”With the earliest history of man, Satan began his efforts to deceive our race. He who had incited rebellion in heaven desired to bring the inhabitants of the earth to unite with him in his warfare against the government of God. Adam and Eve had been perfectly happy in obedience to the law of God, and this fact was a constant testimony against the claim which Satan had urged in heaven, that God's law was oppressive and opposed to the good of His creatures. And furthermore, Satan's envy was excited as he looked upon the beautiful home prepared for the sinless pair. He determined to cause their fall, that, having separated them from God and brought them under his own power, he might gain possession of the earth and here establish his kingdom in opposition to the Most High.
Had Satan revealed himself in his real character, he would have been repulsed at once, for Adam and Eve had been warned against this dangerous foe; but he worked in the dark, concealing his purpose, that he might more effectually accomplish his object. Employing as his medium the serpent, then a creature of fascinating appearance, he addressed himself to Eve: "Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Genesis 3:1. Had Eve refrained from entering into argument with the tempter, she would have been safe; but she ventured to parley with him and fell a victim to his wiles. It is thus that many are still overcome. They doubt and argue concerning the requirements of God; and instead of obeying the divine commands, they accept human theories, which but disguise the devices of Satan.
"The woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Verses 2-5. He declared that they would become like God, possessing greater wisdom than before and being capable of a higher state of existence. Eve yielded to temptation; and through her influence, Adam was led into sin. They accepted the words of the serpent, that God did not mean what He said; they distrusted their Creator and imagined that He was restricting their liberty and that they might obtain great wisdom and exaltation by transgressing His law.
But what did Adam, after his sin, find to be the meaning of the words, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die"? Did he find them to mean, as Satan had led him to believe, that he was to be ushered into a more exalted state of existence? Then indeed there was great good to be gained by transgression, and Satan was proved to be a benefactor of the race. But Adam did not find this to be the meaning of the divine sentence. God declared that as a penalty for his sin, man should return to the ground whence he was taken: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Verse 19. The words of Satan, "Your eyes shall be opened," proved to be true in this sense only: After Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, their eyes were opened to discern their folly; they did know evil, and they tasted the bitter fruit of transgression.
In the midst of Eden grew the tree of life, whose fruit had the power of perpetuating life. Had Adam remained obedient to God, he would have continued to enjoy free access to this tree and would have lived forever. But when he sinned he was cut off from partaking of the tree of life, and he became subject to death. The divine sentence, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," points to the utter extinction of life.
Immortality, promised to man on condition of obedience, had been forfeited by transgression. Adam could not transmit to his posterity that which he did not possess; and there could have been no hope for the fallen race had not God, by the sacrifice of His Son, brought immortality within their reach. While "death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," Christ "hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Romans 5:12; 2 Timothy 1:10. And only through Christ can immortality be obtained. Said Jesus: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life." John 3:36. Every man may come into possession of this priceless blessing if he will comply with the conditions. All "who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality," will receive "eternal life." Romans 2:7.
The only one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great deceiver. And the declaration of the serpent to Eve in Eden--"Ye shall not surely die"--was the first sermon ever preached upon the immortality of the soul. Yet this declaration, resting solely upon the authority of Satan, is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom and is received by the majority of mankind as readily as it was received by our first parents. The divine sentence, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20), is made to mean: The soul that sinneth, it shall not die, but live eternally. We cannot but wonder at the strange infatuation which renders men so credulous concerning the words of Satan and so unbelieving in regard to the words of God.
Had man after his fall been allowed free access to the tree of life, he would have lived forever, and thus sin would have been immortalized. But cherubim and a flaming sword kept "the way of the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24), and not one of the family of Adam has been permitted to pass that barrier and partake of the life-giving fruit. Therefore there is not an immortal sinner.
But after the Fall, Satan bade his angels make a special effort to inculcate the belief in man's natural immortality; and having induced the people to receive this error, they were to lead them on to conclude that the sinner would live in eternal misery. Now the prince of darkness, working through his agents, represents God as a revengeful tyrant, declaring that He plunges into hell all those who do not please Him, and causes them ever to feel His wrath; and that while they suffer unutterable anguish and writhe in the eternal flames, their Creator looks down upon them with satisfaction.
Thus the archfiend clothes with his own attributes the Creator and Benefactor of mankind. Cruelty is satanic. God is love; and all that He created was pure, holy, and lovely, until sin was brought in by the first great rebel. Satan himself is the enemy who tempts man to sin, and then destroys him if he can; and when he has made sure of his victim, then he exults in the ruin he has wrought. If permitted, he would sweep the entire race into his net. Were it not for the interposition of divine power, not one son or daughter of Adam would escape.
Satan is seeking to overcome men today, as he overcame our first parents, by shaking their confidence in their Creator and leading them to doubt the wisdom of His government and the justice of His laws. Satan and his emissaries represent God as even worse than themselves, in order to justify their own malignity and rebellion. The great deceiver endeavors to shift his own horrible cruelty of character upon our heavenly Father, that he may cause himself to appear as one greatly wronged by his expulsion from heaven because he would not submit to so unjust a governor. He presents before the world the liberty which they may enjoy under his mild sway, in contrast with the bondage imposed by the stern decrees of Jehovah. Thus he succeeds in luring souls away from their allegiance to God.
How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell; that for the sins of a brief earthly life they are to suffer torture as long as God shall live. Yet this doctrine has been widely taught and is still embodied in many of the creeds of Christendom. Said a learned doctor of divinity: "The sight of hell torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. When they see others who are of the same nature and born under the same circumstances, plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, it will make them sensible of how happy they are." Another used these words: "While the decree of reprobation is eternally executing on the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their torment will be eternally ascending in view of the vessels of mercy, who, instead of taking the part of these miserable objects, will say, Amen, Alleluia! praise ye the Lord!"
Where, in the pages of God's word, is such teaching to be found? Will the redeemed in heaven be lost to all emotions of pity and compassion, and even to feelings of common humanity? Are these to be exchanged for the indifference of the stoic or the cruelty of the savage? No, no; such is not the teaching of the Book of God. Those who present the views expressed in the quotations given above may be learned and even honest men, but they are deluded by the sophistry of Satan. He leads them to misconstrue strong expressions of Scripture, giving to the language the coloring of bitterness and malignity which pertains to himself, but not to our Creator. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" Ezekiel 33:11.
What would be gained to God should we admit that He delights in witnessing unceasing tortures; that He is regaled with the groans and shrieks and imprecations of the suffering creatures whom He holds in the flames of hell? Can these horrid sounds be music in the ear of Infinite Love? It is urged that the infliction of endless misery upon the wicked would show God's hatred of sin as an evil which is ruinous to the peace and order of the universe. Oh, dreadful blasphemy! As if God's hatred of sin is the reason why it is perpetuated. For, according to the teachings of these theologians, continued torture without hope of mercy maddens its wretched victims, and as they pour out their rage in curses and blasphemy, they are forever augmenting their load of guilt. God's glory is not enhanced by thus perpetuating continually increasing sin through ceaseless ages.
It is beyond the power of the human mind to estimate the evil which has been wrought by the heresy of eternal torment. The religion of the Bible, full of love and goodness, and abounding in compassion, is darkened by superstition and clothed with terror. When we consider in what false colors Satan has painted the character of God, can we wonder that our merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and even hated? The appalling views of God which have spread over the world from the teachings of the pulpit have made thousands, yes, millions, of skeptics and infidels.
The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that constitute the wine of the abomination of Babylon, of which she makes all nations drink. Revelation 14:8; 17:2. That ministers of Christ should have accepted this heresy and proclaimed it from the sacred desk is indeed a mystery. They received it from Rome, as they received the false sabbath. True, it has been taught by great and good men; but the light on this subject had not come to them as it has come to us. They were responsible only for the light which shone in their time; we are accountable for that which shines in our day. If we turn from the testimony of God's word, and accept false doctrines because our fathers taught them, we fall under the condemnation pronounced upon Babylon; we are drinking of the wine of her abomination.
