Because I love you, I worried;
Because I worried about you, I prayed;
Because I prayed for you, I trusted;
Because I trust in God, I stopped worrying.
The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
On August 24, 1572, Roman Catholics in the city of Paris murdered Admiral Gaspard de Coligny along with 30,000 other Huguenots (French Protestants). Over 70,000 Protestants were butchered in the provinces of France.
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15).
Sources:
1. The Illustrated Dictionary of World History, by William L. Langer, vol. i, p. 404.
2. The Engineer Corps of Hell, by Edwin A. Sherman, p. 22.
The Mark of the Beast: Satan’s Phylactery
Grace and peace.
According to Revelation 13, the False Prophet will order everyone in the world (except those whose names are written in the Book of Life) to receive a mark in their right hand and on their forehead:
“And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads…”
Revelation 13:16
Though there has been much speculation about what the mark will be, few have considered the significance of wearing the mark on the right hand and forehead. Perhaps the answer is in Exodus Chapter 13, where, on the eve of the Exodus out of Egypt, God speaks to Moses regarding the Passover:
“And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thy hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in thy mouth.”
Exodus 13:8-9
Thus began the Jewish practice of placing Scripture verses in two little boxes and binding them to the forehead and hand. The Old Testament calls these boxes frontlets…
“Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.”
Deuteronomy 11:18
…but in the New Testament they are referred to as phylacteries (Hebrew: tefillin):
“But all their works they [the scribes and the Pharisees] do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments.”
Matthew 23:5
The Jewish Encyclopedia defines phylacteries as:
“[T]wo leathern boxes—one worn on the arm and known as ‘shel yad’ or ‘shelzeroa’, and the other worn on the head and known as ‘shel rosh’—made of the skins of clean animals.”
www.JewishEncyclopedia.com
The Jews still wear phylacteries because, having rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah, they have also rejected the New Testament law of faith, and are living under the Old Testament law of works. The Bible says that they are blind to the truth:
“For if the ministration of death [the law of Moses], written and engraved in stones, was glorious…how shall not the ministration of the Spirit [the law of grace] be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For if that which was done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious.
“And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished [the Law]: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.”
2 Corinthians 3:7-15
The Word of God is Our Phylactery
Before the Lord Jesus Christ gave His life for the sins of the world, one could only make it to heaven by keeping the Old Testament law, which included offering a sacrifice for sin. But when the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, offered up Himself, He became the last and final sacrifice for sin. In giving Himself, the Lord did away with the Old Testament law of works, and replaced it with the New Testament law of faith. We no longer have to “do” anything to be saved. We don’t have to get physically circumcised, as we have circumcised the foreskin of our heart. And we don’t need to wear physical phylacteries, because the Word of God is laid up in our heart and in our soul, and has become spiritual frontlets on our spiritual hand and between our spiritual eyes (Deuteronomy 11:18).
The Mark of the Beast Is Satan’s Phylactery
The Bible says:
“The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”
1 Corinthians 15:56
As the law is the strength of sin, so the law is the source of Satan’s power. So, for Satan to have authority over us, he must get us to reject the New Testament law of faith and live under the Old Testament law of works. And he is very busy doing just that. This is why so many so-called Protestant churches these days emphasize the Old Testament, observe Passover, Sabbath, and other Jewish feasts, and call Jesus Jeshua or Jehuda. It is part of Satan’s plan to bring the Protestant Church back under the Old Testament law: to put a vail over our hearts and blind us to the Truth, so that Satan can have dominion over us again.
Satan wants to be like God (Isaiah 14:14), which is the origin of the phrase “As Above, So Below.” Whatever God is doing in Heaven, Satan wants to do in the earth. As God commanded the Jews to wear phylacteries on their hand and forehead to ensure that the law of God would be in their mouths, so will Satan, working through the Antichrist, command the world to wear his mark on their hand and forehead to ensure that his law is in their mouths. The mark of the beast will be the devil’s phylactery.
If you don’t know what the Mark of the Beast is, then you really should watch this video:
Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.
Tony
He Said/She Said – August 17, 2021
“People are eliminated. Honey, you don’t know how many people are just eliminated, just on the operating table alone. They just need to be disposed of. And don’t ever believe what you read in the papers. It’s all made up.”
–Joe Shimon, professional assassin for U.S. Military Intelligence.
Peter Janney, Mary’s Mosaic: the CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision For World Peace (Skyhorse Publishing: 2012), 384; quoted by Richard Belzer, Hit List (Skyhorse Publishing: 2013), vii.
Lift Ev’ry Voice and Whine
Grace and peace.
Recently, the National Football League announced that it will play the so-called Black National Anthem before football games in the 2021 season. The song originally made its NFL debut in the 2020 season, where it was played before the start of Week 1 games. According to Office Sports, the NFL plans to make it a “prominent part of big league events.”
Officially entitled “Lift Every Voice And Sing,” the song began as a poem written by James Weldon Johnson, as a tribute to educator Booker T. Washington. It was publicly performed first as part of a celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. In 1919, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) dubbed it “the Negro national anthem. The song is said to be a “cry for liberation and affirmation for African-American people,” and a “prayer of thanksgiving for faithfulness and freedom.” But, while it begins and continues on this theme, the final lines convey anything but gratitude. Here is the song in its entirety. Pay close attention to the last line:
Lift ev’ry voice and sing,
’Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on ’til victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed.
