IS IT A QUESTION OF SURVIVAL
OR SALVATION?
Is life on this planet at a crisis
point?
Has humanity fallen into a mire from
which it cannot escape?
There is plenty of anecdotal
evidence
which suggests that this is precisely the
case.
Last year, scientists told
us that the depletion of the ozone layer is much greater than previously
thought. The ozone hole is getting
bigger all the time, yet with all the talk about alternative solutions to the
CFC gases the fact is that the process of destruction of the ozone layer has
not even been stopped, let alone reversed.
The increase in the ultra-violet radiation
has already triggered epidemics of skin cancer in humans and animals in
countries closer to the poles from where the ozone hole is expanding.
In the last couple of years, there has been
an unexplainable drop in rice yields in the countries of
Specialists in the field are at a loss to
explain this phenomenon, but scientists have already told us that the thinning
of the ozone layer affects the development of both animal and plant life. The plankton in the sea, upon which depend
all marine life and ultimately land life as well and which maintains a balance
in nature by recycling carbon dioxide emissions, a role more important than
ever now after the destruction of the forests, is being damaged directly by
ultraviolet radiation.
The
fishing industries around the world provide one and a half billion meals every
day. By the turn of the century this
demand is expected to double. But
fishermen are already having difficulties meeting the current demand let alone
double that. A history of mismanagement
and over-exploitation has led to a drastic reduction in the fishing stocks
worldwide.
At
a time when organic and mineral resources are declining, experts are telling us
that the world population will double within a generation. More arable land will be taken out of
production for human settlements, so that even less food will be produced. The apocalyptic images of starvation from
The
discussion about world over-population has taken a bizarre twist lately. The producers of the Far Eastern Economic
Review suggested recently that those who talk about impending doom are of a
"racial cast." The idea of over-population, they say, is a white
man's plot designed to rule the world through population control.
How
did they come to this astonishing conclusion?
No one worries about too many white people, only about too many yellow
or brown people, and since most of the complainants are white it follows that
this is a plot designed to put the white race above the others. A new form of colonialism in other words.
The
article goes on to explain why no one needs to worry about overpopulation. It takes as example
“Each
additional worker means a bigger pie for all.
Thus food production, to name perhaps the most obvious resource, far
exceeds the growth in population.
Indeed, we have reached the point where famine is almost always man-made
... whether in Stalin's
What
figures did these people use to reach their conclusions? That the famines in
For
several years,
The
Far Eastern Economic Review ignores the fact that both
How many
countries have a labor shortage aside from
As
for the statement that "each additional worker means a bigger pie for
all," the Chinese leaders obviously have not heard about that one
yet. For more than a decade they have
been trying desperately to stabilize their population at 900 million. They even imposed fines on those that had
more than one child and rewarded those who followed this policy. Today,
By
the turn of the century,
At
present,
With
the doubling of the world population in about thirty years time, every country
will need to feed twice as many people as it feeds now. Does anyone seriously think that food
production will double in that time?
Then double again in less than thirty years, and keep doubling with
every new generation?
It
is simply impossible for food production to keep up with the population growth
when the farming area must shrink in order to make room for more human
settlements. Even if the "pie"
is not shrinking, the slice from it will be getting smaller as more people will
need to be fed from it. But the world
does not need to wait thirty years to reach a crisis point. We are already familiar with famines,
droughts, ecological disasters, greenhouse effect, ultraviolet radiation,
social unrest, crime, drugs, unemployment, family breakdown, epidemics, etc.
Massive
changes in the weather pattern have produced major disasters around the
world. We have become used to describing
natural disasters in superlatives terms - the worst, the biggest, the most, the
longest, of everything: hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts, volcanoes, floods,
famines, etc.
"A record number of tornadoes (1381 in all)
touched down on
Farmers in
Weather-related losses at Lloyd's of London are
staggering. Says underwriter Richard
Keeling: 'From what we have experienced over the past four or five years,
either we have been very unlucky or things are getting worse out there...’
Why are so many records being set in so many places
right now? Could it have anything to do
with the holes mankind has drilled in the ozone layer? The forests it has levelled? The greenhouse gases it has pumped into the
atmosphere? No reputable scientist will say that what the
world is experiencing now is the early effects of global warming - even if a
few privately suspect it to be so."' (Time,
July 19, 1993).
Three weeks later, Time
magazine wrote again:
"Floods are as ancient as Noah's time and as
new as last week. In southern
Only
two years ago, nearly three quarters of
In
Here
in
The
drought in
Droughts
are a natural occurrence in this country, but the severity and frequency with
which they have been occurring lately indicate that they no longer follow a
natural cycle. Man has had a leading
hand in bringing about this disaster.
Not
long after I arrived in this country, a little over a decade ago, I was offered
a job in a small country town in central
The
farmers have cut down the trees to make it easy for their agricultural
machinery and to increase their profit.
In the Australian climate this is nothing short of madness. In so doing, they have weakened the soil
against wind and rains, and created conditions for continuous and severe
droughts.
Two years
ago, the city of
In my
days as a child in
My
parents never planted the same crop two years in a row. They always alternated crops. But all that was destroyed when the
communists came with their “scientific socialism." The trees, the hedges
and the dams were leveled out and everyone was forced to work on huge
featureless estates. They never
alternated crops, always planting wheat.
Within a few short years, the land lay in ruins and the people in
misery.
The
communists must be the only people in the history of the world who never
learned from their mistakes. No matter
how bad things became, they persisted with their ill-conceived practices. When the crops kept failing, they decided
that it was because of saboteurs. So
they started arresting and killing the leading and most efficient peasants,
“the enemies of the proletariat." They were made an example to other
reluctant peasants, but things did not improve.
The communist utopia turned into an indescribable nightmare. And to think that there are still people who
believe in that kind of communism and want to restore it.
Before
the communists took over,
The
question is who forced the Australian, the American and other free world
farmers to adopt equally destructive farming methods? Is it a mere coincidence that with the
destruction of most of the world's forests and the adoption of such ruinous
farming methods, the world finds itself in a crisis of survival?
The
Cold War ended with the demise of communism, but how much hope does capitalism
offer?
“As far back as 1942, William Hocking, professor of
philosophy at Harvard, dismissed the nostrum that urbanization was the key to
economic and social progress.
'Capitalism can maintain its health only on three conditions,' he wrote.
(i) It must take the problem of employment as its collective responsibility: it
must satisfy the will to work. (ii) The owning and use of capital must be
general. (iii) Ownership in its sense must be widely diffused; this means the
ownership of real property instead of mere abstract tokens such as money and
securities. And real property comes to
its best expression in the farm operated by its owner or owners, for here we
have capital bearing its natural and unchallenged fruit in direct response to
labor and intelligent investment.
Five decades later such concepts are not even worth a laugh in a society
which prefers to make its money out of paper-shuffling, but is now, as a result
of this interpretation of progress, flat on its back waiting for the Keating-type
recovery which, whether in
One of the West's most successful practitioners of
‘playing the markets’, Sir James Goldsmith, put his finger on the nub. 'When people are forced to move from the countryside
to the towns, both the countryside and the towns are destabilized. The famous favelas of
Large mechanized, scientific farms did produce more food per person
directly employed, but those no longer employed were chased into towns,
creating vast urban concentrations with their attendant slums.
As they were uprooted not only from their homes but also from their
cultures and families, the refugees and their children were reduced to
dependence on welfare and crime."' (B.A. Santamaria, The Weekend Australian, July 31, 1993).
There are now close to 30 million unemployed people in
the Western industrial countries, and their numbers are still growing.
"
"The continuing international recession (apart from China and the
developing Asian economies) has many people concerned that the world's trading
system is on verge of collapse, with serious consequences including increasing
political conflict between the US, Europe and Japan...
The result of the renewed Japan-bashing and the enthusiasm for ‘managed
trade’ and the North American Free Trade Agreement by the Clinton
Administration may not merely be the relative impoverishment of the world
economy. The dangers inherent in
allowing the
The
former
People
who are environmentally conscious know about the devastation caused by the
Exxon Valdez oil spill in
On
the political scene, things are hardly better.
The West has put all its hopes in President Yeltsin's ability and
determination to introduce democratic reforms in
On
the economic sphere, the one great resource that gives
Last
year, gathered at the Rio International Summit, more than one hundred heads of
states to discuss the frightening deterioration of the environment. They discussed things, and that's all. Has anyone heard anything about that event
since?
Human
beings have an uncanny ability to discuss things when they get to a crisis
point, then leave the problems to others to resolve. This time, however, the problems will not be
resolved by others. The world is no
longer facing temporary local problems, but intractable worldwide
problems. It is no longer a question of
survival, but one of salvation. But
science cannot save; only God can.
Human
beings, however, have decided that there is no room for God in their
deliberations. Even when the world is
crumbling around them, when it is becoming obvious that life itself is in
danger of extinction, they will not turn to the only source that can save them.
They
seek immortality through "scientific" methods such as cryogenics
(deep-freezing of the corpse in the hope that one day scientists will discover
the secret of immortality, cure their diseased bodies and revive them to
eternal life), and perpetual replacement of body parts with robotic devises or
genetically cloned body parts. That's
the kind of immortality science offers humanity.
That
educated people can come up with such absurdities is a witness to the
bankruptcy of our educational system.
That is the effect of compartmentalizing our tertiary studies in rigid
disciplines without any relation to each other.
It should be obligatory for all university students to study humanity
subjects. As it is, we get medical
graduates without ethics, lawyers without morals, and scientists with distorted
visions of the future.
They
need to study not just any humanity subjects, but the good old fashion
classics, philosophy and religion.
During my university studies, the head of the Religious Studies
Department once said that "time was when in philosophical studies people
talked about God and the meaning of life, about ethics and values, but no
more." These days they have a "Theory" that if people understand
what they study, it is not worth studying.
Searching
for truth, God, and a moral purpose in life does not go well with evolutionary
thinking. In the struggle for survival
there is no room for compassion, altruistic feelings and transcendental goals. Hedonistic materialism and the pursuit of
mindless pleasures, are the things that count in our "enlightened"
society. That is why humanity finds
itself on the brink of catastrophe.
RELIGIOUS
DECEPTION
While human beings refuse to believe in
the true God, they have no qualms about believing in demonism, satanic rituals,
witchcraft, blasphemy, infidelity, adultery, horror, perversions, incest,
etc. Go to any bookstore and see how
many books you find there about these subjects, and then see how many books you
can find about God. Few people suspect
that there is a spiritual connection in all these things.
It is no
mere coincidence that at a time when the very survival of life on this planet
is in question, humanity finds itself in the darkest spiritual condition. The problems the world is facing these days
are the ones Jesus Christ said would occur at the end of this age. In the twenty forth chapter of the book of
Matthew, He spoke of wars and rumors of wars, of famines, pestilences, earthquakes,
tribulations, betrayals, lawlessness, etc.
Anyone reading that chapter would not fail to recognize that they are
very much part of our world today.
Jesus
Christ said that these things will culminate in a world conflagration of such
magnitude that unless God intervenes to cut those days short no flesh will
survive. Why is it then that in spite of
all these ominous signs people still do not understand the urgency of the times
in which we live? It is because of
deception. Deception on such a scale that
staggers the imagination.
Jesus
Christ began and finished His prophecy by telling His followers to be on guard
against false preachers, false prophets and false christs:
"Now as He sat on the
"And unless those days were shortened, no
flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.
Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ' or 'There' do not
believe it. For false christs and false
prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if
possible, even the elect. See, I have
told you before hand." (Matt.
24:22-25).
If
religious deception is so widespread and plays such an important role in world
affairs at this time, why don't we hear about it more often? Who are the people who are deceived, who are
the deceivers, and who are the elect?
Herein lies one of the most astounding mysteries of all time. Arm yourself with a good Bible, and get ready
for the discovery of your life.
THE WORK OF ELIJAH
At one time,
the disciples of Jesus Christ came to Him and asked:
“‘Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come
first?’ Then Jesus answered and said to
them, 'Elijah truly is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come
already, and they did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is about to suffer at
their hands.' Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the
Baptist." (Matt. 17:10-13).
Before
Jesus Christ returns to this earth, a prophet must come in the spirit of Elijah
to restore all things. Not just a few
things, but ALL THINGS. The question is, what are the things that need to be
restored?
To
begin with, if there is so much deception at this time, the first thing that
needs to be restored is truth. In the
Bible, truth is associated with the Gospel of the
"But even if our Gospel is veiled, it is
veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded,
who do not believe, lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God, should shine on them." (2 Cor. 4:3-4).
If
the Gospel was already being veiled from those who did not believe the truth
two thousand years ago, what must be the condition of the world now? What gospel is being preached in the churches
these days? If it is the correct gospel,
why is there a need for Elijah to come and restore all things? ‘All things’ surely must include the Gospel
of the
When
the god of this world set out to deceive the world, he chose the Gospel as his
main target. Getting people to believe a
wrong gospel means causing them to loose their salvation.
The
true Gospel is virtually unknown even among the Christian churches let alone
among the rest of the world. If Christ
were to return before Elijah completed his preparatory work, He would not be
recognized as a Savior; He would be regarded as a hostile alien. Dozens of films have been made about the
arrival of dangerous aliens, but none about the arrival of a benevolent and
loving Savior. If you think that there
is no connection between what they do in
The
Bible says that before the great day of the Lord, the whole world will be
gathered to do battle against Jesus Christ (Rev. 16:14-16). This means that
Elijah will not have had much success in getting the world to believe his
message, but at least his work will serve as a witness against an unbelieving
world.
The
next thing which needs to be restored, and one which connects well with the
first, is faith. In a discussion with
His disciples Jesus Christ implied that when He returns there will be little
faith in the world: "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He
really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).
Truth
and faith go hand in hand. If one
disappears, the other is sure to follow suit.
Truth about God's plan for mankind and faith in His love and power of
salvation are the missing ingredients in the world today. But how can people believe in God when they
are bombarded from birth till death with the fallacy of evolution? Our educational system is not designed to
reveal God, but to prevent human beings from discovering Him.
Even
the Churches of God - the most fundamentalist of all churches - have succumbed
to this deception. To be sure, they
don't preach straight Darwinian evolution - they have sweetened it with gaps
and long ages - but this does not make it any less satanic.
The
third important element missing in the world today is love. A well-known song says, "what the world needs
now is love, sweet love." Yes, love
sweet love, the problem is, those who sing it know little about true love. They have equated love with lust and
infatuation, and while there is plenty of that around there is precious little
true love, the love that comes from God.
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to
the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike
the earth with a curse." (Mal. 4:5-6).
There
has been much discussion in the churches about who “the fathers” in this
passage might be. The Churches of God
have decided that they are the Patriarchs of the Old Testament. They have not explained though how one is to
turn the heart of dead people to their children and vice verse.
Most
biblical prophecies have a dual fulfillment.
In this case, the word refers as much to our human parents - families
are torn apart by divorce and hatred - as to our heavenly Fathers. The prophet Isaiah wrote:
"Look down from heaven, and see Your
habitation, holy and glorious. Where is
Your zeal and Your strength, the yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward
me? Are they restrained? Doubtless You are our Father, though Abraham
was ignorant of us, and
The
Patriarchs are not the fathers; "Abraham is ignorant of us, and
When
one of the disciples asked Jesus to show them the Father, He said: "Have I
been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me Philip? He who has seen Me
has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father?"' (John
14:9). And when they asked Him to teach
them how to pray, this is what He told them:
"When you pray, you shall not be like the
hypocrites. For they love to pray
standing in the synagogues [and churches] and on the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen by men. Assuredly,
I say to you, they have their reward.
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your
door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees
in secret will reward you openly.
But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as
the heathen do. For they think that they
will be heard for their many words.
Therefore do not be like them.
For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask
Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
Your Kingdom come. Your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we
forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." (Matt. 6:9-13).
Jesus
Christ used the word ‘Father’ no less than four times in this passage to refer
to our Creator God. But why did He not
tell His disciples to pray to the Fathers instead of the Father, did He not
know that there were at least two people at the moment of creation? Of course He knew, He was the second Person
(John 1:13). But the convention
throughout the Bible is that we pray to the Godhead, the Creator God and Father
of all.
Jesus
Himself prayed to the Father, and since He acknowledged that the Father is
greater than Him (John
We
could have cited only the first verse of the “Lord's Prayer”, to prove our
point, but we thought we'd give you the whole thing in case you decide to try
it sometime. When you pray, do it slowly
and think about the meaning of each verse.
When you finish once, do it again, and a third time if need be. After that, you may bring before God your
other problems.
Do
not go before God with requests only; start by giving Him praise, glory and
honor; thank Him for His great creation, and for calling you to become His son
or daughter. You will notice the peace
of mind and the confidence that come with prayer almost from the
beginning. The more you pray, the better
you will feel.
There
is no prescribed amount of time required for prayer, but as a general guide if
you begin and end your day with this formula, you have what should be your
minimum for the day. In the Bible, there
are examples of short and effective prayers and of long prayers. Jesus Christ used to pray by the hour, but
you are not Jesus Christ and neither am I.
Some
churches forbid their followers to repeat the Lord's Prayer - the Churches of
God among them - on the pretext that Jesus Christ told His followers not to
engage in vain repetitions. Repeating
the “Lord's Prayer” twice or three times slowly for the purpose of sinking in
its message is not vain repetition. If
you have ever heard the Hare Krishna people chanting their mantras you will
understand what a vain repetition is.
Even some Christian churches have a fixed formula which they repeat ad
nauseam. That is vain repetition.
When
you pray, imagine the Father and Jesus Christ on their throne listening to you,
ready to help you overcome your problems and weaknesses. Do not think of God as being distant and
unapproachable, but as a loving and forgiving Father.
You
must not put anyone between you and God such as a saint or Mary the mother of
Jesus. Neither should you listen to
those who say that God and Jesus Christ are not distinct persons. This is what the ministers in the Worldwide
Church of God are preaching these days:
"We do not believe that the Bible teaches that
the Father and the Son are persons.
Neither do we believe that the Father created Jesus.” (The Plain
Truth, January 1993, p.2).
What
Bible do these people read? We have not
heard of a Bible that does not teach that God created us in His image. And if He created us in His image, then we
look like Him, and He like us. If Jesus
Christ was not created by the Father, then to whom did He pray all the time and
whom did He call Father? To say that He was not created by God is to
deny that He had a Father, and that is blasphemy. Have these people ever read these Scriptures:
"He is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn over all creation. For by Him
all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for
Him. And He is before all things, and in
Him all things consist. And He is the
head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead, that in all things He may have preeminence." (Col. 1:15-18).
"And to the angel of the
This
only shows how far the Churches of God have departed from the truth. Any wonder that Elijah must come to restore
all things.
Jesus
Christ took upon Himself human nature to show us the way of salvation. He delivered to us the Gospel of the
If
you wonder why we keep referring to the Churches of God, it is because they
play an important role in the Bible, and because they have become the leading
deceivers in the world today.
Isn't
it remarkable that the first thing people do when they depart from God is to
deny His existence? The Jews also deny
that God has any specific image or form.
That is what the chief rabbi of the Great Synagogue in
There
are dozens of Scriptures in the Old Testament which show that God has the same
characteristics that we humans have. He
speaks, He eats, He walks, He gets angry, He forgives, He has feelings and body
parts as we do. And it cannot be otherwise,
for we have been created in His image.
Do
you understand now the meaning of these Scriptures?
"I
was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not
seek Me.
I
said, 'Here I am, here I am,' to a nation called by My name.
I have
stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in a
way that is not good, according to their own thoughts." (Is. 65:1-2).
Who
are the people who sought God and did not find Him? In the Old Testament, the Jews; in the New
Testament, the Christians. Not the true
Jews and the true Christians, but the pretenders. (See John 8:37-44; Rev. 2:9).
God
is our Father and to Him we must turn our hearts and love Him if He is to turn
His heart to us and love us. Unless
Elijah fulfils this important mission, the world will perish. The word "curse" in Malachi 4:6 can
be translated as “utter destruction."
But why has God turned His heart away from us? Because human beings have turned their hearts
away from Him in the first place. What
is God to do when puny human beings say that He does not exist, that they created
themselves?
If
Elijah's work is so important for the salvation of the world, why is he alone
in doing this work? What are the
ministers and the priests preaching in their churches? Why are they not out there working with
him? Is it not because they have been
deceived by the god of this world with a false gospel and are unable to
recognize the true Gospel anymore?
"Now
the spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons." (1 Ti.
4:1).
“For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,' and
will deceive many.” (Matt. 24:5).
Be
careful therefore that you do not fall under the spell of those who are led by
“seducing spirits”, who think and that they are ministers of Christ, yet are
deceiving those who accept their doctrines.
THE TWO
WITNESSES
Before
the return of Jesus Christ, the Bible says that there will be only two people
in the world who will be witnessing God's message:
"And
I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two
hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the
God of the earth. And 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. These have power
to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy [there are
already droughts in most parts of the world]; and they have power over waters
to turn them to blood [devastating floods are also with us], and to strike the
earth with all plagues, as often as they desire [disease epidemics, AIDS, TB,
cancer and the like are creeping all over the world]. Now when they finish their testimony, the
beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them,
overcome them, and kill them. And their
dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is
called
Then
those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies
three and a half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into
graves. And those who dwell on the earth
will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because
these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
Now
after 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. And 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." (Rev. 11:3-12).
The signs that accompany the
work of these prophets are with us now.
The two witnesses are either in the world right now or will appear
shortly. It should be noticed that the
Bible does not say that during their testimony the earth will be struck with
all those plagues, but that they have power to strike the earth with all
plagues "as often as they desire." They may not desire to strike the
earth with any more plagues than it already has, so these are not the signs by
which they could be recognized.
The Scriptures say that fire
proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. But what kind of fire could that be? It cannot be real fire, for it would devour
them too. It is the words that come out
of their mouth that devour their enemies – that is the kind of fire.
At the end of their
testimony, they will be killed and all "those who dwell on the earth will
rejoice over them." That is quite a feat; here you have two people
speaking the truth, preaching and witnessing the Gospel of the
“The
Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, ‘Is it lawful for a
man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’
And He answered and said to them, ‘Have you not read that He who made
them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,' and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave
his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one
flesh?’ So then, they are no longer two
but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.''
(Matt 19:3-6).
The two witnesses are a
husband and wife team. Only in marriage
can one person be two and two people be one.
Apostle Paul clarified this point when he said that a woman couldn’t
preach but be in submission to her husband.
"Let
a woman learn in silence with all submission.
And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man,
but to be in silence. For Adam was
formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not
deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. Nevertheless she will be saved in
childbearing if they continue in faith, love and holiness, with
self-control." (1 Ti. 2:11-15).
A woman is saved not by
preaching, but by childbearing. She
redeems herself from the bondage of Satan by fulfilling the holy role given to
her by God – childbearing. In the case
of the two witnesses, her role is to stand by her husband during the most
perilous time in the history of the world.
Although she couldn’t preach, she can, nevertheless, be a witness in her
own way. To be a witness, one does not
need to be a preacher. Anyone can be a
witness. All he or she needs to do is to
be faithful to God, be righteous, chaste, truthful, loving, humble, helpful,
etc. In other words, she witnesses by
example not by preaching. This does not
prevent her from answering questions about her faith, or from addressing small
groups of women. But she could never
hold spiritual or administrative positions in the Churches of God. Any church that permits a woman to usurp the
role of men ceases to be a
The world started with a
husband and wife failing before God; it will end up with them redeeming
themselves by doing the work of God together when no one else is doing it.
Adam was the son of God
(Luke
Satan and his ministers will
be furious when their work is exposed and brought to an end, and will kill the
two witnesses. That will be the end of
the reign of Satan, of his ministers, and of this age.