A large class to whom the doctrine of eternal torment is revolting are driven to the opposite error. They see that the Scriptures represent God as a being of love and compassion, and they cannot believe that He will consign His creatures to the fires of an eternally burning hell. But holding that the soul is naturally immortal, they see no alternative but to conclude that all mankind will finally be saved. Many regard the threatenings of the Bible as designed merely to frighten men into obedience, and not to be literally fulfilled. Thus the sinner can live in selfish pleasure, disregarding the requirements of God, and yet expect to be finally received into His favor. Such a doctrine, presuming upon God's mercy, but ignoring His justice, pleases the carnal heart and emboldens the wicked in their iniquity.
To show how believers in universal salvation wrest the Scriptures to sustain their soul-destroying dogmas, it is needful only to cite their own utterances. At the funeral of an irreligious young man, who had been killed instantly by an accident, a Universalist minister selected as his text the Scripture statement concerning David: "He was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead." 2 Samuel 13:39.
"I am frequently asked," said the speaker, "what will be the fate of those who leave the world in sin, die, perhaps, in a state of inebriation, die with the scarlet stains of crime unwashed from their robes, or die as this young man died, having never made a profession or enjoyed an experience of religion. We are content with the Scriptures; their answer shall solve the awful problem. Amnon was exceedingly sinful; he was unrepentant, he was made drunk, and while drunk was killed. David was a prophet of God; he must have known whether it would be ill or well for Amnon in the world to come. What were the expressions of his heart? `The soul of King David longed to go forth unto Absalom: for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.' Verse 39.
"And what is the inference to be deduced from this language? Is it not that endless suffering formed no part of his religious belief? So we conceive; and here we discover a triumphant argument in support of the more pleasing, more enlightened, more benevolent hypothesis of ultimate universal purity and peace. He was comforted, seeing his son was dead. And why so? Because by the eye of prophecy he could look forward into the glorious future and see that son far removed from all temptations, released from the bondage and purified from the corruptions of sin, and after being made sufficiently holy and enlightened, admitted to the assembly of ascended and rejoicing spirits. His only comfort was that, in being removed from the present state of sin and suffering, his beloved son had gone where the loftiest breathings of the Holy Spirit would be shed upon his darkened soul, where his mind would be unfolded to the wisdom of heaven and the sweet raptures of immortal love, and thus prepared with a sanctified nature to enjoy the rest and society of the heavenly inheritance.
"In these thoughts we would be understood to believe that the salvation of heaven depends upon nothing which we can do in this life; neither upon a present change of heart, nor upon present belief, or a present profession of religion."
Thus does the professed minister of Christ reiterate the falsehood uttered by the serpent in Eden: "Ye shall not surely die." "In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods." He declares that the vilest of sinners--the murderer, the thief, and the adulterer--will after death be prepared to enter into immortal bliss.
And from what does this perverter of the Scriptures draw his conclusions? From a single sentence expressing David's submission to the dispensation of Providence. His soul "longed to go forth unto Absalom; for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead." The poignancy of his grief having been softened by time, his thoughts turned from the dead to the living son, self-banished through fear of the just punishment of his crime. And this is the evidence that the incestuous, drunken Amnon was at death immediately transported to the abodes of bliss, there to be purified and prepared for the companionship of sinless angels! A pleasing fable indeed, well suited to gratify the carnal heart! This is Satan's own doctrine, and it does his work effectually. Should we be surprised that, with such instruction, wickedness abounds?
The course pursued by this one false teacher illustrates that of many others. A few words of Scripture are separated from the context, which would in many cases show their meaning to be exactly opposite to the interpretation put upon them; and such disjointed passages are perverted and used in proof of doctrines that have no foundation in the word of God. The testimony cited as evidence that the drunken Amnon is in heaven is a mere inference directly contradicted by the plain and positive statement of the Scriptures that no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:10. It is thus that doubters, unbelievers, and skeptics turn the truth into a lie. And multitudes have been deceived by their sophistry and rocked to sleep in the cradle of carnal security.
If it were true that the souls of all men passed directly to heaven at the hour of dissolution, then we might well covet death rather than life. Many have been led by this belief to put an end to their existence. When overwhelmed with trouble, perplexity, and disappointment, it seems an easy thing to break the brittle thread of life and soar away into the bliss of the eternal world.
God has given in His word decisive evidence that He will punish the transgressors of His law. Those who flatter themselves that He is too merciful to execute justice upon the sinner, have only to look to the cross of Calvary. The death of the spotless Son of God testifies that "the wages of sin is death," that every violation of God's law must receive its just retribution. Christ the sinless became sin for man. He bore the guilt of transgression, and the hiding of His Father's face, until His heart was broken and His life crushed out. All this sacrifice was made that sinners might be redeemed. In no other way could man be freed from the penalty of sin. And every soul that refuses to become a partaker of the atonement provided at such a cost must bear in his own person the guilt and punishment of transgression.
Let us consider what the Bible teaches further concerning the ungodly and unrepentant, whom the Universalist places in heaven as holy, happy angels.
"I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." Revelation 21:6. This promise is only to those that thirst. None but those who feel their need of the water of life, and seek it at the loss of all things else, will be supplied. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son." Verse 7. Here, also, conditions are specified. In order to inherit all things, we must resist and overcome sin.
The Lord declares by the prophet Isaiah: "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him." "Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him." Isaiah 3:10, 11. "Though a sinner do evil an hundred times," says the wise man, "and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him: but it shall not be well with the wicked." Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13. And Paul testifies that the sinner is treasuring up unto himself "wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds;" "tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil." Romans 2:5, 6,9. "No fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." Ephesians 5:5, A.R.V. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14. "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Revelation 22:14, 15.
God has given to men a declaration of His character and of His method of dealing with sin. "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." Exodus 34:6, 7. "All the wicked will He destroy." "The transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off." Psalms 145:20; 37:38. The power and authority of the divine government will be employed to put down rebellion; yet all the manifestations of retributive justice will be perfectly consistent with the character of God as a merciful, long-suffering, benevolent being.
God does not force the will or judgment of any. He takes no pleasure in a slavish obedience. He desires that the creatures of His hands shall love Him because He is worthy of love. He would have them obey Him because they have an intelligent appreciation of His wisdom, justice, and benevolence. And all who have a just conception of these qualities will love Him because they are drawn toward Him in admiration of His attributes.
The principles of kindness, mercy, and love, taught and exemplified by our Saviour, are a transcript of the will and character of God. Christ declared that He taught nothing except that which He had received from His Father. The principles of the divine government are in perfect harmony with the Saviour's precept, "Love your enemies." God executes justice upon the wicked, for the good of the universe, and even for the good of those upon whom His judgments are visited. He would make them happy if He could do so in accordance with the laws of His government and the justice of His character. He surrounds them with the tokens of His love, He grants them a knowledge of His law, and follows them with the offers of His mercy; but they despise His love, make void His law, and reject His mercy. While constantly receiving His gifts, they dishonor the Giver; they hate God because they know that He abhors their sins. The Lord bears long with their perversity; but the decisive hour will come at last, when their destiny is to be decided. Will He then chain these rebels to His side? Will He force them to do His will?
Those who have chosen Satan as their leader and have been controlled by his power are not prepared to enter the presence of God. Pride, deception, licentiousness, cruelty, have become fixed in their characters. Can they enter heaven to dwell forever with those whom they despised and hated on earth? Truth will never be agreeable to a liar; meekness will not satisfy self-esteem and pride; purity is not acceptable to the corrupt; disinterested love does not appear attractive to the selfish. What source of enjoyment could heaven offer to those who are wholly absorbed in earthly and selfish interests?
