Happy Thanksgiving to the Brethren in the Lord and in Adam.
Brothers and Sisters, another Thanksgiving Day is upon us. Let us enjoy it. But while we are eating turkey, dressing, fried chicken, cranberry sauce, and pecan pie (I just gained five pounds writing that), let us not forget to thank the Lord Jesus for providing for our every need.
We should not only be thankful to God for giving us relative good health, a right mind, beans and rice on the table, and clothes on our backs and shoes on our feet, but we should also be thankful that we live in a relatively free country.
Here in America we are free to worship the Lord Jesus as we please. In many countries openly hostile to the Gospel, it is illegal to worship the Lord Jesus. Christians in those countries risk their lives every day just trying to share the Gospel message with the lost, let alone spending a day giving thanks to the Lord.
America is one of the few countries in the world, if not the only country in the world that has a day dedicated solely to the giving of thanks to God for His providence. That is truly a great blessing. Let us not forget this while we are enjoying the fruits of freedom.
We should also not forget the less fortunate. Let us not forget that there are many hurting people out there who need a material blessing as well as the love of Jesus. Let us please say a prayer for them.
Let us also not forget to thank those whom God has allowed to come into our lives for a season: those who showed up at just the right time: to help us through a difficult trial, to pray for us, to pray with us, and to pray over us. Those who listen to us, who cry with us, who grieve with us, and who laugh with us. And those who simply come with a Word of encouragement at the precise moment that Word was needed. And, lest we forget, those who bring a warm heart, a quiet spirit, and a love of the Word of God and for the brethren in the Lord: who clothe us with the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. We must certainly be thankful for these. I am.
Finally, let us take this opportunity to witness to our unsaved family and friends. This is one of the few times when people’s hearts are supple and open to the truth. Many who would normally be reluctant to share their troubles and fears may want to confide in a distant relative or total stranger. This is especially true in this failing economy. While conversing over a cup of coffee and slice of pie, you may find a perfect opportunity to give your testimony and slip in the Gospel of Reconciliation. Be open to the possibilities.
In this season of Thanksgiving, I want to say that I am thankful for all of you who have come here for a word of encouragement, a word of admonishment, a word of wisdom (from the Lord), and, yes, even a word of rebuke. I am grateful for those who have given me information, thanked me for this ministry, and lifted me up in prayer. This is a ministry of love and your support has encouraged me greatly. Yes, I am grateful for you.
And to my estranged family and friends, you are in my prayers. I have not forgotten you.
So be well, be thankful, and be safe. Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day.
And don’t eat so much that you can’t look up; for our redemption still draweth nigh!
A major stumbling block in the Christian walk is praying with confidence. Most of us know how to pray, but we don’t pray with confidence because either we are not sure if God will grant our prayer, or we aren’t sure we are praying for the right thing. Consequently, we take our petitions to God and nervously wait for Him to move. When we don’t get what we want when we think we should get it, we lose faith. We could learn from Hannah, the mother of the prophet, Samuel, whose story is told in 1 Samuel.
In the first chapter, we learn Hannah’s story: that God had shut her womb so that she was unable to have children. As the story goes, it was the custom of Hannah to travel to Jerusalem every year with her husband to offer sacrifices. During this time, her husband’s second wife would torment Hannah so grievously because she was barren, that she would weep bitterly and would neither eat nor drink. This went on every year.
During one particular visit, Hannah, grieving as usual, goes to the temple to pray. In pouring out her supplication to God, she vows that if He would give her a son and take away her reproach, she would dedicate the boy to the Lord. After Hannah says this prayer, she leaves the temple and goes home, no more sorrowful. Scripture says,
“So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad” (1 Samuel 1:18).
Hannah believed that God would grant her petition, so she no longer fretted over it. She was confident that it would be done. Why? Because she was obedient. Remember that she and her husband went to Jerusalem faithfully each year to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. Hannah was obedient, and she knew that God is faithful. So, she was confident that He would honor her obedience and grant her petition.And we know that God did indeed grant her petition.
The apostle Paul gives another example of confidence in prayer as the fruit of obedience. In his letter to Philemon, he writes:
“Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say. But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you” (v. 21-22)
We can learn a great deal from this deceptively simple passage. Notice that there is no hint of uncertainty in Paul’s words, nor in his actions: “I wrote,” “I know,” “I trust,” “I shall be given.” There is even an imperative: “Prepare.” These are all words of action, and they are all the result of confidence: confidence in one’s obedience and in the faithfulness of God.
How can we apply this example to our own prayer life? First let us hear what God says about listening to our prayers. Psalm 66:18 says,
“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
This means that if we sin indiscriminately; that is, we enjoy sinning, God will not hear our prayers. Do you watch sinful programs like Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives, or reality TV programs like Jersey Shore or Basketball Wives? Rest assured that if you do, God is not pleased. If He has answered your prayers, it has been solely an act of grace and probably because you did it in ignorance. God will fire a couple of warning shots across your bow to wake you up, but do not test His grace.
This also applies to watching others sin. Do you laugh at your co-workers’ dirty jokes? When your roommate throws in an X-rated movie, do you watch too? When a guest at your in-laws, do you stay in the room when someone throws in a horror flick? If we tolerate sin in those with whom we live, work and associate, then God will not even hear our prayers. They will go no farther than the ceiling.
Therefore, if we want God to hear our prayers, we must hate sin. This does not mean that we need to be sinless, for this is impossible for us. But it does mean that we should not enjoy sinning and should do everything we possibly can to avoid it. When we do sin, we should be sorry and confess that sin to God. The Bible says,
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Confession of sin is very important if we want to stay in the center of God’s will.
Not only must we confess our sins to God, but we must also confess our faults to one another:
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).
This does not mean that we should confess our sins to men such as a priest as is popularly believed. Faults does not mean sins. What this passage is saying is that when we have wronged someone we should go to that person and reconcile our differences. We should admit they we made a mistake. This keeps us from being guilty of the sin of pride.
The next thing we must do to make sure that God hears our prayers is to pray according to His will. The Bible says,
“And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us…” (1 John 5:14).
This means that we must consider whether what we ask of God is what He would want for us, and not simply what we want. This is very important, because sometimes we want things that may be good to us but are no good for us; that is, spiritually. If it is of no spiritual benefit to us, we can count on God not wanting it for us.
Now this does not mean that God doesn’t want us to have anything unless it is of a spiritual nature. A stereo is of no spiritual benefit at all. But it can be used to play Gospel music that lifts up Jesus, which is good for the spirit. It is not out of the will of God, therefore, to ask God for a nice stereo.
A car is of no spiritual value, but a car has many benefits, and in some circumstances, can be a necessity. It is not out of the will of God, therefore, to ask God for a car. But is it prudent to ask God for a Ferrari? That depends. I am of the mind that God sometimes grants those kinds of petitions, but it is on a case-by-case basis, and is determined by other factors such as spiritual maturity. If God knows that Ferrari will not corrupt you and become an idol, He may give it to you.
In the end though, it is God’s will to give it to us, and we must want it that way.
Remember that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed to God to take away the cup of suffering from which He was going to drink. But even in His anguish, He ultimately prayed for God’s will to be done and not His own. This is how we too must pray.
So, we know that in order for God to hear our prayers we must:
1. Not willfully sin against Him
2. Confess our sins to Him
3. Pray in accordance with His will
The last thing that we must do to make sure that God will hear our prayers, is to make sure that we are being obedient: that we are doing God’s will. The Bible says,
“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22).
We must keep God’s commandments and do those things that are pleasing to Him. Now, I’m not going to get very specific about what God’s commandments are, because they are sprinkled throughout both the Old and New Testaments. I do, however, want to discuss the subject of obedience, because I have had a personal encounter with God due to disobedience.
I got saved six years ago. The circumstances under which God saved me led me to have an understanding of spiritual warfare that many Christians only come to later in their Christian walk. I won’t get specifics here; if you want to read more about it, click here.
To make a long story short, I got saved in Germany, a pagan country, and spent the next two years evangelizing. Prior to my salvation, I had already lived eight years among the Germans: I lived among them, worked with them, played among them, learned their language, ate their food, and sent my children to school with them. I also spent a great deal of time among the African Diaspora in Munich and even made some attempts to evangelize them.
So, in a manner of speaking, I have already been on the mission field, though I didn’t face the dangers that missionaries in countries openly hostile to the Gospel face. There were still dangers, but they were of a covert, spiritual nature. Most people could probably not imagine stranger bedfellows than Germans and Africans; but believe me: when it comes to the works of darkness, they are of one accord. I’m a witness. Forrest Gump would say, “They get along like peas and carrots.”
The spiritual battle did not end when I boarded a plane bound for America and left that country behind me. Enemies made on behalf of Jesus Christ are enemies for life. I am still fighting a war: on my behalf, on behalf of my family, and on behalf of others. I can tell you that to wage this kind of warfare, you must be in God’s will always. And being in His will means being obedient.
But, sometimes we can think we are being obedient while, in reality, we are being rebellious and this can affect our ability to wage effective spiritual warfare. This brings me to what I wanted to say with regard to obedience.
God allowed me to see deception and apostasy in the Christian church even before my conversion. This created a huge problem for me, because once I saw that a church was out of God’s will, I would leave it. For the most part, I left because I did not feel comfortable, but, on one occasion, even the pastor made it clear he didn’t want me there. He didn’t tell me to my face, but he dropped little hints that were as plain as the nose on your face.
For this reason, I was never more than a year with any congregation. Eventually, I gave up going to church, and would simply worship at home, asking God in prayer to find me a church home.
But my spirit would give me no rest, because deep down inside, I knew that I was outside of the will of God, for He told us to not forsake the gathering of ourselves together. I tried to convince myself that because I had tried unsuccessfully to find a church home and had been praying for God to find me one, I had fulfilled my responsibility. I basically placed my responsibility to fellowship firmly in God’s lap and said, “You handle it.”
Now, God’s didn’t get mad at me; He simply would not give me any peace on the matter. And when God doesn’t give you peace, you will be miserable; not simply because you don’t have peace, but because you know that it is because of your own disobedience. For someone who wants to please Him, it hurts to know you are not.
This can hurt you when you are trying to wage spiritual warfare. God will still fight your battles, but you will clearly feel something missing, and that something will steal your victory. This is the Holy Spirit saying, “You gotta fix this, Son.”
So, I found a local church a few weeks ago and joined myself with them this past Sunday. Are they perfect? No. Do we agree on every doctrinal issue? Of course not. Am I worried? No. Why not? Because I know that God is getting ready to fix the Christian church in America. We are about to be tried by fire. This will solve any discrepancies; doctrinal or otherwise.
The important thing is that I am being obedient and I know it. The first place it showed was in my prayer life as I was able to fast and pray more efficacious. This was a full week before I even made up my mind to join this church. Once I determined in my heart to be obedient, even before I had formally decided, God gave me my peace back. And peace is essential in spiritual warfare.
I said all of that (and it really was a lot) to emphasize that obedience is crucial for effectual fervent prayer. In this age of “name it and claim it” few ministries preach obedience, because many pastors are themselves out of step with God. But as we have clearly seen, it is important.
If you are sold out to Jesus, Satan knows that he will have little success tempting you with outright sin, so he will often try to make you disobey God in some way. Satan knows the Bible better than you and I ever will. He knows what we are supposed to do to please God, so He will try to get us to not do those things. In my case, Satan used my zeal for the Word of God to discourage me from fellowship. And it worked for a while.
Philemon was obedient and Paul knew it.This was why Paul had confidence that God would answer Philemon’s prayers on his behalf. Paul was so confident that he even went so far as to tell Philemon to make plans for his return. We can have the same confidence Paul had. The Bible says,
“And if we know that [God] hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we desired of Him (1 John 5:15).
If God hears our prayers, it is a given–an absolute given–that He will answer us. This should give us confidence.
There is one more very important thing that I want you to notice about this passage. Let us look at it once again.
“Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.”
Because of Philemon’s obedience, Paul knew that he would do more than he asked. He had tremendous confidence in him. What if I were to tell you that we can have that same confidence in God? Would you be encouraged? Then prepare to be encouraged. The Bible says that God is:
“[a]ble to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20).
This is wonderful news! Paul had tremendous confidence that Philemon would do above what he asked him to do. But God tells us that He will not only do exceedingly abundantly above what we ask Him to do, but also exceedingly abundantly above what we think! God doesn’t just exceed our wishes, but He even exceeds our expectations by giving us what we didn’t even think to ask for.
A great example of this is the case of Solomon. As we know, God told Solomon that He would give Him anything he asked for, and Solomon asked God for wisdom. God granted his petition, but He even went one better. He gave Solomon something he hadn’t asked for. The Bible tells it thus:
“Behold, I have done according to thy word: lo, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart…
“And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour” (1 Kings 3:12-13).
So, God gave Solomon not only what he asked for, but what he did not ask for. And arguably, King Solomon is more known today for that which he did not ask, than for that which he asked. Indeed, God is able to do “exceedingly above all that we ask or think.”
But you have to get your head around a crucial part of this verse. God’s power works “according to the power that worketh in us”—our faith. In other words, if we believe that God is able to do it, if it is His will, He will do it. His power will manifest in your life according to your faith in Him.
Now God knows the stubbornness of the human heart. He knows that when it comes to faith, everyone comes from Missouri: we say “Show me.” Therefore, God will reveal His power to us just like He revealed His power to the Israelites on the day He freed them from Egyptian captivity.
