The Latest Message To World Leaders
So
much has been said about the end of this age and the Great Tribulation that
accompanies it, that few people want to hear about it anymore. But hear they will, because this is our job,
and because this awesome event is well on its way and it cannot be
stopped.
The events of
For us, it is that time of the year when we
normally inform people of the appearance of a new edition of The Christian Herald. This time however
we are doing more than that; we are informing them of an important new phase in
this work.
As most of you would know by now, the purpose of this work
has been to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to call people to repentance,
and to provide a service to world leaders with an analysis of world
developments from a spiritual perspective.
We have amply done that for more than twelve years now, during which
time we have painstakingly documented that the world was unmistakably heading
towards a catastrophic climax that would wipe out all life on earth if it were
not for the intervention of God Almighty to put an end to human madness. But He would not do so for the sake of a
world that does not believe in Him, but for the sake of His elect. Here are the famous words of Jesus Christ
that are being fulfilled before our very eyes.
"For then there will be great tribulation, such as has
not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall
be. And unless those days were
shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be
shortened.” (Mat 24:21-22).
In the last edition we unveiled the one prophecy
that portends the beginning of the countdown to the Great Tribulation. We refer of course to the prophecy of
Daniel’s chapter 12 that has never been revealed before. That countdown began when the “abomination of
desolation” profaned the
"Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also
will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to
test those who dwell on the earth.
"Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one
may take your crown.” (Rev 3:10-11).
There is an “hour of trial” that shall come
upon the whole world, and the way of escaping it is by persevering in the ways
of God, by being at peace with Him, with the world, and with oneself. One cannot be at peace with oneself and the
world if he is not at peace with God first.
And he cannot be at peace with God if he does not know Him, does not
obey Him, and does not follow His ways.
Only one Gospel teaches these things in full, the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Gospel of truth. You can find it detailed in The Christian Heralds.
Until now, these magazines have been
available mostly to national, religious and academic leaders, but now they are
accessible to the whole world through our web site: www.thechristianherald.info
The whole world
ought to know why religious, academic, and national leaders are determined to
keep our magazines from public knowledge, and especially out of the hands of
their followers. We strongly recommend The Christian Heralds Nos
We will no longer
send out hard copies of these magazines as we have done so far, unless they are
specifically requested. But all of them will be available on this site from now
on: www.thechristianherald.info
We mentioned at the beginning of this article
that we are moving to an important new phase in this work. That phase has to do with the success, or rather
lack of it, we have encountered in bringing the leaders of this world to the
wedding feast Jesus Christ. Having refused to answer the call of our God, He is
now sending us on “the streets, highways, lanes and hedges” to call the simple
people to His feast. Here is that
story.
"A certain man gave a great supper and
invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were
invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'
But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to
him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to
have me excused.' "And another
said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you
to have me excused.' Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore
I cannot come.'
"So that servant came and reported
these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to
his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring
in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.' "And the servant said, 'Master, it is
done as you commanded, and still there is room.' "Then the master said to
the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in,
that my house may be filled.’For I say to you that none of those men who were
invited shall taste my supper.'" (Luke 14:16-24).
Now, how many times does God have to call on
people before they answer His call?
Once, twice, three times? How
about ten times? That is how many editions of The Christian Herald we
have sent to those who were invited, but the result has been the same: “Why, when I came, was there no man? Why,
when I called, was there none to answer?” (Isa 50:2). Does anyone still doubt that biblical
prophecies are coming alive in real time? You are witnesses to this fact. You can find out more about that prophecy in
Early in our work, we discovered that important spiritual
knowledge was missing from the vernacular of our leaders. That knowledge is the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
the Gospel of salvation. Without it, the
world was being led, unwarily but unmistakably, to catastrophe. But speaking about salvation to this “enlightened”
world proved to be a lost cause.
Certain religious leaders made capital of the fact that we
had no authority from today’s religious establishments to carry out this work,
and fiercely opposed us. But that put us in a good league, for that happened to
Jesus Christ and His Apostles too.
“Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests
and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said,
"By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this
authority?" (Mat
“And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers,
elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and
Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered
together at
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled. And they
realized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:5-13).
Jesus Christ and His Apostles were considered to be
“uneducated and untrained men” by the leaders of their time, when in truth they
had more knowledge about salvation and the ways of God than they all put
together. Now should we be surprised
that the same thing is happening to us now? The bona fides of our work is that
our message is different, that we follow the unadulterated Word of God, and
that we have done it all for free, just like the Apostles. No other people,
church, denomination, or religion in the world, can make a similar claim.
Since the beginning of the world, people who came in the
name of God, who brought important spiritual messages, were in conflict with
the religious establishments of their day.
Such had been the case with the prophets of the Old Testament time, with
Jesus Christ, and with His Apostles.
Therefore it should come as no surprise that God has followed the same
pattern to our day by using people who were not encumbered by religious dogma
to deliver His simple messages to the world.
We began our work by crying aloud the fact that this world
was in grave danger and that it could not be saved from oblivion if it did not
return to its Creator God in heartfelt repentance and worship. A decade ago we were the first to point out
that the world had entered the spasms associated with the end of this age, yet
not surprisingly no one took us seriously. What is surprising though is that
although by now the question of life’s survival on this planet is on many
peoples’ lips, and a common theme in the media, the true solution to this
problem is still out of their minds. Not
a single leader has turned to God and invoked spiritual principles in order to
save their people from impending catastrophe. None has called on their people
to return to the true Gospel, and none has lent us a helping hand or made a
contribution to this work.
We knew from prophecy that this would be the case and wrote
about it at the very beginning of this work, but found it hard to believe that
it would stay that way to the very end.
Unbelievably, it did.
The notion of salvation is simply out of the minds of our
leaders, yet nothing matters more in these troubled times than giving people
hope and certainty that God has the power to make a difference in their lives.
One of the imperatives of our time has been
the restoration of the true Gospel and the preaching of it as a witness to the
world. "And this gospel of the
kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and
then the end will come” (Mat 24:14).
That work has been done!
Preaching the Gospel as a witness to the
nations did not mean preaching it to every human being; otherwise it would no
longer be a work of witness but one of full conversion. Leaders represent nations, and that is why
this work had been geared primarily for them.
But we have not done it in secret or in vacuum, for tens of thousands of
other people in this country and around the world have been made aware of it
too. Yet, unbelievably, just as the
Bible had predicted long ago, no one has accepted our witness.
Truth has no value in this world, and that is why the world
is coming to a crushing end. But there
is light at the end of the tunnel, for although The Christian Herald has
been a witness against an unbelieving world it is also a harbinger of good
news. A bright and wonderful new world
follows the Great Tribulation, but only for those who have turned to God when
they had their chance, for "many are called, but few are chosen."
(Mat
Now with all the signs of the time, and in spite of the
fact that the Gospel of the Kingdom of God has been restored and made available
to all, and people have been warned of what is to come several times, this
world will still be taken by surprise by the Great Tribulation. So said Jesus
Christ, and so it shall be.
"But as the days of Noah were, so also will the
coming of the Son of Man be. For as in
the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until
the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man
be. (Mat 24:37-38).
How could this be? It is because the world is full of false
gospels, and a myriad of preachers who lull people into a false sense of
security in the belief that the end of this age is still a long way off. That is why no one believes the true Gospel
anymore. One cannot be ready for the
return of his Saviour by believing a false gospel. The Christian Herald reveals to you
both the true Gospel and how close to these events we really are.