Could those whose lives have been spent in rebellion against God be suddenly transported to heaven and witness the high, the holy state of perfection that ever exists there,-- every soul filled with love, every countenance beaming with joy, enrapturing music in melodious strains rising in honor of God and the Lamb, and ceaseless streams of light flowing upon the redeemed from the face of Him who sitteth upon the throne,--could those whose hearts are filled with hatred of God, of truth and holiness, mingle with the heavenly throng and join their songs of praise? Could they endure the glory of God and the Lamb? No, no; years of probation were granted them, that they might form characters for heaven; but they have never trained the mind to love purity; they have never learned the language of heaven, and now it is too late. A life of rebellion against God has unfitted them for heaven. Its purity, holiness, and peace would be torture to them; the glory of God would be a consuming fire. They would long to flee from that holy place. They would welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them. The destiny of the wicked is fixed by their own choice. Their exclusion from heaven is voluntary with themselves, and just and merciful on the part of God.
Like the waters of the Flood the fires of the great day declare God's verdict that the wicked are incurable. They have no disposition to submit to divine authority. Their will has been exercised in revolt; and when life is ended, it is too late to turn the current of their thoughts in the opposite direction, too late to turn from transgression to obedience, from hatred to love.
In sparing the life of Cain the murderer, God gave the world an example of what would be the result of permitting the sinner to live to continue a course of unbridled iniquity. Through the influence of Cain's teaching and example, multitudes of his descendants were led into sin, until "the wickedness of man was great in the earth" and "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." Genesis 6:5, 11.
In mercy to the world, God blotted out its wicked inhabitants in Noah's time. In mercy He destroyed the corrupt dwellers in Sodom. Through the deceptive power of Satan the workers of iniquity obtain sympathy and admiration, and are thus constantly leading others to rebellion. It was so in Cain's and in Noah's day, and in the time of Abraham and Lot; it is so in our time. It is in mercy to the universe that God will finally destroy the rejecters of His grace. "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23. While life is the inheritance of the righteous, death is the portion of the wicked. Moses declared to Israel: "I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil." Deuteronomy 30:15. The death referred to in these scriptures is not that pronounced upon Adam, for all mankind suffer the penalty of his transgression. It is "the second death" that is placed in contrast with everlasting life.
In consequence of Adam's sin, death passed upon the whole human race. All alike go down into the grave. And through the provisions of the plan of salvation, all are to be brought forth from their graves. "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust;" "for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Acts 24:15; I Corinthians 15:22. But a distinction is made between the two classes that are brought forth. "All that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29. They who have been "accounted worthy" of the resurrection of life are "blessed and holy." "On such the second death hath no power." Revelation 20:6. But those who have not, through repentance and faith, secured pardon, must receive the penalty of transgression--"the wages of sin." They suffer punishment varying in duration and intensity, "according to their works," but finally ending in the second death. Since it is impossible for God, consistently with His justice and mercy, to save the sinner in his sins, He deprives him of the existence which his transgressions have forfeited and of which he has proved himself unworthy. Says an inspired writer: "Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." And another declares: "They shall be as though they had not been." Psalm 37:10; Obadiah 16. Covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion.
Thus will be made an end of sin, with all the woe and ruin which have resulted from it. Says the psalmist: "Thou hast destroyed the wicked, Thou hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end." Psalm 9:5, 6. John, in the Revelation, looking forward to the eternal state, hears a universal anthem of praise undisturbed by one note of discord. Every creature in heaven and earth was heard ascribing glory to God. Revelation 5:13. There will then be no lost souls to blaspheme God as they writhe in never-ending torment; no wretched beings in hell will mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved.
Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the doctrine of consciousness in death--a doctrine, like eternal torment, opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures,to the dictates of reason, and to our feelings of humanity. According to the popular belief, the redeemed in heaven are acquainted with all that takes place on the earth and especially with the lives of the friends whom they have left behind. But how could it be a source of happiness to the dead to know the troubles of the living, to witness the sins committed by their own loved ones, and to see them enduring all the sorrows, disappointments, and anguish of life? How much of heaven's bliss would be enjoyed by those who were hovering over their friends on earth? And how utterly revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath leaves the body the soul of the impenitent is consigned to the flames of hell! To what depths of anguish must those be plunged who see their friends passing to the grave unprepared, to enter upon an eternity of woe and sin! Many have been driven to insanity by this harrowing thought.
What say the Scriptures concerning these things? David declares that man is not conscious in death. "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Psalm 146:4. Solomon bears the same testimony: "The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything." "Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." "There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10.
When, in answer to his prayer, Hezekiah's life was prolonged fifteen years, the grateful king rendered to God a tribute of praise for His great mercy. In this song he tells the reason why he thus rejoices: "The grave cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day." Isaiah 38:18, 19. Popular theology represents the righteous dead as in heaven, entered into bliss and praising God with an immortal tongue; but Hezekiah could see no such glorious prospect in death. With his words agrees the testimony of the psalmist: "In death there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?" "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Psalms 6:5; 115:17.
Peter on the Day of Pentecost declared that the patriarch David "is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day." "For David is not ascended into the heavens." Acts 2:29, 34. The fact that David remains in the grave until the resurrection proves that the righteous do not go to heaven at death. It is only through the resurrection, and by virtue of the fact that Christ has risen, that David can at last sit at the right hand of God.
And said Paul: "If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." I Corinthians 15:16-18. If for four thousand years the righteous had gone directly to heaven at death, how could Paul have said that if there is no resurrection, "they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished"? No resurrection would be necessary.
The martyr Tyndale, referring to the state of the dead, declared: "I confess openly, that I am not persuaded that they be already in the full glory that Christ is in, or the elect angels of God are in. Neither is it any article of my faith; for if it were so, I see not but then the preaching of the resurrection of the flesh were a thing in vain."--William Tyndale, Preface to New Testament (ed. 1534). Reprinted in British Reformers--Tindal, Frith, Barnes, page 349.
It is an undeniable fact that the hope of immortal blessedness at death has led to a widespread neglect of the Bible doctrine of the resurrection. This tendency was remarked by Dr. Adam Clarke, who said: "The doctrine of the resurrection appears to have been thought of much more consequence among the primitive Christians than it is now! How is this? The apostles were continually insisting on it, and exciting the followers of God to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness through it. And their successors in the present day seldom mention it! So apostles preached, and so primitive Christians believed; so we preach, and so our hearers believe. There is not a doctrine in the gospel on which more stress is laid; and there is not a doctrine in the present system of preaching which is treated with more neglect!"-- Commentary, remarks on I Corinthians 15, paragraph 3.
This has continued until the glorious truth of the resurrection has been almost wholly obscured and lost sight of by the Christian world. Thus a leading religious writer, commenting on the words of Paul in I Thessalonians 4:13-18, says: "For all practical purposes of comfort the doctrine of the blessed immortality of the righteous takes the place for us of any doubtful doctrine of the Lord's second coming. At our death the Lord comes for us. That is what we are to wait and watch for. The dead are already passed into glory. They do not wait for the trump for their judgment and blessedness." But when about to leave His disciples, Jesus did not tell them that they would soon come to Him. "I go to prepare a place for you," He said. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself." John 14:2, 3. And Paul tells us, further, that "the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." And he adds: "Comfort one another with these words." I Thessalonians 4:16-18. How wide the contrast between these words of comfort and those of the Universalist minister previously quoted! The latter consoled the bereaved friends with the assurance that, however sinful the dead might have been, when he breathed out his life here he was to be received among the angels. Paul points his brethren to the future coming of the Lord, when the fetters of the tomb shall be broken, and the "dead in Christ" shall be raised to eternal life.
Before any can enter the mansions of the blessed, their cases must be investigated, and their characters and their deeds must pass in review before God. All are to be judged according to the things written in the books and to be rewarded as their works have been. This judgment does not take place at death. Mark the words of Paul: "He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." Acts 17:31. Here the apostle plainly stated that a specified time, then future, had been fixed upon for the judgment of the world.
Jude refers to the same period: "The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." And, again, he quotes the words of Enoch: "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all." Jude 6, 14, 15. John declares that he "saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: . . . and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books." Revelation 20:12.