"Then I
heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he
held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives
forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the
power of the holy people has been shattered, all these things shall be
finished." (Daniel 12:7).
Who are the holy people
whose power shall be shattered in the end time?
The words "time, times and half a time" equal three and a half
years – the length of time the two witnesses would be doing their work. The holy people, whose power shall be
shattered, are none other than the two witnesses. When they will be killed, "all these
things shall be finished", this age shall have run its course, and a new
age began.
THE
GREAT DECEPTION
When Jesus Christ was asked by His
disciples, what will be the sign of His coming and of the end of this age, He
replied:
"Take
heed that no one deceive you. For many
will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many... Therefore when you see the 'abomination of
desolation' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place
(whoever reads let him understand)...
Then
there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of
the world until this time, nor ever shall be.
And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for
the elect's sake those days will be shortened... Then the sign of the Son of
Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and
they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory." (Matt. 24:4-5,15,21-22,30).
"Watch
therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming... lest,
coming suddenly, he find you sleeping.
And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” (Mark 13:35-37).
Ever since that time, for
nearly 2000 years, there has been no shortage of attempts to unveil the
seemingly impenetrable mystery of the "abomination of desolation",
but to date we know of no one who has succeeded. The latest publication on this topic, coming
from the leader of one of the Churches of God, tells us that the
"abomination of desolation" is an idol which will be placed in the
holy place, inside a temple which is yet to be built in
‘Christ's
strange warning about an "abomination of desolation" means,
literally, "the abomination of the desolator," which ALL AUTHORITIES
GENERALLY AGREE MEANT AN IDOL, or idolatrous apparatus, to be set up in the
holy place (in the temple of God] by the individual who would destroy
Jerusalem, or cause it to become "desolate."‘ (Garner Ted Armstrong, The Abomination
of Desolation, Church of God, International, Tyler, Texas: 1990;
emphasis added).
The author readily admits
that the idea of the "abomination of desolation" being an idol is not
his, but one which has been peddled around by many “authorities". His booklet, which is full of inconsistencies
and contradictions, throws no new light on this topic - it simply rehashes what
others have said in the past. In fact,
it does not even give us as much information as one can find in a good
encyclopedia of general knowledge.
A notable omission in his
booklet, as it is in all books on this topic, is an explanation of the words,
"whoever reads, let him understand."
What is it to be understood? If
it is as simple as placing an idol in the
After his sweeping
introductory statement, the author moved quickly to another great mystery - the
"little horn" of the prophet Daniel.
He knows that there is a connection between this "little horn"
and the "abomination of desolation" (it has been a common theme in
these kind of writings since at least the eleventh century), but like all the
others he does not quite know how to explain it.
On page 12 of his booklet he
says: "This 'little horn' represents some kind of government which
persecutes God's true Church!" Some
kind of government? Is this supposed to
be a revelation?
Then on page 13 he says:
“This 'little horn symbolizes a human leader who sits in a position powerful
enough to change times and laws."
And on page 25, his "little horn" suffers yet another
metamorphosis: ‘This false prophet is the "little horn" of Daniel -
the government which finally held sway over the final seven heads of the
Still, on page 26, he, or
it, becomes the mighty Antichrist, the "man of sin", and the
"false prophet".
"The
leader of this great false church is the FALSE PROPHET of the Bible prophecy,
the ANTICHRIST. He is the 'little horn' of Daniel. He is the 'man of sin' of II Thessalonians 2.
He is the 'abomination of desolation' PERSONIFIED, for he is the one who will
sit in the temple of God, making the blasphemous claim that he is God!"
Garner Ted Armstrong wants
us to believe these statements for no other reason than that they come from
him, for the proofs he brings to substantiate them are either slim or
non-existent. And it cannot be otherwise,
for when someone relies on other people's writings to such an extent, it is
hard to give references without revealing that he had little or nothing to add
to the topic.
Towards the conclusion of
his booklet, we find yet another gem:
‘Should
a famous statue that millions have kissed - a blackened bronze statue of a
figure with a strangely Byzantine or Grecian cast, one who is supposedly the
"Peter" of Rome - be moved inside the temple; should this man himself
ensconce himself inside the temple, then you will have seen the ABOMINATION SET
IN PLACE; and horrifying, unimaginable DESTRUCTION will follow.’ (p.28).
When will this
"horrifying, unimaginable DESTRUCTION" occur? "When such a temple is built, you should
be aware that the final events depicted in this article are VERY NEAR."
(p.27).
Now, if the author himself
does not quite know when and what to watch for, how would his readers know
it? "Should a famous statue... be moved inside the temple, should this man
himself ensconce himself inside the temple...
should be aware that the final events... are very near."
Should... should ... should.
But what if these things shouldn't happen that way? What if a statue is not moved inside the
temple? What if "this man
himself" will not "ensconce himself inside the temple"? What if such a temple will not be built? What if the holy place is not inside a
temple? What if the "abomination of
desolation" is not an idol after all?
What then?
Then those who watch for t hem will be found
asleep when Jesus Christ returns and will miss out on their salvation (John
14:3). It will be too late for them to
do anything about it when they realize that they have been duped with a false
gospel.
The mystery of the
"abomination of desolation" is connected with the greatest deception
the world has ever seen. We will show
you that:
1) The
"abomination of desolation" is not an idol.
2) The holy
place is not to be found in any new temple.
3) Most of the events said to happen
in the future, have already occurred.
4) The "little
horn" of the prophet Daniel is not the same as the "false prophet”,
and
5)
We will finally reveal the meaning of the words, "whoever reads,
let him understand".
A NEW TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM?
A few years ago, a group of evangelists led
by G. T. Armstrong, went to
It
is a well-known fact that on the site on which the ancient
About ten years ago, a
follower of G. T. Armstrong, on hearing that the temple could not be built
because of the Dome of the Rock, decided to speed up things by attempting to
burn it down. He was disowned
immediately by the church, but that does not nullify the fact that it was that
kind of preaching that drove a disturbed man to such an extreme action. Who can guarantee that other people will not
follow in his steps when they hear that their Savior cannot return because the
temple could not be built?
Interestingly enough, the
people who preach that a new temple must be built say that no sooner will it be
finished that it will be destroyed again.
Great encouragement for the Jews to build, but that is how these people
think that God operates: putting His servants through enormous difficulties
only to see their work go up in a puff of smoke as soon as it is finished.
Now, if a temple were needed
for the return of Jesus Christ would God have left human beings to grapple with
such an insurmountable problem? Would He
not have made provision for such a development?
Another
"Christian" evangelist, and leader of a new “
Now that is an ingenious
solution. What a sight that would be: a
Jewish temple side by side with a Muslim mosque. Like going to the market, people would be
able to choose whom to worship. No one
would be able to say anymore that the Jews and the Arabs cannot live side by
side. Before long they would exchange
ideas and share in their religious experiences.
The Jews will be keeping the Ramadan and the Arabs the Day of Atonement
and the Feast of Tabernacles. A
"Before
Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside Me there
is no savior. I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed, and there was no
foreign god among you." (Is. 43:10a-12a).
But
the gospel according to Dankenbring would read: "Behold there is another
god beside Me now. A foreign one, too.”
Our Arab friends might take
objection to this by pointing out that Allah is no more foreign than is
Yahweh. And they would be right, of
course, for both names refer to the same God, the God of Abraham the Patriarch
of both the Jews and the Arabs.
Not many people know that
the Jews and the Arabs have a common heritage and an equally important role to
play in world affairs. Interestingly
enough, just as
What Christians need to ask
themselves however is this: could such an important event, the return of Jesus
Christ, be dependent upon the whims of human beings? What if the Jews cannot or will not build the
temple?
It is a well-known fact that
the Jews attribute many of their sufferings in the Diaspora to the
Christians. We should, therefore, not be
surprised to find that on hearing that the return of Jesus Christ depends on
them building a new temple, they may well decide to avenge themselves by never
building it, thus leaving the Christians in limbo, forever waiting for their
Savior to return.
The Jews could hardly be
expected to facilitate the return of Jesus Christ when they have their own
messiah. Earlier this year, it was
widely reported that a ninety-one year old man from
The Jewish people are
practical people. It is not for them the
talk about salvation and immortality in an undefined future kingdom. They want tangible blessings here and
now. This is where their newly found
messiah comes in handy.
"'This
is not just spooky stuff,’ says Joseph Gutnick, speaking about a messianic
prophecy that says he will find diamonds in the West Australian desert. ‘It isn't abracadabra or spooky. I am a practical man. Everyone knows that I am practical. But my leader Rabbi Schneerson, has predicted
that I will find gold and diamond deposits so big they will boggle all our
imagination.’" (The Australian, May 31, 1993).
One
wonders just how the Jews came to believe from the following Scriptures that an
old man in a wheelchair is their messiah:
“I
will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have
begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give
You the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your
possession. You shall break them with a
rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.’” (Ps.
2:7-9).
“I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the
Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days,
and they brought Him near before Him.
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all
peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be
destroyed. Then the kingdom and
dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be
given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and
all dominions shall serve and obey Him." (Dan. 7:13-14, 27).
Well, that is what happens
when people reject the New Testament, for had they read Matthew 24:23-27, they
would have known better than to regard a frail old man as their messiah. Two thousand years ago, they chose a murderer
in place of the Messiah, now they chose a man in a wheelchair. And yet, these are the people to whom the
Churches of God are looking to prepare the way for the return of Jesus Christ.
When they were God's chosen
people in Old Testament times, they built the great
"And
I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of
They will “look upon"
Jesus Christ "whom they have pierced" after He comes back. Then they will become God's leading people
once again and lead other nations in God's ways (Zec.
Those who say that a new
temple must be built now do not understand that under the New Testament we, the
followers of Jesus Christ, in whom the Holy Spirit resides, are the temples of
the living God:
"And
what agreement has the
'I
will dwell in them and walk among them, I will be their God, and they shall be
My people."' (2 Cor. 6:16).
Yes, what agreement has the
THE QUESTION
OF AUTHORITY
At one time, when Jesus Christ was
performing miracles and preaching the Gospel of the
According to them, He had no
authority to do such things because He was not a graduate of their rabbinical
colleges. What do you think would happen
if someone who is not a graduate of present-day theological colleges, and is
not an ordained minister or priest, came preaching the Gospel of the
"As
they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: 'What did
you go out into the wilderness to see? A
reed shaken by the wind? But what did
you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft
clothing are in king's houses. But what
did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a
prophet. For this is he of whom it is
written: “Behold I send My messenger before your face, who will prepare Your
way before You.”’” (Matt. 11:7-10).
If the first ‘Elijah’ came
dressed modestly in clothes made of camel's hair, we can hardly expect the
second ‘Elijah’ to be dressed like those in king's houses. Indeed, the Bible says that the two witnesses
will prophesy "clothed in sackcloth"
(Rev. 11:3). Since ‘Elijah’ and his
wife will be doing the work of the two witnesses, it is clear that they will be
neither rich nor people of authority. In
the Bible, sackcloth is a sign of poverty, affliction and humility - the things
that have characterized the people of God since the beginning of time. But these are not the things that
characterize the people of authority these days. Have you ever seen a church leader
"clothed in sackcloth”?
G. T. Armstrong takes
comfort from the fact that people in "authority" agree with him that
the "abomination of desolation" is an idol. Since we do not agree with him, it means that
we are not "authorities." We
are terribly distressed about that, but then "authorities" in
what? Surely, he does not mean
"authorities" in the knowledge of the Bible, because if he does we
are far from impressed with what we read in his booklet.
For us, it is nothing if we
are not "authorities," we do not make a living from preaching the
Gospel. No one can accuse us of false
pretences, but for one who claims to have been a preacher for decades, it would
be quite a shame if he were found wanting.
People could get very angry if they find that they have been duped with
a false gospel.
It is an awful
responsibility preaching the Word of God, for it could affect the salvation of
many people. That is why if one is not
too sure of what he preaches, it is better not to preach it at all.
There is not a single place
in the Bible which would so much as even hint that the "abomination of
desolation" is an idol. But notice
what Jesus Christ said about abominations:
"And
He said to them, 'You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows
your hearts. FOR WHAT
IS HIGHLY ESTEEMED AMONG
MEN IS AN
ABOMINATION IN THE
SIGHT OF GOD."' (Luke: 16:15, emphasis added).
Did you grasp that? Those who are highly esteemed among men are an
ABOMINATION in the sight of God.
Astonishing, isn't it? The more
one is esteemed the more an abomination he must be. By this definition there are many
abominations in the world, but the highest of all must be THE "abomination
of desolation."
Idols are nothing in the sight of God.
They are worthless creations of people's hands which can neither justify
themselves before men nor cause any desolations. But human beings are a different story; they
can do both.
The "abomination of
desolation" is not an idol, but a human being, as we shall prove.
Who are the people held in
the highest esteem in the world today aside from music, film and sport
stars? Religious leaders, of course!
There is one leader in particular that stands out above all the others. He causes quite a stir whenever he leaves his
den - the world watches and wonders at his movements and utterances.
Even if no other proof is
available, this Scripture alone tells us where to look to find the
"abomination of desolation."
But there are a lot more proofs in the Bible, and a lot more explicit
too.
Unlike politicians, religious leaders do not have responsibility over
people's educational, physical, and social needs. They are never required to submit themselves
to elections as politicians do. Most of
them reign supreme from the moment they ascend to their position until they
die. Their only responsibility is to
watch over people's moral and spiritual needs and standards. Yet, if the present conditions in the world
are any guide, theirs is the most spectacular failure in the history of the
world.
FALSE MINISTERS
One of the most puzzling statements
made by Jesus Christ is found in the book of Mathew:
"Then Jesus spoke to the multitude and to His
disciples, saying: 'The scribes and the
Pharisees sit in Moses seat. Therefore
whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not according to
their works; for they say, and do not do.
For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's
shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their
fingers."' (Matt. 23:1-4).
Why
would Jesus tell His followers to remain submissive to hypocrite leaders who
say one thing and do another? The
answer, as given by Him, is that these people sit in Moses' seat. By virtue of the position which they hold, they
are forced to uphold the law of God in word if not in deed. God is working through His congregations
regardless of who is leading them.
Does
this mean that true Christians must remain in servitude to such hypocrites all
their lives? Certainly not! While He does not encourage anyone to leave
the church of their own volition, it is a different story if they are expelled
for no fault of their own. He foresaw
the time when all His followers will be put out of synagogues (and churches),
and warned them not to stumble when that happens: "These things I have spoken to you,
that you should not be made to stumble.
They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that
whoever kills you will think that he offers God service." (John 16:1-2).
There
are few people in the Christian churches today who believe that these
Scriptures refer to them. They think
that because Jesus Christ used the word synagogue, they refer to the ancient
Jewish congregations only. But just
because we no longer call God's congregations synagogues but churches, does not
mean that these Scriptures are not valid now.
What do you think is the meaning of these words?
"Not
everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he
who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
And then I will declare to them' I never knew you; depart from Me, you who
practice lawlessness."' (Matt.
7:21-23).
If
these verses do not refer to the priestly ministers in the Christian churches
these days whom do you think that they refer to? They cannot refer to the Jewish rabbis for
they do not do such things in the name of Christ.
Throughout
history, true Christians have had to live amongst people who have falsely
claimed to be Christians, and to grow spiritually in spite of the example given
by their leaders. It could not have been
otherwise, for this world belongs to Satan (John 14:30;
"I know
your works, your labor, and your patience, and that you cannot bear those who
are evil. And you have tested those who
say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars." (Rev. 2:2).
"I
know your works, tribulation and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the
blasphemy of those who say they are [spiritual] Jews and are not, but are a
synagogue of Satan." (Rev. 2:9).
Notice
how Jesus Christ associated the word synagogue with His churches. Many of those who claim to be apostles
(leaders in His churches) are in fact members of the synagogue of Satan.
"Indeed
I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are [spiritual] Jews
and are not, but lie - indeed I will make them come and worship before your
feet, and to know that I have loved you." (Rev. 3:9).
"I
know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not
deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was
killed among you, where Satan dwells." (Rev. 2:13).
Here
is one of the most puzzling statements in the New Testament: Jesus Christ said
that Satan has a throne amongst us. But
where is that throne? How is it that no
one is aware that Satan has a throne on earth and dwells among us? Is it not because Satan has deceived the
world about the way he acts and looks like?
He is usually portrayed as a half-goat, half-man creature, with horns,
pointed ears and tail, and a trident in his hand, ready to pounce upon any
unsuspecting individual. He is an unreal
figure, a fantasy creature, in other words.
This is not surprising, for he is "father of lies" and master
of deceptions (John 8:44).
This,
however, is nowhere near the way he really looks like. Satan was an angel and angels look like human
beings. "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have
unwittingly entertained angels.” (Heb. 13:2).
Angels
have walked on this earth and spoken with human beings without being recognized
as angels. In like manner, Satan is able
to walk among us and talk with us without us knowing who he really is. Moreover, he is not content with being just
an ordinary person; he sits on a throne in the temple of God, claiming to be
God. Isn't that why he was cast down out
of heaven in the first place - for wanting to be like God? The Apostles told us that he transforms
himself into an angel of light:
"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into apostles of Christ. And
no wonder! For Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore 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. 11:13-15).
Satan
has transformed himself into an angel of light by taking the shape of a human
being with an aura of religiosity, who sits in the temple of God claiming to be
God, or “Holy Father”.
TRIALS BY
FIRE
In the last few years, great turmoil has arisen in the
Churches of God. People have been
disfellowshipped or have left these churches by the thousands. A trial by fire has fallen upon many, but few
understand why. Few know that such
trials are sanctioned from above and are a necessary phase in the process of
salvation.
One's
spiritual development cannot mature while he depends on other people for
guidance. There comes a time when
children need to break loose from their parents and take control of their own
lives in order to grow into mature and independent adults. Present day church leaders are not interested
in making their followers wiser and more righteous than they are. Yet, unless your righteousness and your
understanding exceed that of your spiritual mentors, you will not enter the
Kingdom of God (Matt. 5:20). But how can one become wiser than his teachers?
"You,
through Your commandments, made me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever
with me. I have more understanding than
all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because
I kept Your precepts." (Ps. 119:98-100).
Keeping
the commandments of God, testifying to the truthfulness and correctness of
God's ways, is the way to wisdom.
"The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
A
good understanding have all those who do His commandments." (Ps. 111:10).
What matters most for one's
spiritual growth and salvation is not belonging to any particular congregation,
but keeping God's commandments and meditating on His law. If you are expelled from a church for no
fault of your own, it does not mean that your name has been erased from God's
Book of Life. Membership into the Church
of God is in heaven not on earth. If you
are able to fellowship with like minded people so much the better, but if you
are not you have nothing to fear. Most
of the examples of God's people in the Bible have led solitary lives. Apostle Peter wrote:
"Beloved, do not think it strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing
happened to you; but rejoice that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when
His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy." (1 Peter
4:12-13).
False ministers can
disfellowship you from a local congregation, but no one can put you out of the
true Church of God except Jesus Christ (Rev. 3:5). He does not do that lightly. Only if you harden your heart, if you prove
incorrigible, will He wipe your name from God's Book of Life. The important thing is never to allow
bitterness or hatred to enter your heart, for that is what your enemies want. It would give them the reason to say that
they were right in expelling you in the first place.
When you feel overwhelmed by
a trial, follow God's own advice:
"Come,
My people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you [and pray,
worship and meditate]; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until
the indignation is past." (Is. 26:20).
No man has endured a greater
trial than Jesus Christ has. Before
crucifixion, He asked the Father that if it were possible, to take that “cup”
away from Him. Nevertheless, He said,
"not as I will, but as You will."
(Mat. 26:39).
It was the will of God that
He goes ahead with that sacrifice, and He did not flinch from such an
exceedingly difficult trial. How would
you react if you knew that wicked people were about to take your life through
excruciating torment without you having done anything to deserve it? If the Spirit of God dwells in you, and you
belong to Christ (Rom. 8:9), and the mind of Christ is in you and you think
like Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:5), you too will be able to offer your body as a
living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1) and say to God, "not my will but Your will be
done Father."
Before His trial, Jesus
Christ told His followers:
"These
things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but
be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33).
We have peace in Christ,
regardless of the tribulations which we endure, because our Lord overcame the
world. Overcoming, never giving up in
the face of all adversity, is what all Christians must do. Not being obstinate or inflexible, but
bending with the times and bowing one's head in humility before the powers that
be. If the world thinks that this is a
sign of weakness, so be it. We know who
we are and where we go. Living the life
of a Christian, with the trials that we must endure, requires a strength that
is beyond the capability of those who follow the ways of the world. If we overcome, it is not by ourselves, but
through the strength that comes from God (Matt. 19:26). This is what Jesus
Christ promised to those who overcome:
"And
he who overcomes, and keeps My words until the end, to him I will give power
over the nations - 'He shall rule them with a rod of iron;
As
the potter's vessels shall be broken to pieces' - as I also have received from
My Father." (Rev. 2:26-27).
"To him
who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst
of the paradise of God."
"He
who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death." (Rev. 2:7,11).
"He who
overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name
from the Book of Life.”
“To him who
overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat
down with My Father on His throne."
(Rev. 3:5,21).
“And you will
be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be
saved.” (Matt. 10:22).
“And because
lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be
saved.” (Matt. 24:12-13).
Overcome... overcome...
overcome... endure... that is what Christians must do if they wish
to attain salvation. Some of the most
difficult trials do not come from the world, but from the people you least
expect. There is nothing more painful
for Christians than the threat of being separated from their Savior. This is the fear by which the hypocrites keep
their followers in bondage. By equating
the human congregation with the spiritual body of Christ, they wreak havoc
amongst those who do not understand the Scriptures.
Can human beings, who are in
the bondage of sin no less than their followers, have discretionary power over
who will be saved and who will not, who will be in the Kingdom of God and who
will not? The Scriptures say that we
have all been baptized individually in the body of Christ (1 Cor.
12:13,27). But the body of Christ is
spiritual, therefore the Church of God is spiritual.
It is true that Jesus Christ
told His disciples that "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in
heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Mat.
18:18), but this does not apply to those whom He calls hypocrites, who place
heavy burdens upon His followers.
"Woe to
the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture says the
Lord. Therefore thus says the lord God
of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: 'You have scattered My
flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold I will attend to you for the evil of
your doings, says the Lord."' (Jer. 23:1-2).
"Woe
to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves Should not the shepherds feed
the flock?
You
eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings,
but you do not feed the flock..."
"Therefore,
O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! 'Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am
against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause
them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no
more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be
food for them." (Ezek. 34:2-3, 9-10).
"For
the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from
his mouth;
For he
is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed from the way;
You
have caused many to stumble at the law." (Mal. 2:7-8).
Those who think that these
Scriptures refer only to the shepherds of ancient Israel, should consider this:
When all the other Apostles have departed from the scene, John, the last of the
Apostles, was prevented from contacting the members of the Church of God by
people who "loved to have preeminence among them" (3
Apostle John did not revile
the man who prevented him from contacting the members of the Church of
God. All he said was, "if I come, I
will call to mind his deeds which he does". Then he told his followers: "Beloved, do
not imitate what is evil, but what is good.
He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God."
(3
Apostle Paul foresaw that
after his departure the churches he established would be taken over by
"savage wolves”:
"For
I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not
sparing the flock. Also 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 20:29-31, emphasis added)
Apostle Peter spoke of such people too:
"But
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. And many will follow their destructive ways,
because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness THEY WILL EXPLOIT YOU with
deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their
destruction does not slumber." (2 Peter 2:1-3, emphasis added).