He could have freed the Jews in less dramatic fashion. Instead of just striking dead the first born of the Egyptians, He could have simply killed them all. Then the Israelites could have taken their time getting their things together and simply moseyed out of Egypt. He didn’t have to part the Red Sea; He could just as easily have had a ship tied up and waiting for them. Better yet, He could have just taken them the Northern route and avoided the Red Sea altogether. But God didn’t do these things. He wanted to show the Israelites what He could do, by making it necessary for Him to do it. He wanted the Israelites to trust Him.
Now if we believe that the Word of God is true forever and that He never changes, then we should believe that He can still do those things. And if He can still do those things, then surely He can grant our pithy requests. Is anything too hard for God?
God understands that such faith does not come automatically, but is developed over time. This is one purpose of the trials He allows us to go through. Every time God comes through for us, every time He delivers us from something, He proves His credibility. That is why God not only blesses us according to our faith, but even exceeds our faith. He does this to raise the bar and get us to reach higher with our faith.
This is naturally a struggle for us, but we must keep struggling. God wants to bless us. But we must trust Him. If we are staying in God’s will by sanctifying ourselves, eschewing sin, confessing our sins, obeying His commandments, and praying according to His will, then when we pray we should not worry that our prayers will not be answered.
Now, I’m sure that someone is wondering why I did not add “praying in faith” to the list, based on James 1:6-7 which says:
“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
“For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.”
I did not add praying in faith to the list because like I said before, faith takes time to develop, because of our sin nature. Faith is the fruit of experience. If you sit in a chair and the legs break under you, even after you have repaired it, you are going to be very tentative sitting in it. Only after you have sat in it a few times without incident will you begin to have faith that it will not break again.
It is no different with God. Our faith in Him grows after He has proven Himself faithful over time. What James means is that when a person to whom God has revealed His faithfulness continues to pray in unbelief, he is essentially calling God a liar. This was the reason God had Israel wandering in the desert for forty years, when they could have completed the journey to the Promised Land in a few months. G0d had revealed His power and providence to them on many occasions, yet they continued to doubt Him. If we do this, God at some point will stop answering our prayers. This is what James meant.
Now if God were hard and unyielding and 100% faithfulness were required for Him to answer our prayers, you and I would not be in the faith, because we would get tired of our prayers going unanswered. This kind of faith is only possible for children, which is why Jesus said our faith must be as a little child’s. Only after Jesus has proven Himself faithful on several occasions do we start to trust Him and have confidence in Him.
Now some people are capable of this kind of faith right at conversion. But it will be different with each person depending on what God has done for him and has delivered him from. Like Jesus said, “He who has been forgiven much, loves (and therefore trusts) more.”
Once we understand that all things are under Jesus’ feet and that He is 100% in charge, we will learn to pray according to His will. If it is His will that we have it; we will, and if it is not; we will not. Either way, it will be for our good and His glory. We must remember that.
So when we pray, let us be likeHannah: let us go our way, and let our countenance be no more sad. We can be confident that God is not only willing, but able to answer our prayers: even according to our faith.
The podcast of this teaching is available for immediate download at the iTunes Store for use with your favorite audio device. You can subscribe to our free podcast here. For your convenience, it is also provided below.
What kind of hand sign is Gloria Cain, wife of Republican Presidential hopeful, Herman Cain, throwing up? Is this a normal wave?
And lest you should think this was just an “accident,” New Zealand Prime Minister John Key appears to be doing the same thing below. So does his wife.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key with curious wave
By now y0u should realize that they are all in this together. Regardless of political party, ideological bent, race, color, or creed, they are all of the same mind. And it ain’t the mind of God.
They are acting out a play before our eyes. Their mission: to deceive the unsuspecting sheep. Sheep are always led to the slaughter.
Update: We now know what this sign is. To learn about the Cult of Mary, click here.
Nehemiah is of the children of Israel who were taken into captivity into Babylon. He is also the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes. Some of Nehemiah’s countrymen come to visit him in Babylon and Nehemiah asks them how Israel is doing. They tell him that the wall around Jerusalem has been destroyed and the gates to the city have been burned with fire. This news grieves Nehemiah greatly, for God’s chosen people have become a reproach and alaughing-stock to the nations in the midst of whom they live (v.v. 1-3).
Notice Nehemiah’s reaction:
“And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven” (v. 4).
Nehemiah prays to God and asks forgiveness for the sins of his people. He also reminds God of His promise to Israel: that though they had turned their backs on Him, if they would turn back to Him and resolve to be obedient, He would forgive them and restore them to their land.
Christians today would do well to follow the example of Nehemiah. America has also turned its back on God. God has richly blessed America, and we are the freest people who have ever lived on the face of the earth. But we have forgotten God’s blessings and have become proud, haughty, and ungrateful.
God’s judgment thus far has trickled upon this country, and I truly believe that this is because of God’s mercy. He is giving us every chance to turn back unto Him; but every day we expose more of our backs to Go. At some point our lease on His grace will expire, and God will judge this sinful nation. This is a matter of biblical record.
But we can stay God’s hand for a season. Christians need to stand in the gap and intercede for this nation. Like Nehemiah, we need to weep and mourn for America and pray that people will begin to turn once again unto God, and that Christians would stop celebrating their own salvation and weep and mourn for America. And we need to not only pray for our nation, but for our communities. Some of the most dangerous communities in America have two or three churches on every corner. Christians go to church every Sunday merely to glory in their own salvation, and they feel no responsibility or burden for the lost among whom they live. This ought not to be.
We need to weep and mourn and pray for our country and our communities. If we do, God has promised to forgive us and restore us:
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
The apostle James echoes both sentiments:
“Be afflicted and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.” (James 4:9-10).
Christians, let us lay aside our celebrations for a season. It is time to weep and mourn for the lost, for our communities, and for America.
Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption drawers nigh.
If you experienced problems accessing this site in the past 24 hours, or if any comments posted have disappeared, I apologize. We moved the site to another website hosting company and it is possible that at some point the site was down. If you posted comments and they have not appeared, it may take awhile because the site has to be updated on servers all over the world and that may take a few days.
A major stumbling block in the Christian walk is praying with confidence. Most of us know how to pray, but we don’t pray with confidence because either we are not sure if God will grant our prayer, or we aren’t sure we are praying for the right thing. Consequently, we take our petitions to God and nervously wait for him to move. When we don’t get what we want when we think we should get it, we lose faith. We could learn from Hannah, the mother of the prophet, Samuel, whose story is told in 1 Samuel.
In the first chapter, we learn Hannah’s story: that God had shut her womb that she was unable to have children. As the story goes, it was the custom of Hannah to travel to Jerusalem every year with her husband to offer sacrifices. During this time, her husband’s second wife would torment Hannah so grievously because she was barren, that she would weep bitterly and would neither eat nor drink. This went on every year.
During one particular visit, grieving as usual, goes to the temple to pray. In pouring out her supplication to God, she tells Him that if He would give her a son and take away her reproach, she would dedicate the boy to the Lord. After Hannah says this prayer, she leaves the temple and goes home, no more sorrowful. Scripture says,
“So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad” (1 Samuel 1:18).
Hannah believed that God would grant her petition, so she no longer fretted over it. She was confident that it would be done. Why? Because she was obedient. Remember that she and her husband went to Jerusalem faithfully each year to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. Hannah was obedient, and she knew that God is faithful. So, she was confident that He would honor her obedience and grant her petition.
The apostle Paul gives another example of confidence in prayer as the fruit of obedience. In his letter to Philemon, he writes:
“Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say. But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you” (v. 21-22)
In verse 21, Paul displays confidence in Philemon’s obedience, and therefore, in verse 22 he has confidence in God’s faithfulness. He knows that Philemon is obedient and that if He prayed to God, “Who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20), God would honor his obedience. It was this confidence in Philemon’s obedience and in God’s faithfulness that enabled Paul to instruct Philemon to prepare a place for him to stay.
Many Christians today mistakenly misinterpret 1 John 5:14-15, to mean that if God merely hears our prayers, He will grant our petition. But they overlook Psalm 66:18, which says that if we “regard iniquity in our hearts,” God will not hear us. We must first be obedient to God, then we can have the confidence that He will answer our prayers. Scripture says,
“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him,because we keep His commandments,and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22).
If we are obedient to the commandments of God, then we can be confident that God hears our prayers, and like Hannah, we should then rest easy and trust that He will grant our petitions in accordance with His will. A more in-depth article on praying with confidence can be found here.
Grace and peace, brothers and sisters, and greetings to the lost.
What do 1 Corinthians 12 and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who have in common? Both share the message “Everyone is a who, no matter how small.”
In the classic Dr. Seuss tale, Horton the elephant hears a tiny voice coming from a flower. As it turns out, an entire town—a world—of people live in there. If I recall the story correctly, no one believes Horton when he says that people actually live in the flower. So, in order that people will know that he was right, Horton suggests that the entire town yell “We’re here!” so that everyone can here them. So all the people in the little town yell, “We’re here, we’re here, we’re HERE!” into a microphone so loudly and strongly that eventually their voices break through the flower and everyone hears that there is indeed a little world of people living in that little flower.
The message of that story is that no matter how small or seemingly insignificant a person is, he is a person just like everyone else, and therefore, has just as much value as anyone else.
This is also the message of 1 Corinthians 12. Paul conveys the message to the church that no matter how insignificant one may feel, we are all important to the body of Christ. To illustrate his point, Paul uses the analogy of the human body. Beginning in verse 12, Paul says,
“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.”
He continues this analogy in verse 14,
“For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?”
He then explains that not everyone can be the eye or the foot, because if it were so, then the body would lack the other parts and their functions:
“If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?” (v. 17).
He then explains that God has given every part of the human body a specific purpose according to His will…
“But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him” (v. 18).
…and if everyone were an eye or an ear, then the body would be incomplete:
“And if they were all one member, where were the body?” (v. 19).
Therefore, even though the human body is made up of many different parts, each one is part of the whole…
“But now are they many members, yet but one body” (v. 20).
…and none is more important than another:
“And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you” (v. 21).
And the parts that seem to be the least important are, in fact, very important, and should be the more praised. Therefore, the least beautiful members of the body are actually the most beautiful:
“Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
“And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness:” (v.v. 22-23).
For our most beautiful parts are not the most necessary, because God has made the body in such a way that the most beautiful parts are nothing without the least beautiful. Therefore the least beautiful are the most honorable:
“For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:” (v. 24).
He has done this so that all parts of the body will receive the same honor; and there will be no division in the body:
“That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another” (v. 25).
And all parts of the body are alike; so that if one part suffers, the whole body suffers; likewise, if one part is praised, then the whole body should be praised:
“And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it” (v. 26).
Paul now brings the analogy home to the body of Christ:
“Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (v. 27).
And every member of the body has a different function and purpose:
“And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues” (v. 28).
He next asks a rhetorical question emphasizing that not everyone in the Body of Christ can be a teacher or a prophet:
“Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
“Have all the gift of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?” (v.v. 29-30).
The idea is that no one in the Body of Christ is unimportant. You may not be a pastor or a teacher, or have the gift of tongues or of healing; but that doesn’t mean that you are not important. Everyone has an integral role in the Body of Christ. One ministry, for example, that is often overlooked is prayer. Prayer is the backbone of the Church, and all ministries need prayer.
If you are living a sanctified, separated, and righteous life; that is, a life totally committed to obeying Jesus Christ, and living your life according to His will, then God hears your prayers. You are doing better than maybe sixty percent of those who name the name of Christ, whose prayers go no farther than the ceiling.
Pray, therefore. You don’t need to be beautiful, handsome, eloquent, charismatic, or even smart to be an effective prayer warrior. You only need to be obedient and willing. The Bible says that prayer can move mountains. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” says the Apostle James, the brother of Jesus (James 5:16).
Pray, therefore. You can pray for your pastor, for Christian ministries, for missionaries, the sick and infirm, your elected officials, and most importantly, the unsaved. You may even direct your prayers to a specific individual or group.
The important thing to remember is that you don’t have to look far for a way to be of service to the Body of Christ, and you need not feel as though you don’t have a purpose or ministry. When God saved you, He already had a ministry set aside just for you, and it is a ministry that only YOU can perform.
Never forget that in the Body of Christ, every one is a Who no matter how small.
Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.
“And He put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the Spirit lift me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem…
“[W]here was the seat of theimage of jealousy,which provoketh to jealousy…and behold, northward at the gate of the altar thisimage of jealousyin the entry.”
Ezekiel 8:3,5
Grace and peace unto the brethren.
This morning I happened upon a certain “Christian” news site, where I came across the following headline:
“The Early Church Father’s Belief About the Antichrist.”
I was hesitant to investigate the article further, because when I hear the term, “church fathers,” I immediately know that it is not referring to the writers of the Four Gospels, but to the men to whom the Roman Catholic church looks for wisdom and light. I can therefore always count on this interpretation being unscriptural. But, I clicked on the article anyway, thinking that perhaps—just perhaps—I could be wrong. I wasn’t.
The author goes on to make six statements about the Antichrist, which he attributes to the “church fathers.” Though each of these statements is scripturally false, and therefore, doesn’t merit our attention, the second statement is important, as it reflects the opinion of many in the Christian Church:
“The Antichrist will be a Jew, and will achieve his stated objectives by being accepted as the Christ, the messianic King of the Jews, taking his seat in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, pretending to be God Himself, and thereby becoming the ‘abomination of desolation’ spoken of by the prophet Daniel and mentioned also by Jesus (Daniel 12:11, Matthew 24:15).”
