19“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and
bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” 26For
you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27But God
has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God
has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are
mighty; 28and the base things of the world and the things which
are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing
the things that are, 29that no flesh should glory in His
presence. 30But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for
us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—31that,
as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” (1 Cor.1:19, 26-31).
“It is not a mere coincidence that at this particular
juncture in world history, life is being threatened from several
directions. People who know little about
biblical prophecies talk about the precarious condition of life on this
planet. This correlates well with the
prophecies of Jesus Christ who foresaw a calamitous end for this world.
Are we not living in those days now? How much worse must things get before
humanity realizes that it is heading towards catastrophe? The world has reached
the saturation point as far as population is concerned. The environment simply can no longer support
the ever-increasing population. It has
been estimated that within a generation the world population will double, then
in less than a century it will double again. It will then continue to double
within an ever-reducing cycle.
One scientist
remarked that if the world survives to reach that level, life conditions would
become so miserable that death would be preferable to life. Well, for millions of people even now
merciful death would be preferable to a hellish life. For those dying of starvation and disease in
About a decade ago, when images of starvation emerged from
What would it be like when every country and every city in the world has
doubled in size? The environment is
already dying. Can the world support
such an increase when many resources are already in short supply? Can the world afford not to turn to God while
He may still be found? Perhaps it is
already too late.
What were considered alarmist predictions a few decades ago, not only
have been fulfilled, but exceeded many times over. We are now learning about world problems that
only a few years ago were unheard of. A
decade ago no one knew of AIDS. Half a
decade ago there was no talk of the thinning of the ozone layer. These problems alone pose catastrophic
dangers. AIDS is threatening to destroy
the regenerating power of many nations.
The thinning of the ozone layer is posing a threat to the vegetation and
the microscopic marine organisms, the very support of life on earth, in
addition to whatever harm they may do directly to human beings. In February this year scientists raised the
alarm when they discovered that the depletion of the ozone layer is much worse
than previously thought:
"New finding of ozone depletion were so
alarming, the scientists said, they decided to release them before completion
of the data analysis in late March. “Everybody should be alarmed about
this," said Michael Kurylo, a research manager at the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA).
"We're seeing conditions primed for ozone destruction. It's in a far worse way than we
thought." (Sydney Morning Herald, Feb. 5, 1992).
Apocalyptic times are well and truly upon us, yet people
would not repent so that God may spare the world of these cataclysms. Can you
see now why the sun is scorching the earth, and human beings suffer as a
result?
"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).
Governments are unable to address these problems because they require
painful solutions. The people that elect
them are more concerned with the pain of hunger than with restoring the
ecological balance. Difficult problems
are often postponed and left for the next government to solve with the result
that little is achieved. Often they
prefer not to raise such concerns in public at all. Out of sight is out of mind. No one realizes that these problems will get
much worse and will not be solved unless and until people turn to God.
How many people remember the events of 1991? Aside from the Gulf War and the ecological
and social disasters that it created, how many know that in terms of natural
disasters 1991 broke almost every record since record keeping began more than a
century ago?
The US Congress allocates an annual percentage of its budget every year
for emergency situations, to help those nations that suffer calamities and
natural disasters. By May 1991, the sum allocated for the entire year was
already exhausted. There were droughts,
famine, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, mudslides, etc., too many to
be listed. Who remembers, for example,
when approximately a third of
How many people know that large
tracks of the
People believe that communism failed.
Communism never failed, atheism did!
Communism never failed because it has never been tried. What they practiced in the
Soviet communism failed, but so has American capitalism. Such is the vulgarity of capitalism that at a
time when a company like General Motors is closing down dozens of factories and
laying off thousands of people, it grants its retiring Chairman an annual
pension of $US1.2 million. The Chairman
of Chrysler, who has an allocated salary of $4.5 millions, went to
No social conscience on the part of those who clamber their way to the
top. No Christian concern for one's
fellow human beings from the leading citizens of the, supposedly, number one
Christian nation on earth. Has no one
ever told these people that "it is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
Where are the spiritual leaders of that nation? What have they achieved? Why are they silent in the face of such
blatant greed and exploitation? Or are
they part of the same mentality?
The country wonders why its economy is faltering so badly. Unfettered capitalism is just as unchristian
as totalitarian communism. Soviet
communism has collapsed; now watch for the collapse of capitalism. Those who believe that the
This author grew up behind the “Iron Curtain” where a great part of his
education involved indoctrination about the “glorious future the
Out of that atheistic nightmare, God had to bring someone at enormous
personal sacrifice to preach His Gospel to the world, because those who had it
all the time made a mockery of it by turning it into a money making venture.
The
At a time when the world is facing the test of survival, few people
understand that there is a connection between current problems and the
spiritual decline of the world. Even the
Churches of God, who once prided themselves in their ability to understand the
prophecies of God, have fallen silent.
At the time that their input is needed more than ever, they are engaged
in an internecine war that is sapping their strength from within.
Once again, as it has happened throughout history, God has raised people
from the lowest levels of society to do His work. The message that John the Baptist delivered
to ancient
“1In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the
wilderness of
So
repent, for the
(The Christian Herald No 2, pp. 7-9).
“10And he said to me, “Do not
seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. 11He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is
filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous
still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”
12“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is
with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and
the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First
and the Last.” (Rev.22:10-13).
15“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and
evil, 16in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and
to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live
and multiply; and the Lord
your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17But
if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and
worship other gods and serve them, 18I announce to you today
that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in
the land which you cross over the
I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing,
therefore choose life, said God. And
what did they do? They chose death and
that is why they lost their mission, their nation, and themselves. Ever since that time, they have been wanderers
in the world.
“But I want to
remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people
out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6And
the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He
has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great
day; 7as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a
similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and
gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the
vengeance of eternal fire.”(Jude 1:5-7)
It is not a mere coincidence that as the world has given
itself to the same sins as
“1But there were also false prophets among the people, even
as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in
destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and
bring on themselves swift destruction. 2And many will follow
their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be
blasphemed. 3By covetousness they will exploit you with
deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their
destruction does not slumber. 4For
if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to
hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for
judgment; 5and did not spare the ancient world, but saved
Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6and turning
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to
destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would
live ungodly.” (2 Peter 2:1-6).
Why
do human beings ‘follow destructive ways’, and not the ways of God? And why are
those who preach the Word of God and the true Gospel of salvation being ignored
and persecuted, while the purveyors of deadly gospels are being honoured and
rewarded? How did we know as early as
1992, when we published TCH No 2,
that humanity had entered the age of troubles connected with the end time? We knew it from the Bible, and from
prophecies like the following one.
4“But
you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end;
many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” . . . 9And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the
words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10Many
shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly;
and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.” (Dan.
12:4, 9-10).
9“Then
they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by
all nations for My name’s sake. 10And then many will be
offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11Then
many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12And
because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13But
he who endures to the end shall be saved.” (Mat. 24:9-13).
How wonderfully these prophecies reflect our time. First they tell us that when these things happen it will be the time of the end. ‘Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.’ Isn’t this a reflection of our modern age when transport and knowledge are so widespread? Then we are told that none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. Where are the wise that understand these things? And if they understand them, why are human beings still in ignorance about their meaning? Why are they not turning to the only source that can save them from these impending catastrophes? Because the wise of Daniel are different from the wise of Apostle Paul (quoted at the beginning of this article).
The wise according to the knowledge of God understand what is happening in the world, whereas the wise according to the knowledge of this world are blindly leading humanity to perdition. It is not a mere coincidence that as the world is being devastated by global warming and climate change, the spectre of nuclear annihilation has raised its ugly head again.
"However, I
have been to re-education camp - spending 4½ years as a university
president." His remark drew laughs and applause. His sharpest response to
Putin was gently couched. "Russia
is a partner in endeavours," Mr Gates said. "But we wonder, too, about some Russian
policies that seem to work against international stability, such as its arms
transfers and its temptation to use energy resources for political
coercion."
Throughout the
rebuttal, and in a longer discourse on how the US's European allies must help
rebuild Afghanistan and remain engaged in the fight against terrorism, Mr Gates
mentioned Mr Putin only once by name. That came when he said he had accepted an
invitation from Mr Putin to visit Moscow.
Mr Gates cast himself as a geopolitical realist and drew a knowing laugh
when he focused on Mr Putin's assertion that the US and its allies were
dividing Europe. "All of these characterisations belong in the past,"
Mr Gates said. "The free world versus those behind the Iron Curtain. North
versus South. East versus West. And I am told that some have even spoken in
terms of old Europe versus new." The
US has asked Japan not to arrange a meeting between the Vice-President, Dick
Cheney, and the Defence Minister, Fumio Kyuma, an apparent response to Mr
Kyuma's criticism of US policy, Kyodo news agency reported. Last month Mr Kyuma irked the US by saying
it was wrong to start the war in Iraq. Mr Cheney is scheduled to meet the chief
officers of Japan's Self-Defence Forces during a visit next week. (Thom Shanker, The New York Times, Feb. 13, 2007).
While the US
deals with velvet gloves with its Russian adversary, Putin makes incessant
preparations to challenge America’s dominance of the world.
Shanghai Co-operation Organisation – ‘timely and
visionary’ “THE Shanghai Co-operation Organisation,
whose members and observers represent half the world's population, signalled at
its annual summit yesterday its determination to play a central role in global
energy politics. Russian
President Vladimir Putin urged the formation of "an
It indicated a change in tack by
sending its Petroleum and Gas Minister, Murli Deora, to the summit, and has
decided to join
In his address to the summit, Mr
Ahmadinejad commended steps "to turn the
Mr Putin told his Iranian
counterpart after the summit that he wanted to discuss a European proposal for
"
[Notice, ‘Slavic’ not Christian. While the other cultures are designated by their religion, the Slavic one is not].
Illustrating this spirit, the
presidents appeared at a press conference, giving speeches but not allowing
questions.
The leaders signed 10 agreements
that sought to institutionalise growing collaboration, ranging from banking to
education to economic collaboration, with
Mr Hu urged the members to
"strengthen strategic co-operation" against the "three
evils" - separatism, terrorism and extremism - including through
intelligence exchange and communication. He proposed a non-aggression treaty between
Did you notice how many members this
‘timely and visionary’ organisation has?