Nowhere else you can find this information. On the
contrary, all other publications steer people away from the belief that the end
is near. Why? Because they know that if we are right, all
those who have preached different gospels are doomed.
Contrary to what other churches and religions preach, there
are only one true God, one true Saviour, one true Holy Spirit, and one true
Gospel (Eph. 4:4-6). Everything else is
deception. The closer we get to the end of this age the worse it gets.
Complacency in these trying times and failure to see the difference are
deadly. As the Bible says, “Beloved, do
not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God;
because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1
The blessings and salvation of God Almighty are with those
who hear His call and do His will!
“And
men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who
has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and
give Him glory.”(Rev 16:9)
In the year 2000,
Ever since that time,
History and prophecy have provided ample
proofs that everything that happens in this world has a spiritual underlining
and a predetermined consequence to it. But because we live in a world of
pervading cynicism and unbridled materialism, talk about spiritual matters
renders one obsolete and out of touch with reality. Yet, without reference to
our Creator God, and His divine laws that keep the universe turning and
regulate our relationship with Him and with each other, life is a meaningless
chain of unrelated events, fraught with pitfalls and difficulties for the
unwary that choose the path of unbelief.
The term ‘natural disaster‘ is actually a
misnomer for this drought. First because
even in a country that is used to dry spells there is nothing natural about a
drought that covers almost an entire continent. NSW, the gay capital of
the world, is the worst hit State.
Second, because our Creator’s handbook – the Bible – tells us that
drought in agricultural areas is a consequence of national and personal sins.
“Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from
your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not
hear.” (Isa 59:1-2).
"Now it shall come to pass, if you
diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His
commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you
high above all nations of the earth.
“And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because
you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
"Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the
country. Blessed shall be the fruit of
your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the
increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. "Blessed shall be your basket and your
kneading bowl. “Blessed shall you be
when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
"The LORD will cause your enemies who
rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against
you one way and flee before you seven ways.” (Deu 28:1-7).
"The LORD will open to you His good
treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to
bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall
not borrow. And the LORD will make you
the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you
heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are
careful to observe them. "So you
shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the
right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
"But it shall come to pass, if you do
not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His
commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses
will come upon you and overtake you:
"Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the
country. Cursed shall be your basket and
your kneading bowl. "Cursed shall
be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your
cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
"Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when
you go out.
"The LORD will send on you cursing,
confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are
destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your
doings in which you have forsaken Me.
The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you
from the land which you are going to possess.
The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with
inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and
with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.
“And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth
which is under you shall be iron. The
LORD will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it
shall come down on you until you are destroyed.”(Deu 28:12-24).
Some people may wonder why we apply the
warnings that God gave to ancient
“Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be
unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea,
all were baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same
spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that
spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased,
for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
“Now these things became our examples,
to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also
lusted. And do not become idolaters as
were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and
drink, and rose up to play."
“Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day
twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as
some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain,
as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
“Now all these things happened to them as
examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the
ages have come.” (1 Cor
10:1 – 11).
These things happened to them as examples
for us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Are we anywhere near the end of this
age? We are at the very door of it. If there ever was a generation upon whom
the ends of the ages have come, surely this is the one.
Apostle Paul went on to say: Do not
become idolaters, nor let us commit sexual immorality, nor let us tempt Christ,
nor complain. Normally, idolatry is
associated with worshiping statues and images, but in this case he associated
it with an inordinate desire for pleasures – eat, drink and play – the
very characteristics of the Gay and Lesbian Olympics. It was widely reported in the media at
that time that in the suburb of
Do these people take note of God’s warning
against sexual immorality? 'You shall not lie with a male as with a
woman. It is an abomination.” (Lev
No, sins are not good for the economy! They
are disastrous both for the economy and for the social fabric of society. The current national distress is only one
such obvious proof of it.
God does not mind when people enjoy
themselves appropriately and in moderation as along as they do not forget where
their blessings come from and render due credit to who credit is due. But when they step out of line, punishment is
never too far away.
Homosexuality is only one of the sins that
plague this country and the world at present.
With the disappearance of the concept of God from our educational
institutions, our youths grow up in a moral, ethical and spiritual vacuum,
surrounded by vice, unable to distinguish between right and wrong, good and
evil, true and false, and holy and profane anymore. No one is telling them that true happiness is
not achieved through sin, vulgarity, and rebelliousness, but through love,
decency, chastity, faithfulness, respect for elders and authorities, and above
all, reverence, love and worship for our Heavenly Father.
“'You shall rise before the gray headed and
honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the LORD”. (Lev. 19:32).
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome
evil with good.”
“Let every soul be subject to the governing
authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities
that exist are appointed by God.
Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God,
and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works,
but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and
you will have praise from the same. For
he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he
does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute
wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only
because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also
pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very
thing. Render therefore to all their
due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear,
honor to whom honor. Owe no one anything
except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
(Rom
"'You shall love the LORD your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' "This is the first and great
commandment. "And the second is
like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' "On these two commandments hang all the
Law and the Prophets." (Mat 22:37-40).
Two major events in the life of this nation
have shown how far our leaders have departed from God in recent times. Neither during the celebrations of the real
Olympics, nor during the memorials of the devastating terrorist attack in Bali
in October 2002 that killed nearly 200 people, most of them Australians, have
any of them mentioned God in their speeches.
No one remembered, or reminded people, of the promise of Jesus Christ:
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may
die, he shall live. And whoever lives
and believes in Me shall never die."(John 11:25-26).
The Premier of NSW went so far as to say
that those who died in
“Now the LORD said to Samuel, "How long
will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over
“But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not
look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused
him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward
appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him
pass before Samuel. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this
one." Then Jesse made Shammah pass
by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass
before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen
these."
“And
Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the young men here?" Then he said,
"There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep."
And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him. For we will not sit down
till he comes here." So he sent and
brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the
LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!" (1 Sam 16:1,6-12).
The majority of those who died in
If the biblical standard of moderation and
due care for the ‘temple of the living God’
is applied, it is doubtful that one could say they ‘were all good men’. That is not to say one should not lament the
deaths of so many people in such a violent manner, but let truth be truth and
not always be subject to political imperatives.
If there ever was a man who deserved to be
called good, by virtue of the fact that He had never sinned, it was
Jesus Christ. Yet when a young man
addressed Him by that epithet this is what He said:
“Now behold, one came and said to Him,
"Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So He said to him, "Why do you call Me
good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life,
keep the commandments." He said to
Him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, " 'You shall not murder,' 'You
shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false
witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.'" The young
man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I
still lack?"
“Jesus said to him, "If you want to be
perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he
had great possessions. Then Jesus said
to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of heaven.
"And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
When His disciples heard it, they were
greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them,
"With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
(Mat
There are many lessons that come out of this
passage, not the least that with God all things are possible. Why then did He not answer the nation’s
prayers to put an end to this disastrous drought before it devastated the
nation’s stock of grains and animals?
This is the Bible’s answer:
“Your iniquities have separated you from
your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not
hear.” (Isa 59:2).