The author claims that the Antichrist will become the Abomination of Desolation after taking the throne of David in a rebuilt Jewish temple. But this is a false interpretation of Scripture. Because many Protestant theologians also hold to this false belief, it behooves us to examine what the Bible has to say on the matter.
As we shall discover, the Abomination of Desolation and the Antichrist are two separate entities, but they are irrevocably linked. Therefore, when one discovers who the Abomination of Desolation is, one shall also discover who the Antichrist is.Before we continue, let us go to the Lord for spiritual guidance. Remember, the Bible is a spiritual book, so we need the Holy Spirit to guide us as we read. We should always pray before we study the Bible:
“Heavenly Father, may your blessed Holy Spirit teach and guide us in your Truth, as we read from your Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Now let us go to Scripture. The author cites Daniel 12:11 and Matthew 24:15 as proof of his contention that the Antichrist is the Abomination of Desolation. Let us examine these passages:
“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.”
Daniel 12:11
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand).“
Matthew 24:15
From these two passages it may be possible to believe that the Abomination of Desolation is a person. However, it must also be noted that the Lord Jesus adds, “whoso readeth, let him understand.” Whenever the Lord says this, He means that we need to be reading with our spiritual eyes wide open. It means that there is something more here than meets the eye.
First, it would serve our purposes to go to a secular source for a definition of the word abomination. Webster’s defines abomination as:
“1. Something abominable 2. Extreme disgust and hatred : LOATHING.”
According to this definition, an abomination is a thing rather than a person. Abomination in Strong’s Concordance is #8441 and is said to mean,
“Something disgusting [morally], i.e. (as noun) an abhorrence: especially idolatry or [concrete] an idol:– abominable (custom, thing), abomination.
Strong’s also defines an abomination as a thing: either a detestable act such as idolatry, or an idol. This is extremely important. There are a couple of instances in the Bible where God refers to a person as an abomination, but it is important to understand that it is in connection with the sin of idolatry. Generally, the word abomination in the Bible refers to an idol or the act of idolatry. Armed with this understanding, let us examine what the Bible says about the Abomination of Desolation.
As stated, the author cites Daniel 12:11 as the basis for his understanding that the Abomination of Desolation is the Antichrist, but there are passages in Daniel that show that the Abomination is a thing and not a person. Ironically, Daniel 12:11, which the author quotes, is one of them. Let us examine it again:
“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days” (Daniel 12:11).
People aren’t generally “set up,” but things are. Now, some contend that “set up” in this sense means to establish in power. But, as we shall see, Daniel 9:26 refutes this:
“And he (the Antichrist) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.
“[A]nd for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Daniel 9:26-27).
As one can plainly see from this passage, it is the Antichrist who shall take away the Jewish sacrifice. This presents a problem for those who contend that “set up” in Daniel 12:11 means “to establish in power,” because, in order for the Antichrist to cause the Jewish sacrifices to cease, he would have to already be in power. The Antichrist, then, cannot be what is being “set up.” It must be something else. This makes perfect sense if the Abomination of Desolation is a thing, as we contend, rather than a person.
Now, recall that the definition of abominations includes the act of idolatry. Daniel 9:27 says that because of the “overspreading of abominations [the Antichrist] shall make it desolate.” Strong’s says that desolate means, “to be destitute” or “to lie in waste.” In that it is the act of idolatry that is being discussed, it is logical to conclude that desolate in this sense means “desecrated” or “defiled.” In that the “overspreading of abominations” immediately follows the cessation of the Jewish sacrifices, it is also logical to conclude that the place being made desolate is the Jewish temple, which is where the Jews historically performed animal sacrifices to God.
It would seem, therefore, that the Antichrist will order Jewish sacrifices to cease and commit idolatry in the temple and desecrate it. In order to commit idolatry, one requires an idol. The thing being “set up” in Daniel 12:11, therefore, could be an idol. Daniel 11:31 would seem to support this contention:
“And arms shall stand on [the Antichrist’s] part, and they shallpollute the sanctuary of strength,and shall take away the daily sacrifice,and theyshall PLACE the abominationthat maketh desolate.” [Boldface and CAPS mine.]
Daniel 11:31
Again, we contend that abominations in Daniel 9:27 means idolatry and that desolations in the same passage means desecration or defilement. Note that this passage says that the sanctuary of strength shall be “polluted.” A sanctuary is the central place of worship in a church or temple. It is also where the altar is located. Remember this, for it is important. The pollution of the sanctuary of strength coincides with the taking away of the Jewish sacrifices, which historically took place at the Jewish temple. Since the sanctuary is where the altar is located, it is logical to conclude that the “sanctuary of strength” is the Holy of Holies, in the Jewish temple.
This would agree with the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:15:
“When ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place,(whoso readeth, let him understand).”
Matthew 24:15
The Holy Place was the inner sanctum of the Jewish temple, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. Now, note that, in addition to being “set up” and “placed,” as we have seen in Daniel 12:11 and 9:27, we now see that the abomination will also “stand” in the holy place. This is important for several reasons.
First, it further proves that the abomination of desolation is a thing and not a person. We have already seen that the Abomination will be “set up,” and we have proven that this term could not apply to the Antichrist. We have also seen that the Abomination will be “placed,” further suggesting that it is a thing and not a person. Now we see that the Abomination will “stand” in the “holy place,” which is where the ark of the covenant stood. This further suggests that the Abomination is a thing and not a person, because the only thing that is supposed to stand in the holy place is an object of worship.
This brings me to my second point. Recall that the author of the article states that the Antichrist would become the Abomination of Desolation after “taking his seat in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.” But we have also seen that the Abomination would be “set up,” “placed,” and shall “stand” in “the sanctuary of strength,” or “the holy place.” This is extremely important, because, again, the holy place is where the ark of the covenant stood, and the throne of David is not located there. In other words, the Antichrist will not rule from the Holy Place, as it were, because the only thing that stands in the holy place is an object of worship. The abomination of desolation, therefore, is not a person, but an object of worship; and anything that is worshipped other than God is an idol. Mark 13:14 would seem to confirm this:
“But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophetstanding where IT ought not,(let him that readeth understand,)…”
Mark 13:14
One can plainly see that Jesus uses the third-person neuter pronoun it, which demonstrates conclusively that the abomination is a thing and not a person. For if the abomination were a person, Jesus would likely have said:
“But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation…standing were HE ought not…”
Moreover, Jesus yet again immediately follows up His reference to the Abomination of Desolation with “Let him that readeth understand.” He is telling us to carefully consider the Abomination. There is more here than meets the eye.
Therefore, to summarize what we have discussed thus far, if the word abomination refers to an idol, and Daniel 11:38, Daniel 12:11, Matthew 24:15, and Mark 13:14 refer to a thing, as the passages suggest, then the Abomination of Desolation is an idol. If the desolations spoken of in Daniel 9:27 is idolatry, and the Antichrist will commit these desolations, then the Antichrist will be an idol worshipper.
We believe that the Antichrist is, in fact, an idol worshipper, and we will prove this by looking at some of his characteristics. To begin, let us start with Daniel 9:26:
“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and thepeople of the prince that shall comeshall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”
Daniel 9:26
This verse deals with the prophecy of the 70 weeks given by the angel Gabriel to Daniel. Now, these are not 70 weeks of days, but 70 prophetic weeks of years, the last week, or seven years, of which is the Great Tribulation. Now, the “people of the prince that shall come” is important, because the “prince” is the Antichrist and the “people” refers to the nation that the Antichrist will come from. The passage says that the people of the Antichrist shall destroy Jerusalem and the temple, and we know that this was, in fact, accomplished in 70 AD, when the Roman general, Titus, destroyed Jerusalem and razed the temple to the ground. Titus was a Roman, so the “people” referred to here are the Romans.
The Antichrist, then, who is “the prince that shall come,” will be a Roman: that is, a citizen of Rome.
Consider also that Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 both state that the Abomination of Desolation will “stand” in a particular place. But the author of the aforementioned article contends that the Abomination will “take his seat” in the throne of David. If this were true, why doesn’t the Bible state that the Abomination of Desolation will sit? Why, instead, does the Bible say that the Abomination of Desolation will stand? This, together with the use of the pronoun it in Mark 13:14, may be the greatest evidence that the Abomination of Desolation is not a person, but a thing: specifically an idol.
We continue:
“Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god:for he shall magnify himself above all.
“But in his estateshall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
“Thus shall he do in the most strong holdswith a strange god,whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory” (Daniel 11:37-39).
Daniel 11:37-39
Let us examine this passage closer. The Antichrist shall not regard:
“The God of his fathers”
The word meaning God here is Elohim, which is the Holy Trinity, or God Almighty. “God of his fathers” is a frequently used reference to Yahweh, or Jehovah, the God of the Jews (2 Kings 21:22, Acts 22:14). If Jehovah is the God of the Jews and also the God of the Antichrist’s fathers, then the Antichrist has to be Jewish. There can be no other explanation for this wording.
“Nor the desire of women”
The Antichrist will be celibate or homosexual.
“Nor…any god”
The Antichrist will not worship Jesus.
“Butin his estateshall he honour theGod of forces…a god whom his fathers knew not.”
This is very significant. The his in “in his estate” is God Almighty. Estate means “place.” “In his estate” therefore, means “in God’s place” or “instead of God.”
The use of this term is interesting, because it implies that one is doing something other than what one is supposed to be doing. For example, if I am supposed to go to the store, yet I go to the beach, one can say that I went to the beach instead of to the store. If it were not my responsibility to go to the store, however, and I went to the beach, one would simply say that I went to the beach.The fact that this man worships the God of forces instead of God Almighty may imply that it is his dutyto worship God. In other words, he may be a priest. This will be important later.
Next, the passage says that the Antichrist will worship the “God of forces.” In this context, the Hebrew word for god is eloahh (as opposed to Elohim), and is found under Strong’s #433, which gives the following definition:
“eloahh, (el-o-ah), from 410; a deity or the Deity—God, god. See 430.”
When we go to #410 we see that the word is el, which gives the following definition:
“strength; as adj. mighty; espec. the Almighty (but used also of anydeity)—God (god), idol,mighty one,power, strong.”
So the word “god” in “God of forces” can mean God Almighty or a deity or idol. Since verse 37 says that the Antichrist will not regard “the God of his fathers” or Jehovah, this means that the “God of forces” is an idol; for the Bible states that there are no other gods. Note that the definition of el includes “mighty one” for it is important.
It yet remains for us to discover what the word “forces” means in “God of forces.” Strong’s says that “forces” in this instance is the word mauz which is based on a word which means “a fortified place” and is defined as “a fort, a fortress, strength, and a strong hold.” So, the “God of forces” is an idol of the “God of fortresses, or strength.”
This is very interesting, because Christian pastor and historian, Alexander Hislop, says that the God of forces is Ala Mahozim (If you have your thinking cap on, you can make another important connection), which literally means “god of fortifications.”
“Who this god of fortifications could be, commentators have found themselves at a loss to determine. In the records of antiquity the existence of any god of fortifications has been commonly overlooked; and it must be confessed that no such god stands forth there with any prominence to the ordinary reader.
“But of the existence of a goddess of fortifications, every one knows that there is the amplest evidence. That goddess is Cybele, who is universally represented with a mural or turreted crown, or with a fortification (fortress), on her head.” [parentheses mine.]
“The reason why the statue of Cybele wore a crown of towers was, ‘because she first erected them in cities.’ The first city in the world after the flood (from whence the commencement of the world itself was often dated) that had towers and encompassing walls, was Babylon…
“[I]t was Semiramis, the first queen of that city, who was believed to have ‘surrounded Babylon with a wall of brick.’
“Semiramis, then, the first deified queen of that city and tower whose top was intended to reach to heaven, must have been the prototype of the goddess who ‘first made towers in cities.’ When we look at the Ephesian Diana, we find evidence to the very same effect.”
Below is a picture of Diana of Ephesus.
Now listen to what Hislop says about the goddess Diana, because it is very important:
“In general, Diana was depicted as a virgin, and the patroness of virginity; but the Ephesian Diana was quite different. She was represented with all the attributes of the Mother of the gods, and as the Mother of the gods, she wore a turreted crown, such as no one can contemplate without being forcibly reminded of the tower of Babel.
Now this tower-bearing Diana is by an ancient scholiast [sic] expressly identified with Semiramis. When, therefore, we remember that Rhea or Cybele, the tower-bearing goddess, was, in point of fact, a Babylonian goddess, and that Semiramis, when deified, was worshipped under the name of Rhea, there will remain, I think no doubt as to the personal identity of the “goddess of fortifications.”
“Rhea or Cybele, the ‘tower-crown’ goddess, was just the female counterpart of the “deity presiding over bulwarks or fortresses;’ and that this deity was Ninus, or Nimrod…If, therefore, Rhea (Cybele), the wife of Kronos (Nimrod) was the goddess of fortifications, Kronos or Saturn, the husband of Rhea, that is, Ninus or Nimrod, the first king of Babylon, must have been Ala mahozin, ‘the god of fortifications.’”
Hislop, 31-32
So, according to Hislop, the goddess of forces is Cybele, who was also called Diana and Rhea (as well as many other names), which identifies her as Semiramis, the first queen of Babylon. And Hislop says that her husband, Nimrod, the first king of Babylon, was the “god of fortifications” or forces. Now, pay close attention to what the Bible says about Nimrod:
“And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be amighty onein the earth. He was a mighty hunterbeforethe Lord.”
