently concluded that the ancient Hebrews had a flat-earth cosmology, often deriving this view from scripture alone. Their conclusions were dramatically confirmed by the rediscovery of 1 Enoch.
The creation story in Genesis, as well as many other bible verses, only make sense if your read it with this flat earth cosmology in mind:
The Genesis creation story provides the first key to the Hebrew cosmology. The order of creation makes no sense from a conventional perspective but is perfectly logical from a flat-earth viewpoint. The earth was created on the first day, and it was “without form and void” (Genesis 1:2). On the second day, a vault the “firmament” of the King James version was created to divide the waters, some being above and some below the vault. Only on the fourth day were the sun, moon, and stars created, and they were placed “in” (not “above”) the vault.
This picture of the cosmos is reinforced by Ezekiel’s vision. The Hebrew word raqiya appears five times in Ezekiel, four times in Ezekiel 1:22-26 and once in Ezekiel 10:1. In each case the context requires a literal vault or dome. The vault appears above the “living creatures” and glitters “like a sheet of ice.” Above the vault is a throne of sapphire (or lapis lazuli). Seated on the throne is “a form in human likeness,” which is radiant and “like the appearance of the glory of the Lord.” In short, Ezekiel saw a vision of God sitting throned on the vault of heaven, as described in Isaiah 40:22.
When keeping this ancient view of the earth in mind, it now suddenly also makes perfect sense how people who wrote the bible could think that:
God could “open the windows of heaven and the fountains of the earth” to flood the entire earth during Noah’s flood,
the devil could take Jesus to a very high mountain to see “all the kingdoms of the world“,
stars could sing (they were consider demigods in the Babylonian mythology) and fall from the sky,
God could command the sun (also a demigod) to stand still for a day.
people could build the Tower of Babel to reach the heaven,
people could see “a tree of great height at the centre of the earth…reaching with its top to the sky and visible to the earth’s farthest bounds“,
God is “at the zenith of the heavens and looks down on all the stars, high as they are“,
God “walketh on the vault of heaven“,
and many more (see link at the bottom).
Some of the answers on this page, which uses the quote about the “circle of the earth” to argue that the bible describe the earth as round, refers to this passage in the bible:
Isaiah 40:21-22 KJV:
Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.
People who use this verse to argue that the earth is round, reminds me about this quote from the link below:
Those who claim Biblical support for a spherical earth typically ignore this forest of consistency and focus on one or two aberrant trees. Some take refuge in audacity. Henry Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research, cites one of the more explicitly flat-earth verses in the Old Testament Isaiah 40:22, the “grasshopper” verse quoted earlier as evidence for the sphericity of the earth. Quoting the King James version “he sitteth upon the circle of the earth” Morris ignores the context and the grasshoppers and claims “circle” should read “sphericity” or “roundness” [1956, 8]. This divide and conquer strategy is poor scholarship and worse logic.
Other efforts to justify that the Bible describes the earth as spherical, as can be seen in some of the answers on this page, is easily refuted:
Heroic efforts have been made by apologists to explain away the firmament, which encloses the celestial bodies, has waters above it, and is a masterpiece proving the Creator’s craftsmanship.
Perhaps the scripture most frequently offered as evidence of the earth’s sphericity is the King James version of Job 26:7, “He stretcheth out the north [tsaphon] over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing [beliymah].” (The [*unfortunately] New English Bible translates it, “God spreads the canopy of the sky over chaos and suspends earth in the void.”) It is not clear what this means. The Hebrew tsaphon literally meant hidden or dark, and it was used in reference to the northern regions. Beliymah literally means “nothing.” That would contradict all of the scriptures which say the earth rests on foundations, but that interpretation is not necessary. We will return to Job 26:7 later.
Bouw’s most interesting argument for sphericity is based on the gospel of Luke. He compares the King James version of Luke 17:31 and 17:34. The former says “In that day, he which shall be upon the house top…” and the latter “in that night there shall be two men in one bed…”. Bouw then cites 1 Corinthians 15:52 to argue that the events are simultaneous, claiming simultaneity is possible only on a spherical earth. First of all, the latter claim is wrong. The modern (though not the ancient) flat-earth model has day and night occurring simultaneously at different points on earth. Second, the Greek hemera was used much like the English “day.” It could mean the daylight hours, a 24-hour day, or (figuratively) an epoch of unspecified length. Third, Luke appears to have been writing figuratively, and citing Paul to prove otherwise begs the question.
In my view, all arguments to prove the Bible teaches a spherical earth are weak if not wrong- headed. On the other hand, the flat-earth cosmology previously described is historically consistent and requires none of the special pleading apparently necessary to harmonize the Bible with sphericity.
Sources:
1. The Flat-Earth Bible:
https://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/f…
2. Ancient Hebrew Conception of the Universe and Flat Earth Biblical Belief:
http://etb-cosmology.blogspot.co…
Gehenna is not hell; is it?
“They” wrote:
It was a valley where outcasts, thieves and infected people where thrown when they died. The Bible refers to “Gehenna” as the place of death and pain. The word “hell“, as you so often use, where eternal pain and fire awaits is actually “Gehenna“. If you have read a bible written before 1400, you will notice a very important thing: “HELL” is missing. Instead it says “Gehenna“. There is no fire breathing eternal pain demon hell!! In fact YOU are committing a sin here. Telling people, or lying to people about hell, when you should know about “Gehenna“. There is no hell. Only the valley of “Gehenna“. A graveyard!!
The word “Gehenna” is properly translated “hell” in the King James Bible. Actually, except for three known Bibles1, every Bible says “hell,” not the untranslated word “Gehenna“.
WHAT DOES “GEHENNA” MEAN?
“Gehenna” originally referred to the Valley of Hinnom by Jerusalem. It was the place of horrible idolatry. So when the Hebrews finally came back to Jerusalem after 70 years of Babylonian Captivity (about 605-535/6 BC), they resolved never to use the Valley of Hinnom for idolatry again. Instead, they burned their trash there, and it became a burning valley of waste.
We know that Jesus and the apostles didn’t mean to refer to a garbage dump. Here’s why. There are certain statements in the Bible that tell us clearly about “Gehenna“, translated “hell” in the King James Bible. Notice these verses.
Both body and soul are destroyed there
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). No power on earth can destroy a soul. The soul is a part of a person that exists beyond physical death (Revelation 20:4). “Gehenna” has to be a place to destroy both the body and the soul.
A PERSON GOES THERE AFTER DEATH
“And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him” (Luke 12:4-5). It is no threat to throw a dead body into a grave, a junkyard or a furnace. But God has power to cast a person, whose body is dead, into “Gehenna.”
There is only one reason to fear the person that can throw you into Gehenna: you must be aware that you are cast there. So Gehenna is hell, the place where the unrighteous dead are cast.
ITS FIRE SHALL NEVER BE QUENCHED
“And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: (Mark 9:43, 45). “Gehenna” is said to be a fire that shall never be quenched. The earth and the works therein shall all be burned up (2 Peter 3:10), but they will be replaced with a new earth wherein righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). So “Gehenna ” could not mean an earthly place, since all fires shall be quenched on earth. But hell’s fire shall never be quenched. It is clear: Gehenna is hell, not a trash dump.
Even though the word “Gehenna” comes from the Valley of Hinnom, simply rendering it as “garbage dump” or “valley of waste disposal” or “burning garbage” could not be an accurate translation, because that’s not what Jesus and the apostles meant when they used the word. It meant “the place where unsaved people go when they die.” That’s what we mean when we say “hell“.
“They” wrote:
“If you have read a bible written before 1400. You will notice a very important thing, HELL is missing. Instead it says Gehenna.”
You mentioned Bibles before 1400. The only known Bible in English from before then is the Wycliffe Bible of 1380. Does it use “hell” or “Gehenna“? Let’s find out!
The term “Gehenna” is found in Greek in these verses of the Bible:
Matthew 5:22,29-30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15,33; Mark 9:43,45,47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6
Here they are in the Wycliffe version:
Matthew 5:22 But Y seie to you, that ech man that is wrooth to his brothir, schal be gilti to doom; and he that seith to his brother, Fy! schal be gilti to the counseil; but he that seith, Fool, schal be gilti to the fier of helle.
Matthew 5:29-30 That if thi riyt iye sclaundre thee, pulle hym out, and caste fro thee; for it spedith to thee, that oon of thi membris perische, than that al thi bodi go in to helle. And if thi riyt hond sclaundre thee, kitte hym aweye, and caste fro thee; for it spedith to thee that oon of thi membris perische, than that al thi bodi go in to helle.
Matthew 10:28 And nyle ye drede hem that sleen the bodi; for thei moun not sle the soule; but rather drede ye hym, that mai lese bothe soule and bodi in to helle.
Matthew 18:9 And if thin iye sclaundre thee, pulle it out, and caste awei fro thee. It is betere to thee with oon iye to entre in to lijf, thanne hauynge tweyn iyen to be sent in to the fier of helle.
Matthew 23:15 Wo to you, scribis and Farisees, ypocritis, that goon aboute the see and the loond, to make o prosilite; and whanne he is maad, ye maken hym a sone of helle, double more than ye ben.
Matthew 23:33 Ye eddris, and eddris briddis, hou schulen ye fle fro the doom of helle?
Mark 9:43 (9:42) And if thin hoond sclaundre thee, kitte it awey; it is betere to thee to entre feble in to lijf, than haue two hondis, and go in to helle, in to fier that neuer schal be quenchid,
Mark 9:45 (9:44) And if thi foote sclaundre thee, kitte it of; it is betere to thee to entre crokid in to euerlastynge lijf, than haue twei feet, and be sent in helle of fier, that neuer schal be quenchid,
Mark 9:47 (9:46) That if thin iye sclaundre thee, cast it out; it is betere to thee to entre gogil iyed in to the reume of God, than haue twey iyen, and be sent in to helle of fier, where the worme of hem dieth not,
Luke 12:5 But Y schal schewe to you, whom ye schulen drede; drede ye hym, that aftir he hath slayn, he hath power to sende in to helle. And so Y seie to you, drede ye hym.
James 3:6 And oure tunge is fier, the vniuersite of wickidnesse. The tunge is ordeyned in oure membris, which defoulith al the bodi; and it is enflawmed of helle, and enflawmeth the wheel of oure birthe.
So you see that “Gehenna” is not the term used in English at all! Not until Young’s Literal Translation in the late 1800s, followed by the CATHOLIC New American Bible of 1970 was the untranslated “Gehenna” put in. Look at foreign translations. The Spanish Reina-Valera of 1602-1989 rightly says “el infierno” and the Portuguese Corrigida Fiel says “do inferno“, both of which mean “Hell” as we in English use the term. “Hell” is an understandable word. “Gehenna” is not.
And “hell” accurately translates the meaning of the word “Gehenna.” “Gehenna” is not a translation; it is just a transliteration (translating letters, but not meaning). We find that first in the perverted Roman Catholic Latin Vulgate (400s AD), which was forced on the people of Europe as the only legal Bible for over a thousand years. Not until the Reformation of the 1500s were God’s actual words translated into the language of the people. And every one of them was careful to translate “Gehenna” into an English word with the same meaning. All but two of the English Bibles, from at least 1380 onward (that’s all I’ve checked on this so far), translate “Gehenna” into the understandable word “hell.”2 That’s what a good Bible should do.
You are welcome to read the article “Who Needs Hell?” It will show you why it is important to translate the word into a word that makes sense in English.
I hope this has helped you understand the King James Bible a little more, and why it is the preserved words of God in English.
May God bless you as you read and understand His words.
FOOTNOTES
1 Specifically, the Roman Catholic Latin Vulgate (400s AD), Young’s Literal Translation (1862 & 1898) and the Roman Catholic New American Bible (1970-1991)
2 This list includes the 1380 Wycliffe, the 1534 & 1535 Tyndale, the Cranmer (Great) Bible of 1539 & 1540, the Geneva Bibles of 1557, 1560 and 1599, the Bishop’s Bible of 1568 & 1602, even the Jesuit Rheims New Testament of 1582, and almost all Bibles from 1881 to the present. Except for Young’s Literal and the New American Bible, they all say “hell” (spelled “hel,” “helle” or “hell“), not “Gehenna“.
“Easter” in Acts 12:4
Is “Easter” in Acts 12:4 a mistranslation of the word “pascha” or should it be translated as “passover”?
“pascha” is properly translated “Easter” in Acts 12:4 as the following explanation will show.
The Greek word which is translated “Easter” in Acts 12:4 is the word “pascha“. This word appears twenty-nine times in the New Testament. Twenty-eight of those times the word is rendered “Passover” in reference to the night when the Lord passed over Egypt and killed all the firstborn of Egypt (Exodus 12:12), thus setting Israel free from four hundred years of bondage.
The many opponents to the concept of having a perfect Bible have made much of this translation of “pascha“.
Coming to the word “Easter” in God’s Authorized Bible, they seize upon it imagining that they have found proof that the Bible is not perfect. Fortunately for lovers of the word of God, they are wrong. Easter, as we know it, comes from the ancient pagan festival of Astarte. Also known as Ishtar (pronounced “Easter“). This festival has always been held late in the month of April. It was, in its original form, a celebration of the earth “regenerating” itself after the winter season. The festival involved a celebration of reproduction. For this reason the common symbols of Easter festivities were the rabbit (the same symbol as “Playboy” magazine), and the egg. Both are known for their reproductive abilities. At the center of attention was Astarte, the female deity. She is known in the Bible as the “queen of heaven” (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-25). She is the mother of Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14) who was also her husband!
These perverted rituals would take place at sunrise on Easter morning (Ezekiel 8:13-16). From the references in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, we can see that the true Easter has never had any association with Jesus Christ.
The problem is that even though the Jewish passover was held in mid April (the fourteenth) and the pagan festival Easter was held later the same month, how do we know that Herod was referring to Easter in Acts 12:4 and not the Jewish passover? If he was referring to the passover, the translation of “pascha” as “Easter” is incorrect. If he was indeed referring to the pagan holyday (holiday) Easter, then the King James Bible (1611) must truly be the very word and words of God for it is the only Bible in print today which has the correct reading.
To unravel the confusion concerning “Easter” in verse 4, we must consult our FINAL authority, THE BIBLE. The key which unlocks the puzzle is found not in verse 4, but in verse 3. (“Then were the days of unleavened bread… ” [*ALWAYS read the CONTEXT of a verse before making assumptions]) To secure the answer that we seek, we must find the relationship of the passover to the days of unleavened bread. We must keep in mind that Peter was arrested during the “days of unleavened bread” (Acts 12:3).
Our investigation will need to start at the first Passover. This was the night in which the LORD smote all the firstborn in Egypt. The Israelites were instructed to kill a lamb and strike its blood on the two side posts and the upper door post (Exodus 12:4-5). Let us now see what the Bible says concerning the first passover, and the days of unleavened bread.
Exodus 12:13-18: “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
16 And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.”
Here in Exodus 12:13 we see how the passover got its name. The LORD said that He would “pass over” all of the houses which had the blood of the lamb marking the door.
After the passover (Exodus 12:13-14), we find that seven days shall be fulfilled in which the Jews were to eat unleavened bread. These are the days of unleavened bread!
In verse 18 we see that dates for the observance were April 14th through the 21st.
This religious observance is stated more clearly in Numbers 28:16-18: “And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD.
17 And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.
18 In the first day shall be an holy convocation;ye shall do no manner of servile work therein:”
In verse 16 we see that the passover is only considered to be the 14th of the month. On the next morning, the 15th begins the “days of unleavened bread.”
Deuteronomy 16:1-8: “Observe the month of Abib (April), and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
2 Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.
3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction: for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.
4 And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning.
5 Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:
6 But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
7 And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.
8 Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work therein.”
Here in Deuteronomy we see again that the passover is sacrificed on the first night (Deuteronomy 16:1). It is worth noting that the passover was to be celebrated in the evening (vs.6) not at sunrise (Ezekiel 8:13-16).
In II Chronicles 8:13 we see that the feast of unleavened bread was one of the three Jewish feasts to be kept during the year.
II Chronicles 8:13: “Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.”
Whenever the passover was kept, it always preceded the feast of unleavened bread. In II Chronicles 30 some Jews who were unable to keep the passover in the first month were allowed to keep it in the second. But the dates remained the same.
II Chronicles 30:15-21: “Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the LORD. And the children of lsrael that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the LORD.”
Ezra 6:19-22: “And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.”
We see then, from studying what the BIBLE has to say concerning the subject that the order of events went as follows:
(1) On the 14th of April the lamb was killed. This is the passover. No event following the 14th is ever referred to as the passover.
(2) On the morning of the 15th begins the days of unleavened bread, also known as the feast of unleavened bread.
It must also be noted that whenever the passover is mentioned in the New Testament, the reference is always to the meal, to be eaten on the night of April 14th not the entire week. The days of unleavened bread are NEVER referred to as the Passover. (It must be remembered that the angel of the Lord passed over Egypt on one night, not seven nights in a row.
Now let us look at Acts 12:3-4: “And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.”
Verse 3 shows that Peter was arrested during the days of unleavened bread (April 15-2 1). The Bible says: “…(Then were the days of unleavened bread.)” The passover (April 14th) had already come and gone. Herod could not possibly have been referring to the passover in his statement concerning Easter. The next Passover was a year away! But the pagan holiday of Easter was just a few days away. Remember! Herod was a pagan Roman who worshipped the “queen of heaven“. He was NOT a Jew. He had no reason to keep the Jewish passover. Some might argue that he wanted to wait until after the passover for fear of upsetting the Jews. There are two grievous faults in this line of thinking.
First, Peter was no longer considered a Jew. He had repudiated Judaism. The Jews would have no reason to be upset by Herod’s actions.
Second, he could not have been waiting until after the passover because he thought the Jews would not kill a man during a religious holiday. They had killed Jesus during passover (Matthew 26:17-19,47). They were also excited about Herod’s murder of James. Anyone knows that a mob possesses the courage to do violent acts during religious festivities, not after.
In further considering Herod’s position as a Roman, we must remember that the Herods were well known for celebrating (Matthew 14:6-11). In fact, in Matthew chapter 14 we see that a Herod was even willing to kill a man of God during one of his celebrations.
It is elementary to see that Herod, in Acts 12, had arrested Peter during the days of unleavened bread, after the passover. The days of unleavened bread would end on the 21st of April. Shortly after that would come Herod’s celebration of pagan Easter. Herod had not killed Peter during the days of unleavened bread simply because he wanted to wait until Easter. Since it is plain that both the Jews (Matthew 26:17- 47) and the Romans (Matthew 14:6-11) would kill during a religious celebration, Herod’s opinion seemed that he was not going to let the Jews “have all the fun“. He would wait until his own pagan festival and see to it that Peter died in the excitement.
Thus we see that it was God’s providence which had the Spirit-filled translators of our Bible (King James) to CORRECTLY translate “pascha” as “Easter“. It most certainly did not refer to the Jewish passover. In fact, to change it to “passover” would confuse the reader and make the truth of the situation unclear.
‘Easy-To-Read Version’ (ERV) Eliminates Doctrine of Imputation
EASY-TO-READ VERSION’ (ERV) ELIMINATES DOCTRINE OF IMPUTATION
By David J. Stewart | February 2015
Matthew 15:8-9, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
In order for the Luciferian-worshipping occultists to infiltrate and corrupt the churches (as they said they would do), the foundations of Christianity must be destroyed. Psalms 11:3, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” 1st Corinthians 3:11 tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Church, Who is THE WORD OF GOD (Revelation 19:13). The Word of God is our spiritual milk and meat (our food). If satan can effectively change the Bible, then he can change and ruin us.
In fact, satan can lead a church astray, deceiving them to follow a false plan of salvation. satan’s greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born-again. All the devil needs to do is to change the meaning of how a person is saved. There are churches all across the world today where unsaved religious people meet regularly to WORSHIP JESUS CHRIST IN VAIN, because they have adopted a wrong plan of salvation. This is happening to many of our evangelical churches, because satan has infiltrated them with corrupt Bible versions, which have changed what it means to be saved.
The modern corrupt Bible versions teach a corrupt plan of salvation. Thus, it does not come as a surprise that they have also removed the important doctrine of IMPUTATION, which is a vital doctrine to help the Bible study understand how salvation happens.
The word IMPUTETH is so important!!! The word “impute” means, “to pass to one’s account, to count over”. It means that Jesus places His righteousness upon our record when we trust upon Him for salvation. Imputation has everything to do with Christ, and nothing to do with us, except that we are the recipient of God’s great mercy through faith in the Gospel of Christ’s death on the cross for our sins, burial and His resurrection from the dead three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4).
ERV Corrupts Romans 4:5-6, Eliminating the Doctrine of Imputation
In the following passage of Scriptures, the satanic Easy-To-Read Version (ERV) butchers Romans 4:5-6. Notice carefully the important theological term “IMPUTETH” in Romans 4:6 of the faithful KJB, which is completely removed from the ERV. I’ll explain this more in a moment. The KJB is correct below, but the second quote is from the ERV, which is awful, heretical and wicked . . .
KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) — Romans 4:5-6, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.” [emphasis added]
EASY-TO-READ VERSION (ERV) — Romans 4:5-6, “But people cannot do any work that will make them right with God. So they must trust in him. Then he accepts their faith, and that makes them right with him. He is the one who makes even evil people right. David said the same thing when he was talking about the blessing people have when God accepts them as good without looking at what they have done.” [emphasis added]
They’ve corrupted this Scripture passage! Do you see what they’ve horribly done? Whereas the King James Bibles teaches that God imputes the righteousness of Christ to the believer; the ERV foolishly says God accepts a person as good by faith, which means something different entirely. God doesn’t accept someone as “good” by faith; but rather, God attributes HIS righteousness to us by faith. Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
God told us to study the Bible in 2nd Timothy 2:15. What is so hard about looking up the meaning of “imputeth?” By removing this important theological word from the KJB and replacing it with some religious nonsense, the doctrine of imputation has effectively been stricken from the ERV (which is a typical corruption in all modern Bible versions). satan is changing the Bible into a spiritual book instead of a theological book.
The basis of obtaining justification is through God’s (Jesus’) righteousness being IMPUTED to the sinner through faith in Christ, Who paid our sin debt on the cross. Jesus took our sins upon Himself on the cross, paying a debt that He did not owe. When we BELIEVE the Gospel, God takes Jesus’ righteousness, and places it upon our record. So God imputes our sins to Jesus, 👑 and then He imputes Jesus’ righteousness to us. Isn’t that beautiful?!?!?! 😁
This is why we don’t need any works to be saved, because Christ paid for it all by the sacrifice of His body on the cross, and the sprinkling of His shed blood upon the mercy seat in Heaven (Hebrews 9:12, 24; 12:24).
The corrupt ERV says in Romans 4:5, “So they must trust in him. Then he accepts their faith, and that makes them right with him.” This is wrong! It is not our faith that makes us right with God. It is Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His applied blood in Heaven that makes us right with God, in response to our faith in the Gospel. The ERV obliterates the entire doctrine of imputation. Christ died on the cross as our LAMB (John 1:29), and He raised up bodily three days later and ascended into Heaven as our HIGH PRIEST (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 4:15-16).
The Easy-To-Read Version (ERV) butchers the Bible in Romans 4:5-6. Instead of saying that “God imputeth righteousness without works”, the ERV says, “God accepts them as good without looking at what they have done.” Imputation DOESN’T mean that AT ALL!!! The ERV totally obliterates the doctrine of imputation from their corrupt “bible” version. The Holy Bible never teaches that God accepts us as good. We are sinful, all of us are rotten (Romans 3:23). There is NONE GOOD (Romans 3:10). God doesn’t look the other way, accepting us as good while overlooking our bad. This is nonsensical religious garbage.
Imputation is not God accepting a person as good and not looking at their bad, because this completely fails to mention the righteousness of Christ which makes it all possible. The very word “imputation” means that God transfers Christ’s righteousness to us, and transfers our sins to Christ. In John 3:15 we are told that as Moses lifted up the serpent, even so must Jesus Christ be lifted up. That serpent pictured Christ, who became as sin for us (2nd Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus, Who knew no sin, became as sin; so that we who knew no righteousness, could be made the righteousness of God in Him. Amen. This is imputation.
It is a major theological blunder to remove the word “impute” from the Bible. The translators of the ERV got it VERY WRONG. If you understand the occult roots of the modern versions (*future blog), then you know why. It is difficult to translate the word “impute” because it is a concept, not able to be replaced with a word or two. This is why I would never remove this critically important word from the Bible. Let the people study as God commanded!!! It is time for arrogant pastors to stop playing God.
(I was recently invited to McDonalds by a shameful local assistant pastor of a 700-member Independent Baptist Church. They have a local radio station, which he hosts daily. They also have a religious school with 1,000 kids. They even have a Bible college to train pastors. The church sinfully uses the ERV, which consequently compels them to teach a false plan of Lordship Salvation. They might as well be Seventh-Day Adventists, which are also down the street the other way. The pastors are upset with me for telling the truth. That pastor lied to me, claiming that He wanted to talk about 63 Evangelist Phil Kidd sermons that I had given him. The truth was that they are playing God, trying to control people’s lives, trying to shut me up about exposing the modern corrupt Bible versions. That was the true reason he wanted to meet with me. He didn’t want me to tell anybody, anywhere, that all the modern versions are corrupt, because their church members use DOZENS of different Bible versions. I know I am correct to defend the Bible! Nothing is as important as the purity of God’s inspired Words. The claim that there are no perfect Bibles today is false. Do you mean to tell me that the omnipotent God of the universes is incapable of preserving His inspired Words as He so promised?
I mentioned to the wimpy Baptist pastor one corruption after another in today’s corrupt versions, but he said that he needed to go get his Greek. I said, which one? He was dumbfounded and didn’t have an answer. So he stooped to taking cheap shots at me from across the table at McDonalds. He got mad and retaliated by bringing up First Baptist Church in Church in Hammond, tearing them down. He criticized the former pastor by name. He personally attacked me, throwing gossip in my face. I told him kindly that he ought to be ashamed of himself, especially as a pastor who should know better. He asked if I had any friends left because of my beliefs. I told him that God was the only friend I need. This is today’s shameful reprobate pastors. When I mentioned how far gone our Baptist churches are becoming and told him about AWAB. He boasted of recently attending an AWAB meeting. I almost fell out of my chair in horror. I pray for God to open the heart and eyes of those wicked pastors down the street, before it’s too late. Judgment day is coming, when all men must give account of their teachings and works to the Lord. I fear that those apostate pastors are going to face the TERROR OF THE LORD (2nd Corinthians 5:9-11).)
The word “IMPUTETH” in Romans 4:6 means something very different than what the ERV reads. The truth is that by faith God credits a man with Christ’s righteousness. That is what is missing from the ERV… CHRIST’S RIGHTEOUSNESS (or HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, Matthew 6:33). The ERV merely says that God accepts a man as good. That is not imputation. In the divine act of imputation, Christ’s righteousness is passed (transferred) by God the Father to our account, by which God declares us good. This only happens by faith. Imputation happens at the moment of salvation, and never has to be repeated. Once we are declared righteous in God’s eyes through faith in Christ Jesus, we are eternally secure and forever saved.
The words “counted” and “imputeth” are the same Greek word, so they mean the same thing in these two verses (Romans 4:5-6). The KJB says that a man’s faith is counted for righteousness. We are told that God imputeth righteousness to a man without works (labor to earn Heaven). Since we all have NO self-righteousness of our own to offer or impress God (Isaiah 64:6), the only way we can be saved is by obtaining Christ’s righteousness. This is possible only through faith in the Gospel.
The Bible-butchers should have left the word IMPUTETH alone. It is a beautiful word. How lazy can people get? Entire books have been written about this one important theological term. In Romans 4:6, the ERV has rendered the word “IMPUTETH” as “God accepts them as good without looking at what they have done”, which utterly fails to inform the reader why God accepts them as good. It is only because of Christ’s suffering on the cross that we are able by faith to be declared righteous. It is not that God accepts us as good; but rather, He accepts us on the basis of Christ’s righteousness which has been credited (imputed) to us by faith.
The ERV caters to false religions which require doing good works to be saved. Whereas the KJB says that God substitutes a man’s faith in place of righteousness, so that works are not necessary; the ERV changes this passage to mean that by faith we are right with God. That says something totally different. The ERV has eliminated the truth that WORKS ARE NOT NEEDED for salvation! Thus, the ERV also caters to the heretics who teach the Lordship Salvation, who require forsaking bad works to be saved, and stay saved.
Whether we are required to do good works, or avoid doing bad works, either way it constitutes human effort for salvation. Jesus taught in John 6:28-29 that the only “work” accepted by God for salvation is to BELIEVE ON JESUS CHRIST.
Most false religions and all Lordship Salvationists avoid the Biblical doctrine of imputation. In their “Way Of The Master Evidence Bible”, Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron comment on thousands of Scripture passages, but have nothing to say about Romans 4:5-6 on imputation. In the nearly 1,000 word index in the back section of the book, the word “impute” is not mentioned at all. Any Bible teacher worth a dime is very familiar with the vital doctrine of imputation. But since this doctrine doesn’t fit Mr. Comfort’s satanic plan of Lordship Salvation to be saved. The awesome doctrine of imputation that God put in the Holy King James Bible exposes all false prophets. You see, we are saved by HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Notice that we are to seek HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, and not OUR own self-righteousness.
Romans 4:5-6 in the KJB teaches that God imputes (credits) Christ’s righteousness to us, without works of self-righteousness, because we don’t have any to offer (Isaiah 64:6). However, the ERV says God accepts us as good without looking at what we have done wrong. This is not imputation. The KJB doesn’t say that God doesn’t look at our wrong; but rather, it says that our salvation is WITHOUT WORKS!!! When the KJB mentions that God imputes righteousness to a man WITHOUT WORKS, it refers to the DEAD WORKS of trying to merit and earn Heaven. Since eternal life is a totally free gift from God, we don’t need any works of our own to be saved, neither doing good or forsaking bad. You cannot do GOOD WORKS to be saved. Nor are you required to stop doing BAD WORKS to be saved. This is false religion. These are all DEAD WORKS. Since Jesus Christ has provided all that is necessary for our salvation, all we need to do to be saved is BELIEVE ON HIM (John 6:28-29).
Scriptural Proof that Lordship Salvation is a Lie
By David J. Stewart
“To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” — 1st Corinthians 5:5
LORDSHIP SALVATION is the false doctrine that a sinner MUST forsake their actually sins to be saved. In sharp contrast, the Bible, God’s Word, teaches that a sinner’s faith in Christ alone is sufficient for salvation.
1st Corinthians 5:5 is incontrovertible PROOF that LORDSHIP SALVATION is a false doctrine of the Devil. The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Church of Corinth, reprimands them for allowing the sin of fornication in the church. Paul states that fornication is “commonly” reported among them. A literal translation of the TEXTUS RECEPTUS Greek in 1st Corinthians 5:1 reads, “Everywhere it is heard that fornication is among you…” (SOURCE: THE INTERLINEAR BIBLE, Jay P. Green, Sr.; Sovereign Grace Publishers, ISBN: 1-878442-81-3). This carnal church was KNOWN as a house of sin. Yet in 1st Corinthians 3:1 the Apostle Paul called them… BABES IN CHRIST! This is Scriptural proof that Lordship Salvation is a crock of lies.
The Apostle Paul mentions one man in particular in the church, who has taken fornication to the next level, by having immoral relations with his stepmother. Concerning this backslidden man, Paul states in 1st Corinthians 5:5, “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” This Scripture also provides incontrovertible PROOF that Lordship Salvation is utter folly. This man who was so sinful that the Apostle Paul asked the church to boot him out… “But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (1st Corinthians 5:13). This man was a fornicator, shamelessly living in open sin in the house of God; YET, Paul said that this man’s spirit would BE SAVED IN THE DAY OF THE LORD JESUS (i.e., when Jesus returns for the saints). In other words Paul was saying… “Look, this man is living in open sin in the church, and you need to do something about it. If he doesn’t repent, boot him out and let the devil have him, because he is corrupting the church. Although satan will destroy his flesh, God will save his spirit because he is a true believer.”
Argue as Lordship Salvationists may, the Word of God states in no uncertain terms… “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (1st Corinthians 5:5). This is clear proof that a believer can live like the heathen world, and still go to Heaven. That is not to say that it’s acceptable to live in worldly sin, it’s certainly not (1st John 3:8; 1st John 2:15-17); BUT, as 1st Corinthians 5:5 states, a horribly backslidden believer can be given over unto satan for the destruction of the FLESH. Such a person will shed many tears in Heaven, but they will be in Heaven. You can’t argue with the Scriptures, that some believers do live a life of sin
(1st Corinthians 3:15). Elvis Presley professed to be a born-again Christian; but he lived a life of sin, even to the point of dying a drug-abuse related death. Only God truly knows who is saved or not (1st Samuel 16:7).
In Romans 12:1, the Apostle Paul states… “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Paul is asking these BELIEVERS to make a commitment to God. They are ALREADY saved, but they have NOT yielded themselves to God yet. According to the Lordship Salvation crowd these people were never saved, because they didn’t “surrender” their lives to God at the time of salvation. How ridiculous! When a baby is born into this world physically, everything is new to him/her. The same is true about being born-again, everything becomes new, a whole new world of understanding is opened (2nd Corinthians 5:17).
Now the growing process has begun, and God’s Holy Spirit will nurture that believer, through the Word of God and preaching (1st Peter 2:2; Titus 1:3). The fact that the Apostle Paul beseeched (i.e., begged) the believers at Rome to surrender to Christ is Scriptural PROOF that Lordship Salvation is quackery.
Lordship Salvation attempts to force people to live a righteous life by ADDING repentance from sin as a prerequisite to being saved. In sharp contrast, Romans 4:5 simply states… “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” — John 3:16
‘Easy-To-Read Version’ (ERV) Changes Plan Of Salvation
2nd Corinthians 2:17, “For we are not as many, which chop and change with the word of God: but as they which speak of pureness, and as they which speak of God in the sight of God, so speak we in Christ.” (Tyndale Bible)
Unless you believe that there are TWO different plans of salvation, you can only conclude that those foolish pastors and religious teachers are unsaved who require forsaking BAD WORKS to be saved. Whether requiring a person to do GOOD WORKS (like Roman Catholics do), or requiring a person to stop doing BAD WORKS (like John MacArthur, Paul Washer, Ray Comfort and Billy Graham do), to be saved, BOTH require DEAD WORKS.
The Holy Bible has a built-in dictionary, which if you use will keep you from going astray. I speak concerning the trustworthy “Textus Receptus” Greek and the “King James Bible” which is translated from it. In sharp contrast, ALL modern Bible versions (which are translated from the Alexandrian manuscripts – an entirely different Greek text) are corrupt and THE BUILT-IN DICTIONARY IS GONE!!! I will prove it to you right now.
I plead with you to hear me out, please! I wish I could grab every pastor and shake some sense into him, because satan is destroying the churches by changing the Holy Bible. A big building and a large congregation mean absolutely nothing if the Word of God has been corrupted!!! If I had my way, I’d fire every pastor and assistant pastor who are so woefully ignorant, indifferent and/or cowardly that they support the modern corrupt versions. THERE ARE NO GOOD MODERN BIBLE VERSIONS that come from the Alexandrian manuscripts prepared by Brooke Westcott and Fenton Hort in 1881!
Let’s consider the following Scripture, which is one of the most debated Scripture passages in the Word of God. Acts 20:21, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
God only knows how many sincere Bible students have misinterpreted this Scripture to mean “turning from sinful living” to be saved. However, if we cross-reference the King James Bible and look at Hebrews 6:1, we find the correct interpretation of Acts 20:21…
KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) — Hebrews 6:1, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.”
Repentance is from DEAD WORKS, that is, trying to keep the law to earn Heaven. If you look at the Textus Receptus Greek for the phrase “DEAD WORKS”, you will discover that “dead” is the Greek word nekros, which means exactly what it says; “dead.” The word “works” here in Hebrews 6:1 is the Greek word ergon, which means “to work, toil”. Clearly, there is no mention of forsaking a sinful lifestyle to be saved, which would constitute human effort necessary for salvation. This is not to say that we have God’s permission to sin as Christians, God forbid (Romans 3:31; Hebrews 12:6-8; 2nd Corinthians 5:9-11).
Thus, Hebrews 6:1 in the King James Bible defines “repentance” for salvation as changing our mind from trying to do dead works to get to Heaven, to trusting upon Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross for our sins and His resurrection three days later. Literally, the Bible is teaching us to change our mind from trusting in our own human effort, to trusting in God’s righteousness through faith in Christ.
Ungodly ERV Changes Plan of Salvation By Corrupting Hebrews 6:1
Now my friends, you are about to read the ungodly, wicked, blasphemous, PERversion, rendered in the “Easy-To-Read Version” (ERV) of the Bible . . .
EASY-TO-READ VERSION (ERV) — “So we should be finished with the beginning lessons about Christ. We should not have to keep going back to where we started. We began our new life by turning away from the evil we did in the past and by believing in God.”
[emphasis added]
Here again is Hebrews 6:1 in the beloved, correct, King James Bible . . .
KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) — Hebrews 6:1, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.“
[emphasis added]
Do you see how the new corrupt Bible versions are horribly changing theology in the churches? The King James Bible teaches that we must repent from our DEAD WORKS to be saved; but the ERV teaches that we must stop living a life of deliberate sin (evil) to be saved. The Alexandrian Greek is of the devil, teaching a works-based plan of salvation. Salvation is NOT by works (Romans 3:20; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; Romans 4:5-6).
The doctrine of the imputed righteousness of God (*more about this in a later blog) silences all the critics.
A baby believer won’t see the major theological differences between the ERV verses the KJB, but I tell you that there are THOUSANDS!!! They’ve butchered the Words of God!!! Hebrews 6:1 in the ERV sinfully changes the entire plan of salvation, which now requires partial faith in Christ + human effort! No wonder our churches are so messed-up nowadays.
The really tragic thing is that many churches use the ERV piece of crap, using the lame excuse that BI-LINGUAL church members need an easier-to-read Bible. In reality, all the church has done is hand some easy-to-read satanic heresy to the victim. The doctrinal soundness of the Holy Scriptures is GONE, GONE, GONE in the ERV! The built-in dictionary is gone! God’s Word is special, it is unique, it cannot be watered-down and simplified without ruining its power. The doctrine of the imputed righteousness of God silences all the critics.
A baby believer won’t see the major theological differences between the ERV verses the KJB, but I tell you that there are THOUSANDS!!! They’ve butchered the Words of God!!! Hebrews 6:1 in the ERV sinfully changes the entire plan of salvation, which now requires partial faith in Christ + human effort! No wonder our churches are so messed-up nowadays.
