“The
LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: "There is no
truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing
and committing adultery, They break all restraint,
With bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore
the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the
beasts of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken
away.”
(Hosea 4:1-3).
Year 2004 began with an intense debate about the
teaching of values in education in
As one might have expected, advocates of both public
and private education went to the parapets, each extolling the virtues of their
kind of education. A day later, the same
newspaper wrote:
“Australia is moving towards a national charter for
values education after federal and state ministers agreed that going to school
is “as much about building character” as learning academic skills. A draft values education framework will be
sent to school principals “to guide debate in this important area” ahead of a
national forum on April 28 – 29 in Melbourne, a spokesman for the federal
Education Minister, Brendan Nelson, said yesterday.
The Values Education Study, released in November, was
commissioned by Dr Nelson and was supported by all state education
ministers. It found confusion in schools about what constituted values and said
research showed that a partnership between schools and parents could help
reinforce attributes as tolerance, social justice, inclusion, and
freedom.”
Pardon?
Reinforce attributes as tolerance, social justice, inclusion, and freedom? Have we reached the stage in which our people
need ‘attributes’ that totalitarian regimes deny to their peoples?
The next day, in a nationally televised current
affairs program by
Three days later, again in a nationally broadcast
program, the Prime Minister himself was asked about the values he complained
public schools were not teaching. It was
his chance to set the record straight, but he too prevaricated and changed the
subject. He spoke of the need for
‘cooperation‘ between parents and educators in deciding the values that all schools ought to teach.
Now isn’t that extraordinary? People complain that schools do not teach
values, yet when asked about them, they change the subject and invoke the need
to ‘explore’ ‘cooperate’ and ‘decide’ on the values that schools ought to teach. In other words, we are going to invent the
wheel once again.
After two thousand years of Christianity you’d think
that people would instinctively know the values that make for good
character. Isn’t this what religion is
supposed to be all about? It only shows
what happens when religion is relegated to the back burner: the entire society
is thrown into confusion about the values it ought to live by.
One of the best commentaries on the merits of public
versus private education came from a local community newspaper.
“Prime Minister John Howard sparked a debate over schools
last weekend when he suggested parents were shying away from public schools
because they had become “too politically correct” and “values neutral”. In the
days that followed there was an angry and justifiable backlash from teachers
and parents. Many people would argue the
only positive result of Mr Howard’s comments was it put the issue at the
forefront of public debate.
How is it possible to be too politically correct? The Macquarie Dictionary defines correctness
as “conformity to current beliefs about correctness in language and behaviour
with regard to policies on sexism, racism, ageism, etc.” Aren’t these the
values children should learn? Private
schools do not have a monopoly on values.
According to NSW Education Minister Andrew Refshauge, public schools strive to impart values such as
inclusiveness, tolerance, diversity, striving for academic excellence,
democracy and a “fair go”.
Why is it almost 40 per cent of teenagers attend
private secondary schools and one in three children do not go to a public
school? It is a misconception a child will get a better education solely
because he or she attends a private school, but it is something increasing
numbers of parents including the Prime Minister appear to believe.
Many seem to think private schools have higher
academic results, but the 2004 HSC results clearly show seven of the 10
performing schools were State schools.
Better discipline is often given as a reason why
parents send their children to non-government schools. But private schools cannot be judged to have
better discipline simply because they can more easily expel troublesome
students or they have a stricter uniform code.
Government schools turn out many fine well-rounded young adults who go
on to make productive and honourable contribution to society.” (
The State Education Minister touched somewhat on the
values schools should ‘impart’, but even his list is not definitive.
Going back to the Federal Minister’s Report on Vales
in Education, one may be tempted to ask what is wrong with the ‘attributes’ of
‘tolerance, social justice, inclusion, and freedom’ that he listed? Nothing wrong, except that these are the very
‘attributes’ that Canadian and American Courts have invoked to demand the
legalisation of homosexual marriages. It
is the kind of ‘attributes’ feminist and homosexual lobbies have used from the
beginning of their campaign all over the world.
Politicians do not make statements they know are going
to be controversial unless they have a certain aim in mind and want to channel
the discussion in a certain direction.
Can you see where this whole debate is heading and what purpose it
serves? Can you see the mire and stupor
into which the whole world has fallen?
And see how easily these lobbies have entrapped both the Education
Minister and the Prime Minister? After
declaring these to be desirable attributes for character building they cannot
now turn back and repudiate them. And
the mass media has fallen headlong for this trap too.
Our politicians know the storm that the notion of
homosexual marriage has caused in
When we discovered that our leader was listed among
the wicked spirits that came up on the River Euphrates from the East, we were
greatly surprised (‘Another End Time Prophecy Unveiled’, in TCH 12).
Not any more. God know people’s
minds, hearts and intentions, better than we do. He does not condemn them for freeing the
people of Iraq from tyranny, which the United Nations should have done long
ago, but for delivering them the ‘freedoms’ that they do not want or need.
It is an extraordinary fact that it should be the Liberal
Party, the party of lawyers, that is being used as a Trojan Horse by homosexual
lobbies to introduce their agenda into public life, not the Labour Party, which
is more sympathetic to its cause.
So what are the values that every child should be
taught in school, and every parent should teach at home? We will come to them shortly, but first let
us look at what we wrote as early as 1995.
We pick up the story at one of Jesus’ lessons to His disciples about His
return to this earth and the end of this age.
Mat 24:3
“Now as He sat on the
Mat 24:4
And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one
deceives you.
Mat 24:5 "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am
the Christ,' and will deceive many. "And you will hear of wars and rumors
of wars.
Mat 24:6 See that you
are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not
yet.
Mat 24:7 "For
nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be
famines,
Mat 24:8 pestilences,
and earthquakes in various places."
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
"Then they
Mat 24:9 will deliver
you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My
name's sake.
Mat 24:10 "And
then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
Mat 24:11 "Then
many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
Mat 24:12 "And
because lawlessness will abound, the
love of many will grow cold.
Mat 24:13 "But
he who endures to the end shall be saved.
"And this gospel of the kingdom
Mat 24:14 will be
preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end
will come.”
Mat 24:32 "Now
learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender
and puts forth
Mat 24:33 leaves, you
know that summer is near. "So you
also, when you see all these things, know that it is near; at
Mat 24:34 the doors!
"Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till
all these things take place.
Mat 24:35
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means
pass away.
Mat 24:36 "But
of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father
only.
Mat 24:37 "But
as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
“How could the world be taken by surprise by these events,
as it was taken by the flood of Noah, if everyone is aware of the work of the
two witnesses? Something isn’t right.
Could it be that we have been sold another fib by those who tell us to
keep our eyes on
“Did you notice that
the word “
The word “
“Those who have fallen away after they have “tested the good
word of God... crucify again for themselves the Son of
God”. They could be anywhere in the
world, not just in
“There are a number of such cities around the world, but we
can’t speak about them. We can, however,
speak of the city of which we have first hand
experience, from where we have been sending these magazines to the world, and
that is
“Our readers would know about the homosexual festival called
“Gay and Lesbian Mardi Grass” which takes place in this city annually, and of
which we have written in the past. It is
an open display of vulgarity and obscenity that would make any decent person
sick just by watching it. This is only
one aspect of a wide range of homosexual activities that take place in this
city all year round.
“Regarding idolatry,
“As for those who crucify Christ, all our leaders –
political, religious and academic – have done it. The political leaders have done it by turning
this State from Christianity to paganism.