Genesis 10:8-9
Nimrod was a mighty one before the Lord. “Mighty one,” as you recall, is one definition of el, which means a god or idol. This is biblical confirmation of historical sources which say that Nimrod was worshiped in the ancient world as a God.
As we have seen, the Bible clearly records that the Antichrist will worship the God of forces. In that the goddess of fortifications was worshipped under many names, including Diana, Diana of Ephesus, Cybele, and Rhea, it is possible that the Antichrist will also worship her under another name. Therefore, the best way to identify this goddess in the present day would be to look at her attributes. Hislop says that Diana was “depicted as a virgin, and the Ephesian Diana was “represented with all the attributes of the Mother of the gods.” Remember this.
This is what we know about the Antichrist thus far:
– He will be a Roman (Daniel 9:26)
– He will be a Jew (Daniel 11:37)
– He will be celibate (Daniel 11:37)
– He will worship an idol (Daniel 11:38)
– The idol is a goddess(Daniel 11:38/Hislop)
– The goddess is depicted as a virgin and called “the Mother of the gods” (Hislop, 31-32)
The Antichrist and the goddess are inseparable. So, in order to discover what name the goddess will be called (and is called), it will be necessary to further identify the Antichrist. To do this, let us look at Daniel 8:23:
“And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.”
Daniel 8:23
The angel Gabriel is talking to Daniel about the future. The “latter time” is the time in which we now live, and the “king” spoken of is the Antichrist. Let us examine his characteristics.
The Antichrist:
1. Is a king, which means a ruler. This is a very significant detail, because when the Antichrist comes to power, there will already be four kings and their kingdoms in place, yet he is not numbered among them (Daniel 8:22). Because he is already a ruler, yet not numbered among the rulers, it must mean that he is not ostensibly a ruler, but rules from behind the scenes. In other words, perhaps his kingdom is spiritual, and not (ostensibly) temporal.
2. Has a fierce countenance. Webster’s defines fierce as “wild or menacing” and countenance as “face or visage.” The Antichrist then, will have a fierce or menacing face.
3. Understands “dark sentences.” This term is used in several places in the Bible, always in a religious sense (SEE Numbers 12:8, Ps. 49:4, Ps. 78:2, and Prov. 1:6), and means “proverbs”, “riddles,” or “hard saying.” Webster’s defines a riddle as “something or someone difficult to understand.” Numbers 12:8 gives an excellent example. God speaks:
“With him (Moses) will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in “dark speeches.” [Parentheses mine.]
Numbers 12:8
The Antichrist, therefore, will be a religious ruler who will speak in words difficult to understand. Now, Revelation, Chapter 13 tells us something more about the Antichrist and his goddess idol that will be important to our understanding.
“And [the false prophet] deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast (Antichrist); saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image tothe beast…
“And he had power to give life unto the imageofthe beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (v.v. 14-15).
It should be noted that an image is an idol. Now, Bible scholars say the image spoken of in verse 14 is a replica of the Antichrist and I believe this to be true. But they also believe this image to be the same as the image spoken of in verse 15, which I believe is false. I will explain why.
At this point in the narrative, the Antichrist is already in power. Earlier, Revelation 13:5 tells us that “power was given unto [the Antichrist] to continue forty and two months,” which is to say, three and a half years. This is the midpoint of the seven year Tribulation, and, as we have seen, it is at this time that the Antichrist commands the Jewish sacrifices to end, and places an idol in the Holy Place of the Jewish temple. So by Revelation 13-14, the Antichrist’s idol, the goddess, already stands in the Holy Place.
Moreover, notice in Revelation 13:14 that the image is “TO the beast” and not “OF the beast.” The term “to the beast” here appears to mean “in honor of the beast” or “in the beast’s honor.” We use this term the same way when we speak of making “a toast to someone.” It means paying tribute or honor to a person.
Also notice in verse 14 that the False Prophet says the world “should” make an image to the beast. It is not a commandment. Strong’s Concordance says that the word “should,” in this instance, implies “intent or expectation.” In other words, he is suggesting that they make an image of the Antichrist in his honor. The reason he suggests this is given in the second half of verse 14:
“And…[the False Prophet said] that they should make an image to the beast,which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”
This wound is mentioned also in Revelation 13:12 which says,
“[A]nd [the False Prophet] causeth all the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast (Antichrist), whose deadly wound was healed.”
That his wound was “deadly” tells us why they wanted to make a statue in the Antichrist’s honor. Deadly means fatal as opposed to life-threatening. If the wound were fatal, then the Antichrist should have died from it (or, in this case, stayed dead). But since he didn’t, they are hailing him as a god. This will become clear in a moment.
Bear in mind that verse 14 says that the wound is by a sword, and verse 12 says that it was deadly, but healed. Now let us go to Revelation Chapter 13:3, which tells us where the wound was. Now, in this part of the vision, John sees the beast as an actual creature coming out of the sea, “having seven heads and seven horns” (v. 1). Notice what he says about one of the heads:
“And I sawone of his headsas it werewounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed;and all the world wondered after the beast.”
Revelation 13:3
Both Revelation 13:3 and 13:12 describe a beast with a wound to the head. Now we know that the Antichrist will be called The Beast and, like the beast from the sea, he has a wound to his head. It is, therefore, safe to assume that both beasts are one and the same. So this is what we know about the Antichrist’s wound:
1. It is by a sword,
2. It is to the head,
3. It is fatal,
4. YET, it healed
Now, the preceding passages tell us that, in spite of his “deadly wound,” the Antichrist lived. A wound cannot be “to death,” or fatal, if the person lives. This is a huge clue. I believe that the Antichrist will be either shot in the head or publicly beheaded in the sight of the world and later resurrected by the power of Satan, who will possess him. He will then proclaim himself the Christ. At that time the whole world will worship him (Revelation 13:4,8). He will then use this miraculous healing to lay claim to the throne of David. This is not a stretch, for Judas Iscariot was also possessed by Satan, and he went on to betray Jesus Christ (John 13:27). The Antichrist will be possessed by Satan and make claim to be the Christ.
Think about it. The prophets foretold that the Jewish Messiah would be killed and resurrected on the third day, and this was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, but the Jews rejected Him. Anyone proclaiming to be the Messiah, therefore, would have to be killed and resurrected. The Antichrist will do this, by the power of Satan. This is important because if I am right about the identity of the Antichrist, then even though Jesus said that we should flee when we see the Antichrist’s idol, the Abomination of Desolation, standing in the Holy Place, we can know even sooner when to run. If we see the man whom I believe is the Antichrist beheaded on live television, we can know for certain that he is the man.
This is the ultimate reason I believe the media have been showing us graphic images of death from the war zones of the world. They are priming us for the time when they will show us on live television the beheading and miraculous resurrection of the Antichrist. The Bible supports this theory. Recall that in Chapter 11 of the Book of the Revelation, we are told that the Two Witnesses shall testify for three and a half years and then be killed by the Antichrist. Listen to what the Bible says about the world’s reaction:
“And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days…”
“People, kindreds, and tongues and nations” means the entire world. I believe this means that the killing of the witnesses will be seen globally, and the only way for this to happen would be for it to be televised live. The Bible goes on to say that the witnesses will be resurrected and go up to Heaven in the sight of their enemies (Rev. 11:12).
Because the witnesses’ deaths and resurrection follow the killing and resurrection of the Antichrist, and the Bible tells us that the whole world will see the witnesses bodies, I believe that we shall also see the Antichrist killed and resurrected. Again, given that CNN broadcasts graphic footage from the world’s war zones and trouble spots twenty-four hours a day, this is not at all a stretch. We are being prepared for something big.
Now recall that the Bible says that after the Antichrist’s deadly wound is healed, “all the world will worship the beast.” I believe that what this passage is trying to tell us is that when the Antichrist is resurrected, all the world’s religions will follow him. This will be the official beginning of the One World Church. This man will claim to be the Christ and demand that all religions unite under him. If a man who cannot be killed tells everyone that they must worship him, I don’t think there is one religious leader who will refuse.
Also understand that the world’s great religions are all waiting for a great leader to appear. The Jews are waiting for their “Messiah,” the Christians are waiting for Jesus to return, the Muslims are waiting for the Fifth Imam, and the New Agers, Hindis, and Buddhists are waiting for Maitreya (some say the Buddhists are waiting for Buddha). Antichrist will claim to be all of these.
Now let us get get back to the Antichrist’s image. Revelation 13:15 says something very important about this image that merits our attention:
“And [the False Prophet] had power to give life unto theimage of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”
Revelation 13:15
Notice in referring to the image of the beast, Jesus does not use the personal pronouns, he, she, or it, but instead repeats the phrase “the image of the beast” three times. Now, it is very unusual to repeat a noun phrase in this way without once using a pronoun. Something very important to our understanding is going on here. The False Prophet has given life unto this idol, so that it is now a living thing. It would, therefore, be correct to refer to it as he or she as well as it. But Jesus continues to repeat “the image of the beast.” Why? Because He is calling our attention to it. He wants us to think about it: to meditate upon it. Let us do this, therefore.
Now, it has been proposed by many, including Jack Chick, that “the image of the beast” will be a statue of the Antichrist. But, as we have established, it is merely suggested that an image to the Antichrist be made. There is no verse that tells us that it was, in fact, completed or even begun. Recall also that by this time, the Abomination of Desolation, which is an idol, already stands in the Holy Place. If the image of the beast is an idol of the Antichrist, then there would be three idols, because the Antichrist will be worshipped, making him an idol, and the Abomination of Desolation will also be worshipped. Idols always come in pairs: a male and a female, not trios.
I believe, therefore, that “the image of the beast” means “the image that belongs to the beast.”
If, for example, I say “Sally’s book,” I am actually saying “the book of Sally” or “the book that belongs to Sally.” So “the image of the beast” could be the same as “the beast’s image” or “the image that belongs to the beast.” If we substitute idol for “image” and Antichrist for “beast,” then the phrase becomes “the idol that belongs to the Antichrist” or “the Antichrist’s idol.” This is clearer and agrees with my contention that, by this time, the Antichrist’s idol already stands in the Jewish temple.
There is something else to consider. We are told that the Antichrist will desire the world to worship Him (Daniel 11:38), and the world will (Revelation 13:4). Now, why would the Antichrist want the world to worship an idol of him when he will himself receive worship? Now, you may say that this is not far-fetched, because Nebuchadnezzar also built an idol that he commanded all to worship. But the Bible never tells us that Nebuchadnezzar’s idol was of himself, though this is believed by some contemporary Protestant theologians and avoided entirely by the rest. Though the Bible doesn’t give any specifics about the image other than it was made of gold and was of a certain width and height, Daniel Chapter 4 does give us a very important clue as to the image’s identity that is crucial to this discussion.
But first, recall that Hislop writes that the Goddess of forces was worshipped since antiquity as Diana and Diana of Ephesus. Recall also that Diana was called Rhea and Cybele, as well as other names, and that all of these were merely aliases for Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod, the first king of Babylon. Now listen closely. If all idolatry originated from Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar was Babylon’s greatest king, then it is not only likely, but highly probable, that Nebuchadnezzar also worshipped the goddess of forces and that the idol that he built and commanded all to worship could have been Diana.
For proof of this, let us go to Daniel Chapter 4. Now, recall that when Daniel was brought to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, he was renamed Belteshazzar. This is what Nebuchadnezzar says about the name Belteshazzar:
“Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god.”
Daniel 4:8
Easton’s Bible Dictionary says this about the name Belteshazzar:
“Belteshazzar – Beltis protect the king!, the Chaldee name given to Daniel by Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 1:7).”
So, Nebuchadnezzar says that the name Belteshazzar was derived from the name of his god, and we see that this god was named Beltis. Alexander Hislop has this to say about Beltis:
“The very name by which the Italians commonly designate theVirgin, is just the translation of one of the titles of the Babylonian goddess. As Baal or Belus was the name of the great male divinity of Babylon, so the female divinity was called Beltis (Hislop, 20).
Bel or Baal, which means “Lord,” was just another name for Nimrod. Beltis, “The Lady”, therefore, being the female counterpart of Bel, was none other than Semiramis, who, as we know, also went by the name of Diana—The Virgin.
You must understand the importance of this. The Bible tells us that when Nebuchadnezzar built his idol and stood it in the plain of Dura in Babylon, he ordered that all should worship this idol or perish (Daniel 3:6). According to what we have just learned, it is highly likely that the idol that Nebuchadnezzar set up was Beltis also called Diana, The Virgin.
Now the Book of the Revelation tells us that the False Prophet will do the exact same thing that Nebuchadnezzar did:
“And he (the False Prophet) had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak,and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed”(Revelation 13:15).
You may ask why it is so important to draw the parallel between Nebuchadnezzar, Antichrist, and goddess worship. It is important because I could not understand why Daniel 11:38 says that the Antichrist will “magnify himself above all,” yet he will himself worship an idol and demand that the world worship this idol also. If he will sit “in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God,” then why would he not demand all the world to worship him exclusively?
It is because the Antichrist, in point of fact, will be the new Nimrod, who was worshipped as a god (Genesis 10:8). In keeping with the principle of duality, sacred to the Mystery Schools, if there is a god, there must also be a goddess. The Antichrist’s idol, then, which, as we have seen, goes by the names of Cybele, Rhea, Diana, and Beltis, which are only aliases for Semiramis, the first deified queen, will be that goddess, the counterpart of the Antichrist—the god-man.