“They do not say in their heart, "Let
us now fear the LORD our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter,
in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the
harvest." “Your iniquities have
turned these things away, And your sins have withheld good from you.” (Jer
And from the New Testament we have this.
“And whatever we ask we receive from Him,
because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His
sight.” (1
So what is the solution? Well, what was true of the young man, who
could not follow Jesus Christ and gain eternal life because of his greed, is
true of everyone today: KEEP THE
COMMANDMENTS, and share your wealth with the poor. Which Commandments? The same that Christ said
are essential for eternal life. Read
that passage again, and take note of it for it has some very important lessons
for today.
If this nation follows the example of other
nations that have received similar warnings and turned around (see Jonah
chapter 3 for example), not only will its fortunes turn around too, but those
who keep God’s Commandments would ensure themselves of eternal life as
well.
"If you love Me, keep My commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may
abide with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with
you and will be in you.
"I will not leave you orphans; I will
come to you”. "And whatever you ask
in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you
ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:15-18, 13-14).
Now do people love Jesus Christ and keep His
Commandments these days? They come up
with all sorts of excuses for not keeping the Commandments, yet Jesus Christ
clearly linked them with eternal life.
God is answering the prayers of those who keep His commandments, and
conversely, He does not answer them to those who do not keep them.
Now while
More than at any other time in history, the
world is experiencing major cataclysmic upheavals: droughts, floods, famines,
earthquakes, epidemics, devastating storms, killer tornadoes, crime,
unemployment, poverty, social upheavals – you name them, they are
everywhere. And now the latest:
worldwide terrorism.
These are abnormal times: it was not meant
to be this way. We would like to tell you
that all these things will be over soon, but we can’t because they won’t. Things will get worse before they get
better. The world is well and truly on
its last legs, having entered the last stages before it plunges itself into
what Jesus Christ called the Great Tribulation.
All that is left now is the final worldwide nuclear blow out, but the
world is blindly ignorant of its march towards that event, even though it has
been told about it several times.
Since 1990,
Admittedly, we never requested anything from
anyone and never will, for that would be contrary to our apostolic tradition, but
that should not have prevented them from voluntarily supporting a work that is
good for them and for the country.
The Apostles never begged, cajoled or
imposed themselves on the general public.
They only expected donations from church members and from those who
benefited from their work and were of a willing heart. The moment one solicits help from the general
public he ceases to be a Christian, for that is like begging from strangers,
and is contrary to the Scriptures.
“I have been young, and now am old; Yet I
have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.” (Psa 37:25).
“Wait on the LORD, And keep His way, And He
shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see
it.” (Psa 37:34).
It is easy to know those who do not follow
the Scriptures, for in general they are scriptural illiterates. They offer a
mumbo-jumbo type of preaching that they themselves do not understand and find
it hard to explain when pressed to do so.
Apostle Paul said that they are, “always learning and never able to come
to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim 3:7).
And it cannot be otherwise, for the Holy Spirit does not help those who
act contrary to the examples of Jesus Christ and His Apostles. And without the Holy Spirit one should never
open his mouth to preach in the name of Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS, and
tell your leaders to keep them too. In
so doing, you will both help the nation out of distress, and ensure eternal
life and a bright future for yourself in the
Most
Christians believe that before the return of Jesus Christ, one man would come,
in the spirit of Elijah, and restore “all things”. We say ‘most’ because some believe that he
had already come two thousand years ago in the form of John the Baptist and
fulfilled that prophecy. The problem is
there are several prophecies about Elijah that could not have been fulfilled at
that time. Here is one that was fulfilled
then.
Mat 11:7 “As they departed, Jesus began to say to the
multitudes concerning John: "What did you go out into the
Mat 11:8 wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the
wind? "But what did you go out to
see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are
in kings' houses.
Mat 11:9 "But what did you go
out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
Here
we have a clear statement from Jesus Christ that John the Baptist was indeed
Elijah. He was the messenger that
prepared the way for the Lord. The problem is, Jesus Christ was destined to
come twice to this earth: first as a human being, a ‘Son of Man’, to offer a
beacon to the world and qualify for His eternal kingship, and a second time as
a triumphant Son of God, to save humanity from self-annihilation, take His
people to Himself, and take control of the kingdoms of this world. We have covered this subject at length in The
Christian Herald No 1. Here is just
a glimpse of these prophecies.
The Pharisees knew about these prophecies and
were waiting for the Messiah at the time of Jesus Christ, but when He made His
appearance, they rejected Him because He spoke of a different kind of Kingdom;
one based on righteousness, truth, justice and holiness that belonged to
another world. When they perceived that
they had little chance of entering that Kingdom they rejected Him and killed
Him, and decided that they would wait for another Messiah. They are still waiting for Him, but when He
comes this time He will make them an offer they can’t refuse anymore. They ignored the fact that the Messiah would
come first to suffer at the hands of the wicked and be cut off in the middle of
the week, and in so doing they became participants and executors of that
prophecy.
That was the first coming of the Messiah, and
here is the second.
Since John the Baptist came before the first
arrival of the Messiah, the question is will there be another ‘Elijah’ before
His second coming? When asked about his
role, John the Baptist said that he was not Elijah.
Now why did John deny that he was Elijah when
Jesus Christ clearly said that he was?
Because he knew that there would be another Elijah after him, one who
would serve a different purpose. Take a
careful look at this passage for it portrays some important developments prior
to the arrival of the second Elijah.
Three are three points of interest for us in
this passage.
1.
There
will be a Day, burning like an oven in which the proud and the wicked become
stubble and ashes under the feet of the righteous. It is appropriate to note here that the
wicked of our time have introduced the false doctrine that all human beings
will be saved, because ‘God is good and cannot destroy His own creation’. Instead of changing their life of sin and
turning to God in heartfelt repentance, they are finding escape in falsehood
and immersing themselves ever deeper in self-deluding doctrines. The second Elijah will fight these deceivers
prior to the Great Tribulation and the return of Jesus Christ.
2.
God
is sending His people to the Law, statutes and judgments that He gave to
Moses. This Law contains among other
things the Sabbaths, Holy Days and Commandments of God. Since John the Baptist did not accomplish
this restoration, it follows that the second Elijah must do it. One of the identifying signs of the second
Elijah then is the upholding and restoring the Law of Moses – the Law of God.
3.
Before
the ‘great and dreadful day of the Lord’, Elijah must turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. There never was a greater need of this kind
of love in the world than it is now.
Love of our parents and love of our heavenly Father and our Savior have
never been scarcer in the world. That
love is being restored through the Law of God – the Ten Commandments. Remember, the first four Commandments
regulate our relationship with God, and the last six with each other. Jesus Christ summarized the Ten Commandments
in this manner, but did not supplant them.
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
Elijah must restore these things if the world
is to have any chance of surviving the ‘great and dreadful day of the
Lord’. John the Baptist said that he was
not Elijah because he knew that the ‘great and dreadful day of the Lord’ was a
long way off yet. He expected Messiah to
come and restore the kingdom to
If the worldwide conspiracy against God
succeeds, and the whole world turns against God and denies its Creator, as our
‘wise’ men, media people, scientists, educators, academics, politicians and
even religious leaders are so desperate to accomplish, the world will simply
vanish from existence and never be seen or heard of again. That is how important the work of Elijah
is. Unfortunately, right now even the
elect of God have fallen asleep and are unaware of what is happening around
them. They are oblivious to the fact
that Elijah and the world need them badly.