The official religion of
“Earlier this year we had an election in this State. The Coalition government, formed by the
Liberal and National Parties, lost the election. That is the good news. This was the government that gave
“The bad news is that Labor Party won the election. This party has been described by a Member of
Parliament as the homosexual party. One
of the first acts of Parliament, signed by the new Premier, enshrined into
legislation the “right” of gay couples to be regarded as families. Then on
“The “right” of homosexuals to marry
and adopt children? Who gave them this “right”, the United
Nations? The Creator says that this is not “right” but wrong, so wrong that
they will pay with their lives for it.
Unfortunately, other people suffer as a result of their abominations
too. Our leaders would never accept that
the current disastrous draught, the astronomical national debt, the
unemployment, the epidemic of youth suicides, the decay of cities and many
other social evils, have anything to do with their policies, their attitude to,
and especially their legislation on, homosexuality.
“First, it was the law against homosexual
“vilification”. Then gay couples
received the ‘right’ to be regarded as normal families. Now, our highest office
demands that homosexuals have the ‘right to marry’ and adopt children too. What next?
Are they going to pass a law that everyone become a homosexual? Thank God they won’t have time for that.
“Those who want
children should exercise their ‘right’ to conceive and rear children, not adopt
them after other people have labored with them, then inculcate them with their
vile ideas. All those ‘rights’ are being
granted to homosexuals while Christians are being denied the right to speak
against such abominations and against the offensive vulgarities that pass as
cultural events in this city. This is
how our political leaders ‘crucify again’ for themselves the Son of
God.” (“Would The Real Witnesses Please
Stand Up”, The Christian Herald No 5).
The expressed desire of our Governor General in 1995
has been overtaken by events in the
If you get the impression that this ‘exploration’ is
nothing more than the back door by which they can introduce more un-Christian,
anti-God, concepts and laws, you are not wrong.
The efforts of the homosexual lobby has shifted from
the United Nations and the Courts, which they have largely conquered, to the
churches, some of which are still opposing their practices. Now do you think that they want to become
priests and ministers because they love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and want to
preach righteousness, truth and holiness?
Or rather because they want to neutralise and silence this institution
too. Churches and religious institutions
are still allowed to speak on this matter, and condemn homosexuality without
penalty, but not for long. The United Nations will see to that.
“The U. N. Human Rights Commission is scheduled to meet March 15 to
April 25 in
“IGLHRC [the San-Francisco-based International Gay and Lesbian Human
Rights Commission] called last April's introduction of the resolution by
“At the 2003 session,
“Last year's resolution, according to the IGLHRC, had the support of
“The resolution, IGLHRC asserted . . . would "provide activists
with another tool to hold states accountable to respect, protect and fulfil the
human rights of LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered]
people."
However, some opponents contend the remedy proposed by the resolution
will have worse societal implications than the alleged disease,
"homophobia." "It is highly likely that gay-rights advocates
will use this resolution, if it passes, to advance their agenda to legalize gay
marriage and to create hate-crimes legislation," contended A. Scott
Loveless, associate professor of law at the
"In their quest to legitimize homosexuality, many of these
countries have actually limited some of our most fundamental freedoms,
including freedom of speech," Loveless said.
In
The draft resolution presented last year by
Isn’t it extraordinary? It was a
Muslim nation,
American evangelists never tire telling their followers that Islam is a
religion of the Devil. We are not quite
sure that that is how the Almighty sees it.
When we pointed out that Islam is as much a religion of Abraham as is
Judaism and Christianity, each with its own role and purpose, we received some
of the most virulent criticism ever.
They forget that individual acts of suicidal madness, by the kind of
minorities that all religions have, do not invalidate the basic tenets of a
religion. They have also forgotten what
God had told Abraham about Ishmael, his son by Hagar, who became the father of
the Arabs and of Islam.
These are the words of God, of the Holy Spirit, not of the Devil. Those
who say otherwise commit an unpardonable sin.
The Americans would never admit that the Almighty would allow the kind
of devastation they suffered on
It should not be left to Muslim nations to oppose resolutions on
homosexuality at the United Nations, for they are an insult not only to them,
but to true Christians and to the whole civilized world. If a foreign body imposes such abominable
resolutions upon any nation, it should be mercilessly thrown out of the country
without delay, and never be heard of again.
Rumours have it that the United Nations considers moving its
headquarters to
Ishmael was a mirror mage of Jacob, each with twelve princes, but on
opposite sides of the fence. Isn’t this
what is evident in the world at present: a wild man, with wild descendants,
against the whole world, and the world against them?
Those American ‘evangelists’, blinded by their hatred of Islam, betray
their own ignorance of the Scriptures by failing to see the hand of God and
prophecy at work in their own nation.
These then are the ‘freedoms’ that our political leaders would like to
‘impart’ to our students, freedoms that the United Nations regard as ‘the
birthright of all human beings’. Of
course, the United Nations was there when God created the first human beings
and heard Him say, ‘your fundamental birthright freedom’ is to debauch
yourselves with all sorts sexual perversions?
They have forgotten the lessons of history and what happened to those
who abandoned themselves to these kind of ‘freedoms’.
Over the years, we have not spared other religions either, making our
voice heard in their lands too. Yet, we have never had a word of condemnation
from these people, only from Christians, and from the Jews.
Our message to the people of the world is that they are God’s people
too, only that they follow a wrong path and worship wrong gods, just as
Christians did before they turned to Jesus Christ.
What then are the values that create good character, which all peoples
should teach to their children?
For thousands of years, the God-given standard that has formed the back
bone of western civilisation until it started falling apart under the onslaught
of modernism, was the Ten Commandments. It is from this standard that all other
character building values proceed – diligence,
honesty, respect for the law, honour for the elders, charity, humility, love,
and faith. These are the forgotten
values in our society today.
You cannot have ‘attributes’ outside these
parameters. You cannot ‘tolerate’ law
breakers, you cannot ‘include’ deviant, anti-social, elements, you cannot have
‘social justice’ by justifying the unjustifiable, and you cannot have ‘freedom’
without responsibility, freedom beyond the limits of decency and common
sense.
The Judeo-Christian Scriptures have proven over and
over again that they are divinely inspired and provide the best practical
solutions for true character building. The problem is that religion today
suffers from a massive crisis of credibility.
Since the beginning of time, religion has played a
crucial role in education and in people’s lives, but with the advent of
modernity this is no longer the case. In
the last couple of centuries religion has been continuously undermined and
subjected to attack from what has wrongly been called science and enlightenment. The great educational institutions of our
time are no longer centres of discovery and honest quest for truth, but hotbeds
of radicalism, negativity, dissent, and ridicule.
Years ago, I was overjoyed when a top Anglican school
in
Teachers careers in those schools are determined by exam outcomes. Parents, who pay exorbitant sums of money for
their children’s education, want to see tangible results. Character is not as easily measured as are
curriculum subjects. Any wonder that so
many good students end up as unscrupulous, greedy, professionals. They lack moral education, and true character
building values. No subject teaches
these values, not even scripture lessons.
Even the Priest, who was taking religious instruction
classes, would not touch creationist materials that extolled biblical
values. Being a librarian, I had the
chance to observe him at work. His
lessons were a joke to say the least. He
had a horrendous time controlling his classes and motivating students to take him
seriously. He was paying the price for
his own convictions, for he was an evolutionist too. Students did not expect that from him. They respect a man of conviction who stands
up for his principles, not one who vacillates between two positions that are
incompatible with each other.
I don’t think he had proper teaching qualifications
either, for his lessons were unstructured and poorly prepared. For all intents
and purposes, he did not quite seem to know what he was talking about
either. Students are not stupid; you can
fool them once or twice, but if they perceive that you keep going before them
without much of an idea what you are going to talk about, they tear you to
pieces. Heaven help you after that,
because even a school management with the strictest code of discipline can’t
help you anymore.