This is why the Antichrist is referred to as “the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (Revelation 17:8). Nimrod was the world’s first king. He was not a godly man, which is evident by his name. The name Nimrod is based on the Chaldee root mrd, which means “to rebel.” The Jewish Encyclopedia says that Nimrod was “he who made all the people rebellious against God.” Nimrod and the Babylonians practiced child sacrifice, cannibalism, and witchcraft, and tradition holds that for these crimes and others, he was killed by his great-uncle, Shem, the son of Noah and the father of the Semetic peoples, which includes the Jewish nation.
The Antichrist will be the reincarnation of Nimrod, and for this reason, the Bible says that the Antichrist shall not “regard…the desire of women.” His consort will be the goddess, Diana or Beltis, if you will, whom Hislop says was called, “the Queen of Heaven” (p. 103). The world will again worship Nimrod and Semiramis—the god and the goddess—only this time it will be done out in the open, whereas up to now, it has been done (almost) in secret. This claim is supported by the fact that the Antichrist and “the image of the beast” are the only two individuals, if you will, whom the world will be mandated to worship.
Now for those who believe that the image of the beast will be a statue of the Antichrist, consider this: The Antichrist and his image will be located in the same place; to wit: the Jewish temple. The Antichrist will be seated on the throne of David, and his image will be in the Jewish holy of holies. Why, would the Antichrist desire worship of himself and also mandate that the people worship a statue of him located in the same building? If the Antichrist’s image were to be located in another physical location like Nebuchadnezzar’s image, then there would be a logical basis for argument. But since they will be in the same physical location, it would be pointless for the Antichrist to mandate that the people worship both him and a statue of him. The only logical conclusion, then, is that the image will not be of the Antichrist, but of someone else.
This will all make sense to you, when we recall what we know about the Antichrist and his idol:
– He will be a Roman citizen (Daniel 9:26)
– He will be a Jew (Daniel 11:37)
– He will be celibate (Daniel 11:37)
– He will be a ruler (Daniel 8:23)
– He will have a fierce, menacing face (Daniel 8:23)
– He will be a religious leader who speaks words difficult to understand (Daniel 8:23)
– He will worship an idol (Daniel 11:38)
– The idol is a goddess (Daniel 11:38/Hislop 31-32)
– The goddess is depicted as a virgin and called “The Mother of the gods” (Hislop, 31-32).
– She is also known as Beltis, “The Queen of Heaven” (Hislop, 103).
Once we determine the identity of the Antichrist, the identity of his idol, the abomination of desolation, becomes crystal clear: for you see, the Antichrist is none other than the Roman Catholic pope, Benedict XVI.
The pope perfectly fulfills all of the characteristic of Antichrist. The Vatican sits in Rome, which would technically make the pope a Roman. He is also celibate. He is also a king, for Vatican City is recognized as a sovereign state, and one of the pope’s titles is that of “Sovereign of the State of Vatican City.” This makes him a king in his own right. He is also the head of the Holy Roman Empire, a theocracy, making him both a secular and religious ruler. And as one can plainly see in the above photo, he indeed has a fierce countenance, and it shows in virtually every photo I have ever seen of him.
The Roman Catholic mass is said in Latin, a dead language, which is intelligible to the mass of society. This would qualify as “dark speech.” And all Roman Catholics, including the pope, worship an idol named Mary, who is called The Virgin, The Mother of God, and The Queen of Heaven.
The popes have always worshipped Mary.
As for the pope’s Jewish ancestry, although he is German, I believe that at some point, his Jewish ancestry will surface. Scripture says “all that dwell upon the earth” shall worship the beast (Revelation 13:8). This includes the Jews, who worship Jehovah God exclusively. Having denied Jesus, the Jews are still waiting for their Messiah, whom the Bible says will be a descendant of King David. If the Jews will also worship the Antichrist, then this could only mean that they will believe he is Jewish and a descendant of King David.
The Bible also says that the Antichrist will sit on the throne of David. This would never be allowed if the Benedict XVI were not Jewish and his ancestry could not be proved. If what this Catholic-Jewish lady says about Pope-Benedict’s Jewish-ancestry is true, then he is indeed Jewish, and therefore, fulfills all the characteristics of the Antichrist.
UPDATE May 29, 2015: The above page discussing Pope Benedict XVI’s Jewish ancestry, was removed from the site. Clickhere for my copy of it.
Many believe that it is merely the office of the pope that is the Antichrist, and not one particular person. Though the office of pope is antichrist, one cannot deny the fierce, overwhelmingly evil countenance of Joseph Ratzinger. I believe Jesus included this characteristic to make it crystal clear that He is talking about one specific person, and since He went to the trouble of calling this detail to our attention, we should not overlook it.
With regard to the idol known as the Abomination of Desolation, as anyone of even the minutest discernment can plainly see, the Virgin Mary is, in fact, an idol, and she has the same attributes as Diana of Ephesus, who was depicted as a virgin and called “the Mother of the gods.” Could it be merely a coincidence that the Roman Catholic Mary is also called “The Virgin” and “The Mother of God?” The Virgin Mary is also called “The Queen of Heaven” as was the goddess Diana.
The Virgin Mary is the Abomination of Desolation, and thanks to the Ecumenical Movement, she is gaining ever increasing acceptance in the Christian church. Proof of this is the fact that “prophetess” Juanita Bynum is known to have prayed to“The Many Breasted One.” This is one of the titles of Diana of Ephesus.
We strongly suggest that the reader view our post comparing the Roman Catholic Virgin Mary with the goddess Diana entitled, A Goddess By Any Other Name.You will also want to readThe Star of Your God, The Star of the Sea, andTwo Marys. Collectively, these articles provide convincing evidence that the Virgin Mary is actually the goddess Semiramis, who was worshipped by the Phoenicians and apostate Jews, including King Solomon, as Ashtoreth. We are confident you will be blessed by this information.
Saints, Benedict XVI is the Antichrist, and the Roman Catholic church is the true enemy of the Christian Church. This will become all too clear in the very near future.
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
The podcast of this teaching is available for free at the iTunes Store. You can download it to your iPod or other mp3 player and listen to it at your leisure. For your convenience, you can also listen to it below.
Now that you know who the Antichrist is, we strongly suggest you read our posts identifying The False Prophet and theMark of the Beast. A global financial crisis is on the horizon, and I believe that the mark will be offered as part of the solution. But beware: all who take the mark will be damned for eternity.
Be encouraged, and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.
The Still Man
Sources:
1. Hislop, Alexander, The Two Babylons. Chick Publications. ISBN: 0-937958-57-3.
Grace and peace, Saints, and greetings to the lost, who sometimes appear more righteous than we.
I was on YouTube last night watching some Gospel video on a channel I found today. This brother created his channel in memory of his sister who passed away earlier this year, and he really has some nice videos.
One of them, however, really surprised me. It is called “Lord, We Love You,” and it’s by the Barnes Family Reunion II. Now, the music was nice and they are pretty good singers. But I marveled at the fact that a song that I assume praises the Lord Jesus does not mention His name one time.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfru658YHnM
As you can see, quite a few names are rattled off in the course of the video, but not once is the name of Jesus mentioned. One person even said, “We praise your name,” but he failed to name that name.
How can this be? Is not Jesus the name that is above every name? Do we not believe that there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved? Then how is it that so many of us have a real problem saying it? We don’t seem to have a problem saying it when we get mad at somebody.
His name is not Lord; He is Lord. And I’m sure He takes just as much issue with someone calling Him “Lord” always without saying His name as I would if someone were to constantly call me “man” and never mention mine.
Jesus said that not everyone who says to Him, “Lord, Lord” would enter into the kingdom of heaven. We need to make it absolutely clear who we mean when we say, Lord.
God has a name. Let’s start using it for more than a swear word.
By the way, this is what happens when the name of Jesus means no more to a person than Billy Bob, Jim, or Pete.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYtEuMvd2gQ
As you can see, no matter how many times you say it, if the name of Jesus doesn’t mean anything to you, you will never convince anyone otherwise.
The Last Supper is arguably the most important of all Christian ordinances, as it is the most tangible symbol of the redemptive death of Jesus Christ. For this reason, many have attempted to restore it to its rightful prominence in the Christian church. Unfortunately, most of these attempts have met with failure, mostly because they have been based on incorrect interpretations of 1 Corinthians 11. This has led to some unscriptural practices.
“[T]his do ye as oftenas ye drink it, in remembrance of me. Foras often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup,ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.”
Pastor W.A. Criswell in his book, Criswell’s Guidebook for Pastors, writes that special emphasis should be placed on the accouterments of the ceremony as well as the position of the pastor, deacons, and the congregation. This he bases on his misunderstanding of the word “worthily” in 1 Corinthians 11:29 to mean “in a worthy, spiritually effective manner” (p. 206).
It is important that we gain a perfect understanding of the Lord’s Supper, since Paul says that an incorrect observance of this ordinance is a heresy; one for which many in the church at Corinth were sick and dying (1 Corinthians 11:30).
To get a proper idea of how Jesus intended for us to eat the Lord’s Supper, we should not depend solely on the interpretation of a particular word in merely one passage of Scripture. We should rather consider all the scriptures dealing with the ordinance, as each has important information necessary for a complete understanding.
God’s mind on the Lord’s Supper is presented to us through the words and actions of Jesus, the Apostle Paul, and the disciples. Jesus shows us how and why the Lord’s Supper should be eaten, Paul explains under what circumstances it should not be eaten, and the disciples show us who may eat it as well as when, how, and how often it should be eaten. Combined, these examples present a complete picture of this ordinance, and prove that the contemporary observance of the Lord’s Supper has changed considerably from the first-century model.
As many churches today have a false or limited understanding of Paul’s mind on the Lord’s Supper, let us begin this discussion with 1 Corinthians 11, as this is the scripture that pastors most often quote with regard to the ordinance. Paul speaks:
“For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you…For there must be also heresies among you…” (v.v. 18-19).
Paul begins by telling the Corinthians that the manner in which they ate the Lord’s Supper was a heresy and had been the cause of division in the church. Paul next explains the heresy by first telling them what they should not do:
“When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.
“For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
“What? Have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not?” (v.v. 20-22).
In this context, the Greek word for “come together” means to “resort” in the sense of gathering for recreation or entertainment. Paul is making a clear distinction between gathering for worship and socializing; the latter being an inappropriate time to eat the Lord’s Supper.
Paul goes on to explain why the Lord’s Supper should not be eaten at social gatherings. He notes how it was customary for the disciples to bring their own food and drink to these gatherings and that those who couldn’t bring their own food would go hungry. Paul saw that this disparity between the “haves” and “have nots” showed a lack of charity that damaged the testimony of the church. Moreover, it was inevitable that someone would get drunk.
Paul next explains in verses 23-26 why a hungry or drunk person should not eat the Lord’s Supper. Using Jesus’ own words, Paul reminds them that the bread is Jesus’ body and the wine is His blood. He then reminds them that Christians eat the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice, and in so doing, we “show the Lord’s death till He come.”
This is what Paul meant by “worthily” in verses 27 and 29: regarding the bread and wine as food and not the body and blood of Jesus. One who does so is “not discerning the Lord’s body” and is, therefore, “eating and drinking damnation to himself” (v. 29). One who eats the Lord’s Supper to satisfy his hunger and thirst and not in honor of Jesus’ sacrifice is guilty of the body and blood of Jesus (v. 27). This is why Paul says in verse 34, “If any man hunger, let him eat at home.”
So, while it is wise to stress that only believers should eat the Lord’s Supper, pastors should also make it clear that it should only be eaten at church and then, not on an empty stomach. The Lord’s Supper is a solemn privilege and should not be regarded as food, but as symbolic of the body and blood of our Lord.
Whereas Paul shows us under what circumstances the Lord’s Supper should not be eaten, the disciples show us who should eat it as well as when, how, and how often it should be eaten.
“And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread…” (Acts 20: 7).
There are three very important things we may glean from this verse:
First, the disciples came together on the first day of the week, Sunday. It was on Sunday that Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John came to the sepulchre and found it empty. Jesus was Risen. Christians worship on Sunday to commemorate this momentous event. The Lord’s Supper should also be eaten on Sunday because, as the broken bread and wine represent Christ’s crucifixion, eating the bread and drinking the wine on the day of His resurrection is a depiction of both Jesus’s death and resurrection.
Second, these were disciples of Jesus: believing Christians. Only a believer should eat the Lord’s Supper. I believe that just as God punishes believers with sickness and death because they dishonor the Lord’s Supper, so does He likewise punish unbelievers who eat the Lord’s Supper. They are not saved and so do not really believe that Jesus died and shed His blood for the sins of the world. They should not eat the Lord’s Supper.
Third, it is vitally important to understand that the disciples came together “to break bread.” The breaking of bread was specifically associated with Jesus. Recall that in Luke 24, after Jesus’ resurrection, two disciples encountered Him on their way to Emmaus, but they did not know it was the Lord (Luke 24:13:35). They invited Jesus to come home with them, and as they sat at meat, Jesus broke the bread. At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they knew that it was Jesus. He then disappeared, and they hurried back to Jerusalem and told the others what had happened:
“And they told what things were done in the way, and how He (Jesus) was known of them in breaking of bread” (v. 35).
This passage confirms that the breaking of bread was uniquely identified with the Lord Jesus. The disciples continued this tradition in remembrance of Him:
“And they continued daily with one accord in the temple andbreaking breadfrom house to house…” (Act. 2:46).
“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, and fellowship, and inbreaking of bread,and in prayers” (Acts 2:42).