If we did not know where ‘Satan’s throne is’
(Rev. 2:13), and who the ‘abomination of desolation’ that sits on it is,
(Mat.24: 15), we might have been tempted to think that it is at the
headquarters of
Now notice what Jesus Christ told His disciples
about the Kingdom when they asked Him about it.
They did not ask Him about the
Jesus Christ told His disciples that before the
Kingdom would be set up they would have to be ‘witnesses to Me in
The mere mention of the word “Gentile” sent
them wild. To this day the Jews struggle
with the concept of the
Jesus Christ returns not to live on this earth
among human beings, for it is not possible for human beings to intermingle with
spirit beings, but to take His people to Himself, to the throne of His Father
in Heaven, to the heavenly
Zec 14:4 “And in that day His feet will stand on the
Oba
Oba
The holy place is not inside any temple in
The glorified Christ cannot live among human
beings, for it would pulverize them with His brightness. That is why God
(Christ,
Exo 33:17 “So the LORD said to Moses, "I will also
do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in
Exo 33:18 My sight, and I know you by name. "And he said, "Please, show me Your
glory."
Exo 33:19 Then He said, "I will make all My
goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you.
I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have
Exo 33:20 compassion.”
But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and
live." And the
Exo 33:21 LORD said, "Here is a place by Me, and
you shall stand on the rock. "So it
shall be, while My glory
Exo 33:22 passes by, that I will put
you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass
by.
Exo 33:23 "Then I will take away My hand, and you
shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen."
Now
when John the Baptist was thrown into prison and saw that his life was in
danger, he realized that something was not right and began to wonder about the
role of Jesus Christ in restoring the kingdom to
Mat 11:2 “And when John had heard in prison about the
works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples
Mat 11:3 and said to Him, "Are You the Coming
One, or do we look for another?"
Prior to that, John confidently preached the
coming of the Kingdom of heaven, telling people that One coming after him would
set it up with fire and the ax.
Mat 3:1 “In those days John the Baptist came
preaching in the wilderness of
Mat 3:2 for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:
Mat 3:3 "The voice of one crying in the
wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.'"
Mat 3:4 And John himself was clothed in camel's hair,
with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was
Mat 3:5 locusts and wild honey. Then
Mat 3:6 hjm and were baptized by him in the
Mat 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you
to flee from the wrath to come?
Mat 3:8 "Therefore bear fruits worthy of
repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves,
Mat 3:9 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to
you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from
Mat
Mat
Mat 3:12 "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and
He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the
barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
John, like all the Jews of his time, must have
expected Jesus to handle the Romans first, for the
“Save us from our enemies”, was the general
wish of the Jews at that time. Yet
instead of taking up the fight to the Romans, Jesus began to heal both Jews and
Romans.
When John’s disciples asked Jesus Christ
whether He was the ‘Coming One’, this is what He answered.
Mat 11:4 “Jesus answered and said to them, "Go
and tell John the things which you hear and see:
Mat 11:5 "The blind see and the lame walk; the
lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have
the gospel preached to them.
Mat 11:6 "And blessed is he who is not offended
because of Me."
Jesus perceived that John’s understanding was
not perfect and gave him some new insights about His role and the nature of His
Kingdom, concluding with a subtle but powerful warning: “blessed is he who is not offended because of
Me”.
Later, Jesus reconfirmed that John was Elijah,
but left room for a second Elijah.
This quotation, taken in its entirety, connects
Moses with Elijah, just like the one from the book of Malachi. In fact, it does more than that: it places
Jesus, Moses and Elijah, on the same level.
Here we have the first direct confirmation of the heavenly Trinity in
the New Testament. (See The Christian Herald No 5 for an extensive
discussion on this topic).
The role of the first Elijah was to ‘Make
straight the way of the LORD’. The role
of the second Elijah is to ‘restore all things’. The question is, what things need to be restored at this time? Well, Jesus foresaw that in the intervening
time, between His ascension to heaven and His return to this earth, there would
be a wholesale departure from the truth of God, from the Law, statutes and
judgments of God, and from the Christian Gospel. These things need to be restored at this time
in preparation for the
When Grace Does Not
Overrule Works
After two thousand years of Christianity you
think that people would know by now what roles grace and works play in the
process of salvation, but apparently this is not the case. Here is a quote from a letter sent to us by a
concerned ‘Christian’ who took issue with our preaching the need to keep the
Commandments of God.
“My second comment is directed at your
“solution”, i.e. Keep the commandments.
Yes, I agree that keeping God’s commandments is part of being a Christian,
but the Bible is quite clear in stating that this is not the way to gain
eternal life. Eg:
What can one say to that? Modern day Christianity is full of this kind
of ambiguity and double talk. ‘Yes, keeping God’s commandments is part of being
a Christian, but if you preach keeping the commandments you advocate a works
based salvation, instead of a salvation that is gained by faith alone.’
Friend, you say that you are a Christian,
but would Jesus Christ agree with you when you countermand the most important
perquisite for salvation: keeping the Commandments of God?
Let us now look at the two references this
concerned ‘Christian’ gave us as proof that grace and faith override works.
To believe in Jesus Christ means to do what
He wants you to do if you want Him to save you. And this is what He wants.
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
“If you want to enter into life, keep the
commandments." Could it be any clearer?
It is not enough to believe in Him, you must keep the Commandments if
you want to gain eternal life. If you do
not do that you are a liar and the truth is not in you.
Mat
Bearing godly fruit and keeping the
Commandments of God go hand in hand. You
have to do both if you want to get a place in the eternal
Now let us look at the second reference from
that letter.
Here we have specific mention of salvation
by grace through faith and not by works.
What then do we do about the following Scripture? "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My
reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.” (
This is how faith and works go hand in hand
in the process of salvation.
It so happens that even Apostle Paul who
wrote the epistle to the Ephesians in which he spoke about salvation by grace
through faith and not of works, also said that works are needed for salvation.
“Work out your own salvation!” Well, if you must work out your own salvation
you must bring forth works worthy of salvation, or fruits worthy of repentance,
as John the Baptist put it; you cannot just rest on your laurels and think that
you will be saved just because you believe in Jesus Christ.
You cannot take one verse out of the Bible
and make a doctrine of salvation out of it.
That is why God have us a whole Book to study, meditate upon, and obey,
if we want to be saved. Little knowledge
is dangerous knowledge, particularly when you talk about salvation and you do
not know what you are talking about.
The question is where does grace come into
it if we must work out our own salvation?
Simple. God had shown us His grace
when He forgave us our sins, granted us repentance, and called us to follow in
the steps of His Son in order that we too become His children and gain eternal
life in His Kingdom. Repentance itself
is a gift from God, and it comes not because we deserve it, but as part of
God’s grace towards us. He exercises His
grace once, at the beginning, after which we must bring forth works, or fruit
commensurate with our faith. Those who
do not do so, and continue in sin forfeit that grace.
Apostle Paul also told his followers that
there are certain things they must do in order to be saved.
Notice carefully, in one sentence he spoke
of both grace and work. One did not
exclude the other. He went on to tell
his followers that whatever they saw in him, they must do too. And what did he do? Well, he did a lot of things, including
sacrificing his life for the Gospel.