It is wrong to assume that a preacher is naturally a
good teacher too. A class full of
students is not a church congregation that listens quietly to nonsense for an
hour or so, then thanks the preacher for it.
The Bible tells us that there are many people in the
world who ought to do anything but preach Scriptures.
For two thousand years impostors and incompetent hypocrites
have wreaked havoc with the Christian Gospel, giving people a sour taste of
what religion is all about. The Apostles saw it coming and warned their
followers about it in the strongest terms. That is why they spoke of the need
for a restoration of all things before the return of Jesus Christ.
For a long time I wondered how such people could
preach from the Bible on Sundays, then teach students during the week that the
story of creation is a myth and the book of Genesis is not to be taken
seriously. And they still wonder that
when children grow up they do not believe in God and would have nothing to do
with the church.
Many of the problems in today’s education can be
traced directly to the intrusive government legislation that forbids any kind
of corporal punishment. They say that
they do it for the good of the children, but evidence is mounting that children
brought up without discipline become adults without discipline too.
No corporal punishment, no rote learning, no speaking
harshly to students, no external examinations, no lowering the students’ self-esteem,
nothing that might incommode our ‘little angels’. The problem is, we are not dealing with
‘little angels’, but with many intrinsically disruptive elements that do not
know the meaning of discipline anymore.
After a few years in private education, I moved to a
public school that was more easily accessible for me. That school introduced a laudable program of
20 minutes quiet reading for all students first thing in the morning. I had year 11 in the library’s instruction
room. That was supposed to be a more
disciplined and diligent class, as all senior student classes are supposed to
be. Yet even in that class there was a
group of four students who did their best to live up to their fame as bullies
and trouble makers. After trying every
method at my disposal to quiet them down, without success, I wrote a memo to
the Deputy Principal, who was in charge of discipline in the school, inviting
him to come down to the library to discuss their case with me, or tell me when
I could go and discuss it with him in his office. He did not answer me; he knew their case very
well, and that nothing more could be done with them short of expelling them.
But expelling students from a school does not look good on the school
administration record, and so they let the staff grapple with unruly students
the best they can.
However, I did not give up for I could see the
disruption they were causing to other students.
I wrote two more memos, and when the Deputy Principal still did not
answer me, I expelled them from the library and sent them to the Principal to
deal with them. It was only then that
the Deputy Principal reluctantly made his way to the library. A heated discussion followed. His point was that we had to do everything in
our power to keep them in school, ‘because we could not throw senior students
out in the street’. And my point was
that not only were they not getting any benefit out of it, but were causing
major inconvenience to other students. I
pointed out that we were not a correctional institution to deal with
perennially recalcitrant juveniles, but an educational one with responsibility
to the majority of students and to parents who expect the best possible
education for their children. In the end
I had to accept his viewpoint, for he was my superior, but he promised to have
a serious discussion with them warning them that unless they changed, their
behaviour would not be tolerated much longer.
Whether he did that or not, I do not know, but what I
do know is that a few days later, during a school social occasion for our
senior students, they got into a major brawl with some strangers. One of our
good students who went to their help, was stubbed and killed on the spot. Two of the bad ones ended up in hospital
fighting for their life. They survived,
but that was the end of their association with our school. Far too late in my opinion.
Somehow, the school administration and the Education
Department managed to keep the whole incident out of media headlines. No school wants to see its name associated
with that kind of record. They made my
life miserable after that, undermining my position whenever they could and
wanting me out of the school, mindful of the fact that if my attempts to have
those incorrigible juveniles dealt with earlier had come to light they may well
have been held criminally responsible for the death of that good and innocent
boy. They were a time bomb ready to
explode anytime; and it did. But the
school’s interest and the administration’s record demanded that they be kept in
school at all costs. And the costs
turned out to be very high indeed.
Fortunately, my association with that school did not last long after
that. Unfortunately, it came for the
wrong reason: a car accident caused by
another irresponsible youth, who did not respect traffic laws, caused me severe
injuries that forced me into an early retirement.
There would have been no room in private schools for
those students, and there should have been no room for them in public schools
either. But they were in school because
the current educational guidelines work in their favour. Teachers who want to advance their career are
judged among other things on their ability to deal with unruly students. Rather than have their record spoiled, when nothing
else works, they let the rascals rule the roost in the class. And so, public education gets a bad mark, and
other students suffer as a result of it.
As a Teacher/Librarian, who did not care for further
career advancement I could afford to be firm with them, but other teachers put
up with it, always hoping that the next year would bring them better
students.
The problem comes mainly from the inane notion that
all children must stay in high school until late teens. For many of them school is nothing but a
drudge and a vexation of spirit, and so it is for anyone who has to deal with
them.
So what should be done about it? Apprenticeships, that’s what! Every qualified tradesman should have a
helper, an apprentice who in the beginning would receive a certain remuneration
from the Government.
The Government provides substantial amounts of money
to families for the upkeep of their children, as they should, and to schools
for their education. Part of this money
should be split between tradesmen and apprentices in the early days, until
apprentices become productive and self supporting. Everyone would benefit from such a scheme,
and would spare the schools from having to work as baby sitters, or
correctional institutions, for students that have no reason to be there.
Less than a quarter of high school students go on to
university. And for that, all children
must be subjected to trudging education that leaves little mark on them. Just think how much you remember of your high
school studies, and whether you would not remember just as much if those
studies were more judiciously spread out and combined with practical work.
The push for university education for everyone and
everything helps neither society, nor individuals who have no stomach for
it. It merely reinforces the misplaced
concept that education to be worth anything must be at the university level.
The school of life and practical training still offer
the best education for the vast majority of people. Just think how many people you know who have
no university education and yet have done very well in life and are pleasure to
deal with. And just the same, how many
people you know with university education whom you wish you had never met. If you have never met such a person, happy
are you. Pray to God that you stay that
way and that you’ll never have to put your foot in a Court of Law for
example.
When Labour was in Government at the Federal level,
they took nursing education from hospitals and put it into universities. Then they had to invent a new position,
nurses’ help, to deal with what the nurses used to do before. The result is that the country has a chronic
shortage of nurses.
Universities are conservative institutions. Because they operate on fixed budgets, they
cannot expand and shrink at will according to the market principle of supply
and demand. They cannot expand quickly
enough when there is a certain shortage in the labour market, then close down
departments and lay off staff when that demand has been fulfilled or
diminished. That is why hospitals and
other institutions that can take care of their own needs, must be allowed to do
so on the basis of well established, verifiable, national guidelines and
standards, and not be subjected to the whims of politicians and bureaucrats
that more often than not have little idea of what they are talking about.
Most children are not meant for, and do not care for,
university education. They would benefit
infinitely more from practical training that could start as early as the end of
their primary school, or elementary school as it is more commonly called in
At the end of primary school, all education should be
two streamed: one stream for academically inclined students,
and another for those that love practical training. Sport should play a bigger role in both
streams, but more so in the latter.
Basic subjects such as Literature, History, Geography, Mathematics,
Science, Physics and Chemistry, should be staple menus for all students, each
stream however with its own emphasis and degree of complexity. In the practical training stream, these
subjects should be gradually reduced until they take no more than two days per
week.
This, however, is considered elitist education, and in
a world gone mad on egalitarism it is unlikely that
the powers that be would consider such a scheme. One of the arguments against it is that
students are too young to take life long decisions at that early stage. But opportunities for further education
should not stop there. Further education
through evening or correspondence courses should be available throughout life.
At the end of my elementary school, I undertook three
years vocational training that qualified me as electrician. Then I completed my high school through
evening classes while working as a tradesman.