Ten – all of them avowed anti-Israeli:
Is this the ten-nation ‘beast’
that
“Trilateral Forum to Counter
“The Foreign Ministers of
Ever since it came to power, the
Bush administration has been telling the world that it is in friendly terms
with
How many people have heard of the
Shangahai Co-operation Organisation? Not
many people for sure, because western media has either ignored it, or said very
little about it. Yet this is the ‘timely and visionary’ organisation that Putin
is incessantly cultivating to counter
And there is another reason why
this organisation has received so little attention. While we have been saying that
It is not a mere coincidence either that at this particular junction in world history, when biblical prophecies tell us to expect major world developments, that drought is devastating the world on an unprecedented scale. And yet, there are still skeptics who say that, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, all these changes are within normal climate variations.
“Man is cooking the planet” “SCIENTISTS have
now found the connection between man-made carbon emissions and global warming,
proving once and for all that human activity is changing the world.
And scientists have debunked the myth that
global warming is simply a global cycle, saying that according to its cycle the
earth should be in a period of cooling, not warming. The stunning find is to be released in the
final report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (
For the past six years 2,000 of the
world's leading climate scientists - climatologists, glaciologists,
meterologists, oceanographers and other specialists, have studied all known
scientific literature on climate change, with the findings to be released
Friday. In all, three reports making up
the fourth assessment of the
"Confidence in the assessment of the
human contributions to recent climate change has increased considerably since
the
- 11 of the earth's 12 warmest years since
1850 have occured since 1995.
- Indications are the earth's temperature
will rise three degrees celsius by 2100, with a possibility it could be as high
as six degrees. This could be catastrophic, with a similar temperature shift
marking the last ice age 12,000 years ago.
- It is virtually certain (99 per cent
probability) that carbon dioxide levels and global warming is far above the
range naturally varying in the atmosphere over the past 650,000 years.
- It is virtually certain that human
activity has played the dominant role in this.
- It is likely that human activity is
responsible for other observed changes to the earth such as ocean warming and
melting of the Arctic sea ice. The
This risk is mainly because of potentially
disastrous "positive'' feedbacks which could accelerate rising
temperatures.
In other words, because the world is
warming, increasing evaporation from the oceans has caused atmospheric
concentrations of water vapour over the sea - by 4 per cent since 1970.
This increased water vapour is a powerful
greenhouse agent, and exacerbates the greenhouse effect.
However it is not all doom and gloom, with
the report saying there are many "positive feedbacks''.
As for claims that this global warming is
simply part of the earth's natural thermal cycle, the report says: "These
changes took place at a time when non-anthropogenic forcing factors (ie, the
sum of solar and volcanic forcing) would be expected to have produced cooling,
not warming. "There is increased
confidence that natural internal variability cannot account for the observed
changes, due in part to improved studies demonstrating that the warming
occurred in both oceans and atmosphere, together with observed ice mass
losses.'' (Paul Kent, The Sunday
Telegraph, 30 Jan. 2007).
Professor Vincent, who studies Arctic
ecosystems, travelled to the newly formed ice island and was amazed at what he
saw. "It's like a cruise missile has come down and hit the ice
shelf," he said. "Unusually warm temperatures definitely played a
major role. It is consistent with climate change." The collapse was picked
up by the Canadian Ice Service, which notified Luke Copland, head of the new
global ice laboratory at the
“A planet on the edge”
“They cling precariously to the top of what is left of the ice floe, their
fragile grip the perfect symbol of the tragedy of global warming. Captured on film by Canadian
environmentalists , the pair of polar bears look stranded on chunks of broken
ice. Although the magnificent creatures
are well adapted to the water, and can swim many kilometres to solid land, the
distance is getting ever greater as the Arctic ice diminishes. …
Scientists have observed that in the struggle for survival, the bears –
and females especially – are now much thinner.
Scientists believe that four bears which recently drowned off the coast
of Alasca had simply been unable to cope with a violent Arctic storm.
The plight of the bears was higghlighted as the prospect of a gloomy future
emerged from leaks of the most comprehensive report into global warming yet
undertaken. Concluding that it is
“highly likely” that mankind is to blame for climate change, it talks of more
droughts, torrential rains, shrinking Arctic ice and glaciers, and raising sea
levels for at least the next century. And it warns that the effect of a
build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will last far longer.”
The report, from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, draws
on the work of 2500 researchers from more than 130 nations and is the most
comprehensive overview of climate change for policy-makers. It claims that global warming is “very
likely” caused by human activity. … Two participants, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said that the group approved the term “very likely” in previous
sessions. That means they agree that
there is a 90 per cent chance that global warming is caused by human
activity. The last report, in 2001, said
global warming was “likely” caused by humans.
There had been speculation that the participants might try to change the
wording this time to “virtually certain” – which means a 99 per cent
chance. The report is considered an
authoritative document that could influence governmental and industrial policy
worldwide.” (Bill Mouland, Sunday
Telegraph, Feb. 04, 2007).
“Scientist's
warning: carbon dioxide eating the planet” “The global level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has alarmed scientists
by growing strongly for the last four years in a row. "That's unprecedented," said Paul
Fraser, chief research scientist at the CSIRO's Marine and Atmospheric Research
division. Describing the trend as
"a clear manifestation" of the world's increasing hunger for fossil
fuels, Dr Fraser said: "We are in line for the carbon dioxide future that
we hope to avoid, a one-to-three degree rise in temperatures over the next
century."
Last year carbon dioxide levels grew by two parts per million, or 0.54 per
cent, twice the rate of the early 1980s. Atmospheric nitrous oxide, produced
by fertilisers and land clearing, also soared last year, rising one part
per billion, or 0.3 per cent. And
artificial greenhouse gases, including hydrofluoro-carbons, introduced during
the 1990s to replace chlorofluorocarbons, set a growth record, up seven parts
per trillion, a 5.3 per cent increase.
The CSIRO said 2005 "was a record for increases in green-house gas
heating, the main driver of increasing surface temperatures". Dr Fraser
said that with carbon dioxide emissions, "normally we have one or two
years of high growth, followed by one or two years of lower growth". This
comes from the oceans and the biosphere - including trees and plants - soaking
up enough of the gas to take the edge off increases. However, sampling by the Bureau of
Meteorology in Tasmania showed the normal pattern of higher and lower growth
rates, called modulation, had failed to appear in the last four years. Instead,
annual carbon dioxide increases had been consistently above average.
"That's a surprise," said Dr Fraser, adding it would be extraordinary
if the modulating effect of the oceans and the biosphere failed to kick in this
year. However, the environment's ability to absorb the gas could eventually be
overwhelmed. The only solution was "emitting less carbon dioxide", he
said. Options included switching to solar,
wind, nuclear, hydro or hydrogen power. Dr Fraser, who will present the
findings at this week's CSIRO climate meeting in Sydney, said it was for
politicians to choose which option, or options, should be adopted. "As
scientists, we have to keep putting the facts up."
His good news was that methane - "the second most important gas
responsible for the enhanced greenhouse effect" - had not grown for six
years. The decline resulted from industry, particularly mining, reducing leaks.
And ozone damaging gases declined again last year, continuing a trend that
began in 1997.” (Richard Macey, The Daily
Telegraph, May 16, 2006)
and the
peaking of oil supply - set to drag us
into the abyss”
“We are about to experience the convergence of
three of the great issues confronting humanity. Climate change, the peaking of
oil supply and water shortage are coming together in a manner which will
profoundly alter our way of life, our institutions and our ability to prosper
on this planet. Each is a major issue, but their convergence has received
minimal attention.
“Population is the main driver. In the 60 years since World War II, the
world population has grown at an unprecedented rate, from 2.5 billion to
6.5billion today, with 9 billion forecast by 2050 [That is a highly optimistic underestimate. For if in 60 years the
world’s population had almost trippled, why should it grow by only a third in
the next 50 years? Ed.]
“That growth has triggered insatiable demand for natural resources, notably
water, oil and other fossil fuels. Exponential economic growth in a finite
world hitting physical limits is not a new idea; we have experienced limits at
a local level, but we have either side-stepped them or found short-term
solutions, becoming overly confident that any global limits could be similarly
circumvented. Today, just as the bulk of
the world's population is about to step on to the growth escalator, global
limits emerge that are real and imminent. The weight of scientific evidence
points to the fact the globe cannot support its present population, let alone
an additional 2.5 billion, unless we embrace change.
“Climate change, peak oil, water shortage and population are contributing
to a "tragedy of the commons", whereby free access and unrestricted
demand for a finite resource doom the resource through over-exploitation. The
benefits of exploitation accrue to individuals, whereas the costs are borne by
all. “Examples at local level abound,
include overfishing and interrupting river flows for farming and irrigation.
One mark of a mature society is that equitable solutions are found to the
"commons" dilemma, and we have been relatively successful in doing
this at local level. However as these issues become national and global,
solutions become harder. For climate change, peak oil and water, the ultimate
"commons" is the earth's atmosphere which we have been using as a
garbage dump for carbon and other emissions.
As Aristotle said: "What is common to the greatest number has the
least care bestowed upon it. Everyone thinks chiefly of his own, hardly at all
of the common interest." In an underpopulated world this may not matter,
but in our overpopulated world it is disastrous.
“Solutions require that we move beyond narrow national self-interest, take
a global view and place our society and economy on a genuinely sustainable
footing. Sustainability, "meeting the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs",
encompasses the entire basis upon which global society operates, not just the
environment. It requires realigning our ethical framework, moving away from the
winner-take-all individualism which has created so many of the
"commons" problems, to a more co-operative individualism, where
managing the global and local "commons" is paramount. “Rather than the
negative, focusing on supposed job cuts and fear of change, we should focus on
the positive: we have a unique opportunity to set humanity on a new course,
built around an ethical renaissance and sustainable societies. Undoubtedly
there will be pain in the short term as conventional politics, economics and
business models are turned on their head. However, the tools and technologies
to solve these problems are available, the cost is less than we have been led
to believe, and the benefits greater. Further, change can be achieved rapidly
given the right impetus.
“Historically, this has rarely happened without a crisis. Fortunately the
trinity are about to trigger that crisis with a prolonged period of
"creative destruction" which will radically transform society and economy
whether we like it or not. Our stark choice is either to embrace the tipping
point bearing down upon us, seizing the opportunity to build a sustainable
future, or fudge the issue, try to muddle through in the time-honoured manner
and increasingly lose the ability to control our own affairs. For Australia, along with many other
countries, water is the priority. Resolving the water crisis will be the first
test of whether we can combine long-term vision and principled leadership with
the need to take the hard decisions quickly enough to stave off impending
disaster. If so, it will stand us in good stead to tackle the even greater
tasks ahead.” (Ian Dunlop, former oil, gas and coal industry executive, Sydney
Morning Herald, 16 Oct. 2006).