The really tragic thing is that many churches use the ERV piece of crap, using the lame excuse that BI-LINGUAL church members need an easier-to-read Bible. In reality, all the church has done is hand some easy-to-read satanic heresy to the victim. The doctrinal soundness of the Holy Scriptures is GONE, GONE, GONE in the ERV! The built-in dictionary is gone! God’s Word is special, it is unique, it cannot be watered-down and simplified without ruining its power. I’m telling the truth, the Luciferian-worshipping occult want to bring spirituality into the churches and eliminate theology. It should be obvious to you that this is exactly what the modern corrupted Bible versions are doing. I’m telling the truth, the Luciferian-worshipping occult want to bring spirituality into the churches and eliminate theology. It should be obvious to you that this is exactly what the modern corrupted Bible versions are doing.
The reason why they need to do this is to infiltrate, corrupt and take control over the churches, so that they’ll all receive the Antichrist when he comes. If you think that could never happen, you are deceived already. The mystery religion which began in ancient Egypt (which is at the core of New Age) teaches to love God and your fellow mankind, which means rejecting Christianity and the King James Bible, because they are [they say] bigoted, hateful and prejudiced. Of course, Luciferians promote a phony type of ecumenical love, which sinfully embraces unrepentant homosexuals, unbelievers and all apostate religious faiths.
I believe that when the Lord appears at the Rapture to catch away the saints, 97% of the churches will be unaffected (because they are not saved). Lordship Salvation is a false plan of salvation, just as Seventh-Day Adventists, Greek Orthodox, Episcopalians, Church of Christ and Lutherans teach a false plan of salvation. Whether you add water baptism or forsaking sinful living to be saved, it is a false plan of works salvation. Biblical salvation is based solely upon what Christ did for us, and not what we can do for Him. Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Jesus Christ’s best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. God will not save anyone who is trying to be saved, He will only save those who are trusting to be saved.
What About Ephesians 2:1?
We read in Ephesians 2:1, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Doesn’t this mean that we have to forsake sinful living to be saved? That’s not what the Holy Bible means. Remember, repentance in the original Greek is defined as a change of mind, not a change of lifestyle. Whereas John 3:20 teaches that unrepentant sinners refuse to come to Christ to be saved, “lest their deeds should be refuted”; Romans 3:19 says that God’s law was given so that, “all the world may become guilty before God.” Hence, when you change your mind about sin and unbelief, acknowledging that you are an unsaved guilty sinner in the eyes of a holy God, and believe the Gospel, you are saved. Faith and repentance happen together, at the same time (simultaneously). It is false doctrine to say that a person must repent first and then believe. Being born-again is not a manmade process, it is a miraculous new birth from God above.
Please understand that repentance is more than merely admitting one’s guilt of sin, it is seeing yourself as a guilty sinner for breaking a holy God’s commandments. Pastor Hyles eloquently states…
“Repentance is not some little silly, ‘I’m sorry.’ Repentance is not simply a fear of God. Repentance is not a monk fasting and afflicting his body in a monastery. Repentance is not remorse because of sin’s consequences. Repentance is not penance performed before the pope as you kiss his toe… Repentance is not being sorry for what I’ve done wrong. It is not confessing one’s sins to a priest. It is not just conviction of sin. It is not the signing of a pledge of abstinence. Repentance is that thing when you come before God and see yourself as you are, and see Him as He is, and say with Isaiah ‘Woe is me, for I am unclean!’” —Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001), a quote from the timeless MP3 sermon, THE GOODNESS OF GOD LEADETH TO REPENTANCE (scroll down and you’ll find it)!
That is a tremendous quote! Amen! So when we read about repenting from “DEAD WORKS” in Hebrews 6:1, it absolutely does NOT mean that ceasing from sinful bad habits is required for salvation (because that would be self-righteous works); but rather, it means we have changed our mind concerning DEAD WORKS (GOOD and BAD works alike) that were hindering us from coming to Christ to be saved. We don’t get saved by changing our life, which is what the new corrupt Bible versions require. This is discipleship, not salvation. We get saved by BELIEVING the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, receiving Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as full-payment for our sins and believing that He arose from the dead the third day (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). The only role that dealing with sin has in salvation is to renounce it, so that it is no longer a hindrance to keep you from coming to Christ to be saved (John 3:20).
ERV Changes Plan of Salvation By Corrupting Mark 1:15
The Greek word for “repent” in Mark 1:15 in the King James Bible is metanoeo, which means, “to think differently”. It is a change of mind. It DOESN’T mean to “change your hearts and lives” which is what the corrupt ERV says!!! . . .
KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) — Mark 1:15, “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” [emphasis added]
EASY-TO-READ VERSION (ERV) — Mark 1:15, “He said, “The right time is now here. God’s kingdom is very near. Change your hearts and lives, and believe the Good News!” [emphasis added]
That is wrong, wrong, wrong! You don’t have to change your own life as a requirement to be saved. Rather, it is the indwelling Holy Spirit that comes into a person at the time of salvation that changes one’s heart and life, over time as they grow in grace by nurturing on the milk of the Word (1st Peter 2:2). Initially, getting saved does not change a person one bit, except that now you have the Spirit of Christ living inside your body (Romans 8:9; 1st Corinthians 3:16-17; 1st John 4:4). It is the Lord’s Holy Spirit working in us that changes our life, but this is not a requirement to be saved. You see, the ERV is teaching doctrines of devils, requiring people to change their own life (which is human effort) as a requirement to be saved. This is reformation, which does not bring regeneration (the new birth).
Again we plainly witness, that the Luciferian groups which have provided the Greek manuscripts for today’s versions, are pushing an agenda of including human effort for salvation. You must understand that there is a progression at work in the Bible-corrupting movement. This is why the NIV 2011 changed its content 38.8% as compared to the NIV 1984. The “bible” corrupting gang won’t ever be finished changing the Bible (KJV) until the Antichrist appears. If the Lord tarries His return, we are going to see further assassination of the Word of God.
We’ll see more key passages concerning salvation changed, until the simplicity that is in Christ will be totally lost in the confusion. This was satan’s plan from the start.
A church whose congregation brings dozens of different Bibles with them to church each Sunday is effectively indicting their shameful pastor as a wicked man who doesn’t place much value upon the accuracy, purity and integrity of God’s Holy Word. It is obvious to me, and it should be very obvious to you, from exposing these doctrinally corrupted passages of Scripture concerning the meaning of repentance, why the heresy of Lordship Salvation is so prevalent in most of our churches today. It is wickedness and apostasy in the churches!!!
ERV Corrupts 1st John 3:9, Perverts Plan of Salvation
ERV Completely Removes Acts 8:37, Eliminating Jesus’ Deity
They just ripped the verse out, it’s totally GONE! Here is what the precious King James Bible says in Acts 8:37 . . .
KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) — Acts 8:37, “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
EASY-TO-READ VERSION (ERV) — ACTS 8:37, REMOVED
The modern Bible are all corrupt. The so-called “scholars” who support the modern versions are also corrupt. Dr. James Strong and fellow American Standard Version (ASV) committee members, and Strong’s Unitarian friend, Henry Thayer, all denied the deity of Christ in hundreds of places in their works. These were all evil men, who loved the praise of men more than the praise of God (John 12:42-43). Don’t believe the lie on Wikipedia concerning “bible translations” that there is no one Bible. God only wrote ONE BOOK!
ERV Changes Plan of Salvation By Corrupting Acts 2:38
Again, the Greek word for “repent” in Acts 2:38 in the King James Bible is metanoeo, which means, “to think differently”. It is a change of mind. It DOESN’T mean to “change your hearts and lives”, which is what the corrupt ERV says!!! According to the demonic ERV, God will not save anyone who doesn’t change their life . . .
KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) — Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” [emphasis added]
EASY-TO-READ VERSION (ERV) — Acts 2:38, “Peter said to them, “Change your hearts and lives and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Then God will forgive your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” [emphasis added]
The average person these days is helpless, because they are not theologians and so they trust their pastor.
The trustworthy King James Bible teaches in Acts 2:38 to “think differently and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.” It does not say to “change your hearts and lives” to be saved. The notion that repentance means to change your own life as a requirement to be saved is satanic teaching. No wonder our churches think heretics like Paul Washer and John MacArthur are men of God. The new corrupt Bible versions are indoctrinating people with a false plan of salvation.
Also, notice carefully that Acts 2:38 doesn’t say to be “baptized into water”. This is not speaking about water baptism. The Bible commands us to be baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ” I’ll give you further Scriptural evidence from Luke 3:16, “John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” John the Baptist told that people that he was merely baptizing them with water, but it was the coming blessed Lamb of God (Jesus Christ), Who would baptize them with the indwelling Holy Spirit. Amen!!!
John the Baptist was sent by God the Father to PREPARE the people to receive the Lamb of God. John 1:29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Matthew 11:10, “For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.” John didn’t come preaching a different plan of salvation than Christ; but rather, told the people that salvation could only be found in Jesus Christ. So in Acts 2:38, Peter was preaching at Pentecost and told the people to change their minds (not lives) and be immersed in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
It is very important for every Bible student to understand that you never lift any particular Scripture out of context by itself for establish a doctrine; but rather, you always compare Scripture with Scripture, examining the whole of Scripture, and when the whole agrees with any suggested doctrine for a particular Bible passage, then you know you’ve found THE TRUTH.
For example: Jesus proclaimed in Mark 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Taken by itself, we might conclude that water baptism is required for salvation. However, let’s look at 1st Corinthians 1:16-19, “And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” The Apostle Paul said that other than the house of Stephanas, he was not aware of anyone whom he had water baptized.
Paul then boldly states that Christ did NOT send him to water baptize, BUT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. And then in the next verse we learn that it is THE PREACHING OF THE CROSS (the Gospel – Romans 1:16; 1st Corinthians 15:1-4) is the power of God unto salvation. Clearly, water baptism is not necessary for salvation, otherwise Paul would have baptized everyone. So we see here the importance of cross-examination, by comparing Scripture with Scripture, to find the correct interpretation of the Holy Bible.
ERV Changes Plan of Salvation By Corrupting Romans 10:9-10
Let’s examine another passage of Scripture in the pathetic ERV that changes the plan of salvation . . .
KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) — Romans 10:9-10, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” [emphasis added]
EASY-TO-READ VERSION (ERV) — Romans 10:9-10, “If you openly say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from death, you will be saved. Yes, we believe in Jesus deep in our hearts, and so we are made right with God. And we openly say that we believe in him, and so we are saved.” [emphasis added]
There is a drastic difference between confessing “the Lord Jesus” verses openly saying, “Jesus is Lord”! Nowhere in the Holy Bible are we taught to recognize Jesus as our “Lord” to be saved (*even satan and demons know Jesus is Lord). You simply trust Jesus as your Savior and then He automatically becomes your Lord. Whether you obey Him or not as a disciple is an entirely separate matter. This is why the disobedient saved man in 1st Corinthians 3:15 was “saved; yet so, as by fire.” He barely made it, singed with the flames of Hell. This Christian man lived a wasted life, and so he received no rewards from the Lord at the Judgment Seat Of Christ. Clearly, he didn’t confess Jesus to anyone. Nor did he honor Christ as his Lord during his earthly life. 1st Timothy 4:10 says that Jesus is the “Saviour” of all men, not their Lord.
Many foolish Bible students attempt to use Saul’s conversion (Paul) as a benchmark for all conversions, which is very wrong. Saul had been running from God, wasting the Church, hunting down Christians to murder them. So when the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:1-5, Saul was under much Holy Spirit conviction and finally broke. It was Saul’s unique Pharisaical upbringing and religious background that prompted him to have the spectacular conversion experience that he did, but this is far from the normal way that people get saved. Most people just quietly receive Christ as their Savior, with no spectacular experience.
Furthermore, the KJB simply teaches that we confess with our mouth because we are saved. It would be wrong to add confession with the mouth as a requirement for salvation, when literally hundreds of other passages of Scripture tell us how to be saved, and not one of them mentions confessing with the mouth to be saved. Clearly, Romans 10:9-10 do NOT teach that a person must confess “Jesus is Lord” to be saved. This is a horrible PERversion of the Word of God. The ERV is satanic!
Again, the chief rulers in John 12:42 believed on the Lord to be saved, but they DID NOT CONFESS HIM for fear of being kicked out of the synagogue by the wicked Pharisees. The Bible says that these chief rulers, who were saved, loved the praise of men more than the praise of God (John 12:43). The Scriptures are filled with worldly believers who dropped the ball for God. In Romans 12:1, the Apostle Paul is pleading with the Christians at Rome to present their bodies a living sacrifice to serve God.
Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Obviously they hadn’t surrender their will to the Lord at the time of salvation. They hadn’t made a commitment to live for Christ.
The Rich Young Ruler Wanted To Work His Way Into Heaven
This was the problem of the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-23. The young man asked Jesus, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus perceived that he was self-righteous, and so He told him to keep the Ten Commandments. The young man boasted of his own goodness, saying that he had kept all of God’s commandments. Jesus pointed out that he was covetous and hadn’t perfectly kept God’s law. The Lord told him to go sell his possessions and give the money to the poor. The young man went away very sad, because he was wealthy.
You need to understand that Jesus was not giving that young man a plan of salvation; but rather, He was using the law the way that it was intended to be used, which is as a measuring stick to show men that no matter how hard they try, no one can live a perfect life to merit their way into Heaven. Romans 3:19, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
Hence, when a person realizes that they cannot get to Heaven their own way (DEAD WORKS), because they now understand that they are a guilty sinner in God’s holy eyes, and they BELIEVE the Gospel (good news) of Christ’s death on the cross, burial and bodily resurrection three days later, they are immediately and forever saved.
Reprobate, unsaved, false prophet, Billy Graham totally misinterprets Luke 18:18-23, errantly teaching that the rich young ruler didn’t get saved because he “counted the cost” and wasn’t willing to “PAY THE PRICE” of turning from sinful ways to be saved. That’s the religious garbage that Mr. Graham teaches. The following quote is from Graham’s website . . .
“Many people come to Christ without first counting the cost. The cost includes repentance, the forsaking of sin, and a continual, daily, open acknowledgment of Christ in your life.”
READ MORE: Reprobate Billy Graham
That is a bunch of lies!
The Bible says many of the chief rulers “BELIEVED ON HIM” in John 12:42, but they “DID NOT CONFESS HIM” because of the Pharisees (John 12:43). This Bible passage exposes Billy Graham as a liar! You don’t have to count the cost to be saved, nor do you have to forsake sins, nor do you have to daily confess Christ. Graham’s satanic plan of salvation is based upon DEAD WORKS, which appeals greatly to unsaved Roman Catholics. Nothing of what Graham says is a part of God’s plan of salvation.
Dr. Ray Stanford Refutes The Heresy Of LORDSHIP SALVATION
Please note that Evangelist Ray Comfort and Pastor John MacArthur make the same theological blunder of assuming that the rich young ruler didn’t get saved, because he wasn’t willing to forsake his sins. Nothing could be further from the truth of God’s Word.
ERV Changes John 20:17 To Speak Utter Nonsense
I’m so sick of hearing stubborn pastors and assistant pastors defend the modern corrupted “bible” versions, claiming that most people cannot understand the King James Bible and need something easier to read. Consider the following comparison between the KJB and the ERV, and you will see how stupid their claims really are . . .
KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) — John 20:17, “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” [emphasis added]
EASY-TO-READ VERSION (ERV) — John 20:17, “Jesus said to her, “You don’t need to hold on to me! I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my followers and tell them this: ‘I am going back to my Father and your Father. I am going back to my God and your God.’” [emphasis added]
What in the world does the ERV mean? It is completely retarded? Why would Jesus tell Mary Magdalene that she doesn’t need to hold on to Him, because He hasn’t yet gone back to the Father? SHAME ON THOSE WICKED PASTORS WHO PROMOTE THIS CRAP AS EASIER-TO-READ!!! The ERV, as are all modern PERversions, is so retarded that it doesn’t matter how easy it is to read, because the comprehension rate is down close to 50%. So much for a pastor who is a “professor.” Ha, let me tell some more jokes!
Now the King James Bible says Jesus told Mary not to touch Him, because He hadn’t ascended to the Father yet. Hebrews 9:12 and 24 teach us that Jesus “BY HIS OWN BLOOD” entered into the heavenly Holy Place on our behalf, to sprinkle His precious blood upon the Mercy Seat (Hebrews 12:24) in the presence of the Father. If Mary had touched Jesus, she would have corrupted the blood sacrifice. Now that makes perfect theological sense, because that’s the truth.
If you are using the ERV (or any modern corrupt version), you must now make a decision to either get right with God and stop using it, or continue in your apostate condition, because you just don’t care about the purity of the Word of God. The only Bible for me is the precious KING JAMES BIBLE!!! Thank you dear Lord God for your awesome holy, inspired, inerrant, infallible, preserved, Words!!!
You Need To Be Born-Again if You Have Been Deceived By Lordship Salvation
I am fully convinced that all Lordship Salvation pastors and assistant pastors are not saved. My friend, if you believe that ceasing from a sinful lifestyle was required for you to be saved, then YOU ARE NOT SAVED!!! There’s a very fine line between salvation and damnation, between faith and foolishness, between truth and religion. Do you think it is a mere coincidence that all of the corrupt Alexandrian Bible versions have changed the plan of salvation from one of completely resting in Christ alone, to one of turning away from an evil lifestyle to be saved? Not a chance in a trillion! Literally, all of the modern corrupted Bible versions, including the satanic ERV, line up with the satanic plan of salvation of Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists and other demonic religious cults.
When a pastor is indifferent toward these two very different Gospels, I cannot help but conclude that they are merely religious and have never truly been born-again. Perhaps this is why such churches never hear any preaching from their pastors about the need for the power of the Holy Spirit, and to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit. Since those pastors are merely religious and do not have the Spirit of God indwelling them, they cannot teach what they do not possess.
If you consider the important Scripture passages relating to salvation which we’ve examined in this article, that have been totally changed and horribly corrupted, we now have A VERY DIFFERENT PLAN OF SALVATION than the simplicity that is found in Christ in the King James Bible (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4). According to the ERV you must change your heart and your life in order to be saved. You must openly say, ‘Jesus is Lord‘, like some type of superstitious ritual. You must turn away from any evil things that you are doing in your life, or else you cannot be saved. This is the satanic plan of damnation in the ERV.
In sharp contrast, you don’t have to stop doing evil things to be saved. Biblically, according to John 3:20, a person WON’T come to Jesus to be saved if they are doing evil things. That is what the Bible teaches. So the problem takes care of itself. Do you know why? It is because Biblical repentance is a change of mind.
When a person who has been doing evil things comes to the realization (under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit) that they are a guilty sinner in God’s holy eyes, and that person places their trust in the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross for their sins, His burial and bodily resurrection three days later, that sinner is immediately and forever saved securely. Whether they stop committing those evils in their life is an entirely different matter, which has nothing to do with salvation. This is simply because eternal life is a free gift (Ephesians 2:8-9). You simply TAKE a gift. Nothing is required to receive a gift. It is free. Salvation is received, it is not achieved.
The fact that this person came to Christ for salvation evidences that they now have a new attitude toward their sins, seeing them self as guilty in God’s eyes. This does NOT mean that the person is ready nor willing to forsake those sins. God will chastise and scourge each believer who chooses to continue in sin. This is how it works my friend. But we must never change the plan of salvation in an attempt to force people to forsake their sins. This is a false plan of salvation. This is the basis of the Lordship Salvation heresy.
The truth is that you first get saved by simply trusting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then, as a new believer, God will impress upon your heart to be crucified with Him, and raise up to walk in newness of life (as evidenced in Romans 12:1). Everybody is different. Some believers never grow to the point of dying to self, others do. Albeit, the right thing to do if someone professes faith (apart from works) in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to give them the benefit of the doubt that they are saved. There are so many factors involved. For a wonderful MP3 sermon on the subject, please listen to Dr. Jack Hyles’ classic sermon, “STEPS IN SANCTIFICATION (OR; THE ROOT OF ALL HERESY).” [scroll down until you reach the sermons]
I could easily show you hundreds more passages from the ERV where they’ve changed the plan of salvation into a lie. Our pastors are mostly to blame, because they are the shepherds over their flocks. If a nation’s pastors and assistant pastors are woefully blinded and/or indifferent to these great evils, then our churches are doomed. If you believe the lie of Lordship Salvation, you have never been saved at all. There is only one plan of salvation taught in the Bible, and that is to simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do You Love the Truth?
2nd Thessalonians 2:10 tells us the reason why the masses of this world will be deceived and follow after the Antichrist when he comes… “BECAUSE THEY RECEIVED NOT THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH, THAT THEY MIGHT BE SAVED”!!! If they would love the truth, they will believe the Gospel, and so they also will meet Jesus on the clouds. Instead, they will be left behind, and follow the Antichrist! Many of those masses of people left behind will be THE CHURCHES. All of the Lordship Salvation churches will be left behind, because “THEY RECEIVED NOT THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH, THAT THEY MIGHT BE SAVED”!!! Go ahead, don’t listen to me—trust in your changed life, forsaking evil ways and confessing Christ. All my best with that! The satanic new “bible” versions are fueling the heresy of Lordship Salvation. I am telling you the truth my friends, will you heed the warning?
It is so simply and easy to be saved that most people walk right past the narrow gate. “…few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). They’re looking for a big fancy door into a big fancy religion. They’re looking for a religious door that makes them feel spiritual. They’re looking for a door with an entrance policy, who won’t let you in unless you’re clean-shaven, sober, moral and intend to live a clean life if they let you in. They’re looking for a door with flashing neon lights, something spectacular. None of these doors lead to life. The only door into Heaven is Jesus, a little pathway, which is obscured by the all the other attractive gates, religious entrances, big doors and bright paths with their owners clamoring for their attention, shouting “Enter here!”, “No, over here, come in here!” Little do most people realize that satan owns all those buildings! All except one, that little humble path, Jesus!
I often feel lonely standing for the truth, when hardly anyone stands. Most pastors, churches and “bible” colleges, Christians today don’t have any interest in debating which Bible is God’s Word. So they just support all of the “bibles”, not exposing or criticizing any of them.
The reason why they lack that passion is because they lack faith. If we truly believe Psalms 138:2, that God magnifies His Word above all His name, then we would care. I CARE! The Bible is very important. Even the slightest subtle changes alter the meaning of a passage of Scripture considerably. Woe unto today’s pastors who don’t care, just going along to get along!
I picture nearly all of today’s churches as being aboard a big ship. On the side of the ship it reads, “Mainstream Evangelicalism”! There are hundreds of “bible” versions aboard the ship. There are dozens of different plans of salvation taught by evangelicals like John MacArthur, Rick Warren, Chip Ingram, Ray Comfort, William Lane Craig, Paul Washer, Billy Graham and others onboard. Everybody aboard the ship is going along to get along. Nobody exposes or criticizes each other. Everybody is comfortable, enjoying all the splendors of the luxury ship. They all draw near to God with their mouths, and honor God with their lips, but their heart is far from Him, teaching manmade doctrines. This ship’s captain is Lucifer! Anything goes on Lucifer’s ship. It doesn’t matter which Bible version you use. It doesn’t matter which plan of salvation that you choose to believe. Everybody is taken care of and prospering.
Have you been deceived? What satanic imposter are you holding in your hand at church on Sunday? Boy, of ever there was a lie, it’s the following translation from the ERV. Notice how they deceitfully changed the Word of God to exonerate themselves. They are corrupting God’s Word, which is what 2nd Corinthians 2:17 warns against in the KJB. So the ERV changed it to “selling God’s Word for profit” instead! The ERV company, World Bible Translation Center (WBTC) is in trouble with God for corrupting His Word.
It’s not a sin to sell God’s Word, it’s a sin to corrupt it, whether you sell it or not . . .
KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) — 2nd Corinthians 2:17, “For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.”
EASY-TO-READ VERSION (ERV) — 2nd Corinthians 2:17, “Certainly not those who are out there selling God’s message for a profit! But we don’t do that. With Christ’s help we speak God’s truth honestly, knowing that we must answer to him.” [emphasis added]
Just as there is a Biblical curse upon every false Gospel, so also is there a curse upon anyone who changes the Word of God, and the foolish pastors who uses such corrupted Bible versions are cursing their congregation, and bringing God’s curse upon them as well.
Acts 15:1, “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said,
Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.”
Westcott And Hort Exposed!
…FROM THEIR OWN MOUTHS!
A selection of
statements revealing the
attitudes of these two
most noted textual critics.
WE should always be reluctant to engage in ad hominem arguments, i.e. those that concentrate on personalities rather than issues, but the character and professed beliefs of those involved in such vital matters as the text and translation of the Bible cannot be overlooked. It is necessary that those handling the inspired word of God themselves be spiritual men. This is the teaching of Scripture itself (1 Cor. 2:11-16).
Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901)
was born at Birmingham and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892)
at Dublin. In 1851 Westcott was ordained an Anglican “priest” and Hort in 1856: their careers were spent mostly in academic positions rather than pastorates. As early as 1853 they began work on their Greek text of the New Testament: this project was to occupy most of their remaining lives. In 1870 the idea of a modest revision of the A.V. was sanctioned by the Southern Convocation of the Church of England, and this provided the opportunity for Westcott and Hort to introduce their radical changes. They defended the inclusion of a Unitarian scholar on the Revision Committee. “The New Testament in the Original Greek” was published in 1881, as was the Revised Version based upon it: this latter failed to gain lasting popularity, but the Westcott-Hort text and theory has dominated the scene since.
Textual criticism cannot be divorced entirely from theology. No matter how great a Greek scholar a man may be, or no matter how great an authority on the textual evidence, his conclusions must always be open to suspicion if he does not accept the Bible as the very Word of God (in FULLER, p.157).
Beliefs
The following quotes from the diaries and letters of Westcott and Hort demonstrate their serious departures from orthodoxy, revealing their opposition to evangelical Protestantism and sympathies with Rome and ritualism. Many more could be given. Their views on Scripture and the Text are highlighted.
1846 Oct. 25th – Westcott: “Is there not that in the principles of the “Evangelical” school which must lead to the exaltation of the individual minister, and does not that help to prove their unsoundness? If preaching is the chief means of grace, it must emanate not from the church, but from the preacher, and besides placing him in a false position, it places him in a fearfully dangerous one.” (Life, Vol.I, pp.44,45).
Oct., 22nd after Trinity Sunday – Westcott: “Do you not understand the meaning of Theological ‘Development’? It is briefly this, that in an early time some doctrine is proposed in a simple or obscure form, or even but darkly hinted at, which in succeeding ages,as the wants of men’s minds grow, grows with them – in fact, that Christianity is always progressive in its principles and doctrines.” (Life, Vol.I, p.78).
Dec. 23rd – Westcott: “My faith is still wavering. I cannot determine how much we must believe; how much, in fact, is necessarily required of a member of the Church.” (Life, Vol.I, p.46).
1847 Jan., 2nd Sunday after Epiphany – Westcott: “After leaving the monastery we shaped our course to a little oratory…It is very small, with one kneeling-place; and behind a screen was a ‘Pieta’ the size of life (i.e. a Virgin and dead Christ)…I could not help thinking on the grandeur of the Romish Church, on her zeal even in error, on her earnestness and self-devotion, which we might, with nobler views and a purer end, strive to imitate. Had I been alone I could have knelt there for hours.” (Life, Vol.I, p.81).
1848 July 6th – Hort: “One of the things, I think, which shows the falsity of the Evangelical notion of this subject (baptism), is that it is so trim and precise…no deep spiritual truths of the Reason are thus logically harmonious and systematic…the pure Romish view seems to me nearer, and more likely to lead to, the truth than the Evangelical…the fanaticism of the bibliolaters, among whom reading so many ‘chapters’ seems exactly to correspond to the Romish superstition of telling so many dozen beads on a rosary…still we dare not forsake the Sacraments, or God will forsake us…I am inclined to think that no such state as ‘Eden’ (I mean the popular notion) ever existed, and that Adam’s fall in no degree differed from the fall of each of his descendants” (Life, Vol.I, pp.76-78).
Aug. 11th – Westcott: “I never read an account of a miracle (in Scripture?) but I seem instinctively to feel its improbability, and discover some want of evidence in the account of it.” (Life, Vol.I, p.52).
Nov., Advent Sunday – Westcott: “All stigmatise him (a Dr. Hampden) as a ‘heretic,’…I thought myself that he was grievously in error, but yesterday I read over the selections from his writings which his adversaries make, and in them I found systematically expressed the very strains of thought which I have been endeavouring to trace out for the last two or three years. If he be condemned, what will become of me?” (Life, Vol.I, p.94).
1850 May 12th – Hort: “You ask me about the liberty to be allowed to clergymen in their views of Baptism. For my own part, I would gladly admit to the ministry such as hold Gorham’s view, much more such as hold the ordinary confused Evangelical notions” (Life, Vol.I, p.148).
July 31st – Hort: “I spoke of the gloomy prospect, should the Evangelicals carry on their present victory so as to alter the Services.” (Life, Vol.I, p.160).
1851 Feb. 7th – Hort: “Westcott is just coming out with his Norrisian on ‘The Elements of the Gospel Harmony.’ I have seen the first sheet on Inspiration, which is a wonderful step in advance of common orthodox heresy.” (Life, Vol.I, p.181).
1858 Oct. 21st – Further I agree with them in condemning many leading specific doctrines of the popular theology as, to say the least, containing much superstition and immorality of a very pernmicious kind…The positive doctrines even of the Evangelicals seem to me perverted rather than untrue…There are, I fear, still more serious differences between us on the subject of authority, and especially the authority of the Bible” (Life, Vol.I, p.400).
1860 Apr. 3rd – Hort: “But the book which has most engaged me is Darwin. Whatever may be thought of it, it is a book that one is proud to be contemporary with. I must work out and examine the argument in more detail, but at present my feeling is strong that the theory is unanswerable.” (Life, Vol.I, p.416).
Oct. 15th – Hort: “I entirely agree – correcting one word – with what you there say on the Atonement, having for many years believed that “the absolute union of the Christian (or rather, of man) with Christ Himself” is the spiritual truth of which the popular doctrine of substitution is an immoral and material counterfeit…Certainly nothing can be more unscriptural than the modern limiting of Christ’s bearing our sins and sufferings to His death; but indeed that is only one aspect of an almost universal heresy.” (Life, Vol.I, p.430).
1864 Sept. 23rd – Hort: “I believe Coleridge was quite right in saying that Christianity without a substantial Church is vanity and dissolution; and I remember shocking you and Lightfoot not so very long ago by expressing a belief that ‘Protestantism’ is only parenthetical and temporary. In short, the Irvingite creed (minus the belief in the superior claims of the Irvingite communion) seems to me unassailable in things ecclesiastical.” (Life, Vol.II, p.30,31).
1865 Sept. 27th – Westcott: “I have been trying to recall my impressions of La Salette (a marian shrine). I wish I could see to what forgotten truth Mariolatry bears witness; and how we can practically set forth the teaching of the miracles“.
Nov. 17th – Westcott: “As far as I could judge, the ‘idea’ of La Salette was that of God revealing Himself now, and not in one form but in many.” (Life, Vol.I. pp.251,252).
Oct. 17th – Hort: “I have been persuaded for many years that Mary-worship and ‘Jesus’-worship have very much in common in their causes and their results.” (Life, Vol.II, p.50).
1867 Oct. 17th – Hort: “I wish we were more agreed on the doctrinal part; but you know I am a staunch sacerdotalist, and there is not much profit in arguing about first principles.” (Life, Vol.II, p.86).
1890 Mar. 4th – Westcott: “No one now, I suppose, holds that the first three chapters of Genesis, for example, give a literal history – I could never understand how any one reading them with open eyes could think they did – yet they disclose to us a Gospel. So it is probably elsewhere.”
Chronology of the Revision
1825 Jan. 12th – Brooke Foss Westcott born at Birmingham.
1828 Apr. 23rd – Fenton John Anthony Hort born at Dublin.
1851 Dec. 21st – Westcott ordained “priest” in Church of England.
1851 Dec. 29,30th – Hort: “I had no idea till the last few weeks of the importance of texts, having read so little Greek Testament, and dragged on with the villainous Textus Receptus.. Think of that vile Textus Receptus leaning entirely on late MSS.; it is a blessing there are such early ones” (Life, Vol.I, p.211).
1853 Jan.-Mar. – Westcott and Hort agree upon plan of a joint revision of the text of the Greek Testament.
Apr. 19th – Hort: “He (Westcott) and I are going to edit a Greek text of the New Testament some two or three years hence, if possible.” (Life, Vol.I, p.250).
June – Mr. Daniel Macmillan suggests to Hort that he should take part in an interesting and comprehensive ‘New Testament Scheme.’ Hort was to edit the text in conjunction with Mr. Westcott; the latter was to be responsible for a commentary, and Lightfoot was to contribute a N.T. Grammar and Lexicon. (Life, Vol.I, pp.240,241).
Sept. 29th – Westcott to Hort: “As to our proposed recension of the New Testament text, our object would be, I suppose, to prepare a text for common and general use…With such an end in view, would it not be best to introduce only certain emendations into the received text, and to note in the margin such as seem likely or noticeable – after Griesbach’s manner?…I feel most keenly the disgrace of circulating what I feel to be falsified copies of Holy Scripture (a reference to the A.V.?), and am most anxious to provide something to replace them. This cannot be any text resting solely on our own judgment, even if we were not too inexperienced to make one; but it must be supported by a clear and obvious preponderance of evidence. The margin wiil give ample scope for our own ingenuity or principles…my wish would be to leave the popular received text except where it is clearly wrong.” (Life, Vol.I, pp.228,229).
Nov. 4th – Hort: “I went down and spent a Sunday with Westcott…We came to a distinct and positive understanding about our Gk. Test. and the details thereof. We still do not wish it to be talked about, but are going to work at once, and hope we may perhaps have it out in little more than a year.” (Life, Vol.I, p.264).
Westcott and Hort start work on their Greek text.
1856 Feb. ? – Hort ordained “priest” in Church of England.
Mar. 20th – Hort: “I think I mentioned to you before Campbell’s book on the Atonement, which is invaluable as far as it goes; but unluckily he knows nothing except Protestant theology” (Life, Vol.I, p.322).
1857 Feb. 23rd – Hort to Westcott: “I hope to go on with the New Testament text more unremittingly” (Life, Vol.I, p.355).
First efforts to secure revision of the Authorised Version by five Church of England clergymen.
1858 Oct. 21st – Hort: “The principle literary work of these years was the revision of the Greek Text of the New Testament. All spare hours were devoted to it.” (Life, Vol.I, p.399).
1860 May 1st – Hort to Lightfoot: “If you make a decided conviction of the absolute infallibility of the N.T. practically a sine qua non for co-operation, I fear I could not join you, even if you were willing to forget your fears about the origin of the Gospels.” (Life, Vol. I, p.420).
May 4th – Hort to Lightfoot: “I am also glad that you take the same provisional ground as to infallibility that I do.” (Life, Vol.I, p.424).
May 5th – Westcott to Hort: “at present I find the presumption in favour of the absolute truth – I reject the word infallibility – of Holy Scripture overwhelming.” (Life, Vol.I, p.207).
May 18th – Hort to Lightfoot: “It sounds an arrogant thing to say, but there are very many cases in which I would not admit the competence of any one to judge a decision of mine on a textual matter, who was only an amateur, and had not some considerable experience in forming a text.” (Life, Vol.I, p.425).
1861 Apr. 12th – Hort to Westcott: “Also – but this may be cowardice – I have a sort of craving that our text should be cast upon the world before we deal with matters likely to brand us with suspicion. I mean, a text, issued by men already known for what will undoubtedly be treated as dangerous heresy, will have great difficulties in finding its way to regions which it might otherwise hope to reach, and whence it would not be easily banished by subsequent alarms.” (Life, Vol.I, p.445).
1862 Apr. 30th, May 1st – Hort: “It seems to be clearly and broadly directed to maintaining that the English clergy are not compelled to maintain the absolute infallibility of the Bible. And, whatever the truth may be, this seems just the liberty required at the present moment, if any living belief is to survive in the land.” (Life, Vol.I, p.454).
1870 Westcott and Hort print tentative edition of their Greek N.T. for private distribution only. (This they later circulated under pledge of secrecy within the company of N.T. revisers, of which they were members).
Feb. 10th – Southern Convocation of Church of England resolve on desirability of revision of A.V. Northern Convocation declines to cooperate.
May – Committee of 18 elected to produce a Revised Version.
The 7 members of the N.T. Committee invite 18 others, making 25.
May 29th – Westcott to Hort: “though I think that Convocation is not competent to initiate such a measure, yet I feel that as ‘we three’ are together it would be wrong not to ‘make the best of it’ as Lightfoot says. Indeed, there is a very fair prospect of good work, though neither with this body nor with any body likely to be formed now could a complete textual revision be possible. There is some hope that alternative readings might find a place in the margin.” (Life, Vol.I, p.390).
June 4th – Westcott to Lightfoot: “Ought we not to have a conference before the first meeting for Revision? There are many points on which it is important that we should agreed. The rules though liberal are vague, and the interpretation of them will depend upon decided action at first.” (Life, Vol.I, p.391).
July 1st – Westcott to Hort: “The Revision on the whole surprised me by prospects of hope. I suggested to Ellicott a plan of tabulating and circulating emendations before our meeting, which may prove valuable.” (Life, Vol.I, pp.392,393).
July 7th – Hort: “Dr. Westcott and myself have for above seventeen years been preparing a Greek text of the New Testament. It has been in the press for some years, and we hope to have it out early next year.” (Life, Vol.II, p.137).
Aug. ? – Hort to Lightfoot: “It is, I think, difficult to measure the weight of acceptance won beforehand for the Revision by the single fact of our welcoming an Unitarian, if only the Company perseveres in its present serious and faithful spirit.” (Life, Vol.II, p.140). (Dr. G. Vance Smith, a Unitarian scholar, was a member of the Revision Committee. At Westcott‘s suggestion, a celebration of Holy Communion was held on June 22nd before the first meeting of the N.T. Revision Company. Dr. Smith communicated but said afterwards that he did not join in reciting the Nicene Creed and did not compromise his principles as a Unitarian. The storm of public indignation which followed almost wrecked the Revision at the outset. At length however Dr. Smith remained on the Committee).
1881 Bishop Ellicott submits the Revised Version to the Southern Convocation.
May 12th – Westcott and Hort‘s “The New Testament in the Original Greek” Vol. I published (Text and short Introduction).
May 17th – the Revised Version is published in England, selling two million copies within four days. It fails however to gain lasting popular appeal.
Sept. 4th – Westcott and Hort‘s “The New Testament in the Original Greek” Vol.II published (Introduction and Appendix).
Oct. – first of Dean Burgon’s three articles in the Quarterly Review against the Revised Version appears.