But if the dead are already enjoying the bliss of heaven or writhing in the flames of hell, what need of a future judgment? The teachings of God's word on these important points are neither obscure nor contradictory; they may be understood by common minds. But what candid mind can see either wisdom or justice in the current theory? Will the righteous, after the investigation of their cases at the judgment, receive the commendation, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," when they have been dwelling in His presence, perhaps for long ages? Are the wicked summoned from the place of torment to receive sentence from the Judge of all the earth: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire"? Matthew 25:21, 41. Oh, solemn mockery! shameful impeachment of the wisdom and justice of God!
The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of those false doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, incorporated into the religion of Christendom. Martin Luther classed it with the "monstrous fables that form part of the Roman dunghill of decretals."--E. Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, page 255. Commenting on the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, that the dead know not anything, the Reformer says: "Another place proving that the dead have no . . . feeling. There is, saith he, no duty, no science, no knowledge, no wisdom there. Solomon judgeth that the dead are asleep, and feel nothing at all. For the dead lie there, accounting neither days nor years, but when they are awaked, they shall seem to have slept scarce one minute."-- Martin Luther, Exposition of Solomon's Booke Called Ecclesiastes, page 152.
Nowhere in the Sacred Scriptures is found the statement that the righteous go to their reward or the wicked to their punishment at death. The patriarchs and prophets have left no such assurance. Christ and His apostles have given no hint of it. The Bible clearly teaches that the dead do not go immediately to heaven. They are represented as sleeping until the resurrection. I Thessalonians 4:14; Job 14:10-12. In the very day when the silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl broken (Ecclesiastes 12:6), man's thoughts perish. They that go down to the grave are in silence. They know no more of anything that is done under the sun. Job 14:21. Blessed rest for the weary righteous! Time, be it long or short, is but a moment to them. They sleep; they are awakened by the trump of God to a glorious immortality. "For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. . . . So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." I Corinthians 15:52-54. As they are called forth from their deep slumber they begin to think just where they ceased. The last sensation was the pang of death; the last thought, that they were falling beneath the power of the grave. When they arise from the tomb, their first glad thought will be echoed in the triumphal shout: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Verse 55.”
From the book The Great Controversy by Ellen G. White, chapter 33.
Read more about this topic at www.greatcontroversy.org
Sunday, 30 October 2011
A Collapse of the U.S. Economy, Moral Apostasy, and Sunday as a National Day of Rest
All the countries in the world have experienced an economic depression. It started in the USA. Financial experts worldwide with insights into the American economic situation, are now convinced that this crisis will continue, that it is global, and that it will be systematic. This economic crisis has already caused a domino effect, but we will see more of this in the near future. It will result in chaos, not only in the USA, but also throughout the world.
The situation is this: The U.S. has for a long time borrowed huge sums of money from private banking firm, the Federal Reserve System. This is owned by the Rothschild dynasty, one of the promoters of the New World Order. The USA has participated in many wars around the globe, and the more wars it plays a part in, the more money it is obliged to borrow, and the greater the debt burden. It has now been realised, that it cannot pay back all of this money. The situation is clear: The economic depression in the USA has created international shockwaves.
The American economic collapse is likely to affect the world’s stock markets, reducing the worth of shares greatly. Far too many have fallen for the temptation to acquire substantial bank loans at low interest rates. Now, however, interest rates will gradually climb to new heights. There may well be double or worse increases in the price of food and other commodities.
We shall soon see the advantages of counsel given before, namely not to believe the notion of ever-rising stock markets, not to borrow money, because the borrower is the slave of the lender, and that one should move out into the country, where one can cultivate one’s own food, while enjoying the splendours of God’s nature.
There was, of course, an economic crisis in 1929, but the crisis that now has started will be worse. We may be heading for a global systemic crisis, which will destroy the way of working, which the leaders of the world have introduced. Transports will partly be paralysed or come to a standstill because of further increases in the price of oil. In addition, people – especially those in cities – will not get the food they are used to have. And when there is a lack of food, there is social unrest, sparking off even more crises.
Now has come the time to sell your house in the city, where you live, and to make yourself free of debt. At the same time, you should look for a place in the countryside. If you have big loans and stay in your city, you will most likely lose your house, car, etc. If you sell now, you can rent a house cheaply in the country, or buy one there at a modest cost. Perhaps you will profit by first renting a house, before purchasing it, as prices go down? Everyone realising the advantages of moving out into the country, should consider their actions carefully, ensuring those actions are crowned with success and blessings. If someone think that this economic scenario not will be a reality, moving out into the country is always an advantage, letting you prepare for the dire that is ahead of us!
Many religious and political leaders, as well as the man in the street, now feel that we have transgressed the laws of nature. Meanwhile, the Devil is busy killing and destroying, as a result of which we are experiencing accidents and disasters at sea and on land, great conflagrations, tornadoes, cyclones. Moreover, sea levels will rise, causing great devastation, and huge loss of life. In many places, there will be flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, drought, starvation, and even greater moral decay. Indeed, according to Scripture, things will be like they were in Sodom and Gomorrah. Then, immorality flourished in the area of sexuality. You could, then, have sexual intercourse with anyone you lusted after. The same is true of today, with individuals, powers and authorities hardly respecting the Word of God. The new same-sex marriage legislation in Norway and some other countries is clear evidence of this. However, the Bible leaves no room for doubt, saying that: “he… made them male and female”. Nature itself testifies, that man was created male and female. Only they can form couples and procreate in a natural way. In addition we read that: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination”. “For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also did the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.” “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:4; Genesis 2:24; Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; I Corinthians 6:9-10.) It is written, if we keep the commandments of God and obey His laws, blessings will come. If we, however, transgress them, curses will come. Now that religious and political leaders refuse to respect the unambiguous words of Scripture, we will reap the grapes of wrath (Deuteronomy Chapter 28). As immorality increases, we will also experience the proclamation of the gospel as a witness to all the world, together with the introduction of “the mark of the beast” (Revelation 13:15-16 + 14:6-12). Then the end will come!
Some feel that we have deviated from the way of God, and that we have to return to His Ten Commandments, in order to receive His blessings. It is in this context that they want to legislate Sunday rest, to ensure the return of God’s blessings. We welcome their realisation of the advantages of the day of rest, but they are very much wrong in uplifting the unbiblical day of rest, Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection, the first day of the week. The day of rest originated during Creation Week, not as a result of the worship of the Sun, or because of the resurrection of Christ (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11). The death and resurrection of Jesus we remember in the communion service and in baptism (Luke 22:19; Romans 6:3-6).
Today, the leaders of the USA are endeavouring to find something, around which to rally the nation and the world. Sunday as the day of rest is something that both Catholics and most Protestants can agree upon. Many members of the U.S. Congress know this. The individual most enthusiastically championing Sunday as the day of rest is Pope Benedict XVI. He travels the globe uplifting Sunday as the day of rest. He has stated, “Sunday worship is a necessity for all people” and that “without Sunday (worship) we cannot live!” (Taken from www.theTrumpet.com, September 17, 2007).
The pope has also called for Europe to look to its Christian roots and to return to trusting in God and defending traditional values. The Catholic Church wants Sunday observance enshrined in EU law. The European Parliament is debating changes to its Working Time Directive. The Vatican wants a clause in this law that would force every citizen in the European Union to rest on Sunday. (Taken from www.trumpet.com, November 18, 2008).
The Working Time Directive currently makes it illegal for those working, with some exceptions, in the EU to work for more than 48 hours a week. This bill is being revised, and they want to have a text like this in this directive: “The minimum rest period shall in principle include Sunday. Other members of the European Parliament will have this text: “The minimal weekly rest must include Sunday.” We see their intention: They want to have Sunday as a day of rest – by law. Then you are not free to choose. You have to follow the manmade law, if not you will be punished in one or another way. The Bible has foretold that this will happen in the last part of world history. (Rev. 13. 15-17).