“Frightening reality we face” “SYDNEY is
looming as one of the world's major climate change casualties, with
temperatures expected to soar 50 per cent higher than the average rise forecast
for the entire planet.
For the first time, Australian scientists have charted in detail the
impacts on the nation's largest metropolis of man's insatiable demand for
energy and burning of fossil fuels. The
Daily Telegraph today exclusively reveals the landmark CSIRO report
commissioned by the State Government which - for the first time -
specifically details the impact of climate change on NSW. It paints a picture of a city baking under
average temperatures almost 5C higher than now - which will kill 1300
people a year - and one battered by extreme winds and permanent
drought. NSW Premier Morris Iemma said
the report's findings were alarming. "This
might sound like a doomsday scenario, but it is one we must confront,'' Mr
Iemma said . . . "I do not want my
kids to ask me in 10 years time why I didn't do more to address the issue of
climate change.''
The CSIRO report warned that the city must work out
how to adapt quickly, with the impacts of human-caused global warming now
apparently inevitable. "The future
climate of Sydney is likely to be warmer and drier,'' the report says.
"Such trends would also increase evaporation, heat waves, extreme winds
and fire risk. "Nevertheless,
despite this trend towards drier conditions, the possibility of increases in
extreme rainfall events remain.
"Although average changes in temperature, rainfall and evaporation
will have long-term consequences for the catchment, the impacts of climate
change are more likely to be felt through extreme weather events.'' Climate change forecasts for the coastal zone
put Narrabeen and Collaroy on the hot zone for storm- inspired sea surges of
about 22m - which would inundate homes.
Freak surges of 110m would be catastrophic. "Such increases in storm surge in
conjunction with sea level rises, would increase the risk of coastal
inundation,'' the CSIRO says.” (Simon Benson, The Sunday Telegraph, Jan. 31, 2007).
“After 10 years, the dithering has to stop” “The
threat posed by global warming is not as bad as we thought. It is
considerably worse. This dire new assessment from the world's foremost
authority, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
predicts temperatures could rise by as much as 6.4 degrees by 2100 and the seas
with them. But long before this occurs, vulnerable regions such as Australia
will face water crises, ravaged agricultural production and a huge loss of
biodiversity - specifically, the death of the Great Barrier Reef, the loss of
fragile alpine ecosystems and irretrievable damage to the Kakadu wetlands.
For the first time in the
history, the 2500 eminent scientific opinions distilled in the UN report
conclude it is "very likely" human activity has caused global warming
and has as a result triggered a deadly rash of extreme weather events. No
matter what humankind does now, the impact of climate change will be felt for
hundreds of years; once the poison is in the system, nothing can be done to
stop it working its way through. . .”
(Editorial, SMH, Feb. 5,
2007).
“Plenty more fish in the sea?
Don't bet on it”
Closely linked with the problem of
overpopulation, is of course the supply of food for the world’s teeming
masses.
We know that famines are caused by
droughts, but few people envission a famine caused by a scarcity of
seafood. One third of the world’s
population depends on marine food, yet this is what is happening in the world’s
seas at present.
“Enjoy those seafood meals now, because by
2050 there may be no fish, prawns, crabs or other wild sea creatures left to
eat. Marine species are disappearing at
an accelerating rate, posing a serious threat to human health and wellbeing, a
four-year study of the state of the world's oceans has concluded.
Boris Worm, of Dalhousie University in Canada, said his team's research
showed 29 per cent of seafood species currently fished had already collapsed,
with catches having declined by at least 90 per cent. "If the long-term trend continues, all
fish and seafood species are projected to collapse within my lifetime - by
2048," Professor Worm said. Loss of
biodiversity also reduced the ocean's ability to resist diseases, filter out
pollutants and cope with climate change, the study concluded.
"Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the entire world's
oceans, we saw the same picture emerging. In losing species we lose the
productivity and stability of entire ecosystems," Professor Worm said. "I was shocked and disturbed by how
consistent these trends are - beyond anything we suspected." However, the good news was that biodiversity
could recover quickly if protected marine areas were established. "The data show us it's not too late. We
can turn this around."
“A large team of international scientists and economists was involved in
the study, which is published in the journal Science. They analysed commercial catches between 1950
and 2003 for 64 areas using the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organisation's database of fish and invertebrate species. “Fisheries were found to be collapsing at a
faster rate in ecosystems with fewer species. Fishery records and sediment
cores for the past 1000 years at 12 coastal regions around the world, including
Brisbane's Moreton Bay, were also examined.
“Steve Palumbi, of Stanford University, a member of the team, said loss
of marine biodiversity made coastal regions more vulnerable to disease
outbreaks and invasive species and reduced the areas suitable as nurseries. "The ocean is a great recycler. It takes
sewage and recycles it into nutrients. It scrubs toxins out of water and it
turns carbon dioxide into food and oxygen." To carry out this service for the people who
lived along the coast, the waters needed their full complement of plants and
animals, Professor Palumbi said.
“Professor Worm said under 1 per cent of the oceans were protected but the
studies they analysed from 48 protected marine areas showed ecosystems could
recover quickly. "In many cases
species come back more quickly than people anticipated - in three to five to 10
years. And where this has been done we see immediate economic benefits."
Yes, marine ecosystems would recover quickly if protected, but will
they? Australia has been desperately
trying to prevent the long nets of the Asian boats from sweeping the ocean
floor, an extremely damaging practice to marine ecosystems, but without much
success. What these scientific reports
do not tell us is that the krill, which is the basic source of food for many of
the marine species, has decreased by 80 per cent in the last thirty years. This is another reason, beside overfishing,
that so many of the world’s fisheries have colapsed.
Ian Dunlop said that, “Given the dominance of short-term pragmatism in our
political and corporate cultures, it is likely our leaders will continue to
procrastinate and not rise to the challenge.”
Exactly what we’ve been saying for years. “The
pressure for change,” he continued, “must come from the community at large”. Hmmm! I wouldn’t bet on that either. When
people scrounge for a living, they haven’t got much time for the
environment. A "tipping point will
force a fundamental realignment of political and corporate attitudes,” he
says. Well, we hope so, but we doubt
that too. That is because change has
occured so fast in the world, it has passed human ability to stop it, let alone
reverse it.
“Keeping a cool head amid warming hysteria”?
“Global warming doomsayers were out and about in a big way recently, but the
rain came in central Queensland, then here in Sydney. January was also unusually cool.
We have been subjected to a lot of nonsense about climate disasters, as
some zealots have been presenting extreme scenarios to frighten us . . . What we were seeing from the doomsayers was
an induced dose of mild hysteria – semi-religious if you like, but dangerously
close to superstition. . . Scaremongers
have used temperature fluctuations over a limited period and in a few places to
misrepresent longer patterns. Warming
evidence is mixed and often exagerated but can be reasurring. Global warming has been increasing constantly
since 1975 at the rate of less than one-fifth of a degree Celsius per decade. .
. Britain’s University of East Anglia
climate research unit found global temperatures did not rise between 1998 and
2005, and a NASA satelite recently found the southern hemisphere had not warmed
in the past 25 years.” (The Sunday Telegraph, Feb. 18, 2007).
This article was written by none other than the head of the Catholic Church
in Australia, Cardinal George Pell.
He must have done a lot of research to find sources that conform with his
views of humanity – that there is no global warming or major climate change to
worry about. He gave as suporting
evidence the rain that fell in central Queensland and in Sydney. And what was the effect of that rain? The following article was in the same edition
of The Sunday Telegraph.
“Only 2 per cent of NSW not in drought” “NINETY-eight per cent of NSW is either in drought on on the brink of
drought, up three per cent from December, NSW Government data shows. The latest figures for January show 96.3 per cent of the state is drought
declared, up from 93.2 per cent in the previous month, while the area in
marginal territory is 1.7 per cent, Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald
said today. Only two per cent of the state, in the Grafton and Lismore regions
in the far north of NSW, is experiencing satisfactory conditions. Rainfall since January is unlikely to have
any significant impact on these figures.
"While weekend rainfall was well received in isolated parts of the
state, the vast majority of farmers continue to face tough, dry conditions,''
he said. At the end of January water
storage levels across the state were at just 14.7 per cent of capacity, down
5.7 per cent from December. "We
desperately need more than 100 millimetres of soaking rain in the next few
weeks,'' Mr Macdonald said. He said follow up rainfall was then needed to
enable winter crop planting to occur in autumn and pasture growth for badly
needed stock feed.” (Sunday Telegraph, Feb. 17,
2007).
So in spite of the rain that fell in January, the drought afected area of
NSW grew from 93.2 per cent to 96.3 per cent. And the Sydney dam water, which was at a
critival level before, grew by only three per cent and it is still at a
critical level.
Now does it mean that if widespread rain comes, as it will one day, there
is no climate change and no global warming?
Cardinal Pell says that he feels reasured that global temperature has
increased by only one-fifth of a degree Celsius per decade since 1975. What he does not know is that a two degree
increase in ocean temperatures would wipe out coral reefs around the world. Much of Australia’s coral reef has already
been bleached because of increse in the water temperature.
He says that “Britain’s University of East Anglia climate research unit
found global temperatures did not rise between 1998 and 2005, and a NASA
satelite recently found the southern hemisphere had not warmed in the past 25
years.”
We do not know whether East Anglia University is a Catholic one, but their
figures are absolutely wrong. Eleven of
the hottest years on record have ocured in the last twelve years. And this year is shaping up as the hottest year
yet.
As for that NASA report, where is it? We would like to see it. It is un-professional to speak about a report
and not quote it or give its reference. It is unforgiveable to misrepresent an
institution. This is what a study by NASA concluded.
“North Pole
Melting Into Sea” “ICE is melting so fast in the Arctic that
the North Pole will be in the open sea within 30 years. . . The researchers, funded by NASA, said the ice
retreat was likely to remain constant until 2024, when the process suddenly
quicken. In 30 to 50 years, they concluded, summer
sea-ice would have vanished from almost the entire Arctic region. But their forecast may already be out of
date, says Chri Rapley, head of the British Antarctic Survey. He said a recent study suggested emissions
were rising more than twice as fast as in 2000, and this was likely to speed up
ice loss even further. “The study may be an underestimate of when the Artctic summer
ice might be all gone,” he said. During
the past 25 years, Arctic ice has been reduced by 25 per cent. Scientists have
long known that ice reflects heat, and as the quantity reduces so does the
amount of heat that can be bounced away from the Earth. However, the study team from the National
Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, and two US universities,
idenntified warmer ocean currents as an additional factor. Disappearing ice is already causing problems
for polar bears. Other wildlife, including seals, are also likely to
suffer. “We have already witnessed major
losses in sea ice, but our research suggests the decrease over the next few
decades could be far more dramatic than anything that has happened so far,”
said Marica Holland, who led the polar warming study.” (The Australian, Dec. 13, 2006).