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past,
’Til now we stand at last,
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
This is a nice song until it reaches the last line. “True to our native land?” Most black Americans are descended from African slaves. Our native land, then, is Africa. Our adopted land, regardless of how and why we got here, is America. Given most of us were born in America, and are therefore Americans, why should we be true to a country where we were not born?
To be true to Africa is to be untrue to America. It cannot be any plainer than that. The Lord Jesus said that a dog cannot serve two masters, as it will love one and hate the other. This can be applied to other things in life. A man cannot be faithful to his present wife and his ex-wife. An employee cannot be faithful to his present boss and his old boss. And a professional athlete cannot be faithful to his present team and his old team. Men have tried to do each of these, and have failed miserably. A man can no more be faithful to two countries than he can be faithful to two women or two gods. HE WILL LOVE ONE AND HE WILL HATE THE OTHER. This is especially true if the two countries are idealogically dissimiliar as in the case of America and Africa.
Slavery no excuse
It is possible to love one’s native country, and still feel an obligation to one’s adopted country—even if he came to that country a slave. Joseph, the son of Jacob, did this very thing. As our ancestors came to America as slaves, so was Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt. And, as has happened to many Blacks, Joseph served time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. And with all this, Joseph had no problem assimilating into Egyptian culture. He adopted Egyptian dress, he adopted Egyptian speech, and he married an Egyptian woman.
No complaints about equality
Joseph was the second greatest man in the kingdom next to Pharaoh, but his own servants would not even eat with him, because the Egyptians considered it an abomination to eat with a Hebrew (Genesis 43:32). Yet, even under those circumstances, Joseph chose to remain in Egypt. Why? I say out of gratitude. Joseph could have been very bitter about being a slave in Egypt, serving time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and being treated like a lower life form by his own servants. Yet, Joseph chose to be grateful, realizing that God had orchestrated his life. Joseph never complained about his circumstances, and the Bible does not record him saying anything derogatory about Egypt or the Egyptians. Joseph loved his native land, even leaving instructions to be buried there when he died. But he felt an obligation to his adopted land: the land where he began as a slave, but was set free and allowed to prosper.
Why should Blacks be any different? Sure, we came to America as slaves. But we are not slaves now. A slave didn’t own anything, not even the clothes on his back. But probably 90% of black Americans today own a TV, and at least half of that own a car. A slave had no money, but even the poorest black in America today has at least a nickel in his pocket. Meanwhile, it is said that over 70% of the world’s population doesn’t know what pocket change is. Most slaves couldn’t read or write, but most black American’s today are literate. A slave could make no decisions about raising his children, because his children were the property of the slave master. But today, in America, most Black parents can decide where they want their children to go to school. And, lastly, all slaves worked for free, while all blacks today work for pay, even if its the minimum wage.
The point I’m making is that like Joseph, Blacks began as slaves, but were set free and eventually allowed to prosper. Many Whites (and even some Blacks) in America have the same sentiments as the Egyptians when it comes to dining with Blacks. And that upsets many Blacks, for some reason. This is why Dr. Martin Luther King boycotted the lunch counters, when if it were me, I would have brought a sack lunch and ate at the park. You cannot legislate love. And you shouldn’t try.
True to which God?
Where there is a conflict of allegiance, there will also be a conflict of worship, because every country has its god. This is accurately reflected in the line, “true to our God, true to our native land.” For the same reason a man cannot serve to countries, he cannot serve two gods. There is biblical precedent for this. In the Old Testament, a Syrian general named Naaman begins to worship the God of Israel after he is healed of leprosy. But, though he had vowed to worship no other God but the Lord (2 Kings 5:17), he was duty-bound to accompany his king into the house of his god when the latter worshipped. Knowing that he could no longer worship dumb idols after pledging himself to the Living God, but knowing also that he still had an obligation to his king, Naaman asked the Lord to forgive him anytime he accompanied his king into the house of his idol (2 Kings 5:18). Naaman served one king, but his true loyalty was to the King of kings.
Africa has many gods. So, if one were to be true to Africa, then one would have to choose to worship one or all of those gods. The principal gods of Africa are the Jesus of Roman Catholicism and the Allah of Islam. The despotic nature of both of these religions proves demonstrably that neither the “other Jesus” nor Allah is reconcilable with the God of the Bible, who wishes for all men to be free. No Bible-believing, patriotic Black American, then, could be true to Africa or any of its gods.
But isn’t America racist?
Those who complain that America is racist are either marvelously blind to or inexcusably ignorant of the fact that America is the only country in the world that has granted freedom to all of its citizens, including Blacks. One need only travel to Africa (as I have) to see that while some black Africans enjoy many of the privileges white Africans enjoy, none enjoy all; and the majority enjoy few. In America, however, Blacks have been granted many of the same opportunities as whites. They can hold virtually any job whites can hold (and make the same pay), own property, live virtually anywhere they choose, and get a good education. And these opportunities are granted by the Constitution, and are therefore law.
One would have to be very naive to think that in a country where blacks where once enslaved, everyone is happy with this arrangement. Blacks are free today because the great martyred president Abraham Lincoln and others like him believed that all men, including Blacks, deserved to be free. Jefferson Davis, however, and others like him did not agree. They believed that Blacks should be enslaved, and started a war to decide this question. By the grace of the Lord Jesus, Abraham Lincoln won that war, signing the Emancipation Proclamation, temporarily abolishing slavery. Subsequently, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery forever.