The Ten Commandments Commission in the USA is also talking about traditional values. One of the traditional values for the Catholic Church is Sunday as the day of rest. Sunday as the day of rest is not a Biblical value, but a traditional one.
During his visit to the USA in April 2008, the Pope Benedict XVI talked to the major Christian groups, such as The Christian Coalition, The Christian Churches Together, and Catholic Campaign for America. All of these are working to stress Sunday as the day of rest in the USA. The greatest of these groups, The Christian Coalition, has a ten-point programme, point number 7 reading as follows: “Throughout all the land a National Day of Rest shall be honoured by governments and industrial manufacturers and public shopping facilities.”
Many have claimed, that something of this order never would be a burning issue, because the American Constitution says that Congress shall not make laws regulating religion. Now we see, though, that this issue once again is on the agenda. In 1888, certain members of Congress attempted to pass Sunday legislation in the USA, but their measure failed to gain the necessary votes. A.T. Jones and some other men then stood forward in the Congress and spoke against the Sunday Law some Congressmen wanted to introduce. In his speech to the Congress he said: “Every man who conducts himself as a good citizen is accountable alone to God for his religious faith, and is to be protected in worshipping God according to the dictates of his own conscience…there is no ground in justice nor in right for their claim that the majority should rule in matters of conscience.” He further said: “In all the powers thus delegated to Congress, there is no hint of any power to legislate upon any religious question, or in regard to the observance of any religious institution or rite. Therefore, this Sunday bill, being a religious bill, is unconstitutional; and any legislation with regard to it will be unconstitutional. Sunday being a religious institution, any legislation by Congress in regard to its observance, will be unconstitutional as long as the United States Constitution shall remain as it is now.
Nor is this all. The nation has been left in doubt as to whether the failure to delegate this power was or was not intentional. The first amendment to the Constitution, in declaring that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”, shows that the failure to delegate such power was intentional, and makes the intention emphatic by absolutely prohibiting Congress from exercising any power with regard to religion. It is impossible to frame a law on the subject of religion that will not prohibit the free exercise of religion. Therefore the first amendment to the Constitution absolutely prohibits Congress from even making any law with regard to any religious subject, or the observance of any religious rite or institution…God appointed the Sabbath for a purpose; and that purpose is that men should remember him in his works of creation, and worship him as Creator…those who are calling for this law is to have the State attempt to supply the religious sanctions which belong with the day of rest, and which only can keep it from being a day of idleness and a day of evil. But they know that the State has none of those religious sanctions; and they know that these will have to be supplied to the State by the church, and then the church will call upon the State, by its power, to force them upon the citizen…for the state to allow itself to be dictated to by the church as is here proposed by Mr. Small, is to render the church superior to the civil power, which can end in nothing but a religious despotism, which is the worst of all despotism. Thus by every line of reasoning that can spring from the subject, it is demonstrated that for the State to fix a day of compulsory rest can only end in evil. Therefore, my proposition is proved, that Sunday laws are not for the good of anybody…if you allow this legislation, you lead to the establishment of a new theocracy after the model of the papacy, and civil government has nothing to do with religious things. This bill is wholly religious; and if you begin this course of religious legislation, you will end only in a theocracy, - a man-made theocracy, - and that will be the papacy repeated.” (The National Sunday law, by Alonzo T. Jones, page 23, 46-47, 54-55, 78).
Now the catholic and fallen protestant members in the USA again try to introduce Sunday as a day of rest. Another major organisation, The Ten Commandments Commission, is also striving to have the unbiblical commandments of the Catechism accepted. These, of course, include Sunday as the day of rest. (You can compare the catechismal commandments with God’s Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3-17.)
When Pope Benedict XVI visited the USA in April 2008, the Cardinal in Chicago, Ill., Francis George, turned to the Pope on behalf of the Catholic leaders in America, presenting a list of priorities shared with the Vatican for the next few years. One of the points was “handing on the faith in the context of sacramental practice and the observance of Sunday worship.”
More than a hundred years ago, Ellen G. White wrote the following about this topic: “The people of the United States have been a favoured people; but when they restrict religious liberty, surrender Protestantism, and give countenance to popery, the measure of their guilt will be full, and national apostasy will be registered in the books of heaven. The result of this apostasy will be national ruin” (Review and Herald, May 2, 1893). And: “As America, the land of religious liberty shall unite with the papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honour the false Sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example. Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis will come upon our people in all parts of the world” (E. G. White, Maranatha, page 214).
When the USA introduces Sunday as the day of rest through a decree or legislation, it will initiate what is called in the Bible “the mark of the beast”, as foretold in Scripture.
On the website www.endtime.net everyone can read and see, that all the characteristics of the “beast” in the 13th Chapter of Revelation, verses 1-10, point to the papacy. One of the identifying characteristics of this “beast” is that it has a mark = the mark of the beast. The Catholic Church, in its own publications, says, that Sunday is a mark of its power and authority. (Catholic Record, London/Ontario, Sept. 1, 1923). The papacy = the beast, and it has a mark = Sunday as the day of rest. Hence, the papal Sunday rest = the mark of the beast. “The mark of the beast” has to do with worship. Since God demands worship on the Bible’s seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, and the papacy and fallen Protestantism demand worship on the Bible’s first day of the week, Sunday, we must choose our authority. When Sunday is introduced as the day of rest with force, a decree or legislation, then “the mark of the beast” is a fact. The Bible says this will be the last test before Jesus Christ returns.
We can see, how the USA and the Vatican co-operate, and soon, the USA will help the papacy in establishing “the mark of the beast” (Revelation 13:11-17). This being the last great test before the return of Jesus Christ, we are very close to the end of this world’s history. The Devil has been allowed to play his cards, showing his true colours, and God has been merciful and condescending in letting both Satan and all people make their choices in life. Now God will soon act and free His people (I Thessalonians 4:15-17; Revelation 15:2; 20:4).
Both members of Congress, religious leaders and those working for Sunday as the national day of rest in the USA, will use every “trick” to put forward their arguments, and they will succeed. They know, that fear will lead people to make a decision. In their argumentation, they will employ fear of global climate change, fear of terrorism, fear of catastrophes, fear of the judgments of God (in consequence of not keeping Sunday as the day of rest).
We are living in the “last hour” of this world’s history. We are living in the hour of judgment, when God will close everyone’s account, deciding who is going to be saved, and who is going to be lost (Rev. 15: 8; Hebrews 9:27; II Corinthians 5:10). If we have humbled ourselves before God, having put all our sin on Jesus, thus obtaining the forgiveness of sins, and asked for power to walk daily with Jesus, we have nothing to fear of the future (I John 1:9 and 5:2).
When we know that persons are approaching a precipice, they must be warned. However, religious leaders are not warning us about the coming crisis. After all, we should expect religious leaders to be awake, but they are saying “Peace, peace” (Jeremiah 6:13-15; I Thessalonians 5:1-6). Their attitude sends people to sleep. What a strange situation! Here we are living in a period, when the end time prophecies of the Bible are coming true in front of our eyes, yet priests are proclaiming a soothing message. People, though, have to be alerted to the coming crisis, so that they can prepare both spiritually and physically. Now is the time to call to God for mercy. Now is the time to cleanse our hearts in subjection to Christ. Now is the time to pray for power to live righteously before God, so that the fruits of the Spirit may become evident in our lives. These characteristics are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance, and such like (Galatians 5:22). We all need the power of the Holy Spirit to live righteously before God, and to be His representatives in these end times! We are to be His witnesses, not in our own strength, but in the power of Him, Who works in us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). Our eternal destiny depends on fearlessly and decidedly taking a stand for Jesus Christ.
Dear friend! The mark of the beast will soon be upon us. The end of the world will occur sooner, than many think. The end is near. Confusion will fill the earth, and there will be great changes and crises throughout the world. These things should not surprise us, because the Bible has told us in a nutshell what will be.