This last verse is very important. The disciples continued:
1. in the Apostles’ doctrine 2. in fellowship 3. in breaking of bread 4. in prayers
Fellowship, teaching of doctrine, and praying is essentially a definition of church. This proves that eating the Lord’s Supperwas a regular part of the worship service. That means it was eaten every Sunday, not just on the first Sunday of the month, as in most churches today.
Not only is the breaking of bread important to the Lord’s Supper, but so is the sharing of the broken bread. We are supposed to give the other half to a brother or sister in Christ. Jesus perfectly illustrates this point at the Last Supper:
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessedit,and brake it,and gaveitto the disciples, and said, Take, eat(it);[it] is my body.
“And he took the cup (that He was drinking from), and gave thanks, and gaveitto them, saying, Drink ye all [from]it.” (Matthew 26:26-27).[Parentheses and brackets mine.]
Jesus and the disciples show that the bread and wine should be shared among the brethren. It is a token of our unity in Christ Jesus and of our shared hope in His Coming. It shows that, though we are separate persons, we are one in Christ. Now, it is perfectly understandable that some would be reluctant to drink from the same cup as another, but it would not be unreasonable for the bread to be broken and shared between brethren. If it was good enough for the early church, it should be good enough for us.
The contemporary observance of the Lord’s Supper is arguably the greatest evidence of the devastating effect the Roman Catholic Ecumenical Movement has had on the Christian Church. In many churches, the bread has been replaced by a small, wafer-shaped disc similar to the Roman Catholic communion wafer. In others, it has been reduced to a bite-sized morsel of a cracker—impossible to break any further, and thus, impossible to share with another.
The failure of the brethren to break and share bread together is the greatest evidence of the success of Satan’s efforts to destroy the Christian church. Divide and conquer is one of Satan’s favorite tactics, and there is no more effective way to divide the church than in the one ordinance that most represents the body of Christ. This ought not to be.
We scream for a revival, but that revival will not come until the Christian Church properly exalts Jesus. We can begin by properly “showing the Lord’s death till He come” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Then He will bless us and the Spirit can begin to move in our churches. But we are so far down the road of apostasy that I cannot see this happening.
Think about this very carefully. Obedience is better than sacrifice. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
Be encouraged and look up; your redemption draweth nigh.
Grace and peace to the brethren in Christ Jesus, and greetings to my brothers and sisters in Adam.
Richard Turley poses with his Scouting uniform on in an old picture taken in the 1980s.
I came across this incredibly sad story about a pedophile scout master with Boy Scouts Canada, who, despite being reported numerous times to the leadership for molesting young boys, was allowed to continued to maintain his position and continue to have access to boys. You can find the original story here.
I will let you read this very troubling story for yourself.
Scouts failed to stop sexual predator: CBC investigation
Pedophile moved from troop to troop in B.C., California.
Boy Scouts of America leaders knew for years about incidents involving a Canadian pedophile who preyed on boys in the U.S. but failed to stop him as he moved back to Canada, where he continued his abuse.
The organization sometimes even helped him go undetected by authorities, an investigation by CBC-TV’s The Fifth Estate and theLos Angeles Times has found.
Scouts Canada learned of his inappropriate behaviour in the 1980s and kicked him out, but nearly a decade passed before police charged him with crimes.
Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, Richard Turley was involved with the Scouts across California and British Columbia, molesting at least eight scouts.
“It was easy,” the 58-year-old, who now lives in Alberta, says about how he used scouting to target his victims. “Kids were easily accessible.”
The CBC investigation, which can be seen in full Friday night onThe Fifth Estate, catalogued nearly 80 cases in Canada, dating from the 1950s, where either active or former scout leaders committed crimes ranging from sexual assault to possession of child pornography. More than 300 children were abused by leaders while they were active in the movement.
Brazen kidnapping
In 1975, Turley did what he describes as the “craziest, stupid, bizarre thing” he would ever do. California newspaper headlines from 1975 dubbed it a “wild abduction tale.” In a stolen single-engine Cessna, Turley kidnapped Ed Iris, an 11-year-old Nova Scotia boy living in La Puente, Calif., whom Turley had met while visiting a local scout troop.
A day earlier, he’d shown up at Iris’s house, telling Ed’s mother he was “one of Canada’s top scouts leaders” and asking if he could show the boy around town. “He had badges all over the place,” says Iris, now 47 and living in Ontario. “He had his Canadian scouting book. It was impressive to a kid.”
Turley took the boy on a fun-filled day in the San Diego area. That night, the two slept in a car inside Turley’s double sleeping bag covered in scouts merit patches, said Iris. Turley later admitted to molesting the boy, though Iris says he slept through it. In the morning, Turley stole a Cessna at a regional airport, vowing to take Ed back to Canada. With the plane low on fuel, though, Turley was soon forced to land. Turley, then 21, was arrested and later pleaded guilty to child stealing. At trial, a judge committed him to a state hospital as a “mentally disordered sex offender.”
Police files obtained by The Fifth Estate and theLos Angeles Times show that Boy Scouts of America knew about the incident because they helped officers search for Iris and Turley. Though the Boy Scouts of America have a decades-old practice of creating “confidential files” recording individuals barred from the group for sex abuse allegations — a system aimed at preventing pedophiles from hopping from troop to troop — it appears no file was created on Turley at that time.
Put on list
In November 1976, 18 months after Turley’s arrival at the Patton State Hospital, he was deemed well enough to be released. The judge ordered him to return to Canada and report for probation if he re-entered the U.S. Within a year, Turley returned to Southern California to work at a Boy Scout camp near San Diego, an hour’s drive from the hospital. He spent the next three summers working for the camp.
‘Hopefully, he went back to Canada and that was their problem.’—Former Scout executive Buford Hill
On the last day of camp in July 1979, Turley arranged to stay an extra night with three boys from the Orange County troop. All three were molested that night, according to a confidential file later created by the Boy Scouts of America. The next morning, one boy told his father, a scoutmaster, about the abuse.
The camp director, John LaBare, confronted Turley and “he readily admitted what he had done, expressed concern for his actions, immediately packed and returned to Canada,” according to a letter in Turley’s U.S. “perversion file.” The camp, meanwhile, was told Turley had returned home due to family problems. Behind the scenes, camp officials requested that the Boy Scouts of America’s Texas-based national office create a “confidential file,” informally known as a “perversion file,” on Turley.
“The parents of the three boys agreed not to press charges if he would leave, but are quite prepared to do so if they hear of his involvement with scouting,” Scouts executive Buford Hill wrote.
Hill told the Los Angeles Times that he was following recommendations of the Boy Scouts of America at the time. “I don’t remember what we decided, other than we didn’t want this person on our staff,” Hill said. “Hopefully, he went back to Canada and that was their problem.”
In a written statement to the Los Angeles Times, Boy Scouts of America stated that within 25 hours of learning of Turley’s conduct, they expelled him. “In the 30 years since then, the BSA has continued to enhance its youth protection efforts as society has increased its understanding of the dangers children face,” wrote spokesman Deron Smith.
When Turley was shown the 1979 confidential U.S. file created by the Scouts on him, however, he shook his head in amazement that officials had not contacted police. “That probably would have put a stop to me years and years ago,” said Turley in an interview at an Alberta motel where he works as a manager and handyman. “And yet I went back to the Scouts again and again as a leader and offended against the boys until they came forward.”
Others were shocked Turley even made it into the Scouts after his kidnapping conviction and commitment as a sex offender. “He should have never been there in the first place,” the scoutmaster whose son was allegedly molested by Turley told the Los Angeles Times.
Back in Canada
Though The Fifth Estatefound documents showing that Scouts Canada and its American counterpart have traded information about pedophiles banned from their organizations, it appears the two did not share information about Turley. By August of 1979, Turley had returned to the Victoria area, and within a few years, he’d begun leading a local scouts troop.
Court records show that Turley took scouts on camping trips once or twice a month, often luring boys to his tent by offering warmth or comfort. He used skinny-dipping as a pretense to molest boys and plied them with alcohol.
In his Victoria home, stocked with ice cream, candy, alcohol and porn, he entertained an endless number of boys, including scouts.
‘I absolutely wish now that I had thought about going to police rather than Scout House.’—Scouting supervisor Jean Buydens
“He had an Atari and worked for a candy company and his cupboard was full of candy,” said Jason Davies, one of his victims. “This is where we wanted to go after Scouts.” While a Scouts Canada leader, Turley also organized trips to the U.S. with his troop and recalls filing paperwork with the Boy Scouts of America to have the visits approved.
Jean Buydens, a scouting supervisor, recalls hearing whispers about parties where Turley offered boys beer and camp outings where he shared tents with boys. “I was very suspicious of that,” says Buydens, adding she passed on what she heard.
The Fifth Estate spoke to parents, victims and Scouts executives familiar with Turley and found no evidence executives called in the police to investigate. Turley says he was never contacted by police at that time. Scouts Canada said it won’t comment on specific cases. An assistant scoutmaster had also complained about Turley sharing his tent with boys, but the meddling assistant was moved to another troop, CBC News has learned.
As rumours persisted in the mid-1980s, Scout House, the regional headquarters, asked Turley to resign. Scouts Canada added him to a “confidential list,” sources say. The exact date is unknown. “It should have been handled differently,” says Buydens. “I absolutely wish now that I had thought about going to police rather than Scout House, but I thought talking to Scout House would be enough.”
Canadian conviction
In 1988, Turley sexually assaulted a child at a swimming pool. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and banned from associating with youth groups such as Scouts, YMCA and the Little League. It was not until 1995 that police began their first large-scale investigation into Turley – 16 years after the Boy Scouts of America created a “perversion file” and nearly a decade after its Canadian counterpart put him on their “confidential list.”
In the end, it was not the Scouts organization that informed Saanich, B.C., police, but rather a suspicious girlfriend. Turley was convicted in 1996 of sexually abusing four boys, three of whom were scouts, but later admitted to having at least a dozen victims.
First Victim:
In 1971 at age 18, Turley began more than a year of molestation with his first known victim, nine-year-old Joey Day. Turley had moved from Toronto to Victoria as a member of the Canadian military, and had befriended Day’s mother. He offered to take Joey to cub scout meetings, but instead Turley often took the boy to his apartment. “He fed me alcohol and I believe he was drugging me,” said Day. “I would wake up and I’d be naked in his bed.”
During an undercover sting, Turley later admitted to an officer that being involved with the Scouts organization was a “good way to recruit young boys.” Turley served five years in prison and seven years of long-term supervised parole, which he completed in 2009.When The Fifth Estate and the Los Angeles Times tracked him down in Alberta earlier this year, Turley said his sexual impulses are now under control thanks to an intense sex-offender program he underwent.
He’s no longer that “monster” moving from “troop to troop picking out people who I thought would be easy to offend against,” he said. “Rick Turley today is a caring loving person who just wants to stay below the radar.” But he added that he believes the very nature of Scouts made it an easy place to find targets. “If I look back at my own self, the availability, the trust that was involved with the parents at the time,” said Turley. “I was … the nice guy, who wanted to do everything.”
Screening process
Much in Scouts has changed since the 1970s and 1980s when Turley used the movement to find his victims. Since 1997, Scouts Canada has required police record checks, reference checks and a special screening interview for all adult volunteers and staff.
The organization’s policies dictates that individuals accused of any sexual abuse are immediately suspended and then investigated, with information passed along to police and child protection authorities. Scouts Canada also has a stringent “two-deep rule” requiring that two fully screened, registered leaders be present with youth at all times.
Turley recalls always having adult leaders present on his Scouts outings. “It didn’t stop anything,” he says. Seattle-based lawyer Tim Kosnoff, who has viewed the U.S. “perversion files,” says historically the U.S. Boy Scouts “routinely” chose not to notify police when aware of child molesters, instead noting them in their own secret files.
Despite all the changes made to the Scouts organization, Turley maintains that “Scouting is still a flawed movement.” “If I was a parent, I would never put my kids in Scouts.”
Today’s devotional reading is from Philippians 4:19:
“But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus.”
God has promised to provide for all our needs, not according to our riches; that is, according to our fullness, but according to His. The Bible says that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. All things have been put under His feet; therefore all things are His, both of this world and the world to come. God is rich beyond belief.
We must remember, however, that He has promised to supply all of our needs, not all of our wants. Genesis 28:20-21 tells us what our needs are:
“And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep mein this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s home in peace; then shall the Lord be my God.”
This is God’s promise:
To be with us (to never leave us)
To keep us (to guide us)
To feed us
To clothe us
To bring us home (shelter us)
in peace (protect us)
Companionship, guidance, food, clothing, shelter, and protection; these are our needs. Out of His grace, God often provides more than this, but His promise is to provide our needs. Everything above this is grace.
So as we see the economy failing and unemployment rising, we may wonder where our next meal will come from, but we need not worry if we will eat. God always keeps His promises. We have only to remember them.
Today’s devotional reading comes from Psalm 119:144:
“The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.”
Righteousness is defined as “justice.” God’s testimonies then, can be said to be just. Webster’s, gives the archaic definition of just as “faithful to an original.” A car, like the Volkswagen Beetle, for instance, which for a great many years, has remained essentially unchanged, is said to be “true to the original design.” In that God’s testimony has never changed, it can also be said to be true.