I was aiming towards electrical engineering at university when my life
took a radical turn. I escaped from
communist
More than a decade passed, and although I felt well
versed in Scriptures and history, I did not rush to do anything with my
knowledge, always thinking that if God wanted me to do something with it He
would provide the opportunity. And He
did, but not in the manner or the time that I expected. Originally, I thought that my knowledge and
experience would be harnessed thorough an existing church. But rather than making use of my knowledge
and cooperating with me in enlightening the world on the malaise that was
destroying churches worldwide – lack of Scriptural knowledge – I found myself
on a collision course with these same churches.
In desperation, I began an independent work by publishing The
Christian Herald. I produced the
first seven editions on evenings, weekends and school vacations while working
as a Teacher/Librarian. Then I had the accident
that forced me into an early retirement.
Since then, I managed to maintain the rate of one edition per year while
convalescing at home. It so happened
that the Internet came into vogue at about the same time. Without the Internet I would have had to give
up on this work, for I would not have been able to carry out the almost
interminable research work that some of the articles required.
Now, why am I telling you these things? To show you that with all the twists and
turns that my life had taken, and the physical, psychological, and emotional
pain that I endured, and still do, there are few people in the world that would
be happier than I am. I have the right
relationship with My Maker, I know where I stand, what I do, and where I go,
which is what few other people could honestly say.
That is why a decision taken at the age of 13 or 14 is
not the end of the road as far as one’s career and happiness are
concerned. Indeed, I am convinced that
getting work experience and practical training for some years after primary
school, is the best possible outcome for students of that age. It would teach them valuable skills and the
value of honest work, it would give them the satisfaction of earning their own
upkeep and would lessen the burden on families; and it would be a lot less
costly for the Government too.
Let those who aim to become doctors, teachers, lawyers
and the like, take the academic stream, but let others who like working with
their own hands not be castigated for not getting a university degree for
it.
God certainly does not do that. He extols the virtues of honest diligent work
in whatever field.
Prov.
Eccl. 9:10
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no
work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.”
Eccl.
The value of one’s life is not measured by its length,
but by its quality. And that quality is
measured by the provision one makes for eternity, for peace and tranquillity of
mind, and the degree of spiritual union with God.
Jesus Christ was only thirty three years old when His
life came to a violent end, yet He left us an example and a legacy that changed
the world. There is no better ideal or
example that anyone can have than that of Jesus Christ. That ideal begins at home with proper
parental upbringing that involves a degree of corporal punishment if
needed.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov. 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should
go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Prov. 15:5 “A
fool despises his father's instruction, But he who receives correction is
prudent.”
Psa. 119:67 “Before I was afflicted I went astray, But
now I keep Your word.”
Psa. 119:71 “It is good for me that I have been
afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.”
Psa. 119:75 “I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are
right, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.”
These days, it is alright to imbue children with
chemicals that affect their minds in order to subdue them, turning some into
virtual zombies, but it is illegal to touch the little angels’ bottoms or palms
for misbehaviour. That is Satan’s way –
destroying the mind and the soul in order to preserve the body, the very opposite of God’s way – sacrificing
the body in order to save the mind and the soul.
He who overcomes
will reap the rewards of salvation, not he who has no discipline and no control
over his impulses.
Some children certainly need medical attention, and
who wouldn’t after growing up on the kind of deficient diet that is common
today, but most suffer from lack of firmness, from being spoiled, from not
being disciplined in the right manner,
at the right time. Worst offenders are parents, who expect
teachers to recover what they had neglected in their children’s early formative
years.
At least a quarter of the Bible is about putting the
body through agony in order that the soul may reach ecstasy. A life-long quest for betterment is best
exemplified by the Scriptures that referred to Jesus Christ.
Human beings have but one choice: to become Jesus’
friend, or His enemy; to stand by Him, or become His footstool.
The wise of this world have turned the purpose of life
on its head. They destroy the soul and
preserve the body because this life is all they know about. They have blocked their minds to spiritual
enlightenment because they do not believe in God and in His salvation, and then
condition children to think in the same way.
This ‘wisdom’ dominates our educational institutions to their core. And they wonder that children grow up
aimlessly, and society is in such a chaotic state.
Today’s children grow up in a highly unnatural and
unhealthy environment. After spending
most of their waking hours in front of one screen or another, they cannot
relate to each other and are unable to appreciate the beauty and wonders of the
natural world. The story of the
Should people wonder then that the western world finds
itself in the midst of a youth suicidal epidemic? (At lest they do not take
other innocent lives with them as do their Islamic counterparts). Nobody seems to know why, or what to do about
it. It never crosses their mind that
what they offer children, the world in which they grow, the valueless education
they receive, is not good for them. It
leaves them empty and desirous for spiritual fulfilment which they cannot find
in this materialist world.
You think that leaders would have learned the lesson
by now that there is no substitute for spiritual fulfilment, that material
things, good food, and fashionable clothes, do not provide lasting
satisfaction. If they did, wealthy
people would be the happiest, yet their rate of suicide is higher than that of
the average people.
When I was young, in
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov. 5:1 “My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend
your ear to my understanding,
Prov. 5:2 That you may preserve discretion, And your
lips may keep knowledge.
Prov. 5:3 For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey,
And her mouth is smoother than oil;
Prov. 5:4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
Prov. 5:5 Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold
of hell.
Prov. 5:6 Lest you ponder her path of life; Her ways
are unstable; You do not know them.”
Prov. 5:7 “Therefore hear me now, my children, And do
not depart from the words of my mouth.
Prov. 5:8 Remove your way far from her, And do not go
near the door of her house,
Prov. 5:9 Lest you give your honor to others, And
your years to the cruel one;
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Prov.
Children, as much as adults, need spiritual
fulfilment. The values that our heavenly
Father enshrined for us in the Bible produce not only true character and peace
of mind, but guarantee eternal life as well.
The Challenge Of The
Orthodox Church
People would not be caught dead answering questions
raised in our magazines, right? Right!
Except when truth cuts too close to the bone and the wound is too
painful to be ignored. As the Scriptures
say:
We were not a little amused to find that the
Romanian Orthodox Church took it upon itself to challenge us on our writings.
We were amused because as a church that bases itself mostly on tradition, we
thought it would be the last to challenge us on the Scriptures, which we
consider to be our strength.
Nevertheless it did it, and we are only too happy to answer it. Let us begin at the very beginning by
establishing what the doctrines of salvation are. This I where we find them.
Did you get them? The seven doctrines emphasized here are:
repentance, faith, baptism, laying on of hands, resurrection, eternal judgment,
and perfection. Perfection is mentioned
first, but by right it is the last, as the statement, ‘let us go on to’ clearly
indicates.
Now how many of these doctrines does the
Orthodox Church preach and practice?
None! At least none in the manner
proscribed by the Scriptures, the manner taught by the Apostles of Jesus Christ
in the early Churches of God.
Repentance, baptism and laying on of hands are outward expressions of
one’s faith, an indication of a mature desire to change one’s life according to
God’s will. Resurrection, judgment and perfection are prerogatives that come
from God at the judgment time.
Since these doctrines are foreign to the
Orthodox Church, which ones does it preach and practice? Infant baptism, immortality of the soul,
judgment after death instead of after resurrection, and going to heaven or to
hell immediately after judgment. None of
these things are in the Scriptures, and none are part of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. On the contrary, the Apostles of Jesus Christ spoke very strongly
against any departure form the right Gospel.
Those
who preached a different gospel were to be accursed, not once, but
twice. Now does the Orthodox Church take
note of this curse? Neither this, nor
any other Church, has received the commission to depart from the Gospel taught
by the Apostles, and preach its own gospel.
Jesus Christ Himself gave a strong warning against those who would dare
to do so.