But there are still those who believe that Blacks should be enslaved. What today is called racism is really resistance to the fact that the very people who once used to be property are now free to own property. Racism, then, is the direct bi-product of freedom. Our bulwark against such people is the Constitution which, thankfully, enough people support for Blacks to remain free. The existence of “racists” doesn’t make America racist. America is a country of laws. If, then, America were racist, as many rebellious blacks contend, then there would be more laws limiting our liberties than those granting us liberty. As it stands, the opposite is true. While there is no question that many Americans are racist, America is not.
Racism or slavery?
Blacks must understand that we cannot have our cake and eat it too. We have to choose between racism and slavery, because—make no mistake—those are our only choices. There can be no freedom for blacks without racism, because not everyone wants to see us free. And if you are waiting for a day when everyone will be in agreement that blacks deserve to be free, then please don’t hold your breath. That day will never come. If you want to be free, then you must accept racism, because the only alternative is slavery.
Be true to your adopted land
To want anything more than freedom is to be greedy. And to want everyone to be happy with your freedom is to be foolish. America has already apologized for the crime of slavery by granting us freedoms that are the envy of the world. This country doesn’t owe us anything more. So, if you want to be “true to your native land,” then move to Africa. But if you want to be true to your adopted land, then remain in America. And, if you remain, be grateful.
I don’t know about you, but the “Black National Anthem” as it is written, doesn’t represent me.
P.S. If you must sing, “Lift Ev’ry Voice And Sing,” then at least replace “true to our God, true to our native land” with “true to our God and our adopted land.” That’s what I have done.
He Said/She Said – Saturday July 31, 2021
Interview with Ed Haslam, author of Dr. Mary’s Monkey
Dr. Mary’s Monkey: How the unsolved murder of a doctor, a secret laboratory in New Orleans and cancer-causing monkey viruses are linked to Lee Harvey Oswald, the JFK assassination and emerging global epidemics.
In this compelling interview, author Ed Haslam details his investigation into the 1964 murder of Dr. Mary Sherman in New Orleans, and how her death was tied to an underground laboratory where cancer-causing monkey viruses were weaponized for political assassination purposes. These same viruses, Haslam reveals, were discovered in the polio vaccines of the 50’s and 60’s and are responsible for the global epidemic of cancer that began in the 90’s.
Haslam also discusses the links between the laboratory and the JFK assassination, and reveals a not widely known connection between Lee Harvey Oswald and his assassin, Jacob Rubenstein aka Jack Ruby. A fascinating interview.
Testimony of Monica Farrell
The author of Ravening Wolves, and From Rome To Christ, Monica Farrell was a former Irish Roman Catholic who was converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and became an evangelist. According to someone claiming to have interviewed her in the 1970’s, Ms. Farrell testified to having survived two attempts on her life to prevent her from publishing Ravening Wolves (an attempt was made to poison her, and a tree was dropped on her car).
When Ms. Farrell went to the Sydney docks to pick up her booklets that were being printed in Melbourne, Australia, she discovered that the Roman Catholic dock workers were told not to unload them. The ship carrying the books then headed back to Melbourne. Undeterred, Ms. Farrell prayed for the ship’s return. Miraculously, a storm forced the ship to return to Sydney, and she picked up her books. Monica Farrell’s testimony is available for download below.
From Rome to Christ: Testimony of Alberto Rivera
A former Jesuit priest, Alberto Rivera was introduced to the world through the ministry of Gospel tract publisher Jack Chick. Rivera’s incredible testimony can be found in the Alberto series of comic tracts produced by Chick Publications. Videos of some of his sermons are below.
DISCLAIMER: Both Jack Chick and Alberto Rivera were Seventh Day Adventists. The Seventh Day Adventists claim to be a Protestant denomination, but many of their doctrines, such as the Rapture, are not biblical. The book, The Great Controversy, written by Ellen White, the organizations founder, is required reading for all Adventists, and is quoted more often than the Bible. Notwithstanding, Rivera’s testimony gives much insight into the nature, beliefs, and goals of the Roman Catholic Church; and is therefore of great value.
The Shocking Testimony of Sister Charlotte
Charlotte Wells was a former Roman Catholic nun who spent 22 years in a cloistered convent. In this gripping account, Ms. Wells testifies to having experienced and witnessed horrible physical sexual, and psychological abuse and torture committed by priests and nuns against the young nuns in the convent where she was effectively imprisoned. Her testimony is provided hear for your edification. You may read it online below, or download it here. The audio is also provided below.
The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
On August 24, 1572, Roman Catholics murdered Admiral Gaspard de Coligny along with 30,000 other Huguenots (French Protestants) in the city of Paris. Over 70,000 Protestants were butchered in the provinces of France.
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15).
Sources:
1. The Illustrated Dictionary of World History, by William L. Langer, vol. i, p. 404.
2. The Engineer Corps of Hell, by Edwin A. Sherman, p. 22.
He Said/She Said: June 2, 2020
“Saint Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings…He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them…”
Wilton D. Gregory, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington, in a statement condemning President Trump’s visit to the national shrine.