1882 May – Ellicott publishes pamphlet in reply to Burgon, defending the Westcott and Hort Greek text.
1883 Burgon publishes The Revision Revised, including a reply to Ellicott.
1890 May 1st – Westcott consecrated Bishop of Durham.
1892 Nov. 30th – death of Hort.
1901 July 27th – death of Westcott.
1908 The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia discusses the Westcott–Hort theory:
“Conscious agreement with it or conscious disagreement and qualification mark all work in this field since 1881.”
This is still almost literally true.
References:
Hort, A.F., Life and Letters of Fenton J.A. Hort, MacMillan and Co., London, 1896, vols. I,II.
Westcott, A., Life and Letters of Brooke Foss Westcott, MacMillan and Co., London, 1903, vols. I,II.
Inside The Vatican
satan’s seed is identified as the “serpent”. Inside the Vatican we have two buildings constructed in the image of a snake; the Basilica and Paul VI Audience Hall.
The name basilica is connected to the Greek word “basiliskos” – the mythical Snake King. In ancient legends, the basilisk was a dragon that ruled the reptilian empire.
The Vatican itself is derived from the Latin “vates” which means “soothsayer”. In the book of Acts, Paul met a damsel possessed with a “spirit of divination”; a spirit that gave her mastery of the dark arts. The spirit of divination is literally translated “spirit of python” in the Greek and is connected to “divination” and the seat of the serpent is in Rome.
Divination
4436 Puthonos (pee’- thonos)
* From putho (the name of the region where Delphi, the seat of the famous oracle, was located) a python, i.e. (by analogy, with the supposed diviner there) inspiration (soothsaying) or witchcraft.
THE REASON FOR THE EVIL SPIRITS’ ATTACK
From: Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 1) Vol. 14: The Spiritual Man (3),
by Watchman Nee
Why are the believers’ minds so attacked by evil spirits? One answer is that the believers themselves afford evil spirits (also called demons) an opportunity to attack in their minds. We should realize that it is possible for the believers’ minds to suffer the demons’ attacks. This is proven by the experiences of many believers. The place the demons most often attack is the mind because the mind and evil spirits have a special rapport. The attacks of evil spirits on the believers’ minds produce the aforementioned phenomena. Parts or the whole of man’s mind have already isolated themselves from man’s sovereign rule and fallen into the hands of evil spirits. As a result, evil spirits are able to think and stop as they wish and ignore the believers’ own will. Although the mind still resides in the body, its sovereignty belongs to someone else. Even though the believers may oppose it, nothing will avail. In whatever aspect the believers give place to evil spirits, that aspect will not thereafter obey man’s own will. Instead, it will obey another will. When the believers give any ground in their minds to evil spirits, they have lost their sovereignty over their own minds. To put it in another way, if the mind of a believer has lost its sovereignty and is no longer able to rule over itself, the mind is already occupied by evil spirits. If evil spirits have not attacked the believer’s mind, his will should be able to rule over everything; he can think when he wants to think and stop when he wants to stop. He will not encounter any difficulty.
The minds of the believers are attacked by evil spirits because the believers have given place to evil spirits in their minds. Believers are prone to give more place in the mind to evil spirits because the mind is related to evil spirits in such a special way. These places become leverage in the believers’ minds upon which evil spirits freely work. We should remember that man’s mind is of man; if evil spirits do not have man’s consent, they cannot use his mind. If man does not volunteer—intentionally or unintentionally—to hand over the mind to evil spirits, they cannot infringe on man’s freedom. This does not mean that evil spirits will never tempt us in the mind (such will not happen in this life). But it means that when we exercise our will to oppose them, they will immediately stop. The problem today is that even though many believers exercise their own will to resist, temptations still do not stop. This should not happen; it is a proof of the work of evil spirits because it is done in disregard of man’s will.
After a believer has indeed yielded to evil spirits, his mind will inevitably be filled with the works of evil spirits. Evil spirits will work on him according to the ground he has given them. Since he has given ground to evil spirits in his mind, they can do whatever they want in his mind. The most important principle in the work of evil spirits is that one has to give ground for them to work. They can only work when they have the ground. Without the ground, they have no way to work. The amount of their work is determined by the amount of ground they receive. Whenever believers give ground in their minds to evil spirits, the evil spirits will work in the believers’ minds. There are six kinds of ground that believers can give to evil spirits. Let us consider each one of them briefly.
A. THE UNRENEWED MIND
The flesh is always the place where evil spirits work. If the mind is not renewed, even if a person is regenerated in his spirit, evil spirits will still have a chance to work. Even though the minds of many believers were turned for a moment at the time of their repentance, it does not mean that their eyes, which have been blinded by Satan, were completely enlightened. Perhaps many areas are still “veiled.” Because these dark places were the working ground for evil spirits in past days, the fact that they are diminished today does not mean that they are altogether annihilated. Evil spirits still occupy these areas, from which they also direct their operations. It is very common to see evil spirits occupying the minds of men through sin. This happens before they are saved or even after they are saved. Even though some changes have taken place, the old ground has not been uncovered or removed. Therefore, evil spirits still occupy them as their base of operations.
Evil spirits are very careful in covering up their works. If a believer is fleshly, they will generate many thoughts through his mind which are similar to his character and condition. They will make him believe that these are his own thoughts and that they are natural. If such a person is seeking for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, they will counterfeit the work of the Holy Spirit and give him many supernatural revelations, convincing him that these are from God. Because evil spirits know that this kind of unrenewed mind is the best ground for their work, they obstruct the believer in many ways, causing him to become ignorant and not pursue the renewing of his mind. This is the most frequent ground given to evil spirits. But if there is only this kind of ground given, without the passivity spoken of below, the mind and memory will still not be weakened too severely.
Read from the full text of this book
Perseverance
According to dictionary.com perseverance means continuance in a state of grace to the end, leading to eternal salvation.
Don’t quit! Keep going! We need to learn to persevere, because God wants us to. As we persevere we become closer to God. We persevere for a better life. The grace of God is a treasure. God is the treasure and all who ever need. Don’t leave it here. Spread God’s Word. The Grace of God is all we need.
TESTING OF FAITH (BEING TEMPTED) LEADS TO PERSEVERANCE
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” (James 1:2-4)
By being tested we gain perseverance. Perseverance gains maturity and completeness.
SUFFERING LEADS TO PERSEVERANCE
“[3]And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
[4]And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
[5]And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (Romans 5:3-5)
Even suffering can lead to perseverance. Perseverance turns to character which turns to hope.
MORE VERSES ON PERSEVERANCE
“[11]Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” (James 5:11)
“[4]So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
[5]Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
[6]Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;” (2 Thessalonians 1:4-6)
“[5]And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
[6]And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
[7]And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.”
(2 Peter 1:5-7)
“[2]I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
[3]And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.” (Revelation 2:2-3)
“[9]I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” (Revelation 2:9)
PARABLES TO READ
Matthew 13:1-23 (The Parable of the Sower)
Matthew 13:24-30 (The Parable of Weeds)
Matthew 13:31-35 (The Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast)
Matthew 13:36-43 (The Parable of the Weeds Explained)
Matthew 13:44-46 (The Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl)
Matthew 13:47-52 (The Parable of the Net)
Matthew 13:53-58 (A Prophet Without Honour)
HOW TO PERSEVERE
Maintain contact with Christ (Christ alone is our security)
Maintain contact with other Christians
When we maintain contact with Christ we study the Word of God (KJV), We go to Him in prayer. We have a personal relationship with Christ. A lifelong commitment. We give our personal time all to Him.
When we maintain contact with other Christians we give each other encouragement. We share the Word with each other. We help each other live a Christlike life. We fellowship together.
When we maintain contact with both Christ and other Christians we build a Spiritual hunger. A hunger to want to know more and seek more.
The Satanic Surge
For generations, mankind—including even nominal Christians—has debated the existence of satan. Charles Baudelaire, a French poet (9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) made popular the adage that the greatest trick that satan plays on mankind is to make us believe that he does not exist, (“The devil’s finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist.”)”.
Accordingly, national polls now indicate that the number of Americans who do not believe in satan’s existence is growing at a rapid pace. A 2003 Gallup poll showed that 68 percent of all Americans believed in the existence of satan. By 2013, a YouGov poll indicated that number had fallen to 57 percent.
Score one for the devil.
However, in a seeming contradiction, membership in pagan, occultist, and satanic worship organizations in America is on the rise. Three days following the 2016 presidential election, the satanic temple (established in 2013), announced a sudden surge in membership of 50,000 people, bringing their total numbers to around 100,000. Though, by policy, no official numbers are released by the much larger church of satan (founded in 1966), observers and former members estimate its membership at 4 million in the U.S. and at least 10 million worldwide.
In the meantime, interest in witchcraft, Wicca, and other forms of paganism has grown to epic proportions. A 2010 census revealed witchcraft as the fourth-largest religion in America, with approximately 200,000 registered witches and an estimated 8 million unregistered practitioners.
While paganists and the occultists promote a more indirect, and even at times unacknowledged worship of satan, satanism is thought to embrace him more openly. However, with a strong sense of irony—perhaps even a predictable one—both the temple of satan and the church of satan “officially” deny their namesake’s existence even as they commonly invoke his name in many of their “worship” rituals.
If Bishop Sheen was correct, perhaps it is only natural that the two largest organizations promoting satan’s beliefs and his adulation would actively disavow his reality, while at the same time depict him as a being deserving of our respect and admiration. Regardless of one’s beliefs, the fact is that satan has cleaned up his act—he is going “mainstream”—and is seen as admirable, cultivated, and even cool.
In that vein, we find the hit television show, “Lucifer,” of the Fox network (just recently renewed for its third season), where satan is depicted as a “devilishly” attractive and intelligent being who has abandoned his throne in hell and retired to Los Angeles to pursue his favorite indulgences: wine, women, and song. However, in the midst of his new life, he begins to develop feelings of compassion and empathy that motivate him to reach out with his “unique” brand of assistance to the LA police department.
Beyond “Lucifer,” a cursory glance at the daily offerings of entertainment on television or at the movies reveals an untold number of shows portraying some semblance of the demonic world in an exciting and fun fashion.
Beyond entertainment, satanists are becoming more involved socially. In 2014, the satanic temple launched its Protect Children Project, aimed at providing First Amendment protection in the form of legal assistance to children who were “victims” of corporal punishment (spanking) in schools across the nation.
Two years later, the same organization introduced the “After School satan Clubs,” an extracurricular program designed to counter what it roughly characterizes as the evangelical Christian influence on schools across America. According to its website:
“It’s important that children be given an opportunity to realize that the evangelical materials now creeping into their schools are representative of but one religious opinion amongst many. . . .”
“After School satan Clubs” will focus on free inquiry and rationalism, the scientific basis for which we know what we know about the world around us. We prefer to give children an appreciation of the natural wonders surrounding them, not a fear of everlasting other-worldly horrors.
As we accelerate to the climactic end of this age, wisdom dictates that we stay close to our Creator and take heed to the growing influence of satan and his demonic horde (I Timothy 4:1; I John 4:1), not to mention his cunning efforts to deny his own existence while simultaneously rehabilitating his reputation (2 Corinthians 11:14; 2:11).
He is the master of all deception, but his time is growing short. As Paul writes, “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” (Romans 16:20).
Manchester Terror Attack: Rallying the Youth Around the Occult Elite
The Manchester Terror Attack took place at an Ariana Grande concert – an industry superstar. It was a grand and horrifying clash of the worlds of entertainment and the high-stakes terrorism.
Islam in America
June 5, 2017
In 622 AD, Muhammad and his band of followers who did not have much of any political power moved to a city called Yathrib [now renamed Medina, which in Arabic means the city of the prophet]. Yathrib had a thriving Jewish population who were quite well off. Muhammad moved from his tribe’s city of Mecca because he was not accepted in his role as a prophet or leader. In Medina, he gained power by multiple methods, some of which changed over time.
Islamic history is thus dated from the time of the immigration to Medina as it marks the turning point in Islamic history from being in an oppressed minority situation to becoming the majority in terms of religious, political, and military power. This pattern has repeated itself throughout history.
At present four Hijrah, (migration for Allah[1]), tactics are being used to gain control of certain areas, birth rates, immigration, and political systems and expulsion of non-Muslims from certain areas by numerical and sometimes dominance by force—think of the effect of documented rape-gangs), in areas of Great Britain.
In London England, terrorists struck again killing and injuring many. Their Prime Minister allowed Muslims to enter their nation without background checks, just as some wish to allow in the United States of America.
Maybe she believed she was doing the right thing. However, some of the citizens of England who believed in the ISIS way wanted to leave their mark and make a statement for ISIS.
Here in America, President Trump does not want another 911. He wants a travel ban, but the ninth circuit justices say he cannot.
My fear and many other Americans do too, is that without a travel ban we will end up like London where innocent people that were murdered at a concert by the murderous group, ISIS!
As we all know there have been murders in the United States by those who follow ISIS. Some traveled to the middle east to learn the ISIS way. Once home these citizens following ISIS’ belief killed Christians which they learned while in the middle east and from internet sites.
ISIS wants to abolish our Constitution and replace it with Shariah Law, (regulates public behavior, private behavior, and even private beliefs)[2]. What better way to reach that goal than to use the internet that the young view.
Adults, parents, teachers and professors need to take a stand and show ISIS and others that wish to destroy the United States that America is a free nation and will remain that way! This nation was given to us by God and we must do all we can to preserve this magnificent gift for the children as well as for ourselves.
If we do not stand behind our President in protecting this nation, then we could be taken over by many murderous groups. Are we the people of this great nation going stand up for the children and keep this nation free forever?
Our nation was built on the premise of a government that is governed, by the people not by politicians who wish to please the whole world. They do it under the guise of love and caring, but without learning who immigrants are that come here, where they come from and what their motives are.Americans stand up and need to count or watch this nation become no more.
Americans stand up and need to be counted or watch this nation become no more.
T.D. Jakes EXPOSED!
Compiled and edited by David J. Stewart
“Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you? I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?” — 2 Corinthians 12:17-18
Bishop Jakes’ Drama & Message, “WOMAN, THOU ART LOOSED,” will be another major theatrical release for the Kingdom of God.
It is sad that any so-called “preacher” of the Gospel would live in a $1,700,000 mansion, while so many poor people are starving to death in this world. It is wicked! T.D. Jakes is an imposter, a phony. The Apostle Paul reminds the believers at Corinth that nether he nor his fellow laborers in Christ tried to make a gain from them. Paul didn’t try to get their money. In contrast, T.D. Jakes has made a gigantic gain off many people, thus violating the Word of God. Preachers are not supposed to be greedy. 1 Timothy 3:1-3 KJV plainly teaches that if a man wants to be a Bishop (pastor) over people, then he should not be greedy of filthy lucre. The Health, wealth, and prosperity Gospel propagated by these imposters of the Trinity Broadcasting Network and false prophets such as T.D. Jakes is an abomination unto the lord Jesus Christ.
“Jakes is completely ecumenical. He often speaks at Promise Keepers and other ecumenical forums. He supports heretics like Robert Schuller. Jakes himself has a background in the Jesus-only doctrine that denies the Trinity. Recently Dr. Norman Geisler charged Jake with promoting the “old, old heresy” of modalism which denies the doctrine of the Trinity (Calvary Contender, August 15, 2001).”
Jakes appears with and supports the most radical of the Charismatics today, including Paul and Jan Crouch and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. This is the network that is helped popularize such unscriptural practices and phenomena as hysterical laughing, spirit slaying, Christian rock and roll, healing in the atonement, and evangelical Catholicism. In August 1995, Jakes appeared at Oral Roberts University with a lineup of some of the biggest names in the Word-faith movement, including R.W. Schambach, Lester Sumrall, and T.L. Osborn. One of Jakes’ fellow speakers at that conference was Rodney Howard-Browne, who blasphemously calls himself the “Holy Ghost bartender” because of the strange drunkenness that has manifested during his meetings.
Jakes himself believes in the prosperity gospel. Like many of the Trinity Broadcasting Network preachers, Jakes falsely claims that Jesus was rich and that God wants us to be rich, too. He and his wife live in a $1.7 million mansion.
I saw Jakes preaching on the television, and right in the midst of his preaching he began babbling away in mutterings he called “tongues.” In direct disobedience to the Bible, there was not even an attempt to interpret the “tongues.” -David Cloud, Way of Life Ministries
America is going to Hell while greedy and crooked sinister ministers are getting rich abusing the name of Jesus. TBN and their associates have turned the ministry into a den of thieves. Jesus never intended for the church to be a money machine. The Apostle Paul was trying to help people, not take their money, which is clear from 2 Corinthians 12:17-18.
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T. D. Jakes
He’s been called America’s best preacher and he’s been featured on the cover of TIME magazine, but what do we really know about T.D. Jakes?
He once said, “There are certainly clergy who steer totally to the right and those who steer totally to the left, but I have never seen an eagle fly on one wing,“. I think it is vitally important, since we say we represent God, that we don’t imply that God is for one wing of a whole bird.”
That may be true, but that didn’t stop Jakes from his own political involvement with the Republican Party and with President George Bush. In fact, when black America was outraged about the Administration’s handling of the Hurricane Katrina crisis, George Bush turned to one black man to bail him out and shore up his damaged reputation. That man was T.D. Jakes, who was all too willing to give the President the political cover he needed.
But Jakes is even more conservative than Bush. Unlike Bush, who has hired gays and lesbians in the federal government, Jakes has called homosexuality a “brokenness” and said he would not hire a sexually active gay person.
And Jakes had also adopted another part of the presidential philosophy: his lifestyle. Jakes and his congregation refer to his wife Serita as “the first lady“, and they live in a $1.7 million mansion on Dallas’s scenic White Rock Lake next to a building once owned by oil magnate H.L. Hunt. As Time magazine explained a few weeks ago, “He flies on charter planes or in first-class seats, sups with a coterie in a room known as ‘the king’s table,’ sports a large diamond ring and dresses like the multimillionaire he is.”
I don’t believe that black preachers have a duty to be poor, but I do believe they should not make their millions off the backs of their struggling kin.
SOURCES
Time magazine profile on T.D. Jakes
USA Today profile on T.D. Jakes
•Article written in 2001
Should women be pastors and elders?
Does the Bible support the idea that women can be pastors and elders? No, it does not. According to Scripture women are not to be pastors and elders. Let’s take a look.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, the Garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve. He put Adam in the garden and gave him the authority to name all the animals. Afterward, God made Eve as a helper to Adam.1 This is an important concept because Paul refers to the order of creation in his epistle to Timothy when he discusses the relationship between men and women in the church context. Let’s take a look.
1 Timothy 2:12-14 Tyndale, “I suffer not a woman to teach, neither to have authority over the man: but for to be in silence.”
1 Timothy 3:15 Tyndale, “And if I come not, that thou mayst yet have knowledge how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the congregation of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth.”
At the very least, there is an authority structure set up by God. The woman is not to have authority over the man (1 Timothy 2:12 Tyndale) in the church context, “the house of God“, (1 Timothy 3:15). This verse is not about political, social, or economic aspects of the secular realm. It is not about a “patriarchal society” at the time of Paul. This is the instruction to the household of God and anchors its teaching on the doctrinal truth that Adam was created first.
When we look further at Paul’s teachings, we see that the bishop/overseer is to be the husband of one wife (1 Timothy 3:2), who manages his household well, and has a good reputation (1 Timothy 3:4-5, 7). Deacons must “be honest” (1 Timothy 3:8). Paul then speaks of women in verse 11 and their obligation to receive instruction. Then in verse 12, Paul says “Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife…” Again, in Titus 1:5-7, Paul says, “
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest perform that which was lacking and shouldest ordain seniors in every city as I appointed thee. If any be such as no man can complain on, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, which are not slandered of riot, neither are disobedient. For a bishop must be such as no man can complain on, as it be cometh the minister of God not stubborn, not angry, no drunkard, no fighter, not given to filthy lucre:” Notice that Paul interchanges the word ‘seniors‘ and ‘minister‘.
The Greek for “husband of one wife” is found in these verses
1 Timothy 3:5, “andra mias gunaikos“; andra = man/husband; mias = of one; gunaikos = woman/wife
1 Timothy 3:12, “andres mias gunaikos“; andres = men/husbands; mias = of one; gunaikos = woman/wife
Titus 1:6, “aner mias gunaikos“; aner = man/husband; mias = of one; gunaikos = woman/wife
In other words, each is saying a “man of one woman“, or a “one woman man“. Notice that the biblical instruction is that the elders, bishop, stewards must be men. ‘Andra’, ‘andres’ and ‘aner’ all are cognates of the same word in Greek meaning man, husband. In each case, the one who is an elder, deacon, bishop, or steward is instructed to be male 2. He is the husband of one wife (‘aner mias gunaikas’, ‘man of one woman’), “…responsible, able to and such as cleaveth unto the true word of doctrine, that he may be able to exhort with wholesome learning.” (Titus 1:9). We see no command for the stewards to be women. On the contrary, women are told to be “…honest, not not evil speakers: but sober, faithful in all things.” (1 Timothy 3:11). Why is it that it is the men who are singled out as the stewards? It is because of the created order of God that Paul references (Gen. 1-2 Geneva; 1 Timothy 2:12-14 Tyndale). This is not merely a social custom that fell away with ancient Israel.
BEING A PASTOR OR ELDER IS TO BE IN AUTHORITY
God is a God of order and balance. He has established order within the family (Gen. 3:16; 1 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18-21) and the church (1 Timothy 2:11-14; 1 Cor. 11:8-9). Even within the Trinity, there is an order, a hierarchy. The Father sent the Son (John 6:38), and both the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 15:26). 3 Jesus said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” (John 6:38). It is clear that God is a God of order and structure. This applies in the Christian church as well.
In creation, God made Adam first and then Eve to be his helper. This is the order of creation. It is this order that Paul mentions in 1 Timothy 2:11-14 when speaking of authority. Being a pastor or an elder is to be in the place of authority. Therefore, within the church, for a woman to be a pastor or elder, she would be in authority over men in the church which contradicts what Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:11-14.
WHAT ABOUT DEBORAH?
In the Old Testament Deborah was a judge in Israel and had authority over men. This is true, but the Old Testament judge was not a New Testament elder. The contexts are different. Paul’s instruction is to the New Testament church, not Old Testament judges.
WHAT ABOUT GALATIANS 3:28?
Galatians 3:28, “Now is there no jew, neither greek: there is neither bond, neither free: there is neither man, neither woman: for all are one thing in Christ Jesus.”
This verse is often used to support the idea that women can hold the offices of elder and pastor because there is neither male nor female in Christ. The argument states that if we are all equal, then women can be pastors.
Unfortunately, those who use this verse this way have failed to read the context. Verse 23 talks about being under the Law “…Before that faith came,” and how we are brought closer to Jesus and have become sons of God by faith. We are no longer under law, but grace and “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs by promise.” (v. 29). 4 The point of this passage is that we are all saved by God’s grace according to the promise of God and that it doesn’t matter who you are – Jew, Greek, slave, free, male, or female. All are saved the same way – by grace. In that, there is neither male nor female.
This verse is not talking about church structure or offices therein. It is talking about salvation “in Christ“. Therefore, it cannot be used to support women as pastors because that isn’t what it is talking about. Instead, to find out about church structure and leadership, you need to go to those passages that talk about it: 1 Timothy 2-3 and Titus 1.
BUT DOESN’T THIS TEACHING BELITTLE WOMEN?
Male leadership does not belittle women. Jesus was given his authority by God the Father (Matt. 28:18). He was sent by God (John 6:38). He said the Father was greater than He (John 14:28). Did this belittle Jesus? Of course not. Women are of great value in the church and need to be used more and more according to the gifts given them. But it must be according to scripture.
Does the wife’s submission to the husband mean that she is less than the husband, less important, or belittled? Again, not at all. Not having a place of leadership in the church does not mean a woman is less of a person, less important to God, or inferior. All are equal before God whether it be Jew, Gentile, free, slave, male, or female. But in the church, God has set up an order the same way he set one up in the family. It is not an issue of being belittled. It is an issue of being faithful to God’s word (Tyndale) and those who are not, belittled the word of God.
WHAT ABOUT WOMEN WHO SAY THEY ARE CALLED BY GOD TO BE PASTORS?
There are women pastors in the world who love their congregations and have said that they are called by God to be pastors. Of course, I cannot agree with this considering the previous analysis of the biblical position. God would not act in a manner to contradict his word. Instead, they have usurped the position of men and gone against Scriptural revelation. Additionally, those who state that they are called by God because of the great job they are doing and the gifting they have received, are basing their theology upon experience and not scripture. This is, unfortunately, a common occurrence in the Christian church today where experience, desires, and wants are often placed above Scripture.
WHAT ABOUT A MISSIONARY WOMAN WHO ESTABLISHES A CHURCH?
Scripture establishes the norm. As Christians, we apply what we learn from the word to the situations at hand. So, what about the situation where a woman missionary has converted a group of people, say in the jungle somewhere, and she has established a church? In that church, she is then functioning as a pastor and teacher having authority over men in the church. Should she not do this?
First of all, she should not be out there alone. She should be with her husband or, at the very least, under the oversight of a church body in the presence of other women and men. Missionary work is not a lone endeavor to be handled by single women.
Second, if in some highly unusual set of circumstances there is a woman in a lone situation, it is far more important that the word of God be preached and the gospel of salvation go forth to the lost than not. Whether it be male or female, let the gospel be spoken. However, I would say that as soon as there is/are males mature enough to handle eldership, then she should establish the proper order of the church as revealed in scripture and thereby show her submission to it.
DOES THIS ALSO MEAN THAT WOMEN SHOULDN’T WEAR JEWELRY?
1 Timothy 2:9-13 Tyndale, “Likewise also the women that they array themselves in mannerly apparel with shamefastness, and honest behavior, not with broided hair, other gold, or pearls, or costly array: but with such as becometh women that profess the worshipping of God thorow good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. I suffer not a woman to teach, neither to have authority over the man: but for to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, and then Eve.”
Some argue that if we are to forbid women to be elders, then the context of 1 Timothy 2:9-13 demands that we require women to no have braided hair, wear gold, or have costly garments. Since no one wants to put that sort of a demand on a woman (since it is cultural), then why should we also demand that they not be elders since it would logically follow that it was also a culturally based admonition?
The problem here is that multifaceted. First, the objection ignores what the scriptures plainly teach about the elder being the husband of one wife. Second, it fails to address the real issue of Biblical headship residing in the male. Third, it fails to properly exegete the scripture in question.
In 1 Timothy 2:9-13, Paul tells us that women should be modestly dressed. He uses the example of the then present-day adornment as an example of what not to do. This is a culturally based assessment by Paul. Notice that Paul emphasizes good works and godliness as a qualifier (as does Peter, see 1 Pet. 3:2). This is not a doctrinal statement tied to anything other than being a godly woman in appearance as well as attitude.
In verse 11, Paul says that a woman should quietly receive instruction.
Please note that the word, “esuchia” (ησυχια), translated “silence” in 1 Timothy 2:11 and in verse 12, does not mean complete silence with no talking. It is clearly used elsewhere (Acts 22:2; 2 Thes. 3:12) to mean “settled, undisturbed, not unruly.” A different word (sigese) means “to hold … peace” (to be silent, to say nothing cf. Luke 18:39; 1 Cor. 14:34). 5 It is not used here. So, Paul is advocating orderliness in this verse, not absolute silence.
Then in verse 12-13, Paul says, “I suffer not a woman to teach, neither to have authority over the man: but for to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, and then Eve.” Notice that Paul directly relates the authority issue with the created order. He does not do this with the woman’s dress code. Therefore, the dress code is cultural and the authority issue is doctrinal, since the latter is tied to the creation order and the dress code
CONCLUSION
God’s word clearly tells us that the elder is to be the husband of one wife. A woman cannot qualify for this position by virtue of her being female. Whether anyone likes it or not is irrelevant to the fact that this is what the Bible teaches.
If you’re in a church where there is a woman pastor or elder, then ask for the Biblical reason for her being in that position. Of course, to do this is to go against the status quo and you will be met with resistance. Therefore, consider leaving that church. After all, if they can’t get this simple truth right, how can you trust them to get other things right?
If you’re the husband of a woman pastor, then hold your wife to Biblical standards as revealed to and by Paul the apostle. It does not matter if she likes it or not. The issue is the submission to the Word of God.
If you’re a husband and wife pastor team, then submit to God’s Word and do things right. She needs to stop being called pastor. She needs to stop taking the role of the man.
Please click here: More information on “Women in Ministry”
1. An important note here is that the Holy Spirit is also called the Helper and is no less God than Jesus and the Father.
2. See article There were deaconesses, so there can be female elders and pastors
3. See the Economic Trinity.
4. The Promise is God’s promise to Abraham to bless all the nations in Him (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:8).
5. Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck, m>The Bible Knowledge Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Scripture Press Publications, Inc.), 1983, 1985.
Joyce Meyer
Joyce Meyer was born on June 4, 1943. She is married, has four children, and lives outside of St. Louis, Missouri. She runs the Joyce Meyer Ministries organization (joycemeyer.org). When examining the site’s statement of faith we are glad to see an affirmation of the Trinity, that man is a sinner, that without Jesus we can have no relationship with God, that salvation is a free gift, and that eternal hell is a real and serious consequence of sin. However, we are concerned with the statement on “divine healing” because there are so many aberrant groups that also affirm divine healing and also say that when people are sick it is because of sin. This necessitates further study. However, I am not aware of what Meyer’s position is on this.
The Joyce Meyer Ministry takes in a great deal of money. She travels in a private jet and has several multimillion dollar homes.
“While Meyer’s previous salary is unknown, a recent series of investigative articles in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch revealed Meyer’s ministry purchased for Joyce and Dave a $2 million home, a $10 million private jet, and houses worth another $2 million for the couple’s children, who also work for the ministry. The articles also outlined Meyer’s recent personal purchases, including a $500,000 vacation home. Meyer, 60, lives in Fenton, Missouri, near St. Louis.”
(1/1/2004, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/januaryweb-only/1-19-13.0.html)
Having a lot or a little money is neither good nor bad. If she has earned it all fairly through her work, fine. Nevertheless, this article will focus on her teaching, not on her finances. Let’s take a look at scripture, then Joyce Meyer’s teachings.
FIRST, WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
It is necessary that we Christians use biblical discernment when supporting any preacher and teacher of the gospel. It is irrelevant whether or not we like the person, think the person is a good speaker, or if the person says things that are uplifting. Instead, we must be as noble as the Bereans.
Acts 17:11, “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.”
1 Cor. 4:6, “Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to exceed what is written, in order that no one of you might become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.”
If the Bible says that even Paul was checked by scripture, and that we are not to exceed scripture’s teaching, then aren’t we obligated to judge what Mrs. Meyer says against the word of God? Of course we are. It is not enough to just believe what she says, no matter how good the words are or how well she presents them. Let’s not be taken in by a public figure who is confident, assertive, and appears to be biblical. Our duties as Christians include biblical discernment – which can only be done by examining what she says and comparing it with Scripture.
WHAT DOES JOYCE MEYER TEACH?
For the most part, Joyce Meyer preaches a positive, biblical message that is of great value to many people. We applaud her desire to be biblical, to point women to godly submission and humility, to trusting God, being loving, to have value based on what Christ has done for us, etc. These are all good. However, there are some very significant errors that we need to address. Some of them are so bad that she is outside of biblical orthodoxy and must be considered a false teacher. Let’s take a look at what Joyce Meyer has said.
Following is a list of quotes from Joyce Meyer, along with responses.
1. Jesus stopped being the Son of God: “He could have helped himself up until the point where he said I commend my spirit into your hands, at that point he couldn’t do nothing for himself anymore. He had become sin, he was no longer the Son of God. He was sin.” (http://storage.carm.org/joycemeyer/joyce-meyer-Jesus-became-sin-stopped-being-son-of-God.mp3)
Response: This is heresy. Jesus did not ever stop being the son of God. Essentially what she is saying is that Jesus stopped being divine, the eternal son, second person of the Trinity. This is an attack on the very nature of Christ and it is a dangerous false teaching. Joyce Meyer needs to repent and retract this statement. There is no place in Scripture that says Jesus stopped being the son of God. She’s adding to the word of God and placing in the hearts and minds of listeners false doctrine.
2. Jesus was born again: “The minute that blood sacrifice was accepted Jesus was the first human being that was ever born again,” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neKsa_74w7k&feature=related)
Response: This is just plain wrong. Being born again means to be saved from the wrath of God for a person’s sins (Eph. 2:1-3), to have a new birth (John 3:3), and to be regenerated (2 Cor. 5:17). Mrs. Meyer is simply wrong biblically. Why does she teach this? It can only be because she has bought into many of the errors of the Positive Confession movement where many say that Jesus lost his divine nature, went to hell, finished the atonement in hell, and was born again! These are serious errors.
3. Jesus paid for our sins in hell: “He became our sacrifice and died on the cross. He did not stay dead. He was in the grave three days. During that time he entered hell, where you and I deserve to go (legally) because of our sin. He paid the price there.” (The most important decision you’ll ever make, by Joyce Meyer, second printing, may 1993, page 35)
Response: This is blatantly wrong. Jesus did not pay the price of our redemption in hell. He paid the price on the cross. It was finished on the cross when he said, ”
“It is finished“, (John 19:30). Also, consider the following verses:
Col. 1:20, “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”
Col. 2:14, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;”
1 Pet. 2:24, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.“
4. Jesus went to hell in our place and was tormented: “Jesus paid on the cross and went to hell in my place. Then as God had promised, on the third day Jesus rose from the dead. The scene in the spirit realm went something like this: God rose up from his throne and said to demon powers tormenting the sinless son of God, ‘let him go.’ Then the resurrection power of Almighty God went through hell and filled Jesus. On earth his grave where they had buried him was filled with light as the power of God filled his body. He was resurrected from the dead — the first born again man.” (The most important decision you’ll ever make, by Joyce Meyer, second printing, may 1993, page 36)
Response: Where does she get this entirely fictitious dialogue between God and the demon powers? It is made up, not founded in scripture, and mistakenly assumes that Jesus went to hell, the place of torment and suffering after he died on the cross. The Bible does not teach any such thing. However, it does say that Jesus descended into the “…lower parts of the earth.” (Eph. 4:9). This can mean that Jesus was physically buried, or that Jesus went to Hell to inform those who had already died about who he was and what he did on the cross, or it can be referring to his incarnation as is contrasted with his ascending into heaven (Eph. 4:10). But there is simply no reason to believe that Jesus suffered in hell and finished the atonement there. See response to Quote 1.
5. If you don’t believe Jesus went to hell, you cannot be saved: “His spirit went to hell because that is where we deserve to go… There is no hope of anyone going to heaven unless they believe this truth.” (The most important decision you’ll ever make, by Joyce Meyer, second printing, may 1993, page 37)
Response: This is an amazingly bad statement on her part. She is saying that you cannot be saved from your sins unless you believe that Jesus went to hell where we deserve to go. This is a false modification of the gospel which is found in 1 Cor. 15:1-4 and states that the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Nowhere in scripture are we told to believe that Jesus suffered for us in hell or that he went there. This is not only wrong, it is heretical.
6. We are called little gods: “I was listening to a set of tapes by one man and he explained it like this..this kind of gets the point across…he said why do people have such a fit about God calling his creation, his creation, his man not his whole creation, but his man, little gods? If he’s God what’s he going to call them but the God kind? I mean if you as a human being have a baby you call it a human kind. If if [sic] cattle has another cattle they call it cattle kind. I mean what is God supposed to call ’em? Doesn’t the Bible say we are created in his image? Now you understand I am not saying you are god with a capital G. That is not the issue here so don’t go trying to stone me or yell blasphemy at me.” “The Bible says right here John 10:34…’and Jesus answered is it not written in your law I say we are gods.’ So men are called God’s by the law…“(Joyce Meyer). (www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrP3OLCH9GI&feature=related)
Response: In this clip she goes on to quote John 10:34 where Jesus says to the Pharisees “…Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” which is a quote from Psalm 82:6, which is an imprecatory Psalm of condemnation for the unrighteous judges. Psalm 82:7 says, “But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” She then turned to Psalm 82 and went through it. The video stopped, so I do not know what she would have said about the next, all-important verse.
7. Joyce Meyer said she is not a sinner: “I am not poor. I am not miserable and I am not a sinner. That is a lie from the pit of hell. That is what I were and if I still was then Jesus died in vain. I’m going to tell you something folks. I didn’t stop sinning until I finally got it through my thick head I wasn’t a sinner anymore. And the religious world thinks that’s heresy and they want to hang you for it. But the Bible says that I am righteous and I can’t be righteous and be a sinner at the same time.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dmHJdM63hk)
Response: Mrs. Meyer needs a lesson in basic biblical theology. 1 John 1:8 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Notice that John the apostle says “we.” He includes himself with sinners. Also, Paul said in Rom. 7:19-20, 24, “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me...24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Is Joyce Meyer better in Christian character than John and Paul? I think not. Mrs. Meyer fails to recognize her own sinfulness, and so mistakenly denies her own sinfulness. I can only conclude that this false teaching comes from pride because it certainly isn’t biblical.
The host of hell were literally on Jesus and were laughing: “They were having the biggest party that had ever been had. They had my Jesus in the floor and they were standing on his back jumping up and down laughing. And he had become sin. Don’t you think that God was pacing, wanting to put a stop to what was going on? All the host of hell were upon him. Upon him. Up on him. The angels were in agony. All the creation is groaning. All the host of hell was upon him. Up on him. They got on him. They got him down in the floor and got on him and they were laughing and mocking. Ha ha ha ha. You trusted God and look where you ended up. You thought he’d save you and get you off that cross. He didn’t, ha ha ha.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwNfOaxIcOMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwNfOaxIcOM)
Response: Where did she get this – in the sacred Book of Joycemeyeronomy? It is certainly not in the Bible, and yet she has no problem teaching it as an authoritative truth. Does she not know that the Bible says not to exceed what is written (1 Cor. 4:6)? She has done exactly that. She is in grave error and has violated God’s word that says that Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24) and finished the atonement on the cross (John 19:30) – not in hell at the hands of demons! There is no way demons were literally standing ‘on’ Jesus. Meyer is in gross error!
Joyce Meyer gets revelation knowledge: “The Bible can’t even find any way to explain this. Not really that is why you have got to get it by revelation. There are no words to explain what I am telling you. I have got to just trust God that he is putting it into your spirit like he put it into mine.” (http://storage.carm.org/audio/joycemeyer/joyce-meyer-revelation-knowledge.mp3)
Response: Revelation knowledge? Is she on par with the apostles who received revelation knowledge from God himself? Or how about the Old Testament prophets? Does she, like them, also receive revelation knowledge from God? If so, how would we know if it were true or not? The answer is simple: we test what she says against Scripture, and it is obvious that she is getting a lot of things from somewhere else that contradict the word of God.