Where then do mainstream churches draw their
doctrines from? Mainly from the pagan
ancient Egyptian religion which introduced the notion of an underworld and
judgment after death. Jesus Christ and
His Apostles preached judgment after resurrection, and entering the Kingdom of
God of the living, not of the dead. Some
people may well say, ‘judgment after death, or judgment after resurrection,
what’s the difference, it is still a judgment, isn’t it?’ Well, the difference is that one cannot judge
dead people. The God of Jesus Christ is
the God of the living, not the God of the dead.
God does not judge dead people. He resurrects
them first, then looks at their record and determines whether they are worthy
of eternal life in His Kingdom, or eternal damnation in a Lake of Fire. Only the memory will remain of those who have
been destroyed in the Lake of Fire as a remembrance of what happened to those
who have defied God and never repented.
The notion of purification in purgatory after death, is nothing but a fallacy. It was never part of the
Bible, either in the Old, or in the New Testaments. It was precisely to distance people from such
noxious beliefs that God brought a new religion to the world which He gave to a
chosen people. The Israelites were
supposed to be an example to the world, but instead they made a mess of
it. So God chose a new people, and made
a New Covenant with people chosen from many nations.
Unfortunately, the Christians made a mess of
it too, having taken to the world an entirely different gospel than the one
given by Jesus Christ and His Apostles, one that Rome preached when it took
over Christendom. It is this religion
that mainstream churches are still preaching today, the Orthodox Church among
them, not the one given by Jesus Christ.
The people of ancient Israel found their
neighbor’s religions more tempting because it contained tangible idols which
they could see and touch, whereas God’s religion required belief and worship of
an invisible God.
Now although Rome imposed its will on
Christendom in the fourth century, the first idolatrous images appeared in the
churches only about the eighth century. From then on churches competed with
each other in the display of idols.
Those that claim to represent Jesus Christ have no resemblance
whatsoever with the real Man, let alone with the risen Christ. What they are presenting to the world these
days are nothing but caricatures of Him, both in images and in their teaching
about Him. For even on the cross He was
not a defeated or heartbroken man as they would have you believe. What do these words tell you?
Who do you think needed more pity, the Man who
thundered those lucid words, or those who were swarming, weeping or rejoicing
around Him? A few minutes later, He turned to God and said: "Father,
forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). Are these the words of a defeated and broken
man? Why then does the Orthodox Church
continue to present a lifeless image as a Savior? The risen Christ CANNOT be represented by
anything human beings can do, and they should stop trying to do it. Here is an image of the glorious Christ. Let them represent Him that way if they
can.
We hope those who have been portraying Christ
as a lifeless image are ashamed of themselves.
The Orthodox Church should never forget what the Second Commandment
says, for that was valid for all times, not only for the Old Testament, for God
does not change, and Jesus Christ was God.
Exo 20:4 "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;
Exo 20:5 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,
Exo 20:6 but showing mercy to
thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
Mat
God Himself says, do not try to represent Me,
only imagine Me according to the description that I give you of Me, for it is
not possible for you to represent Me in My glory. We cannot even see Him, let aloes represent
Him.
Exo 33:20
“But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and
live." And the LORD said,
Exo 33:21
"Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. "So it shall be, while My glory passes
by,
Exo 33:22
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."
And if that is not enough, here are more
injunctions against idolatry.
Those who make idols, and those who worship
them, are like their idols. Unless they turn to the living God while they have
a chance, they are doomed forever.
When the people of Samaria turned back to the
pagan religion of Egypt, and embraced the idolatrous religion of their
Canaanite neighbors, God became tired of correcting them and let them to their
own devises. They lost the protection of God, their identity, and were taken
into captivity. They were thought to
have vanished from History, but recent discoveries identified them as being
none other than the people of old Europe. (See TCH 10). How extraordinary that the two nations of Israel, Judea
and Samaria, should end up representing the Old and the New Testaments
respectively. How did the Samaritans
lose their identity? By abandoning the
sign that identified them, the sign of the Sabbath, and embracing the sign of
ancient Egypt, the sign of the Sun, Sunday.
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
Exo 31:16 does any work on the Sabbath day, he
shall surely be put to death.' 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.'"
Now what day is Jesus Christ expecting his
followers to observe when He returns?
Not Sunday, for sure.
Mat 24:20
"And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.”
That flight will take place at the very end,
just prior to His return. Those who
claim to be Christians, must observe the day that identifies them as the people
of God. Does the Orthodox Church
observe that sign? You know the answer. Now notice what will happen shortly after
that flight.
Mat 24:29
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be
darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Mat 24:30
"Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then
all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming
on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31
"And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and
they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven
to the other.”
The angels of God will be going around the
world to gather the elect of God. Now
how are they going to identify them? Are
they gong to stop and ask every individual whether he
is an elect of God or not? Certainly not! They will be looking for the sign that
identifies the people of God. God can read people’s minds and hearts, and so
can His angels. They will be looking for
the sign of the Sabbath, just as they looked for the sign of the blood on the
door posts that identified the people of Israel when they came out of
Egypt.
Exo
Exo
Exo
Exo
Exo
Exo
Exo
Blood on the doorposts identified the people
of Israel until the sign of the Sabbath became their new sign.
It is interesting to note that the blood on
the doorposts sign was associated with the Passover, the Holy Day that Jesus
Christ specifically told His disciples to observe in a particular manner.
The blood of Jesus Christ, spilled at
Passover, represents the New Covenant. Does the Orthodox Church observe this
Holy Day? Its members have hardly ever heard about it, let alone observe it.
They say that this is a Jewish Holy Day, and yet, this is what Apostle Paul
told the members of the Corinthian Church, a Gentile Church?
Those who are approved by God must observe the
Passover in the manner described here by Apostle Paul. Those that keep it in an
unworthy manner, or not at all, are not approved by God. And if they are not approved by God, they
have no chance of being saved, no chance of inheriting eternal life in the
Kingdom of God.
When Rome imposed its will on Christendom, it
forced Christians to adopt its beliefs and customs and forbade them from ‘Judeaizing’ anymore. That meant that Christians were no
longer allowed to practice the doctrines of the Gospel of salvation and observe
the Holy Days that they were accustomed to.
The Romans said that they were Jewish Holy Days, but just because the
Jews observed them it did not make them Jewish.
They were God’s Holy Days, they were observed by Jesus Christ, by the
Apostles, and by the early Churches of God.
The time has come for all churches to return
to the roots from which they had departed at that time. Ignorance is no longer
justifiable, especially now that this information is freely available, and
people can observe them without hindrance. This is what this work has been all
about: restoring the long lost Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We have gone to great lengths and great
expense to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ and inform people about it. And yet, those who have been peddling false
gospels have had infinitely more success than we have had. People refuse to believe that anything good
comes freely these days. Well, the
Gospel of Jesus Christ does. Those who
impose burdens on their followers do not preach the right Gospel. As Apostle
Paul said:
The trials that precede the return of Jesus
Christ, much too obvious in the world at present, are meant to shake people out
of their somnolence and bring them back to the right path.
Zec
Zec
Zec
Zec
Zec 14:17
And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come
up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be
no rain.
Zec
Zec
Now which Holy Day will survivors of the Great
Tribulations from all nations come to observe at
Now if people want to go churches that work
like neighborhood clubs, it’s fine with us. It is their privilege. But if they
go to church in order to find God and be saved, then they deserve to be told
the truth – what the Gospel of salvation is all about. This is what we have been doing from the very
beginning, and yet, the Orthodox hierarchy is angry with us for doing a work
that itself should be doing.