And Apostle John said:
'Beloved, do not believe every spirit,
but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have
gone
out into the world." (1 John 4:1).
If the Churches of God were
taken over by false apostles, false ministers, false teachers, and false
prophets, right under the eyes of the Apostles, what must be the condition of
these churches now?
These warnings are more valid now than ever, for by now
the deception is complete. The Gospel of
the Kingdom of God is unknown even among the Churches of God, let alone among
traditional Christianity, or the rest of the world. What they preach in the churches these days
is not the true gospel, but a parody of it.
Apostle Paul placed a double curse on anyone who
preaches a different gospel:
"But if we, or an
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to
you, let him be accursed. As we have
said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you
than what you have received, let him be accursed." (Gal. 1:8-9).
The only way you may know if you have the right Gospel is by studying
the Bible and by comparing it with what they preach in the churches. Those who are not willing to have their words
scrutinized by the standards of the Bible do not deserve to be listened
to. It is your responsibility to make
sure that the gospel you receive is the true Gospel, for if it is not you will
pay for your negligence with your salvation.
CONFLICT
OF REVELATIONS
About two decades ago, while I was
living in Canada, I went with the church into which I had recently become a
member, to my very first Feast of Tabernacles.
The feast site was located in a beautiful resort area in the Potomac
mountains in the state of New York (You do not normally associate New York with
beautiful resorts but, surprisingly, there was such a place).
It
was an impressive festive atmosphere, and we enjoyed ourselves during an entire
week of celebrations. Every day we would
gather from the surrounding area, from hotels, motels and guest houses, to the
huge meeting hall where we met people, exchanged ideas, fellowshipped and
listened to dozens of sermons.
In
the meeting hall, you could rub shoulders with thousands of ordinary members
from the eastern part of the USA and Canada, but not with the ministers; they
were a class apart. Congregating in the
front near the stage, they were separated from us by a rope and security people
who made sure that no one crossed from our side to theirs.
It
was a similar story with regard to the sleeping quarters. While we were scattered over a huge area,
some of us having to travel for up to an hour to get to the feast site, the
ministers enjoyed plush quarters nearby and fellowshipped amongst themselves.
Before
the festivities started, an evangelist came onto the stage and told us that in
that church it was not customary to clap hands or make ovations after a sermon. Once an evangelist has delivered his sermon,
he could not come back for an encore as they do in the theatre. But, he added, there were exceptions. When the two great leaders of the church came
to deliver their sermons, we were allowed to show our gratitude and
appreciation.
So
when the great man, the late Herbert W. Armstrong, made his appearance, people
clapped, whistled, shouted, stomped their feet; you would have been excused for
thinking you were at a rock concert. The
scene was repeated a few days later when his son, "in whom he was well
pleased", Garner Ted Armstrong, made his appearance. The two men were highly esteemed by the
church members, and they reveled in that kind of adulation. The church, of course, was the Worldwide
Church of God.
Herbert
W Armstrong began his sermon by calling us "brothers and
sisters." A sacrilege under the
circumstances if there ever was one.
"I have new revelations for you" he told us. Unfortunately, I have forgotten what those
revelations were. Nothing earth shattering;
he always had new revelations for us.
Just about every other word was a "new revelation" with him.
A
major problem developed for me when I, too, began to have certain
revelations. But my revelations were of
such a nature that I could not confess them to anyone, for if I had, most
certainly, I would have been put out of the church.
After
joining that church with great hope and expectations, I began to see that
things were not quite what one expected from the "only true Church of
God" in the world. The prevailing
view in that church was that the higher one was in the hierarchical ministerial
scale, the closer he was to God. Herbert
W. Armstrong and Garner Ted Armstrong were so high, they were right up there
near God: one at His right side and the other at His left. It was a general belief in the church that
they were the two witnesses of the end time spoken of in the book of
Revelation.
The
ministers, though not quite as high, were nevertheless still very high up on
the scale to heaven. That is why they
were separated from us: they could not afford to be tainted by mere mortals.
But
this is a familiar story, for I think it is the same in every church these
days. The ministers, priests, preachers
or “apostles", consider themselves in a class of their own, always being
careful with whom they mix. It is just
that in some churches the distinction between them and other people is observed
more carefully than in others, the Churches of God being, no doubt, the
strictest in this regard. A visitor to
any Church of God would be struck, for example, by how ill at ease the
ministers are amongst their own people.
More often than not, after a sermon they remain up front seeking the
company of their own families or of other ordained people. Ordinary members usually need to make an
appointment to see them.
When
I returned from that Feast of Tabernacles, I set about to study the Bible in
earnest, convinced being that I was on the track of major discoveries. Not surprisingly, the more I studied it the
more things I discovered which were not in accordance with what the ministers
preached. Nevertheless, I continued
attending church services quietly for several more months, until I was certain
that I was not making a mistake. Then I
decided to have a discussion with the minister.
One day, after the Sabbath
services, during an evening social occasion, I approached him and said that I
would like to have a discussion with him, but that I would prefer some
witnesses. He called two deacons who happened
to be nearby and waved at me to talk. I
wanted witnesses because in that church they had the nasty habit of
disfellowshipping people for the slightest disagreement with the
ministers. Once disfellowshipped, the
person would become a pariah, everyone in the church being forbidden to speak
with, or contact, him again. I thought
that if I was going to be disfellowshipped, at least people would know that it
wasn't because I had committed some horrible sin, but because I had disagreements
with the ministers over church doctrines.
I began by telling him that
God has called me to be one of His witnesses, and that the Bible does not
support the idea that tithing is a law under the New Testament. As soon as I finished, without entering into
any discussion with me, he said: "if that is what you believe, then you
are out of the church."
That church did not allow
for the possibility that God would bypass the church ministers, especially the
two leaders, to call an ordinary member, who could barely speak English, to be
His witness. Why would God do such a
thing when there were so many people in the church capable of doing a better
job? Why indeed!
There is nothing wrong or
unusual about wanting to be a witness of God.
Anyone who believes the Word of God, accepts the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ, lives a righteous life, knows the Gospel and is prepared to face the
consequences that come with witnessing it, can be a witness. From God's point of view, the more witnesses
the better. But the ministers in the
Churches of God have set themselves up as arbiters over who may or not may not
serve God. Those who feel that they have
been called by God to do His work, are lampooned and ridiculed, and expelled
from the church.
Since not many people know
what the tithing principle is all about, an explanation is needed here. Tithing was the taxation law God gave to
ancient Israel. Out of the twelve
tribes, eleven were to give ten per cent of their produce to the tribe of
Levy. That tribe had no land allocation,
as they were to be full time in God's service.
They, in turn, had to give ten per cent of their income to the families
of priests who alone performed the religious rites. In the end, everyone ended up with
approximately the same income.
The priests and the Levites received
additional income as burnt offerings, sin offerings and Holy Day offerings, but
their surplus was to be used for providing relief for the orphans, the widows,
the needy and the strangers.
Those who think that this may not have been
enough to cover all the welfare and social needs of their society should
remember that in ancient Israel widows and children were well taken care
of. If a husband died and left no
inheritor, his brother if he had one, had to marry his widow and his firstborn
son would inherit his brother's estate and continue his line. Because all children received a land
allocation, poverty was not a serious problem in ancient Israel. It should not be forgotten either that God
promised to bless them greatly and keep them healthy, if they remained faithful
to Him and obeyed His laws.
When Israel increased in number and spread
out far from the feast site, and it became difficult for them to cart their
tithes on their journeys every year, they were allowed to convert their produce
into money and take that to the designated place once every three years. There, they were to use the money to enjoy
themselves, cover their expenses, share their joys with the poor, and then give
the rest to the Levites.
Those who think that after spending on
themselves and the poor, there was not much left to give to the Levites, should
know that the Middle East was one of the most fertile areas in the world at
that time. This is how the Bible
describes it:
"Then they came to the valley of Eschol, and
there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two
of them on a pole. They also brought
some of the pomegranates and figs. Then they told [Moses] and said: 'We went to
the land where you sent us. It truly
flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit." (Num. 13:23,27).
When they went to their Feast of
Tabernacles, they did not have to spend money on exorbitant hotel prices and
silver service meals in restaurants.
They lived in tents and enjoyed healthy outdoor meals. They could never have spent the tithes
gathered over three years in that manner.
The law of tithing remained in use as long
as religious judges ruled Israel, but when they decided to be like their
neighbors and asked for a king, it fell into disuse. They discovered that it cost a lot more to
maintain a king than a priest. This is
what God told them when they made that request:
"And the Lord said to Samuel, 'Heed the voice
of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but
they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them."
"And you will cry out in that day because of
your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you
in that day." (1 Sam. 8:7,18)
When King Solomon built the great temple of
God in Jerusalem, plus temples for himself and for some of his wives and
concubines, he imposed heavy taxes upon the people. When he died, they asked his son to reduce
their taxes, but when he refused, the nation split in two. Ten tribes separated from the royal line and
formed the nation known as Samaria, while Judah and Benjamin became known as
Judea.
That was the beginning of the fall of
Israel. Weakened by the split and by the
departure from God's law, Samaria was soon conquered and taken into captivity
by the Assyrians. Later, the Assyrians
were pushed out of the Middle East by the rising Babylonian Empire and migrated
in a north-westerly direction, taking with them their captive nations. It was then that the ten tribes of Israel
became lost to history.
In recent times, many historians have
postulated, not without foundation, that the Anglo-Saxons, the Scandinavians
and some central European peoples descend from the lost ten tribes, and that
the Germans descend from the Assyrians.
Have you ever wandered why Hitler built his Third Reich on the notion of
Aryan supremacy? Students of ancient
history would tell you that the Aryans were natives of the Middle East and that
the swastika was an emblem used in the Middle East in ancient times. The word "Saxon" comes from the
words ‘Isaac’ and ‘sons’, meaning the sons of Isaac, Isaac's sons, Saxons. And the word ‘British’ comes from the Hebrew words
‘Berith’ and ‘Ish’, meaning ‘people’ and ‘covenant’, or people of the
covenant.
Later, the Babylonians conquered and took
captive the nation of Judah. When that
empire fell to the Medo-Persians, some of the Jews returned to their land, but
before long they found themselves under foreign domination again. Temporarily they were under the domination of
Syria and Egypt, but then came Alexander the Great and later the Romans, and
the Jews were never masters of their land until this century.
Under those circumstances, tithing could not
be enforced as a law, but it remained a voluntary act practiced by those who
could afford it, as a few examples from the time of Jesus Christ clearly show
(Mat. 5:23;
In the twentieth century, however, a new
"monarch" arose in rediscovered ‘Samaria’. Herbert W. Armstrong saw himself as coming
from the lines of both the ancient kings of Israel and the Apostles of Jesus
Christ. He revived the tithing
principle, declared it to be a law, imposed it upon the Church of God, and
punished everyone who disagreed with him and questioned its validity.
One of his most prized and trumpeted
discoveries was that the people of Great Britain and the USA are the
descendants of Ephraim and Manaseh, the leading tribes of Samaria and the
inheritors of Israel's birthright. He
took great pride in portraying himself as a great leader, flying around the
world in his executive jet, taking expensive gifts to those kings and national
leaders who received him.
I once sent him a letter in which I
expressed my opinion that it would have been more appropriate for him to take
along a Bible and preach from it, rather than those expensive gifts. Surprisingly, I was not expelled from the
church then, but there followed a lengthy article in the church magazine in
which he explained why such gifts were necessary. He said that they were in preparation for the
eventual preaching of the Gospel. The
fact that the Apostles did not need such gifts in order to proclaim the Gospel
seemed to be of no significance to him.
I have doubts that he ever preached the Gospel to those leaders because,
as I was to discover later, what they preach in that church is not the correct
gospel anyway.
In his meetings with the world leaders, and
in his writings, he portrayed the Worldwide Church of God as the paradise on
earth. Tons of church literatures were
sent freely around the world to anyone who would receive them. But what those writings never revealed was
the enormous burden the members of his church had to endure to maintain his
life style and that of his adjutants, and to produce and mail all that
"free” literature.
When he built the Worldwide Church of God,
he borrowed heavily from the Old Testament principles, tithing being one of
them. But he did not go to the Jewish
people to inquire how they understood and practiced that principle, nor did he
follow the example of the Apostles of Jesus Christ who never asked their
followers to tithe. He devised a brand
new way of applying this principle.
In ancient Israel, welfare and social
services were not provided by government agencies. The priests and the Levites were responsible
for these services. The people of Israel
did not pay additional taxes to the government to provide these services - they
did not even have a government as we understand it now. The priests judged and governed the people
according to the law of God. That is why
saying that tithing is a law under the New Testament is a sham and a perversion
of a good but temporarily inactive principle.
In
the Kingdom of God, and during the Millennial Kingdom, the tithing principle
will become valid again. That is because
the governments of men and their myriad of taxes will be abolished and only the
Government of God with its minimal tax system will be applied.
This
is not to say that at present those who are in need may not receive additional
help if such help is available without imposing undue hardship on other members
of the church. But whatever is done, it
must be done on a voluntary basis, not as a matter of law.
To
make matters worse, tithing in the Churches of God is not understood to mean
ten per cent of one's income - tithe coming from the word ten - but, through
some convoluted thinking, they say that it means up to thirty per cent. They talk of a "first tithe", a
"second tithe", and a "third tithe", even though no such
things are ever mentioned in the Bible.
And to add insult to injury, they tell their members to calculate their
tithes not on the basis of their net income, but on their gross income. And if that wasn't enough, Herbert W.
Armstrong used to send an average of one letter a month requesting special
offerings on the pretext that the church was in dire financial straights. It was a perennial problem in that church;
its finances were never in good standing order.
After
paying government taxes, tithes, Holy Day offerings and special offerings, the
members of these churches are left with less than fifty per cent of their
income to provide for themselves and for their families. Without much to spare, they are unable to
socialize with people outside the church, thus becoming social cripples,
totally dependent upon the church environment for their needs. This is how the church under Herbert W.
Armstrong has been described recently:
"Uniquely, the "Philadelphia era"
[the Worldwide Church of God) was viewed as an era when God's GOVERNMENT was
being re-established; when the emphasis was on rulership, on discipline,
unquestioning obedience, respect for a hierarchical ministry - even fear that
the fate of Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5) would come upon anyone who dared
withhold information from, or attempt to deceive, a minister.
"It was to have been an era when the office of
an apostle was present in the church - although this time, unlike the 'Ephesian
era,' this office, viewed as the highest human office next to Christ, would not
be granted to perhaps 15 to 17 men, but limited to only one man, who ruled
supreme over the church."
Who
do you think these words belong to? None
other than Garner Ted Armstrong (The International News, Aug./Sept., 1991, p.3).
He is not being honest by putting all the blame on his father, for he
was the second in command and thus just as responsible for those abuses.
If
these writings give the impression that he has repented and changed, think
again. After starting the new church
with the best of intentions, denouncing the old abuses, he has slipped right
back to the old ways and is now competing with other splinter groups in
praising the virtues of the good old times.
That is not unexpected, for it is impossible for someone to maintain a
profligate lifestyle without tithing and a tight control over church affairs.
I
once explained to the local minister that after complying with all those tithes
and offerings, I did not have enough to support myself and to help my parents
who depended on me but who lived in Romania.
He told me that the tithes were not mine to do what I wanted with them:
they belonged to God, therefore they had to be given to the church without
questioning. But, he assured me that if
I gave generously to the church, God would take care of my parents. So I gave generously to the church, and they
nearly starved to death. During my
membership in that church, they had the most miserable time of their lives.
What
the minister told me to do was tantamount to tempting God - forcing Him to
bless me because I gave generously to the church. But not knowing any better I obeyed him, and
so I ruined both my parents and myself.
Now
notice what Jesus Christ told the Pharisees who were imposing a similar regime
on their followers:
"Why do you also transgress the commandment of
God because of your tradition? For God
commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother', and, 'He who curses
father or mother, let him be put to death.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his
father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me has
been dedicated to the temple" - is released from honoring his father or
mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your
tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah
prophesy about you, saying: 'These
people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but
their heart is far from Me. And in vain
they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."' (Mat.
15:3-9).
What
I found particularly galling was that before I joined that church, no one told
me about all those tithes and offerings.
When someone shows an interest in their church, the ministers follow a
well-scripted method. First, they insist
in seeing the person at home for an interview.
One can't just show up at their religious services for they are
secret. The secrecy gives them a sense
of uniqueness and makes the new recruits feel special.
During
the interview, they tell the inquirer about the great blessings he can expect
from being a member of such an exclusive church. Then, at the last minute, like an
afterthought, they mention that the church believes in tithing. But by then he is well and truly hooked. Isn't ten per cent worth the price of being a
member of the "elect”?
When
they mentioned to me that the church believed in tithing, I thought, I could
cope with it. But after I was baptized
and began attending church services regularly, I discovered that they had a
"second tithe," a "third tithe," mandatory Holy Day
offerings and special offerings. But it
was too late for me to do anything, for if I left the church after being
baptized, unimaginable evils would befall me on the Day of Judgment. That is what they tell their followers and
how they manage to keep them saddled with such extraordinary burdens.
Can
anyone imagine such methods, such blackmail, being employed by the Apostles of
Jesus Christ to draw members into the Churches of God?
In
America they take great pride that their constitution guarantees the freedom of
speech and freedom of religion, but that same constitution, which is a model
for those in most Western democracies, does not guarantee protection against
charlatans who use those same freedoms to enslave others. It was only through my earnest study of the
Bible that I discovered the truth about the real Churches of God, and about
these synagogues of Satan. This is what
the patriarch Jacob, the father of Israel, said about tithing: "Then Jacob made a vow, saying, 'If God
will bless me, and keep me this way... I will surely give a tenth to
You."' (Gen. 28:20,22).
Assuming
that tithing was still a law under the New Testament, there is no conditional
"if" in the present day "Churches of God.” They tell their
members to tithe first, regardless of whether they can afford it or not, then
expect God to bless them later. But God
does not feel obliged to bless people just because they become impoverished by
unscrupulous ministers. He expects His
people to discover the truth and free themselves from those who would keep them
in bondage. Apostle Peter wrote: "While they promise them liberty, they
themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him
also he is brought into bondage." (2 Peter 2:19).
Unless
people study the Bible, worship God and pray to Him earnestly, asking Him for
guidance and wisdom, they will find themselves in bondage to the very people
who claim to give them freedom. The
Apostles did not impose even a "first tithe" let alone a
"second" and a "third tithe" upon the churches which they
established. This is what Apostle Paul
told the elders of the Ephesian church:
"I have coveted no one's silver or gold or
apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that
these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with
me. I have shown you in every way, by
laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus,
that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive."' (Acts
20:33-35).
He
provided not only for himself, but also for those who were with him. He gave the elders an example that they
"must support the weak." Herbert W. Armstrong must have thought he
was among the weak and, currently, so must his son and a number of other church
leaders who continue to preach these doctrines.
They
have turned the Scriptures upside down: instead of feeding the weak, they are
being fed by the weak.
Apostle
Paul recognized that those who preach the Gospel full time are entitled to live
of the Gospel (1 Cor. 9:14). But he made
it clear that whatever people give, they must be allowed to do so voluntarily
according to their abilities, not as a matter of law. Later, when the churches required that he
devote himself full time to the preaching of the Gospel, this is what he wrote:
"Did I commit sin in abasing myself that you
might be exalted, because I preached the Gospel of God to you free of
charge? I robbed other churches, taking
wages from them to minister to you. And
when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what
was lacking to me the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being
burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself.
As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop
me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
Why? Because I do not love
you? God knows! But what I do, I will
also cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be
regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast.
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms
himself into an angel of light. Therefore
it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers
of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
Are they Hebrews?
So am I. Are they Israelites? Are
they the seed of Abraham? So am I. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus
whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit, or a different
gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it." (2 Cor.
11:7-15,22,4).
Here
you have it all in one chapter. Apostle
Paul preached the Gospel free of charge.
Even when he was in need, he did not demand tithes from those to whom he
was preaching the Gospel. He accepted
instead gifts from the brethren belonging to other churches who gave them
willingly, not because they had to "because the tithes belonged to God."
He let everyone make up their own minds whether they wanted to offer anything
to the church or not - he never became a burden to anyone.
Is
it not remarkable that those who were preaching a false gospel and placing
heavy burdens upon the people (most likely tithing) were having an easier time
than the Apostles who were preaching the true Gospel freely? And who were those satanic ministers? People of Israelite origin who claimed to be
the children of Abraham. Not much has
changed in two thousand years.
If
one wants to follow the letter of the law and uses the Bible selectively, it is
easier to make a case that under the New Testament people are to give not ten
per cent, but one hundred per cent of their possessions to the church (Luke
18:22). That is how the very first
churches set up by Apostle Peter were organized:
"Now the multitude of those who believed were
of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he
possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave
witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
And great grace was upon them all.
Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors
of the lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that
were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as
anyone had need." (Acts 4:32-35).
It
was a wonderful idea - true communism, if you wish - but the disciples
discovered soon that in a hostile world, God's utopia couldn’t last long. Shortly afterwards, the Christians were
scattered from Jerusalem in all directions (Acts 8:1).
The
churches, which they established among the Gentiles afterwards, were organized
on a different principle. When some of
the churches fell on hard times, Apostle Paul asked those who could help, to
"lay something aside, storing up as [they] may prosper" (1 Cor.
16:1-4). He did not tell them to give their tithes unconditionally
"because the tithes belonged to God," but to give voluntarily as they
prospered. But those who write long
articles about tithing in the New Testament never quote these examples.
If
the members are able and willing to give ten per cent, or any per cent, of
their income to the church so much the better, but there is no basis by which
this may be imposed as a law. Yet, as G.
T. Armstrong himself admitted, in the Worldwide Church of God people were
actually punished if they did not disclose everything and conformed to all
dictates of the ministers.
If
people are being robbed by any other means, the perpetrators are brought to
judgment, punished, made to pay back or even jailed. But if they do it in the name of God, nobody
can touch them. Nobody, that is, except
God. Woe to the country whose ministers
are robbing the poor, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. All these things apply in my case. After my father died in the Second World War,
my widowed mother who lived with my grandparents brought me up. They all suffered greatly when I became a
member of that church.
The
Apostles understood perfectly well that there were going to be differences
between the Jewish churches and the Gentile churches, and were particularly
concerned not to put any unnecessary burdens upon the latter. During a very important council held in Jerusalem,
this is what they decided:
"And when there had been much dispute, Peter
rose up and said to them: 'Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God
chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the
Gospel and believe. So God, who knows
the heart, acknowledged them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to
us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by
faith. Now therefore, why do you test
God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers
nor we were able to bear? But we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same
manner as they."' (Acts 15:7-11).
They
came together to settle the question of circumcision for the Gentiles, but then
discussed a whole range of other issues.
James, the leader of the Jewish church in Jerusalem, concluded their
meeting with these words:
"And after they had become silent, James
answered, saying, 'Men and brethren, listen to me: Simon has declared how God
at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His
name. And with this the words of the
prophets agree, just as it is written:
'After this I will return and rebuild the
tabernacle of David which has fallen down.
I will rebuilt its ruins, and I will set it up, so that the rest of
mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name,
says the Lord who does all these things.'
Known to God from eternity are all His works. Therefore I judge that we should not trouble
those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them
to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things
strangled, and from blood. For Moses has
had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read
in the synagogues every Sabbath." (Acts 15:13-21).
No
new yoke and no other troubles are to be placed upon those who are turning to
God from among the Gentiles, except to abstain from idols, sexual immorality,
things strangled and from blood. Where
are the "first tithe," the "second tithe," the "third
tithe," the mandatory Holy Day offerings and the special offerings in
these writings?