How many preachers do you know who follow
the Apostles’ example and ‘work with labour and toil night and day’? We do not know the person who sent us that
letter, but most likely he or she is a priest or a minister in a church. They are the ones who keep on confronting us
on this matter. We know of no priest or
minister who follows the example of the Apostles, other than those in our
Foundation. That is why they run away
from us as from a plague, for we would send them all to work.
There are times when a preacher may be
spending all his working hours in the church, but that is never a licence for
lifetime employment. Certainly he would
not be moved around to another church if he proved to be a sinner, a sexual
miscreant, as they do in so many churches these days.
Why The
Commandments Of God Are Important Today
There are two main reasons for which
mainstream Christians do not keep the Commandments of God:
1) Human
beings already have immortality within themselves therefore they do not need
the
Commandments to gain eternal life;
2)
The Ten
Commandments were done away with, ‘nailed to the cross,’ therefore they are no
longer necessary for salvation.
We will look at both these reasons and see
how well they stand in the light of the Scriptures.
The first one comes from Jesus’ promise to
the thief on the cross that he will be with Him in
Fundamentalist Christians, who do not
believe in immortality of the soul, take issue with the last verse by saying
that the coma should be after the word ‘today’ and not before it. Jesus’ statement would then become, “I say to
you today, you will be with Me in
Vine’s Expository Dictionary, a highly
authoritative source on biblical matters, says this about it.
“There are no grammatical reasons for the
insistence that the connection [of the word ‘today’] must be with the statement
“Verily I say to unto thee,” nor is such an idea necessitated by examples from
either the Sept. or the N.T.; the connection given in the A.V. and R.V. is
right.”
‘Sept.’ means Septuagint, an ancient Greek
version of the Bible, A.V. means Authorised Version (King James), and R.V.
comes from Revised Standard Version. Vine uses the terminology of King James
Version.
He gives credence to mainstream
Christianity, and so do we, but for different reasons.
First of all let us point out why going to
the original source does not help.
Ancient writers used few punctuation marks. Most of them did not even leave spaces
between words. If you see an ancient
epitaph on a tombstone for example, you may have a hard time understanding it
even if you understand ancient Greek or Latin perfectly. That is because they are written as one long
sentence with no spaces and punctuation marks.
They did not do that for lack of space but because that was their
writing style. Not many people could read and write in those days, and those
that did, a privileged class, were expected to know and understand it. In some languages, such as Hebrew, the
problem was compounded by the fact that they did not even use vowels in writing.
You can see why scribes and lawyers were held in high esteem at the time of
Jesus Christ, and why they were so surprised when they encountered people who
could read, write and teach the Scriptures without having attended rabbinical
schools as was the case with Jesus Christ and His Apostles. Obviously they had
learned letters privately at home.
This problem is compounded by the fact that
we no longer have the original texts. What have come down to us are copies of
copies of copies that have passed through many hands. Which raises the
question, should we be concerned that we may not have the whole truth? The
answer is an emphatic no! What we
have today is the truth, the whole truth, and the guaranteed truth. We know that from the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus Christ left this earth, He told
His disciples that soon afterwards He would send them the ‘Helper’ who would
guide them into all they needed to know about salvation. His promise was fulfilled fifty days later on
the day of Pentecost. The ‘Helper’ – the
Holy Spirit – came upon them in spectacular fashion, granting them, among other
gifts, the ability to speak in many languages.
See Acts Chapters
There was no other way by which they could
fulfil their mission, for they did not have the translations of the Scriptures
and the facilities that we have today. Knowing a multiplicity of languages was
the only way by which they could preach the Gospel to all people and make
disciples of all nations.
Mat 28:18
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been
given to Me in heaven and on
Mat 28:19
earth. "Go therefore and
make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
Mat 28:20
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I
am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
Now although the Holy Spirit no longer comes
in similar fashion these days, people continue to receive a multiplicity of
heavenly gifts, the greatest being the Holy Spirit Himself!
Without the Holy Spirit we cannot achieve
spiritual union with God and with Jesus Christ, and cannot be saved.
When we receive the Holy Spirit, we are
imbued with at least one of the following gifts:
Spiritual wisdom is at the very top of this
list. Without it, one cannot understand
of the purpose of life, the meaning of salvation, and the nature of the
If you ever felt revulsion of your way of
life and felt the need for something better and more meaningful, the Holy
Spirit has probably touched you. Without
the Holy Spirit people wonder aimlessly through life, never seeing the error of
their ways, and never feeling the need to repent and change for something
better.
When that happens to you, as it happens to
all at least once in their life, don’t miss your opportunity and neglect your
call from God, for you may never have another chance. Be particularly aware of the trap of evolution
into which so many ‘educated’ have fallen.
You did not create yourself out of nothing, as so many people have
foolishly come to believe. God gave you
the gift of life and called you to qualify for something infinitely better and
more rewarding. You were born for a
noble purpose – to become an immortal child of God through the agency of the
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit grants
people a sixth sense, and internal eye, a window into a transcendental world
that cannot be described by words.
Those who embraced the pernicious theory of
evolution have handicapped themselves and missed their opportunity. Yet,
incredibly, they think that they are wise and we are fools. But this was to be
expected.
They don’t need to creep into households
anymore, they can make captives of gullible women in clubs, sporting venues,
community centres, educational institutions, even in churches. The opposite is very much the case these days
too: women taking the initiative and making captives of gullible men.
In the western world, due to their
militancy, the law has been so skewed in women’s favour, the media and current
affair programs are full of horror stories about men who have been reduced to
tears, and even committed suicide, because a corrupt judicial system and
insensitive judges have turned them into sub-humans. All while the real criminals have a chorus of
defenders, particularly from those who claim to stand for human rights. Have
you ever heard them call for human rights for honest law abiding citizens, the
victims of crime and injustice? These do
not bring much profit to lawyers and judges hence they are expendable. But what
does God say? “Seek the LORD, all you
meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek
humility, it may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger.”
(Zep 2:3).
The current judicial system perpetuates
itself through artificially created conflicts; issues and appeal venues that
bankrupt the unweary who seek justice that way.
The penal code is so burdensome and convoluted, smart lawyers turn it
whichever way they want. Justice seldom has a bearing on Court outcomes
anymore. But this has been a problem
with this world for a long time.
The Apostles knew that there was no justice
in this world and that ‘he who departs from evil makes himself a
prey’ and urged their followers to
suffer loss rather than seek justice from unbelievers.
The cries to Heaven for a righteous judicial
system and a simplified code of laws have never been stronger. This prayer is
about to be answered, for we cannot have this kind of iniquity in the new
age. It is one of Elijah roles to
prepare the groundwork for the restoration of the Law of God (the Law which He
gave to Moses), for the
A synopsis of that Law can be found in
The Law of Moses restores the God-given role
of man as leader and provider, and the God-given role of woman as homemaker and
child raiser and educator, that have been usurped by the current judicial
systems. The result is much too obvious:
an epidemic of crime and rebelliousness that is out of control everywhere, yet
no one has any idea of how to put things right anymore. Without divine intervention, which will come
after humanity has learned the lesson that it cannot govern itself, the world
would simply perish.
Mat 24:21
"For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been
since the beginning of the world until
Mat 24:22
this time, no, nor ever shall be.
"And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but
for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.”