JOYCE MEYER IS A PREACHER
As unpopular as it might be to say, Joyce Meyer is wrong for occupying the position of a preacher of God’s word. Not only does she preach false doctrines, but she also functions as a preacher by teaching God’s word, exegeting it, applying it, and telling people what to believe – in public. She is out of place for doing this. She speaks as a minister of the gospel teaching with authority. She needs to stop. If you doubt this, and if you also believe the word of God, then please read my next article “Should women be pastors and elders?“
Jesus Was Rational
A study of the life of Christ on Earth quickly reveals that Jesus functioned rationally, logically, and sensibly. Unlike many religious people who claim to represent Him, Jesus possessed high respect for doctrinal correctness (after all, He authored the Law!). In all of His interactions with people, He conducted Himself with logical precision. One example of this attribute of our Lord is seen on the occasion when Jesus entered the synagogue and encountered a man who had a deformed hand (Matthew 12:9-13). This circumstance prompted His enemies to ask Him a question in hopes of being able to accuse Him of breaking the Law. They asked: “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?” Of course, they had pre-decided that the answer to the question was “no”, that, in fact, the Law would naturally forbid such an action.
Unfortunately, the prevailing interpretation of the Law of Moses at the time, at least among the Jewish leaders, was that the Sabbath law enjoined total inactivity—as if everyone was to sit down for 24 hours and do nothing. This view was a distortion of God’s law on the matter. The Law gave the right, even the obligation, to engage in several activities (that could rightly be designated “work”) that did not constitute violation of the Sabbath regulation. On this occasion, Jesus pinpointed one such instance: “…What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?” (vs. 11). Jesus was recalling a directive from the Law of Moses:
“Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself. Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.”
(Deuteronomy 22:1-4; cf. Exodus 23:4-5).
Such passages give insight into the nature of God, and provide tremendous assistance in making proper application of God’s laws to everyday circumstances.
Observe that God’s laws never contradict or countermand each other. Unlike manmade laws which often manifest inconsistency and contradiction, God’s laws function in perfect harmony with each other. The Mosaic passage to which Jesus alluded demonstrates that the general principle of the cessation of usual work on the Sabbath did not conflict with any number of specific circumstances in which benevolence and compassion were to be expressed. In an agriculturally-based society, a family’s survival depends on its farm animals. If a sheep, ox, or donkey were to break out of its stall, flee the premises, and then fall into a pit from which it would be unable to extricate itself, the animal would most likely die or become seriously ill if left in its predicament for 24 hours. To expend the necessary effort (i.e., “work”) to retrieve the animal from danger was not considered by God to be included in the Sabbath prohibition. Hence, Jesus stated the logical conclusion: “How much then is a man better than a sheep?…” (vs. 12). If action could be exerted to see to the well-being of a dumb animal, then obviously, God would approve of action taken to see to the physical care of a human being! The logic is penetrating and decisive. Far from suggesting that law is unimportant and may be ignored under the guise of “human need”, or implying that humans can break the “letter of the law” in order to keep the “spirit of the law” (see Miller, 2003), Jesus demonstrated that inherently built into God’s laws are all concerns deemed by Deity to be necessary. The benevolent, loving thing to do will always harmonize with God’s laws, since “…therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:10), i.e., every truly loving action has already been defined by God in His legal admonitions.
The religion of Christ surpasses all human religion. It is rooted in the very essence of Deity. When Jesus took on human form on Earth, He showed Himself to be the Master logician Who always conducted Himself in a rational manner. May we do likewise.
REFERENCES
Miller, Dave (2003), “The Spirit and Letter of the Law,” Apologetics Press, http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1225.
Sinister Sites: The Sansevero Chapel
May 26, 2017
Local legends about the Sansevero Chapel of Naples claim that the astonishing works of art it contains are the result of sorcery and black magic. The sculptures appear impossible to create by hand, while a macabre display featuring two actual human bodies is said to be the result of ritual killings. Also, adding to the occult aura surrounding the chapel, it is filled with Masonic symbolism.
At first glance, Capella Sansevero is your typical Italian chapel from the 17th century, tastefully filled with paintings and sculptures of a religious nature. However, a closer look at the various items in the chapel reveals that something is “off” about this place. Some sculptures are so “organic-looking” that they lead many to believe they were the result of a supernatural process. Furthermore, the enigmatic symbolism found around the chapel heavily hints to an allegorical esoteric message.
And, when visitors climb down a few stairs, they see this:
Bilderberg 2017: The Agenda and the Full Attendees List
June 2, 2017
This year, the Bilderberg meeting is taking place in Virginia, USA. Here’s a look at the topics that will be discussed at this elite meeting and the full list of attendees.
The three-day summit of the political and economic elite began on June 1st at the Westfields Marriott in Virginia. The luxury hotel has been on complete lockdown since Wednesday as a team of landscapers have been busy planting trees around the perimeter to protect the site from prying eyes.
Zeitgeist Debunked: Jesus Is Not A Copy Of Pagan Gods
Joel Osteen false prophet/teacher
Why Believe that Jesus is the Only Way?
Why Believe that Jesus Is the Only Way?
Recent polls show that a disturbing percentage of Christians fail to understand what the Bible tells us about Jesus. According to a Barna poll from 2000, about one out of four born-again Christians believes that it doesn’t matter what faith you follow because they all teach the same lessons. Fifty-six percent of non-Christians agree. Many today water down the radical claims of Jesus – to say that “Jesus works for me” instead of “Jesus is Lord.”
My experience highlights the challenge facing those who claim that Jesus is the singular way to God and redemption. Spirituality is ‘in,’ but Christianity is often ‘out.’ Our culture openly addresses the nature and needs of the soul and how to be spiritually successful. Most Americans have a positive view of Jesus, however blurry it may be. They see Him as a sage, mystic, or a prophet. Yet when Christians affirm that Jesus is “…the way, the truth and the life:…” and that no one can be reconciled to God apart from Him (John 14:6), many reject it.
Is there a strong biblical case for the supremacy of Jesus in a world of personalized spirituality?
Many today don’t have a firm grasp on what the Bible says about Jesus. Was He just a wise man? A prophet? Douglas Groothuis presents Biblical evidence for Christ’s lordship.
SPIRITUALLY INCORRECT
“I love Jesus“, exclaimed a woman in the audience, “but He never wanted anyone to worship Him!” As I looked at the group of about thirty people, I saw nods of agreement and heard rumblings of approval. Another member of the panel discussion that I was on said, “I find the way of Jesus helpful, but I can’t exclude anyone’s spirituality outside of Christianity.” Someone else in the audience declared that Jesus was only a prophet and that the Qur’an was more important than the New Testament.
These comments were offered during a panel discussion on ‘spirituality’. Two of the other panelists were from a theological seminary where Jesus is not acknowledged as Lord and the Bible is not respected as God’s written communication to humanity. Another panelist repeatedly said all religions teach that we are one with God. She said she accepted Jesus – but only as one way, not the only way.
Recent polls show that a disturbing percentage of Christians fail to understand what the Bible tells us about Jesus. According to a Barna poll from 2000, about one out of four born-again Christians believes that it doesn’t matter what faith you follow because they all teach the same lessons. Fifty-six percent of non-Christians agree. Many today water down the radical claims of Jesus – to say that “Jesus works for me” instead of “Jesus is Lord“.
My experience highlights the challenge facing those who claim that Jesus is the singular way to God and redemption. Spirituality is ‘in’, but Christianity is often ‘out’. Our culture openly addresses the nature and needs of the soul and how to be spiritually successful. Most Americans have a positive view of Jesus, however blurry it may be. They see Him as a sage, mystic, or a prophet. Yet when Christians affirm that Jesus is “…the way, the truth and the life:…“, and that no one can be reconciled to God apart from Him (John 14:6), many reject it.
Is there a strong biblical case for the supremacy of Jesus in a world of personalized spirituality? A careful look at the New Testament – the main document we have about Jesus’ life – answers this question for us. I will present some of the Biblical evidence that Jesus Christ was God incarnate and the only way to abundant and eternal life. As Christians seeking to think Biblically, it is important to know and affirm what the Bible says about Jesus and the way to salvation – whether it’s politically correct or not.
PROPHET, PRIEST AND KING
Jesus never suggested that He was another prophet or that He was merely one of many mystics who tapped into spiritual power and knowledge. When Jesus was involved in a dispute about the Sabbath, He exclaimed that He is “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:23-27). Genesis 2:3 teaches us that God created and instituted the Sabbath; it was not invented by any mere human. Jesus is, therefore, claiming to have divine authority over the Sabbath as God.
In another argument about the Sabbath, Jesus proclaimed, “…My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” At this, the Jews tried even harder to kill Him because He was “…making himself equal with God.” (John 5:17-18). One should notice that Jesus did not oppose their conclusions.
Jesus ended another dispute by saying, “Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58). Jesus was referring to the time that God declared Himself to Moses as “…I AM THAT I AM:…” (Exodus 3:14). Hearing this, the Jews then tried to stone Jesus, because He was claiming to have existed as God before He was born. Jesus claimed to be God incarnate.
Jesus’ claim to be God in the flesh singles Him out of the crowd
Although many claim that Jesus does not differ much from other religious leaders such as Buddha, Jesus’ claim to be God in the flesh singles Him out of the crowd. The Buddha claimed no such thing, nor did Muhammad or Confucius. But Jesus’ claims’ were not spoken in a vacuum. They were backed by His credentials. He fulfilled a host of prophecies given by the Hebrew prophets concerning 1. His virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38),
2. His divinity (Jeremiah 23:5-6; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1),
3. His atoning work on the cross (Isaiah 53; 1 Peter 2:24-25) and
4. His resurrection from the dead (Psalm 16:8-11; Acts 2:24-28).
Besides this, Jesus substantiated His divine claims with a perfectly righteous life, compassion for the downtrodden (which was often expressed through His many healing miracles, including raising the dead), His genius and authority as a teacher, and His unsurpassed insight into the human condition. It is no wonder that people worshipped Him.
After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciple Thomas, who had doubted the reports that His master was raised from the dead. When Thomas saw Jesus, he cried out, “My Lord and my God.” (John 20:28). Jesus accepted Thomas’ worship. The Book of Revelation tells us that a host of angels and saints are continually worshipping “…the Lamb that was slain…” (Revelation 5:12-13; see also 7:17). No other religious leader in history is accorded this honor; none other deserves it.
RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE
To better understand why Jesus is the only way, we need to center on His death and resurrection. No founder or leader of any world religion claimed to die as a sacrifice for human sin in order to set us right with God. Nor is any other world religion based on the resurrection of its divine founder.
Jesus taught the Jewish teacher Nicodemus that God’s love was supremely expressed by sending His “…only begotten Son…” so that whoever trusts in Him would not be lost but would experience everlasting life (John 3:16). Jesus is God’s only begotten son, the once-for-all revelation of God among us (Matthew 1:23). He came not simply to display His deity in humanity, but to offer Himself as a sufficient sacrifice for our wrongdoing and separation from God. Jesus declared, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10) and “…to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28).
Jesus announced to His disciples that “…All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”, and that they must “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” (Matthew 28:18-20). This call to discipleship is rooted in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus in history. The origin and rapid growth of the Christian movement cannot be explained apart from this supernatural event.
The New Testament’s reports of the resurrection of Christ are written by eyewitnesses or those who carefully consulted them not long after the events occurred (2 Peter 1:16; Luke 1:1-4). Their truthfulness as historical documents stands up to careful testing. Confessing Christ as the risen Lord need not be and should not be a blind leap of faith in the dark. Indeed, Peter told his readers that they should “…be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” (1 Peter 3:15).
Jesus is not a hobby. He is Lord. Therefore, Peter preached that “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). In a world filled with many false views of Christ, we can rest in the truth of the gospel, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16).
© 2006 Douglas Groothuis
Slain in The Spirit
Article From Searching Together Magazine, Spring 1996
Many today are enamored with a phenomenon called “slain in the spirit,” which is sweeping through many denominations. What does the phrase “slain in the spirit” mean? Do we find evidence of such activity in the Scriptures? Do historical and modern “slain in the spirit” services produce manifestations that could be considered occultic in origin? Who is the power behind “slain in the spirit” activity? Do we have a responsibility to ascertain whether such activity is godly or ungodly?
I John 4:1 provides this command: “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” Most Christians are aware that cults or New Age sects are backed by false prophets and evil spirits. However, too many Christians are unwilling to honestly assess the spirit behind their own assembly or favorite televangelist.
Australian author, Nader Mikhaiel, in his book entitled, Toronto Blessing: “Slaying in the Spirit, the Telling Wonder,” starts his evaluation by asking, “What would your response be to the account of the following New York missionary?”
During the 1800’s, cripples, paralytics and the blind were healed “as in the days of old, by laying on of hands in the name of Jesus,” under a New York missionaries ministry. Healing recipients, praising God, rushed to gather ill friends and neighbors who were also healed. Seeing the miracles, converts clamored to receive baptism and join the church…of a Mormon missionary.
Biblical theology soundly refutes the central teachings of Mormonism as blatantly cultic and unscriptural. Until one discovers that the missionary was Mormon, such testimony is apt to inspire an elated chorus of “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Thank you, Jesus!” The moral of this anecdote is: just because miracles occur, Jesus is not necessarily the power behind them.
From this anecdote we also learn that we must be careful not to call evil good or good evil. What complicates matters is the fact that the whole issue of spiritual gifts divides the body of Christ. We need to honestly evaluate the “slain in the spirit phenomenon without dogmatically jumping into our camp of choice. While some Christians refuse to believe that God works in signs and wonders today, others will accept any spiritual manna they find without discerning its origin. Religious history is rife with spiritual excesses and demonic activities that were concealed “for the good of the work.” Inordinate emotionalism, for the most part, can be gracefully accepted. As for the cases of actual demonic activity, it is common knowledge that the enemy of our souls will always attempt to thwart or counterfeit the genuine work of God. However, this does not excuse Christians from their responsibility to honestly examine controversial movements and ministries.
Both the early American frontier camp revivals and California’s famous Asuza Street meetings (circa 1908), known for “slain phenomena, provide examples of controversial movements that necessitated examination. For the moment we will focus on the associated signs, rather than the “slain” phenomenon itself. Frontier camp meetings exhibited the following problematic behavior:
* While “Slain in the Spirit,” people unconsciously stripped or exhibited lewd behavior.’
* Special patrols….discouraged lascivious activities around the camp perimeters.
* People while “slain in the Spirit” writhed barked and howled”
* Azusa Street meetings also had problems with mediums and familiar spirits controlling church meetings.
A contemporary movement, called the “Toronto Blessing,” has exhibited many of these manifestations. According to George Koch’s article, “The Force or ‘Pumped, Scooped, Charged and Slain’”, the Toronto Blessing was the product of So. African Evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne’s “laughing-revival” crusades. Koch states that “The phenomenon included infectious laughter, spasms, resting in the spirit, and a variety of noises that some describe as sounding like animals.” Koch is worried by the parallels he sees between this movement and manifestations associated with the “shaktipat” of practitioners like Swami Muktanada. Shaktipat is defined as the “art of transferring supernatural Hindu powers from one person to another.” After the swami touched a follower, that person would fall unconscious, shake uncontrollably, or laugh ecstatically.
Dr. Pat Dixon, in his book Signs of Revival, endorses the Toronto Blessing movement and associated manifestations. He states, “[Altered States of Consciousness] are…the key to understanding many Christian experiences, particularly in what is happening to many churches today…we may refer to this as a trance or hypnosis.”‘ Hypnosis, considered demonic by Christendom, has always been associated with occultists, shamans, sorcerers and others of their ilk.
In The Toronto Blessing. Slain in the Spirit. the Telling Wonder, Mikhaiel devotes more than one hundred pages to a comparison between hypnotically induced behavior and “slain” behavior. After studying the phenomena, he offers several conclusions:
* Non-Christians can receive the Toronto Blessing and remain unsaved.
* Analysis is not conducive to experiencing the manifestations.
* True prayer stops the manifestations.
* The invoking of the Blood of Jesus stops the manifestations.
* Manifestations may cause people to get out of line with Scripture.
* Manifestations “may cause people to forget about Jesus. ”
* Manifestations allow people to experience supernatural power without devotion to Jesus.
Mikhaiel also includes statistics on the study of 350 people who were “healed” at Charles S. Price’s revival in British Columbia. Following are the results of the six month follow-up study: 301 people remained sick, 39 died and 5 had become insane. Five claimed that they had remained healed. When a charismatic service leaves sham healings, death and insanity in its wake, Christians are disgraced and God is impugned!
Now that we have examined historical examples of Toronto Blessing type manifestations and other “slain” activity, let us explore the scriptural data that appears to parallel the “slain in the spirit” phenomena. Since phrases like “slain in the spirit” and “under the power” do not appear in the Bible, we must take an indirect approach.
Do we find evidence that people “fell” when prophets, apostles or Jesus of Nazareth laid hands on them? No. Matthew 19:13-15 records an incident where Jesus prayed for a group of children. Do the Scriptures say, “He laid hands on them and the children fell at his feet”? No. Jesus put his hands on the children, prayed, and went away. John chapter twenty records that Jesus breathed on his disciples, blessed them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Did they fall? Not according to the scriptural account. Do we find evidence that people ever “fell” in the presence of Jesus? Yes. However, not one incident is linked with the laying on of hands.
Is there evid
ence of people falling during divine visitations? Yes. Let us examine a few Scriptures that describe “falling behavior” in such situations. When Daniel fainted during an angelic encounter, the angel touched him and commanded him to rise (Dan. 8:16-18). Twice, when Ezekiel fell in the Lord’s presence, the Spirit entered the prophet and helped him stand (Ezekiel ch 2-3). When the Father commended his Son on the Mount of Transfiguration the disciples fell to the ground (Matt. 17:5-7). Jesus “. . .touched them and said,’ Arise and be not afraid.”‘
Honest exegesis demands that we do not omit those Scriptures that contain encounters where the fallen were not commanded to rise. Genesis 17 specifically records an incident where Abraham fell and apparently stayed prone as the Lord conversed with him. Revelation 1:10-19 records a riveting account where John, while “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day…fell as if dead.” Jesus laid his hand on John and said, “Fear not,” but did not command him to stand. Ignoring Scripture references such as these could lead one to the false conclusion that it is improper to remain prone before the Lord!
Following are two more examples of falling behavior. Note that in both instances the people involved were hostile to the Lord. The first happened in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judas betrayed the Lord to the temple guards (John 18:3-6). Also, Saul (prior to becoming the Apostle Paul) became blind and fell on the Damascus Road when confronted by Jesus for persecuting Christians (Acts 9:3-9).
Many incidents of “falling behavior” are recorded throughout the Bible, but it is not clear whether people fell “under the power” or were overcome with awe, fear or anxiety. While this sampling of scriptural “falling behavior” provides possible precedent for a “slain” phenomena, it seems like the “falling” that occurs in many Spirit-led services is not the same as that which is portrayed in the Bible.
In his book, Mikhaiel defines the phenomenon and cites several differences between scriptural “falling” and modern-day “falling.” The following is his definition of the “slain in the spirit” phenomena:
“[It] usually starts with the leader inviting people with physical, emotional, or spiritual needs forward…as the leader begins to lay hands on the individuals, some fall backwards. They are usually caught by “catchers,” who prevent them from falling directly on the floor. Some lie quietly on the floor, others jerk, twitch, laugh, weep,…roar like lions, bark…howl or cluck like chickens. Others might jump up and down, roll on the floor, and some see visions.”
* Mikhaiel contends that scriptural “falling” and modern-day “falling” are quite dissimilar.
* God (or angels), not people, caused every “spiritual” falling mentioned in the Bible.
* Modern falling usually occurs when people come to the front to be touched or pushed.
* “Catchers” are not scriptural.
* No scriptural personage was ever healed after participating in a “falling exercise.”‘”
Note also that it is highly significant that in the Scriptural occurrences of “falling” God encountered people as individuals and had special, not trivial, revelation to communicate. When God met these individuals they were not in a corporate setting and their response to the Lord was one of fear and awe, not laughter. In the few incidences where God confronted multitudes of people, and some or all fell, the purpose was often for judgment, not blessing, and their falling was caused by great fear at God’s overwhelming presence.
Mikhaiel, having researched the “slain” phenomena, feels that most of the manifestations that occur in many churches today are either faked or occultic. At the conclusion of a chapter entitled, “The Spirit Behind the Manifestations,” Mikhaiel states that “This is not the work of the Holy Spirit, but the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy.”” While Mikhaiel definitely believes that all phenomena associated with “falling behavior,” from tongues to “under the power” healings are suspect, his research is certainly worthy of serious consideration.
Watchman Nee, a Chinese evangelist, proposed similar observations during a series of lectures in 1928. Nee stated that “Man’s soul power is Satan’s working instrument” and that soul power will be used in the last-days as a substitute for God’s gospel and power. He further predicted that many last-day Christians would be deceived by Satan’s use of this counterfeit power.”
How can we discern the spirit behind such manifestations? Several tests may help our discernment: the Scripture Test, the Fruit Test, the Person Test and the Wilderness Temptation Test.
Scripture Test: We must honestly compare all such manifestations to the Scriptures. Since the phrase “slain in the Spirit” cannot be found in the Scriptures, that in itself should cause us to question the validity of the phenomenon.
Fruit Test:
We must judge spiritual leaders and their ministry by the fruits that are produced. Note that success, power, influence and wealth in themselves do not validate a minister or his ministry. Many people look at the “buds” of a spiritual leader or his ministry and pass judgment before the “fruit” has time to mature.
Person Test:
Remember that the Holy Spirit is a Person, not an impersonal power to be wielded. Simon the Sorcerer made that mistake in Acts 8. Many practitioners of “slain” activity communicate that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force that can be controlled by Christians. Such a view is unscriptural because the Holy Spirit is intelligent (1 Cor. 2:10-11), has feelings (Eph. 4:30) and has a will (1 Cor. 12:1).
Wilderness Temptation Test:
Take note of the temptations of Christ in Matthew 4!
First, Satan tempted Jesus to immediately satisfy His needs rather than wait for God’s wisdom and timing.
Second, Satan tempted Jesus to substitute His own will for God’s will and use supernatural power to bring it to pass. God is not a genie-in-a-lamp whose purpose is to grant our every wish. When we try to use Scripture or supernatural power to bend God’s Word or God’s Will to our will, it is like using magical incantations to alter reality. When you hear teachings that say “God must grant any petition you want and He has to do it NOW,” because of verses like Matthew 18:19, beware! Also, remember that Joseph wanted to escape from prison, but he did not get out until God’s purpose was fulfilled!
Third, Satan tempted Jesus to trade worship and service to God for power and possessions. This third form of temptation can come in an obvious form as in Matthew 4:8-9. Crafty being that Satan is, however, he often uses a more subtle approach.
Scripture says, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Neither authority nor wealth are wrong. But if authority or wealth are your treasures, rather than worship or service to God, it is sin. Just as Satan tempted Christ with these temptations, he will tempt Christians today. When examined closely, many statements issued by those associated with “slain” or Toronto Blessing type ministries fail one or more of the above tests!
Many have failed to test the spirits and have been duped into teaching twisted doctrines of seducing spirits. Other teachers have knowingly become false prophets or sold themselves into immoral bondage. Sadly, many deceived Christians, when they discover their error, refuse to admit their mistake. Pride and ignorance hinder many Christians from testing the spirits today, especially concerning contemporary Toronto Blessing and other “slain in the spirit” movements.
Conclusion
Just because signs and wonders, including the “slain in the spirit” phenomenon, occur “in the church,” that does not mean that Jesus is the power behind them. There is little doubt to the discerning that many Christians today are being exposed to seducing spirits and Christianized New Age philosophies on an unprecedented scale. Whether much “slain” activity occurs because of lack of knowledge, fakery, hypnotic suggestion or evil spirits, Biblical precedent for “falling behavior” does exist. However, the genuine “slain in the Spirit” experience, as portrayed in Scripture, often differs radically from the “falling behavior” associated with past and present religious services. Christians must test the spirits and observe both the fruit of the spiritual leader and his ministry. Members of the body must always remember to seek Jesus Christ himself, not his signs or gifts. Following after people whose ministries display great supernatural power, whether they are genuine servants of God or servants of evil spirits, can lead to spiritual shipwreck.
While some Christians will refuse to test the spirits as commanded in I John 4:1, others will jump aboard the bandwagon which emphatically denies that Jesus works today, at all, in signs, wonders and spiritual gifts – especially when it comes to tongues or a prophetical word of knowledge. Both extremes are bad. We must remember that Jesus was not addressing New Age devotees when he spoke the famous words of Matthew 7:22, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.“
Editor’s Note:
“If we do not preach about sin and God’s judgment on it, we cannot present Christ as Saviour from sin and the wrath of God. And if we are silent about these things, and preach a Christ who saves only from self and the sorrows of this world, we are not preaching the Christ of the Bible . . . Such preaching may soothe some, but it will help nobody; for a Christ who is not seen and sought as a Saviour from sin will not be found to save from self or from anything else”
AZUSA STREET The Birth of a Lie – Part 2
SLAYING PLUS TONGUES EQUALS REVIVAL?
When W. J. Seymour preached at Azusa Street, the meetings were called a ‘revival’. Why? Because so-called slaying in the spirit and tongues were combined! To these early Pentecostalists they were the ‘proof’ that God was with them in a powerful way. The hard fact is, all the manifestations were those found in demonic hypnosis (see BTM Article on the subject).
One who took part in these early years, Bartleman, said: “At Eighth and Maple Streets such a divine ‘weight of glory’ was upon us we could only lie on our faces. For a long time we could hardly remain seated even…” (‘Another Wave Rolls In’, by Bartleman. Voice Publications. 1962). And: “It was also reported that the ‘jerks’ and ‘treeing the devil’ (that is, crawling on all fours and barking up a tree like a dog) were in evidence in the (Azusa) mission.”
Bartleman, in favour of the movement and not wanting to write anything negative, refers to a Baptist pastor who ran around hugging everyone he could get hold of. This was called ‘divine love’. Remember, all this – and the kissing – all took place at a time in history when such behavior would have been shocking. Yet it was accepted as of God, without question.
One missionary leader spoke with horror about what happened at Azusa Street, declaring that “it would be impossible to publish the things that have occurred there. The familiarity between sexes in the public meetings has been shocking, to say the least. Hell has reaped an awful harvest and infidelity has become more strongly rooted…than ever before.” (‘Demons and Tongues’).
All along in these descriptions we are reading carbon-copies of Toronto and other charismatic antics. Sexual impropriety is rife, as is marital breakdown and other problems.
Significantly, Seymour, a leader of the movement, “ultimately repudiated the initial evidence teaching (speaking in tongues) as providing an open door for witches and spiritualists and free lovism.” (‘Dictionary of P & C Movements’). Parham, the ‘father’ of Pentecostalism, had this to say about Azusa: “Men and women, whites and blacks, knelt together or fell across one another; frequently, a white woman, perhaps of wealth and culture, could be seen thrown back in the arms of a big ‘buck nigger’, and held tightly thus as she shivered and shook in freak imitation of Pentecost. Horrible awful shame!” Yes, that was the leader of the movement talking! (‘Fields White Unto Harvest’, by James Goff Jnr. University of Arkansas Press, 1988). In those days these were scenes of degradation and immorality. Before he left Azusa Street, Parham said “God is sick at His stomach” (Shumway). All of these things and more go on at Wimber and other charismatic meetings. Now we come to worse facts…
WITCHES AND MEDIUMS
The occurrences at Azusa Street soon attracted the attention of occultists far and wide. They did so not because God was in the movement, but because He was NOT!
“…spiritualists and mediums from the numerous occult societies of Los Angeles began to attend and to contribute their séances and trances to the services.” (‘The Holiness Pentecostal Movement in the United States’ by Vinson Synan. Grand Rapids. 1971). I would ask Pentecostalists to read that statement again. Does it not tell you something about the true nature of your denomination?
Seymour was terrified by these activities, which took place in the middle of his church’s services. He wrote frantically to Parham, begging him to come to Los Angeles to sort things out. “W. J. Seymour was still writing urgent letters appealing for help, as spiritualistic manifestations, hypnotic forces and fleshly contortions as known in the coloured Camp meetings in the south, had broken loose in the meetings.” He wanted to know which parts were real and which were false. It did not enter his mind that it was ALL false! The manifestations he refers to are exactly those that were shown in Rodney Howard Browne, Copeland, Benny Hinn and other charismatic meetings, during and since the Toronto Blessing. They currently are alive in Pensacola.
As Nader Mikhaiel correctly observes: “How could an outpouring of the Spirit of God attract the witches, the mediums and the spiritualists? Fragrance does not attract flies – a decomposing carcass does. Mediums and spiritualists are attracted to the spirit that is at work in them, that is, the Devil.” How else could these evil people participate in what was supposed to be a ‘revival’ meeting? The only answer is that the events at Azusa Street were not of God at all, but were of satan. That has a serious ramification – that Pentecostalism is based not on the work of God, but on the work of satan. As we have said many times before, this has nothing to do with how ‘nice’ a person is, or how ‘holy’ he claims to be, or how much he says he ‘loves Jesus’, etc. What matters is how he obeys the Lord’s commands as found in scripture. Azusa Street did not obey the Lord, but propagated perversions of truth. What followed, therefore, was also a perversion – which continues to this very day.
Again to quote Mikhaiel: “Did the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost attract mediums and spiritualists, to participate with the disciples?” No, of course they did not! Something I have discovered in my own work is that mediums and spiritualists are powerless in the presence of God. I have noted how spiritualists have been dumb when I have been near, and I have watched a man overtaken by a demon crawl into a corner, crying out that I leave ‘him’ alone because I ‘knew God’. He was forced to crawl and snivel, just as demons cried out to Jesus not to harm them. This happened not because of my own strength or holiness, but because of the Master I represented! I had no power of my own, yet even the derived, delegated authority of a mortal, sinful Christian was enough to send demons scurrying away. Why did they not scatter at Azusa Street? I think you can already guess the answer.
The power of satan was so strong that the “supernatural atmosphere of Azusa Street was felt within several blocks…”! If it had been the power of God, mediums and spiritualists would not have been able to enter that hallowed area. Instead, they flocked there and joined in the revelry, because they recognized that the same spirit as they had was present in Azusa Street.
Bartleman tells us that the folk at the church were petrified by the occultists: “…spiritualists, hypnotists…all the religious soreheads and crooks and cranks came…We had the most to fear from these…This condition cast a fear over many which was hard to overcome. It hindered the spirit so much. Many were afraid to seek God for fear the devil might get them.” A revival? Never! This is the kind of fear generated by the might of satan, not by God. God cannot be hindered by satan.
As Mikhaiel points out – Seymour was a false apostle. But no more so than all others who follow in his footsteps. If God works through a Pentecostalist it can only be by special divine intervention, over and above what He normally does. Such an intervention must be in spite of a man being a Pentecostalist. Any such grace is certainly not a reason to remain a Pentecostalist.
PARHAM – UNABLE TO ACT
Parham could not shift this awful pestilence. He was ‘repelled’ by what he witnessed and when he attempted to rectify the situation, Seymour and his followers split from him. They did not like it. This is exactly how Toronto Blessing leaders reacted to rebuke and help from faithful Christians. Parham saw hypnotists (occultists) practicing hypnotism at the altar. Later, he confessed that it was all of satan, for he saw “hypnotic influences, familiar spirit influences, spiritualistic influences, mesmeric influences and all kinds of spells and spasms, falling in trances etc….” He refuted them as being of God, as his own wife testified. (‘The Life of Charles F Parham’ by Sarah Parham. Garland Publishing. 1985).
It transpired that Parham was “not wanted” at Azusa Street. Why not? Because one of the elders was himself a hypnotist, who passed on the power to speak in tongues to others! Or as Parham put it: “chattering, jabbering, speaking in no language at all”. (Parham).
Parham tried to counter the evil at Azusa Street by holding parallel meetings elsewhere, to deliver people from possession by demons. He said: “between two and three hundred who had been possessed of awful fits and spasms and controls in the Azusa Street work were delivered, and received the real Pentecost teachings and many spake with other tongues.” Superficially this all sounds great – Parham successfully stole away satan’s prizes!
But we must look far deeper than that. satan is no fool. He was as much at work in Parham’s meetings as he was in Azusa Street. But in a different way. He merely shifted his locus of attention, from one church to another. With much panache, he grandly allowed Parham to ‘exorcise’ his demons, and then placed them back again, making Parham’s converts speak in tongues that were just as false as the ones they previously had! satan has a grim sense of humor, friends. If he can gain something by pretending to be cast out by false prophets, then he will gladly join in the fun. So, what appears to be an exorcism is actually a worsening of the situation. As scripture tells us, if a man is not cleansed of sin after being exorcised of demons, then even more demons will enter him, causing even greater havoc in his life…a havoc far worse than he had experienced previously. Remember this when you next contemplate the supposed exorcisms in charismatic and Pentecostalist meetings. satan is not being cast out – he is just reinforcing his position by assuming another guise.
SPREAD OF INFECTION
Just as happened with the Toronto Blessing, so the Azusa Street phenomenon spread, and the same manifestations occurred. The founder of the Foursquare Gospel church, Aimee Semple McPherson, wrote of exactly the same manifestations as are found in Pensacola and in charismatic churches worldwide today. That is because the same satanic influence and falsity has been passed on, decade by decade.
This woman received the ‘spirit’ and the ‘gifts’ in the same way as charismatics do today. Such is obviously not of God. For example, “it was as though He would tear my body to pieces…He verily split my throat…(someone said to her) ‘the Lord is able to repair any damage He does to the old temple. After being tossed about violently for quite awhile until I was panting for breath and wet with perspiration, I…poured forth praise to God in tongues…” (‘This Is That’, by Aimee McPherson. Echo Park Evangelistic Association. 1923). Of God? Never! She, too, called the ‘revival’ the ‘latter rain’ of God. When this ‘rain’ spread to Britain, rooms were ‘rocked’ at prayer meetings. That is the work of demons, not of God.
This is just a smattering of information concerning Azusa Street and the formation of Pentecostalism. If a reader cannot see the demonic behind it all, then there is very little that further study would bring. Pentecostalists should consider this – if what they have is truly of God, why is it the same as is being experienced by charismatics, and which has been experienced continuously since Azusa Street, where mediums and spiritualists recognized the ‘spirit’ to be their own Satanic spirit? The experiences are not just similar – they are exactly the same.
May God help us all to ‘read between the lines’ of what is happening today.
Discernment is essential if we are to remain faithful to the Lord and stand against error.
This Article has given the historical facts concerning the beginning of Pentecostalism. Now that you know the truth, what are you going to do about it? If you have Pentecostal friends, will you show them their error? Or will you stand by and allow them to think they are okay? Will you let them continue thinking that their various Pentecostal ideas are of God? Will you urge them to repent and leave what is a heinous deception of the Devil dressed in acceptable guise?
The days are short.
There is no time for nice chit-chat. Pentecostalism (charismaticism) is growing rapidly. Will we now stand against it and raise the banner of Jesus Christ? Or will we all stand by and allow charismatics to raise their own false standard, proclaiming themselves to be God’s people on this earth? You have the choice – to stand firm or to mix with error. Telling friends they are in gross error is a very hard thing to do. This is acknowledged. But what is being tested is not friendship – it is loyalty and faithfulness to the Lord, His word and Truth. It is always sad when those we thought were friends shun us because of a firm stand for the Lord. That is the way it has always been.
(Acknowledgements for quotes are made to: ‘The Toronto Blessing and Slaying in the Spirit – the telling wonder’ by Nader Mikhaiel….an exceptional book written by a man of discernment)
Bible Theology Ministries
PO Box 415, SWANSEA SA5 8YH
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© November 1994
AZUSA STREET The Birth of a Lie
By: K. B. Napier
In the past I have said that not all charismatics are the same, but that they all share the same guilt for their errors. Charismatics are the spawn of Pentecostalism. It is therefore prudent to see whether or not the child of Pentecostalism is just a wild and unprecedented mistake – or if it is a genealogical reproduction of its parent. If it is a mistake, then Pentecostalism might be exonerated. But, what if charismaticism is a true child, an image of its parent? If this is so, then we have no option but to cast Pentecostalism into the same pit that charismaticism belongs to.
These are very hard words if we personally know Pentecostalists – especially if they are of the ‘old school’. I know some, and they are nice folk. But this is where we must shed the emotional ties that can cause us to accept and promote error. Our aim must be to exalt and promote God’s word (KJV) and holiness, not our own version of what is acceptable. Emotion and friendships have no part in the process*. There is only one way to do this and, that is, to measure everything by scripture. We will now look briefly at the beginnings of Pentecostalism as a movement, as it manifested itself at Azusa Street church. (* Of course, friendships and emotion are important. What I am saying is that they cannot be allowed to alter the course of Truth, nor should they be allowed to cause us to accommodate lies. If necessary, we must be prepared to put aside friendships and our own emotional responses, if Truth demands it. That is a test of faithfulness).
Pentecostalist-type manifestations (Note: not ‘Pentecostal’ as in Acts 2) and beliefs existed long before the ‘latter rain’ events at Azusa Street, but it was at Azusa Street that Pentecostalism took proper shape and form. The inception of any movement is important. Was it a holy and Godly event, or not? This paper will show, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the birth of Pentecostalism was defective. A monster was born.
As a child it displayed an immaturity of outlook. As a youth it desired adventure and started to flex its muscles (early 1960’s when charismaticism began). Then, in the 1990’s, the true nature of the monster was revealed as it rampaged the world and destroyed countless churches and Christian lives. It called itself the ‘Toronto Blessing‘ and personified the Biblical description of satan as an ‘angel of light’ and his activities as ‘works of darkness’.
Old-style Pentecostalists might throw up their arms in horror at this lineage, claiming that they have nothing to do with the evil ‘Toronto’ movement. But they are wrong and deluded. They are the parents of the charismatic movement that produced the Toronto Blessing, even if they attempt to distance themselves. They may not have taken part in the same terrible defilements, but the fact that they call themselves ‘Pentecostalists‘ is sufficient indictment. They are the same family and are bred from the same stock! The only difference is in degree.
We will, then, look at the Azusa Street phenomenon because it created the evil life-form that insidiously grew and erupted into the Toronto Blessing. The conclusion is very simple – every man and woman who calls him or herself ‘Pentecostalist‘ MUST, as a matter of urgency, repent and deny their Pentecostalist theology and affiliations. They must cast aside their erroneous beliefs and activities (which are evil in His sight), that they might receive the true favour of Almighty God.
These are strong words for evil days, my friends. There is no time for a soft approach…an approach that tolerated and advanced the cause of charismatic heresy in the latter part of the twentieth century. If you are a Pentecostalist, take heed. You are being held accountable, by the evidence of scripture. That is, by the Lord. In this Article my own feelings of friendship for Pentecostalists known to me are irrelevant. What matters is that we all adhere to the only measure of Truth we have – God’s word.