Isn’t it an insult to honest reputable scientists who have put their career
on line to prove to the world that global warming is far more serious than previously
realised, to say that they are doomsayers and scaremongers? Cardinal Pell could have known the truth if
he wanted to, for this is what the same newspaper published two weeks before
his article appeared.
“State of
Despair, Climate report says NSW will be a disaster zone”
“NSW is in grave danger of becoming a state where
thousands die from heatwaves, rivers dry up and snow disappears from alpine
regions, a new report warns. A detailed forecast of the impact global
warning will have on individual Australian states and capital cities paints a
grim picture of NSW's future as dry and deadly.
The Climate Institute of Australia's report, released in Melbourne
yesterday, explains the local ramifications of a major international report by
the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It warns that unless urgent action is taken to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there will be devastating consequences.
Australia is the 10th largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world and has
recorded a 10 per cent increase over the past 10 years, with a 17 per cent
growth predicted by 2020. Scientists are
demanding new government policies to reduce emissions but Prime Minister John
Howard showed no indication of acquiescing yesterday. Global warming is almost certainly set to increase
by one per cent by 2020. For NSW, this
means droughts will become 70 per cent more frequent and widespread, while the
number of annual heatwave deaths in Sydney will more than double from 176 to up
to 417.
Snow-covered alpine regions would shrink by up to 40 per cent and extreme
weather conditions would increase by a quarter. But if the pattern continues and global
warming reaches more than three per cent by between 2060 to 2100, NSW will be a
virtual disaster zone. Dengue fever
would spread into Sydney, flow in the Murray-Darling Basin would fall by almost
50 per cent and there would be more than 1312 heatwave deaths in the capital
every year. Snow-covered alpine regions
would disappear by up to 85 per cent, the Macquarie River basin would drop by
up to 35 per cent and extreme fire weather conditions could increase by about
75 per cent in spots like Coffs Harbour and Sydney Airport. There would also be significantly less
run-offs into many rivers. Erwin
Jackson, advisor to the Climate Institute, believes Australia should be leading
the way in adopting environmentally-friendly policies because it is so
vulnerable to the effects of global warming.
"There is overwhelming support within the Australian community, the
business community and now the scientific community that climate change is a
very serious issue which needs to be addressed,'' he said. "We have already wasted 10 years,
during which time emissions have increased by 10 per cent. We can't look our
children in the face in 20 years time and say we didn't do anything.'' He called on Mr Howard to re-assess his
stance on climate change in light of the new reports. However, the Prime Minister was unmoved by the
findings, which he described as "something we have known for a long
time''. He said Australia would
continue measures to reduce emissions but only in a way that "does
not unfairly hurt or damage the Australian economy and destroy Australian
jobs''. He said nuclear power could be
part of the solution but ruled out signing the Kyoto agreement.” (The Sunday Telegraph, Feb. 4, 2007).
Cardinal Pell said that January was a cold month, yet this is what the same
newspaper published on the same day.
“January
world temperatures highest ever” “World temperatures in January were the
highest ever recorded for that month of the year. "The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the
highest for any January on record,'' according to scientists from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climate Data Centre in
Asheville, North Carolina. The combined
global land and ocean surface temperature was 0.85 degrees celsius warmer than
the 20th-century average of 12 degrees celsius for January based on preliminary
data, NOAA said. The figures surpass the
previous record set in 2002 at 0.71 degrees celsius above average. Land surface temperature was a record 1.89C
warmer than average, while global ocean surface temperature was the fourth
warmest in 128 years, about 0.05 degrees celsius cooler than the record
established during the very strong El Nino climate phenomenon in 1998. . . "The presence of El Nino along with the
continuing global warming trend contributed to the record warm January,'' NOAA
said. The unusually warm conditions
contributed to the second lowest January snow cover extent on record for the
Eurasian continent. "During the
past century, global surface temperatures have increased at a rate near 0.06
degrees celsius per decade, but the rate of increase has been three times
larger since 1976, or 0.18 degrees celsius per decade, with some of the largest
temperature increases occurring in the high latitudes of the Northern
Hemisphere." (The Sunday Telegraph,
Feb.18, 2007).
The whole of the Christian world, not to speak of other religions, is in a
denying mood. They do not want to hear
about overpopulation, diminishing resources, global warming, climate change,
peak in oil supply, or anything that might bring their reign to a precipitous
end. It is an insidious plot from the leading
religious institutions of our time to cloud people’s minds with falsehoods and
misrepresentations in an attempt to lull them into a false sense of security. The tragedy of it is that they succeed at it. This is why Jesus said that the Great
Tribulation will take the world by surprise, as the people of Noah’s time were
taken by the Flood.
“38For
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, 39and
did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the
coming of the Son of Man be.” (Mat.
24:38-39).
The world has passed the point of no return. The sooner our leaders realise this, and turn
to the only power that can save humanity now – our Almighty Creator – the less suffering will be in the world, and
the more people will be saved.
“Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and
power was given to him to scorch men with fire. 9And
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.” (Revelation 16:8-9).
Now not only has this prophecy been fulfilled, but because people have not repented of their evil ways and continued to blaspheme God, things have gotten considerable worse. For this reason we are announcing that this prophecy is now coming to an end, and the following one about to take its place.
“17Then the seventh
angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple
of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18And there
were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake,
such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the
earth. 19Now the great city was divided into three parts, and
the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to
give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. 20Then
every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21And
great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the
weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since
that plague was exceedingly great.” (Rev. 16:17-21).
Will
people believe us this time? Will they turn
to God and save themselves from this ‘exceedingly great plague’, or will they continue
to sin, blaspheme God, and face His wrath and eternal damnation? Only a fool would want to wait another decade
and a half to see whether we are right this time too. There just isn’t that time anymore.
This is
how the wise of this world have failed humanity. They have either denied God altogether,
or sent people on wrong paths to find solutions to their problems. The result is all too clear for all to see:
this world is truly on its last legs.
1Now the word of the Lord
came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2“Arise, go to
Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come
up before Me.” 3But Jonah arose to flee to
Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare,
and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of
the Lord. . . .
1Now the word of the Lord
came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2“Arise, go to
5So the people of
1But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became
angry. 2So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord,
was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled
previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and
merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents
from doing harm. 3Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is
better for me to die than to live!” 4Then
the Lord said, “Is it
right for you to be angry?”
5So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of
the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till
he might see what would become of the city. 6And the Lord God prepared a plant and made
it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from
his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. 7But as
morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged
the plant that it withered. 8And it happened, when the sun
arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s
head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It
is better for me to die than to live.”
9Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be
angry about the plant?”
And he
said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!” 10But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the
plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a
night and perished in a night. 11And should I not pity Nineveh,
that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons
who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”
(Jonah 1:1-3; 3:1-10; 4:1-11).
When they heard the warning from
God they did not say, ‘who is this stranger to tell us what to do and how to
live our lives’, as we often hear these days; they repented, fasted, prayed,
and worshiped God. The king himself took
the initiative and gave an unusual but powerful decree:
“‘Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do
not let them eat, or drink water. 8But let man and beast be
covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from
his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9Who
can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce
anger, so that we may not perish?’”
While
humans were to turn from their evil ways and cry mightily to God, both humans
and animals were to fast and be covered in sackcloth. And what happened then? God saw their works that they turned from
their evil way; and He relented from the disaster that He had said He would
bring upon them, and He did not do it.
At no time in history has the
world been in greater peril than it is now.
Yet there never has been less faith in God than it is now. Why?
Because the ‘wise’ of this world have convinced humanity that there is no
God!
Has God stopped sending His
messengers to the world, when they are needed most, because the world has
turned its back to Him? Certainly
not! Never before have the Scriptures been
preached and explained more clearly, more widely, and more forcefully, than has
been the case in the last decade and a half.
And what has been humanity’s response to that? Disdain, calumnies, threats and isolation.
We began publishing The Christian Herald in 1990, but the
work of the Gospel began in fact in 1973 when I went to the headquarters of the
Worldwide Church of God with a message from God. How was I received by the ‘luminaries’ of
that Church? Like Jonas by the Ninevites?
No, like Paul by the Jews when he began to preach Christ to them.
Like Jonas however, I run away
from doing any further work for God when they robbed me and locked me out of my
own flat. I could not understand why God
let those charlatans treat me that way when all I wanted to do was to show them
from the Scriptures the errors in the gospel they were preaching.
Like many of my contemporaries, I
assumed that once you start working for God, you get His blessings and
protection, when the very opposite happened to me. After all, isn’t this the gospel they are
preaching in the churches these days? But
that is not the gospel that Jesus’ Apostles preached, for what happened to me
is what happened to them long ago.
What made me even angrier was the
fact that I had withdrawn myself from a course in electrical engineering at
One of the questions I am often asked is how does God communicate with me, or I with Him, and how do I know it is He who speaks with me? It is a question that usually comes from mockers and unbelievers, which makes it even harder to explain, for once a person decide to take a position against God, it is virtually impossible to change his mind.
Even the apostles had a hard time explaining their visions or how God dealt with them.
“1It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I
will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: 2I know a man
in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether
out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third
heaven. 3And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of
the body I do not know, God knows—4how he was caught up into
7And lest I should be exalted above measure by the
abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger
of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8Concerning
this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from
me. 9And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I
will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches,
in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am
weak, then I am strong.
11I have become a fool in boasting; you have
compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I
behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing. 12Truly
the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in
signs and wonders and mighty deeds. 13For what is it in which
you were inferior to other churches, except that I myself was not burdensome to
you? Forgive me this wrong!” (2 Cor. 12:1-13)
Apostle Paul could not explain his
visions of
Now the Corinthians could easily
have said, ‘this guy does not even know what he is talking about, and is he
teaching us how to live our lives?’ But
they didn’t. Instead they listened to
him carefully and followed his advice to the letter, so much so that he even
had to chastise them later on for going overboard in certain aspects.