The Bible speaks of an ‘abomination of desolation’
that has changed ‘times and the law’ (Dan.7:25). That same entity has persecuted the true
Christians, the elect of God, and the ‘salt of the earth’, for centuries for no
other reason that that they held on to the Law, Sabbaths, and Holy Days that
God gave to Moses. Jesus Christ
amplified that Law when He said,
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did
not come to destroy but to fulfil.” (Mat
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has long since
reached every corner of the earth. Those
who had it in their heart to seek God could find Him and receive the Holy
Spirit. The world has had ample proofs about which religion is more conducive
to life and provides genuine spiritual fulfilment.
Virtually all religions have good points in
them, but salvation cannot be partly true and partly false. That is why only
the religion of the Son of God Himself offers true salvation. No other saviour
has come out of the grave and said: I have overcome the world and live forever
more, and you could too you if you follow Me and keep My Commandments.
Unfortunately even within Christianity it
has not always been plain sailing. More than any other religion it has had to
fight against counterfeits, schisms and internal dissensions that have torn it
apart for centuries. The ‘god of this age’ has made sure of that because it did
not want humanity to be saved.
There is no other way by which people can
ensure their salvation except by familiarizing themselves with the Word of God.
Those who entrust their salvation to other people, without checking that they
follow the Word of God accurately, especially in this age of widespread
deception, will almost certainly lose it.
Human nature as it is, is deceitful above all things and cannot be trusted.
The
Bible offers its own seal of approval to those who are worried about its
accuracy and inspiration. Once you
become reasonably familiar with it, you begin to see certain chemistry and
unity that are missing from similarly compounded books.
Books of the Bible that have been written by
people who lived hundreds of years apart, complement each other as if
colleagues have written them. Read the
article, “The Inspiration Of The Scriptures Scientifically Demonstrated,” in The
Christian Herald No 1, and see some astonishing scientific proofs of divine
inspiration.
The study of the Bible goes hand in hand
with prayer, meditation, and worship of the Eternal God.
God is generous with His
Holy Spirit to those who clear their heart of sin and purify themselves
spiritually. Without the Holy Spirit no
one could call himself a Christian. In due
course you achieve a certain union with God, and communicate with Him through
your heart and conscience. It is an
exhilarating feeling, but one that cannot be described by words or understood
by those who are outside the Law. You
know in your heart whether you are right before God or not, and whether what
you read and study is the real thing or a counterfeit.
Many studies have shown that people who are
in good terms with God are healthier, happier, calmer, and more
levelheaded. This is where academic
scholars have failed abysmally. They
study the Bible, some have given their life to it, but they do so without
prayer and worship because their environment forbids it. Academia does not produce spiritual
enlightenment because it does not have the Holy Spirit. Their conclusions on
the Bible do more harm than good.
When we first published the articles on the
Dead Sea Scrolls (See TCH No 9), they got a shock and quickly came up with
a new TV program that tried to counter our arguments. It was such a feeble effort, we felt sorry
for them. We could have torn them to
pieces again if we had set our minds to it.
We expected opposition from them and sympathize with their plight, for
it is not easy to have a life-long conviction overturned overnight, but hoped
that in due course sanity would prevail, they would come to their senses, and
render due credit to whom credit is due. But it wasn’t to be. Instead, they
cocooned themselves in their circles as if nothing had happened, no doubt,
hopping that the storm would pass away.
But pass away it won’t, because when the truth of God is being revealed,
it cannot be bottled up again. So much
for academic integrity!
We feel sorry for those who embark
themselves enthusiastically on academic studies in order to become Priests or
Ministers of Religion. By their very
nature these institutions destroy faith not build it. One classic example of a
church that destroyed itself because it relied on Priests recruited from
college graduates rather than worthy members of the church is the Worldwide
Church of God. Honest and faithful members offer their allegiance to God,
whereas college graduates offer it to their benefactor. When the benefactor dies, so does the
church.
If you want to serve God, you should study,
pray, meditate on His Law, and worship Him privately,
and in due course Jesus Christ will draw you into His fold and lead you on the
way of truth and genuine service.
Restoring The Signs That Identify The People Of God
When mainstream Christianity decided that
the Commandments of God were no longer necessary for salvation, it lost the
signs that identified the people of God.
God specifically designated one of the Ten Commandments – the fourth –
as the sign that would identify His people.
Do you know which one that is?
Here are all of them, just in case.
The First
Commandment: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the
of bondage.
"You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exo 20:2-3).
The Second Commandment: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of
anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is
in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate
Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My
commandments.” (Exo 20:4-6).
The Third Commandment: "You shall not take the name of the
LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His
name in vain.” (Exo 20:7).
The Fourth Commandment:
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
holy. Six days you shall labor and do
all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it
you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male
servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is
within your gates. For in six days the
LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and
rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed
it.” (Exo
The Fifth Commandment: "Honor your father and your mother,
that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving
you.” (Exo 20:12).
The Sixth Commandment: "You shall not murder.” (Exo
20:13).
The Seventh Commandment: "You shall not commit adultery.” (Exo 20:14).
The Eighth Commandment: "You shall not steal.” (Exo 20:15).
The Ninth Commandment: "You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor.” (Exo 20:16).
And the Tenth Commandment: "You
shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant,
nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's." (Exo
20:17).
The Fourth Commandment requires that the
Sabbath be kept holy. Now it is a
well-known fact that the biblical Sabbath is the seventh day called in the
Roman calendar, which we now use, Saturday.
Christian zealots have tried to get around this Commandment by calling
Sunday their Sabbath. Such sleight of
hand may fool their followers, but not God.
Mainstream
Christians, on the other hand, have come up with another reason for not keeping
the Sabbath holy. They say they worship
on Sunday not because they inherited this practice from the Romans, who
inherited it from the Egyptians, who worshiped the Sun on that day, but because
it is the day in which their Lord was resurrected. But if that is the case why don’t they keep
the other Holy Days according to the Scriptures, and instead observe the Roman
holy days that are not even mentioned in the Bible? Most Christians have not even heard of such
Holy Days as the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of
Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles, let alone observe and
keep them holy.
It
is God, not human beings, who decides what people must observe or not observe,
and the days in which they ought to worship Him. There is no scriptural justification for
changing the day of worship from Sabbath to Sunday or for replacing God’s Holy
Days with man made holy days. And if it
is not in the Bible, it is not true.
What we find in the Bible is that Jesus Christ, the Apostles, and the
early Churches of God, observed the Sabbaths and Holy Days that God gave to
Moses in the Old Testament, the same that were to remain signs between Him and
His people through all generations.
Exo
31:13 "Speak also to the children
of
Exo
31:14 'You shall keep the Sabbath,
therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put
to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from
among his people.
Exo
31:15 'Work shall be done for six days,
but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work
on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
Exo
31:16 'Therefore the children of
Exo
31:17 perpetual covenant. 'It is a sign
between Me and the children of
Not surprisingly, God linked the keeping of
the Sabbath with revering both our human parents and our heavenly Father.
In the Bible, God used the term ‘Feasts’ to
include the weekly Sabbaths, and the term ‘Sabbaths’, to include the annual
Holy Days. This means that both the
weekly Sabbaths and the annual Holy Days are signs that identify the people of
God.
The first sign is the weekly Sabbath.
The next sign is the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. These two Holy Days always go together.