As a young man, Karol Wojtyla (the future Pope John Paul II) worked in the sales department of the Polish branch of the German firm I.G. Farben Industries Group (Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG). I.G. Farben ran the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland as well as manufacturing Zylon B, the gas used to kill the prisoners. Read more about it here.
Iran’s supreme leader releases anti-Israel poster evoking Nazi ‘Final Solution’ | The Times of Israel
As Khamenei shares graphic featuring term, Pompeo and Netanyahu accuse him of seeking genocide of Jews; PM warns ‘regime that threatens destruction of Israel faces similar danger’
— Read on www.timesofisrael.com/pompeo-netanyahu-accuse-iran-supreme-leader-of-endorsing-nazi-final-solution/
Mail Bag: May 18, 2020
Grace and peace, saints.
A brother in Christ wrote me the following letter:
Greetings brother Tony,
I have a couple of questions for you:
1.) Doesn’t all Jack Chick tracts preach a false gospel? The second-last page of every Chick tract point no.2 says .. “Be willing to turn from sin (repent)”. See http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Doctrines/Lordship%20Salvation/bad_tracts.htm for further information.
2.) On the subject of rapture what does 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, John 14:3, Matthew 26:29, 1 Corinthians 11:26, 2 Thessalonians 2:1, Jude 1:4, 1 Thessalonians 3:13.
If Christ returns with us, then we must obviously be with him before He comes. Jesus comes for us (the Rapture), to The Marriage Supper during the time of the Great Tribulation, then returns with us to reign.
Why is the Rapture is [sic] an important fundamental teaching of The Church? We are to encourage each other and not be as those with “no hope”. 1 Thessalonians 4:13, Matthew 24:42-44, Matthew 25:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:4, Hebrews 9:28.
Regards,
Nathaniel Fernandes
This was my responce:
Dear Nathaniel:
First of all, forgive me, brother, for taking so long to respond to your question. Secondly, I thank you for your question and am pleased that you appreciated the article. I have been passing out Chick tracts for almost seven years now, and had come to trust them as biblically sound. But as I matured in the Word, I came to see that Chick Publications in some respects preaches heresy, and as far as I am concerned, they are a tool of the Roman Catholic church, designed to deceive the sincere Christian who cannot be deceived by the devil’s many other devices.
Now with respect to the Rapture, you are absolutely right: we are not to be as those who have no hope, as 1 Thess. 4:13 tells us. But it is important to understand the context in which Paul said this. In this same verse Paul says that he doesn’t want the living saints to be ignorant concerning those who sleep in Jesus, and that they should sorrow not. He follows this by saying in the next verse that as Jesus died and rose again, so shall He bring the dead saints with Him, which means that they shall also rise.
Apparently the living saints were worried that those saints that had already died would not be resurrected. I say this because in verse 15 Paul says that the living saints “shall not prevent them which are asleep;” in other words, that the living saints would not be taken to the exclusion of the dead saints. “Prevent” is also translated as “precede” which would also seem to suggest that it was thought that the living saints would be “raptured” before the dead saints. This too, would be consistent with Rapture teaching.
It is clear that Rapture theology was already abroad in the Christian church, and the saints at Thessalonika, knowing that there is only one resurrection for those in Christ—living or dead, understood that if the Rapture only involves the living saints, then the dead saints would be left behind. It is for this reason that in verse 17 Paul assures the church that both the living and dead saints—the quick and the dead—would be taken in the Resurrection and further admonishes us to “comfort one another with these words.”
Rapture theology was not formerly a fundamental teaching of the Christian church, which is why it is not found in the Bible. The Rapture emphasizes the translation of the living saints into Heaven, and says absolutely nothing about the resurrection of the dead. That is what makes it so dangerous. It deceives people into believing that they will not see persecution during the Tribulation. Because the moment you consider the dead saints in Christ, you have to accept that Christians will in fact pass through the fire: an unpleasant thought for most people.
Remember that Jesus said that he who would save his life would lose it, but he who would lose his life for Jesus’ sake would find it (Mat. 10:39, 16:25). (That Jesus says this twice would suggest that we should heed this advice.) We are not to concern ourselves so much with the prospect of dying for our witness that we would latch onto any doctrine that gives us a modicum of comfort and security, and, for fear of our lives, fail to witness to those who hate us. Rapture theology not only gives Christians a false sense of security, but also encourages them to “love their lives unto death” and become ineffective Christians. The result is a lukewarm Christian who doesn’t feel a burden for the lost and who goes to church merely to celebrate his own salvation.
REPENTANCE
Repentance is biblical. Repentance is essential to salvation, as it is what leads us to confess our sins. We are led to repent when the Holy Ghost convicts us of sin (John 16:8). Scripture says that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). This agrees with 2 Peter 3:9, which teaches that God wants all men to come to repentance. We know that the first words uttered by both Jesus Christ and John the Baptist during their ministries was “Repent!” (Mat. 3:2, 4:17), and Jesus also admonished the Pharisees and Saducees to “bring forth fruits meet for repentance (Mat. 3:8). And the apostle Peter in the second and third chapters of the Book of Acts exhorts the Jews to repent (Acts 2:38, 3:19). It is clear, therefore, that repentance is essential to salvation.