Hardly
anyone who has been touched by the ministers in the modern day Churches of God
has not suffered financial, personal or family problems. They specialize in splitting families and in
causing problems for their members. That
seems to be their trademark. A more
appropriate name for them would be the synagogue of troublemakers. Why synagogue? Because they preach, among other things, the
Old Testament restrictions on food.
In
the Old Testament, such restrictions were in accordance with the law of God,
but in the New Testament they no longer are.
Since Jesus Christ purified everything, there is no longer such a thing
as a clean or unclean animal. Apostle
Paul went so far as to say that those who preach such doctrines are inspired by
demons:
"Now the Spirit expressly says that in the
latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits
and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own
conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to
abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those
who believe and know the truth.
For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is
received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and
prayer." (1 Ti. 4:3).
All
creatures are to be received with thanksgiving by those who know the
truth. Those who preach otherwise do not
know the truth. Christians are not made
unclean by eating flesh which previously was thought to be unclean.
"Not what goes into the mouth
defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man." (Matt. 15:11).
"Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for
conscience sake; for 'The earth is the Lord's and its fullness.' If any of those who do not believe invites
you to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no
questions for conscience sake." (1 Cor. 25-27).
The
ministers in the Churches of God think they know better than Jesus Christ and
His Apostles, and have taken upon themselves to override their teachings. Jesus Christ gave His followers power not
only over all kinds of flesh, but also over venomous serpents and scorpions
(Luke 10:19; Mk. 16:18;
During
my membership in the Worldwide Church of God, I dismayed my parents by telling
them to stop eating pork and rabbit, two of the most popular dishes in
Romania. I broke their heart when they
realized that all I had achieved after abandoning my job, family, country and
friends, was to become a member of a strange cult which took from me not only
my money, but my mind also.
Two
years before I joined that church, I escaped from Ceausescu's Romania. I did not leave that country for economic
reasons, for I had a job as a radiotelegrapher officer on a merchant ship, one
of the most prized positions in the communist world. Rather, I left it because I could no longer
bear to see the brutality and injustice which the communists were inflicting on
the people.
I
arrived in the "West" believing that war with the "East"
was imminent. My hope was to fight with
the liberating armies of the "West" to free my people from the
communist yoke. But when I arrived in
the "West", I discovered that no one was preparing to invade the
communist world. The war psychosis of the "East" was just another
communist ploy designed to keep the people under tight control.
When
I realized that it would be a long time before I could see my family and
friends again, if ever, I fell into a period of deep introspection and
depression. It was then that I found
solace in religion. What interested me
particularly was the notion of salvation.
I had heard about salvation before but was never able to investigate it.
So
I began attending church services in the Romanian Orthodox Church, the religion
of my parents. Seeing that I was
interested in religion, the priest asked me to enroll in a theological seminary
to become a priest. He told me that
while I was training for the priesthood, the church would support me to obtain
a university degree of my choice which would enable me to supplement my income
if need be. Most of the Romanian
communities in North America were too small to maintain a full time
priest. So they helped their priests
earn additional income from secondary jobs.
Although I was tempted, in the end I declined the offer when I realized
that my heart was not in it. Their
services made me feel good for a while - they filled an emotional and spiritual
need in my heart - but that feeling began to wear off when I did not get
intellectual satisfaction.
After
that, I went to some Protestant churches and even to the Catholic Church for a
while, but they were no better. If
anything, I found their services even less inspiring and fulfilling.
My
great disappointment came from the fact that no one gave me satisfactory
answers about the reasons for their beliefs.
Their attitude seemed to be that you do not question your religion, you
just accept it. That wasn't good enough
for me. I wanted assurance that my
beliefs would be based on solid foundation, not just feelings.
As
I was contemplating my future, I heard on radio a preacher with a
difference. He challenged his listeners
to "prove all things in the Bible", and offered "free" literature
to those who were interested. I sent for
his literature and before I knew it, I was a member of the Worldwide Church of
God. That preacher was Garner Ted
Armstrong.
Ironically,
after I studied the Bible carefully, I discovered that neither he nor his
ministers were taking his advice seriously. It gives me no pleasure now to have
to write these things about him and his church.
TO
BE OR NOT BE DISFELLOWSHIPPED?
Expelling
a person from a tightly run church can be a very disturbing experience, but
that does not seem to bother the ministers in the Churches of God. For them it has become a matter of routine.
Now,
if there is ever a need to expel someone from a church, this is how Jesus
Christ said it should be done:
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell
him his fault between you and him alone.
If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you
one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be
established. And if he refuses to hear
them, tell it to the church. But if he
refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax
collector." (Mat. 18:15-17).
Poor tax collectors, they’ve never had a good name. Anyway, only if a person refuses to listen to
a personal correction, to witnesses, or to the church, is he to become like a
"heathen and a tax collector" - to be disfellowshipped, in other
words. The remarkable thing about my
case is that I was the one who asked for witnesses to prove my innocence, yet I
was still the one who was disfellowshipped.
And that without a warning, without an explanation, and without the
right to a reply.
The minister cared neither for the words of
Jesus Christ, nor for what other people in the church might say. He knew that no one dared say anything if he
wanted to remain a member of that church.
The ministers in the Churches of God usually
invoke an example given by Apostle Paul when they disfellowship people from
their church. When Apostle Paul found
out that a man was living in sin with his step mother, he told the Corinthian
church to disfellowship him immediately (1 Cor. 5:1-5). That was a correct
decision because the sin was already well known in the church, and the nature
of the sin required that drastic action be taken to show people that such
behavior is not tolerated in the Churches of God.
Later, when he heard that the man had
repented and was heartbroken, he asked the church to forgive him and receive
him back (2 Cor. 7).
Now, even if my ideas represented a danger
to the church, I still deserved an explanation and a hearing in which I could
explain the basis of my beliefs. But the
minister proceeded to isolate me quickly, fearing probably that other members
of the church might follow my example and start questioning their
doctrines. This raises the question, is
the Church of God so shaky in its beliefs that it cannot stand analysis of its
doctrines? That is not how the Apostles
dealt with those who asked questions about their teachings. They welcomed such inquiries and took the
opportunity to expand upon the reasons for their beliefs.
Only the Catholic Church acted quickly
during the Middle Ages to isolate and eliminate the "heretics" who
obeyed the Bible rather than its priests.
Since the Churches of God have taken the Catholic Church as their
master, should we be surprised if we find that the same spirit works in both
churches these days?
The day after I was disfellowshipped, I
decided to take my case to the leaders of the church. I was prepared to accept that a local
minister could make a mistake, but my hope was that the leaders would have a
different attitude. I was convinced that
if they gave me the opportunity, I could show them from the Bible that they
made an error in regard to the tithing doctrine. So I took my meager savings and flew from
Toronto, Canada to Pasadena, California, where the headquarters of the church
were located.
But when I arrived there, before I told
anyone who I was, I was met by a security person who told me that if I stepped
foot on their college grounds I would be arrested. They had a college there in which they
trained young boys to become ministers in the church, a practice which went
totally against the biblical principles.
My minister, a graduate of that college, must have contacted them by
telephone and told them to receive me that way.
After about week of trying, when they
perceived that I would not leave until I talked with someone from the
leadership, I was seen by two top evangelists who, after listening briefly to
me, told me that they were not interested in what I had to say.
After extracting from me nearly three
thousand dollars - a lot of money in those days - they would not even listen to
what I had to say, let alone check it in the Bible.
Only then did the scale of corruption and
deception that were going on in that church became evident to me. Until then, I still believed that they were
genuinely mistaken in their understanding of the tithing doctrine, and that if
someone showed it to them in the Scriptures, they would repent, relent and
change. But there was no mistaken
understanding in that church. They knew
perfectly well what they were doing.
They knew very well that the tithing doctrine gave them a lavish
lifestyle which they were not prepared to abandon.
I went back to my hotel room, I put my
thoughts on paper and sent a copy to all the top evangelists. I hope they still have that letter, and I
would advise them to read it again. It
might interest them to know what has transpired over the last nineteen
years. They know that nineteen is an
important cycle in God's calendar. I had
no idea then that it would take that long before God turned events around in
such a way as to force me to challenge them again.
When I returned to Toronto from Pasadena, I
discovered that the two "brethren" with whom I used to share a flat
had locked me out. The problem was, most
of the furniture in that flat belonged to me.
Apparently, the minister had told them that when one is put out of the church,
he is worth nothing in God's eyes anymore.
So they were free to help themselves with impunity to whatever I
had. That was the caliber of the
ministers that were coming out of their college.
And so, for the second time in my life, I
lost everything. First, to the
communists, then to the religionists - the second hardly more scrupulous than
the first.
Ironically, when I joined the Worldwide
Church of God, I was so impressed with the position, prestige, wealth and
authority of their ministers, that I submitted an application to be admitted to
their college. They turned me down, but
never told me why. I thought I had a
good record, but it must have been too good for their liking. They were not interested in people who were
dedicated to God, but in those who were subservient to their leaders.
Several weeks passed during which time I
considered the things that were happening to me. I was lucky enough to still have a job, but
the people with whom I worked must have thought I had become a zombie. Whenever we had a break, I would withdraw
aside and keep my own company. They did
not know what was happening to me and I could not tell them. I was working as an electrician in the
construction industry at that time.
For several weeks I kept thinking that perhaps
after I stirred them up, they would look into the Bible, discover that I was
right, invite me back into the church, give me back my belongings, and
apologize for the way they treated me.
But it wasn't to be. When that
did not eventuate, I decided to make it easy for everyone by taking the first
steps towards a possible reconciliation.
After all, they still had my belongings, and although they were not
many, they were mine and I needed them.
So I rang the minister and told him that I would like to have another
discussion with him. He immediately
asked me if I had repented. That took me
by surprise, for I had no idea what I was supposed to repent of. But I realized that if I said repent of what,
it would have been the end of my reconciliation attempt. So I told him that I was sorry for what
happened, thinking that later I would be able to find out the exact sin he
wanted me to repent of. He then said
that I could attend church services again if I wanted to.
I went back to that church only to discover that they had no intention
of revising any of their doctrines. The
members of the church did not appear to be particularly happy to see me back
either. I still do not know what the
minister had told them about me, but it must have been awful for they did not
seem to be able to forgive and forget. I
could not avoid thinking about these words of Jesus Christ: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites. For you travel land and sea
to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of
hell as yourselves." (Matt. 23;15).
When I realized that there was no room for
me in that church anymore, I decided to distance myself from them as far as I
could. So I immigrated to Australia with
the hope of starting a whole new life.
If anyone wonders if I received back my
belongings, I did not. My
"brethren" did not offer to return them to me and I did not ask for
them. I only asked for a Bible and a
guitar, but when I received them, the Bible was all right, but the guitar was a
wreck.
After moving to Australia, I
embarked upon university studies and obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree (majors
in Study in Religions and Ancient History and minors in Anthropology and
Psychology), and two Graduate Diplomas (Librarianship and Education). I married a university colleague, obtained a
job as a Teacher/Librarian, then settled down to what I hoped would be a quiet
and enjoyable life.
My life was quiet and
enjoyable all right until, that is, the Churches of God entered my life
again. One day, on my way to work, I
noticed a poster advertising religious literature from a new Church of
God. My curiosity got the better of me
and I sent for it. Great was my surprise
when I discovered that the leader of this new church was none other than Garner
Ted Armstrong. Destiny was crossing our
paths again. I had the uneasy feeling
that no matter what I did or where I went, we were bound to come into conflict
again.
It was then I learned that
Herbert W. Armstrong was dead (he was not supposed to die before the return of
Jesus Christ) and that all hell had broken loose in the Worldwide Church of God
after I left it. Garner Ted Armstrong
left that church too, or was put out of it, and formed his own church. A number of other evangelists followed his example,
took their followers, and formed their own "Churches of God."
When I read their
literature, I realized that all of them were still preaching and promoting the
same old heresies, only that this time they were coming from more
quarters. As far as I could determine,
none of them left because they had some new insights, but because their future
wasn't too sure in the old church.
I realized then that God
would not forgive me if I did not disseminate the knowledge He had given me,
and did not expose the deceptions these people were perpetrating in His
name. And so, in 1990, the first edition
of The Christian Herald made its
appearance. The leading article in that
issue was "The Gospel of the Kingdom of God". If you haven't read it, send for a free copy. You owe it to yourself to find out the truth
about this important subject.
But 1990 proved to be an
important year from another point of view.
In that same year Garner Ted Armstrong published his booklet, The Abomination
of Desolation. Rather than revealing
who or what that is, he hides its identity by directing people to look in the
wrong place, for the wrong thing, at the wrong time. That could not be allowed to pass
unchallenged and unexposed.
THE
"MAN OF SIN"
Garner Ted
Armstrong said that the "man of sin" will be sitting in the holy
place, in a temple of God which is yet to be built in Jerusalem. He based his prophecy on Apostle Paul's
letter to the Thessalonian Church. Here
is a quotation from his booklet (p.20), with his comments interspersed in
square brackets.
"Let
no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come [the second coming
of Christ], except there come a falling away [apostasy!] first, and that the
man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Who
opposed and exalted himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped;
so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God [a temple which is yet to be
constructed in Jerusalem!], showing himself [claiming] that he is God...
And
now ye know what withholdeth [withstands; resists. Paul is speaking of himself, as one who was
"holding back" this growing apostasy] that he might be revealed in
his time.
For
the mystery of iniquity [it was a "mystery" religion; one which
condoned sin, or " iniquity"] doth already work; only he who now
letteth [restrain] will let [continue to restrain], until he be taken out of
the way." (II Thess. 2:3-7).
Then he continued:
"Here
we see a human religious leader who will ensconce himself inside the temple in
Jerusalem and actually claim to be divine! - claim to be god!" (pp.
And again:
"Paul clearly said the
'man of sin' would sit in the temple of God.
But
today, there is no temple in Jerusalem." (p. 27).
There
is no better example of unfounded assumptions being read into the Scriptures
than this one. Apostle Paul never said
that the "man of sin" would sit in the temple of God, but that he was
ALREADY SITTING in that temple when he wrote his epistle. Neither did he mention Jerusalem as the city
of the temple of God.
That
is a very important biblical passage, which requires an in-depth analysis. For this reason, we will quote it again in
its entirety from the New King James Version:
v.1 "Now, brethren, concerning the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
v.2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by
word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
v.3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for
that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin
is revealed, the son of perdition,
v.4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or
that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is
God.
V.5 Do you
not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
v.6 And now you know what is restraining, that
he may be revealed in his own time.
v.7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already
at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
v.8 And when the lawless one will be revealed,
whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the
brightness of His coming.
V.9 The coming of the lawless one is according
to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
v.10 and with all unrighteous deception among
those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
v.11 And for this reason God will send them strong
delusion, that they should believe the lie
v.12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but
had pleasure in unrighteousness."
There are several
important points in this passage that need to be remembered:
* There will be a great falling away from
the truth of God before the return of Jesus Christ (v.3);
* The "man of sin" and "son
of perdition," will be revealed before the return of Jesus Christ (v.3);
* He was already sitting in the
* The "mystery of lawlessness" was
already at work then (v.7);
* The position which this man was holding,
will be in existence when Jesus Christ returns (v.8);
* The "man of sin" has the power
of Satan behind him (v.9);
* Those who follow him will perish,
"because they did not receive the love of the truth" (v.10);
* There was a certain lie which this man was
preaching at that time (v.11).
The
first question to be answered is where was the temple of God in which this
"man of sin" was sitting?
Instinctively, people think that it was in Jerusalem, but this cannot be
true for a number of reasons:
1)
The Jews did not worship any human being who claimed to be God. Had they not just killed Jesus Christ for
saying that He was the Son of God? How
much less would they have worshiped someone who claimed to be not the Son, but
the very God Himself?
2)
There are no historical or religious documents speaking of a human being who
ensconced himself in the temple of God in Jerusalem claiming to be God, between
the time of Jesus Christ and the time the temple was destroyed in 70 AD. If
that had been the case it would, most certainly, have been mentioned by the
Apostles or by the historians of that period, but no such mention was ever
made.
3)
Why was Apostle Paul afraid to name this "man of sin" in his
letter? “Do you not remember that when I
was still with you I told you these things?" If he had been a Jew he would
have had no hesitation telling the churches who he was, for he openly blasted
those people who caused problems to the Churches of God. But whoever this man was, he was a feared
person.
The
reason he could not be mentioned was that the letter could have fallen into the
wrong hands. Now, who were the people
who were feared by both the Jews and the Thessalonians at that time? The Romans, of course!
The
Romans were the masters of the ancient world and they did not take kindly to
anyone who spoke disparagingly about them and especially about their
leaders. It is in Rome, therefore, that
we must look for the “man of sin" who sat in the temple of God claiming to
be God.
It
is a great error to assume that Jerusalem was the only city in the world in which
there was a temple of God. It is true
that only the temple in Jerusalem was sanctified by God, but that does not mean
that there were no temples of God in other cities. Virtually every ancient city had a temple
dedicated to God or to some other deity.
With
this in mind, let us now compare what Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans with
what he wrote to the Thessalonians:
"For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, because what
may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For 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, because,
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.
Professing
to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God
into an image made like corruptible man and birds and fourfooted beasts and
creeping things. Therefore God also gave
them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies
among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and
served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." (Rom. 1:18-25).
Notice the similarities
between the two epistles:
*
The people mentioned in both of them take delight in unrighteousness.
*
They both reject the love and the truth of God.
*
Both worshipped what they ought not to.
*
Both were given by God to strong delusions and passions.
*
Both believed the lie.
*
And both did things that were Satanic in nature, even though Satan was
mentioned by name only in the letter to the Thessalonians.
It
is obvious that in both epistles Apostle Paul was speaking about the same
people. Since we know that the first
were Romans, it follows that the second were Romans too. We should not be surprised then if we find
that the "man of sin" was a high standing Roman.
The
Romans, more than any other people, were infatuated with images of "four-footed
beasts and creeping things" and have remained so ever since, as any
visitor to Italy can confirm. That is
why we must look for the "man of sin" not among the Jews, who to this
day have observed God's injunction against making and worshipping images and
statues (Ex. 20:4-5), but among the Romans who take pleasure in such things.
In
the book of Acts we find that when Apostle Paul visited Athens, "his
spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to
idols" (Acts 17:16). If he was so
"provoked" by the idols of Athens, we can hardly imagine that there
could have been such idols in Jerusalem.
No such complaint was made by any of the Apostles against the Jews. Athens, however, could not have been the city
of the "man of sin" because the Greeks had no dominion over the Jews
and, after this episode, Athens played little role in the life of the early
Christians, whereas Rome played a mighty and murderous one.
We
notice that Apostle Paul made no comment about his "spirit being provoked
within himself" when he visited Rome, even though that city was given over
to idols more than Athens was. The
Romans had the habit of carting anything of value from the conquered
territories to their capital, and monuments, artifacts and idols were of high
value to them.
The
reason Apostle Paul said nothing about the Romans was that he knew when to keep
his mouth shut. He knew that he would
not have received the same reception in Rome as he did in Athens. The Romans were too busy with their murderous
pleasure games to have time for philosophical discussions as did the Athenians
in the Areopagus (Acts 17).
It
is fashionable these days to think of the Romans as a civilization far advanced
for their time, and in many respects they were.
But we must never forget how the "Pax Romana" was
achieved. Only the Romans were capable
of decorating their roads with impaled human beings, left to die a slow agonizing
death; or use them as torches for their night carnivals; or make a spectacle of
them being torn apart by animals; or watch them fighting gladiator games till
death.
It
was the Roman predilection for the macabre that provided a fertile ground for
the murderous Catholic inquisition later on.
Can anyone imagine such "sports" being practiced openly these
days in any country of the world?
The
Romans were tolerant of other peoples' religions as long as they acknowledged
the supremacy of the Roman gods. But the
Jews and the Christians refused to do so, and paid heavily for their attitude.
As
happened throughout history, the religion of the dominant civilization
influenced that of the conquered peoples.
We should not be surprised then, that the Roman religion exercised a
powerful influence over other religions of the empire, including
Christianity. Apostle Paul saw that
occurring already during his time, and warned his followers to be on guard
against it.
It
is from Rome that he saw "the mystery of lawlessness already at
work". It is there that he saw the
man who came "according to the working of Satan”. It is from there that he saw the lie being
spread over the conquered nations.
Who
then was the “man of sin" who had authority over religious matters, who
sat in the temple of God claiming to be God?
Was he the emperor? No! It could
not have been the emperor for a number of reasons:
-
First, not all emperors received divine honors.
Caesar and Augustus were deified after they died; Tiberius disapproved
of the cult of emperor worship; Caligula demanded to be worshipped while alive
and was murdered; Claudius I, the ruling emperor when Apostle Paul wrote his
epistles to the Thessalonians, suffered from a speech impediment and was
despised by the Senate.
You
may have seen the British television series "I Claudius" which dealt
with that period. Claudius was depicted
as a bumbling, stuttering individual, always outwitted by his wives. Did he look as if he might have been the man
who was worshipped as God?
The
film producers were not particularly concerned with historical accuracy, for
the records show that he was in fact one of the better and more sensible of the
Roman emperors. He improved the
administration and the judicial system over the empire and was generous with
Roman citizenship, but because he was held in low esteem by the disgruntled
senators, he did not receive divine honors even after death, let alone while
alive.
Neither
was it Nero, the next emperor and the one in whose reign Apostle Paul wrote the
epistle to the Romans. Under Nero, the
Christians suffered their first major persecution, but that not because he
demanded divine honors, but because he needed scapegoats for the fire which
destroyed Rome.
Emperor
worship was not a common practice until much later. Domitian, Trajan and Hadrian were the first
emperors who persecuted the Christians for that reason, and that was after the
Apostles had disappeared from the scene.
-
Second, even when some emperors received divine honors, there is no evidence
that any of them actually sat on the throne in the temple of God claiming to be
God.
-
Third, the Scriptures say that the "man of sin" will be destroyed at
the return of Jesus Christ. Since no man
could have survived that long, it means that the Scriptures are referring not
to an individual, but to a position or office.
Since the position of emperorship disappeared with the disintegration of
the Roman Empire, it follows that the emperor could not have been the "man
of sin."
The
only position in the Roman world which was held in high esteem then, which
rivaled that of the emperor, and which has survived to this day, is that of
Pontifex Maximus.
Armstrong’s
idea that Apostle Paul was putting some restraints on Pontifex Maximus and
keeping him from being revealed (2 Thess. 4:6-8), is as spurious as the one
that he was a Jew. It was the emperor
who overshadowed and kept in check the power of Pontifex Maximus, but when the
emperors were no longer on the scene, Pontifex Maximus became the undisputed
leader of the Roman world, and still is to this day.
The
position of Pontifex Maximus goes as far back in Roman history as there are
recorded documents. Indeed, the earliest
chronicles of Roman history, dealing with events of religious significance
(famines, eclipses, etc.), called "Annales Pontificum," were written
by Pontifex Maximus. As the chief priest
of the Roman religion, he presided over religious ceremonies in the temple of
God, served by a group of girls called the Vestal Virgins.
The
story is that when the Romans abolished their monarchy and instituted a
Republic, late in the sixth century BC, they still needed a king for religious
ceremonies. So they bestowed the title
of "Rex Sacrificulum" (King of Sacrifices), and "Rex
Sacrorum" (Sacred or Divine King) upon Pontifex Maximus.
But there was another title
of which Pontifex Maximus was very fond of: "Father of the
nation". It is not clear how he
obtained that title, but since the Romans believed that he came down from the
gods, it is not hard to see why he felt that he was the “Father of the nation”.