In the second paragraph, Paul
speaks of a thorn in his flesh given to him by Satan, which God would not
remove. Now consider God’s reply to his
request: “My grace is sufficient for
you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Had I known this principle three decades ago, or the trials Jesus’ disciples would undergo in their mission for God, I would not have been so disheartened by my misfortune, but rejoice that I was found worthy to receive a similar treatment.
“29But Peter and the other apostles answered and
said: “We ought to obey God rather than men. 30The
God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a
tree. 31Him God has exalted to His right
hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to
33When they heard this, they were furious and plotted to
kill them. 34Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named
Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded
them to put the apostles outside for a little while. 35And he
said to them: “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do
regarding these men. 36For some time ago Theudas rose up,
claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He
was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. 37After
this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away
many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were
dispersed. 38And now I say to you, keep away from these men and
let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to
nothing; 39but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest
you even be found to fight against God.”
40And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the
apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak
in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41So they departed from
the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to
suffer shame for His name. 42And daily in the temple,
and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as
the Christ.” (Acts 5:29-42)
Jesus’ disciples suffered trials at the hand of unbelievers, whereas I received them from ‘Christians’. However it did not take long before they too had to contend with false Christians and false preachers.
23Are
they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors
more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths
often. 24From the Jews five times I received
forty stripes minus one. 25Three
times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked;
a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26in
journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of
robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in
perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in
perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in
perils among false brethren; 27in weariness and
toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold
and nakedness—28besides the other things, what comes
upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 29Who is
weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with
indignation?
30If
I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. 31The
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I
am not lying. 32In
We know that even these days many Christians suffer loss, even of life, in countries that do not accept Jesus Christ, but few Christians realise that over the centuries more true Christians have endured tribulations and lost their lives at the hands of people who falsely claimed to be Christians than at the hands of pagans. This is why I no longer wonder that my baptism of fire occurred at the hands of false Christians. The important thing is to turn those trials to your advantage, to use them to strengthen your faith, and not let them destroy it.
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2elect according to
the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for
obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace be multiplied. 3Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has
begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, 4to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled
and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5who
are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time.
6In this
you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been
grieved by various trials, 7that the genuineness of your
faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it
is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation
of Jesus Christ, 8whom having not seen you love. Though
now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy
inexpressible and full of glory, 9receiving the end of your
faith—the salvation of your souls.
10Of this
salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of
the grace that would come to you, 11searching what,
or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating
when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that
would follow. 12To them it was revealed that, not to
themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been
reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy
Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into. 13Therefore gird up the loins of
your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that
is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14as
obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as
in your ignorance; 15but as He who called you is
holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16because
it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
17And if
you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s
work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in
fear; 18knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like
silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition
from your fathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, as
of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20He indeed was
foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you 21who through Him believe in God, who raised Him
from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22Since you have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the
brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23having
been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of
God which lives and abides forever, 24because, “All
flesh is as grass, And £all the glory
of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away,25 But
the word of the Lord
endures forever.”
Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.” (1
Peter 1:1-25)
This would
be a good place to finish, with such wonderful words from Apostle Peter, but
three are more things to be said. Continued
Peter:
12Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which
is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13but
rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when
His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14If
you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is
blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 15But let none of
you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other
people’s matters. 16Yet if anyone suffers as a
Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
17For the time has come for judgment to begin at the
house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be
the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18Now,
“If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will
the ungodly and the sinner appear?” 9Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God
commit their souls to Him in doing good,
as to a faithful Creator.” (1 Peter 4:12-19)
I spoke
of the trials that Jesus’ disciples endured, but of course, no one endured more
than Jesus Christ Himself. He too
endured them at the hands of those who claimed to be believers – God’s chosen
people – who in so doing thought they did God a service. Isn’t it extraordinary how the worst
murderers put their actions on behalf of God?
It has happened since the beginning of the world, and it is happening
today.
For the people of God however, trials, even loss of life, work towards their betterment. God rejoices when one of His faithful dies. “5Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints.” (Ps. 116:15). Now if God rejoices over our death, shouldn’t we do the same?
This brings us to the second point regarding our means of communication with God. Apostle Paul enjoins us to acquire the mind of God in order to be like Jesus Christ.
“5Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, being in the form
of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7but
made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and
coming in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance
as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of
death, even the death of the cross. 9Therefore God also has
highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on
earth, and of those under the earth, 11and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father.” (Ph. 2:5).
Now what mind was in Christ Jesus? The mind of God, of course! This does not mean that God transplanted His
mind in Jesus Christ, but that Jesus acquired it in the course of His
upbringing. And how did He do it? By studying the Word of God, and by being
obedient to God!
“1 Blessed are
the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are
those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!
3 They
also do no iniquity; They walk in His ways.
4 You
have commanded us to
keep Your precepts diligently.”
5 I
will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.
16 I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.” (Ps. 119:1-4,
15-16)
65 “You have dealt well with Your
servant, O Lord, according
to Your word.
66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe Your
commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your
word.
68 You are good, and do good;
teach me Your statutes.
69 The proud have forged a lie against me, but I will
keep Your precepts with my whole heart.
70 Their heart is as fat as grease, but I delight in
Your law.
71 It is good for me that I have been
afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.
72 The law of Your mouth is better to me than
thousands of coins of gold and silver.”
78 “Let the proud be ashamed, for they treated me wrongfully
with falsehood; But I will meditate on Your precepts.
79 Let those who fear You turn to me, those
who know Your testimonies.
80 Let my heart be blameless regarding Your statutes, that I may
not be ashamed.”
97 “Oh,
how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my
enemies; for they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for
Your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep
Your precepts.” (Ps.119:65-72, 78-80, 97-100).
There
is no greater lesson on how to acquire wisdom than this one. For nothing indeed could make one wiser than
the Word of God – the very mind of God.
This then is how Jesus Christ obtained His wisdom, His mind of God. And this is how you can obtain it too. Try it, it won’t harm you, and who knows, you
may even surprise yourself with a new mind.
But for this you need faith. And
here is the crux of the problem: faith comes from God too, and for Him to grant
it, you must get on your knees and pray to Him and worship Him in truth and in
spirit. If you are too proud for that,
you will retain your current mind and say good bye to any chance of
salvation.
4But God,
who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even
when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace
you have been saved), 6and raised us up together,
and made us sit together in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, 7that in the ages to come He might show the
exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not
of works, lest anyone should boast. 10For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph.2:4-10)
We are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. If you do not believe that you were created
in the image of Jesus Christ for good works, but in the image of monkeys for
the law of the jungle, then you cannot complain of your destiny, which is to be
wiped out from the face of the earth and becoming ashes under the feet of the
righteous.
“17 The
memory of him perishes from the earth, And he
has no name among the renowned.
18 He
is driven from light into darkness, And chased out of the world.
19 He
has neither son nor posterity among his people, Nor any remaining in his
dwellings.
20 Those in the west are astonished at his
day, As those in the east are frightened.
21 Surely
such are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the
place of him who does not know God.” (Job 18:17-21)
1
Do not keep silent, O God of my praise! For
the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying
tongue.
3 They
have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without
a cause.
4 In
return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to
prayer.
5 Thus
they have rewarded me evil for good, And hatred for my love.” (Ps.
109:1-5)
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is
no God.”
They are corrupt, they
have done abominable works, there is none who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven upon the
children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
3 They
have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none
who does good, No, not one.
4 Have
all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as
they eat bread, And do not call on the Lord?
5 There
they are in great fear, For God is with the generation of the
righteous.
6 You shame the counsel of the poor, But the Lord is his refuge.” (Ps.14: 1-6)
Isn’t this what characterises our world today? They say there is no God, and God says that there is none who does good, that all have become corrupt. O yes, there are many who donate to charities and work for the poor, but they do so for their own glory, on this earth, not for merit in heaven and for the glory of God. Otherwise God would not say that they have all turned aside, that none seek the Lord. But what about the preachers who make so much noise in their congregations, don’t they believe in God and do the right thing as far as God is concerned? This is God’s answer to that:
34 “Wail, shepherds, and cry! Roll about in
the ashes, You leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and
your dispersions are fulfilled; You shall fall like a precious vessel.
And the shepherds will have no way to flee, Nor the leaders of the flock to
escape.” (Jer. 25:34-35).
1 “For
behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all
who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn
them up,” Says the Lord of
hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall
go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.
3 You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes
under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,” Says the Lord of hosts.” (Mal.4:1-3).
This then is what faith is all
about: having confidence in the righteous judgment of God and the fact that in
the end the wicked will become ashes under the feet of the righteous. Yes, someone might
say, but these words are about the preachers and the people of ancient
And
He said to them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25When
once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to
stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He
will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ 26then
you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in
our streets.’ 27But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you,
where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28There
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
and all the prophets in the
25“And
indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom
of God, will see my face no more. 26Therefore I testify to you
this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27For
I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. 28Therefore
take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has
made you overseers, to shepherd the church £of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29For
I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not
sparing the flock. 30Also from among yourselves men will rise
up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember
that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with
tears.”(Acts 20:25-31).
12But what
I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those
who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which
they boast. 13For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14And
no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15Therefore it
is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers
of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” (2 Cor
Don’t trust anyone regarding your salvation until you have checked it out in the Bible. For if the world was full of ‘savage wolves’ and false preachers in the time of the apostles, it is infinitely worse now. Have faith only in those who are prepared to have their preaching assessed by the standards of the Bible, for by looking in the Scriptures you will increase your faith too. Because many are those who claim to speak for Jesus Christ and yet deceive their listeners.
“And
Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives
you. 5For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’
and will deceive many.” (Mat. 24:4-5).
5Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the
faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in
you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. 6But I trust that you
will know that we are not disqualified.” (2 Cor. 13:5-6).
During
one of his public escapades, for which John Paul II became renowned around the
world, television cameras focused on two nuns that prostrated themselves before
him and said: ‘Holy Father increase our faith’! He gave them a wry smile and walked away. This is what humanity has come to: prostrate
before a human being and ask him to increase their faith. And this from persons who
ought to know better. But what do
the Scriptures say?
10“And I
fell at [the angel’s] feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that
you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your
brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Rev. 19:10).
Catholic prelates do not want to talk about prophecy,
especially those of the book of Revelation. (See TCH 14 and 15 to see why). How then can people increase their
faith? This is how: “Faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom.