That all people will convert to the religion
of Jesus Christ when He makes His triumphant return there is no doubt. The Orthodox Church, however, would have a
great advantage if it took the initiative and did so now, for to it, or its
Greek predecessors, has been given the New Testament, not to the church of
Rome. Like the Jews, who have
scrupulously preserved the Old Testament for us, the Greeks have done a
marvelous job in preserving the New Testament. The Orthodox Church therefore
ought to preach what it has preserved.
Now there is a reason why Jesus Christ has
restored His Gospel at this particular junction of world history. At no other
time could two people have done this work and taken that Gospel to the world.
This is what prophecy said that it would happen, and this is what it has
happened. How? Through the means of
modern technology.
When we began this work, we had no idea where
it would take us, or that it would put us at odds with virtually the entire
world. All we wanted was to expose some
cases of hypocrisy and blatant exploitation of believers with false doctrines
about tithing and offerings. As we were
preparing to do that, we expected opposition from some people, but not from the
whole world. It came as a shock to find
ourselves being castigated by the very people we thought would support us. But it was not to be. Wickedness, hypocrisy,
and exploitation of believers are far more widespread than we could have
possibly imagined. In speaking against
it, and against the false doctrines that are being peddled as doctrines of
salvation, we found ourselves doing the work of the two witnesses of the book
of Revelation.
It took us some time to realize that
witnessing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to an unbelieving world did not mean
converting the world to it too. Not that we did not want it, but this world is
so deeply steeped in falsehood, people get disturbed by the truth and would
rather not hear about it. Well, hear they will, because this is our job.
Now we believe that there may be some lessons
for our readers in knowing the evolution of this work.
Our first edition was produced on a portable
typewriter. It nearly drove us mad, for every single mistake or alteration
required the retyping of the entire page.
When one uses a number of sources – Bibles, compendiums, historical
books, print media, television, etc., as we did – one needs flexibility, which
we did not have then.
We got some flexibility with the daisy wheel
typewriter which we used for our next edition.
We could make minor corrections to a paragraph without having to retype
the whole page.
Then came a big step forward with the
electronic typewriters with which one could edit an entire page.
Not long after that came the first computers. We could write and edit articles of up to
twenty pages long – an unbelievable progress at that time.
Now we experienced all these changes and
advances in technology during the time we produced our first seven
editions. The pace of progress, however,
was speeding up faster than we could keep up with it.
For then came the revolution that really
changed the world – advanced computers and desktop publishing. No limit on the size of articles, or on what
one could do with them in terms of editing, style, format, etc.
Up until then, we were still using printed
versions of Bibles and compendiums, the backbone of this work. People in a
number of libraries in
Then came the electronic Bibles and
encyclopedias, and not long after that, the Internet. I seldom set my foot in
any library after that. The whole world
is at my disposal from my own office.
Now all these inventions and phenomenal
progress occurred in less than two decades. If these are not miracles, we do
not what they could be. Which proves
that human beings are still capable of miracles. Well, miracles or not, one
thing is certain, without these inventions few people would have known about us
and about this work. But now we have reached, and exchanged correspondence,
with people from virtually every corner of the globe, including with some very
respectable academics.
Some people may have thought that we were cold
by not engaging in lengthy personal correspondence with them. Friends, we simply could not do it. This has been an almost impossible task for
us. Plus we had to cope with some pretty
horrific trials along the way too. What
we have done instead, was to provide people with all the information they
needed to work out their own program of spiritual growth. We are able to provide, at least for the time
being, initial counseling for those who desire it.
As for the Orthodox Church, instead of
confronting us, it ought to search the Scriptures to confirm that what we say
is true, then take the initiative to correct its errors and become an example
to other churches that need to do the same.
It should call a special Council to discuss these matters, and then make
the necessary adjustments to its teachings and doctrines. It can thus return to
the Gospel from which it had departed long ago.
Earlier this year, we read an interesting
announcement from the Anglican Church.
It said that it was reviewing Sunday as a day of worship because people
were no longer using it for that purpose.
They did not say what day of the week they were considering, but what
day could serve that purpose better then the Sabbath? We think this is a roundabout way of saying
we want to return to the day of the Lord, without acknowledging a debt to those
who have been advocating this for a long time.
The Orthodox Church could join ranks with the Anglican Church and return
to the Sabbath of the Lord together, for people in the Orthodox world are not
observing Sunday as a day of worship either.
They need to start from scratch, from the very
beginning, with a fresh call to repentance, like that of John the Baptist.
Mat 3:1 “In those days John the Baptist came
preaching in the wilderness of
Mat 3:2 and saying, "Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
Mat 3:3
For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make His paths straight.'"
When John the Baptist was no longer on the
scene, Jesus Christ continued with exactly the same message.
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat
John the Baptist lost his head for the work of
God, yet Jesus Christ began His ministry knowing full well that He too would
pay with His life for it. So should we
be surprised, or panic, that we might face a similar prospect? It was Jesus Christ Himself who told His
disciples not to expect a different treatment.
We have already lost one person as a result of
this work. So should we panic and run
from it? This is not an option for those who are called to do the work of
God.
Now although both John the Baptist and Jesus
Christ began their missions with a call to repentance, the first
Apostle Peter called his contemporaries a
‘perverse generation’. What would he
say if he lived today?
His congregation was a thoroughly Jewish one,
but notice what happened later when he went to the Gentiles.
God granted repentance to the Gentiles
too. Repentance means life, and lack of
it means death. Repentance is closely
associated with faith. A man without
faith is a walking corpse, as a wise man once said.
Now notice what Jesus Christ told one of His
disciples who had an emergency in his family.
Mat
Mat
Death in the Orthodox and
There are people in this
world who appear to be alive, but who are in fact quite dead. Anyone who is not among the elect of God and
member of a true Church falls into that category. Anyone who follows, practices, and believes
doctrines other than those approved by Jesus Christ is a member of a
congregation of the dead. This is the
time to repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit, so that you too may
join a Church of Jesus Christ, a Congregation of the Living God.
When God granted repentance to the Gentile, He
opened the way for them to become part of His elect. But for that they need to repent and undergo
the rituals of the
Apostle Paul gave them a new baptism and laid
his hands on them before they could receive the Holy Spirit. See how important it is that people follow
the correct doctrines of salvation, doctrines that come from the Scriptures,
not from tradition? In his epistles to
Timothy, Apostle Paul went on to say:
Now how could Orthodox people, and those of
other religions for that matter, be saved when they never undergo those
doctrinal rituals? A Christian is not
one who goes to church on Sundays, but one who has received the Spirit of Jesus
Christ.
If the Spirit of Christ is not in you, you are
not a son of God and cannot inherit eternal life. You do not have immortality in yourself as
present day churches wrongly preach. You
must qualify for it by first becoming a member of a true
At one time, when I was engaged in a
discussion with the minister of a certain church who
was annoying me with his interpretation of the Scriptures, I decided to cut the
discussion short. So I told him that I
was a son of God. He promptly turned his
back on me and walked away.
They think you are mad when you tell them that
you are a son of God, and yet they often recite the Lord’s Prayer which
says, “Our Father who are in
heaven.” Now if God is our Father, then
we are His sons, aren’t we? Or is it
alright to recite the Lord’s Prayer by heart as long as you do not believe
it?
Mat 15:7
"Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These
people draw near to Me
Mat 15:8
with their mouth, And honor Me
with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
Mat 15:9
And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of
men.'"
What about those Scriptures above? “As
many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Do you
believe them? If not, ask yourself why
not? I will tell you why not: because
you are not a son of God. Once you
receive the Holy Spirit it is no longer a case of believing it, it is a case of
knowing it. You know that you are a son
of God, and no one can take that knowledge away from you. People can claim to be sons of God, but not
God, not the Holy Father Himself, as a certain individual does. Even Jesus Christ did not do it, even though
He could have done it.