When you combine the titles,
"Divine King" with "Father of the nation” you come up with
"Divine Father", a title which belongs to God and to Him alone. Can you see now why Apostle Paul spoke of a
"man of sin" sitting in the temple of God claiming to be God?
During the Republic, the
legislative power was held by the Senate, the executive power by the two
praetors, later consuls, but the religious power with all its accoutrements and
honors was held by Pontifex Maximus.
When Julius Caesar became
the undisputed leader in Rome, he acquired for himself the title of Pontifex
Maximus. He felt that he was entitled to
it because his genealogy reached back to the Trojan hero Aeneas, the founder of
Lavinium - the parent city of Rome - and through him to the goddess Venus. But other Roman senators were not happy that
he declared himself "Sacred King", and fearing that he intended to
re-establish the monarchy they killed him.
Unfortunately, what they feared in Julius Caesar they got in Octavian
Augustus.
Augustus, who is considered
to be the first Roman emperor, also acquired for himself the title of Pontifex
Maximus. After him, that title passed on
to all Roman emperors, but for them it was only an honorific title; the real
function and religious authority remained with the chief Roman priest who
continued to sit in the temple of God as "Divine Father" surrounded
by the Vestal Virgins.
There is a similarity here
between the Roman imperial system and the present arrangement in the Anglican
Church. Nominally, the Queen of Great
Britain is also head of the Anglican Church, but the religious authority and
functions lie with the Archbishop of Canterbury.
After the Roman Empire
disintegrated, the title ‘Pontifex Maximus’ remained the sole preserve of the
chief Roman priest.
PONTIFEX MAXIMUS TODAY
Since Apostle Paul
prophesied that the "lawless one" will be consumed at the return of
Jesus Christ, the question is who holds that position now? To find that out, if you do not already know,
we will take you on a short trip of
When I married, my wife and I were both
university students and could not afford to take a proper honeymoon. But we agreed that as soon as we had enough
money, we would take a tour
One could not fail to be impressed by those
magnificent buildings. Architecturally
impressive, with intricate ornaments and imaginatively incised stories in acres
(literally) of stained glass windows, they are a monumental reflection of the
length, effort and expense the people of the Middle Ages went to in order to
show their dedication to God.
As we took our tour in mid (northern)
winter, a time when there are many celebrations associated with Christmas and
the New Year, we had the chance to observe a few religious ceremonies in
progress. During such occasions, I
discovered that impressive as these buildings are, they are, in fact, quite ill
fitted for their intended purpose.
Because they are so big - they could easily accommodate thousands of
people - they are cold, eerie, dark, damp, and generally speaking, uninviting.
I never saw more than a handful of people, a
few hundred at most, worshipping in there at any one time. Many times I wondered if these buildings were
ever full of people. In most cases,
people worshipped God in a central area surrounded by hundreds of tourist
onlookers - not a particularly conducive environment for inspiring and
reflective worship.
The custodians of those buildings have
entombed some of their kings, queens or famous personalities, right in the
middle of the worship area. I don't know
how other people feel about it, but I am always uncomfortable when I stand on
someone's grave. That brought to mind
the following Scriptures:
"For they provoked Him to anger with their
high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved images." (Ps.
78:58).
"And he said to me, 'Son of man, this is the
place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in
the midst of the children of
The cathedrals are usually located on the
highest vantage point in their respective cities. You can see their spires and bell towers long
before you come near them. These are the
high places of which God speaks in not so flattering terms in the Bible.
In Old Testament times, God gave specific
instructions to His people on how to live.
Their places of worship, their camps and their living quarters, were to
be kept clean and holy at all times, otherwise He said, He would not live among
them. When someone died, the body was to
be taken and buried away from the camp.
Those who handled the corpse were unclean until the sun set. Then they performed certain purification
rites and rejoined their families and community.
Although we no longer live under the Old
Testament rules, such ideas of cleanliness and holiness make as much sense now
as they did then. No one needs to be
isolated and undertake purification rites, but common sense should tell
everyone that corpses are not to be buried inside places of worship.
We continued our tour until we reached
The great
Yet, great as that building may be, there
are negative aspects about it which overwhelm the positive ones. They have saddled it with such an array of
idols it is a wonder it hasn't started sinking under their weight. Inside, outside, on top, below, surrounding
it, leading away from it and coming towards it, they are everywhere. And underneath its floor, they don't have
just one, two, or a few carcasses, but an entire cemetery of papal crypts and
tombs.
The obsession these people have with death
is overwhelming. During my wondering
about that place, I had vivid images of Christ on the cross, and felt as if an
invisible hand was pressing hard against my soul. As Apostle Paul said when he visited
In the
innermost part of
Not many people know that among the many
titles the Popes have is also that of Pontifex Maximus. The shortened title, "the Pontiff",
by which they are better known, comes from Pontifex. This gives the lie to the claim that the
"Bishop of Rome" owes his position to Apostle Peter. The title Pontifex Maximus goes back hundreds
of years before the time of Apostle Peter.
Now, would Apostle Peter appoint as bishop
over the
“Appoint me bishop over what? I have the Roman world at my feet, all
religions of the empire worship and respect me, and you want to appoint me
bishop over an insignificant Jewish sect whose leader we have just
crucified? Who do you think you are?”
“Well, you see, I am the chief Apostle of
Jesus Christ!”
“Chief what?
How many people worship you, how big is the temple in which you sit, how
many virgins (as in Vestal Virgins) serve you, how much gold and silver and
other riches do you have?”
“Oh, no! You see, in our religion these
things don't mean anything anymore. We
strive to achieve perfection by renouncing worldly possessions. We only worship
God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son.
Only in this way can we hope to inherit eternal life in the
“Renounce my position and my good life in
this world for eternal life in the
“You have no immortality within yourself and
have deified no one. What you believe is
not true and it does not come from the true God, but from demons and seducing
spirits. If you want to receive eternal
life you need to repent, worship our God and His Son Jesus Christ and be
baptized for the forgiveness of your sins.
It may be that God will forgive you the blasphemy of calling
yourself "Divine Father", and
grant you the Holy Spirit to enable you to overcome your vanity and
weaknesses.”
“Are you calling me
vain and telling me that when I die I will not go to heaven, that those whom I
deify are not in heaven listening to our prayers, that our lady the "Queen
of Heaven" is not up there surrounded by all the saints?”
“No one has risen to heaven except Jesus
Christ and no one will be going to heaven until after the resurrection. Then everyone will be judged and only those
who are found worthy of it will be granted eternal life in the
“The Scriptures? Read the Jewish Scriptures? We have our own Roman Scriptures - the Pontifical writings to which I myself
have added a few things. They tell us
that we have immortal souls and that when we die we go to heaven. There, we will hold similar positions as the
ones we held in this world; the higher, richer and more esteemed one is in this
world, the greater he will be in heaven.”
“No, no, no, it is the other way
around. The richer you are in this world
and the more esteemed you are, the lesser chance you have of making it into the
“I am not going to put up with your
obstinacy anymore. Take this man and
throw him to the lions; that will teach him to come to me with such outrageous
religion.
Hah!
He wants me to give up my great position to become bishop in the poorest
religion in the empire. And they won't
even worship me and the emperor. This
religion ought to be banished from the empire.
I will speak to the emperor and see what he can do about it.”
This dialogue, of course, never took place,
for Apostle Peter never went to
THE BLASPHEMY
Some people may well say that although
the Pope holds the position of Pontifex Maximus, he does not actually claim to
be God. Doesn't he? We noticed how in ancient times Pontifex
Maximus claimed to be "Divine Father". In like manner the present day Pontifex
Maximus claims to be "Holy Father", another title which belongs to
God and to Him alone.
Why
do you think Jesus Christ told His followers never to call anyone on earth
"father”? "Do not call anyone on earth father, for One is your
Father, He who is in heaven." (Matt. 23:9). He saw what the Romans were doing and wanted
to prevent His disciples from committing the same sin.
The
Pontiff does not need to say he is God, he says that he is "Holy
Father", which is just the same or worse.
For there are many people in the world who think that they are gods, but
only one who thinks that he is the Godhead, the "Holy Father".
Before
He was crucified, Jesus Christ prayed:
"Now 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 17:11, emphasis added).
By
calling themselves "Holy Fathers", the Popes have made it sound as if
Jesus Christ prayed to them. Could there
be a greater blasphemy? More than a
billion Catholics the world over call their Pope "Holy Father" not
realizing that they too are committing blasphemy by doing so. By assuming for themselves the title
"Holy Father", the Popes not only disregard the words of Jesus
Christ, but break the second commandment too:
"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).
"Therefore
I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy
against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven
him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him,
either in this age or in the age to come."
(Matt. 12:31-32).
Can
you see how Apostle Paul's prophecy about the "man of sin" sitting in
the temple of God, claiming to be God, or “Holy Father”, has been fulfilled
right through the ages without people realizing it?
Fulfilled
prophecy is the greatest proof the Bible offers that it is the inspired Word of
God. The fact that this prophecy is
being revealed now, at the conclusion of this age, is a sure sign that we are
close to the return of Jesus Christ.
Apostle
Paul said that before the return of Jesus Christ the "man of sin' will be
revealed, and the Churches of God will fall away (2 Thess. 2:3-4). Both of these prophecies have now been
fulfilled.
“ON THIS ROCK”
A recent video distributed by the
Now,
we saw how God does not like carcasses buried inside His places of
worship. Would Jesus Christ then have
told His followers to do something the Father does not like? Notice what He actually told His disciples:
"When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea
Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, 'Who do men say that I, the Son of Man,
am?' So they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah
or one of the prophets.'
He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I
am?'
And Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed
are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but
My Father in heaven. And 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.’” (Matt. 16:13-18).
The
Catholics understand this to mean that Jesus Christ wanted them to build a
temple upon the bones of Apostle Peter.
They do not know or ignore the fact that in the New Testament the word
"church" denotes a group of people, not a building. Early Christians met in synagogues, in
private homes, in parks, in subterranean caves, wherever they could find a
quiet place to worship without being disturbed.
What
Jesus Christ meant was that Peter was to become the leading Apostle in His
Church, and that is exactly what happened.
He took the initiative in establishing both the first Jewish churches
and the Gentile churches (Acts
In
a confrontation with the Jewish leaders he said this about Jesus Christ: "This is the stone which was rejected by
the builders, which has become the chief cornerstone"' (Acts
"For we are God's fellow workers; you are
God's field, you are God's building.
According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master
builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on
it. For no other foundation can
anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
(1 Cor. 3:9-11).
The
Catholic leaders have decided to have another foundation for their church. They love to have relics of dead people in
their churches, and since they could not have anything from the body of Jesus
Christ, He no longer being dead and available, they settled for the next best
thing - the bones of Apostle Peter. The
problem is, Apostle Peter never went to
"And so I have made my aim to preach the
Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's
foundation, but as it is written: 'To
whom He was not announced, they shall see; And those who have not heard shall
understand.’” (
The
Holy Spirit did not allow the Apostles to duplicate each other's work. If Peter had already been in
"But on the contrary, when they saw that the
Gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the Gospel for the
circumcised was to Peter; (For He who worked effectively in Peter for the
apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles)
And when
James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had
been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that
we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised." (
The
Romans were uncircumcised Gentiles, that is why Apostle Paul, not Peter, went
there to preach the Gospel. After
Apostle Peter opened the way for the Gospel to be preached to the Gentiles, he
went back and preached the Word of God to the people of
The
book of Acts tells us that the Holy Spirit did not allow Apostle Paul to preach
the Gospel in
Apostle
Peter also mentions
If
Apostle Peter had been in
"We neither received letters from
So when they had appointed him a day, many came to
him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the
The
Jews of Rome knew nothing about "this sect", except that it was
"spoken against everywhere". Does that sound as if Apostle Peter had
already been there? Since Peter was
first and foremost Apostle to the “circumcision", it is inconceivable that
he could have gone to
But
what about the possibility that Apostle Peter went to
"So when they did not agree among themselves,
they departed after Paul had said one word: 'The Holy Spirit spoke rightly
through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying, “Go to this people and say:
‘Hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and
not perceive; For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their
eyes they have closed, lest they should understand with their heart and turn,
so that I should heal them. Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation
of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!’”’
And when he had said these words, the Jews departed
and had a great dispute among themselves.
Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented
house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and
teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no
one forbidding him.” (Acts 28:25-31).
When
the Jews were no longer interested in hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
Apostle Paul remained in
"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead,
descended from David. This is my Gospel
for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a
criminal. But God's word is not chained.
For I am already being poured out like a drink
offering, and the time has come for my departure." (2 Ti. 2:8-9; 4:6,
N.I.V.).
After
preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God for more than two years (from 63 AD
and 66 AD - the time Apostle Peter wrote his epistles from Babylon), Apostle
Paul found himself chained and ready to die.
That was the time of Nero's persecution.
He told Timothy that at his hour of trial he was abandoned by all except
Luke (2 Ti. 4:9-11). Now, would Apostle
Peter have abandoned him if he were in
Jesus
Christ expects His followers to be ready to lay down their life for the Gospel
at any time, but He would not approve of anyone jumping into the fire or into
the mouth of lions just to show his/her willingness to die. Apostle Peter certainly would not have done
that.
THE BIG
LIE
You noticed how in his epistles to the Romans and to the Thessaloninans,
Apostle Paul wrote that those who rejected God have been given over to believe
"the lie" (Rom.
The
Apostles preached that at the end of this world, every human being will be
resurrected and judged. Those who have
repented and changed to a righteous life will be granted eternal life in the
It
is a very simple Gospel, but one which has been greatly corrupted by Satan and
his ministers (2 Cor. 11:3-4).
The
Romans, on the other hand, believed that people do not really die, but “pass
away". Immediately after death, they said, people take on a different existence
and, after judgment, continued to live forever either in heaven or in hell (the
underworld). According to them, it would
have been impossible for human beings to completely vanish from existence
because they have an immortal soul.
It
may surprise people to know it, but this belief is as old as the world itself,
having its origins in the Garden of Eden.
It is with this lie that Satan deceived Eve and Adam. He told them that if they ate of the
forbidden fruit, they would not die but be like God.
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of
the field which the Lord God had made.
And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of
every tree of the garden?”’
And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the
fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat, nor shall you touch it,
lest you die."'
And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not
surely die. For God knows that in the
day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil."' (Gen. 3:1-5).
Eating
of the forbidden fruit was supposed to give them the knowledge of good and evil
and make them eternal like God - the very opposite of what God said would
happen. Satan urged them to experiment,
to find out the truth for themselves rather than rely on God's revelation. They did, and ever since humanity has been
experimenting and searching for the truth, without ever finding it.
This
is the lie of which Apostle Paul
wrote about - the idea that every human being, sinful or otherwise, will live
forever. This lie became the mainstay of
all religions, except true Christianity.
The
idea of reincarnation, common to the eastern religions, is based on this lie
too. The soul, being immortal, keeps
reincarnating until it reaches Nirvana, or unconscious existence, or
nothingness.
Most
people who believe in reincarnation, do not know that the final aim of this
chain of birth and rebirth is nothingness.
They take pleasure at the thought of being reborn as kings, queens, or
other famous personalities - never commoners - without realizing that their
final destination is nothingness. You
would think that after the trauma of so many births and deaths they would aspire
for something more exciting, but then when it comes to the philosophy of life
human beings have hardly excelled in their logic.
Even
the atheists, the people who profess not to believe in God, believe in some
form of immortality. I remember when, as
a child, the communists would take us on parades and tell us to chant,
"Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live". Nobody believed that nonsense, for we all
knew that, to use a common expression, he was as dead as a dodo, but who could
argue with those besotted communist ideologues.
It
was to restore truth to the world, the truth that was lost in the Garden of
Eden, that God chose a people for Himself.
He gave them new laws, statutes and judgments - a new philosophy of
life, in other words - and told them to go out and be an example to the
world. But the Israelites had a better
idea: they decided to keep God to themselves.
One of the reasons for which the Jews killed the early Christians was
that they took the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts
When
the Jews failed in their mission, God chose a new people for Himself. He also told them to go out and take His
Message to the world, but, like the Jews, the Christians failed in their
mission too:
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age."(Matt. 28:19-20).
How
many people "observe all things" these days as God commanded? Not many people, to be sure. That is why in the Millennium there will be
another reversal of fortune.
There
is a reason why God has been gathering the Jews from all nations back to their
ancestral land. In their ignorance, they
killed the “Prince of Peace”, but throughout their long ordeal they maintained
God's "oracles" (
"Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'People shall yet come, inhabitants of many
cities; The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, "Let us
continue to go and pray before the Lord, and seek the Lord of hosts. I myself will go also. Yes, many people and strong nations shall
come to seek the Lord of hosts in
Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'In those days ten men from every language
of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go
with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” (Zec. 8:20-23).
Those
who are currently engaged in peace negotiations, trying to divide Palestine
between the Jews and the Arabs, should consider the following Scriptures:
"For
They shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron
shall be uprooted.
Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation
of Cheretithes!
The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land
of the Philistines:
‘I will destroy you; so there shall be no
inhabitant.’
"The sea coast shall be pastures, with
shelters for shepherds and folds for flocks.
The coast shall be for the remnant of the house of
Judah; they shall feed their flocks there;
In the house of Ashkelon they shall lie down at
evening.
For the Lord their God will intervene for them. And
return their captives.”
"I have heard the reproach of
The residue of My people shall plunder them, and
the remnant of My people shall possess them."
"This they shall have for their pride, because
they have reproached and made arrogant threats against the people of the Lord
of hosts.
The Lord will be awesome to them, for He will
reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth;
People shall worship Him, each one from his place,
indeed all the shores of the nations." (Zeph. 2:4-11).
The
amazing thing about traditional Christianity is that instead of following the
examples and teachings of the Apostles, it has adopted, almost in their
entirety, the beliefs and practices of the ancient Romans. If you compare the Catholic Church with the
Roman religion, you will not find many differences. The Romans simply took the name of Christ, stamped
it upon their beliefs, and called that Christianity.
It
was easy for them to do so because by the time the emperor Constantine made it
the religion of the Roman Empire, Christianity had so thoroughly been
influenced by the Roman religion, it was no longer recognizable as the
Christianity of the Apostles.
The
Orthodox and Protestant Churches hold similar beliefs to those of the Catholic
Church because they are all daughters of Catholicism. They did not
"protest" against the departure from the original religion, but
against the papal abuses.
The
notions of immortality of the soul, going to heaven or to hell after death,
sainthood after death, worshipping of images, etc., are demonstrably not
biblical in origin. Even the Holy Days
are completely different from those observed by the early Christians.
There
is not a single place in the Bible which says that human beings have an
immortal soul. On the contrary, there
are many examples which say that they DON'T have immortal souls.
Jesus
Christ preached resurrection of the dead (Matt. 22:31), not resurrection of
those who are already in heaven. If
people are already in heaven or in hell, why do they need to be resurrected and
judged again?
The
Bible uses the terms "saint" or "saints" to refer to the
people of God while they are alive, not after death. If you open a concordance, you will find
dozens of places where these terms are used, yet none refers to dead
people. Not only that, but the biblical
saints die: "Precious in the sight
of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Ps. 115:15).
How
could that be - God is happy when His saints die? Simple: those who die as saints could no
longer sin. They wait in the grave until
the resurrection time, then they will be granted eternal life in the
"Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, that
You would conceal me until Your wrath is past,
That You would appoint me a set time, and remember
me! If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my hard service I will wait, till
my change comes." (Job
14:13-14).
Job
did not say, if a man dies, shall he go to heaven or to hell, but shall he live
again? And what change was he thinking
about? The change that God promised
Daniel too:
"But you, go your way till the end; for you
shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days”. (Daniel 12:13).
Daniel,
Job and Noah were considered righteous men by God (Eze.
Traditional
Christians would be horrified to hear that their saints could die. How could they die if they are in heaven and
have an immortal soul? The truth is the
Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant saints, are neither in heaven nor are they
immortal.
When
people die, they are dead forever, unless they are resurrected. Life only occurs after birth or after
resurrection, never after death. There
could never be life after death because death is the very antithesis of life. The two do not mix; one cannot be dead and
alive at the same time.
The
Apostles spoke about resurrection from the dead, never about the immortality of
the soul. Human beings do not have
immortality within themselves, nor could they obtain it by themselves. They need Jesus Christ for that:
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in
them." (Eph. 2:8-10).
"For
there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
who gave Himself
a ransom for all." (1 Ti. 2:5).
"Jesus Christ said to him, ‘I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through
"Nor is there salvation in any other, for
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be
saved." (Acts
If
traditional Christianity is to be believed, there is another name by which men
can be saved - Satan. He told the first
humans that by sinning they become like God, that they get an immortal soul and
live forever. This lie is now the
mainstay of all churches and religions.
Let
us now analyze the Scriptures that appear to justify the belief that human
beings have an immortal soul and go to heaven or to hell immediately after
death.
The
most commonly used example is the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke
Jesus
Christ interpreted many of His parables to His disciples, but not this
one. Nevertheless, it is not hard for us
to establish what message He wanted to convey through it. Those who lead a profligate, selfish and
careless life now will not enter the
That
this parable is not intended to be taken literally, is easily demonstrated by
comparing it with another parable - that of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13).
There were ten virgins who were waiting for their bridegroom to arrive when
they all fell asleep after he tarried a little.
At
If
this parable were to be taken literally, it would mean that one man could marry
five or ten virgins all at once.
Assuming that anyone would be brave enough to do that, he would be
breaking the most fundamental principle of God's creation - one man for one
woman. It is against the law of God to
marry more than one person because, as Jesus Christ said, from the beginning
God made them male and female (Matt. 19:4).
While
this parable, like the one of Lazarus, cannot be taken literally, it too conveys
an important principle: those who are not preparing themselves properly will
not enter the
When
there are two Scriptures, one a statement of fact the other a parable, which
appear to express different viewpoints, the parable must be interpreted in the
light of the statement of fact, not the other way around. Contrary to the general opinion, parables
were used to hide the truth, not to reveal it.
“And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do
You speak to them in parables?’ He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has
been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them
it has not been given.
For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he
will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken
away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do
not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the
prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the heart of this people has
grown dull. Their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and
turn, so that I should heal them.'
‘But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears
for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men
desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and
did not hear it.’" (Matt. 13:10-17).
The
parable of Lazarus then, like all the others, is not meant to reveal the truth,
but to hide it from those who do not deserve to enter the
There
are several aspects about Lazarus' parable which show that it cannot be taken
literally.
(i) In the
(ii) The Scriptures say that "the living know
that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no
more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten" (Ecl. 9:5). In Lazarus' parable, the dead are very much
alive and conscious. They talk, they
suffer, they plead, they reason, they do the things which only living people
can do.
(iii) If this parable were to be taken literally, it
would mean that Lazarus went to heaven before Jesus Christ did. But the Bible says that, "no one has
ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man
who is in heaven". (John 3:13).
(iv)
Apostle Paul said that David, the famous king of
The
notion of going to heaven or to hell immediately after death is connected with
the belief that the human soul is immortal.
If you take that away, there is nothing left to go to heaven or anywhere
else. While there are no Scriptures
saying that the soul is immortal, there are Scriptures which say that it is
not:
"Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father as well as the
soul of the son is Mine;
‘THE SOUL THAT SINS SHALL DIE’" (Ezek. 18:4, emphasis added).
Lest
people think that the prophet made a mistake, God repeated this statement:
"THE SOUL THAT SINS SHALL DIE" (Ezek.
Nothing
has changed between the Old and the New Testaments to change this fact. Jesus Christ confirmed this when He said that
God is able to destroy both the body and the soul in hell (Matt.