In His book ‘The Toronto Blessing and Slaying in the Spirit’, Nader Mikhaiel points out that Pentecostalists never write about counterfeit miracles. (Although Bill Randles, of the USA, tackles the topic amongst others in his own work, but that is very recent). The reason is very simple – if they once acknowledge that some of their activities are evil, then they risk having them all branded with the same epithet. The danger to the structure and existence of Pentecostalism would be very real. It would collapse, because it is built on a foundation of sand. This is probably why Pentecostalists will not acknowledge the occult beginnings of their own movement…..if, that is, they know their own history anyway.
Some Pentecostalists distance themselves from charismatic ‘excess’ as found in the Toronto Blessing. Some even distance themselves from various leaders such as John Arnott (Toronto) and/or John Wimber (Vineyard). Do not be fooled by this! All they are doing is shifting the furniture around on the deck of the Titanic! They are still Pentecostalists and still believe the same things as they always did, and still practice the same errors. They are like the kettle calling the pot ‘black’….but, sadly, most of them are unaware of this failure and would not dream of being unfaithful.
In general they do not do or say what their more adventurous charismatic cousins do or say. But they do or say other things, which, though less dramatic, are of the same stock of heresy. By saying what many reformed folk want to hear (a denunciation of Toronto-style manifestations etc), they appear to be different from charismatics. This, friends, is a big mistake. As we have already said – they are only different by degree, not by type. That is, their virus is exactly the same; it just manifests itself in a modulated form. In this way, even if Satan is detected in charismaticism, he can still maintain his presence through old-style Pentecostalism without fear of being recognized by most Christians.
he has succeeded admirably and we must admit to his cleverness. Even so, he has been recognized in Pentecostalism! Not just by me, but by a number of other watchmen, who also warn the Church of the charismatic heresy. Those who wish to be truly faithful should now take heed, for their souls’ sake.
There is a very good reason for old-style Pentecostalists to abandon their beliefs and to repent. Some ministries supported by non-charismatics are headed by Pentecostalists. Yes, they denounced the Toronto Blessing. This led many to believe they must be ‘sound’. But this cannot be so. I say this without animosity toward these men or their ministries. A man who remains – and likes to call himself – ‘Pentecostalist’, but who has publicly castigated the Toronto Blessing is still, nevertheless, of the same root. That root is described in these pages. You will see that a man who denounces the Toronto movement must also denounce his own past, which is of the same kind. Such a man’s ministry MUST, by definition, be tainted by his Pentecostalist beliefs and background. At some stage he must revert to those beliefs. Those who follow such men and who give moral or monetary support, must be aware of this probability, to avoid disappointment. A man who does not leave behind his Pentecostalism is a ‘Toronto-ist in waiting’. (Explanatory illustration: If a man in the Nazi Party denounced Hitler, would you be able to trust him if he remained in the Party?).
THE REAL THING – NOT COUNTERFEITS
One other mistake needs to be acknowledged. That is, the fashion of calling recent charismatic activities ‘excesses’ and the gifts and manifestations ‘counterfeits’. Neither of these terms apply. An ‘excess’ suggests that the core of something is acceptable, but that there is simply an abundance of it. That is, the substance is basically good, but what spills over is somehow just a bit ‘over the top’. Toronto-style activities and its allied beliefs are not ‘excesses’ at all, but are a totally different breed. They have no basis in scripture, so they are not just slightly twisted forms of something good – they are without scriptural roots and are evil.
As for their gifts and manifestations (and fruit) being counterfeits…well, this word is used by well-meaning reformed Christians who have only a superficial understanding of what they have observed, usually third-hand. The axiom is, that where there is something real, there will be a counterfeit by satan. The axiom is wrong in this case! In charismaticism, satan is not trying to mimic what is real at all – he has produced his own brand of religious experience, without reference to what God does. Thus, the Toronto Blessing and charismaticism itself are not ‘counterfeits’ – they are the real article. What are counterfeits are the explanations and theology given by charismatics in defense of what they say and do. The Alpha course follows in this ‘new’ tradition, by basing its theology on scripture and then by twisting it to accommodate charismatic heresy.
The manifestations themselves, which are the major cornerstone of charismaticism, are satanic and not counterfeit, for they do not even attempt to copy what God does. There is nothing like them in scripture, so they have no link with previous or present godly realities. That makes them unique and not copies. It is important that we describe the charismatic phenomenon carefully and properly, because the outcome has far-reaching effects. Once we attribute ‘excesses’ or ‘counterfeits’ to Pentecostalism we legitimize it and bring it into the Christian fold.
Let me give just one example of charismatic activity that is not counterfeit – though it is often referred to as such…tongues. Commonly today, Pentecostalists claim their own ‘tongues’ to be of God whilst they call charismatic tongues ‘counterfeit’. Reformed Christians follow this anecdotal image. The problem is, both charismatic and Pentecostalist ‘tongues’ are false! In scripture a ‘tongue’ is a normal foreign language, not a heavenly language that no-one can possibly understand. So, that makes all the ‘tongues’ used by both camps unique manifestatioantics…matan (or, sometimes, of one’s own sinful psychological output – though this also comes from an evil source). They are not ‘counterfeits’ because they do not mimic the real thing. One is a foreign language and the other is a badly cobbled-together form of gobbledegook. This is a central truth to understand, because Pentecostalism mainly hinges on tongues.
Judge the facts for yourselves as we now look at the Azusa Street antics…
Interestingly, the Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements itself states that slaying in the spirit is not Biblical. It says that it can be caused by peer pressure, autosuggestion, or self-desire to have ‘it’. But it does not include the possibility of ‘it’ being all of satan, or even partly of satan. Yet, this phenomenon is unbiblical! Both tongues and slaying in the spirit are unbiblical. They were the basis of the Azusa Street activities which gave birth to Pentecostalism.
David du Plessis, a much revered figure in Pentecostalism, admitted that slaying in the spirit should be avoided because it brought ‘nothing but trouble’ (quoted by Cardinal Suenens). God’s phenomenon do not bring this kind of trouble. satan’s activities do.
A blanket of silence is thrown over slaying and tongues, because both phenomena were linked together at Azusa Street. Doubt one and you must doubt both. So, the best strategy is to keep quiet. The fact is very stark – if slaying and charismatic tongues (the very foundation of Pentecostalism) are both unbiblical, then they are of satan. So, if both these phenomena are admitted to be demonic, the whole denomination/movement is a demonic device. No Pentecostalist or charismatic will ever admit to such a fact.
However, Cardinal Suenens, a charismatic, says that slaying is the work of an ‘alien force’! What ‘alien force’ can there be for Christians, except a satanic one? Today Pentecostalists and charismatics (kissing cousins) have fudged the issue with bamboozling words and arguments.
WIMBER – A SON OF AZUSA STREET
Note that the start of John Wimber’s (not God’s) movement – the TB, Vineyard, etc. – contains exactly the same ingredients as those found at Azusa Street. Lies have been told about Wimber’s charismatic start, and lies are weaved into every charismatic wave and activity. The lies are spoken by charismatics themselves in order to boost their own movement, by twisting or lying about what really happened. So beware when listening to the glowing reports of charismatics!
AZUSA STREET
Azusa Street is in Los Angeles, California, USA. The church there experienced its phenomena in the first decade of this century (20th). However, the same phenomena had occurred many times before, in the previous century, though not in such an organized way. The man who first organized Pentecostalist ideas into a theology was Charles Parham. He has the distinction of being the ‘father’ of modern Pentecostalism/charismaticism. His contemporary, W. J. Seymour, helped to spread the new theology and manifestations. (Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, Zondervan Publishing House, 1988, and ‘The Holiness Pentecostal Movement in the United States’ by William Eerds, Grand Rapids, 1971).
The Azusa Street church held its historic meetings three times a day, seven days a week, and sometimes all night as well, for three years. (Note how the time scale and number of meetings coincides with that of the ‘official’ period of the Toronto Blessing?). Just as with the Toronto Blessing people flocked from around the world to experience ‘Pentecostalism’. And what was experienced?
“…a woman…stood shaking from head to foot…a man in front of her slid down out of his chair and became unconscious…the man…was…under high nerve pressure…He arose, staggered to them and began to shake his hand in front of their faces and wave his arms over their heads and moan…Then he put his hands on the heads of the women and began to shake their hair. Some of them lost control of themselves and went under an hypnotic spell. He rubbed a man’s jaw until the victim tumbled over on the floor and lay for half an hour, then suddenly began to jabber. Those who had received their ‘Pentecost’ cried out, ‘He has the baptism, he has the baptism!’.
A young coloured woman, doing her best to get the gibberish, went through all kinds of contortions in her effort to get her tongue to work.
…a coloured woman had her arms around a white man’s neck, praying for him. A man of maturer years leaped up out of his chair and began to stutter. He did not utter a distinct syllable…’tut-tut-tut-tut-tut-tut’. This was evidence that he had his ‘baptism’. (the first woman mentioned) this time singing a far-away tune that sounded very unnatural and repulsive…When the altar call was made, a woman walked up to the front and kissed a man…kissing between the sexes is a common occurrence in the tongue meetings.” (An eyewitness account in ‘Demons and Tongues’ by Alma White; Pillar of Fire Publishers, 1949). Classic early Pentecostalism – and classic 1990’s charismaticism. Both the same!
Here is another eye-witness account: “(Shumway – an author)…attended a ‘Pentecostal’ meeting where pandemonium was loose (Look up the meaning of ‘pandemonium’. This is what Shumway was referring to). Men and women…were talking excitedly ‘in tongues’. A man (holding on to a post) seemed to be in possession of an old-fashioned Peter Cartwright camp-meeting (charismatic-style antics in the previous century – see BTM article) case of the jerks. He was muttering and mumbling most of the time, but would (also) shriek. About sixty or seventy of the three hundred present were ‘possessed of the spirit’ (*I refuse to prefix the word ‘spirit’ with a capital ‘S’. It is not the Holy Spirit) and each was (trying to be louder than the others).
One of the three men…leading the meeting…was praying…kneeling upon an open Bible…He was almost beside himself with excitement, His arms waved and his body swayed. I thought…that he might be heard two blocks away. In this meeting there was barking like dogs, hooting like owls, and the like…After adjourning, one of the leaders remarked in my hearing ‘God had a wonderful hold on this meeting for a little while, didn’t He?’. (The same man then added) ‘God’s got a crowd ‘o folks here that’s willin’ to let him make fools of ‘em if he wants to.’ ”
Do you not find all this frightening? This could be a description of a modern Toronto-style meeting! Note the leader kneeling on God’s word? The ‘pandemonium’? The sexual activity? The same manifestations? The suggestion that God had control of only a small part of the meeting (thus satan had the rest!)? The making fools of people? It is also worth noting that early Pentecostalist congregations were commonly ordered out of town by the police because of the racket they made, and because of their general misconduct. (‘A Critical History of Glossalalia’ by C W Shumway. PhD Dissertation, Boston University, 1919). This is what today’s Pentecostalists revere and this is their true birthright.
Yet another eyewitness said:
“ …I found men and women lying on the floor in all shapes… (they were) jabbering all at one time in what they called unknown tongues. While I was praying, one of the workers took hold of me and said, ‘Holy Ghost, we command Thee to go into this soul’. The workers were jabbering and shaking their hands over me, and a demonic power (as I now know) took possession of me, and I fell among the people on the floor and knew nothing for ten hours. When I came to my senses I was weak and my jaws were so tired they ached. I believed then that this power was of God. They said I was wonderfully blessed, and the leader sent me from one place to another so that I could jabber in tongues.” (‘Demons and Tongues’. See above reference). Note – they commanded the Holy Spirit! Just like today.
He knew nothing of what he had done for ten hours! The same evil as we see today in charismatic meetings. If you are a Pentecostalist, can you not see it is evil? That your roots are in satan and not in God? That those you revere were themselves controlled by demons? If not, read on…
Continued in Part Two
Snails Kill Thousands
When we consider deadly animals, we normally think about venomous snakes, ferocious sharks, crocodiles, or bears. You might be surprised to learn that the animals or organisms most deadly to humans don’t match our mental picture of dangerous creatures. The creature that kills the most humans per year (between 750,000-1,000,000) is the lowly mosquito. Because of the various diseases it spreads, such as malaria, mosquitoes are the animal kingdom’s leading human killers. Another creature that has proven to be extremely deadly is the harmless looking freshwater snail. Freshwater snails are host to dangerous parasites known as cercariae that cause an infection in humans known as schistosomiasis. Millions of people each year ingest this parasite through contaminated water,1 and about 10,000 die every year.2 While contamination from water is the most common cause of the infection, another way the parasite can spread is when a person consumes raw or undercooked snail meat.
The fact that many snails carry parasites that are harmful to humans turns out to be another piece of evidence that shows the King James Bible is the inspired Word of God in English. When we look at the food regulations written by Moses in approximately 1450 B.C., we find that the Israelites had specific laws about what they could and could not eat. One of those regulations dealt with animals found in water. The Law permitted the Israelites to eat any animal that had both fins and scales, but any creature without both fins and scales was “an abomination” to the Israelites. They were told not to eat them or touch their dead bodies (Leviticus 11:9-12). Land-living snails were also prohibited (Leviticus 11:41-42). Some people contend that the food laws had nothing to do with health regulations and were merely ceremonial, religious rituals. We have documented at length that such is not the case and that the food regulations were specifically designed to help the Israelites avoid many of the diseases that plagued the nations around them.3
When Moses led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, there were approximately 603,000 males ages 20 years old and above (Numbers 1:46). By adding to that the number of women of the same ages, along with those who were younger, we arrive at an estimated two million Israelites exiting Egypt. Due to their disobedience, they wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years. Many of the laws found in Exodus-Deuteronomy were sanitation, quarantine, hygiene, and disease regulation designed to keep the Israelites healthy and safe during their wilderness wandering and their future lives in Canaan. These regulations exhibited a scientific knowledge that was far beyond any nation’s ability at the time to have acquired through the natural course of human understanding. This characteristic is referred to as scientific foreknowledge and is an attribute of divine inspiration. In short, there is no possible way Moses could have known the science that lies behind the food, hygiene, and sanitation regulations in the books he penned.
Snails provide an excellent example of scientific foreknowledge. Both water-living snails and land-living snails are highly susceptible hosts to numerous parasites. In an article titled “Some Health Risks With Eating Giant African Land Snail”, entomologist Paul Skelley stated, “Most of the infections and deaths from snail-transmitted diseases apparently come from eating raw or undercooked snails or ingesting slime residue left on fresh fruits and vegetables.”4 Skelley went on to say, “In my opinion, eating wild snails should only be done in an ‘eat-snail-or-die’ survival situation” due to the high probability that most snails host dangerous parasites. The CDC put out a blog about snails and slugs carrying a parasite called the rat lungworm that can cause meningitis, blindness, and death in humans. The author said, “Humans become infected by ingesting raw or undercooked mollusks.”5
With two million Israelites moving around in the wilderness, it would have been extremely difficult to properly cook all the food they consumed. There were no meat thermometers that could be used to guarantee that snails, pork, or oysters were cooked to the necessary temperature to kill parasites. Since God provided manna every day for the Israelites to eat, they were not in any type of “eat-snail-or-die” situation. The consumption of meat and animals would have been for the purpose of providing variety to their diets and not at all necessary for survival. Therefore, the best approach to what should or should not be eaten would be to prohibit the consumption of any creatures that had a high probability of carrying parasites or diseases.
Moses could not have taken a microscope to meat samples to identify which animals carry tiny parasites or which animals (such as bats, see Leviticus 11:19)6 are remarkably prone to diseases such as rabies. We might expect that Moses could have guessed a few such instances correctly. But to have accurately listed numerous regulations that contain in them safety measures that were not understood by any nation until literally thousands of years after the books were written? That is superhuman. That is Divine! It is not surprising that Moses told the Israelites, “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” (Deuteronomy 4:5-6).
ENDNOTES
1 Christopher Stephens, “10 Creepy Snails that Will Ruin Your Day,” Listverse, http://listverse.com/2015/01/30/10-exceptional-creepy-or-dangerous-snails/.
2 “What Kind of Health Risks Do Snails Pose?” https://www.curejoy.com/content/diseases-caused-by-snails/.
3 Kyle Butt (2007), Behold! The Word of God, Apologetics Press, http://apologeticspress.org/pdfs/e-books_pdf/Behold%20the%20Word%20of%20God.pdf, pp. 103-130.
4 Trina Sargalski (2013), “Health Risks With Eating Giant African Snails,” http://wlrn.org/post/some-health-risks-eating-giant-african-land-snail.
5 Alex de Silva (2009), “Snails, Slugs, and Semi-Slugs: A Parasitic Disease in Paradise,” Center for Disease Control, https://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2009/04/snails-slugs-and-semi-slugs-a-parasitic-disease-in-paradise/.
6 Butt, p. 124.
How the Vatican created Islam
The astonishing story from an ex-Jesuit priest, Alberto Rivera, which was told to him by Cardinal Bea while he was at the Vatican.
2006 04 13
By Alberto Rivera
“The Destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem”
by Nicolas Poussin (1637)
This information came from Alberto Rivera, former Jesuit priest after his conversion to Protestant Christianity. It is excerpted from “The Prophet“, published by Chick Publications, PO Box 662, Chino CA 91708. Since its publication, after several unsuccessful attempts on his life, he died suddenly from food poisoning. His testimony should not be silenced. Dr. Rivera speaks to us still …
“What I’m going to tell you is what I learned in secret briefings in the Vatican when I was a Jesuit priest, under oath and induction. A Jesuit cardinal named Augustine Bea showed us how desperately the Roman Catholics wanted Jerusalem at the end of the third century. Because of its religious history and its strategic location, the Holy City was considered a priceless treasure. A scheme had to be developed to make Jerusalem a Roman Catholic city.
“The great untapped source of manpower that could do this job was the children of Ishmael. The poor Arabs fell victim to one of the most clever plans ever devised by the powers of darkness. Early Christians went everywhere with the gospel setting up small churches, but they met heavy opposition. Both the Jews and the Roman government persecuted the believers in Christ to stop their spread. But the Jews rebelled against Rome, and in 70 AD, Roman armies under General Titus smashed Jerusalem and destroyed the great Jewish temple which was the heart of Jewish worship…in fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy in Matthew 24:2.
“On this holy placed today where the temple once stood, the Dome of the Rock Mosque stands as Islam’s second most holy place. Sweeping changes were in the wind. Corruption, apathy, greed, cruelty, perversion and rebellion were eating at the Roman Empire, and it was ready to collapse. The persecution against Christians was useless as they continued to lay down their lives for the gospel of Christ.
“The only way satan could stop this thrust was to create a counterfeit “Christian” religion to destroy the work of God. The solution was in Rome. Their religion had come from ancient Babylon and all it needed was a face-lift. This didn’t happen overnight, but began in the writings of the ‘early church fathers’.
“It was through their writings that a new religion would take shape. The statue of Jupiter in Rome was eventually called St. Peter, and the statue of Venus was changed to the Virgin Mary. The site chosen for its headquarters was on one of the seven hills called ‘Vaticanus‘, the place of the diving serpent where the satanic temple of Janus stood.
“The great counterfeit religion was Roman Catholicism, called ‘Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth’- Revelation 17:5. She was raised up to block the gospel, slaughter the believers in Christ, establish religions, create wars and make the nations drunk with the wine of her fornication as we will see.
“Three major religions have one thing in common – each has a holy place where they look for guidance. Roman Catholicism looks to the Vatican as the Holy City. The Jews look to the wailing wall in Jerusalem, and the Muslims look to Mecca as their Holy City. Each group believes that they receive certain types of blessings for the rest of their lives for visiting their holy place. In the beginning, Arab visitors would bring gifts to the ‘House of God’, and the keepers of the Kaaba were gracious to all who came. Some brought their idols and, not wanting to offend these people, their idols were placed inside the sanctuary. It is said that the Jews looked upon the Kaaba as an outlying tabernacle of the Lord with veneration until it became polluted with idols.
The Kaaba, Mecca. Image from: webislam.com
“In a tribal contention over a well (Zamzam) the treasure of the Kaaba and the offerings that pilgrims had given were dumped down the well and it was filled with sand – it disappeared. Many years later Adb Al-Muttalib was given visions telling him where to find the well and its treasure. He became the hero of Mecca, and he was destined to become the grandfather of Muhammad. Before this time, Augustine became the bishop of North Africa and was effective in winning Arabs to Roman Catholicism, including whole tribes. It was among these Arab converts to Catholicism that the concept of looking for an Arab prophet developed.
“Muhammad’s father died from illness and sons born to great Arab families in places like Mecca were sent into the desert to be suckled and weaned and spend some of their childhood with Bedouin tribes for training and to avoid the plagues in the cities.
“After his mother and grandfather also died, Muhammad was with his uncle when a Roman Catholic monk learned of his identity and said, “Take your brother’s son back to his country and guard him against the Jews, for by god, if they see him and know of him that which I know, they will construe evil against him. Great things are in store for this brother’s son of yours.”
“The Roman Catholic monk had fanned the flames for future Jewish persecutions at the hands of the followers of Muhammad. The Vatican desperately wanted Jerusalem because of its religious significance, but was blocked by the Jews.
“Another problem was the true Christians in North Africa who preached the gospel. Roman Catholicism was growing in power, but would not tolerate opposition. Somehow the Vatican had to create a weapon to eliminate both the Jews and the true Christian believers who refused to accept Roman Catholicism. Looking to North Africa, they saw the multitudes of Arabs as a source of manpower to do their dirty work. Some Arabs had become Roman Catholic, and could be used in reporting information to leaders in Rome. Others were used in an underground spy network to carry out Rome’s master plan to control the great multitudes of Arabs who rejected Catholicism. When ‘St Augustine’ appeared on the scene, he knew what was going on. His monasteries served as bases to seek out and destroy Bible manuscripts owned by the true Christians.
“The Vatican wanted to create a messiah for the Arabs, someone they could raise up as a great leader, a man with charisma whom they could train, and eventually unite all the non-Catholic Arabs behind him, creating a mighty army that would ultimately capture Jerusalem for the pope. In the Vatican briefing, Cardinal Bea told us this story:
‘A wealthy Arabian lady who was a faithful follower of the pope played a tremendous part in this drama. She was a widow named Khadijah. She gave her wealth to the church and retired to a convent, but was given an assignment. She was to find a brilliant young man who could be used by the Vatican to create a new religion and become the messiah for the children of Ishmael. Khadijah had a cousin named Waraquah,, who was also a very faithful Roman Catholic and the Vatican placed him in a critical role as Muhammad’s advisor. He had tremendous influence on Muhammad.
‘Teachers were sent to young Muhammad and he had intensive training. Muhammad studied the works of St. Augustine which prepared him for his “great calling.” The Vatican had Catholic Arabs across North Africa spread the story of a great one who was about to rise up among the people and be the chosen one of their God.
‘While Muhammad was being prepared, he was told that his enemies were the Jews and that the only true Christians were Roman Catholic. He was taught that others calling themselves Christians were actually wicked impostors and should be destroyed. Many Muslims believe this.
‘Muhammad began receiving “divine revelations” and his wife’s Catholic cousin Waraquah helped interpret them. From this came the Koran. In the fifth year of Muhammad’s mission, persecution came against his followers because they refused to worship the idols in the Kaaba.
‘Muhammad instructed some of them to flee to Abysinnia where Negus, the Roman Catholic king accepted them because Muhammad’s views on the virgin Mary were so close to Roman Catholic doctrine. These Muslims received protection from Catholic kings because of Muhammad’s revelations.
‘Muhammad later conquered Mecca and the Kaaba was cleared of idols. History proves that before Islam came into existence, the Sabeans in Arabia worshiped the moon-god who was married to the sun-god. They gave birth to three goddesses who were worshipped throughout the Arab world as “Daughters of Allah” An idol excavated at Hazor in Palestine in 1950’s shows Allah sitting on a throne with the crescent moon on his chest.
‘Muhammad claimed he had a vision from Allah and was told, “You are the messenger of Allah.” This began his career as a prophet and he received many messages. By the time Muhammad died, the religion of Islam was exploding. The nomadic Arab tribes were joining forces in the name of Allah and his prophet, Muhammad.
‘Some of Muhammad’s writings were placed in the Koran, others were never published. They are now in the hands of high ranking holy men (Ayatollahs) in the Islamic faith.’
“When Cardinal Bea shared with us in the Vatican, he said, these writings are guarded because they contain information that links the Vatican to the creation of Islam. Both sides have so much information on each other, that if exposed, it could create such a scandal that it would be a disaster for both religions.
“In their “holy” book, the Koran, Christ is regarded as only a prophet. If the pope was His representative on earth, then he also must be a prophet of God. This caused the followers of Muhammad to fear and respect the pope as another “holy man.”
“The pope moved quickly and issued bulls granting the Arab generals permission to invade and conquer the nations of North Africa. The Vatican helped to finance the building of these massive Islamic armies in exchange for three favors:
1. Eliminate the Jews and Christians (true believers, which they called infidels).
2. Protect the Augustinian Monks and Roman Catholics.
3. Conquer Jerusalem for “His Holiness” in the Vatican.
“As time went by, the power of Islam became tremendous – Jews and true Christians were slaughtered, and Jerusalem fell into their hands. Roman Catholics were never attacked, nor were their shrines, during this time. But when the pope asked for Jerusalem, he was surprised at their denial! The Arab generals had such military success that they could not be intimidated by the pope – nothing could stand in the way of their own plan.
“Under Waraquah’s direction, Muhammad wrote that Abraham offered Ishmael as a sacrifice. The Bible says that Isaac was the sacrifice, but Muhammad removed Isaac’s name and inserted Ishmael’s name. As a result of this and Muhammad’s vision, the faithful Muslims built a mosque, the Dome of the Rock, in Ishmael’s honor on the site of the Jewish temple that was destroyed in 70 AD. This made Jerusalem the 2nd most holy place in the Islam faith. How could they give such a sacred shrine to the pope without causing a revolt?
Image from: letsgo.com
“The pope realized what they had created was out of control when he heard they were calling “His Holiness” an infidel. The Muslim generals were determined to conquer the world for Allah and now they turned toward Europe. Islamic ambassadors approached the pope and asked for papal bulls to give them permission to invade European countries.
“The Vatican was outraged; war was inevitable. Temporal power and control of the world was considered the basic right of the pope. He wouldn’t think of sharing it with those whom he considered heathens.
“The pope raised up his armies and called them crusades to hold back the children of Ishmael from grabbing Catholic Europe. The crusades lasted centuries and Jerusalem slipped out of the pope’s hands.
“Turkey fell and Spain and Portugal were invaded by Islamic forces. In Portugal, they called a mountain village “Fatima” in honour of Muhammad’s daughter, never dreaming it would become world famous.
“Years later when the Muslim armies were poised on the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, to invade Italy, there was a serious problem. The Islamic generals realized they were too far extended. It was time for peace talks. One of the negotiators was Francis of Assisi.
“As a result, the Muslims were allowed to occupy Turkey in a “Christian” world, and the Catholics were allowed to occupy Lebanon in the Arab world. It was also agreed that the Muslims could build mosques in Catholic countries without interference as long as Roman Catholicism could flourish in Arab countries.
“Cardinal Bea told us in Vatican briefings that both the Muslims and Roman Catholics agreed to block and destroy the efforts of their common enemy, Bible-believing Christian missionaries. Through these concordats, satan blocked the children of Ishmael from a knowledge of Scripture and the truth.
“A light control was kept on Muslims from the Ayatollah down through the Islamic priests, nuns and monks. The Vatican also engineers a campaign of hatred between the Muslim Arabs and the Jews. Before this, they had co-existed peacefully.
“The Islamic community looks on the Bible-believing missionary as a devil who brings poison to the children of Allah. This explains years of ministry in those countries with little results.
“The next plan was to control Islam. In 1910, Portugal was going Socialistic. Red flags were appearing and the Catholic Church was facing a major problem. Increasing numbers were against the church.
“The Jesuits wanted Russia involved, and the location of this vision at Fatima could play a key part in pulling Islam to the Mother Church.
Lucia de Santos, Francisco Marco and Jacinta Maro in 1917. Image from: mystae.com
“In 1917, the Virgin appeared in Fatima. “The Mother of God” was a smashing success, playing to overflow crowds. As a result, the Socialists of Portugal suffered a major defeat.
“Roman Catholics world-wide began praying for the conversion of Russia and the Jesuits invented the Novenas to Fatima which they could perform throughout North Africa, spreading good public relations to the Muslim world. The Arabs thought they were honouring the daughter of Muhammad, which is what the Jesuits wanted them to believe.
“As a result of the vision of Fatima, Pope Pius XII ordered his Nazi army to crush Russia and the Orthodox religion and make Russia Roman Catholic.” A few years after he lost World war II, Pope Pius XII startled the world with his phoney dancing sun vision to keep Fatima in the news. It was great religious showbiz and the world swallowed it.
“Not surprisingly, Pope Pius was the only one to see this vision. As a result, a group of followers has grown into a Blue Army world-wide, totaling millions of faithful Roman Catholics ready to die for the blessed virgin.
“But we haven’t seen anything yet. The Jesuits have their Virgin Mary scheduled to appear four or five times in China, Russia, and major appearance in the U.S.
“What has this got to do with Islam? Note Bishop Sheen’s
statement: “Our Lady’s appearances at Fatima marked the turning point in the history of the world’s 350 million Muslims. After the death of his daughter, Muhammad wrote that she “is the most holy of all women in Paradise, next to Mary.”
“He believed that the Virgin Mary chose to be known as Our Lady of Fatima as a sign and a pledge that the Muslims who believe in Christ’s virgin birth, will come to believe in His divinity.
“Bishop Sheen pointed out that the pilgrim virgin statues of Our Lady of Fatima were enthusiastically received by Muslims in Africa, India, and elsewhere, and that many Muslims are now coming into the Roman Catholic Church.”
Article from: http://www.cloakanddagger.de/lenny/alberto_rivera.htm
Homosexuality
Bible verses about homosexuality
When speaking on this topic many people act like it’s a toss up. Many people ask is homosexuality a sin and the answer is that it is a sin just like stealing is a sin. It has always been a sin. I’m tired of all these lies that I see on the internet, on YouTube, and in real life.
Here are some lies brought on by the devil.
God is OK with you being gay, you can be a gay Christian, the Bible says nothing about homosexuality, you were born that way, David and Jonathon were gay. I’ve even seen mockery signs that said Jesus was gay.
People can make all the jokes that they want. GOD WILL NOT BE MOCKED. As the world gets worse for the Antichrist there are more and more deceitful people who will literally twist and take away from God’s Word (as they already do with corrupted “bible” versions) and run away from the truth. I’ve seen people provide every single excuse for verses that clearly condemn homosexuality.
Why should we condone it? Do we condone murdering others? Do we condone stealing? Do we condone lying? What if thieves speak out and say, “stealing is good”? Do you not see the hypocrisy? When has it ever been OK to parade sin around? Why do homosexuals get a pass?!
Why are some so called Christians condoning the gay lifestyle and allowing gay pastors to preach to others when it’s just going to drive more people to hell? PLEASE THIS IS NOT TO OFFEND ANY GAYS, I JUST WANT TO SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE TO SAVE SOULS.
Many Christians are afraid to do this, but WOULD RATHER WANT YOU TO GO TO HELL by being silent.
QUOTES
“Concerning homosexuality: This once brought hell out of heaven on Sodom.” Charles Spurgeon
“America is every bit as sin-sick as Sodom and Gomorrah ever were. We’re rotting from within.” John Hagee
“Satan delights in homosexual perversion because it not only exists outside of marriage, but it also defiles God’ very image reflected as male and female.”
“Homosexuals cannot reproduce. They must recruit. And they want our children! That’s why they are getting public officials to require school teachers to present homosexuality as “normal” and acceptable. They know that the next generation will one day be voters, and they will change the laws so that homosexuals can prey on children and not worry about breaking the law!”
YOU WILL BE PERSECUTED.
Homosexuals are suing and threatening to sue preachers, churches, Christian bakers, and more. These days you can’t say anything about homosexuality. Even if you try to warn them it’s called hate speech. Look to see more people being sued in the future. Some homosexuals are going into Christian bakeries with the intention of finding a reason to sue them. Just like the Bible says you will be hated for being a Christ follower and part of being a Christ follower is standing up for Him, His Word, and all the consequences that come with it. Christians are being persecuted more and more and this will lead to many denying God and going astray.
1. 2 Timothy 3:12 “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
Same-sex attraction is a form of idolatry.
You exchange the glory of God for self and your gender. When you idolize self, one of the things it can lead to is same-sex attraction.
2. Romans 1:24-25 “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.“
Homosexuality leads to aids and early death. It is proven and it is a punishment from God.
3. Romans 1:27 “And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.”
Homosexuality doesn’t harm anyone.
THAT IS A FLAT OUT LIE! Sometimes harm doesn’t reveal itself immediately and sometimes it does. The legalization of same-sex marriage is extremely wicked. It destroys everything. It destroys families and God’s intended purpose for marriage.
It perverts what God intended for good and it makes it evil. It destroys kids, mothers, fathers, and it opens the doors to more wickedness such as pedophilia marriage, incest marriage, human–animal marriage, and more. There are already cases of these things throughout the world.
You can legalize same-sex marriage all that you want, but you will never change what marriage is in God’s eyes, which is one man and one woman. To say otherwise is blasphemy against the Lord and it is of the devil. God defines morality not the government.
4. Genesis 1:27-28 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
Women were made to compliment men. The same sex was not made to compliment each other in marriage. Trying to do something else is a distortion of God’s ways.
5. Genesis 2:20-24 “And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
Did Jesus talk about homosexuality?
Yes, He talked about it by reaffirming what the Old Testament said about marriage, which is one man and one woman and not one man and one man or lesbianism. Another thing that many people forget is that Jesus is God. The same way that God feels about it is the same way that Jesus feels about it because they are one. He never changes.
6. Matthew 19:4-6 “And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
How to Grow Strong in Your Faith
In Romans 4, Paul tells us Abraham grew strong in faith and urges us to walk in Abraham’s footsteps. To believe like he believed. How do we do this?
In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:18–21)
Look to God’s promise not your circumstances.
“Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations;” (18)
Abraham’s situation looked bleak. God promised him multitudes of descendants, but the only problem was he was well past child producing. “he considered not his own body now dead,…” He also considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. Not only was Abraham almost 100 years old, but Sarah his wife was very old, and she had never been able to have children her whole life. How are they going to have children? If Abraham had based his hope on his circumstances he would have given up. But In hope he believed against hope—God’s promise gave him hope in his hopeless situation. He put his hope in God’s promise, not his circumstances.
We may feel hopelessly unrighteous. We may feel like God could never forgive us for the sins we have committed, that he would never accept us. But we must not look at ourselves, just like Abraham didn’t look at himself, but like Abraham, we must believe God’s promise of grace. He counts me righteous in Christ!
Our teenager may seem hopelessly lost. Our finances may be out of control. We may lack direction for our lives. Our marriage might be frustrating or our church might be a mess. Look to Jesus Christ! Don’t look to yourself. Look to the promise of the gospel—everyone who believes in him shall be saved. Look to his promises to draw near to those who draw near to him. Promises to hear and answer our prayers.
Give glory to God
“he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” (20–21)
Abraham strengthened his faith. Here’s how: “but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” Begin to give glory to God—start thanking and praising him for his every promise. Thank him for saving you and declaring you righteous in him. He has promised to be with us when we pass through the waters and walk through fire. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. He has promised that nothing will be able to separate us from his love. He has promised to give us everything we truly need to glorify him. He has promised that we can do all things he requires through Christ who loves us. Praise him for these things!
We can look to our circumstances—it may not LOOK like God is being faithful. It may not FEEL like God is with us in these waters. It may FEEL like he has abandoned or forsaken us. We may not SENSE his love. But WE MUST NOT WAVER CONCERNING THE PROMISE OF GOD! Rather, we grow strong in our faith as we GIVE GLORY TO GOD, as we are fully convinced that God is able to do what he had promised.
In Psalm 43:5 the Psalmist says “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?
hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” Keep thanking God, keep praising him in faith in the midst of your hard times. Say, “Jesus thank you that you are with me. Thank you have promised that your steadfast love never ceases. Praise you that your mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.”
Growing stronger in our faith is not complicated. Look to God’s promise and glorify him. So, what are you going to believe today—God’s word or your circumstances? God’s promises or your feelings? God’s bedrock pledge of faithfulness or your wavering emotions? Walk in the footsteps of Abraham and strengthen your faith.
How is a Christian a new creation? What does 2 Corinthians 5:17 mean?
2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.”
God is a Creator. He created the heavens and the earth and everything in them out of nothing (Genesis 1:1-31). “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” (v. 3). In a similar way, God creates spiritual life and light in the hearts of men, and actually changes the human heart so that it can receive Him (Ezekiel 36:26). This is called regeneration, and occurs by the Spirit of God (John 3:5-8). The regenerated person believes and is “in Christ” at which point he has become a “new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17). He is a new entity, the same way that a newborn baby is a new person. The old man has gone away, and a new man has arrived.
What does this mean, in practical terms? How is this experienced? What does it feel like to become “a new creature“? Is it scary, or like an out-of-body experience? Are we brainwashed by God? What does it mean to be regenerated, and be given a “heart of flesh” as the prophet says? Becoming a new creation is not like brainwashing; there is nothing frightening about it. It is more like being restored to health. When Adam and Eve sinned, human beings lost their close connection to God. Regeneration restores that connection, making it possible for God’s Spirit to indwell us and flow through us as it was meant to.
However, there are challenges also to becoming a new creation. The flesh, or the physical body and mind, is influenced by satan, and by the world, and by its own habits built over a lifetime. This flesh fights the new man that is created. It was friends with the old self, but the new self is aligned with God’s Spirit, and the flesh can no longer be in control. This creates conflict within (Romans 7:14-23) that the unregenerated person does not experience. Thankfully, God delivers us over time from this “body of death” and does not condemn us when we lose the fight with the flesh (Romans 7:24-8:1). Instead, He continually works on those He has regenerated. We are in a constant state of re-creation (Hebrews 10:14) until we reach heaven and we are glorified, no longer to struggle with sin (Romans 8:30).
As we are re-created over the course of our lives, God replaces the old “program” with a new one, and we begin to love and crave the things of the Spirit, and to reject the things that He also rejects. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,” (Galatians 5:22–23). The newborn soul wants the things of God. Everything seems new. Believers will testify to this change, and the joy it brings. We still sin and fail, but the result of sin is different. Instead of satisfaction, the new creation feels disappointment after indulging in sin. It has taken us further from God—from the One we now love more than anything sin has to offer. And in the end, we will be part of a brand new creation: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:18-23).
What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
An important portion of Scripture that refers to the filling of the Holy Spirit is Ephesians 5:17-21:
“Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.”