A testimony is a witness. When a person wants to certify that his testimony is true, he normally says, “I give you my word.” God’s Testimony is also His Word. So then, God’s Word is True. Everlasting is defined as “time out of mind”; that is, eternity. God’s Word then, is True for all eternity. Understanding in this context means “to differentiate or discern.” The psalmist then, seeks discernment, and since he seeks it from God’s Word, then he seeks the ability to discern truth. With this discernment, he says, he will live. One of the meanings of the word live is “to be whole.” To be whole is to be complete, and to be complete is to lack nothing. The psalmist writes, therefore, that God’s Word is true forever, and with it one will have discernment, and with discernment, he will lack nothing. This is a great truth.
In these Last Days, discernment is vitally important. Yet, few of us have it, because we are not in the Word of God as we should be. If we want discernment, if we want the Truth, then like David, we must seek it in the eternal Word of God. And with it, we shall live!
I found a very interesting documentary on Islam told from the perspective of three Muslim pilgrims (a black African, an Indonesian, and a white American) who make their way to Mecca to observe the Hajj. Besides being very well done and informative, if you pay attention, this video reveals some interesting doctrinal comparisons and contrasts between Islam and Protestant Christianity that show why the two religions are utterly irreconcilable.
The Hajj is an incredible logistical feat. I can’t think of anything that quite matches its scope besides perhaps the Olympic Games. But, as the video shows, Islam, like all other religions except Protestantism, is works-based, though, ostensibly, much emphasis is placed on faith.
Grace and peace to the Body of the Lord Jesus, and greetings to those still in the world.
No doubt many of you have already seen this tragic story out of China involving a two-year-old girl who was mercilessly run over by not one, but two trucks in the middle of a street. Incredibly, people just walked impassively by the bleeding child without even trying to help her. After lying in the middle of the street for what seemed like at least 20 minutes, a lady pulled her to the side of the road and went from shop to shop asking for help and was told to mind her own business.
Eventually, the poor child was taken to the hospital, where she was reportedly in a coma. It is alleged that, if she lives, she will be in a vegetative state.
This, dear children, is what Communism does to a society. It sucks every ounce of compassion out of a people. When the Light of Jesus is extinguished and supplanted with Godless atheism, man-worhipping Humanism, and chimp-blaming evolution; when man gets to decide who is OK and who is not OK; when man makes the rules instead of God, then brother you better hope you are in the majority, because if you are in the minority, you could end up like this little girl—or worse.
This story leaves many questions. The person who posted the video said the little girl lived a mere 100 meters from where she was hit. So, there’s a chance that she frequented that area. If that were the case, then some of the shop owners may have known her. I don’t buy the explanation that no one helped her because they were afraid it may have been a ploy to get money. The reaction of the shop owners seemed to suggest that it was a bad idea for anyone to be seen helping that girl. I wonder who her family were. They may not have been very popular. Worse, they may even have been Christians. Is that a stretch?
Brethren, we have been given a taste of what the New World Order will be like. A world where everyone just looks out for himself, and children have no value. The Chinese, as you should know, are already living in the New World Order.
The media always portray China as a near-perfect society; a model of progress and efficiency. China is made to look like a viable alternative to capitalistic America. Lately, I have been seeing stories about Americans who prefer to live in China rather than in the U.S. A few months ago, for instance, I read a story about an American who operates a restaurant in China where he sells his home made beer. He was just smiling like China was the greatest place on earth. Economically, it may very well be.
Yet this is the same China where couples are only allowed one child and often girls may be aborted in favor of a son. This is the same China where the news ran a story a few months ago about a woman who kept her grown 40-something-year-old retarded son in a barn naked and chained to the wall. This man should have been institutionalized and given the proper help. But he wasn’t. Do they not care about the disabled there?
China may be a model of efficiency, but a human soul obviously isn’t worth a dime there. You can always tell where a society is morally by how they treat the least of their people. And you know things are bad when the least treat the least—that is, the children—like dirt.
America is always made to look our worst in front of the rest of the world: Capitalism this, and Capitalism that. But let me tell you something. If that is what progress and efficiency look like…if that is what Communism looks like…Then I don’t want it. At least in America there are some vestiges of Christianity left. At least there are some scraps of morality left. At least there are some morsels of decency left. And it is to those vestiges…those scraps…those morsels, that I cling. And I’ll cling to them tenaciously to the very end.
Saints, God wanted us to see this video. God wanted us to know what is REALLY going on with China, morally. And as you can see, it is not very pretty. The problem is, that many Americans think that Godless Communism is a good thing. But if they can do this to a helpless child, think what they can do to any one of us.
True, we don’t have all of the facts. But could there possibly be a good reason to treat this child so?
I’ve said it many times, Saints, and I’ll say it again: Witness, while there’s still time. America is fast becoming what you see in that video. There are people right here in this country who are just as cruel, just as vicious, and just as apathetic as the people in that video. Many of them are your neighbors. BELIEVE ME. Children in this country are being abused and murdered every day. And it is getting worse. The only chance to save this country, at least for a little while, is Jesus Christ.
I have been listening to this man for about three years on a gospel CD I have. He’s singing with Dr. Bobby Jones and New Life and the name of the song is “He’s Sweet I Know.” That song moved me so much that I had to find out more about this man.
I found a lot of his music on YouTube and have been listening for about four hours now. I had to share this with the Body of Christ. This man can move me like no other gospel singer can.
To my great sadness and joy, I found out that he’s gone on to meet the Lord. R.I.P. brother James. Your music is still touching us. This is gospel folks. Enjoy.
Lord, what a beautiful song. This ain’t no Mary, Mary, Kirk Franklin stuff.
This man was blind and deathly ill and he still praised Jesus with all his might. Did you see the faces of the people? Tears, praising…that’s what REAL gospel music does to you! That’s because the power of worldly music is in the beat, while the power of Gospel music…REAL gospel music, is in the words and the Spirit.
Now, if that don’t move you…if that don’t MOVE you, you need to check your pulse and see if you’re still alive.
If you liked that one, wait until you hear what they did with Psalm 91 below. Just beautiful.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6Y4jxUXtrI
You should also listen to the one entitled “When The Praises Go Up.” That one really blessed my soul.
Let this music encourage you, Saints. Dark times are coming. Let this music remind us why we are in this fight.
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13).
Grace and peace to the Body of Christ and greetings to the world.
Today I watched a video featuring a woman named Ana Mendez Ferrel, who claims to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus (Whom she calls Yeshua). Like many New Age false prophets, this lady claims miraculous powers, which, according to her, she received when the heavens opened and God “downloaded” His powers upon her. Consequently, she purports to have this amazing ability to speak in previously unknown tongues. She also claims to have the ability to raise people from the dead and even said that she resurrected her own daughter, who she said had died after breaking her neck.
Ms. Ferrel said that she received this power after she first repented to God, then asked Jesus to forgive her, and finally took “communion” (Charismatic speak for the Lord’s Supper). She claims that the power to do these miracles comes from the blood of Jesus, and is available to anyone who partakes of the Lord’s Supper, which she claims to take every day.
This, of course, is an illustration of the Charismatic Movement’s emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, specifically tongues and healing. As we discussed in our series on the Charismatic Movement, the ultimate goal of this movement is to bring the world’s religions, particularly Protestant Christianity, under the headship of the Roman Catholic pope; hence, Ms. Ferrel’s emphasis on communion and the reference to the wine being the blood of Jesus Christ.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KSmuWU8UKI&NR=1
If you watch the other videos on this series, you will notice that in the advertisement for Ms. Ferrel’s DVD series, “Jesus” is seen holding up and blessing a piece of bread that is large and perfectly round in the same manner that Roman Catholic priests hold up and bless the eucharist.
You will also notice that Ms. Ferrel never says the Lord’s Supper is symbolic: that the bread is symbolic of Jesus’ body and the wine is symbolic of His blood. Rather, she says that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Jesus. This conforms to the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence, which teaches that the body, blood, and divinity of Jesus are actually present in the communion wafer that Catholics receive in their mouths. That is why, when speaking of her encounter with “Satan,” Ferrel says Satan fled from Jesus’ blood “which was in [her].”
We know that as Christians, Jesus’ blood is not in us. Jesus’ blood served one purpose: to wash us free from sin (Hebrews 9:22). Our power comes from the name of Jesus, not His blood. One can claim that the blood of Jesus is in him, however, if one eats the Roman Catholic communion wafer believing that Jesus’ body and blood are actually in it.
This is why Ferrell claims to have such miraculous powers. If one believes that Jesus’ divinity; that is, His Godhood, are in the communion wafer as well as His body and blood, and one consumes this wafer, then one can also claim to be able to perform miracles as Jesus did. And if one has Jesus’ divinity in Him, then one can claim to be God; for Jesus said, “The Father is in me, and I in Him” (John 10:38). This is what I believe Ms. Ferrel is really trying to say. This exposes the New Age character of the Charismatic Movement, for New Agers also claim to be God.
Steve Harvey, another New Ager, claims to worship God, but as we discuss in Is Steve Harvey a Christian?, this is simply not the case. Remember that in Exodus 3:14, God told Moses that His name was “I Am.” Jesus also claimed to be the Great I Am (John 8:58). Steve Harvey makes the same claim below.
Harvey is saying that he is God. In case you are still skeptical, notice that the center portion of the “W” is a pyramid with a capstone. This has special significance:
“DELTA. The name of the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. In form it is a triangle, and was considered by the ancient Egyptians a symbol of fire, and also of God” (Macoy, p. 118).
Notice he is also forming a triangle, or pyramid, with his hands. This man thinks he is a god, just like Ana Mendez Ferrel.
Now taking this analogy further, if one truly believes that the body, blood, and divinity of Jesus are in the eucharist, and one is a thinking person, then one must not only believe that if he eats the wafer, he can perform the miracles of Jesus. One must also believe that one is Jesus, for what is Jesus if not His body, blood, and divinity? Jesus the Son of man was body and blood—human. Jesus the Son of God is divinity—God.
Therefore the thinking person who adheres to this doctrine would have to believe:
1. That he is able to pay for his own sins, thus, redeeming himself. This doctrine is reflected in many religions like Freemasonry, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Mormonism. This is also seen in the New Age emphasis on self (self-improvement, self-help, self-healing through herbs, etc.) All of these groups are “working” toward perfecting themselves—becoming gods.
The catch phrase of the New Age religion is that one must be responsible for oneself. That includes being responsible for your own sins. In other words, they are not teaching that one should be sorry for his sins and accept Jesus’ sacrifice for sins. They are teaching that one has to be responsible for redeeming oneself from one’s sins. One must realize that one is God.
2. That if he can forgive his own sins, then he can also forgive the sins of others. We have already seen the results of this blasphemous practice in Roman Catholicism. And we will see it again, very shortly.
3. That he is sinless. If Jesus was sinless, and Jesus is in him, then he is also sinless.
4. That there is no sin: For if he is God, and God determines what is sin, then one can claim that sin doesn’t exist. He who makes the game makes the rules.
5. That he can decide for himself what is right and wrong. After all he is God, and Satan said, “And ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). This is what spawned the New Age motto “Do your own thing.” The problem with this is that there is no guilt for sin and therefore, no repentance. Ultimately this goes back to #1, for if a person is able to redeem himself of his sins, as only God can do, then he should be able to determine for himself what is sin, because he is god. We are seeing the tragic results of this thinking every day in the media.
6. That he is going to heaven even if he doesn’t accept Jesus as Savior. If it is Jesus’ death and the shedding of His blood that saves us, as the Bible teaches, then if the person has consumed the body and blood of Jesus he can literally say that he has salvation within him. He doesn’t need Jesus’ sacrifice.
7. That as Creator, he gets to say not only what’s right and what’s wrong, but also who is right and who is wrong. This could be based on a number of factors including race, religion, gender, etc. Do you see where this thinking could lead and is leading?
As you can see, only chaos, anarchy, self-righteousness, prejudice, and elitism can result from such a blasphemous doctrine as the Real Presence, and the effects on society would be disastrous. Now take a look around you and consider the state of things. You no longer have to ask yourself why things are as bad as they are.
I want to point out that in the third video the advertisement for Sid Roth’s ministry says that the Jews will be won to Jesus “through signs and wonders.” This means that the Charismatic Movement will also be used to join the Jewish religion to Rome. This should not surprise us as Jesus said that the Jews rejected Him, who came in the name of God, but that they will accept one who comes in his own name (John 5:43).
Ana Ferrell Mendez is profaning the Lord’s Supper. The doctrine that the literal body and blood of Jesus is present in the bread and wine is an abomination to God. It is not Christian. But then again, neither is the Charismatic Movement.
To All Christian Bloggers and Webmasters who use the WP-Bible plugin: It is inserting a message on every page where you have inserted Bible verses. The message reads, “Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja!” It turns out that this is Slovenian for “The Selected Issue Does Not Exist.”
I discovered this phenomenon while checking entries in my statistics software. I clicked on a link to a post a visitor had viewed, which was listed under a tag. The above phrase appeared in the abbreviated content heading for some posts, but not for others. I then discovered that it only appears on pages that have a Scripture verse, because the plugin only runs on those pages.
I ran a google search for the term which brought up around 240,000 hits, the majority of which were Christian websites and blogs, and they all begin with this phrase followed by “WP-Bible Plugin.” I then ran an internet translation program on the phrase, which produced the above translation.
The message will not come up when you call up or edit a webpage. In my case, it only came up in my statistics program when I clicked on visitor entry that was under a tag, when I clicked on the “Post Tags” in Dashboard, and when I ran a google search for the phrase. It must in some way be keyed to a search engine.