The coming Sunday law is bad news, for this law will pressurise people into accepting the false Sabbath, Sunday. This will mean the end of the liberty of conscience, and persecution against the people of God, who will refuse to accept the false Sunday Sabbath, will be kindled again, like in the Middle Ages, when the Catholic Church hunted down other Christians. Now they will be assisted by apostate Protestants, international laws, “hate laws,” laws against “discrimination,” powers and authorities.
On the other hand, the introduction of “the mark of the beast” is good news, because it shows the nearness of the Second Coming. Should you feel unprepared, now is the time to put your life in order before the return of Jesus!
In the blessed hope,
Abel & Bente Struksnæs
The situation is this: The U.S. has for a long time borrowed huge sums of money from private banking firm, the Federal Reserve System. This is owned by the Rothschild dynasty, one of the promoters of the New World Order. The USA has participated in many wars around the globe, and the more wars it plays a part in, the more money it is obliged to borrow, and the greater the debt burden. It has now been realised, that it cannot pay back all of this money. The situation is clear: The economic depression in the USA has created international shockwaves.
The American economic collapse is likely to affect the world’s stock markets, reducing the worth of shares greatly. Far too many have fallen for the temptation to acquire substantial bank loans at low interest rates. Now, however, interest rates will gradually climb to new heights. There may well be double or worse increases in the price of food and other commodities.
We shall soon see the advantages of counsel given before, namely not to believe the notion of ever-rising stock markets, not to borrow money, because the borrower is the slave of the lender, and that one should move out into the country, where one can cultivate one’s own food, while enjoying the splendours of God’s nature.
There was, of course, an economic crisis in 1929, but the crisis that now has started will be worse. We may be heading for a global systemic crisis, which will destroy the way of working, which the leaders of the world have introduced. Transports will partly be paralysed or come to a standstill because of further increases in the price of oil. In addition, people – especially those in cities – will not get the food they are used to have. And when there is a lack of food, there is social unrest, sparking off even more crises.
Now has come the time to sell your house in the city, where you live, and to make yourself free of debt. At the same time, you should look for a place in the countryside. If you have big loans and stay in your city, you will most likely lose your house, car, etc. If you sell now, you can rent a house cheaply in the country, or buy one there at a modest cost. Perhaps you will profit by first renting a house, before purchasing it, as prices go down? Everyone realising the advantages of moving out into the country, should consider their actions carefully, ensuring those actions are crowned with success and blessings. If someone think that this economic scenario not will be a reality, moving out into the country is always an advantage, letting you prepare for the dire that is ahead of us!
Many religious and political leaders, as well as the man in the street, now feel that we have transgressed the laws of nature. Meanwhile, the Devil is busy killing and destroying, as a result of which we are experiencing accidents and disasters at sea and on land, great conflagrations, tornadoes, cyclones. Moreover, sea levels will rise, causing great devastation, and huge loss of life. In many places, there will be flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, drought, starvation, and even greater moral decay. Indeed, according to Scripture, things will be like they were in Sodom and Gomorrah. Then, immorality flourished in the area of sexuality. You could, then, have sexual intercourse with anyone you lusted after. The same is true of today, with individuals, powers and authorities hardly respecting the Word of God. The new same-sex marriage legislation in Norway and some other countries is clear evidence of this. However, the Bible leaves no room for doubt, saying that: “he… made them male and female”. Nature itself testifies, that man was created male and female. Only they can form couples and procreate in a natural way. In addition we read that: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination”. “For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also did the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.” “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:4; Genesis 2:24; Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; I Corinthians 6:9-10.) It is written, if we keep the commandments of God and obey His laws, blessings will come. If we, however, transgress them, curses will come. Now that religious and political leaders refuse to respect the unambiguous words of Scripture, we will reap the grapes of wrath (Deuteronomy Chapter 28). As immorality increases, we will also experience the proclamation of the gospel as a witness to all the world, together with the introduction of “the mark of the beast” (Revelation 13:15-16 + 14:6-12). Then the end will come!
Some feel that we have deviated from the way of God, and that we have to return to His Ten Commandments, in order to receive His blessings. It is in this context that they want to legislate Sunday rest, to ensure the return of God’s blessings. We welcome their realisation of the advantages of the day of rest, but they are very much wrong in uplifting the unbiblical day of rest, Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection, the first day of the week. The day of rest originated during Creation Week, not as a result of the worship of the Sun, or because of the resurrection of Christ (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11). The death and resurrection of Jesus we remember in the communion service and in baptism (Luke 22:19; Romans 6:3-6).
Today, the leaders of the USA are endeavouring to find something, around which to rally the nation and the world. Sunday as the day of rest is something that both Catholics and most Protestants can agree upon. Many members of the U.S. Congress know this. The individual most enthusiastically championing Sunday as the day of rest is Pope Benedict XVI. He travels the globe uplifting Sunday as the day of rest. He has stated, “Sunday worship is a necessity for all people” and that “without Sunday (worship) we cannot live!” (Taken from www.theTrumpet.com, September 17, 2007).
The pope has also called for Europe to look to its Christian roots and to return to trusting in God and defending traditional values. The Catholic Church wants Sunday observance enshrined in EU law. The European Parliament is debating changes to its Working Time Directive. The Vatican wants a clause in this law that would force every citizen in the European Union to rest on Sunday. (Taken from www.trumpet.com, November 18, 2008).
The Working Time Directive currently makes it illegal for those working, with some exceptions, in the EU to work for more than 48 hours a week. This bill is being revised, and they want to have a text like this in this directive: “The minimum rest period shall in principle include Sunday. Other members of the European Parliament will have this text: “The minimal weekly rest must include Sunday.” We see their intention: They want to have Sunday as a day of rest – by law. Then you are not free to choose. You have to follow the manmade law, if not you will be punished in one or another way. The Bible has foretold that this will happen in the last part of world history. (Rev. 13. 15-17).
The Ten Commandments Commission in the USA is also talking about traditional values. One of the traditional values for the Catholic Church is Sunday as the day of rest. Sunday as the day of rest is not a Biblical value, but a traditional one.
During his visit to the USA in April 2008, the Pope Benedict XVI talked to the major Christian groups, such as The Christian Coalition, The Christian Churches Together, and Catholic Campaign for America. All of these are working to stress Sunday as the day of rest in the USA. The greatest of these groups, The Christian Coalition, has a ten-point programme, point number 7 reading as follows: “Throughout all the land a National Day of Rest shall be honoured by governments and industrial manufacturers and public shopping facilities.”
Many have claimed, that something of this order never would be a burning issue, because the American Constitution says that Congress shall not make laws regulating religion. Now we see, though, that this issue once again is on the agenda. In 1888, certain members of Congress attempted to pass Sunday legislation in the USA, but their measure failed to gain the necessary votes. A.T. Jones and some other men then stood forward in the Congress and spoke against the Sunday Law some Congressmen wanted to introduce. In his speech to the Congress he said: “Every man who conducts himself as a good citizen is accountable alone to God for his religious faith, and is to be protected in worshipping God according to the dictates of his own conscience…there is no ground in justice nor in right for their claim that the majority should rule in matters of conscience.” He further said: “In all the powers thus delegated to Congress, there is no hint of any power to legislate upon any religious question, or in regard to the observance of any religious institution or rite. Therefore, this Sunday bill, being a religious bill, is unconstitutional; and any legislation with regard to it will be unconstitutional. Sunday being a religious institution, any legislation by Congress in regard to its observance, will be unconstitutional as long as the United States Constitution shall remain as it is now.