In these verses being filled with the Spirit is contrasted with being filled or drunk with wine. The idea is one of being controlled by God’s Spirit rather than by other forces. When we are filled by the Spirit, we see a resultant attitude of joy and thanksgiving. We also see a relational posture of humility toward God and of submission to one another.
So how can a person be filled with the Holy Spirit? To be clear, there is an important difference between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit. All believers in Jesus Christ have God’s Spirit living within them, or dwelling within them (John 14:16, Ephesians 1:13, 2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 4:30); but not all believers live filled or controlled by the Spirit’s power. Some Christians describe this distinction by saying believers have all of the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit may not have all of them. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit at the time of our salvation but we are filled by Him when we submit to Him.
The filling of the Holy Spirit, then, can vary in the life of each believer. Negatively, a believer in Christ can “quench” or “grieve” the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19; Ephesians 4:30). Sinful actions can hinder the work of God’s Spirit in his or her life. In contrast, when a believer in Christ lives in obedience to God’s will and commands, he or she should expect to see God’s Spirit living through them.
Some suggest that the filling of the Holy Spirit is an emotional experience that takes place at certain moments, but the concept of “filling” in Scripture is one of being controlled or influenced by the Holy Spirit. At times living a Spirit-filled life may include emotional or mountain-top experiences. But the idea of being filled by the Spirit is more about an ongoing sense of God’s Spirit working in a person’s life, not a one-time experience. As the believer lives out his or her faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit increasingly controls or fills his or her life; this leads to joy, thankfulness, and right relationships.
What should I do if I’m a new Christian?
If you are a new Christian, you have just started a new life. It can be confusing as you figure out what this means. But the most important part is knowing that you now have a relationship with Jesus Who saved you from your sins so you can spend eternity with Him.
But what is the next step? Fortunately, Jesus doesn’t want to wait until we die to have a relationship with us. How do we start that now?
Learn Who Jesus is:
You know Jesus is God and the Son of God. You know He died for your sins and rose again on the third day. But what is He really like? Why did He do all these things? To find out, read the Bible, especially the Gospels. Start with the book of John.
If you don’t have a Bible yet, I’d encourage you to get/read the King James Version (KJV), or use the KJV on BibleGateway (see my blogs in the KJV and why the KJV is the Word of God).
Learn how to incorporate your new faith into your life:
There’s a metaphor Christians use to describe salvation: Some people just want the “fire insurance” so they can avoid hell; instead, we should get the “health insurance” so we can live our faith. Being a Christian isn’t just about saying a prayer. It’s about involving God in your life. Pray to Him, all the time, about everything (1 Thessalonians 5:17). He likes to hear our prayers. Get baptized as a way to show the world that you follow Jesus now. And listen carefully for the leading of the Holy Spirit. When you have a hard choice to make, feel where God is leading you.
Start the road to sanctification:
As you grow in your faith, you’ll experience a process called sanctification. When you accepted Jesus as your savior, He cleaned your heart. To be sanctified means to be gradually changed so that your attitudes, words, and actions reflect your new heart. The process takes a lifetime, and no one is perfect. It helps to get help. Find a good, Bible-teaching church and join a small group of believers who study the Bible and help each other.
Live your faith:
Show the world what you believe and express your new heart. Show Jesus’ love by serving others. Get involved with the lives of people in your church. And tell others about Jesus. The Greatest Commandments are to love God and love others. With Jesus’ help, we can truly love others in a way that’s for their best. And their best is for them to learn about Jesus, too.
When you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, you became God’s child forever. Nothing you do or say or think can take that away. You cannot give away, sin away, or lose your salvation—God is too strong to let you go! All of the things listed above are ways we show appreciation for Jesus’ sacrifice; ways we live out our new life. They do not save us, and if we mess up, they won’t threaten our salvation. Becoming a new Christian is just the start of a life-long journey that ends in God’s arms.
Sola fide
THE LATIN WORD SOLA
Sola is Latin meaning alone or single. Think of it when you sing a song by yourself it is called a solo.
Forms of this word are
Per the Latin Dictionary these are the forms of this word for Alone.
Sola
Solus
Solum
Solius
Soli
Solam
Solum
Solo
Sole
fide
fide is Latin too. This Latin word means Faith.
DOCTRINE OF SOLA FIDE
Sola Fide is one of the 5 Solas. This doctrine, based on justification of faith and faith alone. God’s pardon done through faith alone. Works won’t save us! We cannot earn salvation! Only Jesus Christ earned true justification by His righteous life. His righteousness was imputed to us. It was what Christ did that we couldn’t do. When we see faith and works in the Bible together they are often contrasted.
MARTIN LUTHER AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Martin Luther say this doctrine where the church would either stand or fall based on the belief or disbelief in sola fide. The Catholic Church doesn’t stand on this doctrine. As a matter of fact, Pope Benedict XVI made a startling proclamation: “Luther’s expression sola fide is true if faith is not opposed to charity, to love”. (Wednesday Audience, November 19, 2008). Catholics believe justification comes from sacraments of baptism and reconciliation. With these sacraments comes justification from God. However, in the sola fide doctrine, they would argue that both baptism and reconciliation are works.
FAITH AND WORKS
On the other side, James is showing that true faith will bring forth godly works. Because we love Jesus, we will love the things of the Father. That will lead us to do good works. But those works don’t save us! It is the faith that saves us! Even a Philippian jailer asked Paul what he must do to be saved. The Apostle Paul replied with, “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts 16:31). That summed it up that we cannot do anything, works won’t save us. Paul didn’t say believe and do this or that. Just simply Believe in the Lord Jesus. It is not just faith in anything … but faith in Jesus!
AUGSBURG CONFESSION – ARTICLE FOUR
Also they teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight. Romans 3 and Romans 4.
SCRIPTURE
The main scripture references comes from James 2:14-26 and Ephesians 2:1-10.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
The 1965 PROPHECY – “Deception” by Stanley Frodisham Part II
Therefore in mercy and love I am instructing
you in order that you may partake of My Glory. As you are willing to walk with Me and rejoice in your sufferings, you shall in turn partake of My Glory. Look unto Me for you have need of power to
overcome the wicked one and the bondages in others’ lives.
God´s Part and Our Part
I would have you consider My life on earth — the anointing upon Me was great and yet the temptations were great on every side; they came in one form and then in another, offering Me first the glory of the kingdoms of the earth and then in the form of reviling and persecution. There will be great glory given to My people but also the temptations will be intensified on every side. Think not
that with the glory there shall be no temptations or persecutions.
The glory to My church shall be great and so also the temptations from the enemy to turn My people from My paths. I warn you again that when the glory shall be manifested the temptations
shall be great until very few that started shall finish the course. First of all they shall be offered great worldly possessions and then will come great revilings and unbelief.
Consider your Lord, that as He walked so it shall be for you. There shall be need of great intensity of purpose. At times it will seem that everyone is rising up against you, trying to turn you from the course that I have set for you. It is written of Me that I set my face as flint to go in the direction that My Father had prescribed for Me.
If you will finish the course the Lord has laid down for you, you too will have to set your face as a flint. With great determination you must walk in the course laid down for you. Many of your loved
ones and those who follow with you will seek to persuade you and try to turn you from the course. With many words that seem right in the natural they will speak to you. Did not Christ rebuke Peter who would turn Him from the course God had prescribed?
Understand these two things and meditate upon them solemnly — the persecution and the darkness shall be as great as the glory in order to try to turn the elect and the anointed ones from the path
the Lord has laid down for them. Many shall start but few shall be able to finish because of the greatness of grace that shall be needed to be able to endure unto the end. The temptation and the
persecution of your Lord was continuous. He was tempted by Satan in many forms throughout His entire life and even to the cross where the ungodly cried out `if thou be the Christ come down from the cross´. Think not that there will be a time of no
persecution, for it shall be from the time of your anointing until the end. Difficulties and great persecution will go on to the end. The Lord must prepare you to be an overcomer in all things, that you may be able to finish the course. The persecution shall increase
even as the anointing shall increase.
In paths of judgement and righteousness shall the Lord God lead His people and bring them into that place which He has chosen for them. The Lord has chosen a place for His people, a place of righteousness and holiness where He shall encamp around them.
All who will be led of the Lord will be brought into this holy place.
For the Lord delights to
dwell in His people and to manifest Himself through His people. The holiness of the Lord will be manifested through His people. Let the Lord lead you and He will
lead you in the difficult places. He led His people of old through a place where no man dwelt, where no man passed through, in a place of great danger and in the shadow of death. The Lord will indeed lead His people again through such places, and at the same time will bring them out into a place of great glory.
Understand that the way toward the glory is fraught with great danger and many shall fall to the right or the left, many shall camp on lesser ground. But the Lord has a place of holiness and no unclean thing shall dwell among His people.
Put your trust in Him and He will bring you into a place of holiness.
He desires to bring His people into a great glory — the likes of which has never been seen, for this is what the Lord will do for those who put their trust in Him. It is a place of darkness and great danger and it will separate His people into the place where He would have them walk. He will protect them from the voices
that would turn them from His path. He will bring them through the dark places and treacherous paths and lead them out into the light of His glory. He will rejoice greatly over His beloved and cause
them to be filled with joy unspeakable. He seeks to lead His people into a new place of grace and glory where He will indeed
encamp among them. Put your trust in Him and He will surely bring you into this new place.
Fear not the days to come, but fear this only — that you shall walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord. In this time I am ordering and setting up My church and it shall indeed be pure, without spot or wrinkle. I will do a work in My beloved that has not been seen since the foundation of the world. I have shown you these things
that you may seek the Lord diligently with all your heart, and that you may be a preserver of His people.
Run not to this one or that one for the Lord has so ordained that salvation is in Him and in Him alone. You shall not turn to this shepherd or to that one, for there shall be a great scattering upon the earth. Therefore look unto Him for He will indeed make these
things clear to you. You shall not look here or there, for His Wells shall increase your strength and your faith as He prepares you for the times that are coming.
The truths that I have revealed to you must become a part of you — not just an experience, but a part of your very nature. Is it not written that I demand truth in the inward parts? It is the truth of the Lord expressed in your very being that shall hold you. Many shall experience the truth but the truth must become a part of you, your
very life. As men and women look upon you they will hear not only the voice but see the expression of the truth. Many shall be overcome because they are not constant in My ways and because they have not permitted the truths to become a part of them. I am
showing you these things that you may be prepared, and having done all, to stand.”
The 1965 PROPHECY – “Deception” by Stanley Frodisham
This word was spoken by Stanley Frodisham
who was a personal friend of Smith Wigglesworth. It was given in Chicago in 1965 five years before he died.)
Great Judgements
“With great judgements will I plead with the population of this country. Great darkness is coming upon the countries that have heard My gospel but no longer walk in it. My wrath shall come upon them. The darkness shall be so great and the anguish so
sore that men shall cry out for death and shall not find it. There shall be a lingering death, famine and great catastrophes.
My wrath shall be manifested against all ungodliness. It shall come with great intensity. You have known my love but have not experienced My wrath or My severity. My judgements are literal
and not a thing to be passed over lightly. Realise the severity of My judgements and My intense anger against the sin in My Household. My judgements shall begin in My House, for I will cleanse My House that it be not a partaker of My wrath against
the iniquities of the cities. Before I visit the nations in judgement I will begin at My House. When I do cause My wrath to come upon
the cities of the world My people shall be separate. I desire a people without spot or wrinkle and such will be preserved by Me in the time of My wrath, which will be coming upon all iniquity and unrighteousness.
I am going to prepare you for the coming days by a hard path that will cause many to cry out continually unto Me. For when the going is easy men do not seek Me, but rejoice in a temporary
blessing. And when that blessing is removed they so often turn this way and that way but do not come to Me. I am showing you these things in order that you may seek Me continually and with
great diligence. As you seek Me I will open up truths to you that you have not seen before, and these very truths will be such that will enable you to stand in these last days. As you are persecuted,
reviled and rejected by your brethren then you will turn unto Me with all your heart and seek Me for that spiritual life that you need.
So that when the tribulation comes you will have that which will enable you to stand. For many will be tossed to and fro, men´s
hearts shall fail them because of trouble on every hand. These days shall be very terrible the likes of which have never been seen.
Coming Glory – and – Deceiving Spirits
When I visit My people in mighty revival power, it is to prepare them for the darkness ahead. With the Glory shall come great darkness, for the Glory is to prepare My people for the darkness. I will enable My people to go through the darkness because of the
visitation of My Spirit. Take heed to yourselves lest you be puffed up and think that you have arrived. Many shall be puffed up as in the olden days, for then, many received My message but they did
not continue in it. Did I anoint Jehu? Yet the things that I desired were not accomplished in his life. Listen to the messengers, but
do not hold men´s persons in admiration or adulation. For many whom I shall anoint mightily with signs and miracles shall become
lifted up and shall fall by the wayside. I do not this willingly for I have made provision that they might stand. I call many into this ministry and equip them, but remember that many shall fall. They shall be like bright lights and the people shall delight in them. But they shall be taken over by deceiving spirits and shall lead many of My people astray. Hearken diligently concerning these things,
for in the last days shall come seducing spirits. They shall turn many of My anointed ones away, many shall fall through diverse lusts and because of `sin.
But if you will seek Me diligently I will put My Spirit within you so that when one shall turn to the right hand or to the left hand you shall not turn with them, but instead you will keep your eyes fixed
wholly on your Lord. The coming days are going to be most dangerous, difficult and dark for there shall be a mighty outpouring of My Spirit in judgement upon many cities and many shall be destroyed. My people must be diligently warned concerning the days ahead. Many shall turn after seducing spirits and already
many are seducing My people. It is those who `Do Righteousness´ that are righteous. Many cover their sins by great theological
words. But I warn you of seducing spirits who instruct my people in an evil way. Many of these I will anoint that they in turn may purify and sift My people, for I will have a holy people. When I come I shall not find faith upon the earth but in a few, for when the time of testing comes many will depart from their faith.
Many shall come with seducing spirits and hold out lustful enticements. You will find that after I have visited My people again the way will become more and more narrow, and fewer shall walk
therein. Be not deceived, the ways of righteousness are My ways.
For though Satan come as an angel of light hearken not to him; for those who perform miracles and speak not righteousness are not of Me. I warn you with great intensity that I am going to judge My House and have a church without spot or wrinkle when I come.
I desire to open your eyes and give you spiritual understanding, that you may not be deceived but may walk with uprightness of heart before Me, loving righteousness and hating every evil way.
Look unto Me and I will make you to perceive with the eyes of the Spirit the things that lurk in darkness, that are not visible to the human eye. Let Me lead you in this way, that you may perceive the powers of darkness and battle against them. It is not a battle
against flesh and blood, for if you battle in that way you accomplish nothing. But if you let Me take over and battle against the powers
of darkness then they are defeated, and then liberation is brought to My people.
The Ways of Deceivers
I warn you to search the Scriptures diligently concerning these last days. For the things that are written shall indeed be made manifest. There shall come deceivers among My people in increasing numbers, who shall speak forth the truth and shall gain the favour of the people. For the people shall examine the Scriptures and say, `What these men say is true´. Then when they
have gained the hearts of the people, then and then only shall they bring out their wrong doctrines. Therefore I say that you should not give your hearts to men, nor hold people´s persons in admiration or adulation. For by these very persons Satan shall gain entry into My people. Watch for seducers! Do you think a seducer will brandish a heresy and flaunt it before the people? He
will speak words of righteousness and truth and will appear as a minister of light, declaring the Word. The people´s hearts shall be won. Then when the hearts are won, they will bring out their
doctrines and the people shall be deceived. The people shall say `Did he not speak thus and thus´? `And did we not examine it from
the Word?´ `Therefore he is a minister of righteousness. This that he has now spoken we do not see in the Word but it must be right, for the other things he spoke were true.’
Be not deceived. For the deceiver will first work to gain the hearts of many, and then shall bring forth his insidious doctrines. You can not discern those who are of Me and those who are not of Me
when they start to preach. But seek Me constantly, and when
these doctrines are brought out you shall have a witness in your heart that these are not of Me. Fear not, for I have warned you. It is possible that the very elect may be deceived. But it is not
possible if you walk in holiness and uprightness before the Lord, for then your eyes shall be open and the Lord will protect you. If
you will constantly look unto the Lord you will know when the doctrine changes, and will not be brought into it. If your heart is right I will keep you, if you will look constantly to Me, I will uphold you.
The minister of righteousness shall be on this wise — his life shall agree with the word, and his lips shall give forth that which is wholly true, there will be no mixture. When the mixture appears then you will know he is not a minister of righteousness. The deceivers speak first the truth and then error, to cover their own
sins which they love. Therefore I exhort and command you to study the Scriptures relative to seducing spirits, for this is one of the great dangers of these last days.
I desire you to be firmly established in My word and not in the personalities of men, that you will not be moved as so many shall
be moved. I would keep you in the paths of righteousness. Take heed to yourselves and follow not the seducing spirits that are already manifesting themselves. Diligently inquire of Me when you hear something that you have not seen in the word, and do not hold people´s persons in admiration, for it is by this very method that Satan will hold many of My people.
The Way of Triumph
I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly, that you may triumph where I triumphed. On the cross I triumphed
over all the powers of Satan and I have called you to walk in the same path. It is when your life is on the cross that you shall know the victory that I have experienced. As you are on the cross, seated in Me, then you shall know the power of the resurrection.
When I come in My Glory the principalities and powers in the heavenly places shall be utterly broken. Fear not, for I have given you the power whereby you may tread down the powers of darkness, and come forth victorious through every trial. As you are
on the cross then you are victorious. It was on the cross that I triumphed over all the powers of the enemy. My life shall flow through as you enter into these precious truths. Look unto Me and appropriate My life. As your eyes and desires are toward Me and you know what it is to be crucified with Me, then you shall live and your anointing shall increase. It was not in My life as I walked upon the earth but rather it was in My life as I hung upon the cross that I openly spoiled principalities and powers.
I am showing you truth that shall cause you to overcome, to have power over the wicked one, this is the truth that will liberate you and those around you. You shall know also the fellowship of My sufferings. There is no other way whereby you may partake of this heavenly glory and to reign with Me. My word says that if we suffer with Him we shall reign with Him. I desire to make these
truths real within you. As you keep them before you, you will in turn liberate many who are in bondage. You will have revelation of those who are in darkness and will have the keys to liberate the
captives. Many seek to liberate but do not have the keys. Upon the cross continually you will know the power of My resurrection.
If you will indeed judge yourself you shall not be judged. As you seek My face and desire to be cleansed by Me in all truth and sincerity of heart, I will judge you in the secret place, and the things that are in the secret place of your heart shall not be made
manifest to others. I will do it in the secret place and no man will know it. The shame that will be seen on many faces shall not be seen on your face. Therefore in mercy and love I am instructing
you in order that you may partake of My Glory. As you are willing to walk with Me and rejoice in your sufferings, you shall in turn partake of My Glory. Look unto Me for you have need of power to
overcome the wicked one and the bondages in others’ lives.
To be continued in Part II
Major Prophetic Signs That Have Already Passed
Prophecy not only foretells the manner and object of Christ’s coming, but presents tokens by which men are to know when it is near. Said Jesus: “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars;…” Luke 21:25. “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.” Mark 13:24-26. The revelator thus describes the first of the signs to precede the second advent: “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;” Revelation 6:12.
THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE
These signs were witnessed before the opening of the nineteenth century. In fulfillment of this prophecy there occurred, in the year 1755, the most terrible earthquake that has ever been recorded. Though commonly known as the earthquake of Lisbon, it extended to the greater part of Europe, Africa, and America. It was felt in Greenland, in the West Indies, in the island of Madeira, in Norway and Sweden, Great Britain and Ireland. It pervaded an extent of not less than four million square miles. In Africa the shock was almost as severe as in Europe. A great part of Algiers was destroyed; and a short distance from Morocco, a village containing eight or ten thousand inhabitants was swallowed up. A vast wave swept over the coast of Spain and Africa engulfing cities and causing great destruction.
It was in Spain and Portugal that the shock manifested its extreme violence. At Cadiz the inflowing wave was said to be sixty feet high. Mountains, “some of the largest in Portugal, were impetuously shaken, as it were, from their very foundations, and some of them opened at their summits, which were split and rent in a wonderful manner, huge masses of them being thrown down into the adjacent valleys. Flames are related to have issued from these mountains.” — Sir Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, page 495.
At Lisbon “a sound of thunder was heard underground, and immediately afterwards a violent shock threw down the greater part of that city. In the course of about six minutes sixty thousand persons perished. The sea first retired, and laid the bar dry; it then rolled in, rising fifty feet or more above its ordinary level.” “Among other extraordinary events related to have occurred at Lisbon during the catastrophe, was the subsidence of a new quay, built entirely of marble, at an immense expense. A great concourse of people had collected there for safety, as a spot where they might be beyond the reach of falling ruins; but suddenly the quay sank down with all the people on it, and not one of the dead bodies ever floated to the surface.” — Ibid., page 495. “The shock” of the earthquake “was instantly followed by the fall of every church and convent, almost all the large public buildings, and more than one fourth of the houses. In about two hours after the shock, fires broke out in different quarters, and raged with such violence for the space of nearly three days, that the city was completely desolated. The earthquake happened on a holyday, when the churches and convents were full of people, very few of whom escaped.” — Encyclopedia Americana, art. “Lisbon“, note (ed. 1831). “The terror of the people was beyond description. Nobody wept; it was beyond tears. They ran hither and thither, delirious with horror and astonishment, beating their faces and breasts, crying, ‘Misericordia! the world’s at an end!’ Mothers forgot their children, and ran about loaded with crucifixed images. Unfortunately, many ran to the churches for protection; but in vain was the sacrament exposed; in vain did the poor creatures embrace the altars; images, priests, and people were buried in one common ruin.” It has been estimated that ninety thousand persons lost their lives on that fatal day.
THE DARK DAY
Twenty-five years later appeared the next sign mentioned in the prophecy — the darkening of the sun and moon. What rendered this more striking was the fact that the time of its fulfillment had been definitely pointed out. In the Saviour’s conversation with His disciples upon Olivet, after describing the long period of trial for the church, — the 1260 years of papal persecution, concerning which He had promised that the tribulation should be shortened, — He thus mentioned certain events to precede His coming, and fixed the time when the first of these should be witnessed: “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,” Mark 13:24. The 1260 days, or years, terminated in 1798. A quarter of a century earlier, persecution had almost wholly ceased. Following this persecution, according to the words of Christ, the sun was to be darkened. On the 19th of May, 1780, this prophecy was fulfilled.
“Almost, if not altogether alone, as the most mysterious and as yet unexplained phenomenon of its kind, . . . stands the dark day of May 19, 1780, — a most unaccountable darkening of the whole visible heavens and atmosphere in New England.” — R. M. Devens, Our First Century, page 89.
An eyewitness living in Massachusetts describes the event as follows: “In the morning the sun rose clear, but was soon overcast. The clouds became lowery, and from them, black and ominous, as they soon appeared, lightning flashed, thunder rolled, and a little rain fell. Toward nine o’clock, the clouds became thinner, and assumed a brassy or coppery appearance, and earth, rocks, trees, buildings, water, and persons were changed by this strange, unearthly light. A few minutes later, a heavy black cloud spread over the entire sky except a narrow rim at the horizon, and it was as dark as it usually is at nine o’clock on a summer evening. . . .
“Fear, anxiety, and awe gradually filled the minds of the people. Women stood at the door, looking out upon the dark landscape; men returned from their labor in the fields; the carpenter left his tools, the blacksmith his forge, the tradesman his counter. Schools were dismissed, and tremblingly the children fled homeward. Travelers put up at the nearest farmhouse. ‘What is coming?’ queried every lip and heart. It seemed as if a hurricane was about to dash across the land, or as if it was the day of the consummation of all things.
“Candles were used; and hearth fires shone as brightly as on a moonless evening in autumn. . . . Fowls retired to their roosts and went to sleep, cattle gathered at the pasture bars and lowed, frogs peeped, birds sang their evening songs, and bats flew about. But the human knew that night had not come…. “Dr. Nathanael Whittaker, pastor of the Tabernacle church in Salem, held religious services in the meeting-house, and preached a sermon in which he maintained that the darkness was supernatural. Congregations came together in many other places. The texts for the extemporaneous sermons were invariably those that seemed to indicate that the darkness was consonant with Scriptural prophecy. . . . The darkness was most dense shortly after eleven o’clock.” — The Essex Antiquarian, April, 1899, vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 53, 54.
“In most parts of the country it was so great in the daytime, that the people could not tell the hour by either watch or clock, nor dine, nor manage their domestic business, without the light of candles. . . .
“The extent of this darkness was extraordinary. It was observed as far east as Falmouth. To the westward it reached to the farthest part of Connecticut, and to Albany. To the southward, it was observed along the seacoasts; and to the north as far as the American settlements extend.” — William Gordon, History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the U.S.A., vol. 3, p. 57.
The intense darkness of the day was succeeded, an hour or two before evening, by a partially clear sky, and the sun appeared, though it was still obscured by the black, heavy mist. “After sundown, the clouds came again overhead, and it grew dark very fast.” “Nor was the darkness of the night less uncommon and terrifying than that of the day; notwithstanding there was almost a full moon, no object was discernible but by the help of some artificial light, which, when seen from the neighboring houses and other places at a distance, appeared through a kind of Egyptian darkness which seemed almost impervious to the rays.” — Isaiah Thomas, Massachusetts Spy; or, American Oracle of Liberty, vol. 10, No. 472 (May 25, 1780). Said an eyewitness of the scene: “I could not help conceiving at the time, that if every luminous body in the universe had been shrouded in impenetrable shades, or struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete.” — Letter by Dr. Samuel Tenney, of Exeter, New Hampshire, December, 1785 (in Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, 1792, 1st series, vol. 1, p. 97).
Though at nine o’clock that night the moon rose to the full, “it had not the least effect to dispel the deathlike shadows.” After midnight the darkness disappeared, and the moon, when first visible, had the appearance of blood.
May 19, 1780, stands in history as “The Dark Day“. Since the time of Moses no period of darkness of equal density, extent, and duration, has ever been recorded. The description of this event, as given by eyewitnesses, is but an echo of the words of the Lord, recorded by the prophet Joel, twenty-five hundred years previous to their fulfillment: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.” Joel 2:31
STARS FALL FROM HEAVEN
In 1833, the last of the signs appeared which were promised by the Saviour as tokens of His second advent. Said Jesus: “…the stars shall fall from heaven,…” Matthew 24:29. John in the Revelation declared, as he beheld in vision the scenes that should herald the day of God: “And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” Revelation 6:13. This prophecy received a striking and impressive fulfillment in the great meteoric shower of November 13, 1833. That was the most extensive and wonderful display of falling stars which has ever been recorded; “the whole firmament, over all the United States, being then, for hours, in fiery commotion! No celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with such intense admiration by one class in the community, or with so much dread and alarm by another.” “Its sublimity and awful beauty still linger in many minds. . . . Never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the same. In a word, the whole heavens seemed in motion. . . . The display, as described in Professor Silliman’s Journal, was seen all over North America. . . . From two o’clock until broad daylight, the sky being perfectly serene and cloudless, an incessant play of dazzlingly brilliant luminosities was kept up in the whole heavens.” — R. M. Devens, American Progress; or, The Great Events of the Greatest Century, ch. 28, pars. 1-5.
“No language, indeed, can come up to the splendor of that magnificent display; . . . no one who did not witness it can form an adequate conception of its glory. It seemed as if the whole starry heavens had congregated at one point near the zenith, and were simultaneously shooting forth, with the velocity of lightning, to every part of the horizon; and yet they were not exhausted–thousands swiftly followed in the tracks of thousands, as if created for the occasion.” — F. Reed, in the Christian Advocate and Journal, Dec. 13, 1833. “A more correct picture of a fig tree casting its figs when blown by a mighty wind, it was not possible to behold.” — “The Old Countryman”, in Portland Evening Advertiser, Nov. 26, 1833.
In the New York Journal of Commerce of November 14, 1833, appeared a long article regarding this wonderful phenomenon, containing this statement: “No philosopher or scholar has told or recorded an event, I suppose, like that of yesterday morning. A prophet eighteen hundred years ago foretold it exactly, if we will be at the trouble of understanding stars falling to mean falling stars, . . . in the only sense in which it is possible to be literally true.”
Thus was displayed the last of those signs of His coming, concerning which Jesus bade His disciples: “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Matthew 24:33.
After these signs, John beheld, as the great event next impending, the heavens departing as a scroll, while the earth quaked, mountains and islands removed out of their places, and the wicked in terror sought to flee from the presence of the Son of man. ref. Revelation 6:12-17.
Many who witnessed the falling of the stars, looked upon it as a herald of the coming judgment, “an awful type, a sure forerunner, a merciful sign, of that great and dreadful day.” — “The Old Countryman” in Portland Evening Advertiser, Nov. 26, 1833. Thus the attention of the people was directed to the fulfillment of prophecy, and many were led to give heed to the warning of the second advent.
FALL OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
In the year 1840 another remarkable fulfillment of prophecy excited widespread interest. Two years before, Josiah Litch, one of the leading ministers preaching the second advent, published an exposition of Revelation 9, predicting the fall of the Ottoman Empire. According to his calculations, this power was to be overthrown “in A.D. 1840, sometime in the month of August“; and only a few days previous to its accomplishment he wrote: “Allowing the first period, 150 years, to have been exactly fulfilled before Deacozes ascended the throne by permission of the Turks, and that the 391 years, fifteen days, commenced at the close of the first period, it will end on the 11th of August, 1840, when the Ottoman power in Constantinople may be expected to be broken. And this, I believe, will be found to be the case.” — Josiah Litch, in Signs of the Times, and Expositor of Prophecy, Aug. 1, 1840.
At the very time specified, Turkey, through her ambassadors, accepted the protection of the allied powers of Europe, and thus placed herself under the control of Christian nations.
See Also: THE SEVEN SEALS ( Paralleled by The Seven Churches ) (Believe) (Proof) Religion Page KJV Bible
8 Habits of a Healthy Spiritual Life
Here is the question to ponder today, how hard is it to die when you have so much wealth? Consider this: People who lay up treasures on earth spend their life backing away from their treasures. To them, death is loss.
People who lay up treasures in heaven look forward to eternity; they are moving daily toward their treasures. To them, death is gain.
Those who spend their life moving away from their treasures have more and more reasons to despair. Those who spend their life moving toward their treasures have more and more reasons to rejoice.
Is the passing of time causing you and me to despair or rejoice? God’s ownership of everything is the reference point for all of us who serve the Lord.
God’s Word teaches us eight habits that can keep us spiritually healthy until death. Wouldn’t it be great to be in robust spiritual health, looking forward to Heaven? The habits recorded in Psalms 16 are not just for those who have one foot in the grave, they are actually good habits for all of our lives.
Here are the simple habits that make our death precious in the sight of the Lord. These are the marks of a healthy spiritual life that takes the sting out of death.
Do your plans and priorities for the rest of this year mirror what the Lord desires? His desires are clearly laid out in His Word.
Our key passage for this series is 1 Timothy 4:7. Paul says we are to discipline our selves towards godliness. What encourages a godly life?
The Discipline of Scripture.
Time alone with God in His Word, the Scriptures, is the great necessity of our spiritual lives. We need to be alone with God daily! We need to find times to get away alone.
Thou wilt shew me the path of life:
in thy presence is fulness of joy;
at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Ps. 16:11)
The Lord God of the Universe wants to arrange your life, and accompany your trip through life, and authorize everything needed from now on. Wow, that is the best life there is.
The Discipline of Spirit-Filled Living.
Jesus explained Holy Spirit in our lives by using the image of a strong river of water flowing out of us.
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (present active imperative). He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” (John 7:37–39)
Rivers of water is the way Jesus describes the normal life of believers, His children.
The Discipline of Stewardship.
A life given back to God as an offering is what stewardship is all about. Stewardship is not about money; it is about life itself. Time and life are far greater treasures than money and possessions. God wants you 1st and foremost! A GODLY STEWARD KNOWS THAT GOD OWNS HIM AND EVERYTHING HE HAS.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1–2)
“And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” (2 Corinthians 5:15)
He who lays up treasures on earth spends his life backing away from his treasures. To him, death is loss. He who lays up treasures in heaven looks forward to eternity; he’s moving daily toward his treasures. To him, death is gain. He who spends his life moving away from his treasures has reason to despair. He who spends his life moving toward his treasures has reason to rejoice.
Is the passing of time causing you and me to despair or rejoice? God’s kingdom was the reference point for these men. They saw all else in light of the kingdom. They were compelled to live as they did not because they treasured no things, but because they treasured the right things.
We often miss something in missionary martyr Jim Elliot’s famous words, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” We focus on his willingness to go to the mission field. That willingness started when he relinquished his hold on things as MINE!
Stay blessed!
What Day IS That Day That No Man Knows?
Ye are about to read, and I believe by the Spirit of Truth you will receive, a simple and yet shocking revelation to help in your understanding of many things in these last days. It is my hope and prayer that this revelation will spread like wildfire and bring healing, encouragement, freedom from deception, and unity within the faithful remnant body of Christ. We need to have much more detail on these very important understandings of the times. It is likely that this simple revelation is something that everyone you know needs to know. Though no scripture is of any private interpretation, this revelation has been one of those things sealed up unto the END, so that His people in the last days would KNOW that they are the privileged generation, which is called to be His witnesses to these things. It is my prayer that all of you will be able to make copies of this write-up to do what you can to make this known within the Body of Christ as soon as possible.
The time of our Lord’s return is a topic of wide and varied interpretation, which has been hotly debated for centuries. However, I believe it is NOW time that the debating should be brought to a conclusion, and the faithful remnant should be brought by the sure Word of God, KJV (I pray all of my readers have read and heeded the warnings from the info I have posted in ALL my King James blogs), and His Holy Spirit of Truth, to a KNOWN and commonly accepted understanding. We have all heard the date-setters, like prophecy gurus, give one inaccurate prediction after another, even proclaiming “thus saith the LORD“. However, we should KNOW that it is God who is THE date setter; He has set the dates from the beginning, and sealed them until the time of the end. We should also KNOW that He wants His people to KNOW the times. Why else would so much be given by His prophets in the Holy Bible to speak of the Second Coming and/or the Day of the Lord? Amos 3:7 – “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”
The generation, which will witness the Day of the Lord, is a special generation. It is a generation that will be privileged to literally LIVE the book of Revelation. It is a generation that, while experiencing great trials and great tribulation, will have great joy in realizing they have the greatest opportunity to give glory to God, and bring souls into His Kingdom, of any generation. In concluding His summary (Matt 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) of what this privileged generation will witness, The Lord Jesus Christ said in Matt 24:34 – “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all THESE THINGS be fulfilled.“
MAY I TELL YOU THAT IF YOU ARE NOW READING THIS, THAT YOU ARE PART OF THAT PRIVILEGED GENERATION? AND YES, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHEN.
The majority of the Christian Community has taken themselves completely out of the understanding of the times with the following mis-quote – NO MAN KNOWS THE DAY OR THE HOUR OF THE LORD’S RETURN NOT EVEN THE ANGELS. That is a mis-quote removed from its context, and a pretext for great error. It is NOW time we see, and understand, what the Lord really and actually says in Matthew 24:35-36. He says that it is another day when heaven and earth will pass away. He says “..,of THAT DAY
and hour, (when heaven and earth passes away) knoweth no man not even the angels….”
The first 33 verses of Matt 24 get wrapped up giving the way to know and understand when one is in that privileged generation to witness the end of the age, and the Second Coming of the Lord to rule as KING of Kings for 1000 years. Then THAT DAY, (when He makes a new earth and this heaven and earth passes away), which is ANOTHER day, AFTER the 1000 year reign of King Jesus on this earth ruling from Mount Zion. He FIRST must come back and restore THIS earth, burning up everything that defiles,
and rule and reign from the Big Church of the Firstborn on Mount Zion, (Ezek 40-48). THAT DAY that no man knows, when heaven and earth passes away is NOT the Day of the Lord, or His second coming, but ANOTHER Day AFTER His millennial reign. That day when heaven and earth will pass away is NOT the day of the Second Coming. That day is AFTER the millennial reign of Yeshua from Zion, when this earth and heaven passes away, is THAT DAY spoken of in Matt 24:34-35. THAT DAY of which no man knows, when heaven and earth will pass away, is AFTER the millennial reign of King Jesus. Be NOT deceived, THAT DAY is AFTER His thousand-year reign. Yes, you will see it says the same thing, that THAT DAY is when heaven and earth passes away in Mark 13:31-32. That is ANOTHER Day, sometime AFTER He returns to reign on THIS EARTH for 1000 years, when He will bring in the NEW Heaven and NEW Earth that John was shown in Rev 21-22.
YES, THOUGH WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE EXACT DAY WHEN THE NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH IS TO BE – WE ARE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHEN HIS SECOND COMING WILL BE; IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION OF THESE DAYS.
There are hundreds even thousands of verses concerning the Lord’s return, and the Lord clearly admonishes you and me, who are part of this privileged generation, when He said in Luke 12:56 “Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?” That one verse should PROVE that we should know, and are supposed to KNOW, the times God has given His people to KNOW by the More Sure Words of the Scriptures and His Holy Spirit of Truth. The day of the Lord will come upon the wicked in particular, and the whole world in general, like a thief in the night. The Scriptures that His people are supposed to understand will remain a mystery to the world. However, His people are supposed to be enabled to KNOW. However, the wicked are NOT to know or understand the times.
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY WORD that proceedeth out of the mouth of God”. We also know there are NO idle words in the Word of God. There are no extraneous, or superfluous, or unnecessary words in the God Promised PERFECT and ONLY Holy Bible, the Authorized Version, the KJV Holy Bible, which I like to call the *King Jesus Version. If the Lord did not mean for us to understand or know the time of His coming, why do we have all of the scriptures, the many verses, and all the words pertaining to the time of His return? Such words would then be counted as unimportant or unnecessary words, and there is no such thing as an idle word that does not pertain to our privileged generation, which will witness the ends of the world come to pass. 1 Cor 10:11 – “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for OUR admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.“
Lord willing, in the next UPDATE, now that you have the understanding of WHAT DAY IS THAT DAY in Matt 24:25-26, we can share a few things to perfect your understanding of Daniel. God will teach us ALL things by our Trustworthy TEACHER, His Holy Spirit of Truth. He will show us things that are to come, which includes the return of Our Lord. That is in fact the purpose for which God gave Yeshua, to give to our privileged generation, through the Apostle John, the book of The Revelation, which we are privileged to LIVE, in His power and for His glory. Rev 1:1 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass;…” He will show His servants things that MUST shortly be done.
Religion Vs Relationship With God
In this article, I will be comparing the differences between religion vs relationship with God. As believers if we are not careful we can easily be involved in religion and be oblivious to it.