When Apostle
Paul wrote that epistle, books were very expensive. The only way by which people
could increase their faith was to hear the Word of God. These days however, they
can read the Word of God for themselves. Anyone who wants a Bible can have one.
Of course, they can increase their faith by going to church too, but which church? Which one preaches the truth these days when so many are in opposition to each other and even fighting among themselves? This is why the only sure way of increasing your faith is to have your own Scriptures. Read them and compare them with what they preach in the churches, and with what is happening in the world. In so doing you will avoid the destiny of those who go to perdition because they did not do their home work and blindly accepted the false preachings that are so prevalent in the world today.
Salvation By No Other Name Except Jesus Christ
“8Then
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and
elders of Israel: 9If we this day are judged for a good
deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made
well, 10let it be known to you all, and to all the people of
Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom
God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11This
is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the
chief cornerstone.’ 12Nor is there salvation in any
other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must
be saved.” (Acts 4:8-12).
If there is no salvation in any other name but Jesus Christ, in what name do other religions save their people? And how do they know that their spiritual leader is a genuine savior? Has he proven himself by giving his life and taking it back as Jesus Christ did?
17“Therefore
My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18No
one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My
Father.” (John 10:17-18).
Only one man in the history of the world has been on ‘the other side’, so to speak, and come back to tell us the way to eternal life. For that reason the Father loved Him and made Him Lord over both the physical and spiritual worlds.
18“Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All
authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19Go therefore
and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching 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.” (Mat. 28:18-20).
If Jesus’ followers were to go out into the world and make disciples of all the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, could any other religion have such powerful backing to rival the very Creator of the world, His Son and the Holy Spirit? Jesus proved through His sacrifice to be the true Messiah, and Christianity to be His true religion. The Word of God in general and the prophecies of the Bible in particular, have amply supported that claim.
5 “To whom will you liken Me, and make Me
equal and compare Me, that we should be alike?
6 They lavish gold out of the bag, and
weigh silver on the scales;
They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god;
They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship.
7 They bear it on the shoulder, they carry
it and set it in its place, and it stands; from its place it shall not
move.
Though one cries out to it, yet
it cannot answer nor save him out of his trouble.
8 “Remember this, and show yourselves men; Recall
to mind, O you transgressors.
9 Remember the former things of old, for
I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is
none like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from
ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will
do all My pleasure,’
11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man
who executes My counsel, from a far country.
Indeed I have spoken it; I
will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do
it.” (Is. 46:5-11).
While Jesus Christ was in the
world, He told His disciples why He alone was a good shepherd, and why none of
those who came before Him were good shepherds.
7”Then Jesus said to
them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the
sheep. 8All who ever came before Me are
thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9I am the
door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find
pasture. 10The thief does not come except to steal, and to
kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may
have it more abundantly.
11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10: 7-16).
None of those who came before Him,
and none who came after Him, were good shepherds, for none gave their life for
the sheep in the manner of Jesus Christ.
No other person in the history of the world has made such a claim and
proved it to be true. Therefore saying
that all people have the same God and have an equal chance of salvation
regardless on what religion they follow is not only a deadly error, but a
blasphemy, for it denies the Scriptures in general and the words of Jesus
Christ in particular. It would be tantamount to saying that Jesus’ murderers
were God’s children and would be saved too. But what did Jesus Christ say?
39”They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were
Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40But
now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.
Abraham did not do this. 41You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of
fornication; we have one Father—God.”
42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you
would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of
Myself, but He sent Me. 43Why do you not understand My speech?
Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44You are
of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you
want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the
truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from
his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45But
because I tell the truth, you do not believe
This passage, more than any
other, spells out clearly that there are two kinds of people in the world:
those who are children of God, and those who are children of the Devil. What distinguishes one from the other? Their fruits, obedience to God, and their
attitude to life!
The first obey God and value life, while the second obey their father and destroy life. Judged by their physical appearance, they look the same – they are all human beings – but inwardly some are sheep while others wolves. It does not matter what they believe, or whether they think that they serve God; what matters is what they do in this world.
Notice what Jesus Christ said
about salvation.
13“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the
gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are
many who go in by it. 14Because narrow is the gate
and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who
find it. 15“Beware of false
prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous
wolves. 16You will know them by their fruits.” (Mat. 7:13-16).
Now what does that tell you about those who are behind the ecumenical movement that aims to create a universal religion? Whose job do you think they are doing? That initiative is not sanctioned in the Bible, except in the negative sense.
They will not be any more
successful in bringing the whole world under one umbrella now, than the people
who lived before the
“1I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my
conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2that I
have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3For I could
wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren,
my countrymen according to the flesh, 4who are Israelites,
to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving
of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5of
whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh,
Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed
God. Amen.
6But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect.
For they are not all
10And not only this, but when Rebecca also
had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac 11(for the
children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who
calls), 12it was said to her, “The older shall serve
the younger.” 13As it is written, “Jacob I have
loved, but Esau I have hated.”
14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness
with God? Certainly not! 15For He says to Moses, “I
will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whomever I will have compassion.” 16So then it is
not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. 17For
the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised
you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in
all the earth.” 18Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills,
and whom He wills He hardens. 19You
will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His
will?” 20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?
Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made
me like this?” 21Does not the potter have power over the clay,
from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
22What if God,
wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23and
that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which
He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24even us whom He
called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not
My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.” 26“And it shall come to pass in
the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called
sons of the living God.”
27Isaiah also cries out concerning
30What shall we say then? That Gentiles,
who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the
righteousness of faith; 31but
It is easier to understand what
Apostle Paul spoke about here if you know that the Devil itself was created for
a specific purpose.
1 “The
preparations of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is
from the Lord.
2 All
the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the spirits.
3 Commit
your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established.
4 The Lord has made all for Himself, Yes,
even the wicked for the day of doom.” (Pr.16:1-4).
What is the lesson in all
this? That unless one submits to God in
love and humility, not in wanton destruction of innocent life as we see in the
world these days in the name of other gods, he cannot be a genuine child of
God. And who is a child of God?
1”Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called
children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did
not know Him. 2Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has
not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed,
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3And
everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 4Whoever commits sin also commits
lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5And you know that He was
manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6Whoever
abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
7Little
children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous,
just as He is righteous. 8He who sins is of the devil, for the
devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9Whoever
has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot
sin, because he has been born of God.
10In this the children of God and the children
of the devil are manifest:
Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he
who does not love his brother. 11For this is the message that
you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12not
as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why
did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13Do not marvel, my brethren, if
the world hates you. 14We know that we have passed from death
to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his
brother abides in death. 15Whoever hates his brother is a
murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16By this we know love, because He
laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives
for the brethren. 17But whoever has this world’s goods, and
sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of
God abide in him? 18My
little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in
truth. 19And by this we know that we are of the truth, and
shall assure our hearts before Him. 20For if our heart condemns
us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21Beloved,
if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22And
whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do
those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23And this is
His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and
love one another, as He gave us commandment. 24Now he who keeps His
commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides
in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” (1
He who
keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. Do you know what the sixth Commandment
is? 13“You shall not murder.”
(Ex.20:6). Murder is to take innocent
life. It has no justification, and nothing to do with religious dogma or
worldly philosophy. God does not, and
cannot, reside in murderers, and if He is not in you, you are a mere walking
corpse.
No other man has been raised from the dead, and no other man has risen to heaven after resurrection.
Now
have a look at the following lengthy statement from Jesus Christ and consider
it carefully, for it has important implications about salvation.
35And Jesus
said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never
hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36But
I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37All
that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by
no means cast out. 38For I have come down from
heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of
all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last
day. 40And this is the will of Him who sent Me,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life;
and I will raise him up at the last day.”
41The Jews then complained about Him, because
He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42And
they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we
know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43Jesus
therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among
yourselves. 44No one can come to Me unless
the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall
all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned
from the Father comes to
61When Jesus
knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to
them, “Does this offend you? 62What
then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits
nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are
life. 64But there are some of you who do not
believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe,
and who would betray Him. 65And He said, “Therefore
I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him
by My Father.” 66From
that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no
more. 67Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do
you also want to go away?” 68But
Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life. 69Also we have come to believe and
know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
70Jesus
answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a
devil?” 71He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the
son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.”
(John 6:35-70).
What do these statements tell you? That people of all religions have an equal chance of salvation? No! But that only those who are drawn by God to His Son, Jesus Christ, do. And on what basis does God draw people to His Son?
“The Lord
looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who
understand, who seek God.” (Ps.14:2)
This is why children of men must become children of God. But what
does God see when He looks down upon human beings? “They have all turned aside, they have
together become corrupt; There is none who does good, no, not one.” (Ps. 14:3).
The
reason none is good and all have turned aside is because they have all been
born corrupt in the first place.
5 “Behold,
I was brought forth in iniquity, and in
sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold,
You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You
will make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make
me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide
Your face from my sins, And blot out all
my iniquities.
10 Create
in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a
steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do
not cast me away from Your presence, And
do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” (Ps. 51:5-11).
We
often hear these days that love means accepting people as they are. You could do no greater harm to people than
not to correct them when you see them doing evil things. If they mind, they are not worth having as
friends. Such an attitude is not from God, but from the Devil, and you would
not want to have fellowship with anyone who is not a child of God.
We are
yet to find anyone who says, please tell us where we are wrong so that we do
not miss out on eternal life. On the
contrary, they are all fiercely defensive of their religion, even though they
have never looked into it to make sure that its doctrines led to life and not
to damnation. The Scriptures tell us that by the time of the end, all churches
and religions would depart from the true path so much that they take arms
against Jesus Christ when He comes to save them.
11Now I saw
heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was
called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12His
eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were
many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13He was
clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of
God. 14And the armies in heaven, clothed in £fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white
horses. 15Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that
with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod
of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of
Almighty God. 16And He has on His robe and on His
thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS
This is the purpose of the crisscrossing
of the world by certain religious leaders these days: not to prepare the world
to receive Jesus Christ with open arms, but to take up arms against Him. They do that in the name of the so-called ‘ecumenical
movement’.
Why
Apostle Peter Could Not
Have Been the First Pope Of
It is a long tradition in the
Catholic Church that Apostle Peter was its first Pope. Many historians however disagree with it,
pointing out that the first list of Popes was compiled more than a century and
a half later.