Now the webmaster at Jesus Is Savior, believes that repentance is unbiblical, evidenced by this statement:
“According to Jack Chick’s theology taught in every Chick tract, admitting being a sinner is not enough to be saved, there must also be a sincere desire to stop living in sin for that faith to be valid for salvation. That is not Biblical.“
While I don’t agree with all of Chick’s theology, the concept that repentance is essential for salvation is in fact, biblical, as we have just seen. Merely admitting that one is a sinner is not enough to be saved, any more than merely believing in Jesus Christ, but not submitting to His authority or obeying his commandments makes one a Christian. A sincere desire to stop sinning is crucial to salvation, because without it, one would soon be back to indiscriminately sinning as one did before coming to Jesus. This is why so many backslide: they had not determined in their hearts to stop sinning and consequently, it was easy for Satan to beguile them into falling back into the same sinful habits.
Many have a problem with Jack’s claim that one must “be willing to turn away from sin,” but they fail to understand that all we can do is will. We are powerless to stop sinning on our own. If we could stop sinning, then we would also be capable of saving ourselves, and if this were true, then the sacrifice of Jesus would not have been necessary. Jesus said that without Him we could do nothing (John 15:1), so it is impossible for us to stop sinning. Therefore, all that is necessary is for us to be willing to turn away from sin, and this is inherent in the act of repentance. God will then make it possible for us to stop sinning, “for it is God which worketh in [us] both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
With regard to “Lordship Salvation,” there is no such animal, as there is only salvation and damnation. There is, however, the concept of accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord as well as making Him your Savior, and it is as simple as letting Him rule your thoughts and actions in addition to accepting His sacrifice on the cross. This concept is encapsulated in the idea of “bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
You must understand that the teaching that repentance is unnecessary for salvation is dangerous, because repentance is what leads us to earnestly seek God’s forgiveness. Would you accept someone’s apology for having wronged you if you knew they were not truly sorry? It is no different with God. The Bible says that “godly sorrow leads to repentance.” If one does not truly repent for having sinned against a Holy God and determine in his mind that he will eschew sin, he will not truly confess his sins before God, and his “salvation” will exist only in his mind. Salvation begins with repentance. To be clear, I said salvation begins with repentance. Salvation is not repentance.
An example of the result of a claim to salvation without repentance is Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholics consider themselves Christians because they have been baptized and pay lip service to Jesus, but because most have been baptized as infants, they have never truly repented for their sins and confessed their sins before God. This is why they will come before a sinful man (priest) and confess their sins to him as often as they like instead of God. There is no repentance involved; that is, there is no earnest desire to turn away from sin. This is why Roman Catholics constantly commit the same sins over and over again and must continually go to confession. It is also the reason why Roman Catholics are guilt-ridden and susceptible to all kinds of deceptions promoted as a means for them to obtain less time in a non-existent Purgatory. Only sincere repentance and confession of sins is sufficient not only to obtain forgiveness for sins, but also to eliminate the crushing weight and guilt of sin.
To summarize, Chick tracts don’t preach a false Gospel; as the Gospel is that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died and shed His blood on the cross for the remission of our sins, was buried, rose on the third day, and is coming back. In this regard, to my knowledge, Chick is on point. They do however, advocate a false doctrine: that of the Rapture, in which Chick teaches Jesus will clandestinely whisk the saints to Heaven prior to the Tribulation. This is a clear heresy, as the Bible only teaches a Resurrection of the quick and the dead. However, Chick’s teaching of repentance as essential to salvation is scriptural, and I will concur with this teaching until the Spirit says otherwise.
I hope this helps. God bless you and if you have any more questions, please be sure to let me know.
Choose To Be Joyful
Since I left Munich and returned to the States in 2017, I have been involved in a monumental struggle with feelings of anger, disappointment, and betrayal. The Christian life is a big enough struggle in and of itself, striving daily against sin and temptation; but when you add to the mix feelings of anger, disappointment, betrayal, and being separated from your youngest child, life can be extremely difficult, to say the least.
For the past three or four months, I would find myself constantly reflecting on what my life would have been had I not met my wife. These thoughts dominated my waking mind and robbed me of sleep on more than one occasion. It had gotten so bad, that I found myself unable to have a conversation with my son without somehow making a connection to my wife; and I rarely had anything nice to say: I was angry.
Anger is a doorway for Satan, so I often prayed that the Lord Jesus would deliver me from these feelings; but the wait was arduous. Finally, about six months ago, I began to see the fruit of this prayer. But it still wasn’t happening as quickly as I would have liked. My rantings were getting fewer and farther in between, but I was still good for the occasional two-hour lecture generously seasoned with expletives.
Finally, last week, realizing that this had gone on for far too long, I told my son what was going on and asked him to pray for me. “Sure” He said, “We can pray about it together tonight.” It had never occurred to me to ask him to pray with me about this. So, that night, we prayed together.
Well, God did not wait long to answer. Two nights later I awoke in the middle of the night, and couldn’t go back to sleep. Staring at the back of my eyelids, and praying in my spirit, I suddenly remembered that many years ago, while in the Army, I learned that anger is a choice. I had never before gave it much thought, but as I pondered this, I realized that before I say or do anything out of anger, there has always been a split second when I am totally aware that I’m about to do or say something I ought not do or say. Right then, a still, small voice tells me not to do or say that thing I’m getting ready to do or say. But 99.9999% of the time, I deliberately ignore that voice. I choose to get angry.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that if I can choose to be angry, then I can choose to be something else. At first I thought, “I’ll be happy.” But then I realized that happiness, as it is generally understood, is not sustainable for me, because it “results from the possession or attainment of what one considers good.” Right now, what would be good for me would be for my family to be together, and that everyone loved the Lord;. But, unfortunately, this is not the case. How, then, can I be happy? If we can only be happy if we get what we want, how will we ever be happy, when most of us don’t get what we want, and many of us often get what we don’t want?