Religion can easily dominate your prayer life. Religion can easily dominate your daily walk with Christ. Religion cripples your relationship with God and it greatly hinders us.
However, believers can go overboard when we use “the religion excuse” to live in rebellion and worldliness.
We must be careful that we don’t harden our heart to rebuke and correction. There are many things that will be discussed in this article. I encourage you as you read this article to examine your life.
QUOTES
“[A lot of people] think that Christianity is you doing all the righteous things you hate and avoiding all the wicked things you love in order to go to Heaven. No, that’s a lost man with religion. A Christian is a person whose heart has been changed; they have new affections.” ~ Paul Washer
“Religion is the possibility of the removal of every ground of confidence except confidence in God alone.” – Karl Barth
“Most men, indeed, play at religion as they play at games, religion itself being of all games the one most universally played.” – A. W. Tozer
“Religion is a guy in church thinking about fishing. Relationship is a guy out fishing thinking about God.”
RELIGION TEACHES YOU THAT YOU HAVE TO DO.
Christianity says that you can’t do. You have to trust in the One who has done it for you. Whether Catholicism, Islam, etc. Every other religion in the world teaches a works based salvation. Christianity is the only religion in the world where you are justified by grace through faith in Christ alone. Religion keeps you in chains, but Christ has set us free.
Romans 11:6, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”
Romans 4:4-5, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
IS CHRISTIANITY A RELIGION?
Many people like saying things like “Christianity is not a religion it’s a relationship“. This is true, but it’s not the entire truth. Christianity is a religion, but as believers we treat it as a relationship. The problem that I see in many Christian circles is that many people use the grace of God to indulge in sin. They say things like “relationship over religion” or “Jesus over religion”, but they forget things such as repentance and sanctification.
I hate the aspect of religion that says you have to do something to be right with God. I hate when someone tries to put legalistic rules upon believers. However, evidence of your faith in Christ is that your life will change. Evidence of your faith in Christ is that you will have new desires for Christ and His Word. I heard someone say, “Jesus hates religion.” This is not true.
Jesus hates hypocrisy, false religion, and He hates when people try to appear religious to show off. However, in John 14:23 Jesus says, “… If a man love me, he will keep my words:”
As believers, we obey not to maintain salvation. We obey out of love and gratitude. When you have true religion, you don’t try to seem religious. You don’t try to act like something you’re not. You act as you are which is a new creation. Matthew Henry Commentary for James 1:26 says, “True religion teaches us to do everything as in the presence of God.”
James 1:26 “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.”
James 1:27 “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
GOD WANTS US TO PURSUE HIM RELIGION KILLS INTIMACY
It’s a relationship that God desires! He doesn’t want you trying to be religious. He wants you to seek Him. Words mean nothing if the heart is not right. Are you involved in religion or are you involved in a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ? When you pray is your heart looking for Christ? What’s a relationship without intimacy? Is your prayer life boring? If it is, then that is strong evidence that you are involved in religion.
Leonard Ravenhill said, “There is no place on God’s earth more exciting than the church of the Living God when God is brooding there. And there is no place on God’s earth more boring when He isn’t.” When God is there our heart is filled with joy and excitement. The heart knows its maker. Religion or relationship! Which one describes your prayer life? Your prayer life dies when you become satisfied with religion. Stop going through the motions. You sit there in prayer and you say repetitive words and you know the heart is not right. You cheat yourself out the presence of God.
You say, “I spent an hour in prayer today. I did my duty.” No! Prayer is not a choir. It’s a joy. It’s a privilege to be in the presence of the Almighty God! We take prayer for granted when it’s something that we do out of obligation and not love. I am convinced that over 75% of believers do not actually pray. We have become content with throwing words around.
One great hymn writer said, “I often say my prayers. But do I ever pray? And do the wishes of my heart go with the words I say? I may as well kneel down and worship gods of stone, as offer to the living God a prayer of words alone. For words without the heart the Lord will never hear, nor will He to those lips attend whose prayers are not sincere. Lord teach me what I need, and teach me how to pray; Nor let me ask thy grace, not feeling what I say.”
One way to examine the current condition of your heart is to pray for more of Him and wait on Him in prayer. Are you willing to wait for more of His presence? Do you cry out all night to know Him? Your mouth can say, Lord I want to know you but if you leave after 5 minutes, does that show a heart that truly wants to know Him?
You say the right words, but is your heart right? One thing I always say in prayer is “Lord I don’t want religion I want a relationship.” Sometimes my heart is so burdened and I say, “Lord I won’t make it through the night if I don’t have You.”
Deuteronomy 4:29 “But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.”
Matthew 15:8 “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.”
Psalm 130:6 “My soul waiteth for the Lordmore than they that watch for the morning:I say, more than they that watch for the morning.”
RELIGION ROBS US OF THE LOVE OF GOD?
God wants you to understand His love. We often think that God wants us to do something for Him. No! He wants your relationship with Him to be characterized by love and not duty. Do you have a genuine love for the Lord? Are you missing out on God’s love? When we miss out on God’s love and substitute religion for a relationship, then we can end up being mean-spirited, grumpy, judgmental, prideful, and loveless.
I know of many Pharisees who say they know the love of God but they live as if they are in chains. Their life is filled with a false sense of condemnation and hate. Why live like that? Maybe you are a pastor and you fear the Lord, you obey Him, you do things for Him, you pray to Him, but do you genuinely love Him? We treat God like a loveless earthly father.
When your father is loveless or he never tells you about his love for you, then you feel as if you have to do more to gain his love. Does this sound like your relationship with God? Have your grown bitter over the years? The only reason we can love is because God loved us so much. Have you ever sat down and thought about that? The love that you use to love others and the love that you use to love Him is from His great love for you. We will never understand His great love for us.
I feel as if God just wants to tell us “shut up for just a moment and get to know My love for you. I love you.” It’s so hard to truly understand the love of God when we are searching for it in the wrong places. He loves you, not based on what you can do for Him, but because of who He is and what He has done for you in the finished work of Christ. Sometimes we have to just stop for a second, be still, and sit in His presence.
When you go to prayer from now on, ask the Holy Spirit to help you to understand His love. Pray for more of His presence. When we are in fellowship with God and our hearts are aligned with Him we will feel His love. Many preachers don’t know the love of God and have lost His presence because many have stopped spending time with Him. Examine yourself, renew your mind, and truly seek Christ daily.
Hosea 6:6 “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
Mark 12:33 “And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Being Influenced Vs Being Called: Don’t Be Misled
Oftentimes we may think we know what God is calling us tjo do, whether it’s something major like starting a business or ministry, or something like writing a book or starting a YouTube channel.
We try doing these things wondering if we were purposely created to do them. But when we come up unfruitful, stagnate, and don’t even finish what we’re working on, we may ask ourselves “hmm, is this really something that God wants me to do in my life.”
The question we should really ask ourselve in this situation is “am I doing this because God called me to do it or am I doing it because I see everyone around me doing it?”. This is where being influenced by others can mislead us into doing something that God didn’t even anoint us for.
HERE’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “BEING INFLUENCED” AND “BEING CALLED”
In the most general sense, being influenced means wanting to do something because you see someone else doing it and because it looks cool or trendy. People may influence us to work for a certain company or to write a book about something we want to put out to the world. But these moves may not necessarily be things that are in God’s will for us to do.
When we see so many other people of God making YouTube channels, writing books, or starting businesses, it can be easy for us to be influenced to do those same things because it seems like a trend. So many people want to follow trends and keep them consistent. But just because we’re influenced to do these kinds of things, it doesn’t mean that God wants you to do them.
Maybe what we really want is the feeling of accomplishment or self-importance. Or maybe you desire the popularity and financial prosperity that comes with it all.
But these are things that the flesh craves and it only craves things that displease God, ”For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16).
Being called is when God gives you a divine assignment to do His will on earth. This will include doing anything that builds His kingdom, brings others to salvation, glorifies Him, tells others about Him, and brings joy to others.
A calling will lie so heavily on your spirit that you just can’t seem to shake it. It practically scares you because you can’t stop thinking about it! (God is calling me to ministry, and it’s on my spirit every single day).
Whatever Holy Spirit is leading you to do—whether it’s music, writing, ministry, business, teaching, etc.—it will stay on your mind constantly, even if it’s something you don’t want to do! But to gain that desire to do His will, we must live our lives for Him.
Only God can give us such a desire, we can’t just find it within ourselves, ”For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)
A calling may feel terrifying, yet exciting at the same time. You want so badly to flesh out this God-given vision, but it’s so big that you’re fearful of how the world will respond to it…and you.
This is how you know it’s from God. No one influenced you, no one told you to pursue it, but God gathered all the pieces together and held up the big picture right in front of your spiritual eyes. It’s like your calling is pulling you in constantly and your flesh just wants to resist it. Being influenced has a shallow affect while being called has an eternal effect.
They key to avoid earthly influence and finding your God-given calling is to stay led by Holy Spirit! Resist the flesh and live a life that is pleasing and glorifying to God every single day.
God uses those who are living a life led by Him. Why would He use you if you are a lukewarm or part time believer?
Seek God’s direction above all. Be careful not to be blindly led by others who are doing big things. Stay in your track lane and don’t look onto anyone else’s or else you’ll stumble and fall and not even win your race.
Be careful not to think, “hmm, everyone else seems to be starting a ministry or a blog. Maybe I should too?” Nooo! Don’t be led by the majority. We must do those things only if Holy Spirit leads us.
Sit at the feet of Jesus and ask Him what it is He wants you to do. Even if you’ve never seen anyone do it before! If God is leading you, you can trust that your obedience will only lead to peace and eternal rewards.
I want to leave you with this popular scripture: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
PREDESTINATION – Where do we stand?
Scoffers today seem to delight in asking hard questions of Bible believers. If God is Almighty, why does He not exercise His power to stop evil, pain, and suffering? If God knows the end from the beginning, why does He allow all of this evil and suffering to take place? If we are predestined to be a vessel of honor and eternal glory, OR a vessel of dishonor and destruction, then who can resist God, and why be concerned about it? How do we as Christians deal with the question of Predestination and the problem of evil and human suffering?
Those are good tough questions, for which the child of God may find answers in the KJV Holy Bible which contains ALL things that pertain to life and godliness.
First, we do know that there are over 2000 PROPHECIES in the Holy Bible that have already been perfectly and exactly fulfilled. Those fulfilled prophecies have historical and archaeological verification. We can see by fulfilled prophecy, that God does know, and has told us, the end from the beginning. We also do know that God will bring about PERFECT Judgment and an end to evil and suffering, to His called, who WILL CHOOSE TO MAKE THEIR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE. The sad truth is that many are called. Few are chosen.
So let us try to deal with this issue of predestination, for that is an issue which will greatly effect everyone. A wrong answer on that one, and a wrong understanding on that one, is something for which EVERYONE could pay eternal consequences, or find eternal reward.
Here is the answer regarding the issue of Predestination. Indeed God does know, and has to know, and has been proven to know, by those 2000 fulfilled Bible prophecies – God does KNOW from all eternity what will happen. God IS God.
THE FACT THAT GOD KNOWS SOMETHING WILL TAKE PLACE DOES NOT MEAN OR INDICATE THAT GOD MADE IT TAKE PLACE.
God created Lucifer, who became Satan the devil. Lucifer was created as a perfect angel. God gave Lucifer a free will. A free will is necessary in order to make choices, otherwise what you have, is a robot.
Here is the simple answer to the predestination question. 1 John 4:8 “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
The only way you can love is by FREE WILL. God knew when He created Lucifer and all of the other angels, that one third of them would one day exercise their free will AGAINST Him, and rebel. God is able to look BEYOND that to the hosts of angels, and men, who would really love Him. They would love Him because He first loved them. Alleluia. God is love, and that is the genuine biblical answer to the predestination question.
God could look beyond all of the evil and endure with infinite long-suffering and forbearance. God looked forward BEYOND putting an end to evil, to the union of the spotless pure Church as the object of His love. He was able to have the infinite forbearance and long-suffering required to endure all which free will would produce. He could look BEYOND regarding sin, evil, corruption, and suffering, to that end where there would be a group of men and angels who would love Him and have fellowship with Him for all eternity.
It was the worshipping angels under Lucifer who rebelled. The purpose for which God created man, in His own image, was to restore true worship. God created man to restore that true worship to His Kingdom, and restore the vacancy created in His perfect Kingdom, when Lucifer led the worshipping angels in rebellion.
He gave men and angels the power to choose, freedom to will. God limits Himself in respect of man’s freedom of will. That is why salvation is for “Whosoever WILL.” Whosoever will freely and willingly choose to do the will of God, in response to the love of God dawning upon them. God certainly does know who will choose to be saved by responding with the right act of their will, making the right choices, in response to His love – BUT WE DO NOT KNOW.
That is why we preach the gospel to every creature. It is our duty to preach the gospel to every creature, as if everyone to whom we preach, could be saved. We do this even though we do know that FEW will be saved. That is our simple duty, to our Great King Yeshua, Jesus. Jesus Christ died for SINNERS. Alleluia Yeshua.
Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. Know the Lord, Cleave to the Lord, Obey the Lord. Love the Lord, Cleave to the Lord, Obey the Lord. To know Him is to love Him, for truly – God is LOVE. We who do KNOW Yeshua, do know, that God is love. He is just, righteous, merciful, and perfect in all of His judgments. We can and should know that He will soon bring and end to Lucifer, the evil angels, and all who deny Him. All who REFUSE to make the RIGHT CHOICE, and exercise their free will, in the right response to His great love in Christ Jesus, deserve nothing less than hell. God is Love. We do rejoice evermore, even in tribulation and suffering, KNOWING – God IS God. Alleluia Yeshua.
1 Cor 1:18 “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.“
Faith: Believing the Truth Substantiated by Evidence
Atheists have asked a question when discussing science with naturalists: “How can faith (belief without evidence) be used to arrive at truth?” These atheists had been told by other theists that belief in God is not about evidence. It is a blind trust, regardless of the evidence—“fideism.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “fideism” as “reliance on faith rather than reason in pursuit of religious truth.”1 By faith, they mean a “firm belief in something for which there is no proof.”2 To many in Christendom, Biblical faith is such an idea.
Imagine an empty container representing the truth on a subject. A person “pours” evidence into the container, trying to fill it to the brim and arrive at the complete truth on a matter. When it comes to religious faith, however, according to many in Christendom, the container cannot be completely filled. The space that is left at the top of the container, between the evidence and the brim, must be filled in with blind “faith.” So, according to them, belief in God, for instance, rests ultimately, not on the evidence, but irrational faith.
In truth, the Bible does not so define faith. The Greek word for faith used in the New Testament (πίστις, pistis) is not a mystical word only applicable when discussing religious faith. It is the Grecian word equivalent to the English words “belief” or “trust.”3 When we “believe,” “trust,” or “have faith in” someone, that faith is based on evidence. If a parent, for example, has proven himself to be trustworthy, we believe him. If we do not know a person and have no evidence to substantiate his integrity, to believe in him would be a blind (evidence-less) faith, which would be irrational and unwise. Scripture incessantly makes the point that we should come to a knowledge of the truth based on the evidence that has been provided to us. According to Romans 1:20, so much evidence has been provided to come to the truth of God, that not to come to the right conclusion is “without excuse.”. We can know the truth—not merely accept it “on faith”—and it will set us free (John 8:32). We should test or “prove all things” before believing them, only holding to that which is good or right (1 Thessalonians 5:21). As did the “fair-minded” Bereans of Acts 17, God wants us to search for evidence that substantiates a claim before blindly believing it (verse 11). Since many false teachers are in the world, He tells us to “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits” before believing them (1 John 4:1). Unlike blind faith (i.e., fideism)—which pits itself against reason4—Paul believed in establishing truth using reason (Acts 26:25). In fact, Jesus told His audience to not believe Him if He did not substantiate His claims with evidence (John 10:37).
The blind “faith” idea is unbiblical. The biblical portrait of faith would be more like evidence being “poured” into our truth container. The “evidence” rises to the top of the container and begins pouring over the top. Where “faith” comes in is when we look at the truth, verified by evidence, and choose whether or not to believe it. Most do not and will not (Matthew 7:13-14). It is their own choice, but it is not because God has not provided enough evidence to come to the truth. Rather, they have rejected the evidence which is readily available, due to their own personal motives.
As is always the case when I receive the question that the young men asked at the seminar, they are shocked when I respond that I do not agree that faith is “belief without evidence”—that our faith is in fact demanded by the evidence. On this occasion the atheists were shocked five times over, since all of the speakers on the panel nodded in agreement with those words.
ENDNOTES
1 “Fideism” (2015), Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary, >http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fideism< emp. added.
2 “Faith” (2017), Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary, >http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faith
3 William Arndt, F.W. Gingrich, and Frederick W. Danker (1979), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press), second edition revised, pp. 662-664.
4 “Fideism.”
Recent 911 Study Showing How All THREE Buildings Were Destroyed By “Controlled Demolition” – let’s not forget….
March 21, 2017
from CollectiveEvolution Website
Stephen Jones is a former full professor of physics at Brigham Young University, his major research interests have been in the areas of fusion, solar energy, and archaeometry.
He has authored or co-authored a number of papers documenting evidence of extremely high temperatures during the WTC destruction and evidence of unreacted nano-thermitic material in the WTC dust.
Robert Korol is a professor emeritus of civil engineering at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, as well as a fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and the Engineering Institute of Canada.
His major research interests have been in the areas of structural mechanics and steel structures.
More recently, he has undertaken experimental research into the post-buckling resistance of H-shaped steel columns and into the energy absorption associated with pulverization of concrete floors.
Anthony Szamboti is a mechanical design engineer with over 25 years of structural design experience in the aerospace and communications industries.
Since 2006, he has authored or co-authored a number of technical papers on the WTC high-rise failures that are published in the Journal of 9/11 Studies and in the International Journal of Protective Structures.
Ted Walter is the director of strategy and development for Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911Truth), a nonprofit organization that today represents more than 2,500 architects and engineers.
2015, he authored AE- 911Truth’s Beyond Misinformation – What Science Says About the Destruction of World Trade Center Buildings 1, 2, and 7.
He holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Together, they recently published a paper titled “15 Years Later – On the Physics of High-Rise Building Collapses” in the European Scientific Journal.
In it, they conclude that:
It bears repeating that fires have never caused the total collapse of a steel-framed high-rise before or since 9/11.
Did we witness an unprecedented event three separate times on September 11, 2001?
The NIST reports, which attempted to support that unlikely conclusion, fail to persuade a growing number of architects, engineers, and scientists. Instead, the evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that all three buildings were destroyed by controlled demolition.
Given the far-reaching implications, it is morally imperative that this hypothesis be the subject of a truly scientific and impartial investigation by responsible authorities.
Apart from all of the evidence presented in the paper, they also point out how more than 125 first responders were documented saying that they saw hear, and/or felt explosions prior to and/or during the collapses.
It’s also emphasized in the study that the collapse mechanics are only a fraction of the available evidence indicating that the airplane impacts and fires had nothing to do with the building collapse:
Videos show that the upper section of each tower disintegrated within the first four seconds of collapse.
After that point, not a single video shows the upper sections that purportedly descended all the way to the ground before being crushed. Videos and photographs also show numerous high-velocity bursts of debris being ejected from point-like sources.
NIST refers to these as “puffs of smoke” but fails to properly analyze them.
NIST also provides no explanation for the midair pulverization of most of the towers’ concrete, the near-total dismemberment of their steel frames, or the ejection of those materials up to 150 meters in all directions.
NIST sidesteps the well-documented presence of molten metal throughout the debris field and asserts that the orange molten metal seen pouring out of WTC 2 for the seven minutes before its collapse was aluminum from the aircraft combined with organic materials.
Yet experiments have shown that molten aluminum, even when mixed with organic materials, has a silvery appearance – thus suggesting that the orange molten metal was instead emanating from a thermite reaction being used to weaken the structure.
Meanwhile, unreacted nano-thermitic material has since been discovered in multiple independent WTC dust samples.
SOME MORE INFORMATION:
Links – >https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/atlantean_conspiracy/atlantean_conspiracy24.htm https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_911_111.htm https://>www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_911_184.htm http://www.911myths.com/html/empire_state_b-25.html<
A Deeper Look at Healing
By Andrew T. and Phyllis J. Le Peau
“We would like to come and pray for you. Is that something you would like?”
Doug, a friend of ours for twenty years, had been diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer. He was under forty and had never been a smoker, but the diagnosis came nonetheless. We had had some opportunities to discuss spiritual issues and concerns with him—though not in depth—and we knew he had attended church most of his life; still, we weren’t sure if this offer would be outside his comfort zone or not. When Phyllis asked about coming to pray, however, he enthusiastically welcomed the offer.
Our church has a customary practice of praying for healing. If someone is sick, people in the congregation know they can ask the elders to come, just as James 5:14 recommends. So the two of us had been called on several times to gather with other elders to pray for people with chronic, acute or terminal illnesses.
The situation with Doug was a bit different in that he wasn’t a member of our church. But the church was willing to send us and a few others who volunteered. When we arrived, Doug’s two teenage children and a few friends were there too. Andy explained that praying for healing was not magic. We do not manipulate God and tell him what to do. We aren’t God. He is. Nonetheless, Andy told them, we know that He loves us, cares for us and wants His best for us. So we can come to God confidently with our requests.
He then asked, “What do you sense God doing in your life?” Doug said that despite his shock at the diagnosis and confusion about what to do, God seemed very real, very close in the midst of it all, almost as if he could touch him. Doug also talked about how great his wife, Marie, had been through it all. She was completely focused on his care and well-being, making calls to doctors as needed and seeing to his needs. We were struck by this, especially, because Doug and Marie’s marriage had not always been a close one. They were often distant from and sometimes tense with each other. It seemed that God was already doing healing in their lives.
“I have some oil here,” Andy said then. “It’s just ordinary olive oil. The New Testament letter of James says that when elders pray for the sick, they should anoint with oil. In the Old Testament oil is a sign of health, of joy and of God’s blessing. I’m wondering if you would like us to use just a drop on your forehead to anoint you as we pray.”
With a smile Doug said he thought that would be good. Phyllis invited everyone who wanted to pray aloud to do so, but explained that no one had to. She also noted that short, informal sentence prayers would be good; no long speeches to God were necessary. So we gathered around Doug, who was sitting in his favorite chair. Some put a hand on his shoulder or arm. Others just stood nearby. Andy put a drop of oil on his finger and traced a cross on Doug’s forehead; and we prayed.
We thanked God for what he was already doing in Doug’s life. We thanked God for the many blessings he had given Doug in family and friends and meaningful work. We acknowledged that humanly his situation was very serious, but that God had good things in mind for Doug. We knew we could entrust Doug into God’s care, since He loved Doug far more than any of us could. Knowing that sickness and illness were not God’s will, we prayed that God would heal. We also acknowledged that we didn’t know why God sometimes broke through barriers to healing and sometimes didn’t. These things were mysterious. But we were confident in both God’s power and desire to heal. We prayed that as Doug and Marie continued to walk this path, that God would continue to be close to them, close enough to touch.
After about fifteen minutes of prayers and tears, we all stood in a circle and prayed the Lord’s Prayer together to conclude. We also hugged and offered some words of comfort to each other. Doug and Marie then invited us all to lunch, which we gladly accepted.
God designed us to be whole people—body, soul and spirit. And God cares about the totality of who we are, not just our spiritual side. He is the one who gave us bodies, after all, and all He made He declared to be good (Genesis 1:31). The health of our bodies matters to Him; He knows and cares when we’re sick.
Obviously, sickness can have physical causes that require physical treatment—broken arms, infections, disorders. But lifestyle (what and how much we put into our bodies, the amount of exercise we get, where we live, etc.) can also affect health. So can emotional factors like stress at work or in our relationships.
As James reports, sin can be a factor too (which may be connected to our lifestyle choices and our relationships), as can the accuser, satan. For example, when Peter told Cornelius about Jesus he described “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38).
Notice, though, that James does not explicitly say that sin causes illness. He is very careful in how he puts it in 5:15, “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” If the sick person has sinned, says James. So it is entirely possible to be sick and not have an issue of sin to deal with. This suggests that we should be alert to the possibility of a connection, but never presume one. As written, in John 9:1-3 Jesus said the man’s blindness was not caused by sin. Likewise Job’s troubles were not caused by his sin either.
James 5:15 raises another question for many people: the question of whether prayer—at least a prayer with strong enough faith—always results in healing. Certainly sin can be a barrier to answered prayer. James has already covered this in 4:2-3: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” Paul tells in 2 Corinthians 12:7-8 how his thorn in the flesh was not healed—something we certainly can not attribute to the apostle’s lack of faith.
Some people, related to 5:15, have wrongly taught that we should in faith “act like” we are healed after praying—even if the symptoms remain. This was not the pattern in the New Testament, however. When Jesus healed the paralytic, the man got up and walked (Mark 2:12). When he healed the Gerasene demoniac, the man sat clothed and in his right mind (Mark 5:15). If the symptoms remain, we are not healed. So if the doctor says we still have diabetes, we should take our insulin.
The question of why God doesn’t always heal is an immense one. We say God is Creator and Ruler of the world—and yet, given the evidence in Scripture and in our own experience that everyone (good or bad, Christian or not, full of faith or full of fear) does eventually die, obviously there are times when healing does not take place.
What, then, does James mean when he says that “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick,”? First, he is affirming, as he is throughout 5:13-18, that we should pray; the word pray or some form of it is found in every single verse in this section. Second, he is affirming that God can and does heal. Third, he is affirming that God works in concert with our prayers. Fourth, he makes clear that we do not heal. God is the one who “shall raise … up” the sick person.
James 5:14, in particular, offers some clarification. In that verse James instructs, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:” What does it mean to anoint “in the name of the Lord:”? This is not a magical incantation we utter to somehow force God’s hand.
At base, to do something “in the name of” another means to act by the authority or will of someone else. Ambassadors act according to the instructions of their country’s leader; they do not have independent authority. So to pray for healing means we must take into account the will of God in the matter.
While we can be confident that God’s will for us is to be whole people—body, soul and spirit—we should not be arrogant in assuming we know what God’s total will is in particular situations. James strongly cautions against just such presumption in the rich (1:10), in teachers (3:1-2), in merchants (4:13-17) and in landowners (5:1-6). Obviously, though, his warning against pride applies to all of us in whatever we do, including when we pray. We humbly seek God’s will, we confidently ask that God’s will be done, but we leave it to God to do his will as he pleases, when he pleases.
Doug has his ups and downs emotionally, physically, spiritually. We continue to call him, visit him and pray for him. In all this we hold to our faith in God’s love, grace and mercy, now and forever.
THE FBI HAS SECRETLY GATHERED MILLIONS OF “FACEPRINTS” FOR BIOMETRIC DATABASE FOR YEARS
By *Derrick Broze
A representative of the FBI was grilled by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding the agency’s growing biometric database.
Washington D.C. – On Wednesday the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform questioned Kimberly Del Greco, Deputy Assistant Director at the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, about why the bureau broke the law by failing to file a privacy impact statement acknowledging the collection of millions of Americans’ faces for the agency’s new biometric identification system. The FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) system is made up of fingerprints, iris scans, faceprints, and other facial recognition data. The NGI organizes Americans’ biometric data into a single file that includes personal and biographic data like name, home address, ID number, immigration status, age, race, etc.
The Committee reports that nearly half of all adult Americans’ photographs are in the database. The 2013 U.S. Census Bureau estimated that there are over 242 million adults living in the U.S. If the Committee’s numbers are correct, over 121 million adults are in the FBI’s database. Other revelations include that 18 states have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the FBI to share photos with the federal government, including from state departments of motor vehicles (DMV). According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center:
With NGI, the FBI will expand the number of uploaded photographs and provide investigators with ‘automated facial recognition search capability.’ The FBI intends to do this by eliminating restrictions on the number of submitted photographs (including photographs that are not accompanied by tenprint fingerprints) and allowing the submission of non-facial photographs (e.g. scars or tattoos).
The FBI also widely disseminates this NGI data. According to the FBI’s latest NGI fact sheet, 24,510 local, state, tribal, federal and international partners submitted queries to NGI in September 2016.
Committee Chairman Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R- Utah) scolded Ms. Del Greco for the FBI’s failures. “The failure here is years after you were supposed to make it public”, Chaffetz stated. “You were using it in real world circumstances, you were actually using it and didn’t issue the statement”. Chaffetz also asked Del Greco whether the FBI had plans to gather faceprints via social media. “Are you collecting that information that is available on social media?”, the chairman demanded. “We do not have any other photos in our repository”.
Alvaro Bedoya, Executive Director, Center on Privacy and Technology Georgetown Law, questioned the FBI’s claim, stating that the bureau has access to driver’s license photos. “We have access to that data but we do not use it”, Del Greco answered. Jennifer Lynch, Senior Staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation also stated that the FBI has access to “civil photos” in the NGI database.
Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-MI) also questioned Del Greco regarding the FBI’s activities. “I think the issue goes beyond the First Amendment concerns that were expressed. . .and is broader”, Mitchell stated during the panel. “I don’t want to just protect someone if they’re in a political protest from being identified, the reality is we should protect everybody unless there is a valid documented criminal justice action. Why should my photo. . .be subject because I get a driver’s license, to access?”. Rep. John Duncan (R-TN) expressed similar fear regarding the possibility that the expectation of privacy is quickly fading. Duncan worried that Americans looking at the information, “would wonder if were ending up in a federal police state that’s gotten totally out of control, and has far too much power”.
Duncan is not far off. The databases include photos those of people who aren’t suspected of any criminal activity that come from driver’s license and passport and visa photos. Other issues with the FBI database include misidentifying females and blacks at a higher rate. The FBI is currently facing a lawsuit from EPIC regarding the database. EPIC is asking a judge to force the FBI to release records about its plan to share the biometric data with the U.S. Department of Defense. EPIC filed a Freedom of Information Act request in 2015, but the FBI has so far refused to release the 35 pages of responsive records.
EPIC and privacy advocates are concerned about the potential for cases of mistaken identity and abuse of the collected data. EPIC also argues “the FBI stated that ‘[i]ncreased collection and retention of personally identifiable information presents a correspondingly increased risk that the FBI will then be maintaining more information that might potentially be subject to loss or unauthorized use”.
In 2014, the EFF received documents from the FBI related to the NGI system. At the time the FBI estimated the facial recognition component of NGI would include as many as 52 million face images by 2015. The Committee’s hearing on Wednesday indicated that number was more than double as of 2017. The danger of abuse from facial recognition programs is on the rise. Activist Post recently highlighted a new report from Georgetown Law University’s Center for Privacy and Technology that details how law enforcement is using facial recognition software without the knowledge or consent of the people. The report, “The Perpetual Line-Up: Unregulated Police Face Recognition in America”, examines several cases of misuse or abuse of facial recognition technology.
How can we protect our privacy in a world that is quickly becoming a digitally interconnected panopticon of audio recording devices, faceprint collection machines, and cameras from every direction? The answer is not simple. Most of us live our lives with these devices and use them for several hours each day. When we are staring into our phones to send text messages, the camera is potentially stealing our faceprint and sending it to your cell phone provider and/or law enforcement. We are giving away our privacy for convenience, luxury, and entertainment. How can we stop the fast march to a total surveillance state? Perhaps abandoning all technology and living off the land. Short of that, we need to take measures to encrypt our communication and practice a culture of security.
*Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the Lead Investigative Reporter for ActivistPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com. Follow him on Twitter. Derrick is the author of three books: The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 1 and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 2
Derrick is available for interviews. Please contact Derrick@activistpost.com
This article may be freely reposted in part or in full with author attribution and source link.
State Of Israel: Not Biblical Prophecy!
THE STATE OF ISRAEL IS NOT A FULFILLMENT OF BIBLICAL PROPHECY
JEWS & EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS claim that the modern State of Israel is a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. This claim evinces a shallow and errant understanding of the Bible.
The meek shall inherit the earth said Jesus Christ to His disciples. But where do we see any hint of “meekness” in the conduct of the Jews? Jesus also said, “Blessed are the peacemakers”, but the Jews are warmongers not peace makers. The world has experienced nothing but turmoil since the creation of Israel in 1948.
The theft of Arab lands by the Jews before and after the U.N. partition of Palestine in 1948 is evidence enough to incriminate the Jews of breaking the commandment: “Thou Shalt Not Steal.”. Why make God an accomplice to thievery by saying that Israel is a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy?
See Records Of Dispossession, Fischbach
The prophet Isaiah said:
“the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people,” (Isaiah 11:11). Jews and Evangelicals claim that the “second time” of the return of the Jews was fulfilled in the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. But the “second time” already took place 500 years before Christ.
The 1st Return Of The Jews: The Jews were living as exiles in Egypt when Moses brought the 12 tribes back to the land of Canaan in 1445 BC.
The 2nd Return Of The Jews: The Jews were living as exiles throughout the vast Babylonian Empire which Isaiah perceived as the four corners of the world when Ezra brought only 3 tribes back to the land of Israel in 536 BC. These were the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. The other tribes were lost forever. Just prior to 70 AD, Herod destroyed the remaining tribal records, especially those of Levi, the priestly tribe.
*** A “3rd Regathering” Of The Jews Was Never Predicted In The Bible. ***
THE NEW TESTAMENT VISION OF THE CHURCH IS NORMATIVE
“BEHOLD, YOUR HOUSE is left unto you desolate,” said Jesus Christ to the unbelieving Jews. (Matthew 23:38) Christ finished His censure by adding, “For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (v 39). Thus the Jews can truly fulfill Biblical prophecy by repenting of their sins and confessing the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Church is the focus of the New Testament. Did not St Paul say that the Old Testament has passed away? Did not St Paul write that a new priesthood and a new law–the law of the Spirit and not the law of the letter– is the New Testament’s creed? (Hebrews 7,8). Why then are Evangelicals and Jews haphazardly pulling passages out of context from the Old Testament to prove that the racist State of Israel is Biblical?
Zionism’s aim is to establish the Jews as rulers over all the nations. The Zionists are beginning to do this through their insinuations into diplomatic circles throughout the world. This is the main reason why the State of Israel was pursued by the Jews at the turn of the 20th century. Then the rebuilding of the Temple, (the furniture is already built), will house the Jewish Anti Christ who will terrorize the entire world with Jewish domination.
Are we not already seeing foreshadowings of the Anti Christ vis a vis the Jewish disturbances of world peace? Look at the War in Iraq. Look at the Jewish neocons crying for a war against Iran. Look at the intensification of world wide Muslim terrorism because of the injustices of the Zionist state of Israel? Christians are to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” – not support it. (Ephesians 5:11).
GOD’S PLAN FOR THE JEWS
THE EVANGELICALS TELL US that God has a separate plan for the Jews and a separate plan for the Church. But St Paul distinguishes 3 classes of society in I Corinthians 10 and Galatians 6 with the emphasis on “the Israel of God”, which is the Church:
1. Jews: “Enemies of the Cross of Christ”
2. Gentiles: “Unrighteous & Idolaters”
3. The Church of God: “The Israel of God”
THE ONLY PLAN that God has for the “enemies of the Cross of Christ“and “idolaters” is that they become Christians and join the Body of Christ. St Paul wrote, God has broken down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles to make in Himself one new man, so making peace. (Ephesians 2:14)
But the Jews are at war with the New Testament vision for the brotherhood of man. The Jews hate Jesus Christ and are hell-bent on eradicating Christianity throughout the world. They even created a State dedicated to the denial of Jesus Christ! How then could Israel be a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy when it denies the Messiah Jesus Christ?
The racist State of Israel is “satan’s plan for the jews” – to wage war against the Christian Church. Jesus Christ predicted this when He said to St Peter, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock (Jesus I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Truly the Jews are a massive fortification of the “gates of hell”, desperately attempting to prevail against Christ’s Holy Church. How then could any one justify “blessing Israel” knowing of their hatred for Jesus Christ?
BOTTOM LINE
Let the Jews quit their racist State of Israel and their waging of war against Christ and His Church. Yes – let the Jews join the true brotherhood of man, the Mystical Body of Christ.
Then we can begin to see God’s plan for the Jews fulfilled before our very eyes.
*For former Jews like myself who now call themselves Christians are the true fulfillment of Biblical prophecy!
*Brother Nathanael…Street Evangelist
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Sunni Muslims Distance Themselves From Radical Salafist Muslims
At the International Islamic Conference in 2016, Sunni Muslims re-defined Sunni Islam and distanced themselves from radical Salafist, Wahhabist and Takfiri terrorism.
Salafist Muslims in general,
and Saudi Arabia (the home of many Salafists) in particular, did not like an event which took place in August 2016 at Grozny, Chechnya, Russia. This under-publicized event was an international Islamic Conference. Over 200 leading Sunni imams, scholars and clerics, including from Egypt, India, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Britain, Lebanon, South Africa and Jordan, attended. The purpose of the conference was to bring Muslims together and to answer the question of what it meant to be a Sunni Muslim. The Sunni leaders in attendance made a point of distancing themselves and disassociating from Salafist people and groups, the most famous of which is ISIS. According to many commentators, this important event didn’t receive the wide coverage that it should have due to the influence of Saudi Arabia, who assert that the conference was designed to exclude Wahhabi Salafism.
Salafist, Wahhabi and Takfiri
The key Sunni leaders at the conference made it clear that the radical, violent and murderous actions of some Arabs calling themselves Muslims (Salafist, Wahhabi or Takfiri) did not represent Islam. Although the main 2 sects of Islam are Sunni and Shia, there are some smaller branches. Salafist, Wahhabist and Takfiri Muslims are the kind of extremists some associate with radical Islamic terrorism. The 3 terms are often used interchangeably, although technically, a Salafist is one who practices fundamental Islam (from the Arabic term “salad” [predecessors, ancestors] used to identify the earliest Muslims). Wahhabism is synonymous with Salafism and is named after Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, a fundamentalist Muslim who lived in Saudi Arabia from 1703-1792. Takfiri denotes a Muslim who accuses another Muslim of apostasy (i.e. being a non-believer or kafir). The accusation itself is called a takfir. Many writers now refer to groups like ISIS as Salafist-Takfiri, because they claim the right to declare, as they see fit and according to their interpretation of Muhammad’s teachings and Islam, any Muslim an apostate, as well as any non-Muslim.
Sunni leaders at the International Islamic Conference.
Significance of the Islamic Conference: Changing the Perception of Islam in the West
According to this article in the Indian website First Post:
“The globally renowned Sunni Islamic scholars and clergy unanimously took a stand that the Takfiri terrorists, who loudly claim to belong to ‘Sunni’ Islam, are not from among the Ahlus Sunnah (the Islamic terminology for the mainstream Sunni Muslims in the world) …
Having said that, Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayeb allegedly excluded the “Salafists” from the term of Ahluls Sunna (Sunnis) stating that Salafists – also known as Wahhabis – are not from among the Sunnis. This was, probably the first time that the global Sunni Islamic scholars have disassociated themselves so clearly from the Salafists, who also claim to be the Ahluls Sunna or ‘Sunnis’.