Now,
while traditional Christianity preaches that the soul is immortal, the Churches
of God have gone to the other extreme - they deny that human beings have any
souls at all. They say that the body and
the soul are one and the same, even though Jesus Christ clearly identified
body, mind and soul as separate entities (Matt. 22:37; Rev. 6:9).
Someone
once quoted to me the following Scripture to prove that the souls of the sinful
people, being immortal, will be tormented in hell fires forever.
"Then a third angel followed them, saying with
a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his
mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wrath
of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the
lamb. And the smoke of their torment
ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the
beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."' (Rev.
14:9-11).
Imagine
for a moment that you have an animal which needs to be destroyed. Personally, I love all animals - God created
them all for a purpose - but some animals need to be destroyed sometimes. (Some
people would say that there are human beings who need to be destroyed too, but
we will not enter into that argument here.
True Christians do not decide over other peoples' lives; they leave that
to God).
If
that animal were to be thrown into a very hot lake of fire, how long do you
think it would be tormented there?
Within minutes, if not seconds, all that would be left is smoke from its
burning. That smoke will then be going
upward forever.
Now,
if I were to tell you that the smoke from the torment of that animal ascends
forever and ever, would you understand that to mean that the animal itself is
tormented forever and ever? All creatures
made of flesh and blood, human beings included, if cast into a lake of fire and
brimstone, will burn and vanish quickly, and the smoke of their torment will
ascend forever and ever.
That
is a very different story from saying that sinful people will be tormented
forever and ever in the hell fire. The
unrepentant human beings leave God no choice but to have them destroyed quickly
in that lake of fire.
Who
needs to keep the sinful people alive and in torment forever? God doesn't, and neither will His sons.
If
those who are saved could look down from heaven and see the sinful being
tormented in hell, one wonders who would be in greater agony, those who watch
or those who suffer.
Anyone
watching human beings, or animals for that matter, in that kind of torment, and
not feel for them and want to end their agony, is not worthy of the Kingdom of
God. Among those in hell may well be
people who were once your relatives or friends.
Could you bear to see them suffer in hell fires forever, without ever
being given the chance of a reprieve? And that just because they chose to live
their miserable seventy years or so in sin?
That is not Christianity friends; that is a satanic religion. Satan may want to torment his prisoners
forever, but not God.
God
says that He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
God is not willing what? That
people should suffer in hell fires forever?
No, He is not willing that any should PERISH. Those who will not repent will PERISH when
they will be cast into that lake of fire.
Another
Scripture often quoted in support of the "immortal soul" concept, is
Revelation 20:10.
"And the devil, who deceived them, was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet
are. And they will be tormented day and
night forever and ever."
Here
we have the Devil, the beast and the false prophet cast into the lake of fire
and brimstone and "tormented day and night forever and ever”. How do we
explain this? First, we have a problem
of translation. This is how the Revised
Standard Version interprets this verse:
“And the devil who had deceived them was thrown
into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were,
and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
Noticed
the difference? In one place, the beast
and the false prophet “are“, and in
the other “were“, cast into the
fire. The correct translation is “were”,
not “are”.
But
first we must answer the question of why is the devil cast into that lake of
fire - have you not been told that the devil cannot die because he is spirit
being? The Churches of God have been
preaching this doctrine for decades, and Garner Ted Armstrong has been one of
its main exponents.
Well,
I learned a long time ago not to trust what people preach without checking it
into the Bible. The truth is that as
much as the devil and his servants would like to think otherwise, he will be
destroyed when God is finished with him.
Remember, with God all things are possible (Matt.
If
Jesus Christ, the very God Himself, could come into this world and die, then
the devil could be turned into a human being and made to die too, if that were
the only way of destroying him. But we
need not concern ourselves with how God will destroy him, the fact is that at
the end of this world, Satan will be finished with.
The
prophet Ezekiel wrote a story about a rebellious king. The language he used indicates that he did
not write about a human being but about an angel. As it turns out, that is the story of
Lucifer's rebellion and his transformation into Satan.
"Son of man, take up a lamentation for the
king of
You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and
perfect in beauty. [No human being is the seal of perfection, full of wisdom
and perfect in beauty. All human beings
are born in sin and need to repent].
'You were in
I established you; You were on the holy
Therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the
Therefore I brought fire from your midst [from
within you]; It devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the
sight of all who saw you. All who knew
you among the people are astonished at you; and you became a horror, and shall
be no more forever.’” (Ezek. 28:12-19).
When
this perfect cherub realized how beautiful he was he became vain, corrupted his
ways, defiled God's sanctuary, and turned to iniquity. The prophet Isaiah, describing the same
event, wrote:
"How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,
son of the morning!
How are you cut down to the ground, you who
weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend
into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on
the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I
will be like the Most High.'
"Yet you shall be brought down to Sheoul, to
the lowest depths of the Pit.
Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider
you, saying:
'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who
shook kingdoms,
Who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed
its cities,
Who did not open the house of his prisoners?’” (Is.
14;12-17).
Because
of his rebellion, he was unceremoniously cast down to earth where, in the end,
he will be brought to ashes. Spirit
being or not, the devil will end up in the grave [sheoul], the same as all
rebellious, unrepentant human beings.
Those
who have been worshipping the devil, in the belief that they will live with him
forever in hell, will have to reconsider their plans. There is no life for the wicked even in hell.
How
then do we explain the Scriptures which say that the devil, the beast and the
false prophet will be tormented forever in that lake of fire? It should be obvious by now that this is a
symbolic language. Since we know that
all of them will be brought to ashes, it means that their torment will remain
forever only in the memory of those who are saved. They will make a good topic for discussion
during the endless feasts people will enjoy in the
There
is yet another explanation which tells us that those who are cast into the lake
of fire will not remain there forever:
"And God will wipe away every tear from their
eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be
no more pain, for the former things have passed away." (Rev. 21:4).
What
things have passed away? Everything, the
whole universe, including the notion of time as we understand it.
In
the
People
will never worry about tomorrow, or the next year or the year after that. They will live and enjoy themselves without
reference to time. Therefore, the phrase
"the former things have passed away" means that everything connected
with this world, including the universe and its movements, which create the
notion of time, will have passed away.
It means that the lake of fire, and those who have been cast in it, will
pass away too. It also means that the
agony of those who are tormented "day and night" will end when days
and nights end. The new world will be
completely different from the one we now know.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for
the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city. New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” “But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God
Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
And the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for
the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its light. "And the nations of those who are saved
shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor
into it. Its gates shall not be shut at
all by day (there shall be no night there)". (Rev. 21:1-2, 22-25).
Human
beings find it hard to disassociate themselves from the notion of time and
conceptualize permanent existence. They
celebrate birthdays as if some earth-shattering event had occurred that
day. Then they ask how old is God? To which God replies: "I AM WHO I AM" (Ex.
"I
am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last"
(Rev. 22:13). God is permanent, ageless and all encompassing. We live in Him and through Him (Rom.
This
is what the purpose of life is all about - to become holy and perfect as our
heavenly Father is holy and perfect (1 Peter 1:15-16; Mat. 5:48). God cannot
entrust us with eternity until we are perfect as He is. Then He will resurrect us into His Kingdom
and we shall be with Him forever. Every
sin we commit derails us from the path of salvation and makes it that much more
difficult for us to attain our goal.
The
much-vaunted "hell" is nowhere else but here on earth. Anyone who fails to understand the purpose of
the trials and tribulations that human beings must endure, fails to understand
the purpose of life. We are born into
this world to overcome our human nature and to become God-like. That is why we are called the children of God
(Deut. 14:1; Ps. 82:6;
The
ministers in the Churches of God have excelled themselves again by denying that
we can become sons of God just like Jesus Christ. Because the Holy Spirit does not allow them
to call themselves sons of God, they want to make everyone else believe the
same, and thus lose their salvation.
Salvation is dependent upon what people believe; that is why the
Apostles emphasized the importance of right belief.
We,
who believe, are born "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God " (John
God
will not force people into His Kingdom against their beliefs. Many times Jesus Christ said to those who
sought His healing, "be according to your belief". So believe, because a lot of things depend on
it, including your salvation and eternal life.
THE HOLY
PLACE
It was important that we
resolved the problems arising from Apostle Paul's letter to the Thessalonians
before we discussed Jesus' prophecy of Matt 24:15 dealing with the "abomination
of desolation" and the holy place.
That is because virtually every person who has written on this topic,
has assumed that the holy place is to be found in the temple of God mentioned
in 2 Thess. 2:4, and that this temple is yet to be built in Jerusalem.
We already saw why the Jews are in no
position to build a holy temple for God at present. But could the holy place be found in the
great
Where then can the holy place be? To answer this question, we must establish
what makes a place holy in the first place.
When the people of
But that temple did not stop being a
The difference between the
As we pointed out
earlier, under the New Testament, human beings who repent and receive the Holy
Spirit, are the "living temples" of God (Acts 7:48;
One of Moses' most unusual experiences gives
us some clues:
"And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in
a flame of fire from the midst of a bush.
So he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was
not consumed. Then Moses said, 'I will
now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.' So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to
look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses!'
And he said, 'Here I am.' Then He said,
'Do not draw near this place. Take your
sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is HOLY GROUND."'
(Ex. 3:2-5, emphasis added).
A
place becomes holy whenever and wherever God makes His presence felt. Is the holy place of
“‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and
he saw it and was glad.’ Then the Jews said to Him, 'You are not yet fifty
years old, and have seen Abraham?' Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to
you, before Abraham was, I AM.’” (John 8:56-57).
Jesus
Christ was the God of the Old Testament.
He was the God who was married to the nation of
The
person who spoke to Moses and made that bush burn was Jesus Christ
Himself. This means that the holy place
of
There
is a church in the Orthodox quarter of
We
saw earlier that God does not like tombs inside His temples of worship. But this is different, some might say; this
is not just an ordinary tomb, this is the place in which Jesus Christ was
buried. If this were different, God
would have told us so, but there is nothing in the Bible to indicate that
anything has changed in this regard.
After
Jesus Christ was crucified and buried, three days later some women came to His
tomb with spices and fragrant oils to anoint His body. To their astonishment, they found the tomb
empty. As they were wondering what had
happened, an angel said to them: "Why do you seek the living among the
dead? He is not here, but is
risen!" (Luke 24:5-6). Among them,
it seems, there was also the one to whom Jesus Christ had told earlier:
"‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he
shall live. And whoever lives and
believes in Me shall never die. Do you
believe this?’ She said to Him, 'Yes,
Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into
the world."' (John 11:25-27).
Obviously
she had forgotten, for if she hadn't, she would not have been surprised to find
the tomb empty. But even the Apostles
had not believed Jesus Christ. Although
He told them many times that He would die and be resurrected after three days,
it did not sink into their minds that He was serious about it, until they saw
Him alive after being dead.
The
people who built that church upon the tomb of Jesus Christ and called it The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, did not believe the
Scriptures either, for had they believed them, they would not have sought to
worship God where He cannot be found.
Some monks actually keep a permanent vigil by that empty tomb, but what
purpose that is supposed to serve, only they know. Do they expect Jesus Christ to come out of it
a second time? There is one Scripture,
however, which leads us unmistakably to the identification of the holy place:
"The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I
have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is
the blood that makes atonement for the soul." (Lev. 17:11).
Jesus
Christ made atonement for our souls by shedding His blood on
Tradition
has it that in the garden just outside The
Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the place in which Jesus Christ was
crucified. That is the holy place on
which the "abomination of desolation" must not stand, for when it
does, it will trigger a tribulation such as the world has never seen.
Ironically,
had the people who built that church upon the sepulchre built it instead of the
holy ground, it would have been a church as no other in the world - a truly
holy
WHAT IS
TRUTH?
During Jesus' trial, Pontius Pilate asked
Him a number of questions with the view of establishing His guilt. Up to a point, Jesus cooperated with him
fully, but at one stage He refused to answer any further questions. Pilate became confused and puzzled; something
wasn't right.
The "crime" of which the Jews
accused Him, was that He declared Himself to be King and Son of God. But from Pilate's point of view none of these
things were worthy of death.
Many kings in the
Pilate knew that Jesus Christ had caused no
trouble to the Romans up to that time.
He had never heard of Him before.
These days, when we read about the ministry of Jesus Christ we tend to
think that the whole world was watching.
Far from it, it was very much a local affair. Jesus Christ became well known in the
villages and towns where He traveled and performed miracles, but beyond that
few people knew about Him. Few were
aware of the spiritual battle He was waging against Satan on behalf of the
world.
When He was in danger of being apprehended
by the Jewish leaders in
It did not take Pilate long to establish
that Jesus Christ was not the type of person who would cause an insurrection,
so he wanted to release Him. But then
the Jews cried out: "If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself king speaks against Caesar"
(John
Let us return now to the actual
interrogation, and see why Jesus Christ refused to continue defending Himself,
thus acceding to His own death. First
we'll have a look at the Gospel of Matthew:
"Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him saying, 'Are you
the King of the Jews?' So Jesus said to him, 'It is as you say.' And while He
was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.
Then Pilate said to Him, 'Do you not hear how many
things they testify against You?' And He answered him not one word, so that the
governor marveled greatly." (Matt. 27:11-14).
The Gospel of John gives us additional
details about this particular scene:
"Pilate went out to them and said, 'What
accusation do you bring against this Man?' They answered and said to him, 'If
He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.'
Then Pilate said to them, 'You take Him and judge
Him according to your law.' Therefore
the Jews said to him, 'It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,' that
the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death
He would die. Then Pilate entered the
Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, 'Are You the King of the
Jews?'
Jesus answered him, 'Are you speaking for yourself
on this, or did others tell you this about Me?'
Pilate answered, 'Am I a Jew?
Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me. What have you done?'
Jesus answered, 'My Kingdom is not of this
world. If My Kingdom were of this world,
My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now
My Kingdom is not of here.' Pilate
therefore said to Him, 'Are You a king then?’
Jesus answered, 'You say rightly that I am a
King. For this cause I was born, and for
this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the
truth. Everyone who is of the truth
hears My voice.'
Pilate said to Him, 'What is truth?' And when he
had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, 'I find no
fault in Him at all.’” (John 18:29-38).
These passages are so impregnated with
meaning I never tire of reading them. Why
did Jesus Christ not give Pilate an answer to the question, "What is
truth?" He could easily have said, “I am innocent, that is the truth,” but
He chose to remain silent. Silence at
times can give a more powerful message than the spoken word.
Pilate was getting awfully close to things
neither he nor the Jewish leaders were meant to know at that time. When Jesus Christ realized that, He gave him
no further answers.
The question, "What is truth?"
leads to the unlocking of one of the most astounding biblical mysteries - the
identification of the “abomination of desolation."
Jesus Christ told His disciples that the
Word of God is TRUTH (John
Truth, then, was Jesus Christ Himself. Now, while He had no hesitation telling Pilate
that He was a King, and Pilate believed it, for he wrote the sign "King of
the Jews", which was placed above Jesus' head (John 19:19-22), He could
not tell him that He was the TRUTH. Why? Because that word made a vital link between
Messiah and the "abomination of desolation", and between the Jews and
the Romans. There was a possibility that
Pilate and the Jewish leaders could have understood the meaning of the events
in which they were involved, and Jesus could not allow that to happen.
Since Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor
of
The Jews knew about the arrival of the
Messiah from the book of Daniel.
Daniel's prophecies speak of a Messiah who will come and deliver them
from their oppressors. The Jewish
leaders would have been more than happy to accept Jesus as their Messiah, if He
had shown any indication that He was going to fight the Romans. But He had no such plans in mind; He came to
free people from sin, not from foreign domination. Deliverance from their oppressors had to come
much later.
What the Jewish leaders did not understand
was that the Messiah was prophesied to come twice: the first time to be
sacrificed for the sins of the world (Dan.
When the Jewish leaders told Pilate that
Jesus must die because "He made Himself the Son of God," Pilate did
not dismiss that as a fanciful accusation.
The Bible tells us that he "was afraid" (John 19:7-8). Unlike the Jews, who could not conceive that
God could become human, Pilate had no difficulty with that concept. The Romans were used to the idea that God
could take the form of a human being.
Wasn't Pontifex Maximus being revered as God?
With this background in mind, we are now
ready to discover the identity of the “abomination of desolation”.
When the prophet Daniel
received his prophecies, he confessed that he did not understand them.
“Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, ‘My
lord, what shall be the end of these things?’
And he said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up
and sealed till the time of the end.’” (Dan 12:8-9).
These words were
closed up and sealed until the time of the end, which means that if we are able
to unlock these mysteries now, we live in the time of the end. We hope, dear reader, you understand the
importance of the times in which we live.
If you do, turn to God and give Him His long overdue praise and glory,
while He may be found. The world is entering momentous events that will shake it
to its foundations. Continued the angel
to Daniel:
"Many 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. 12:8-10).
"None
of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." We could claim that we are wise, but we
won't, because we are not. Certainly not
according to this world. Nevertheless,
God gave us these mysteries that we may pass them on to you. God would like to deal directly with the
leaders, but we do not know of any who are prepared to listen.
The
first six chapters of the book of Daniel describe mostly Daniel's and his
companions' life in the Babylonian captivity.
Because Daniel remained faithful to God through all his trials, God
started communicating with him and revealing to him the future. In chapter two he is called to interpret a
dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. This is
what he said:
"You, O king, are a king of kings.
For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and
glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and
the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you
ruler over them all - you are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom
inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule
over all the earth. And the fourth
kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and
shatters all things; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in
pieces and crush all the others. And in
the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall
never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall
break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand
forever." (Dan. 2:37-40,44).
This
dream reveals that there were to be four great kingdoms (empires) in the
world's history. (There have been other great empires, but God speaks here only
of the four great Gentile empires which were to affect the history of
The
first kingdom is being identified as that of
To
find out the identity of the next two kingdoms, we need to go to the eighth
chapter:
"I saw
the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no beast could
withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did
according to his will and became great.
And as I was
considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the
whole earth, without touching the ground; and the male goat had a notable horn
between his eyes. Then he came to the
ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at
him with furious power.
And I saw him
confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and
broke his two horns. There was no power
in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled
him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand. Therefore the male goat grew very great; but
when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four
notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven.
And out of
one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south,
toward the east, and toward the glorious land.
And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host
and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. He even exalted himself as high as the Prince
of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of
His sanctuary was cast down. Because of
transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily
sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all these and prospered." (Dan.
8: 4-12).
When Daniel
confessed that he did not understand what he was writing about, this is what
the angel told him:
"Look,
I am making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the
indignation; for at the appointed time the end shall be. The ram which you saw, having two horns -
they are the kings of Media and
As for
the broken horn and the four that stood in its place, four kingdoms shall arise
out of that nation, but not with its power.
And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have
reached their fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features, who
understand sinister schemes. His power
shall be mighty, but not by his own power; He shall destroy fearfully, and
shall prosper and thrive; He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy
people.
Through
his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his hand; and he shall
magnify himself in his heart. He shall
destroy many in their prosperity. He
shall even rise against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without
human hand.” (Dan. 8:19-25).
Here,
the second kingdom is revealed to be that of Media and
All
of Daniel's kingdoms are represented by animals and horns. The fourth and last kingdom begins as a
"little horn" out of one of the four divisions of the Greek
kingdom. With the advantage of
hindsight, we can look back in history and see what great empire rose from one
of the branches of Alexander's empire. A
kingdom that became exceedingly powerful, it expanded towards the south,
towards the east and towards the "glorious land" (
The
problem is, no Great Empire has ever been recorded in the history books as
having risen out of any of the branches of Alexander's Empire. Something isn't right: either Daniel's
prophecies are wrong or history books are not right. This apparent discrepancy led many
theologians to believe that Daniel's prophecies were written not by Daniel, who
lived some five hundred years before Christ, but by someone else who lived only
two hundred years before Christ. Up to
that time, these prophecies parallel historical events very well, but from then
on they no longer do (at least not according to the history that is being
taught in schools and universities these days).
The impostor who wrote these prophecies was correct as long as he
related past events, but when he had a go at predicting the future he went
terribly wrong.
Most
theologians who lecture in universities, belong to this school of thought. This is what they taught me in my Studies of
Religions.
Another
group of theologians, among them those from the Churches of God, preach that
most of Daniel's prophecies are yet to be fulfilled. G. T. Armstrong, W.F. Dankenbring, J. W. Tkach, and many other church leaders,
belong to this school of thought.
Before
I commenced my university studies, I spent enough time studying the Bible, that
if I found a discrepancy between it and history books, I knew that the Bible is
always right. But that position did not
go well with my university lecturers. I
was heading for failure until I realized that if I wanted to complete my
degree, I had to play by their rules.
In
my naiveté, I assumed that at the tertiary level people are allowed to search
and discover the truth, but truth is the last thing these people want. I had a similar shock there to the one I had
in the
In
my first year at the university my marks were average, but by the time I
finished they were among the highest. So
much so that when I graduated, I was asked to go back and do postgraduate work;
not by the head of the Religious Studies Department, but by the head of the
Ancient History Department.
Unfortunately, the need for a job forced me to undertake different
studies.
My
lecturers in the Religious Studies Department were not some unknown entities or
insignificant personalities. Most of
them held important positions in Christian denominations. One of them is now head of the Anglican
Church in one of the Australian states.
He was the worst offender as far as the Bible was concerned.
During
the week they were "demythologizing" the Bible to us (taking out the
supernatural), and in the weekend they were preaching from it to their
followers. Great sermons, no doubt!
My
strength came from the fact that I was studying both religions and ancient
history. Surprisingly, I found that the
lecturers in the Ancient History Department had more confidence in the Bible
than those from the Religious Studies Department. The historians had little doubt about the
authenticity of the New Testament writings, but the theologians were still
searching for the "historical Jesus".
Interestingly,
those who lectured us on Hinduism, Buddhism, other eastern religions, and
Islam, never thought of "demythologizing" their sacred books. They always spoke with reverence about their
faiths. Not so the Jewish and Christian theologians.
Some
time after I finished my university studies, I became determined to discover
the truth about the conflict between Daniel's prophecies and history
books. So I went to the library, I piled
a set of books in front of me, and went to work. I was surprised by how easy it was to
discover where the problem lay.
If
you take a look at a map of Alexander the Great's Empire, you will notice that
it extends eastwards from
That
is how I discovered that at a time when in the
It
is the anthropological people who keep pushing the "threshold" of
human civilization further and further back in time (a sure way of generating
news and getting a name for themselves).
They say that human beings have appeared in a primitive form hundreds of
thousands or even millions of years ago.
It doesn't bother them that the first great civilizations appeared
suddenly in the
To
return to the historical maps, if you look at the map of Alexander's empire,
you will notice that it does not show any territories west of
Don't
look at the Greek archipelago for that, but look instead at southern
Now,
what happened during the 70 years or so after the Peloponnesian War, did these
territories stop being inhabited by the Greeks?
Of course not, but because historians have chosen to ignore this part of
The
Bible does not speak of the
The
fact that the Greek Empire extended over a large part of
In
Daniel's prophecies, the terms “king" and "kingdom" are used
interchangeably. We know who the kings
of
"And
there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking
pompous words.”
“I was
watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against
them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the
saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to posses the
kingdom." (Dan. 7:8, 21-22).
How
cleverly Satan has hidden the identity of this horn until now. Who made war against the saints - the holy
people, the people who chose to follow the Bible rather than the apostate
priests - and prevailed against them?
Tell a Catholic that the "little horn" is none other than
their "Sacred King" and he will probably tell you that their
"Holy Father" not only does not make war against the saints, he makes
them all the time. But who can make war
against the Catholic saints? Who can
make war against dead people? Nobody,
obviously! The truth is that those whom
the Bible calls saints, are very much alive, or were until the Romans, and
later the Catholics, got hold of them.