Mat
Now did the Jews believe those Scriptures any
more than Christians believe them today?
It is for this very reason – their
lack of belief – that they killed the Son of God, their Messiah.
Unbelief has lead to many a people’s
downfall. The Holy Spirit that dwells in
people after their conversion grants them the faith and the strength to stay on
the right path from then on. The
Scriptures even say that after you receive the Holy Spirit, it is not you that
speaks, but He that dwells in you.
The Orthodox, the Catholic, and virtually all
other Churches urgently need to reform themselves if they are to save their
followers from oblivion. It is not only we
who say that they have been derailed from the right path; the Apostles of Jesus Christ saw this
apostasy coming even in their own time.
Apostle John was
Jesus’ most loved disciple, yet even he was being isolated from the Church of
God, which most likely he set it up or helped in its establishment. How much more would they do it these
days? And they still call themselves
Churches of God. Great has been the
mystery that has enveloped those Churches from the very beginning.
Strong words, but
unfortunately never more true than now.
We emphasized the fact that the Holy Scriptures, given by inspiration of
God, are able to make one wise, and that those who continue to live in sin are
‘always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.’ Those who preach other than the correct
doctrines of salvation fall in this category.
The Scriptures not
only tell us what we must do to be saved, but how to avoid being derailed from
the right path once we embark upon it.
For unlike other religions, which promise salvation by simple
membership, Christianity requires a life long process
of overcoming and perseverance.
Christians have powerful enemies that want to derail them from the true
path.
In other religions,
simple manifestations of the spirit are regarded as signs from God. Not so in true Christianity. Christians are supposed to test the spirits
and be able to discern the true and holy from the false and wicked.
Here is an example
of wicked spirits.
It is clear that
even wicked spirits have a role to play in God’s scheme of things. He is setting them on the people that depart
from His path. Next time you see an
apparition, a medium, or some other sign from beyond, do not run to worship it,
but test it by the standard of the Scriptures, asking yourself what purpose
does it serve. Is it beneficial and
genuine, or dangerous, secretive, wicked and costly? Bear in mind that wicked spirits work through
the agency of human beings. The prophets
that opposed Micaiah were human beings, yet they were
doing the work of the Devil, allowing demons to act and speak through
them. Christians must never allow that
to happen. They can stay on the right
path by always referring to the Bible.
But Bible study in order to be effective must be accompanied by prayer
and meditation.
Christians will
always have stumbling blocks set on their path, but the Holy Spirit will never
abandon them.
Without the Holy
Spirit, no one can reach the
At birth, people’s
brains and hearts are blank like a video tape that has nothing on it. The moment one takes the first breath, a
recording process begins. God created
the world in such a way that all human beings are supposed to come to a point
in life in which they desire more than just eating, drinking and being merry –
an yearning for an innermost satisfaction of the soul. It is at such a time that the Spirit of God
touches people. Some people grasp that
moment, and perform the necessary changes;
others do not. That is why Jesus
Christ said that, “many are called, but few chosen." (Mat
When people repent,
are baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit, the old record is being wiped out,
and a new record set in motion. It is
this record that determines their fate at the time of judgment: eternal life in
the
Why not try a short
test to see if this is so: set aside one week during which time you will do
nothing evil. You will be good, patient,
generous, friendly, and kind to everyone that comes in contact with you. You will be surprised at the power that
emanates from you and how people around you change too. At the end of that week you will most likely
feel better than you have ever felt.
Young people often
say that they will get married when they find the right person. Some of them do, but quite a large number do
not. Of those that marry, almost half
discover that they have not married the ‘right’ person and end up in divorce. The problem is, more than half of the second
marriages are not ‘right’ either and end up in divorce too.
Now could it be
that people expect the other person to be ‘right’, without thinking whether
they themselves are ‘right’? You can
only have a lasting marriage if both partners are ‘right’. But being ‘right’ does not mean being perfect. It only means being understanding and
tolerant towards the shortcomings of the other person. As Apostle Paul said:
When looking for
the right person, make sure that you yourself are right too. You will find out how ‘right’ you are by
taking our test. Chances are that you will
not be happy with yourself, as it is almost certain that you will fail a few
times before you manage a full week without shortcomings. You may then be a lot less judgmental of
others, a lot more tolerant and
understanding of them. You will then be in
a much better position to find the ‘right’ person too. You may even be surprised by how many people
may appear to be right for you then. Do
not be surprised to find that God may use that occasions to touch you and call
you to repentance too. You never know
what transpires in the end. Bear in mind
that all big things have a small beginning.
In any case, you will loose nothing, but could
find the key to the
Those that come
with an old record before God at the time of judgment,
can expect nothing but damnation. Is
your life worth that much that you would not want to give it up for something
that is infinitely better and more satisfying?
Make no mistake about it, there is a judgment of God that no one can
escape.
God will judge the
living and the dead at “His appearing and His Kingdom.” Whence then did the Orthodox Church get the
idea of judgment after death? While
other churches hold similar beliefs, the Orthodox Church has a greater
responsibility for to it has been given the New Testament. We ask nothing more than that they honor what
they have given us.
Now if judgment
occurs at the appearance of Jesus Christ, what happens to the people when they
die. Nothing! They are asleep, to use the biblical
vernacular, or dead and unconscious, to use a more common one. When they come to consciousness again, after
the resurrection, they will find themselves facing the judgment of God.
Priests and
ministers of religions rush to the bedside of dying people in order to give
them the ‘sacraments’ that ensure their place in heaven. Pity those that died in wars, on the seas, in
wildernesses, in deserts, etc. Will they
ever go to heaven, or suffer forever in hell because a priest could not
administer last minute sacraments? This
charade has gone on for too long. It is
time to put an end to it, and follow the scriptural way to salvation. It is not what people do in the last minute
of their life that determines their fate, but what they have done with the
whole of their life. If they have not
repented, changed their life, and created a new record for themselves, they can
have a thousand priests at their bedside, it will not make an iota of
difference.
See that? Jesus Christ – ‘the Alpha and the Omega, the
Beginning and the End, the First and the Last’, in case you did not know whose
work this is – determines people’s fate according to their work, not according
to what the priests do for them at, or after, death. People cannot begin to keep the Commandments
of God at the last minute of their life so that they may have the right to the
tree of life. They must prove themselves, and bring works worthy of salvation,
over a longer period of time.
Being by someone at
such a time, in order to ease the person’s pain and sense of loss, is
worthwhile, but the notion that anyone could be saved by priestly ‘sacraments’
at the last minute is dangerous, for it lets people believe that they can
postpone their moment of repentance until a more convenient time.
Who gave ‘sacraments’
to Jesus Christ, to John the Baptist, to Stephen, to Apostle Paul, to other
Apostles, and to the millions of Christians who died in Jerusalem, in Rome,
throughout Europe, and in many other parts of the world? The word ‘sacrament’ is not even in the Bible,
and if it is not in the Bible, it is not necessary. No addition or deletion is allowed to what
the Bible says under any circumstance. Tradition
has a role to play in Christian life, but only when it is based on the
Scriptures. The Pharisees of old failed
because they followed a human tradition.
Modern day Christian ‘Pharisees’ are doing exactly the same thing.
The Romanian
Orthodox Church chose an unknown provincial monk to do its bid in challenging
us. We would have liked to answer him
point by point, but we can’t because: 1) it serves little purpose in airing his
banalities, and 2) much of what he said falls under the category of blasphemy,
which we could not repeat even for a critical assessment.