Then follows the Pentecost.
Then follows a group of three Holy
Days: Feast of Trumpets, Day of
Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles.
Now of course, we do not need to offer sheaf
offerings, burnt offering, grain offerings, and the like, as they did in the
Old Testament times. We observe these
Holy Days in the Spirit of the New Testament, with a solemn Christian service,
and a communal meal when applicable.
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the greatest Christian Holy Days,
have their own special memorial and commemorative services.
In
conclusion, if you want to become part of God’s elect, you begin by embracing and
observing the signs that identify the people of God.
Just
What Was ‘Nailed To The Cross’?
Even at that time of Jesus Christ there were
people who dismissed the Commandments of God, for otherwise He would not have
told His disciples that He did not come to destroy but to fulfil the Law.
Mat
Mat
Mat 5:19 "Whoever therefore breaks one
of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in
the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven.”
To make sure that they understood Him well,
later He told them that if they loved Him they would keep His
Commandments.
There are two important points that come out
of these Scriptures. First, that anyone
who breaks the Commandments, or teaches men to do so, “shall be called least in
the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven”. And
second, the Commandments are connected with the arrival of the ‘Spirit of
truth’ – Holy Spirit. Without the Holy
Spirit no one could say that he is a Christian.
Yet in spite of all this, mainstream
Christians still maintain that God’s Commandments are not needed for salvation.
They use the following Scriptures in support of their position.
Obviously Jesus Christ ‘nailed’ something to
the cross, but what? If it were the Ten
Commandments why did He tell His disciples to keep them if they loved Him? And why did He say that those who break them
‘shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven’? And why did He tell the young man to keep the
Commandments if he wanted to gain eternal life? (Mat.19: 17). And why did tell His disciples that He came
to fulfil the Law not to destroy it?
Could it be that He nailed something else to
the cross? Indeed, a closer look at that statement reveals that what He wiped
out were not the Ten Commandments, but the ‘handwriting of requirements that
was against us’. ‘Handwriting of requirements?’
What exactly is that? What requirements
were against us? Well, they follow
immediately after that statement, but for some reason mainstream Christians
prefer to ignore them.
And these:
‘Having abolished in His flesh the enmity,
that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances.’ The Ten Commandments are not ‘ordinances’ or
mere ‘requirements’; they are Laws that cannot be broken, and eternal Laws at
that. What ‘ordinances’ then were nailed
to the cross? These:
And these:
If this does not answer the question of what
was ‘nailed’ to the cross, nothing will.
Incredibly, while mainstream Christians wrongly believe that all of the
Old Testament has become obsolete, including the Commandments, the Sabbaths and
the Holy Days of God, fundamentalist Christians just as wrongly believe that
virtually all of the Old Testament is still valid today. They find it
impossible to accept that the dietary laws and the special washings and
ceremonies associated with them and with the new moons, new seasons, and new
harvests, have been nailed to the cross. Under the New Testament, these
‘ordinances’ have not only been wiped out, they have become “doctrines of
demons”. Their observance indicates
disobedience to Jesus Christ and make a mockery of His sacrifice.
A good minister, a genuine follower of Jesus
Christ, gives no heed to such deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.
Fundamentalist Christians have great difficulty conforming with the following
Scriptures too.
True Christians do not pick and choose what
they like from the Bible, and discard what they do not like. “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the
cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of
demons” (1 Cor
In regard to “forbidding to marry”, what
that means is that under the New Testament there is no longer a marital
interdiction based on race as was the case in the Old Testament, because,
“there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian,
Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all” (Col 3:11). The only
interdiction in the New Testament is marriage between believers and
non-believers. Here is a lengthy quotation
on the topic of marriage and divorce.
Some people may wonder why we use such
lengthy biblical quotations instead of paraphrasing or merely referring to
them, as do most biblical scholars? First,
because the Bible puts it better than we would, and second, to make it more
convenient for our readers who may not have a Bible ready at hand. Another reason is that English is not our
mother tongue; both of us have had to learn it relatively late in life. As a result, we often struggle to convey
particular points of view, so we let the Bible speak for itself as much as we
can. Now have you ever considered the
meaning of these Scriptures?
If you want to find out the truth of God
these days you need to seek it from people of ‘another tongue’. If we were to take that Scripture literally
we would have spoken to you in Romanian, but what good would that have
done? It is an extraordinary irony that
the so-called ‘
The Almighty brought to the
In regard to Apostle Paul’s injunction of
not observing “new moons and sabbaths” (Col 2:16), we have amply documented
that the correct Sabbath and Holy Days for the people of God, are those listed
in the Old Testament (see The Christian Herald No 4). These are the same Sabbaths and Holy Days
that were observed by Jesus Christ, by the Apostles, and by the early Churches
of God until the Romans imposed their religion over Christianity and forbade
the people of God from ‘Judaising’.
After the Council of Nicaea (325 AD), the true
Apostle Paul preached on the Sabbath and
kept the Holy Days, most of which are mentioned directly or indirectly in his
writings. What then do we make of his
apparent contrary statement to the Colossians?
There can only be one conclusion: the
mention of “new moons and sabbaths” in connection with the ‘ordinances’ and
‘requirements’ that were abolished by Jesus Christ can only refer to practices
that were only incidental or temporary, and no longer necessary for the true
Sabbaths and Holy Days in the New Testament.
The Jews were required to perform certain
ceremonies at new moons, new seasons, new harvests, during Sabbaths and Holy
Days, and during ceremonial sacrifices.
In the New Testament however, these ceremonies are no longer necessary,
and we celebrate the Sabbaths and the Holy Days in a new spirit and in a new
manner. We notice that while the
Colossians took to dietary laws and ‘festivals, new moons, and sabbaths’ in
order to be ‘good’ Christians, the Galatians took to observing ‘days and months
and seasons and years”, which were equally unnecessary.
Apostle Paul made it clear that all of these
belonged to another era.
What ‘tutor’ was introduced at the time of
Moses that brought us to Christ? Animal
sacrifices, dietary laws, and all those special ceremonies and ordinances. Were the true Sabbaths and Holy Days
included in those ceremonies? Most certainly!
But when the law of sacrifices ended with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
so did all those special requirements and ceremonies. Henceforth, the original Sabbaths and Holy
Days were to be observed in a new Spirit.
This is what Apostle Paul told the
Most Christians, mainstream and
fundamentalist alike, know little or nothing of the Passover and the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, yet you can see how important these were in the life of early
Christians.
Jesus Christ specifically told His disciples
to commemorate these Holy Days in a specific manner, as a memorial to His
sacrifice and a proclamation of the New Testament. It should never be forgotten
that the Sabbaths and the Holy Days that God gave to Moses were to remain the
identifying signs for the people of God throughout all generations.
Exo 31:13
"Speak also to the children of
Exo 31:14
'You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone
who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it,
that person shall be cut off from among his people.
Exo 31:15
'Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of
rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall
surely be put to death.
Exo 31:16
'Therefore the children of
Exo 31:17
'It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for
in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He
rested and was refreshed.'"
For Apostle Paul to have said that the
Commandments were nailed to the cross together with the sacrificial laws and
the dietary ordinances would have meant that, 1) he preached contrary to Jesus
Christ, whom he claimed to serve, and whose Apostle he was, and 2), he denied
the signs that identified him and the followers of Jesus Christ as the new
people of God.