The saints and holy people of Daniel are those who have died as martyrs
at the hand of the Roman "beast" - Jesus Christ Himself being one of
them. Notice what Daniel said next:
"And
out of one of them [out of one of the four horns] came a little horn which grew
exceedingly great toward the east, and toward the
Who
was the Prince of the host? Jesus
Christ! Who was the TRUTH? Jesus Christ!
Who was cast down to the ground?
Jesus Christ! The "little
horn" who was given an army to put an end to the daily sacrifices and cast
TRUTH down to the ground was none other than the
"Then
I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who
was speaking, 'How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and
the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host
to be trampled underfoot?' And he said to me, ‘For two thousand three hundred
days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.’" (8:13-14).
For prophetic purposes, in
the Bible, one day equals one year (Num.
"And
forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress;
then they shall take away the DAILY SACRIFICES, and place there the ABOMINATION
OF DESOLATION." (
There is a huge lapse of
time here between one event and another.
With the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the sin sacrifices were no longer
necessary. Jesus Christ put an end to
those sacrifices when He sacrificed His own body for our sins.
"So
Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will
appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. For the law, having a shadow of the good
things to come, and not the very image of the things to come, can never with
these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those
who approach perfect.
For
then would they not HAVE CEASED TO BE OFFERED?
For the worshipers, once purged, would have had no more consciousness of
sin. But in those sacrifices there is a
reminder of sins every year. For it is
not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world, He
said:
"Sacrifice
and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.
In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin You have no pleasure.
Then I said,
'Behold, I have come - in the volume of the book it is written of Me-To do Your
will, 0 God."' (Hebrew
Who killed Jesus Christ and
put an end to the daily sacrifices?
Pontifex Maximus and his armies!
Who replaced THE TRUTH with THE LIE, the true Gospel with a false one? Pontifex Maximus and his religion! Who usurped Jesus Christ as head of the
church? Pontifex Maximus! Who made himself God by claiming to be
"Holy Father?" Pontifex Maximus!
Daniel tells us that the
"little horn grew up to the host of heaven, and cast down some of the host
and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them" (
"Now
a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon
under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor
and in pain to give birth.
And
another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven
heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven
and threw them to the earth. And the
dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child
as soon as it was born. And she bore a
male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and to His
throne." (Rev. 12:1-5).
Satan the dragon drew a
third of the stars of heaven [a third of the angels of God] to the ground. He then stood before the woman to kill the
Child as soon as He was born. The woman
with the twelve stars is the
The power behind Pontifex
Maximus is none other than the power of Satan.
But we noticed that Satan is also the power behind the "man of
sin."
"The
power of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power,
signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who
perish, because they did not receive the love of THE TRUTH, that they might be
saved. And for this reason God will send
them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie." (2 Thess.
2:9-11).
Wherever we look in the
Bible, we find that the power behind the enemies of the people of God, behind
those who practice a false religion, behind those who propagate "the
lie", behind those who hate the truth, is Satan.
From the book of Revelation we learned that Satan's throne is here
on earth. That throne is not located in
some distant corner of the earth among primitive peoples, but at the center of
the most advanced civilization on earth - the Western civilization.
Daniel’s prophecies also
tell us that the "little horn" is called the “abomination... who
makes desolate”. This horn is connected with the killing of the Messiah:
"And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not
for Himself; And the people of the
prince who is to come shall destroy the sanctuary... but in the middle of the
week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering." (9:26-27).
Daniel also tells us that,
"they shall take away the daily sacrifices (they shall kill Jesus Christ,
in other words), and place there the “abomination of desolation" [bring
Pontifex Maximus to stand on the place in which Jesus was crucified] (ch.
One Scripture used by many
to justify the assertion that the "abomination of desolation" is yet
to appear, is this:
"And in
the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their
fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features, who understands sinister
schemes. His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; He shall destroy
fearfully, and shall prosper and thrive; He shall destroy the mighty and also
the holy people. Through his cunning he
shall cause deceit to prosper under his hand; and he shall magnify himself in
his heart; He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the Prince of
princes; but he shall be broken without human hand." (Daniel 8:23-25).
The sentence, "in the
latter time of their kingdom" has been interpreted to mean the end of the
world or the end of this age. But in the
latter time of what kingdom? The
kingdoms of Media and
Daniel said that this king
shall prosper and thrive and destroy the mighty and holy people. This could not be done in a short period of
time. People don't just prosper and thrive
suddenly. Such events require time. But neither the Jews nor the early Christians
had any way of knowing how long that would take. Now we do - it took nearly two millennia.
The
“After these
things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and
the earth was illuminated with his glory.
And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, ‘
And I heard
another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come
out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her
plagues. For her sins have reached to
heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double
according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for
her. In the measure that she glorified
herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow;
for she says in her heart, “I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see
sorrow.” Therefore her plagues will come
in one day – death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with
fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.’” (Rev 18:1-8).
Garner
Ted Armstrong said that the "abomination of desolation" and the false
prophet are one and the same, and we say that they are not. Here is the proof:
"And the devil, who deceived them, was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet
are." (Rev. 20:10).
The "beast" and the false prophet
are identified as two separate beings.
Here is further proof:
"Then the beast was captured, and with him
[the beast is a him] the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by
which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who
worshiped his image. These two were cast
alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone." (Rev. 19:20).
The two were cast alive into the lake of
fire - two, not one. Notice how the
false prophet deceives not the people of God (not for the lack of trying), but
those who "received the mark of the beast" - the religion of
"the beast." They are the
people who will refuse to accept the Gospel preached by the two witnesses, and
who will rejoice at their death. The
"beast", the false prophet and the witnesses of God are all present
on the earth at the return of Jesus Christ.
The "abomination of desolation"
has been in existence for a long time, but the false prophet appears on the
scene only at the end. From Daniel we
learned that the "beast" is the king of the fourth kingdom, but who
is the false prophet? In what church
will he make his appearance? Would he
arise within traditional Christianity or within the Churches of God?
It all depends on what purpose he will
serve. To be false, one must be
contrasted with something that is true.
One cannot be a false prophet if he arises in a church that is also
false. One cannot deceive that which is
already deceived. To be false, a prophet
must arise within a
We already saw that many false prophets and
false ministers have arisen in the Churches of God, but in order to receive the
"honor" of being THE great false prophet, he must be above the others
- he must be a leader.
Jesus Christ said that prior to His return,
"false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and
wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect." (Matt. 24:24).
Who are the elect at this time? The two witnesses. The great false prophet will try to deceive
the very witnesses of God. How? By preaching a false gospel; by trying to deceive
them with demonic doctrines; by trying to enslave them with phony tithing
doctrines; by directing their attention away from the real "abomination of
desolation"; by lampooning them for serving God; by throwing scorn on
their work; and when none of these things work, by killing them or arranging to
have them killed.
Do you understand what is happening in the
world at this particular junction in world history? Can you see why God is ready to destroy the
world, unless “Elijah” succeeds in turning the hearts of the Fathers to the
children and the hearts of the children to the Fathers?
By the time of the end, the break between
God and His creation is complete. On the
one hand we have the "wise" and "educated" of this world
teaching people that there is no God, that they created themselves through
evolution, and also two powerful religious figures, one within traditional
Christianity, the other within the Church of God, preaching satanic doctrines,
yet regarded by the world as great servants of God, and on the other, you have
a man and a woman, "two olive trees and two lampstands standing before the
God of the earth" (Rev. 11:4; Zec. 4:11-14), preaching the true Gospel,
crying their heart out, telling people that they are being deceived, that the
world is heading towards catastrophe, yet few people taking note of their
message.
Too far-fetched to be true? Well, read the Bible, find out the truth for
yourself, and believe it, for it is true.
If it weren't for the two witnesses, the world would vanish as if it had
never existed. God does not need this
world anymore. He loves it and wants to
save it, but if the world continues to reject Him it will be left to its own
self-destructive ways.
Enough people have qualified to be His sons
and daughters, that if those remaining do not repent and give Him glory, He
will discard this world as one discards a rotten apple. Then He could bring forward His Kingdom by
one thousand years, and resurrect only those who have qualified so far. The rest will be judged and burned, and
forgotten forever.
When God says that unless people turn their
heart to Him, He will destroy the world (Mal. 4:6), He means it. So do your part: repent, turn to God, love,
honor and worship Him, for in so doing you will both save yourself and help
save the world.
Jesus
Christ said that if we want to become sons of God we must love even our
enemies.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall
love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good
to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute
you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise
on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward
have you? Do not even the tax collectors
do the same? And if you greet your
brethren only, what do you do more than others?
Do not even the tax collectors do so?
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is
perfect.” (Matt. 5:44).
It
is a tall order for a human being to be perfect as our Father in heaven is
perfect, yet Jesus Christ said that this is not only possible, but a necessity
if we are to become sons of God.
As
sons of God we are required to love those who hate and harm us, for in the
final analysis what they do to us is for our benefit. This cannot be done just as a lip service,
but from the heart, for God knows our hearts.
Without love there is no forgiveness, and without forgiveness there is
no salvation. Since we preach salvation
and not damnation, we give an example by loving and forgiving everyone who has
wronged us in any way at any time. As
Apostle John wrote:
"He who says he is in the light, and hates his
brother, is in darkness until now. He
who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling
in him. But he who hates his brother is
in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because
the darkness has blinded his eyes." (1 John 1:9-11).
This
raises the question, must we forgive the "abomination of desolation"
and the false prophet? The answer could
only be yes. They are the enemies of the
people of God, but Jesus Christ told us to love our enemies, and since we are
His followers we obey Him.
We
do not avenge ourselves on anyone, regardless of what they have done to us.
Vengeance belongs to God (Rom.
An
example given by Jesus Christ in one of His discussions with the Pharisees is
of particular relevance to us now. After
He healed a man who was blind from his birth, the Pharisees put him out of the
synagogue when he confessed that only a man from God could have done such a
miracle. Later, when Jesus Christ met
him, He asked:
"'Do you believe in the Son of God?' He
answered and said, 'Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?' And Jesus said
to him, 'You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.’
Then he said, 'Lord, I believer' And he worshiped
Him. And Jesus said, 'For judgment I
have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those
who see may be made blind.'
Then some Pharisees who were with Him heard these
words and said to Him, 'Are we blind also?'
Jesus said to them, 'IF YOU WERE BLIND, YOU WOULD
HAVE NO SIN; but now you say, 'We see.'
Therefore your sin remains." (John 9:35-41).
We
believe that if Pontifex Maximus and the false prophet were asked if they were
aware that what they did was wrong and what they preached was false, they would
say that they were not. They would
surely say they always believed they were serving God. For this reason, we must give them the
benefit of the doubt, accept their explanation, and forgive them. Remember, the Bible says that, "they
will put you out of the synagogues [churches]; yes, the time is coming that
whoever kills you will think that he offers God service" (John 16:2). Therefore we accept that they did these
things in ignorance, just as the Jews killed Jesus Christ in ignorance (Acts
When
people confess their sins, admitting that they committed them in ignorance, if
they are genuine about it, that amounts to an act of repentance. We have no choice but to forgive them. Let us not forget that at first Apostle Paul
persecuted the
Jesus
Christ died for us and forgave us our sins; therefore, we must also forgive
those who have sinned against us. As
children of God we have both the power and the willingness to love and to
forgive. Those who cannot, or will not
do so, are not the children of God, and cannot be saved. If you have difficulty accepting this, pray
to God, give Him honor and glory, and He will empower you through His Holy
Spirit to behave like His son.
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and
you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who
seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks
for bread, will give him a stone? Or if
he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who
ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want
men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."
(Matt. 7:7-12).
Think
deeply about the meaning of these words, and put them into practice. Love all human beings, but above all
"love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your mind" (Matt.
THE
END
At
the time of writing this article, it was announced that the Israeli government
has extended a formal invitation to the Pope to visit that country. The Pope is said to have accepted the
invitation with tears in his eyes.
It will be the first time in
the history of
A visit to
However, when the present
day Pontifex Maximus goes to
How soon after this event do
we expect to see the world plunged into catastrophe? We cannot tell. All we can do is quote what Jesus Christ
said. You draw your own conclusions from
this:
“Therefore
when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
standing in the holy place'' (whoever reads, let him understand), then let
those who are in
And pray that
your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation,
such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor
ever shall be. And unless those days
were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days
will be shortened.
Then if
anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!' or ‘There!' do not believe
it. For false christs and false prophets
will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the
elect. See, I have told you
beforehand.’” (Matt. 24:15-25).
Bear in mind that 1997 is
the last year of what we call the ‘age of man’ - six thousand years since the
creation according to the chronology of Bishop Ussher - and the beginning of a
new age, the last thousand years called the Millennial Kingdom. This transition cannot happen overnight. The years immediately prior to and following
this event are fraught with danger for the world.
There are people who have
gone to great lengths to calculate the exact date of the return of Jesus
Christ. Most of the dates they have come
up with revolve around that year. We
believe that even if this is correct, it is a very dangerous practice. Jesus Christ said that it is not for us to
know the exact date of His return, that only God knows that (Matt. 24:36). And that for a very important reason: human
beings are to be ready to receive their Lord at any time. Setting dates could cause them to lose their
guard and be caught unprepared. Anyone
who tries to outguess God, places himself in competition with Him, and that is
a sin.
Jesus Christ spoke in
general terms about the signs leading to that event, and we advise you to read
the entire 24th chapter of the book of Matthew.
The only sure sign He gave us as indicating the imminence of those
events, is the one about the "abomination of desolation" standing in
the holy place. That is the one
discussed and revealed in the pages of this magazine for the first time.
It is not a mere coincidence
that God has revealed this mystery to us now just prior to its fulfillment and
so close to the conclusion of this age.
This is a sign that He is about to intervene in world affairs, to bring
humanity to account for its waywardness.
The Polish priest who is now
in the chair of Pontifex Maximus does not have to be the man who profanes the
holy place. He can drop his garbs, get
on his knees before the Almighty, not before the statue of Mary or whatever,
declare that he was not aware of what he stood for, ask for forgiveness, then
run from that place as fast and as far as he can go. He can let another take his place, for there
are many people who care little about pleasing God, and more about pleasing
themselves.
Anyone who goes to
"For
if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no
longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of
judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
Anyone
who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three
witnesses. Of how much worse punishment,
do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has TRAMPLED THE SON OF GOD
UNDERFOOT, COUNTED THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT BY WHICH HE WAS SANCTIFIED A
COMMON THING, AND INSULTED THE SPIRIT OF GRACE?” (Heb. 10:26-29, emphasis
added).
The same is true of the
false prophet and the ministers of the Churches of God. If they willfully continue to deceive and
fleece the followers of Jesus Christ, "after they have received the
knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a
certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will
devour the adversaries."
God does not make anyone an
"abomination of desolation" or a false prophet; they make themselves
as such. It remains now to see who dares
make himself one or the other. As of
now, based on the power and understanding that God Almighty has given us, and
on the fact that these people have done their work in ignorance, we declare
that nobody is an abomination or a false prophet. The purpose of this work is to correct, not
to condemn. We accuse no one of
anything. On the contrary, we give them
all the chance to repent and turn to the true God.
You know now where to look and what to watch for. Watch, therefore, and be ready, for the day
of the Lord is truly at hand! Watch and
sin no more!
"For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will
beautify the humble with salvation." (Ps. 149:4).
“A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself; The simple
pass on and are punished." (Pr. 27:12).
“ANNUS HORRIBILLIS”,
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE BLESSINGS?
Queen Elizabeth II said that 1992 was
"annus horribilis" for the British monarchy. So many articles have been written about that
expression that it will, no doubt, become a classic, forever attached to her
name as is, "if they have no bread, let them eat cake" attached to
Marie Antoinette.
Only a year earlier, in her Christmas message, Her
Majesty asked her subjects to stop and count their blessings. We dutifully obliged and discovered that we
did not need to stop; we could have counted our blessings while running.
But we do not complain, for
we know that there are millions of unemployed people in the British
Commonwealth, and countless more in the rest of the world, who would do
anything but count blessings at Christmas.
But as far as Her Majesty's speechwriters are concerned these people do
not exist, for it is clear that her speech was not addressing them.
We do not suggest that there
was a connection between Her Majesty's Christmas message and the fact that a
year of blessings was followed by "annus horribilis", but as head of
a great commonwealth of nations and especially as head of a church, Her Majesty
could have been aware that "he who mocks the poor reproaches his
Maker" (Pr. 17:5). God does not take kindly to those who despise the poor
even if they happen to be monarchs.
But what do these things
have to do with The Christian Herald, one may ask? Nothing
much, except that if Her Majesty had heeded our messages, she could have been
better prepared for, or even avoided, "annus horribilis’. Personal, family, or national misfortunes, do
not just come out of nothing. Those who
govern according to the will of God, who acknowledge that they owe their
positions to Him, are not put to shame (Rom.
There are laws - heavenly
laws - which guarantee that those who do the right things, as far as God is
concerned, are guaranteed happiness and peace of mind, though not necessarily
wealth.
But the members of the
British monarchy were not the only people who ignored our messages. The Prime Ministers of Great Britain,
President Bush was too busy
basking in his Gulf War victory to have time for our messages too. He should have. But all these people were politicians; monarchs
are never removed from office, are they?
That is true, but then, with God everything is possible. In ancient times, King Nebuchadnezzar of
"Now
I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose
works are truth, and His ways justice.
And those who walk in pride He is able to abase." (Dan. 4:37).
How many world leaders
praise, extol and honor the King of heaven?
At present, we know of none, but soon, everyone will. But whether that is going to do them much
good, let alone save them, is another question.
"'As
I live says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall
confess to God.' So then each of us shall give account of himself to God."
(Rom.
It is possible that the
reason our message is so universally ignored, is because it does not come
through diplomatic couriers or through a "proper" magazine. It may be worthwhile for our leaders to know
what the Apostles said about God's servants:
"For
you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble, are called. But 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; and 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, that no flesh should
glory in His presence.” (1 Cor. 1:26-29).
"And
I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of
wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and
Him crucified."
"However,
we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor
of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery,
the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of
the rulers of this age knew.” (1 Cor. 2:1-2,6-8a).
"We
are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are
dishonored! Even to the present hour we
both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and
homeless. And we labor, working with our
own hands. Being reviled, we bless;
being persecuted, we endure it; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world,
the offscouring of all things until now."
(1 Cor. 4:10-13).
"For
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for
your sakes He became poor, that you through poverty might become rich." (2
Cor. 8:9).
A damning assessment of the
leaders of this world from the Apostle who wrote most of the New
Testament. If the world does not accept
our message because it does not like its packaging, it will have to live with
the consequences of its values. We come
in the spirit of the Apostles, and both they and Jesus Christ were poor
people. Through poverty we become
(spiritually) rich.
A BEACON
TO THE WORLD?
After writing about the
Last
year, their leading cultural figures awarded their greatest honor to a film
that glorifies cannibalistic sexual orgies.
We did not see the movie and do not intend to, but they sprung upon us
television advertisements that shook us.
A demented face, with wide, transfixed eyes, suckling his own saliva,
coming towards us on screen, following a terrified girl and uttering words
which we cannot even print.
That is
what these people call entertainment.
That is their greatest cultural achievement. That is what they export to the world and the
values they honor. And those
advertisements are supposed to draw in people to see the movie. This world must be sicker than we thought.
Is
there any wonder that
"Perhaps no-parole life sentences for certain
sex crimes would be a more straightforward answer. In any event, such laws offer our only hope
against an epidemic of sexual violence that threatens to pollute our society
beyond the possibility of its own rehabilitation." (Andrew Vachss,
"The nasty truth about sex offenders", The
New York Times in S.M.H., January 7, 1993)
A
society threatened by sexual violence beyond the point of its own
rehabilitation. And these words do not
even come from a religious person.
In
And,
as usual, what happens in
“There are violence, racism, murder and (confused)
ideology... they depict a contemporary interpretation of the general rehearsal
for the end of the world." (G. Henderson, S.M.H., January 5, 1993).
‘A contemporary interpretation of the general
rehearsal for the end of the world.’
Little does he know how close he is to the truth.
LETTERS...
Dear
Grigore, Many thanks for sending me The Christian
Herald. I have read it from cover to cover and found
it very interesting.
I
was very sorry to read of the terrible and brutal treatment of your mother at
the hands of the Romanian "Securitate." At least now you know that she is asleep,
awaiting her time of resurrection. This
world is certainly a sick and sorry place, and getting worse all the time.
I
commend you for lifting up your voice loudly and boldly, proclaiming the
imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ and the impending judgment coming on
all nations. Of your integrity and
sincerity I have no doubt.
I
wholeheartedly agree that the
Where
I disagree with you is that the identity of the nation of
I
can only guess that you obtained my address from a copy of... magazine. I support... and firmly and sincerely
believe him to be the prophesied "Elijah." I hope you can respect that position even if
you don't agree with it yourself.
Feel
free to send me The Christian Herald if you wish as long as you realize my support is
elsewhere. The other main point of
disagreement is that I believe that some form of temple worship will soon be
reinstated on the
Thank
you again for sending me your literature.
May
our great God go with you and your loved ones, and guide and protect you
always.
Sincerely
with love, N.W.S.
Friend,
you raise a number of important issues.
We are happy that even though you do not agree with everything we say,
you still found our magazine interesting enough to read it from cover to cover.
Thank
you for your kind words about my mother.
In her situation, the greatest blessing God could have bestowed upon her
was to put her to sleep until the resurrection time. The barbarities she suffered in the last year
of her life, in fact in all the years of her life, are beyond description. Only those who have suffered at the hands of
the communists know what they are capable of.
Since
that time they have been watching my movements closely. I suppose they are bidding their time. But if they knew what they are getting into
with their next infamy, they would not hurry.
We
do not preach that the
The
Churches of God say that the descendants of Jacob will be taken into captivity
by a European alliance of ten nations led by
How
could
These
people don't know that Abraham's and Jacob's descendants are to dominate, and
indeed inherit, not only the land of ancient
Many
nations will disappear from the face of the earth, particularly those that come
against
Regarding
the other nations descending from Jacob, it is worth repeating what we said in
an earlier issue:
"The Bible - the unshakable Word of God - has
preserved for us the examples of those nations which have polluted themselves
with the same kind of pollutions now rampant in the
‘You shall not lie with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall you mate with any beast, to defile
yourself with it. Nor shall any woman
stand before a beast to mate with it. It
is perversion.
‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for all these the
nations are defiled which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled: therefore I visit
the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its
inhabitants.
‘You shall therefore keep My statutes and My
judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your
nation or any stranger who sojourns among you (for all these abominations the
men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled),
lest the land vomit you also when you defile it as it vomited out the nations
that were before you.’ (Lev. 18:22-28).
In
that same issue we also wrote:
"In a front page article, in one of
‘Without much trouble, I arranged a meeting this
week with a young man who prefers to be known by his nom-de-modem of Crud. I was shown a selection which ranged from
shots of Penthouse centerfolds to the
latest La Cicciolina movie (The Rise and
Fall of a Roman Empress) to Animal House, which features unspeakable acts
with dogs, donkeys and chickens, to 'interactive party games' in which the
player(s) can compete... The kids don't need access to the family video, they
can do it in the privacy of bedrooms... anyone who knows how to use a computer
and a modem can obtain this stuff, and parents wouldn't even have a clue.'
"One might have expected that such a story
would stir to action the custodians of society's moral and spiritual standards,
but he would have been disappointed if he thought that way. Not a voice of concern from a preacher, a
member of parliament, an educationist, a community leader or from the ordinary
people was heard. These people's
feelings have been dulled to such an extent by the fall in moral standards that
nothing shocks them anymore. The
religious leaders (in most countries, but especially in America) are busily
preaching week by week, telling people what they want to hear instead of what
they ought to hear, feeding themselves instead of feeding the flock (Ezek.