“Power and
the glory of papal struggles” “Historians
disagree about the exact number of pontiffs and much else concerning the
papacy. Although the Catholic Church
claims an unbroken line of popes going back to the apostle Peter, tracing it is
like following a meandering river back to the source. For example, the
Like most early historians, he did not include Peter. The first
leader of the Christian community, according to him, was Linus followed by
Anacleus, Clement, Evaristus and Alexander.
No one knew who the next in line was,
so Iranaeus called him Sixtus – six. There have so far been five popes with
that name, so it is a fair bet that the next pontiff will not be called Sixtus
VI.” Popes have been changing their
names as far back as the sixth century. But with monikers like Poppo of Brixen,
Pietro Buccaporca (pig’s snout) and Maurice Burdanus (the donkey), it is easy
to understand why. This has increased
the confusion and discrepancy in an historical record strewn with anti-popes
who were not always bad popes and popes who were not always holy . . . Electing a pope used to be a Spartan affair.
It took 18 prelates meetings in Viterbo three years to agree on Pope Gregory X,
which did in 1271. This was only after
citizens tore off the roof of the palace where they were residing to supposedly
help the Holy Spirit reach the cardinals.
Gregory then decreed that cardinals should be locked up in future
conclaves, with their rations systematically reduced during prolonged elections
. . . But however stressful modern papal
elections, they are nothing compared with the drama of the early centuries of
Christianity, when popes struggles to establish their power as the Roman empire
was collapsing and threats abounded from other cultures and religions. Pontiffs
became absolute monarchs, with their own army, administrations and lands, until
other European kings re-asserted their own rights, shrinking the papacy’s power
and forcing it to revert to its age-old spiritual role.” (The
Daily Telegraph,
The Catholic Encyclopedia however, an
‘authoritative’ source in these matters, gives the following lists of Popes:
1. St. Peter
(32-67) 18. St. Pontain (230-35)
2. St. Linus
(67-76) 19. St. Anterus (235-36)
3. St. Anacletus
(Cletus) (76-88) 20. St. Fabian ((236-50)
4. St. Clement I
(88-97) 21.
St. Cornelius (251-53)
5. St. Evaristus
(97-105) 22. St. Lucius I (253-54)
6. St. Alexander
I (105-115) 23.
St. Stephan I (254-57)
7. St. Sixtus I
(115-125) -- also called Xystus I 24. St. Sixtus II (257-58)
8. St.
Telesphorus (125-136) 25.
St. Dionysius (260-68)
9. St. Hyginus
(136-140) 26. St. Felix I (269-74)
10. St. Pius I
(140-155) 27. St. Eutychian (275-83)
11. St. Anicetus
(155-166) 28. St. Caius (283-296) –
also called Gaius
12. St. Soter
(166-175) 29. St. Marcellinus (296–304)
13. St.
Eleutherius (175-189) 30.
St. Marcellus I (308-309)
14. St. Victor I
(189-199) 31. St. Eusebius (309 or 310)
15. St.
Zephyrinus (199-217) 32.
St. Miltiades (311-14)
16. St. Callistus
I (217-22) 33. St. Sylvester I (314-35)
17. St. Urban I
(222-30) 34. St. Marcus (336)
We stopped at Pope 34 – St. Marcus –
for a very important reason, namely that it takes us past the Council of Nicaea
which took place in the year 325. At
that Council, Christianity was supposed to have become officially the religion
of the
We have often discussed this topic in
the past, and those who wish to look at it again can begin with The Christian Herald No 11. Now however, we want to concentrate on the
one item that the Catholic Church claims as its bona fides – the mission that
Jesus Christ gave to Apostle Peter which was supposed to have been passed on to
all Popes after him.
“13When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi,
He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man,
am?” 14So they said,
“Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one
of the prophets.”
15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered and said,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are
you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,
but My Father who is in heaven. 18And I also say to you that
you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades
shall not prevail against it. 19And I will give you the keys of
the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in
heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Mat.
16:13-19).
A mighty mission and great
empowerment Jesus Christ gave to His leading Apostle.
Now it should be easy to prove that
Apostle Peter was the first head of the Catholic Church, because that was a
very advanced period for its time and left behind large volumes of writings –
historical, religious, literary, military, and just about any other subject. It
is from this time also that we have the New Testament. And yet, there is not a single piece of
writing from that period that places Apostle Peter at the head of the Catholic
Church, or indeed anywhere near
Let us leave aside the fact that
historians cannot locate any document which would confirm that Apostle Peter
was the first Pope in
First of all, we must point out that
we do not address Peter as ‘Saint’ but as ‘Apostle’, because the term ‘Saint’
is never used in the Bible as an honorific title, but merely as a descriptive
term of membership in the Churches of God.
The title ‘Apostle’ on the other hand was specifically given by Jesus
Christ to a limited number of disciples who would hold positions of kings and
priests under Him in the
And while we are talking about
titles, Apostle Peter would never have taken upon himself the title of ‘Father’
used these days by Catholic prelates, let alone ‘Holy Father’ so loved by its
Popes. Why not? Because he heard Jesus Christ personally saying, “9Do
not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in
heaven.” (Mat.23:9).
One should never forget also that the
Third Commandment says, “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.”
(Ex.20:7). If what the Popes are doing is
not taking the name of the God in vain, what is it? The title “Holy Father’ belongs to God and to
Him alone, and that is why any man who presumes to call himself by that tile
commits an unpardonable blasphemy. The title ‘Holy Father’ is found only once
in the Bible, and it was used by Jesus Christ to address His Father in
heaven.
9“I pray for them. I do
not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are
Yours. 10And all Mine are
Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11Now
I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You.
Holy
Father, keep through Your name those
whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.” (John 17:9-11).
By apportioning for themselves the
title of ‘Holy Father’, the Popes took the role of God, and made it sound as if
Jesus Christ would have prayed to them. Apostle Peter would never have done
that.
The Catholic encyclopedia says that
Apostle Peter took his position of Pope in the year 32, and held it until the
year 67. It does not tell us where it
got that information from, but we know that it did not get it from the Bible,
because the Bible proves the very opposite – that Apostle Peter was never in
It also means that Peter became Pope
while Jesus Christ was still on this earth before He was even crucified.
Why then does the Catholic Encyclopedia
list Peter as Pope in the year 32?
Because it knows that it cannot prove that he went to
In the book of Acts, we find the
following statement: “11But the following night the Lord stood by
him and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in
That was the year 60 AD, some 28
years after Peter was supposed to have taken his position as Pope in
Now if Peter was already in
“”20And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where
Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation, 21but as
it is written: “To whom He was not announced, they shall see; And
those who have not heard shall understand.”
22For this
reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you. 23But
now no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these
many years to come to you, 24whenever I journey to Spain,
I shall come to you.” (
Apostle Paul was hindered
at first from going to
Now clearly if Apostle
Peter had already laid the foundation of the
In the conclusion of that
epistle, Apostle Paul greeted and named just about every Christian in that
city. Apostle Peter was not among
them. Notice:
“1I commend
to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, 2that
you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist
her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper
of many and of myself also. 3Greet
Priscilla and
17Now I
urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to
the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. 18For those who
are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by
smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. 19For
your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but
I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. 20And
the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. (Rom.16:1-20).
Apostle Paul is telling the
“brethren” of
“The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the Ancient Roman
College of Pontiffs. This was the most
important position in the Ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians,
until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post. A distinctly religious
office under the early Roman Republic, it gradually became politicized
until, beginning with Augustus, it was subsumed into the Imperial office. It was
last held by the Christian Roman Emperor Gratian
until the title passed over to the Bishop of Rome.
Today, "Pontifex Maximus" is one of the titles of the Bishop of
Rome as Pope of the Catholic
Church. As a papal title, the translation Supreme Pontiff is
customary when writing in English, in which the Latin term Pontifex Maximus
refers to the former pagan Roman post. But Latin is still the
official language of the Catholic Church and of the Vatican, and the Latin form
Pontifex Maximus is still used in reference to the Pope when writing or
speaking in that language. The title appears regularly on buildings, monuments
and coins (among other things) dedicated by or otherwise made during each
specific pontificate.”
The Collegium Pontificum or College of Pontiffs was the most
important priesthood of ancient Rome. The foundation of this sacred college is
attributed to the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius.
It is safe to say that the collegium was tasked to act as advisers of
the rex (king) in all matters of religion. The collegium was
headed by the pontifex maximus and all the pontifices held their
office for life. Prior to its institution, all religious and administrative
functions and powers were naturally exercised by the king. Very little is known
about this period of Roman history regarding the pontiffs as the main
historical sources are lost and some of the events from this period are regarded
as semi-legendary or mythical. Most of the records of ancient Rome were
destroyed when it was sacked by the Gauls in 390 BC. Accounts from this early
period come from excerpts of writings made during the Republican Period.”
“The pontifex
maximus was not a real magistrate: he did not serve for a fixed period but for
life, and he remained, officially, a citizen. As the title suggests, the
pontifex maximus was 'the greatest' or chairman of the college of the pontifices,
'priests'. They were responsible for the Roman state cult as a whole and for
several cults in particular, viz. the cults that had no priestly college of
their own (such as the augures, the decemviri sacris faciundis
and the fetiales). The number of
pontifices continued to grow. There were originally five 'real' pontifices,
after the Lex Ogulnia (300/299
The main task of the
pontifices was to maintain the pax deorum, the 'peace with the gods'. To
obtain this goal, they gave advise to the magistrates, interpreted the omens,
controlled the calendar and oversaw funerals. The pontifex maximus was
responsible for a large collection of omens (annales maximi); every
year, he wrote down the celestial and other signs, and added the events that
had followed the omens, so that future generation would be able to better
understand the divine will.
Until the Lex
Ogulnia, all pontifices were patricians; this law introduced the possibility
that plebeians were to be pontifex as well. The
pontifex maximus was elected by the comitia tributa, an assembly of the
people that was divided into voting districts. After 104
Julius Caesar was
elected pontifex maximus in 63
The word pontifex
is sometimes explained as 'bridge builder', but is in fact related to the
Etruscan word pont, 'road', and means something like 'preparer of the
road'. The pope still calls himself pontifex maximus. Because the pontifex maximus was not a real
magistrate, he was not allowed to wear the toga with the purple border.
However, he could be recognized by the iron knife (secespita).
In 381, the Roman emperor Gratian was the first to decline to use the
title of pontifex maximus. It was accepted by the pope.”
We can deduct a few points from these
articles.