It was then that the Lord told me that the answer is not to be happy, but to be joyful: to be full of joy. Joy is defined as “the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something good or satisfying.” To be satisfied is to be content, which means to be “satisfied with what a person is or has; not wanting more or anything else” (Random House Collegiate Dictionary). To be joyful, then, is to good with where you are.
I had always defined joy as being happy even when you don’t get what you want, but I had never truly experienced it. What I thought was joy was really happiness, as there was always something external that brought me that happiness. Now I understand that to have joy means to be perfectly satisfied with who you are and with what you have, especially when things are less than ideal (OK, when they suck). That takes some serious practice, because Satan is always busy making us dissatisfied with who we are and what we have. That’s why plastic surgery, tummy-tucks, and hair weave are so popular. That’s why we will go into unnecessary debt to buy a car that’s really not much better than the one we had. We’re just not satisfied.
That realization was a game-changer for me. For the first time, I understood that my anger was not so much directed towards my wife as it was directed towards me. Rather than being satisfied with myself and where I am in life, I was dissatisfied with myself, and I blamed my wife for it. True, there are certainly many things I have a right not to be happy about with regard to my wife; but she is not responsible for everything I am angry about. Moreover, I know that God is in control. And if God is in control, then everything’s gonna be alright. I should be joyful: that is, satisfied, since God Himself orders my steps. To be dissatisfied with myself is essentially to be dissatisfied with God, because He is executing His plan for my life.
I’ve made some great strides in these past days, but my struggles are not over by any means. Having arrived at the solution, it still remains for me to apply it diligently to my life. Joy is a choice; and I must choose every day to be content with who I am and what I have, no matter what the circumstances.
“Be content with such things as ye have” (Hebrews 13:5).
Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.
Tony
RIP President Lincoln
What Roman Catholics Really Believe: The Power of the Keys
The Roman Catholic Church claims that its priests are endowed with two supernatural powers: the power to turn bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in the “Sacrifice of the Mass,” and the power to forgive sin in the Sacrament of Penance. The latter power, which the romish church calls the “power of the keys,” is defined by A Practical Catholic Dictionary as:
“The ecclesiastical power given by Jesus Christ to St. Peter and his successors. Jesus said to Peter: ‘And I will give thee the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.’ Matthew XVI 19. This power includes that of forgiving sins, and the expression ‘the power of the keys’ is often used to refer to this power to forgive sins.”
A Practical Catholic Dictionary, p. 173
The belief that the Lord Jesus Christ gave the Apostle Peter the keys to heaven is so central to Roman Catholicism that the emblem of the Holy See features two crossed keys. Called the Keys of Simon Peter, the crossed keys symbolize the Vatican’s claim that the Pope of Rome holds all power in heaven and on earth.
The Vatican says this about the Keys of Simon Peter:
“The symbolism [of the keys of Simon Peter] is drawn from the Gospel and is represented by the keys given to the Apostle Peter by Christ. Since the XIV Century, the two crossed keys have been the official insignia of the Holy See. The gold one, on the right, alludes to the power in the kingdom of the heavens, the silver one, on the left, indicates the spiritual authority of the papacy of earth. The mechanisms are turned up towards the heaven and the grips turned down, in other words into the hands of the Vicar of Christ.”
https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/sp_ss_scv/insigne/sp_ss_scv_stemma-bandiera-sigillo_en.html
It is neither true that the power of the keys comes from Matthew 16:19, nor that the symbolism of the keys is drawn from the Gospel. Matthew 16:19 is the last verse of a discourse between Jesus and His disciples that begins when the Lord Jesus asks his disciples:
“Whom do men say that the Son of man am?
“And they [His disciples] said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
“He [Jesus] saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 16:16-19
Jesus is the Rock, not Peter
The Vatican claims that the Lord Jesus founded His Church on the Apostle Peter, when He said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I shall build my church.” This is Catholic tradition, however, and not biblical truth. Peter is from the Greek word petros and means a stone. A stone is defined as “a piece of rock of relatively small size”: in other words, a pebble. Pebbles do not make a suitable foundation for a building. The word rock, however, is from the Greek petra, and means “a large mass of stone forming a peak or cliff” (Webster’s).
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Rock (Petra):
“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea…And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” [CAPS in original.]
1 Corinthians 10:1,4
If the Lord would have declared Peter to be the rock, then He would have denied both Himself and Scripture, as the Bible says:
“For who is God save the Lord? or who is a Rock save our God?”
Psalm 18:31
When the Lord Jesus said, “Thou art Peter,” He was merely keeping His word; as the Lord said that whomever would confess Him before men, He would confess before His Father; and whomever would deny Him before men, He would deny before His Father (Matthew 10:32,33). When Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Lord, being a Man of His Word, promptly confessed Peter before His Father. The importance of this becomes crystal clear when one considers that the night prior to Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter denied Him three times. By asking, “Whom do ye say that I am?” Jesus was giving Peter an opportunity to confess Him before men, knowing that he would later deny Him before men.