34:8). Is it any wonder that the
national leaders are so blind when it comes to their countries' future and
vital interests?
"One would be excused in hoping that perhaps
what the journalist described in that article was an isolated case in some
sleepy suburb of Sydney, but he would be wrong again if he thought that
way. The young man's computer was
connected to an international network distributed from, where else but - you guessed
it - the
‘Most
of the material is taken from an overseas network of bulletin boards - there is
much demand for the output of a military installation in the US Mid-West where
bored computer operators create much of the raunchier electro-porn... “There is
no control over it” said Crud...’
"No,
there is no control over it at all, nobody cares what happens to our younger
generation anymore. No one cares what
kind of adults they will grow up to be with that kind of garbage in their
minds, for once it's fixed in there it cannot be taken out...
"The
This is what we wrote three
years, ago and little has changed since.
In many respects things are worse now.
The descendants of Jacob, who ought to be the leaders in upholding God's
law, are the worst transgressors. That
is why when we talk about trying times ahead, it is not just a flight of our
imagination, it is a biblical imperative necessary to cleanse the land of its
moral, spiritual and physical filth.
Such widespread cleansing of
the world cannot come from
You say that... is “Elijah”. A man
who describes the Churches of God from the book of Revelation in terms that we
cannot even print, forgetting that the Churches of God are the body of Christ;
who admits extracting money from people on welfare benefits with phony tithing
doctrines; who does not accept Genesis as an accurate account of creation; who
takes upon himself to modify the Scriptures to suit his demonic ideas; who
commits blasphemy in almost every issue of his magazine; who is using the
Scriptures to preach hatred as no man has ever done before; this man is
"Elijah”? O man, how deceived can
you be!
Well has Apostle Paul said
that even Satan transforms himself into an angel of light and his ministers
into ministers of righteousness (2 Cor.
Saying that a false minister
is a minister of Christ is blasphemy. Be
careful, therefore, what you say and to whom you give your allegiance,
"for by whom a man is overcome by him also he is brought into
bondage" (2 Peter
Your man claims to have
discovered certain prophetic dates, but what does that prove? Satan knows God’s calendar too. He knows that he has but a short time (Rev.
12:12). Should we be surprised then that his ministers know a few dates
too? We would be surprised if they
didn't. But have you checked out those
dates and his prophecies to see how accurate they are?
He and other church leaders
derive much joy from the fact that they have been blessed with prosperity. They
say that this is a sign that the work they do is the work of God. As with everything else they have turned the
Scriptures upside down. Could it be that
they are being blessed because they do the work of the god of this world? (Luke
4:6; 2 Cor. 4:4). Satan was prepared to give Jesus Christ the whole world if He
worshiped him (Luke 4:5-8). Make no
mistake about it: Satan has the power to bless his servants too.
Don't you know what the
Apostles have said? Apostle Paul, the
man who worked harder than all the other Apostles, and who wrote most of the
New Testament said: "I die daily" (1 Cor.
You say that some form of
Dear Mr. Sbarcea, I was sent a copy of your magazine The Christian
Herald. I did not write for it but it is not
unwelcome. I will be happy to hear what
you have to say.
It would not be fair if I do
not tell you that I am a minister in the
Am I right in presuming that
you had some unpleasant experience with the Worldwide organization, and/or
perhaps even with ours? Also, you sound
not Australian but Romanian. I am of an
ethnic origin too, and can sympathize with the difficulties you are facing in
the work you are doing. Keep in
touch. We are not enemies. Sincerely,
P.M.P.
It is nice to know that the
ministers in the Churches of God now want to hear what I have to say. Tine was
when they would not have a bar of it.
Thank you for reassuring me
that we are not enemies. I already have
enough people on my trail without having to worry about the Churches of God
too.
You say that you are a
minister in the
We, on the other hand,
represent no human being. Jesus Christ
died for us, He is our Savior, and He alone we serve and represent. Good luck with your savior.
You wonder if you are right
in presuming that I had some unpleasant experience with the Worldwide Church of
God, and/or perhaps even with your church?
Oh no, how could anyone have unpleasant experiences with these
people? They are so pious they wouldn't
harm a fly, would they?
Dear Greg, It is some time since we received your
interesting letter. We appreciated
hearing from you and thank you for the material you sent. You are a good Bible student and your studies
are very deep. We are sure the subject
matter has taken a lot of study.
The "Alpha and Omega
Christian Foundation" you have started sounds like an interesting
organization and the description and purpose statements should be the ideal of
all Christians. Do you have several who
work with you and do you have special services or is this an interdenominational
organization with members from within other churches and organizations?
We work with an
interdenominational Sabbath organization that has members in various Sabbath
keeping churches. The purpose of this
organization is to promote the Sabbath (7th day).
We are interested in all our
new found Australian brethren. We
enjoyed meeting with all of you at Kiama. Is there to be a Feast there again this
year? It was a very nice area by the
ocean... peaceful and restful place to worship.
Thanks again for sharing
your ideas with us. We are interested in
hearing from you. We are not the deep
Bible students you are, but we do appreciate your commitment and we can enjoy
each other's fellowship even though we may not all see eye to eye on all Bible subjects.
Pray for the brethren here in
Friends, you say well that
the purpose statement of "Alpha and Omega Christian Foundation"
should be the ideal of all Christians, but unfortunately it is not. In spite of the religious revival taking
place in the world, the ranks of those who truly follow Jesus Christ and
believe the Gospel is thinning rather than growing.
Belonging to any religion or
worshipping any god is not good enough.
You know what Jesus Christ told the Samaritan woman: "You worship what you do not know; We know
what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews [the spiritual Jews]" (John
Elsewhere He said: "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father
in heaven" (Matt. 7:21).
One can no longer assume
that all those who say they are Christians are indeed followers of Jesus
Christ. Not long before he was executed,
Ceausescu declared that he was a Christian too.
We are not an
interdenominational organization, we are nondenominational. No, we are not many, but few.
Our group is so small, it could not be smaller. We do not rely on numbers for this work, but
on God.
Since we discovered that the
Churches of God no longer preach the right gospel and do not observe the Holy
Days in the manner of the New Testament, we no longer attend their feasts.
We do pray for the people
who are in need all over the world and shall always continue to do so.
Dear Grigore, Thank you for the letter and the materials
you enclosed. I am looking forward to
reading your paper on the holy place.
The reason I observe God's Holy Days and festivals is because I believe
these are instituted forever (Lev.
The first tithe belongs to
God (Lev.
The Old Testament temple
received support by means of tithes and offerings. [Apostle] Paul called it his
"right" the support which the Corinthians were giving to others. This caused [Apostle] Paul to work for
himself, but did not do away with God's tithing laws. Any case this is just to explain my reasons
for sticking to God's laws in total. At
present, I am using my tithes to advertise and send truth (literature) to
others in
How about a family
photo? Please! It would make it more personal. Greetings and Christian closeness. M.H.A.
Your decision to adhere to
"God's laws in total" may be fine, but what do you want to achieve by
that, salvation by law? Don't you know
what the Apostles have said?
"For
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written,
'Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in
the book of the law, to do them’. But
that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for 'The
just shall live by faith’. Yet the law
is not of faith, but 'The man who does them shall live by them.’
Therefore
He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it
by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? - just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him
for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of
Abraham" (Gal.
We are not against people
observing God's Holy Days, indeed we encourage them to do so. But in the New Testament there is no
connection between the Holy Days and the tithing principle. There is no need for anyone to go to a temple
or to any special feast site. People can
observe the Holy Days wherever they are.
Jesus Christ said: "For
where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of
them" (Matt.
If tithing is a law under
the New Testament, then the Apostles were the first to break it. Except in the book of Hebrews, which
discusses the situation of the Jews, none of the other epistles even mention
tithe or tithing.
Apostle Paul would be most
unhappy to hear you say that he supported the tithing doctrine. He went out of his way not to put any burdens
upon the churches which he established, so much so that he became unpopular
with some of them because of it. You are
twisting his words and changing the meaning of the Scriptures, and I don't need
to tell you what the consequences are for that.
You make the same errors the leaders of the Churches of God are
making. They do not understand the
difference between the Old and the New Testaments, nor how to keep the Holy
Days in the Spirit of the New Testament.
They tell their followers to observe the Holy Days in the manner of the
Jews. To whom do you think Jesus Christ
referred to when He said that there are people who claim to be spiritual Jews,
but who are a synagogue of Satan?
Why do you want my
photograph? I will gladly give you my
writings, but not my picture. You know
that those from the Churches of God, and other churches, are in love with
themselves - they keep publishing their glossy photos in their
publications. I am afraid we are not in
the same class. I would rather take the
chance of ending up like Jesus Christ.
He must be amusing Himself in heaven at the pictures they have made of
Him. Or perhaps He is furious. We shall know that soon.
OPEN LETTER TO
GARNER TED ARMSTRONG
This is an edited
version of an open letter sent to G. T. A. in
Oct. 1989.
Subsequent developments
justify its republication.
Dear
Mr. Armstrong,
About
six weeks ago I sent you a letter, which appears to have become lost, since I
received neither reply nor acknowledgement of it. For I cannot believe that you received it and
ignored it, as this would not be characteristic of a servant of Jesus Christ,
especially since it covered important matters of church doctrine and practice.
But
since we know that "all things work together for good to them who love
God" (Rom.
In
my previous letter, I informed you that since I left your church I have been
completely unaware of the major developments which have been taking place in
the Worldwide Church of God. During this time, with the exception of the first
couple of years in which I stumbled and suffered a painful withdrawal from the
rigidity of the Worldwide Church of God, I have not departed from the law of
God. Indeed, I put more time into
studying and understanding the Bible and practicing the Christian way of life
than I have done before.
For
most of those years, I have been involved in an exhaustive search for the
"little flock of Jesus Christ" against whom "the gates of hell
would not prevail" (Luke
In
your brochure, Who, What is the Beast of Revelation? page 2, you say, "The
Pope in Rome is called 'holy' and yet the Bible says only God is
holy!"
You
do not give the reference to show where the Bible says so, but we assume you
have in mind
The
context of these verses indicates that God is not being compared with human
beings, but with other gods. Indeed,
other Scriptures reinforce this view.
"God
is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has
He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
(Num. 23:19).
“And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For
He is not a man, that He should relent.''
(1 Sam 15:28-29).
"To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal and compare
Me, that we should be alike? 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. 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. Remember this, and show
yourselves men; Recall to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am
God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.” (Is. 46:5-9).
That
Revelation 15:4 does not refer to human beings can also be deducted from the
reference to the song of Moses in the previous verse to which it is linked.
“They
sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:
‘Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your
ways, O King of the saints!’” (Rev
15:3).
The
song of Moses is found in Exodus 15:1-19.
Of particular relevance is verse 11, "Who is like You, O LORD,
among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises,
doing wonders?”
These
examples make it clear that when the Scriptures say that God alone is holy He
is being compared with other gods, not with human beings. As for human beings, the Bible says the very
opposite of what you say: it encourages them to be holy just like our Father in
Heaven is holy: "But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all
your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy"' (1 Peter
1:15-16). And, "Be holy and without
blame before Him in love" (Eph. 1:4), and again, "He who is holy, let
him be holy still" (Rev. 22:11).
Unless
human beings become holy they shall in no way enter the Kingdom of God. From the moment they repent and receive the
Holy Spirit they embark upon the road to holiness and, in various degrees, they
are holy.
People
could get a very wrong impression by reading that the Pope commits blasphemy by
calling himself holy. We all know that
he is not holy. We also know that he
commits blasphemy in a number of other areas, but not in this. The most that can be said about this claim is
that he is a liar and a hypocrite, like the Pharisees of Jesus' time who said one thing and did another.
Saying
that he is holy is not the same as saying that he is "Holy Father," a
difference that seem to escape you and your ministers. Here are a few papal blasphemies as they are
revealed by a former Jesuit priest:
"In
the beginning the cross was never represented in art or sculpture - no one
dared depict Him in his utter humiliation... Who would dare recrucify
Christ?"
"The
first tenth century Greek representations of Jesus suffering on the cross was
condemned by Rome as blasphemy. Soon the
Church of Rome itself yielded to its fascination."
"The
church was responsible for persecuting Jews, for the Inquisition, for slaughtering
heretics by the thousand, for reintroducing torture into Europe... but the
doctrines responsible for those terrible things still underpin his [the Pope’s]
position." (Peter de Rosa, Vicars of Christ, pp. 3,4,27).
The
Pope's blasphemy cams from doing these things in the name of Christ, from
presenting a statue of a humiliated figure and telling people that that is
their savior, from sanctifying and worshipping the dead, from placing Mary
between God and His creation, from telling people that they have inherent
immortality when they don't, and, of course, from exalting himself to the
position of God by assuming His title of “Holy Father”.
This
book presents an extraordinary litany of papal inequities and blasphemies. Pity that the author ended up by loosing his
faith in God, as if God is to be blamed for the Pontiff’s sins.
In
another of your publications, What is the
Mark of the Beast (p.32), we find this amazing statement: “Holy (a
blasphemous term!)”. How could “holy” be
a blasphemous term when the Bible is permeated with it? Think about it Mr. Armstrong , who is
committing blasphemy in this case? NO,
THE WORD "HOLY" IS NOT A
BLASPHEMOUS TERM! God is holy, Jesus
Christ is holy, the "Comforter" is holy, many angels are holy, and
They all want us to become holy too.
Then
in the brochure, Did Life evolve
or Was it Created, you write:
'"What
we see in the solar system and throughout the universe is proof of a gigantic
battle; the wreckage of the original 'star wars' when a great archangel
attempted to unseat God from His throne, and was instead cast down to this
earth." (p.4).
What
we see in the solar system is no such thing Mr. Armstrong. That is because when the "original star
wars" took place, the solar system and the universe were not yet
created. This same idea you take up
again in more detail in a later publication, The Shocking Truth about Satanism.
In the fifth chapter you connect Satan's rebellion with the creation of
the universe. You then reach the
conclusion that the book of Genesis does not describe the creation, but the
recreation of the world. You say that
Satan and his demons ruled over an earth which contained no human beings and
that God forced His former archangel and all his rebellious angels to be confined
to this earth for an unimaginable period of time prior to the creation of
man. You go on to say that oil, natural
gas, and coal are nothing more than the fossil relics of those bygone days,
formed from the remains of dinosaurs and a thousand other species buried in the
catastrophes of the past.
It
would take me a long time to fully disprove these evolutionary fallacies,
something which I cannot do here.
However, I shall try to explain briefly why this is not so, remaining
that if you want a more detailed information, I shall write a longer
explanation later.
Firstly,
the question of fossil fuels. Scientists
have proven that it does not take billions of years for these to be
formed. Such fuels have been produced in
laboratory conditions in a matter of days.
The secret is heat and pressure.
Therefore, all those dinosaurs and other prehistoric species did not
need to live in the pre-adamic world, a world which did not exist, as I shall
prove shortly, but in the world between Adam and Noah.
And,
of course, another explanation is that when God created the world, He created
these things and placed them where they are for future use. Prophetic utterances and fulfillments
indicate that this is rather the case.
Secondly,
the book of Genesis describes original creation, not a recreation of the
world. Your entire thesis rests upon the
meaning of the word "was" in Genesis 1:2, which you say should be
translated "became." You quote Is. 45:18 to prove your point. May I suggest that you read that verse again. Rather than supporting your view it reaffirm
what is in Genesis.
Regarding
the meaning of the words "tohu" (without form) and "bohu"
(void) in Genesis 1:2, they describe a certain phase in the process of
creation, not that the world reached that stage as a result of Satan's
rebellion. Both these words have several
interpretations (see Wilson's Old Testament Word Studies) and it is unwise to
take one meaning out of context and make it
support your unique assumption, when virtually all other biblical scholars have
accepted them as they are translated in Genesis.
Thirdly,
evidence is mounting that the earth and the universe are very young indeed -
under ten thousand years old. Here are a
few examples which throw a spanner in the evolutionary time scale:
1. It is a well-known fact that the earth is enveloped
by a strong magnetic field and that in its core there is a strong electric
current. Scientists have discovered that
this magnetic field is decaying rapidly at a measurable rate.
If
this rate had always remained the same (The evolutionists believe in
uniformitarian geology, that is what we observe in the world now is the way
things have always developed. The creationist view, on the other hand, is that
there were upheavals in the past, such as Noah's flood, which changed the face
of the earth rapidly), then 8 000 years ago the earth's magnetic field would
have equaled that of a magnetic star, a clear impossibility. 20 000 years ago, the heat generated by the
interaction between the magnetic field and the electric current would have
dissolved the earth. One million years
ago, the figures for the magnetic field reach impossibly high levels.
2.
A steady stream of cosmic dust is falling on the earth and the moon at a
measurable rate. If this has been occurring
for 4.5 billion years (the age of the earth according to the evolutionary time
line), large deposits should have accumulated by now, but they have not. American scientists were worried that their
moon craft would submerge in a layer of dust as deep as 30 meters, so they
constructed it with long legs and pancake type landing pads capable of keeping
it on top. But when the astronauts
landed on the moon, they found less than half a centimeter of dust, which could
have accumulated in less than ten thousand years.
3.
Every year about 27 billion tons of sediment is deposited on the ocean
floor. If this rate had been maintained
for one billion years, the length of time evolutionists say it took life to
evolve from the chemicals in the sea, this sediment would now be approximately
30 kilometers deep. The actual sediment
is less than one kilometer, nowhere near the amount expected according to the
"geological time." (Sylvia Baker, Bone
of Contention, Is Evolution True?, C.S.F., Qld., 1980, p.23)
4.
The sun is burning about one billion tons of its mass every second. Scientists have been suspecting for some time
that the sun is shrinking. Recently this
has been confirmed by a Chinese scientist, Professor Wan Lai of Shanghai
Observatory of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
He discovered that the sun has shrunk 410 kilometers in 273 years, from
1715 to 1987. This mans that the sun is
shrinking at an average rate of about 1.5 kilometers every year. At this rate, a million years ago the sun
would have been double its present diameter.
Ten million years ago, its size would have made it impossible for life
to exist on earth. 210 million years
ago, the surface of the sun would have reached the earth. (The Australian, April 14th, 1990).
All
these figures create no problem if the biblical account of creation is
accepted. But those evolutionary fables
are given credence by uninformed and unbelieving theologians who try to
"harmonize" the Bible with modern "scientific" discoveries,
not realizing that there is no conflict between true science and the Word of
God.
In
the last few years, more and more scientists have cone to see that what has
been accepted as a scientific fact was nothing are than an unsubstantiated
theory. The world has fallen prey to a
lie that has been with us since the beginning of time. Misguided attempts at bridging theology with
modern science bring no honor to our Creator God. The time element makes no difference in the
creating act of God. As Jesus Christ
said, "with God all things are possible" (Matt. 19:26). If God was
able to create the world billions of years ago, He was equally capable of
creating it 6000 years ago. God is not
limited by man's inability to understand His power.
Jesus
Christ said that the world began when Adam and Eve were created, not billions
of years earlier:
"And
He answered and said to them, 'Have you not read that He who made them at the
beginning made them male and female."' (Matt. 19:4).
"But
from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female." (Mark
10:6).
"You,
Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are
the work of Your hands; they will perish, but You remain; and they will grow
old like a garment; like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be
changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not fail." (Heb.
1:10-12).
So,
the beginning is associated both with the creation of the earth and of human
beings. Jesus Christ would have known
that, for He was there (John 1:1-3).
Anyone who says otherwise contradicts Him and the Bible. True ministers of Christ would not do
that. This is what a noted scientist
and evolutionist said not long ago:
"John
Eddy, a leading high altitude research astronomer in the USA opened a
conference (in 1976) with the claim that whilst he suspected the solar system
was at least 4.6 billion years old, there is not much in the way of
astronomical evidence to disagree with the value of only 6,000 years proposed
by Archbishop Ussher.” (John Eddy, Geotimes, September 1978, p.18 - “Report
on Symposium at Louisiana State University”).
"There is not much in
the way of astronomical evidence to disagree with the value of only 6000 years
proposed by Archbishop Ussher" - not much proof in the universe of your
gigantic star wars battle, is there?
Now to answer the question
of Satan's rebellion - when and where did it take place? Firstly, a brief look at the account of
creation:
* First day - God created a
huge rock with a molten core covered in water and floating in darkness in a
limitless expanse of the universe. It
was "without form" because water was floating about it without any
particular shape, and "void" because no life had yet been
created. These verses do not say that
that the world was in confusion as you believe; they simply describe the first
stage in the process of creation.
* Second day - God created
the atmosphere with the clouds in heaven.
* Third day - God created
the vegetable kingdom.
* Fourth day - God created
the sun, the stars and the rest of the universe. The light which shone the first day did not
come from the sun. It must have come
from God Himself. We know that He
shines like the sun when He reveals Himself (Rev. 22:5). The fact that the sun and the stars were not
created until the third day, is further proof that the earth did not exist for
long ages before the first humans were created because if it did it was a
solitary planet in a dark expanse of the universe. No specie could have lived in such
conditions. And, of course, Satan and
his rebellious angels could not have ruled over a world devoid of any sign of
life.
* Fifth day - God created
all the sea creatures.
* Sixth day - the dry land
creatures were created, including Adam and Eve.
*
Seventh day - a day of rest for God and for the whole creation. God fellowshipped with His creation, with
Adam and Eve, and warned them to be on guard against the evil one.
Satan was already in
existence when God created the world, therefore his rebellion must have
occurred while he was still in heaven, not on the earth, as it is generally
believed.
Ezekiel’s writings, which
describe the fall of Lucifer and the appearance of Satan (Ezek. 28:11-19),
confirm this. The king of Tyrus
(anti-type of Lucifer turned Satan) was in "Eden, the Garden of God."
This "Eden, Garden of God" cannot be the same as the Garden of Eden
in which Adam and Eve were placed. This
is located "upon the holy mountain of God" where the cherubs and the
"stones of fire" lived. This could only have been in heaven, for it
is there the "holy mountain of God" and the “stones of fire"
(the angels) are found. It was there
that iniquity was found in this "covering cherub."
Notice what God said He will
do to this rebellious cherub? "I
will destroy you, O covering cherub... I will cast you to the ground, I will
lay you before kings, that they may behold you."
Notice also the future tense
as it is correctly translated in the King James Version. At present he is very much alive and active,
and spends time both on earth and in heaven (see
Satan's rebellion therefore,
occurred in heaven at an indeterminate time in the past before the world was
created. What people need to understand
is that there was more than one rebellion.
Apostle Peter said that one such rebellion occurred during the days of
Noah (I Peter 3:18-20). Any wonder that there was so much devastation at that
time. It was probably then that Jesus
saw Satan fall from heaven as lightening (Luke 10:18).
There will be another final
battle in heaven between Michael and his angels, and the Dragon and his angels
(Rev. 12:7-8). Here, Sir, you make
another error by saying that this battle has already taken place (The Shocking
Truth about SATANISM,
p.14). When that battle will take place,
this is what will happen on the earth:
“Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil is come down to you, having
great wrath, because he knows he has a short tire" (Rev. 12:12). Anyway
even if this battle has already taken place it could only have happened in recent
times and it has nothing to do with what you call "mind boggling
struggle... in which the whole universe is wrecked!"
I hope you have the courage
and the moral and spiritual rectitude to acknowledge your errors and make the
necessary corrections. As head of a
church you carry a heavy responsibility towards those who trust you with their
spiritual enlightenment and salvation.