Nor is this all. The nation has been left in doubt as to whether the failure to delegate this power was or was not intentional. The first amendment to the Constitution, in declaring that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”, shows that the failure to delegate such power was intentional, and makes the intention emphatic by absolutely prohibiting Congress from exercising any power with regard to religion. It is impossible to frame a law on the subject of religion that will not prohibit the free exercise of religion. Therefore the first amendment to the Constitution absolutely prohibits Congress from even making any law with regard to any religious subject, or the observance of any religious rite or institution…God appointed the Sabbath for a purpose; and that purpose is that men should remember him in his works of creation, and worship him as Creator…those who are calling for this law is to have the State attempt to supply the religious sanctions which belong with the day of rest, and which only can keep it from being a day of idleness and a day of evil. But they know that the State has none of those religious sanctions; and they know that these will have to be supplied to the State by the church, and then the church will call upon the State, by its power, to force them upon the citizen…for the state to allow itself to be dictated to by the church as is here proposed by Mr. Small, is to render the church superior to the civil power, which can end in nothing but a religious despotism, which is the worst of all despotism. Thus by every line of reasoning that can spring from the subject, it is demonstrated that for the State to fix a day of compulsory rest can only end in evil. Therefore, my proposition is proved, that Sunday laws are not for the good of anybody…if you allow this legislation, you lead to the establishment of a new theocracy after the model of the papacy, and civil government has nothing to do with religious things. This bill is wholly religious; and if you begin this course of religious legislation, you will end only in a theocracy, - a man-made theocracy, - and that will be the papacy repeated.” (The National Sunday law, by Alonzo T. Jones, page 23, 46-47, 54-55, 78).
Now the catholic and fallen protestant members in the USA again try to introduce Sunday as a day of rest. Another major organisation, The Ten Commandments Commission, is also striving to have the unbiblical commandments of the Catechism accepted. These, of course, include Sunday as the day of rest. (You can compare the catechismal commandments with God’s Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3-17.)
When Pope Benedict XVI visited the USA in April 2008, the Cardinal in Chicago, Ill., Francis George, turned to the Pope on behalf of the Catholic leaders in America, presenting a list of priorities shared with the Vatican for the next few years. One of the points was “handing on the faith in the context of sacramental practice and the observance of Sunday worship.”
More than a hundred years ago, Ellen G. White wrote the following about this topic: “The people of the United States have been a favoured people; but when they restrict religious liberty, surrender Protestantism, and give countenance to popery, the measure of their guilt will be full, and national apostasy will be registered in the books of heaven. The result of this apostasy will be national ruin” (Review and Herald, May 2, 1893). And: “As America, the land of religious liberty shall unite with the papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honour the false Sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example. Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis will come upon our people in all parts of the world” (E. G. White, Maranatha, page 214).
When the USA introduces Sunday as the day of rest through a decree or legislation, it will initiate what is called in the Bible “the mark of the beast”, as foretold in Scripture.
On the website www.endtime.net everyone can read and see, that all the characteristics of the “beast” in the 13th Chapter of Revelation, verses 1-10, point to the papacy. One of the identifying characteristics of this “beast” is that it has a mark = the mark of the beast. The Catholic Church, in its own publications, says, that Sunday is a mark of its power and authority. (Catholic Record, London/Ontario, Sept. 1, 1923). The papacy = the beast, and it has a mark = Sunday as the day of rest. Hence, the papal Sunday rest = the mark of the beast. “The mark of the beast” has to do with worship. Since God demands worship on the Bible’s seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, and the papacy and fallen Protestantism demand worship on the Bible’s first day of the week, Sunday, we must choose our authority. When Sunday is introduced as the day of rest with force, a decree or legislation, then “the mark of the beast” is a fact. The Bible says this will be the last test before Jesus Christ returns.
We can see, how the USA and the Vatican co-operate, and soon, the USA will help the papacy in establishing “the mark of the beast” (Revelation 13:11-17). This being the last great test before the return of Jesus Christ, we are very close to the end of this world’s history. The Devil has been allowed to play his cards, showing his true colours, and God has been merciful and condescending in letting both Satan and all people make their choices in life. Now God will soon act and free His people (I Thessalonians 4:15-17; Revelation 15:2; 20:4).
Both members of Congress, religious leaders and those working for Sunday as the national day of rest in the USA, will use every “trick” to put forward their arguments, and they will succeed. They know, that fear will lead people to make a decision. In their argumentation, they will employ fear of global climate change, fear of terrorism, fear of catastrophes, fear of the judgments of God (in consequence of not keeping Sunday as the day of rest).
We are living in the “last hour” of this world’s history. We are living in the hour of judgment, when God will close everyone’s account, deciding who is going to be saved, and who is going to be lost (Rev. 15: 8; Hebrews 9:27; II Corinthians 5:10). If we have humbled ourselves before God, having put all our sin on Jesus, thus obtaining the forgiveness of sins, and asked for power to walk daily with Jesus, we have nothing to fear of the future (I John 1:9 and 5:2).
When we know that persons are approaching a precipice, they must be warned. However, religious leaders are not warning us about the coming crisis. After all, we should expect religious leaders to be awake, but they are saying “Peace, peace” (Jeremiah 6:13-15; I Thessalonians 5:1-6). Their attitude sends people to sleep. What a strange situation! Here we are living in a period, when the end time prophecies of the Bible are coming true in front of our eyes, yet priests are proclaiming a soothing message. People, though, have to be alerted to the coming crisis, so that they can prepare both spiritually and physically. Now is the time to call to God for mercy. Now is the time to cleanse our hearts in subjection to Christ. Now is the time to pray for power to live righteously before God, so that the fruits of the Spirit may become evident in our lives. These characteristics are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance, and such like (Galatians 5:22). We all need the power of the Holy Spirit to live righteously before God, and to be His representatives in these end times! We are to be His witnesses, not in our own strength, but in the power of Him, Who works in us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). Our eternal destiny depends on fearlessly and decidedly taking a stand for Jesus Christ.
Dear friend! The mark of the beast will soon be upon us. The end of the world will occur sooner, than many think. The end is near. Confusion will fill the earth, and there will be great changes and crises throughout the world. These things should not surprise us, because the Bible has told us in a nutshell what will be.
The coming Sunday law is bad news, for this law will pressurise people into accepting the false Sabbath, Sunday. This will mean the end of the liberty of conscience, and persecution against the people of God, who will refuse to accept the false Sunday Sabbath, will be kindled again, like in the Middle Ages, when the Catholic Church hunted down other Christians. Now they will be assisted by apostate Protestants, international laws, “hate laws,” laws against “discrimination,” powers and authorities.
On the other hand, the introduction of “the mark of the beast” is good news, because it shows the nearness of the Second Coming. Should you feel unprepared, now is the time to put your life in order before the return of Jesus!
In the blessed hope,
Abel & Bente Struksnæs
ANTICHRIST, WHO IS HE? 666
ANTICHRIST, WHO IS HE? 666
1. John 4: 2-3 They that confess not that Christ has come IN FLESH is the Spirit of antichrist.
To point out the right Antichrist, we need more evidences. The Bible gives us many evidences:
We have earlier already heard that the Antichrist power has many names: from 2. Tess. 2. 3-8 he is revealed as THE MAN OF SIN – The son of perdition – He who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, showing himself that he is God – the mystery of iniquity – the wicked.
In Revelation we find more signs of the Antichrist power:
Revelation 13:3
In Daniel chapter 2 and 7, we find the powers that have reigneth on this earth. That is Babylon, Medio/Persia, Greece and Rome. Rome fell in 476 after Christ. The Antichrist power will rise or reign after Rome.
Revelation 13: 5 claims that this power would reign in 42 months. 42 months x 30 days= 1260 days. Ezek. 4: 6 and Numbers 14: 34, says that dealing with time prophecies we shall always count one day for one year.
Daniel 7: 25: The Antichrist power should reign one time times and a half time = one year + two years and ½ = 3 ½ years. 3 years x 360 = 1080 days + ½ year = 180 days.
1080 days + 180= 1260 days.
So this Antichrist power should reign in 1260 days =1260 years. There is no other power in the world that has reigned during this period except for the PAPACY.
The history tells us that the papacy came to power in 538. Then the Ostrogoths, the Heruli and the Vandals, that fought against the pope, where slain – the last one the Ostrogoths in 538. Then the pope could reign over the heretics and over the bishops. He became the head over all bishops.