Christ is the foundation, not Peter
Peter is the foundation of the Roman Catholic Church (St. Peter’s Square, St. Peter’s Basilica, St. Peter’s Chair, etc.), but Peter is not the foundation of the true Church of Jesus Christ. If he were, then God would be a liar, for the Word of God says,
“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 3:11
True Church of Christ is built on Peter’s confession, not Peter
When the Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build my church,” He was speaking of Himself, and declaring that His Church would be built upon Peter’s confession, “Thou art the Christ.” This is important, because most people at the time, including some of Jesus’ disciples, were unwilling to confess Jesus as the Christ. And of those that were willing, many were afraid to, because the Pharisees had decreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue (John 9:22). Getting put out of the synagogue was similar to a Roman Catholic being excommunicated.
The situation is the same today. While many are willing to say that Jesus was a great man, a great teacher, or a prophet, they are unwilling to believe and even less willing to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus’ identity as the Christ is the foundation of the Gospel. If Jesus is not the Christ, “The Anointed One,” or “The Promised One,” then the world is hopelessly lost. This is why the followers of Jesus were called Christ-ians (Acts 11:26), which means follower of Christ. To follow Jesus is to believe that He is the Christ.
Loosing and binding are not forgiveness of sin
The Vatican maintains that loosing and binding is forgiveness of sin, but the Lord Jesus neither mentions sin nor forgiveness of sin in Matthew 16:19. In fact, it is not even clear from the passage what loosing and binding are. While it may suit the Roman Catholic Church to base a doctrine on a passage of Scripture that doesn’t even address the substance of that doctrine, the true church of Christ would never do such a thing. A doctrine must be based on Scripture, not the reverse. If the Bible doesn’t support the doctrine, then it must be abandoned.
The Lord Jesus taught that the truth should be established by the testimony of two or more witnesses (Matthew 18:16). Since Matthew 16:19 does not support the claim that loosing and binding refer to the priest’s power to forgive sin, further testimony is needed to support the Vatican’s claim. Unfortunately, the Bible gives no corroborating testimony.
In Chapter 18 of the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord Jesus makes it clear what the power to bind and to loose is:
“Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Matthew 18:18-20
It is clear that Jesus is talking about prayer, because in this sense, to agree means to pray for the same thing. Since Jesus is talking about prayer, then the power to loose and to bind have to do with prayer, and not forgiveness of sin.
Proof of this can be found in the Gospel of Luke, where the Lord Jesus heals a woman from a disease which left her bowed over and unable to stand upright for eighteen years:
“And [Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
“And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.
“And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
“And He laid His hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
“And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and [the ruler] said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.
“The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath day loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
“And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?”
Luke 13:10-16
It is important to note that this woman had “a spirit of infirmity,” meaning her disease was caused by a demon. Jesus said that the woman was bound by Satan, and healed her, saying, “Thou art loosed from thine infirmity.” To be bound, then, is to be afflicted by Satan through demonic influence; and to be loosed is to be delivered from demonic affliction by the Lord Jesus Christ. This woman’s affliction was physical, but a person can also be bound psychologically, such as in the case of addiction, mental illness, or demon possession.
The Lord Jesus associated binding with loosing; so it follows that the power to bind, as it concerns Christians, is the ability to bind the demonic influence at work in a person in order that he may be loosed from satanic bondage. Proof of this is that when the seventy disciples returned from ministering unto the people (which included casting out devils), they told the Lord:
“Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.”
Luke 10:17
Binding and loosing are what the Protestant Church calls deliverance. Deliverance is accomplished through the prayers of two or more believers interceding on the behalf of an afflicted person. Such prayer is known as intercessory prayer or intercession. The Apostle James talks about this:
“Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”
James 5:14,15
It is clear from this passage that forgiveness of sins is not being granted by a priest, as the deliverance is to be performed by the elders of the church. And not only are the elders praying for the afflicted person, but the afflicted person is praying for himself, confessing his sins directly to God, not a priest.
The keys to heaven are symbolic
Notwithstanding the claims of the Roman Catholic Church, Jesus did not give the Apostle Peter any literal keys. If He had, the Bible would have recorded it. As the Bible records no such act, then it is clear that the keys to which the Lord Jesus referred are symbolic.
The true nature of the keys are made clear when one considers that the Lord Jesus said, “Where two or more are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19). Because Jesus said that His Father would give Him anything He asked, it follows that if Jesus is with us when we pray to the Father, then the Father will grant us whatever we ask; because the Lord Jesus is asking on our behalf. He will do this, however, only if we are gathered together in His name.” The key to the kingdom of heaven, then, is for two or more to agree in prayer in the name of Jesus.
Moreover, the keys to heaven were not just given to Simon Peter, as can be seen by comparing Matthew 16:19 with Matthew 18:18:
“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 16:19
“Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 18:18
In Matthew 16:19, the Lord Jesus uses the second person singular pronouns thou and thee (you), meaning He is addressing Simon Peter alone. In Matthew 18:18, however, the Lord Jesus uses the second person plural pronouns ye and you (“you all”), which means that He is addressing all of His disciples. And the Lord Jesus is not only addressing the Apostles: He is talking about all believers, present and future, as He says:
“Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”
Matthew 18:19
If the Lord Jesus were only addressing the disciples that were present when He uttered these words, then He would have again used the pronouns ye and you, saying, ‘if two of you shall agree as touching any thing that ye shall ask, it shall be done for you of my Father.’ But the Lord does something interesting: He begins with you (you all); but then switches to the third person plural pronouns they and them. This clearly means that the Lord is addressing a third party not present. I submit that this third party includes both those disciples of that time who were not present, and those disciples who were yet to come–you and I.