Though this report has not received the media attention it deserved, it should be caught up as one of the most underlying news emanating from the Muslim world.”
The article goes to emphasize that the Islamic Conference was all about denouncing takfiri terrorism in the strongest possible terms and the Sunnis distancing themselves from it. It is reasonable to assume that part of the motivation for doing this is to change the perception of Islam in the West, which is probably at an all-time low:
“Given the significance of this epoch-making conference, the participating religious leaders called the conference a “significant turning point to correct the treacherous and lethal deviation from the true definition of Ahlus Sunna, as a result of the extremists’ attempts to hijack this glorious epithet, misusing it for themselves” …
Notably, the Sunni leaders of the Chechnya conference have recommended the establishment of a national television channel, at the level of Russia, whose objective would be to “communicate the true image of Islam.””
““Terrorists and Islam have no relation whatsoever, instead these terrorists are inclined towards spreading a radical ideology among Muslims, so that Islam is misunderstood world over.””
The article Grozny Conference: The First International Conference Dedicated To Answering The Question: Who Are The Sunnis? praised the aim of the conference:
“For the first time in nearly 50 years, Sunni Muslims are challenging the ideology that sustains the genocidal wars waged by groups like al-Qaeda and its derivatives who are waging wars with the intent to purge countries from people who are not followers of “true Islam” as they define it.”
The points emphasized at the conference echo a point I made in an earlier article The True Meaning of Jihad: that the term jihad really means the inner spiritual struggle, not outer violent action.
Step in the Right Direction
It is the understatement of the century to say that Islam has a PR problem in the West. It is a positive move to see leading Islamic figures make a strong proclamation of their values and have a public discussion of what Islam is and what it is not. Through the treachery and deception of Zionism, plus the unfortunate radical and violent acts of some who have twisted Islam and used it as justification for murder, Islam has become a feared and hated concept in many Western parts of the world including the US, Europe and Australia.
Hopefully, more people can begin to see the shades of grey with the whole topic of Islam, and move out of fear, rather than having their beliefs and opinions manipulated by the Zionist MSM – who are using sophisticated perception management techniques to advance their geopolitical agenda in the Middle East and attempt to bring about a New World Order.
*****
3 Ways We Grieve Holy Ghost
It is really important to better understand the person of Holy Ghost (notice I don’t say “the” Holy Ghost). Sometimes people think of the Holy Ghost as more of an “It” than a “Him”, hence me not putting “the” before Holy Ghost.
According to Scripture, the Holy Ghost is not only God, but He has a will, a personality, and can even be offended!
There is a sin that can be committed against Holy Ghost. Matthew 12:32, “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.“; in other words, ascribing any miracle, spoken in the name of Jesus, to the work of satan is blasphemy and a sin against Holy Ghost.
I want to focus on acts that can be committed by believers in grieving Holy Ghost.
One of the places in Scripture where we read about grieving Holy Ghost is in Ephesians 4:29-32. The apostle Paul writes:
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
To grieve means to make sad or sorrowful. It means to cause sorrow, pain, or distress.
But what makes Holy Ghost sad or sorrowful?
1. Foul and abusive language makes the Holy Spirit sad.
Verse 29 says not to use, “corrupt communication”. The word used here, σαπρός (sapros) speaks of something that has gone “rotten.” This includes obscene language, profanity, dirty stories, vulgarity, double entendres, etc.
When did it become “cool” for preachers to speak this way from a pulpit? Some people would say this is being “real” or “authentic”.
Guess what? You are not to speak this way—privately or publicly. How about being authentically godly instead?
2. Bitterness makes the Holy Spirit sad and sorrowful.
The definition of bitterness, πικρία (pikria) is “acridity (especially poison) literally or figuratively: – bitterness”.
Some people just like to be mad or angry. They live for conflict, arguing, and fighting. This, as with all sin, only gets worse if left unchecked and unrepented of.
The sad thing is that bitter people rarely want to keep it to themselves. Instead, they spread it around. The KJV Bible speaks of “…bitterness springing up … and thereby many be defiled;” (see Hebrews 12:15).
I have a better idea: forgive!
3. Fits of rage and uncontrolled anger make the Holy Spirit sad and sorrowful.
“Wrath” θυμός (thumos) speaks of a person who is easily angered and who raises his voice—shouting and screaming. “evil speaking” βλασφημία (blasphēmia) is slandering others behind their backs. “Malice” κακία (kahkeeah) speaks of ill will and plotting evil against someone.
Look, all of us have been hurt in life, but we have a choice as to how we react. We can be like the moneylender Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, demanding our “pound of flesh”. We can say, “They did this to me; therefore I will have my vengeance!”
We can also believe God when He says “To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence;…”
Instead of speaking evil of someone, we are to be, “…kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,…”
We who are saved didn’t deserve forgiveness; yet God forgave and still forgives us when we sin. As Paul concludes Ephesians 4:32 by saying, “…even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
Forgiven people should be forgiving people. Otherwise, we are grieving Holy Ghost.
Religion Without Grace is Poisonous
By Kyle Idleman
They both sinned, in very similar ways, with a very similar effect. You might say even oddly similar. Except the rest of their stories could not be more different.
Why? Because one missed out on the grace of God.
The Poison of Bitterness
God gives us a critical warning in Hebrews 12:15, “looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;“
The word translated “fail” could also be translated as “fails to receive” or “fails to obtain” or “fails to experience”.
I recently wrote a book called Grace Is Greater. My purpose in writing it, my prayer, was that it would help people experience the grace of God.
The warning, “looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God;” is followed by a warning of the consequence. When grace fails a bitter root begins to grow. In Hebrew culture any poisonous plant would be called a “bitter” plant. The author of Hebrews uses “root of bitterness” as a metaphor to make it clear that when grace gets missed things become toxic.
- Religion without grace is poisonous.
- A relationship without grace is poisonous.
- A church without grace is poisonous.
- A heart without grace is poisonous.
There is a grace effect and there is a non-grace effect.
When grace gets missed, the poison of bitterness and anger and guilt and shame will become too much to keep buried, they will eventually destroy a soul.
Dealing with Remorse
The night before Jesus was crucified he was betrayed by Judas. Judas might have been able to prevent what happened to Jesus, but he didn’t. Instead, driven by self-interest, he sold Jesus out.
“Judas and Peter both sinned against Jesus. We see that they both regret what they’ve done. They are both filled with remorse. That’s when their stories diverge. They deal with their remorse differently.”
The night before Jesus was crucified he was betrayed by Peter. Peter might have been able to prevent what happened to Jesus, but he didn’t. Instead, driven by self-interest, he sold Jesus out.
Judas and Peter both sinned against Jesus. We see that they both regret what they’ve done. They are both filled with remorse. That’s when their stories diverge. They deal with their remorse differently.
Judas tries to make things right, returning the 30 pieces of silver he had received for betraying Jesus. But he realizes that he cannot undo what he has done. His remorse leads him to shame. He became bitter and he hung himself. Missing grace destroyed his soul.
Peter, like Judas, is filled with regret, but his remorse leads him to repentance. Repentance is a turning of one’s life. It’s a turning towards God and makes a person an open vessel God can pour His grace into. The Bible says it this way in 2 Corinthians 7:10, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret.“
Peter repents … and grace comes running.
Peter goes back to his old life of fishing, but right in the middle of it, Jesus comes to him. Jesus and Peter have a conversation on a beach. In their talk, it became obvious that Jesus was telling Peter that he didn’t have to be held prisoner by his regrets. Jesus still had a great plan for Peter. Grace has the power to redeem regrets.
Power To Transform
One of the most amazing things about grace is that it doesn’t just save, it also transforms. Grace changes us in a way fear and guilt can’t.
When my wife and I were first married she discovered my dirty little secret. I have a messy closet. My wife is a very neat person. She likes an orderly and neat house. For years it drove her nuts that my closet was a disaster area. Her objective became to change me into a person who keeps a clean closet.
Initially she tried guilt. She reminded me of how much she was doing around the house. Was it really so much to ask for me to have a clean closet? After enough guilt I would clean out my closet. But the change never lasted long. Soon my closet was, once again, a mess.
My wife also tried fear. She made threats. If I wasn’t going to clean my closet or put my dirty clothes in the hamper, she wouldn’t wash my clothes. She underestimated the male species willingness to wear dirty clothes. Still, after a while I would need clean clothes, so I would clean my closet. But soon my closet was a disaster area again.
This cycle went on for over a decade. I would show signs of change, but I was never really transformed. In my heart I was still a messy closet person. Then my wife took a different approach. She started cleaning my closet for me. This was no small task. She even organized my closet to make things easier to put away.
She didn’t make a big deal of it. She wasn’t being a martyr, didn’t try to make me feel guilty. She had just decided that she loved me and would clean out my closet for me. And something happened. Ever since I’ve been keeping my closet fairly clean. But I never made a conscience decision to clean out my closet. I just found myself wanting it to be cleaner. It was her love, her grace, that led me to want to change. See, fear and guilt may cause you to go home and clean out your closet, but grace transforms.
That’s what Peter learned. On the beach that day his life collided with the most powerful force in the universe, the unconditional love of God. God’s grace saved him, and it did more. It transformed him.
Sin leads to remorse. When remorse leads us to repentance, God’s grace comes running. It will save us, and it will redeem us. We will be forever transformed.
Has your sin led you to remorse? Has your remorse led you to repentance? I’m not just talking about the one time, way back when. I’m talking about your sin from a couple hours ago, and the sin from a couple days ago too.
Don’t miss out on the grace of God. And see to it that no one else misses grace either.
Some of this material is excerpted from Kyle’s new book, Grace Is Greater.
Jews Are NOT The “Chosen People”
HOW CAN THE JEWS who oppose their own Messiah, Jesus Christ, be the “Chosen People”?
Did not St Paul, the Hebrew of Hebrews, say that the Jews are the enemies of the Cross? (Philippians 3 )
When St Paul said the Jews, “…killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”, did he not make it crystal clear that the Jews are not the “Chosen People”?
Did not Jesus Christ Himself reveal that the Jews are of the “Synagogue of Satan“? (Revelations 2). Jesus Christ also revealed that the Jews are not true Jews when He said to the Christians of Asia Minor, “…I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet,…” (Revelation 3).
How then can the so-called Jews who are now the enemies of the Cross and of the Synagogue of Satan, and who must worship at the feet of Christians, be the “Chosen People”?
Jesus Christ the Messiah of Israel denounced the Jews for rejecting Him when He said, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Luke 13). How then can the Jews whose house is now desolate be the “Chosen People”?
When the Jews cast in their teeth that they were the seed of Abraham, Jesus replied, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,…” (John 8).
Indeed the Jews committed the crime of all crimes, namely, Deicide, when they brought Jesus Christ to Pontius Pilate demanding that Jesus Christ be crucified even when Pilate judged Christ innocent and desired to set Him free. (Matthew 27).
How then can the Jews, whose father is the devil, and they being murderers like the devil himself by crucifying the Lord of Glory, be the “Chosen People”?
DID NOT JESUS CHRIST say, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.” (Matthew 23)?
Even secular Jews defer to the rabbis as their leaders when it comes to interpreting Jewish dogma. How then can the Jews who are children of hell be the “Chosen People”?
How could the Jews to whom Jesus Christ said, Because you do not believe, you are not of my sheep be the “Chosen People”? (John 10). For to this day the majority of the Jews do not believe in Jesus Christ! What then is their “chosen-ness” if they are not of the Messiah’s sheep?
John the apostle said, “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” (2 John 1).
How then can the Jews who to this day deny that Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God became man for our salvation be the “Chosen People”? Will we be “deceived” by the Jews that they are the “Chosen People“? What then is the Jews’ “chosen-ness”?
In the book of Revelation it is written: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
1. The Jews are fearful of death.
2. They do not believe in the God of the Bible but in the god of the Talmud.
3. The Jews are liars. For they say that they are God’s chosen people when God says that they are an “accursed people” because of their sins. (Isaiah 66:20).
Thus the only “chosen-ness” of the Jews is their being chosen to experience the “second death”, that is, the “lake of fire”.
MOSES, WHOM THE JEWS boast as being their hero pronounced a blessing and a curse on the Jews. God, said Moses, would bless the Jews if they showed their love for Him by accepting the “Prophet” whose teachings would be required of the Jews. (Deuteronomy 13).
But the Jews crucified the “Prophet” rather than receiving His teachings on repentance and confession of his Divine right to demand obedience. Thus the curses that Moses pronounced upon the Jews have been the Jews’ experience over the last 2000 years. (Deuteronomy 28).
Hated, persecuted, censured, (rightly so), wandering from nation to nation when expelled from their host nations, and wreaking havoc wherever they go in their hatred of Christianity, the Jews have indeed experienced the curses predicted of them by Moses and the desolation that Jesus Christ predicted of the Jews for rejecting Him.
JEWS ARE NOT THE “Chosen People”. Christians are the “Chosen People”. God said to Abraham, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3).
What “blessings” have the Jews brought to the world since 33 A.D.? Just read today’s headlines and one can clearly see that “curses” have been brought upon society by the Jews.
The War in Iraq serves only the interests of the Jews and their promotion of the Christ-hating State of Israel. The tragedy of the World Trade Center was a result of the Zionist agenda.
The secularization of Western society is caused by the Jews, which has debased the morals of once Christian nations, now rife with the abominations of anal sex of homosexuals and the perverse sexual conduct of lesbians. Jews are on the forefront of promoting these perverse “alternate lifestyles”.
Are all of these things “blessings” from the so-called, “seed of Abraham”, the Jews? No. These are all “curses” brought upon us by the “seed of the devil”, the Jews.
Christians ARE God’s “Chosen People” – Not Jews. Christians are the “seed of Abraham”. This is what St Paul the Hebrew of Hebrews said over and over again. Here is one instance of St Paul’s many assertions that Christians NOT JEWS are the seed of Abraham: “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29).
WHEN JESUS CHRIST said to his disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain:…” (John 15:16). Christians were sealed as God’s Chosen People for all time. Jews can share in the Christians’ “chosen-ness”.
Jews can share in the Christians’ “chosen-ness”. Jews do not have to continue in a state of “accursedness” and “desolation”. Jesus Christ offers the Jews the chance to embrace Him and have His blessed name called upon them. Yes Jews if they will repent can be called Christians too!
Yes Jews, like myself, a former-Jew, and thousands of others like me, can say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”. Then the Jews can look forward to heaven and not the lake of fire.
By Brother Nathanael…Street Evangelist! http://www.realjewnews.com
Born again Christian (ex Jew)
ANOTHER VIDEO ARTICLE BY BROTHER NATHANEAL
The Jewish Religion Teaches That Jews Are a Divine Species
By Texe Marrs
“And the serpent said… Ye shall not surely die… Ye shall be as gods; knowing good and evil.”— Genesis 3
“The Jewish people as a whole will become its own Messiah… Thus will the promise of the Talmud be fulfilled…”—
Baruch Levy, Letter to Karl Marx, reprinted in La Revue de Paris, p. 574
June 1, 1928
I visited a so-called “Christian” bookstore recently for the first time in years. But “Christian” it was not! Everywhere were signs of Judaism and of a poisonous form of Judeo-Christianity.
I was especially interested in the many books warning of the antichrist to come—the evil man with the prophetic identification number 666. It seems in vogue to claim that this man will be a Moslem. The books say that he will lead the Moslem hordes in killing Christians throughout the world. He shall be the Islamic antichrist. Allah is his “God,” and Mohammed is his prophet.
Now the Jews must get a real kick out of seeing gullible “Christians” so easily deceived. These silly notions of an Arab antichrist are, in fact, being promoted these days by Jewish rabbis who, privately, laugh and hee-haw.
In my encyclopedic book, Conspiracy of the Six-Pointed Star, I reveal the biblical truths of the antichrist. Read my book—or obtain my CD or audiotape on the antichrist—and know. [Will the Antichrist Be a Jew?
Let me let you in on a big, big OPEN secret. It is a secret published widely by our Lord Jesus Christ who clearly is not impressed over the Arab future to come. This secret involves yet another group we are to watch, a terrible, inhuman, cruel sect He calls the “Synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 2:9 and 3:9).
The Jews and Their Messiah
Now the Jews would not be caught dead (excuse the pun) in an Islamic mosque. But the synagogue? Oh, yeah, that’s their exclusive bailiwick. Their Messiah—not Jesus, but the Jews’ Messiah—will reign and teach in the synagogue. The book of Revelation tells us about this abominable place of worship. The Jewish Messiah, according to the top rabbis, will not be an independent, external deity. He will merely represent them as king.
The Jews are The Chosen—they are confident they shall be their own Messiah.
This I discovered in investigating the New Age movement, which is, in fact, a satanic movement authored by the Jews. When the Jews speak of “God” they refer to themselves.
Oh sure, Messiah shall come, they teach. He will be the new “Moses,” the Davidic seed. But like Moses, like King David, he will not be God, but will, rather, serve God.
Who is God but the Jews themselves? The Jewish Messiah/king will be like all the Jews. They are collectively divine beings, gods on earth. He will be one of them: a god among gods.
The Jews as Collective Messiah—A Collection of Jewish Divine “Sparks”
Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsbergh, author of What You Need to Know About the Kabbalah, points to the doctrine of Ba’al Shem Tov, the most famous rabbinical authority, who taught of the “immanent omnipresence of the almighty, which implies a unique equivalence between God and Creation.” Ginsbergh says this equivalence means that, “God is all and all is God.” (*Read Deuteronomy 6:4)
According to Ginsbergh, the Shekinah presence, a divine spark or energy force, is found only in spiritually advanced Jews. God is an “aggregate,” or combination of these sparks, and the Messiah is made up of the divine sparks, the sanctified elite. These divine beings collectively shall usher in the Messianic Age.
Rabbi David Cooper explains further that the “coming of Messiah” is actually the “coming of messianic consciousness.” 😨
Men who become divine realize their divinity and become fully conscious.
Planet of God—Paradise on Earth?
The “Planet of God”, a concept of Robert Mueller, former administrative head at the United Nations, is achieved when this Messianic Age is created. An elite of super-souls, conscious god-men, shall rule and reign. There is no single “God.” As Nietsche informed us, the “Super Men” shall rule.
Billy Phillips, teacher at kabbalahstudent.com, says that in the Zohar, a book of the Kabbalah, we discover that the Messianic Age will result in Jews being their own Messiah:
“Kabbalah explains that when the new reality arrives our planet will change its physical dimension, enlarging… The borders of the land of Israel will extend and include the entire planet and all people.
However, the Messiah arrives only when individual people achieve a personal state of Messiah within themselves. Once a critical mass and specific threshold of people achieve this personal, individual state, only then will the global Messiah appear as a seal and not a savior.
The Messiah is a seal that confirms that we, the people, have achieved true transformation of our own nature, and turn the planet.
After this state of Messiah is achieved, there will be one thousand years of paradise on earth, according to Kabbalah… That is the true Super Earth”.
Serve the Jews, or Be Beheaded
Ah yes, a super Earth, with super “Masters”, will mean paradise, or Utopia, for all mankind. Well, not all mankind, but all who worship and serve their Jewish overlords. Others will be summarily executed, beheaded, says the Talmud.
So, the Jews point to a “God,” but theirs is a collective “God”—the Jews of the world. They alone are the divine god-men recognized by the Kabbalah and Talmud. The Gentiles, an inferior species, will be grouped under the Jews and will serve them. Those who refuse or are not fit shall be killed. That is the cabalistic law.
“The Messianic Age will be marked by the triumph of Jewish exclusiveness, in which the reign of justice means the strict observance of the Law of Yahweh… in a word, Jewish law…
The nations will be converted to Judaism and obey the law or else they will be destroyed and the Jews will be masters of the world”. (La Vérite Israelite, vol. V, p.74, France)
The Jewish Kabbalah explains the religious doctrine of Jewish deity. This
is the cabbalistic Tree of Life with the Serpent, Leviathan, guiding the Jews to realizing their godhood. When the cycle of the Serpent is complete, the Jews will rule over the New World Order as their own Messiah.
The Serpent Shall Ascend: Ordo Ab Chao
The Jews, then, will be their own Messiah. The Kabbalah tells us that Jews shall rise from the depths of the abyss. First, the goddess Malkut, then her phallic consort, Hesod, shall elevate them upwards, toward the Crown of Life. Along the way, the Serpent shall watch over and guide the Jews. The Serpent is their symbol, providing chaos and destruction of the world of the Gentiles. From this chaos and destruction comes, finally, order. Order Out of Chaos.
This is why the Jews, including today’s top rabbis and leaders like Netanyahu, have convinced themselves of the usefulness of nuclear bombs. Before Israel falls as a nation, she intends to resort to the “Samson Option”—the Jews will unleash their nuclear bombs on targets. Those targeted include the Arabs, European and Russian capitals, and the United States of America. Out of the ashes shall come the rising, magnificent Phoenix bird, Israel.
So the Jews today are ever busy attacking and killing innocent Palestinians. Their Mossad ruthlessly operates throughout the Middle East. The Jews have provoked wars in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and elsewhere. They even poke sticks in the eyes of the Russian Bear, engineering a coup in Ukraine and stirring up trouble in nearby Georgia.
The mad Jews are convinced that the world’s greatest bully and superpower, the U.S.A., will defend them against all comers, and if not, their own nuclear arsenal will suffice. Their war-like acts prove they are demonically insane, and very close to their own destruction.
The Jews Are Demonically Insane
Let’s face it. Any people, or race, or nation, that looks in the mirror and arrogantly proclaims, “I am Chosen… I am God… I am my own Messiah… All others are mere beasts” is, by definition, insane. God promised He would drive such prideful men insane, and He has done so.
All who support this narcissistic garbage have, themselves, become wildly insane. They have, in fact, fallen into a profoundly, intoxicating Mystery of Iniquity, a terrible revolt against God and His true Kingdom. Christian Zionist, that means you!
(*emphasis mine)
51 Names and Titles of Jesus
Who the KING JAMES BIBLE Says Christ Is
The KJV is filled with many references to who Jesus is, His life, His Lordship, and what He came to do. Here’s just some of those names, titles, and verses from God’s true Word in English.
As we read through, we can’t help but give Him thanks and praise, Our Savior and Lord who sets us free…
51 NAMES AND TITLES OF JESUS:
1. Almighty One – “…which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Rev. 1:8
2. Alpha and Omega – “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Rev. 22:13
3. Advocate – “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” 1 John 2:1
4. Author and Finisher of Our Faith – “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb. 12:2
5. All Powerful – “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Matt. 28:18
6. Bread of Life – “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” John 6:35
7. Son of God – “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matt. 3:17
8. Bridegroom – “And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.” Matt. 9:15
9. Head Corner Stone – “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.” Ps. 118:22
10. Deliverer – “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” 1 Thess.1:10
11. Faithful and True – “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.” Rev.19:11
12. Good Shepherd – “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” John 10:11
13. Great High Priest – “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.” Heb. 4:14
14. Head of the Church – “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,” Eph. 1:22
15. Holy Child – “…grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.” Acts 4:29-30
16. I Am – “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:58
17. Immanuel – “…Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Is. 7:14
18. Unspeakable Gift – “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” 2 Cor. 9:15
19. Judge – “…it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.” Acts 10:42
20. King of kings – “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” Rev. 17:14
21. Lamb of God – “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29
22. Light of the World – “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12
23. Lion of the Tribe of Judah – “And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” Rev. 5:5
24. Lord of All – “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ” Phil. 2:9-11
25. Mediator – “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” 1 Tim. 2:5
(*NOT Mary, Catholics!)
26. Messiah – He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.” John 1:41
27. Mighty One – “…and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. ” Is. 60:16
28. One Who Sets Free – “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36
29. Our Hope – “…God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;” 1 Tim. 1:1
30. Peace – “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;” Eph. 2:14
31. Prophet – “But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.” Mark 6:4
32. Redeemer – “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:” Job 19:25
33. Risen Lord – “…Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” 1 Cor. 15:3-4
34. Rock – “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Cor. 10:4
35. Propitiation (for Our Sins) – “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10
36. Saviour – “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11
37. Son of Man – “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10
38. Son of the Most High – “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:” Luke 1:32
39. Supreme Creator Over All – “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Col. 1:16-17
40. Resurrection and the Life – “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” John 11:25
41. The Door – “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” John 10:9
42. The Way – “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
43. The Word – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1
44. True Vine – “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” John 15:1
45. Truth – “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. ” John 8:32
46. Overcomer – “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Rev. 3:21
47. – 51. Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace – “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Is. 9:6
All this…and so much more.
HE ALONE IS WORTHY!
JESUS!
“Heavenly Father,
Help us to focus on the greatest gift of all, our whole lives through. Thank You for sending Your Only Begotten Son, that we might be saved through Him.
In the powerful Name of Jesus,
Amen.”
(*Emphasis mine)
BROKENNESS
Matthew 21:44, “And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”
Reading: Matthew 21:28-46
Ever heard your favorite minister write or talk about this verse in Matthew (vs 44)? Probably not. But let me share this story with you.
The scenario: The scene was disturbing. I was at an exotic animal sale when in comes a fallow deer being sold. A young man was pulling vigorously at the end of a rope, trying to drag a deer into the bidding ring. With all four legs braced, the deer made it obvious that here was the last place he wanted to be. There was only a few bids before the auctioneer closed the sale. The seller shook his head at the meager price his animal brought.
The next scene caught everyone’s attention. An older lady came through the door with a beautiful deer walking by her side. Although she was holding a rope, the rope was slack. Lively bidding started and continued strong until finally the auctioneer closed the sale. The seller smiled; she had received a premium price.
So, “What made the difference?” Well, both deer were healthy and very nice looking. But why was one worth so much more?
The first deer brought in by the young lad had ideas of his own. What his master wanted got in the way of his plans. The buyers saw the trouble this deer would bring and were not willing to pay much. The other deer was broken. His will was subject to his master. He was easily controlled and directed. The buyers saw great potential and were willing to pay the price.
Now we are not animals being sold at an auction, but our brokenness (willingness, loss of free will to our Master) has much to do with our usefulness to our Master. In today’s Bible reading, Christ is likened to a cornerstone. Today’s key verse shows the two options we have for relating to this Stone: Either we will voluntarily fall on It and be broken, or this Stone will fall on us and grind us to powder. The question now is, which one will you choose?
2 Chron 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him….”
Leila Naylor Morris stated, “Fully surrendered, Lord divine, I will be true to Thee; all that I am or have is Thine, I will be true to Thee.”
How can I trust that God really is in control? Is God in control?
The first question we need to ask ourselves is, “Is God really in control?” In order to trust Him, we need to know whether or not that trust is warranted. The Bible is clear that God’s will happens exactly as He purposes: “The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:” (Isaiah 14:24). This should give us strength and confidence, knowing that He is omnipotent, and that when He promises a thing, He also has the power to make it happen. God is sovereign over creation—He is the King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:15). What He says is going to happen, happens. Through the prophet Isaiah, God says: “…for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” (Isaiah 46:9b-10).
Does The ‘Birmingham Fragment’ Prove That Muhammed Did Not Write The Qu’ran?
Historians now say that the parchment may predate Muhammad and believe that this discovery could rewrite the early history of Islam.
When Muhammed wasn’t busy borrowing characters from the Bible like the Angel Gabriel, it turns out that he also may have been borrowing the entire Qu’ran itself from another author who lived around the same time he did. If this recent discovery turns out to be true, it will expose the entire early history of Islam as completely fabricated from the way Muhammed said it happened. Turns out that maybe Muhammed and Mormon founder Joseph Smith have more in common than we had suspected with their shared love of magical visits from imaginary angels.
Muslim tradition teaches that the Prophet Muhammed received the “Holy Qu’ran” directly from the Angel Gabriel, memorized it and passed it on orally to his followers. But carbon dating on the world’s oldest Qu’ran may just prove that the Qu’ran was already written and published by someone else who lived right around the same time as Muhammed did. Is the entire religion of Islam actually based on a plagiarized document?
Fragments of the world’s oldest Koran, found in Birmingham two years ago, may predate the Prophet Muhammad and could even rewrite the early history of Islam, according to scholars. The pages, thought to be between 1,448 and 1,371 years old, were discovered bound within the pages of another Koran from the late seventh century at the library of the University of Birmingham.
Written in ink in an early form of Arabic script on parchment made from animal skin, the pages contain parts of the Suras, or chapters, 18 to 20, which may have been written by someone who actually knew the Prophet Muhammad – founder of the Islamic faith.
Historian Tom Holland, told the Times: ‘It destabilises, to put it mildly, the idea that we can know anything with certainty about how the Koran emerged – and that in turn has implications for the history of Muhammad and the Companions.’
Keith Small, from the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, added: ‘This gives more ground to what have been peripheral views of the Koran’s genesis, like that Muhammad and his early followers used a text that was already in existence and shaped it to fit their own political and theological agenda, rather than Muhammad receiving a revelation from heaven.
The Tower of Babel – a continuation
Height of the tower
The Book of Genesis does not mention how tall the tower was. The phrase used to describe the tower, “its top in the sky” (v.4), was an idiom for impressive height; rather than implying arrogance this was simply a cliché for height.[41] The tower’s height is discussed in various extra-canonical sources.
The Book of Jubilees mentions the tower’s height as being 5,433 cubits and 2 palms, or 2,484 m (8,150 ft), about three times the height of Burj Khalifa, or roughly 1.6 miles high. The Third Apocalypse of Baruch mentions that the ‘tower of strife’ reached a height of 463 cubits, or 211.8 m (695 ft), taller than any structure built in human history until the construction of the Eiffel Tower in 1889, which is 324 m (1,063 ft) in height.
Gregory of Tours (I, 6) writing c. 594, quotes the earlier historian Orosius (c. 417) as saying the tower was “laid out foursquare on a very level plain. Its wall, made of baked brick cemented with pitch, is fifty cubits wide, two hundred high, and four hundred and seventy stades in circumference. A stade contains five agripennes. Twenty-five gates are situated on each side, which make in all one hundred. The doors of these gates, which are of wonderful size, are cast in bronze. The same historian Orosius tells many other tales of this city, and says: ‘Although such was the glory of its building still it was conquered and destroyed.'”
A typical medieval account is given by Giovanni Villani (1300): He relates that “it measured eighty miles round, and it was already 4,000 paces high, or 5.92 km (3.68 mi) and 1,000 paces thick, and each pace is three of our feet.”[42] The 14th-century traveler John Mandeville also included an account of the tower and reported that its height had been 64 furlongs, or 13 km (8 mi), according to the local inhabitants.
The 17th-century historian Verstegan provides yet another figure – quoting Isidore, he says that the tower was 5,164 paces high, or 7.6 km (4.7 mi), and quoting Josephus that the tower was wider than it was high, more like a mountain than a tower. He also quotes unnamed authors who say that the spiral path was so wide that it contained lodgings for workers and animals, and other authors who claim that the path was wide enough to have fields for growing grain for the animals used in the construction.
In his book, Structures or why things don’t fall down (Pelican 1978–1984), Professor J.E. Gordon considers the height of the Tower of Babel. He wrote, ‘brick and stone weigh about 120 lb per cubic foot (2,000 kg per cubic metre) and the crushing strength of these materials is generally rather better than 6,000 lbf per square inch or 40 megapascals.Elementary arithmetic shows that a tower with parallel walls could have been built to a height of 2.1 km (1.3 mi) before the bricks at the bottom were crushed. However, by making the walls taper towards the top they … could well have been built to a height where the men of Shinnar would run short of oxygen and had difficulty in breathing before the brick walls crushed beneath their own dead weight.”
The Grammy Awards 2017 Were About Protesting the King and Worshiping the Queen (link)
Missing Teen From Morristown
Have you seen this missing teenager?
Missing Teen From Morristown- seventeen year-old Christie Renee McGinnis , missing from Morristown, TN. Your help is needed to find this teenage.
Christie Renee McGinnis went missing from her grandmother’s house on Tuesday, February 7, 2017. She left by unknown means. It is also unknown who she is with.
Race: White
Sex: Female
Height: Five-feet, one-inch (5′ 1″)
Weight: Approx 120 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Anyone with information or knows where she is is asked to contact the Morristown Police Department at 423-585-2701.
At this time no Amber Alert or National Center for Missing & Exploited Children notice given (if that changes I will update this blog post). Also at this time no other information is given.
Read more: http://www.courageouschristianfather.com/missing-teen-morristown/#ixzz4YE63EAXn
Symbolic pics of the month (link)
Weight Loss Is Mentioned in the Bible
I am not talking about body weight, but spiritual weight. These weights and chains that weighs us down and entangles us in sin. Sin separates us from God. We must go through a Weight Loss process to lose this spiritual weight that is weighting us down. We find this in Hebrews 12. This shedding of weight helps us run the race that is before us.
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1
Just like in real life, when we lose body weight, it can help benefit us in so many ways. One for our health. Plus, it can help us to move faster. Just think they more weight we carry the slower we will go. The less weight we have the faster we can go. The same applies with us when we do the Work of God. When we carry a heavy load of sins, it will weigh us down. We won’t be able to properly do the work of God with all that weight. Actually that weight hinders us.
Weight is ὄγκος (ogkos), in Greek. The word means a mass (as bending or bulging by its load), heavy, i.e. burden (hindrance):—weight. The usage of this word ogkos is only used one time in the Bible. We know that Paul liked to use sporting type analogies in his epistles (letters). Running the Race and Fighting the Good Fight. (See my other blog)
I also want to state the only way to this weight loss is from Jesus Christ. We must Admit and Confess our sins. With the confession of our sins, we must repent or turn away from the sins that entangles us. We all have a sin that we are driven to. As Christians we should strive to sin less. We should also know when we sinned against God and seek forgiveness right away. Holy Spirit helps to convict us. Jesus Christ is the only one that can make us a new creation. He gives us new desires. He also gives us strength.
When we seek out forgiveness from Christ we shed weight. We know how that feels when we forgive someone or even confess something we did, almost seems like a weight was lifted off our shoulders. That is what happens when we confess and repent to Christ. We shed that weight. Give it to Christ because He cares for you. His yoke is easy. He will help carry the load too.
Amen.
What Happened at Babel?
Genesis 11:1-9
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Genesis 11:1-9 is a literary masterpiece, but unless you are familiar with ancient compositional techniques, you might not know why.
The chiasmus—named after the Greek letter chi, which looks like the English X—is just one of the techniques at work in this passage. It is formed by parallel lines that make half of an X pattern. Genesis 11:1-9 makes a chiasmus.
On the surface, the Tower of Babel story seems like a power struggle between God and humanity. Did God intervene because He was envious of their technological advancements? Is God the cosmic killjoy? You might take it that way, but only if you read the story apart from its literary and cultural context.
The details about migration and settlement (11:2) are no small matter. Earlier in Genesis, God judged humanity by expelling them eastward from the land. He expelled Adam and Eve in that direction (3:24), and Cain, too (4:16). But here the people are moving back west (from the east), reversing the judgment (11:2). Their settlement in the valley also reverses another divine action: God’s command to fill the earth, which He gave to Adam and Eve (1:28), and to Noah (9:1). But this is only the beginning.
The structure they were building was more than just a tower. Scholars believe it was a ziggurat, a construction that was “used for worship” and was “similar in profile to the step pyramid of Egypt” (Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, pg. 2198). Ancients believed that deities dwelt on high places, and so worship should take place on hills and mountains where they could be closer to the gods. Since these people were in a valley or plain, they built the ziggurat as a substitute for a mountain. So either the people wanted to manipulate God to come down for worship, or they wanted to ascend the structure to become like God. (Remember, they wanted to make a name for themselves.) Ironically, God does come down (11:5). But He comes down to mix up their language because they mixed up His created order (11:7-9).
Putting this story in context shows that God is not a cosmic killjoy—jealous of the accomplishments of humanity. Rather, He is the loving Creator-King who commands love and loyalty from His subjects. Yes, He judges. But He also redeems.
The next chapter in Genesis and the book of Revelation testify to the divine redemption that began at Babel. The very things humanity tried to take by force God gave to Abram as a gift: a great name, nationhood and land (Gen 12:1-3). In doing so, God did not abandon the other nations. Instead, He called Abram from the east to the land of Canaan so that He could bless the nations. Bless those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Israel. Looking forward, God invites all tribes, nations, and languages to come and worship Him (Rev 5:9; 14:6). He leads them not into a garden, but into His city—the New Jerusalem—where He Himself is the temple (Rev 21:9–27).
Adapted from J. P. Fokkelman’s analysis of Genesis 11:1-9 in his book Narrative Art in Genesis.
Sources:
Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988). Logos.com/BakerEncyclopedia
J.P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis: Specimens of Stylistic and Structural Analysis(2nd ed.; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1991).
TOWER OF BABEL TODAY
Fight the Good Fight
I believe Paul was a sports fan; in this case boxing. We are told to fight the good fight of faith.
We are in a spiritual battle. One that is unseen to us. Paul tells the Church of Ephesus that we are in a wrestling match.
In this blog post, I talk about fighting the good fight. He used great sportslike analogies in his epistles. Paul instructs us we must fight the good fight. We are in a spiritual battle. One that is unseen to us. Paul tells the Church of Ephesus that we are in a wrestling match. He tells us in Ephesians 6:12-13, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”
‘FIGHT’ IN GREEK
Two usages of the word fight here. One usage is the actual sport itself, similar to boxing or a karate match in which someone is aiming for a prize. The other the gathering where the fight is at. It implies to fight the good fight right where you are.
WORD: fight
GREEK: ἀγωνίζου
IN ENGLISH: agōnizou
DEFINITION: to contend for a prize, struggle
WORD: fight
GREEK: ἀγών
IN ENGLISH: agōn DEFINITION: a gathering, contest, struggle
There is a fight going on around us and most of us don’t even see it. The one good thing is that God has fought the fight for us. We already know the outcome of the fight or the wresting match. As a certain pastor says it, “The fight is fixed! We know who wins!”
KEEP FIGHTING!
Even though we know who wins the fight, that doesn’t mean we stop fighting this spiritual war. The devil would love for you to hang up the gloves or tap out of the match. But we must press on! We must not be afraid to get hit either! No matter what we go through we must keep going. We cannot back down! No matter how big the giant is. Remember David slew Goliath, a great big giant. David was a wee little man too.
We are fighting against the devil and also our sinful desires that we are easily drawn to. That is why we must repent and turn away from those desires. When we do that we can fight the good fight of faith. The repentance or turning away from those sins says that I am trusting in Christ and Him alone. He is the only one that can see us through the fight.
THE ARMOUR
Because we are in this fight, we must protect ourselves. That is why we must put on the whole Armour of God. Note the Whole Armour! The Armour is that like of a Roman Soldier that is going off to war or fight a battle. Each piece serves a special purpose.
Ephesians 6:10-17, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:“