1. The title ‘Pontifex Maximus’ had
its origins in
2. Roman religious establishment was
an extraordinarily complex and hierarchical one. On what basis would that establishment have
accepted an alien as its leader?
Remember, Apostle Paul found only a handful of Christians in
3. Although the title ‘Pontifex
Maximus’ had been taken over by the emperors, Roman religious leaders still
retained the titles of rex sacrorum (sacred
or divine king), and rex sacrificulum ('king of the
sacrifices'). These titles speak for
themselves. The first assumed that the Pontiffs’ position was of divine origin,
while the second made them kings of sacrifices. Remember, they even sacrificed
humans in their ceremonial games in those days. All their public ceremonies had the blessing
of the emperor and the religious leader.
The gladiators used to say to
their leader: ‘those who are about to die salute you’, and the Coliseum would
erupt in applause and stand in awe. The
emperors took that honor upon themselves for a while, but long before and after
them that honour belonged to the Roman religious leaders.
On what basis then would a foreigner
like Peter have been elevated to that supreme religious position? And would he have accepted it? It would have
put him in opposition to Jesus Christ who forbade His followers to take such honorific
titles.
4. The Roman religious leader was
also “responsible for the eighteen priestesses of the goddess Vesta”. Would Apostle Peter have accepted to be in
charge of eighteen priestesses of the goddess Vesta? In the first Churches of God, there were no
monks and no nuns. Of the main apostles,
only Paul was celibate and wile he told his followers that it would be good for
them all to be like him, he made no doctrine about it. Apostle Peter, on the other hand, was married
even before he was called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. In his first epistle, written from
This epistle is dated in the year 60.
What was Peter doing in
5. The Roman religious leader was
also responsible for reading omens. And
how did the Romans do that? By looking
at the entrails of animals: chicken, lambs, pigs, etc... Can one imagine an apostle of Jesus Christ
doing such a thing?
It is interesting to note that just
as Paul sent an epistle to the Romans in which he named the Christians of that
city among whom Peter did not appear, he also sent an epistle from
“7Tychicus,
a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell
you all the news about
10Aristarchus
my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you
received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him), 11and
Jesus who is called Justus. These are my only fellow workers for
the
16Now when
this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the
Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the epistle from
18This
salutation by my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with
you. Amen.” (Col. 4:7-18).
The
epistle to the Colossians was written in the year 64, four years after the
epistle to the Romans. Yet in this time
the Church of Rome instead of growing had diminished. None of the Christians mentioned din the
first epistle appear in the second. And
of course, just as in the epistle to the Romans, the Colossian epistle does not
mention Peter. So in the year 64, just
three years before he was supposed to have been martyred in that city, Apostle
Peter still had not appeared in
Now
have a look at this:
“After these things Paul departed from
This chapter of the book of Acts,
describes events of the year 54 AD. At
that time, Christians had not yet been distinguished from the Jews. In that year, Claudius had commanded all the
Jews to depart from
And if you want still more proof that
Peter never went to
“16Now when
we came to
17And it
came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews
together. So when they had come together, he said to them: “Men and
brethren, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our
fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the
Romans, 18who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me
go, because there was no cause for putting me to death. 19But
when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to
Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation. 20For
this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak
with you, because for the hope of
‘Go to this people and say:
“Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you
will see, and not perceive;
27 For
the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are
hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see
with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they
should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal
them.”’
28“Therefore
let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles,
and they will hear it!” 29And when he had said these words, the
Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. 30Then Paul dwelt two whole years
in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, 31preaching
the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ
with all confidence, no one forbidding him.” (Acts 28:16-31).
If
Peter had been in
When
Paul was tried in
“1I
charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2Preach
the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke,
exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3For the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own
desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for
themselves teachers; 4and they will turn their ears
away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5But you be
watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil
your ministry.
6For I am
already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is
at hand. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
race, I have kept the faith. 8Finally, there is
laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,
will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved
His appearing.
9Be
diligent to come to me quickly; 10for Demas has forsaken me,
having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for
Would
Apostle Peter have abandoned Paul also if he were in
After
setting up the first Church in
“1Peter, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2elect according to
the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for
obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.” (1 Peter 1:2).
The pilgrims of the dispersion were
the scattered Israelites and Jews who fled from the conquering armies of the
Assyrians and Babylonians. Later,
Apostle Peter went to
The question must be asked: if there
is so much proof that Apostle Paul went to
Because it needed Jesus’ mission to Apostle
Peter to conquer the world, not Paul’s mission to just convert it.
“18And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this
rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against
it. 19And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you
loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Mat. 16:18-19).
The
“Clemency call for Saddam” “AUSTRALIAN
social justice advocates have supported a
5Surely
for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of
every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every
man’s brother I will require the life of man.
6“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be
shed; For in the image of God He
made man.” (Gen. 9:5-6).
Did you get it? God says that murderers must pay with their
life because they have taken life which was made in the image of God, while the
Catholic Church says that murderers should not pay with their life because they
are made in the image of God.
Now who do you think is right, God or the Catholic
Church? Isn’t it amazing how many
millions, even billions, of people believe the Catholic Church and how few
believe the Scriptures – the very Word of God?
“39They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our
father.” Jesus said to them, “If
you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40But
now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from
God. Abraham did not do this. 41You do the deeds of your
father.” Then they said to Him, “We were
not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”
42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you
would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of
Myself, but He sent Me. 43Why do you not understand My speech?
Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44You are
of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want
to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his
own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45But
because I tell the truth, you do not believe
48Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say
rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” (John 8: 39-48).
31“Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32Jesus
answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which
of those works do you stone Me?” 33The
Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for
blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” 34Jesus answered
them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’? 35If
He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be
broken), 36do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and
sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of
God’? 37If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe
Me; 38but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the
works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me,
and I in Him.” 39Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but
He escaped out of their hand.” (John 10:31-39).
18“For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because
what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it
to them. 20For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that
they are without excuse, 21because, although they knew God,
they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became
futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Professing
to be wise, they became fools, 23and changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and
four-footed animals and creeping things.
24Therefore
God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonour
their bodies among themselves, 25who exchanged the truth of God
for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who
is blessed forever. Amen.
26For
this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged
the natural use for what is against nature. 27Likewise also the
men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one
another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves
the penalty of their error which was due.
28And
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God
gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not
fitting; 29being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual
immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30backbiters,
haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents, 31undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving,
unmerciful; 32who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that
those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but
also approve of those who practice them.” (Rom.1:18-32).
17“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
I did not come to destroy but to fulfil. 18For assuredly, I say
to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means
pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19Whoever 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. 20For I say
to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of
heaven.” (Mat.5:17-20).
“When
Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to
her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned
you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And
Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
(John 8:10-11).
Second, the Scriptures tell us that
God does not change. (Mal.3:6). Therefore
His eternal laws do not change either.
“16If
anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead
to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin
not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I
do not say that he should pray about that. 17All
unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death. 18We know that whoever is born
of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself,
and the wicked one does not touch him. 19We
know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of
the wicked one. 20And we know
that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may
know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life. 21Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. ” (1John
25“Husbands
love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for
her, 26that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing
of water by the word, 27that He might present her to Himself
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she
should be holy and without blemish. 28So husbands ought to
love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves
himself. 29For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes
and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30For
we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31“For
this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.” 32This is
a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33Nevertheless
let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the
wife see that she respects her husband.” Eph. 5:25-33).
8“For you were once darkness, but now you are
light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of
the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and
truth), 10finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11And
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
expose them. 12For it is shameful even to speak of
those things which are done by them in secret. 13But all things
that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is
light. 14Therefore He says:
“Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you
light.” 15See then that you
walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16redeeming the
time, because the days are evil.” (Eph.5:8-15).
10“When Jesus
heard it, He marvelled, and said to those who
followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not
even in
11“But when the king
came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding
garment. 12So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here
without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13Then the king
said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take
him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.’ 14“For
many are called, but few are chosen.” (Mat.22:11-14).
3“And I will give power to my two
witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days,
clothed in sackcloth.”
4These are
the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the
earth. 5And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from
their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he
must be killed in this manner. 6These have power to shut
heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have
power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all
plagues, as often as they desire.
7When they
finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will
make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. 8And their
dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which
spiritually is called
11Now after
the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they
stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12And they
heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they
ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13In
the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In
the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and
gave glory to the God of heaven.” (Rev.11:3-13).
Jesus Christ left no doubt which day He expects to
find His followers observing when He returns to this earth. This is what He told them when they asked Him
about it.
15“Therefore
when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel
the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him
understand), 16“then let those who are in
The reason they must pray that their flight from the Great Tribulation should not occur on the Sabbath is because that is a day of rest and worship, and they are not allowed to carry heavy burdens on that day.
Amazingly, Sabbath observing people are once again embroiled in a fierce debate on how to observe this day.
Two years ago, we received the following email from a congregation that simply signs itself as ‘Blow the Trumpet’
“Dear friends, For nearly two years Blow the Trumpet has pressed God's Church to seriously address the issue of His people dining out on the Sabbath. For the most part leaders have attempted to dismiss this topic as unimportant as well as divisive. Some groups have even directed their members to refrain from discussing it altogether and have actually warned them that failure to conform to the church's position could result in expulsion. Blow the Trumpet has written extensively on this subject and continues to receive words of encouragement from scores of members who have humbly sought God's wisdom on this critical end time issue. We invite their comments and will always respond.
Recently we have received numerous requests to respond to a paper written by the United Church of God, defending this practice. We have done so in a series of articles that can be accessed by clicking the following link: http://blowthetrumpet.org/TheUnitedChurchofGodvsASabbathTest.htm . Respectfully, “Blow the Trumpet.”
We did not reply to this email and paid no further attention to it. We do not enter into discussion with people who write anonymously, or who hide behind epithets or some other subterfuges. Last year, they sent us this email again.
Now you would think that since they had received “encouragement from scores of members who have humbly sought God’s wisdom on this critical end time issue”, they would have enough to settle this question once and for all, but no, they still want our opinion. Well, we will give it to them; we just hope they will like it.
The easiest way to settle this question would be to go to the Jews for to them were given the ‘oracles’ of God, as Apostle Paul called the laws, judgments and statutes that God gave to Moses.
1What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit
of circumcision? 2Much in every way! Chiefly because to them
were committed the oracles of God. 3For what if some did not
believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 4Certainly
not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.” (
The apostles and the early Churches of God had no doubt which was the correct day of rest and worship, or how to observe it.