In a word, Jesus gave the “power of the keys” to all who are trusting in His blood: past, present, and future.
Conclusion
The Roman Catholic Church says that the power of the keys is the priest’s power to forgive sin, but the Bible does not support this contention. Only God can forgive sin, and the priest is not God. Moreover, the Lord Jesus never gave Peter any keys. The true keys of the kingdom of heaven are not literal, but symbolic; and refer to the grace by which God hears and answers the prayers of all who come to Him in the name of Jesus. The power to bind and to loose are not the power to forgive sin, but the power to intercede through corporate prayer on behalf of a person afflicted by the devil and deliver him from bondage. The Lord Jesus did not only give this power to Simon Peter and the Apostles, but also to all who are trusting in His blood for their salvation.
“The Truth shall make you free.”
May the grace of the Lord Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, Amen.
Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.
Tony Keeton
Jesus Never Will
This is a hymn I wrote to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. It is called “Jesus Never Will.” (I own the rights to it.)
I trusted Jesus many years ago,
And I trust in Him still;
I never doubted His abilities,
Never questioned His skill;
I believe He created everything,
The blue skies and rolling hills;
And I know that He loves me,
And that He always will;
2. Now, I’ve learned that He will chastise me,
When I step out of His will;
And just like any good Father,
At times His wrath you will feel;
Heaven and earth bear witness,
That I’m marked with His Seal;
Through all the trials and tribulations,
Leave me He never will. And I know that…
REFRAIN
Jesus never will (Chorus says, “no, no, no, no, no”)
Jesus never will;
Now, He will do a lot a things,
But leaving me ain’t one of them;
He was there when I was born y’all,
And He’s here with me still;
Yeah, Jesus will do a lot of things,
But leaving me ain’t one of them!
3. He’s taken me through some rough times,
Some of them I still feel,
Had to leave my baby girl in Germany,
And that hurts a great deal;
He said, “Tony, I’m perfecting you,”
And I believe Him;
He told me that I must be patient,
His peace in me He’d instill.
4. Through the good times and bad times,
Look over my shoulder He’s there still;
Time and again Jesus has proven,
That His care for me is real;
When I call Him in the darkness,
“Hey are you there?” He says, “Still”;
Friends and family may forsake me,
But my Jesus never will. Yes I know that…
REFRAIN
5. He let them hang Him on a sinner’s Cross,
Up on old Calv’ry Hill;
There He died and shed His Blood for me,
Just to do His Father’s will;
They laid Him in an empty tomb y’all,
And it lays empty still;
’Cause Jesus He ain’t there no mo’,
Death could not hold Him.
6. My Savior said He’s coming back for me,
And I’ll wait for Him ‘til;
I see Him come in glory with the clouds,
To take me up there with Him;
He’ll wipe my tears away, Hallelujah!
His love will be fulfilled;
“Never leave me, nor forsake me,”
He promised me that He will. Refrain!
REFRAIN
He Said/She Said – October 29, 2019
I Told You So
Grace and peace.
A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you an article discussing the fact that President Donald Trump, before taking residence, had the White House exorcised by a Roman Catholic priest. After the exorcism, the President asked the priest if he could keep a desk-sized replica of “Our Lady of Fatima,” an apparition of the idol called the Virgin Mary.
We also discussed Our Lady of America, a movement which I believe to be part of the Roman Catholic Takeover of America.
I proposed that because the United States is the most powerful country in the world, and belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, then the President of the United States would be the de facto Holy Roman Emperor. The new Charlamagne.
Well, imagine my surprise when this morning I saw a news item that depicted President Trump at a summit standing in front of a “fake” presidential seal featuring a double-headed eagle. The article suggested the seal was intended to satirize President Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, which has the double-headed eagle on its coat of arms. It is also featured on the flags of Serbia, Albania, and Montenegro.
What the article failed to mention was that the double-headed eagle was originally the emblem of the Roman Empire/Holy Roman Empire.
Turning Point USA, the organization that hosted the summit, attributed the seal to “a last minute A/V” mistake.” Folks, that was no mistake: it was both an announcement and a pronouncement. Amazon even has T-shirts for sale depicting the “fake presidential seal.
You may be interested to know that the Holy Roman Empire is one of the symbolic meanings of the Beast of Revelation 13:
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns then crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy” (Revelation 13:1).
The Bible says that the Beast “was and is not, and yet is” (Revelation 17:8), which is a reference to the fact that the Holy Roman Empire, which was supposed to have fallen, is risen again.
It is no accident that this story came out in the immediate aftermath of the El Paso, Texas shootings. People are clamoring for the President to do something about the “gun problem” in America. And he will. The Roman Catholic Takeover of America cannot happen as long as American citizens are armed; and Rome has too much invested to let that little detail spoil their plans.
You have been warned.
P.S.: If you haven’t already, now would be a good time to watch the video below. The excrement is about to hit the fan.
Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.
The Still Man