That is simply not true, for he himself
declared that the law of God was “holy and just and good” (Rom
So then, the man who supposedly said that
the commandments of God were ’wiped out and nailed to the cross’ also told us
that what matters for salvation is keeping the Commandments of God. Isn’t that what Jesus Christ told His
disciples too? It is obvious then that
the Old Testament contained two kinds of laws: the sacrificial, dietary, and
special “requirements” and “ordinances” that brought us to Christ and were
eliminated with His sacrifice, and the Commandments, Judgments and Statutes of
God that shall remain valid forever more.
Life After
Death Or After Resurrection?
The
controversy connected with Jesus’ statement to the thief on the cross needs a
closer look, for it completely changes the message of the Gospel. This is how the New King James Version has
it: "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in
Now given the fact that there is no other
statement in the Bible as clear as this one about Paradise after death, and
that there are dozens of Scriptures that speak of life after resurrection, one
would have to agree with the fundamentalist belief that life comes again only
after resurrection and not after death.
Hence the paradox: while mainstream Christians are correct in the way
they render that statement, fundamentalists Christians are correct in they way
they interpret it. For if the thief had gone to
Since the Bible makes no difference between
Was the thief on the cross more worthy of
In the Bible, death means complete cessation
of everything connected life: breath, memory, consciousness, etc.
For King Solomon, who wrote these words, the
rewards of a meritorious life were measured by what one could get in this
world. Those below him were to be
satisfied with the wife of their youth.
For him, however, being Solomon, only a thousand women would do. That was his paradise. He had no concept of a
reward in a heavenly
Jesus Christ opened the way to
Notice carefully, Jesus was brought up not
from
Neither Apostle Paul nor any of the other
writers of the New Testament have said anything about life after death. They couldn’t, because that is contrary to the
teachings, the example, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now given that all the writers of the New
Testament had seen Jesus Christ in person after His resurrection, prior to His
ascension to Heaven, except Luke, the question is why did Luke give us a statement
that did not fully conform to the teachings of the other Gospel writers? The answer may surprise you.
A Closer Look At The Mysterious Gospel Of Luke
The Bible is a complete Book, and the Gospel
of Luke is an integral part of it. None
other than Jesus Christ Himself has confirmed and sealed the Bible in its
present form.
Unlike the other Gospel writers, Luke was a
Gentile. He wrote his account many years
after the other synoptic Gospels were completed, which he used as a source of inspiration
for his own Gospel. His intention was to
make the doctrines and beliefs of the early
He did a fair bit of research among those
who had seen and talked with Jesus Christ, and gave us valuable information
that is missing from the other Gospels (See for example his introductory
chapters). He was convinced that his Gospel was complementary to the other
Gospels, and just as reliable.
Now knowing what we do now about Luke’s
Gospel, we can see that God had a sense of humour when He allowed him to say
that he had ‘perfect understanding’ of the things that he wrote about. It is to its credit that the Bible gives us
the unadulterated truth, even when impetuousness and imperfect understanding
and preparation taint it. It is a lesson
in patience and perseverance for the people of God, a lesson that is often a
trap for the unweary. We should never
forget what God said about His truth.
On the one hand, He hid it so that humans may cover themselves in glory
by discovering it.
Prov.25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”
And
on the other, He hid it from the wicked so that they may never discover it and
be healed.
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
Luke blended a few Gentile beliefs into his
Gospel that are missing from the other Gospels.
When viewed in the totality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ they are
hardly more than minor digressions, but on their own they could be deadly
weapons in the hands of the enemies of the people of God. In the course of time
this is exactly what happened.
Luke’s Gospel became the mainstay of
mainstream Christianity. The small
changes that he introduced suited them well. Unfortunately those changes had a
profound effect upon the history of the
Luke had little knowledge of the Old
Testament, and treated it as if all of it had become obsolete. He did not understand that aside from the
dietary and sacrificial laws, and the ceremonies associated with them,
virtually all of it is still valid today.
Jesus Christ and the Apostles based most of their teachings on the Old
Testament, from which they quoted copiously.
It is said that there are more than one hundred and fifty references to
it in the New Testament.
When he explained the Christian Gospel to
the Gentile converts, he related it not to the Old Testament, but to their own
general beliefs. Almost every case in
which he diverged from other Gospels can be traced to just one factor: his
belief in immortality of the soul and life after death. These beliefs permeate his Gospel, and his
only.
Now had he looked into the Old Testament, he
would have found the following clear statements about the soul.
The souls who sin shall die. Where?
In a
Those
who are cast into the
Let us now compare the Gospels of Matthew
and Luke in the areas in which they diverge and see the implications.
Mat
Luke’s souls, being immortal, cannot be
destroyed. But he cannot say so
directly, for that would put him in conflict with the Apostles of Jesus Christ. Instead he leaves the soul out of the
equation altogether, saying only that after God has killed, He has power to
cast into hell, without telling us what it is that God has killed and cast into
hell.
Now considering that the other Gospels
inspired Luke, and not the other way around, and that Luke’s deviations follow
a certain pattern, any variation must be considered deliberate rather than
accidental. This becomes more evident as
we go further along.
Mat
Mat
There are no ages to come in Luke. Why?
Because his souls are already in
Mat 5:32
“But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except
sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman
who is divorced commits adultery.”
Did you notice the difference? It does not
strike you in the face when you first read it casually, but when you look at it
carefully you find a difference that has had catastrophic consequences upon
thew world. In Luke people marry for
life; never a reason for divorce. In
Matthew, however, sexual immorality requires divorce. Now since Matthew was a disciple of Jesus
Christ, who do you think recorded Him more faithfully?
Since Jesus Christ said that He did not come
destroy the Law, but to fulfil it, the question is which Law applies in this
case? Which Law must be considered in
matters of marriage and divorce? This
Law:
Deu 24:1
"When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she
finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he
writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out
Deu 24:2
of his house, when she has
departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man's wife,
Deu 24:3
"if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of
divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter
husband dies who took her as his wife,
Deu 24:4
"then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to
be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the
LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the LORD your God is giving
you as an inheritance.”
So strongly does God feel about this Law
that He repeated it in Jeremiah.
It should not be forgotten that God Himself
divorced His first wife – the
Jesus Christ upheld that Law when He said
that sexual immorality requires divorce, yet the biggest ‘Christian’ Church,
has made a mockery of it and polluted the land by forcing people to stay
together even after adultery. This makes
it abundantly clear what is an abomination before the Lord: taking back a wife
that has lain with another man.
Now can you guess whom Jesus Christ had in
mind when He made the following statement?
Mat 24:14
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world
as a witness to all the nations,
Mat 24:15
and then the end will come.
"Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of
by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him
understand) . . .
Mat 24:20
"And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
Mat 24:21
"For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been
since the beginning of the world until
Mat 24:22
this time, no, nor ever shall be.
"And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but
for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.”
If you want to know more about this prophecy,
read The Christian Herald No 10.
Luke wrote his Gospel in a manner that would
conform to some of his Gentiles beliefs, yet in leaving out the reason for
divorce he gave us another identifying sign for the ‘abomination of
desolation’. But he had more surprises
in store for us. He gave us the parable
of Lazarus and the rich man, which also supports the idea of immortality of the
soul and life after death?