None of the things
he said invalidate anything we have written so far. The question is, how did he know about
us? The answer is found on the page
following his diatribe. A picture of the
Romanian Orthodox Patriarch, in company of the Pope, carried the following
caption:
“As proof of the
hope in Christian unity stands the witness of the first visit by a Pope in an
Orthodox country. The great historic
event, which took place on 7–
Ooh! “The spiritual mission of the Romanian
people?” And what exactly might that
be? Are we going to see twenty million
Romanian missionaries crisscrossing the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ
under their arm, preaching it to all and sunder? Well, we better let the world know what the
Romanians have in store for it, for we would not want it to be taken by
surprise by such an earth shattering event, would we?
We just wonder what
happened of that mission as far as other Orthodox countries are concerned? Why have no other Patriarchs invited the Pope
to their lands if his visit is such a blessing for their peoples? In particular, why has the Russian Orthodox
Church resisted all attempts by the Polish Pope to visit their land?
This Pope has
visited more than one hundred and twenty countries around the world, but he
would gladly have given them all away for just one visit to
The reason the
Russian Orthodox Patriarchs have resisted it so far is that such a visit would
mean an acknowledgement of the Pope’s
supremacy over Christendom, a role they have reserved for themselves ever since
Moscow became the centre of the Orthodox world after the Ottoman hordes
conquered Constantinople. Russian
Patriarchs consider themselves to be the true leaders of Christianity by virtue
of the fact that it was the Greek Church that gave the New Testament to the
world, not the Church of Rome.
The
Isaiah had a lot
more to say about
Here are some
interesting identifying signs about the forces that come against
This is a long
prophecy too, and you can read the rest of it in the Bible. The ancient Medes, who together with the
Persians, have conquered and destroyed ancient
The world would be
so much better and safer if people stopped opposing God by devising “road maps”
that prevent
The Jews would do
well to take note of the following Scriptures too.
Isn’t it remarkable
how well the sons of the bondwoman have been fulfilling their prophetic role of
persecuting the sons of free woman, and how especially well they are doing this
job now? Unfortunately, they have gone
well beyond just persecuting them, they are committing mayhem with their
penchant for suicidal homicides. But God
sees their actions and shall reward them accordingly. Those who choose death, shall be rewarded
with death, while those who choose life, shall be rewarded with life,
especially if they repent and turn to God now while they have their
chance.
What we have in the
The sons of Ishmael
were supposed to persecute the sons of the free woman, not kill them
altogether. This is where Islamist
leaders have failed their people miserably. If they feel so strongly about Jihad, they should take their ‘dirty
war’ (not ‘holy war’, for there is nothing holy about their kind of war), to
pagan lands, and convert them, not to the people ‘of the Book’. Christian Churches have failed the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, but even so they still value life and the virtues that make life
worth living and create good character: truth, love, faith, freedom of speech,
freedom of conscience, etc.
A Muslim man came
to us recently, desperately requesting help to go back to
Would the
forefathers of Islam, Abraham, Ishmael, and Mohammad, approve
that kind of religion? We don’t think
so. God certainly doesn’t. God is life; He is the God of the living not
of the dead. Those who think that they
please God by destroying life, especially innocent life, are gravely
mistaken.
God’s promises to
Abraham were of two kinds. The first
referred to the earthly inheritance of his descendants by blood, and the second
to a heavenly inheritance of his descendants by faith. Now although Ishmael, his first born son, was
to receive substantial blessings too, Abraham’s birthright inheritance passed
on to Isaac. The lands
The Jews thought
that a visit to their land by the Pope would placate that man and give them
legitimacy in the eyes of the world. And
what happened instead? Tribulation, and
nothing but grievous tribulation. And shall we say, ‘just as we told
them’?
Catholic leaders
are doing their best to change the course of history and prevent biblical
prophesies from taking their course. They know that
Those who think
that the term ‘
And yet, the book
of Revelation speaks of a
"Come, I
will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,
"with whom the kings of the earth
An institution of
worldwide renown, which rules over many waters (obviously peoples), has the identifying signs of seven
heads and ten horns. We have discussed
this ‘Mother of Harlots’ in many of our editions (TCH 3, 4, 10, etc.). The
seven heads are the
The extraordinary
thing is that although this ‘woman’ rules over the ten horns, from among which
it rose (See TCH 10), those horns still
hate it. Isn’t this what is happening in
the world at present? On the one hand,
people are in awe of the
Combining this
prophecy with the following one from Zechariah, we come to some pretty ominous
developments.
Zec 9:13 “For I have bent Judah, My bow, Fitted the
bow with Ephraim, And raised up your sons, O Zion, Against your sons, O Greece,
And made you like the sword of a mighty man."
The
sons of
Can you see now
what is in store for the world in the very near future? East against West, and North against South,
just as the Almighty said that it would happen in the end.
Zec
Now where is the
‘spiritual mission of the Romanian people’ in this context? Me thinks rather
that the mouse has roared. Instead of
spending its resources on the poor, with which the country has been so
bountifully blessed, and improve the country’s disastrous image, the Romanian
Orthodox hierarchy went to great lengths to reach us with its angry
message.
Since ancient
times, it has been the role of the people of God to keep a close watch on
peoples’ morality, and bring them and their leaders back to the right
path.
Although Romanian
media is awash with stories of corruption in the country, including at the
highest levels of the Government, the Orthodox Church takes issue with our work
instead of the work of its leaders.
Ceausescu brought
the nation to its knees with his megalomania.
While people groaned, he build a monument to himself – the People’s
Palace – the second largest building in the world. Now his erstwhile friend, the Patriarch,
wants a monument to himself too: a new massive ‘Cathedral’ in the heart of
The nation’s roads
are a disgrace, pensioners are starving, yet the leaders can think of nothing
but glory to themselves.
When I visited the
country two years ago, I wanted to see that Palace for myself. To my dismay, I found it out of reach of
tourists. What should be the nation’s
premier tourist attraction, was being kept under armed guards. They are still gripped by fear and suspicion
as if people would demolish it and take souvenirs out of it as they took out of
the Berlin Wall. The nation should be
so lucky. It might save itself heaps of
money by not having to pay an army to guard it.
They might want to
come to
About Christmas
2003, Prime Minister, Adrian Nastase, went into a
hunting escapade with a party of friends that included his Agriculture Minister
and the leaders of
The party returned without any trophies, but
at least the leaders of the two information agencies discovered a new vocation
for themselves. They should join
“Psychiatrist
“Hunting is also an effective compensation:
the man feels free to kill. But for a
man to become like a beast, to feel the smell of fresh blood, and to see his
victim writhing to death in front of him, is dreadful”.
The Psychiatrist
considers that we are dealing with “cowardly aggressiveness”, because no mater how fierce an animal may be, it has no defense in the
face of a man with gun.
“Hunters are not
courageous people. When you wait with a
rifle in your hands, you risk nothing. [Except the bullets of your fellow
‘professionals’]. Moreover, the
Psychiatrist believes that these people are without any feeling of mercy. “I
have never seen merciful hunters.” Regarding
the appetite for hunting of those that govern us, the Psychiatrist is of the
opinion that they like shooting animals because they consider themselves to be
a privileged class. “The privileged class before ‘89’ had similar habits”.
“I don’t know why
in our modern age hunting is connected with dictators. All were hunters; Ceausescu was sanguinely
bloodthirsty, killing out of pleasure.
Hunting was the “endowment of certain members of the Government and
Securitate”. “Hunting is part of the
‘dreadful scenario of man’s fight against nature’, specific to communism”, said
Tudose.
Another Psychiatrist, Alina
Voaides, added: “It is very hard to explain why
hunting is still in fashion in a country like
Larger and
wealthier countries have just one information agency;