The programmer who created the plugin may just be a practical joker, but if he is a malicious hacker who dislikes Christians, he has found a beautiful way to find all Christian websites running his plugin to which he could do whatever he likes.
Than again, maybe this is something that plugin developers do to track how many people are actually using their software, as opposed to how many people have downloaded it.
Even so, it would have been nice to have known about it beforehand, rather than finding out about it the way I did. I don’t like the idea that a program is doing something I don’t know anything about. Then again they probably all do.
Watch and pray, Saints. The enemy has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.
Grace and peace to my brethren in the Lord and greetings to those still in darkness.
In case you think that the proliferation of the homosexual lifestyle in Hollywood, the media, and the educational system isn’t affecting our young ones, think again. Last month, a five-year-old boy was molested by his kindergarten classmates. Apparently, they held the little boy on the floor, pulled his pants down, and performed digital insertion on the helpless child.
Besides emotional trauma, according to the boy’s mother, he has also suffered some gender confusion and was afraid to return to school. Thankfully, he was allowed to transfer to another school as a safety concern.
This dear child is going to need a lot of psychological counseling.
Folks, the sodomites in Sodom and those spoken of in Judges Chapter 19 both organized themselves into vicious gangs and tried to forcibly rape a heterosexual male. The media, which cater to homosexuals, have gone to great lengths to make their sordid lifestyle appear peaceful, caring, and loving. But the Bible is clear on just how perverted they truly are. That’s why they hate the King James Bible, because it hits them where they live, and convicts them of their abominable sin.
This little boy could easily have been your child or mine. We should not be afraid to speak out against homosexuality and we should witness to homosexuals whenever possible. Some of them no doubt desperately want out of their prison of immorality, but have been told that they were “born that way” and that there is no way out. But my Bible tells me that anyone can become a new creature through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Homosexuals are working feverishly to silence Christians’ witness by getting soul-winning declared as hate speech and the Bible as hate literature. We must witness to homosexuals and warn the Body of Christ before its too late.
Grace and peace to the brethren and greetings to the unsaved.
As some of you may be aware if you have followed this site since its start a few months ago, as well as doctrinal issues, some current events, and whatever the Spirit moves us to talk about, we have also from time to time touched on the ancient pagan religion of Babylon. This is because the symbology associated with this religion is more prevalent today than in any other time since the Dark Ages.
With the Protestant Reformation, the world came out of the Dark Ages and was again filled with the knowledge of God and of His Savior, Jesus Christ. And once again, as it did upon the death of the great rebel Nimrod, paganism went underground were it was kept alive through the secret societies, fraternal organizations, and other groups. But it was always their intent to resurface once again and indoctrinate the newer generations with their poisonous practices.
The pagans began to resurface and infiltrate key areas of power and influence including the educational establishment, our military, law enforcement, the government, and most especially the entertainment business and the media. Slowly they began a “silent war” or quiet revolution, the goal of which was to destroy the Christian religion and any faith in the Almighty God and supplant that faith with the worship of Lucifer, the Fallen Angel, who we know as Satan.
As we drifted ever farther from God, the vestiges of the old pagan worship began to surface in the form of symbols. The pyramid, the five- and six-pointed star, the ankh, the obelisk, the broken cross (peace sign), and other symbols became ubiquitous to the extent they became associated with ordinary areas of life.
During WWII a strange hand sign appeared in the so-called “v” for “victory” sign made famous by Winston Churchill. After a brief slumber, this hand sign again appeared in the 60’s, now supposedly meaning peace. Gradually other signs such as the familiar El Diablo/Il Carnuto, the “hang loose” sign, and others began to appear. These hand signs, which formerly had only been used as covert communication by initiates of the pagan religions, became widely used by the “profane.”
Even many Christians used them. Most had no idea what they were really saying, but their use by the uninitiated lent an air of legitimacy to them. This actually helped the pagans because one could no longer be certain that someone using such a hand sign was into the occult.
And now in the 21st Century the pagans have literally infiltrated every aspect of society. No area of existence is free from their influence. Hollywood pushes their amoral values, the media glamorize their sordid lifestyle, the fashion industry peddles their scandalous clothing, and the educational system parrots their religion. Pagan terminology is now a permanent part of the English lexicon. Did you know, for instance, that the terms “more power to you” and “may the force be with you” were initially used only between witches? It’s true.
Masonic Church of Christ
Now the pagans have succeeded in taking over many of our churches. They have always been there, but now, for the first time we can see that they are conquering them. They haven’t conquered the True Church, which consists of the true followers of Jesus Christ, and they will never conquer her. Jesus said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. The Bible says that the church will possess the earth and all the world’s kingdoms.
That doesn’t mean that we should just sit back and be complacent as we see Satan moving on our churches. We should warn the Body of Christ of Satan’s devices. That is why I included the information on the symbology of Mystery Babylon. I thought that it would help Christians to be able to recognize symbols when they see them.
But I’ve come to realize that the enemy is using the subject of symbology and the ancient religion of Babylon to lead the church astray.
Yesterday for example, I followed a link on YouTube to a video by G. Craig Lewis. As you may know, Lewis often preaches on the occult influences in the Hip Hop industry. As I was watching one of his videos he suddenly flashed very obviously the el diablo, horned-devil sign. I was shocked. I rewound it several times to be sure that I really saw that, and, sure enough, I did. Now my reaction wasn’t based solely on this one action. I had seen him flash the three-six sign (also called the “three rings) a couple of times before in this same video, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I see occult influence in so many areas of life, that I have sometimes wondered if in my zeal for truth, I am only seeing what I want to see. But I am not. The occult really is that prevalent. The Bible says the world will worship the Beast. And the people are already primed for him to make his appearance.
Now, since I made this discovery, I wondered if anyone else had noticed the same thing. It turned out that others had also noticed him flashing satanic hand signs and posted videos showing him doing it. On one video, for instance, he flashes the three-sixes sign (the “OK” sign) several times during his message:
DISCLAIMER: AS IS COMMON ON YOUTUBE, THIS PERSON EXPOSES A TRUTH, BUT HE MIXES HIS OWN ERRANT BELIEFS IN WITH IT. IN THIS CASE, HE PROMOTES THE BELIEF THAT JESUS WAS A BLACK MAN. PATENTLY FALSE.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktX0j-O5RZw
Now the problem is this: C. Craig Lewis tells a lot of truth about the occult, but most of what he says has already been said by others. For example, what Christian doesn’t know by now that Satan controls the music industry (including most Gospel music) and that most, if not all, of your favorite music artists and Gospel singers worship Satan (or Lucifer)?
What Christian doesn’t know by now that Satan totally owns and controls the Hollywood entertainment industry and that most, if not all, of your favorite celebrities worship Satan?
What Christian doesn’t know by now that Satan totally owns and controls the sports industry and that most, if not all, of your favorite sports heros worship Satan?
This explains a lot, doesn’t it?
Who woulda thunk it?
What Christian doesn’t know by now that Satan totally owns and controls the government, politics and the military and that most, if not all, of our politicians, royalty, and top military brass worship Satan?
So what does it profit the Church of Jesus Christ to continue to beat this dead horse? We should know by now that if it is of the world, it is of Satan. We cannot partake of heaven and of hell. We cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils.
If you are a Christian who watches TV or listens to secular music, you are in danger (as was I), because not only do these artists worship Satan (or Lucifer), but many, if not most, blaspheme Jesus Christ in their music. Yesterday for example, I was listening to the radio and a certain song by The Notorious B.I.G. came on. I don’t normally listen to the radio for enjoyment, but for the past eight months I had developed a routine of listening to it during my morning workout. Certain songs are easy to workout to because of their rhythm. But there is a danger in this, as I discovered yesterday. It happened on this wise:
While I was working out, a song by Biggie Smalls came on called “Hypnotize.” Anyone who has heard this song knows that it has a nice beat and if you can imagine it, you can see how its rhythm is perfectly suited to certain workout movements. So, I’m working out and listening to the music, when I think I hear the word, Jesus. In fact, I know I hear the word, Jesus. Instantly, I get up and turn the radio off, and I reflect on the fact that as a Christian, I can’t even listen to this music when I’m working out, because just about all of it blasphemes the name of Jesus.
So this morning I got on the internet to search for the lyrics to the song to see if I really heard Biggie Smalls say the name of Jesus. Sure enough, he did. Here is the line that has the irreverent reference to our Lord:
“So I just speak my piece, keep my peace, Cubans with the Jesus piece, with my peeps…”
Now, the Bible tells us not to take the name of the Lord in vain, for to do so, is an abomination unto the Lord. Biggie is not paying homage to Jesus, and if you were to hear the rest of the lyrics to the song, you would know that to associate the name of Jesus Christ with a song like that is blasphemy of the highest order. I did not know that the song was so filthy until I actually read the lyrics today. They set the lyrics to a really nice beat, and there lies the problem, because the beat stays in your head long after the song is over. And if the beat is in your head, the words are too. This is happening on a spiritual as well as a physical and emotional level. It has Satan written all over it.
I had to ask our Lord for forgiveness and to help me attempt to sever all secular music (except classical) from my life. I hadn’t listened to it regularly since I got saved, but I realize now that even in minute doses, secular music is poison to the soul.
Even a lot of jazz music is bad. A couple months ago, I started keeping my radio tuned to a local jazz station and would listen to it passively in the background as I went about my tasks. Though there is not a lot of profanity, the themes of the songs are often troubling. There’s talk of infidelity, gratuitous sex, self-reliance (and not dependence on God), and just evil. There is even a song entitled “I’m An Evil Man.”
So, I’ve come to realize that I can’t listen to any secular music, because it does not glorify Jesus Christ. It could also plant unGodly thoughts in your head. All Christians should endeavor to leave off secular music altogether.
Now getting back to the subject, if we as Christians know that TV, movies, sports, and music have all been tainted by Satan, then we should expect that all these will contain material that we ought not expose ourselves to. We should also expect that the people who make television programs, movies, music, and sports are not Godly people. So, there is no need for pastors to spend a great deal of time showing us people in the entertainment business making satanic hand signs or using backwards masking to implant satanic lyrics in their music. If we know that movies and music are satanic, we should avoid them at all cost. So, there is no need for this ministry. Yet ministries such as C. Craig Lewis’ have sprung up all over the Christian landscape. And many divert our attention away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world of the occult. This ought not to be.
Consequently, it has become an obsession for many Christians to devote an inordinate amount of time listening to music trying to detect and decipher hidden messages, or to watch movies attempting to find occult symbols. They then post these songs and movie clips on YouTube to supposedly warn the Christian community. But if you pay attention, you can see that many of these “ministries” have an occult agenda, and have nothing to do with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They only exist to mislead and distract Christians and divert their attention from the truth unto fables. Even those with good intentions are unwittingly serving the same purpose.
Unknowingly, I too was helping to further this effort, but I have eliminated most of the material dealing with the occult leaving only those such as The Occult Significance of the Norway Shooting,which edify the Body of Christ and admonish us to watch in all things. Christians should not study the occult; rather we should study the Word of God. We should also study our pastors and ministers to make sure that they teach the Truth. The closer we walk with God, the better we will be able to discern what is not of God.
An example of an occult knowledge that edifies is the following. There is a hand sign that is popping up all over the place. It is used by movie stars, singers, musicians, and others. Here are some examples. Notice the two middle fingers:
Bonnie Bentley flashes occult handsign
Tina Turner flashes occult handsign
Swizz Beats flashes occult handsign
Pope Benedict flashes covert occult sign
Pope Benedict XVI flashes decidedly un-Christian handsigns
Pope Benedict XVI flashes occult hand sign
Occult hand sign in Chick tract, Why is Mary Crying?
A Catholic saint flashes an occult hand sign
The Virgin Mary and the child “Jesus” flash an occult hand sign
It also shows up in famous paintings:
Medea
Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam”
Look closer at the fingers:
Occult hand signs in Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam”
This hand sign and the handsign of the triple six (the “OK” sign) are also very prevalent in another famous painting. Note the hands of nearly all the women as well and some of the men:
“Apotheosis of French soldiers fallen in the Napoleonic Wars,” by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson,
Now the photo above of Madonna is highly suggestive of the true meaning of this hand sign. Below is a photo of Baphomet, considered by some the god of Freemasonry. Notice that he also is holding up two fingers on each hand. More importantly, however, is the position of his arms. Coincidence?
While Baphomet may explain why most all popes have been depicted holding up the first two fingers, it doesn’t explain the mystery of the two middle fingers.
Charles Whitman
Now, for a bit of history. On August 1, 1966, a former marine and student at the University of Texas at Austin named Charles Joseph Whitman went on a shooting rampage from the observation deck of the university’s tower killing 16 people and wounding 32 others.
One of the victims, Karen Griffith, died from her wounds a week after the shooting. This too has meaning.
The massacre happened shortly after Whitman allegedly murdered his wife and mother at their homes. Whitman was killed by Austin Police Officer Houston McCoy, assisted by Austin Police Officer Ramiro Martinez. Below is a photo of Whitman’s body. Notice his middle fingers.
Charles Whitman after being killed by police.
Is it merely a coincidence that the position of Whitman’s fingers mirrors that of the others, especially since he was dead when this picture was taken? You see, we should not necessarily study occult symbology, but we had better know when something is rotten in Denmark.
Click here to learn more about the ancient Babylonian origins of this hand sign as well as another, both of which are grounded in the worship of Queen Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod. Semiramis is today known to most of the world as the Virgin Mary.
Be encouraged and look up; your redemption draweth nigh.