Verse 3: The Bible says further that this power should get a deadly wound to death, but that this deadly wound should be healed. 538 + 1260 = 1798. What happen in 1798? Then Napoleon sent his soldiers under the leadership of general Berthier to Rome and took pope Pius as a prison to France. The pope died there. The papacy got a deadly wound.
But the deadly wound should be healed.
About two years later, Napoleon inaugurated a new pope. 1n 1929 the popery received the Vatican from Mussolini and today the Vatican has regained its power. It will play an important role to introduce the mark of the beast to all the world.
--- Verse 3: All the world wondered after the beast: Today we see that this prophecy is about to be fulfilled.
- Today the Vatican has erected diplomatic connections with about all countries in the world.
It is no power in the world that has so much wealth as the Vatican. The book: Vaticans billions, written by Auro Manhattan, tells about this. They own much of the industry, oil companies and business in the world.
It is the Vatican that stands behind the ecumenical movement we see today, where Protestants and Catholics make one agreement after another. We can only mention the agreement, ”Joint Declaration” and ”Charta Oecumenica”. The Protestants has given after for Rom, and become fallen protestants.
But this Antichrist power will receive even more power as time is going on, it will help the second beast in Revelation chapter 11, verse 11 to introduce their mark of authority, the mark of the beast. (We will talk about this second beast later on).
--- Verse 5 and 6: ”And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies” … and verse 6: ”And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven”.
How does the Bible define blasphemy? John 10: 33 … tells us that if a man make himself God, this is blasphemy.
Here you have some quotes from Lucius Ferraries Catholic Dictionary, vol. VI, page 438, 442 what the Catholic Church is saying about the pope:
”The pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not mere a man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God.”
Hence the pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven, and of earth, and of the lower regions.”
”Moreover the superiority and the power of the Roman pontiff by no means pertain only to heavenly things, to earthly things, and to things under the earth, but are even over angels, than whom he is greater.”
”For he is so great dignity and power that he forms one and the same tribunal with Christ.”
”The pope is called most holy because he is rightfully presumed to be such.”
----- Today they call the pope, ”Holy Father”, even though Jesus forbade this form of address towards any man. Jesus says in Matt. 23: 9: ”And call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” In John 17: 11 we find that the title ”Holy Father”, exclusively is reserved for the Father in Heaven.
Another type of blasphemy we find in Luke 5: 21: ”Who is he that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?
The pope says that he can forgive sins. Pope John Paul II told Roman Catholics to seek forgiveness though the church and not directly from God.
In a major document on the need for confession of sin, the pontiff laid down guidelines for the world’s nearly 800 million Roman Catholics on the purposes of confessing sins to priests…
The requirement for confessing sin through priests is one of the fundamental principles of Roman Catholicism.”
( The associated Press, December 11, 1984)
But the Bible says in Matthew 6: 12: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. …. So we must go to the person we have done something wrong against, tell him our transgression and ask for forgiveness.
In Luke 17: 3-4 we find these words: Take heed to yourself: If thy brother trespass against you, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to you, saying, I repent; you shall forgive him.”
So we shall go to the person himself, that we have done wrong against, and not to another person, a priest or a pope.
At least we shall go to Christ and receive the full forgiveness there. The apostle Paul says: ”For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” It is Christ we must go to with our sins. We must repent and confess our sins, and he will forgive us. This is not the work of the priests or the pope. They are not the Mediator.
The pope and the catholic priests have tried to take the place of Christ. But only Christ is the mediator between God and us. It is He that we can go to and receive forgiveness. We again read in 1.John. 1:9: ”If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleans us from all unrighteousness.” Let us cling to this promise.
-- Verse 7: ”And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them:
This is referring to the great persecution of the Christians. No reader of history will deny that this statement, too, found its fulfillment in the papacy. The dreadful persecution of the Dark Ages (the stake, the burning of heretics, the crusades) is well known and has indeed blackened the pages of history.
Verse 7: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations:
The papacy has always worked for world dominion. This power reigned over the nations in the Dark Ages, and will regain power in the last days. We see this through the New World Order. We will come back to this.
--- Verse 4: They worshipped the Dragon that gave power unto the beast.
When the papal bull reached Martin Luther he said: ”I despise and attack it, as false… It is Christ himself who is condemned therein… I rejoice in having to bear such ills for the best of causes. Already I feel greater liberty in my heart; for at last I know that the pope is Antichrist, and that his throne is that of Satan himself.”
This statement is in harmony with the Bible text that says that the Dragon/Satan gave power unto the beast/papacy.
In the book of Concordance – The Confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, page 327 it says: ”It is plain that the mark of the Antichrist coincide with those of the pope’s kingdom and his followers.”
This is the same as the conclusion we have taken here: All the signs of the Biblical Antichrist power fit the papacy.
666 is only one of all the signs of the Antichrist power, but also this fits the papacy. The Bible says that 666 is a number of a man (Rev. 13. 18). One of the titles of the pope – in Latin - is VICARIUS FILII DEI, which is translated, ”REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SON OF GOD”. Since the Latin letters have numerical values, we only need to add them up. V=5; C=100; A+R+S+F+E=0; I=1; L= 50; D= 500. Together this is 666.
-- We will end with the first point: The Bible says that the Antichrist power is the power that denies that Christ came in flesh.
The Catholic Church says that Christ came in holy flesh, but the Bible says in Romans 8.: 3, that God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Heb. 2: 14 says: ”Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. So Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh. It was only in that way he could save us. Because where Adam had fallen, there Christ won victory. Therefore he can save us.
But we must also point out that even though Christ came as a man, he was God, but he clothed his divinity in humanity. The Bible says it in this way in
Philippians 2: 5-11: ”Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
So Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh, not in holy flesh.
The last scripture we find in Hebrews 2: 17-18. … In all things he (Christ) was made like unto us. Because he won victory in all points, he can help us when we are being tempted.
The power he received, in order to gain the victory, we also can receive, in gaining the victory over Satan’s temptations. May God help us to cling to Him!
1. John 4: 2-3 They that confess not that Christ has come IN FLESH is the Spirit of antichrist.
To point out the right Antichrist, we need more evidences. The Bible gives us many evidences:
We have earlier already heard that the Antichrist power has many names: from 2. Tess. 2. 3-8 he is revealed as THE MAN OF SIN – The son of perdition – He who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, showing himself that he is God – the mystery of iniquity – the wicked.
In Revelation we find more signs of the Antichrist power:
Revelation 13:3
In Daniel chapter 2 and 7, we find the powers that have reigneth on this earth. That is Babylon, Medio/Persia, Greece and Rome. Rome fell in 476 after Christ. The Antichrist power will rise or reign after Rome.
Revelation 13: 5 claims that this power would reign in 42 months. 42 months x 30 days= 1260 days. Ezek. 4: 6 and Numbers 14: 34, says that dealing with time prophecies we shall always count one day for one year.
Daniel 7: 25: The Antichrist power should reign one time times and a half time = one year + two years and ½ = 3 ½ years. 3 years x 360 = 1080 days + ½ year = 180 days.
1080 days + 180= 1260 days.
So this Antichrist power should reign in 1260 days =1260 years. There is no other power in the world that has reigned during this period except for the PAPACY.
The history tells us that the papacy came to power in 538. Then the Ostrogoths, the Heruli and the Vandals, that fought against the pope, where slain – the last one the Ostrogoths in 538. Then the pope could reign over the heretics and over the bishops. He became the head over all bishops.
Verse 3: The Bible says further that this power should get a deadly wound to death, but that this deadly wound should be healed. 538 + 1260 = 1798. What happen in 1798? Then Napoleon sent his soldiers under the leadership of general Berthier to Rome and took pope Pius as a prison to France. The pope died there. The papacy got a deadly wound.
But the deadly wound should be healed.
About two years later, Napoleon inaugurated a new pope. 1n 1929 the popery received the Vatican from Mussolini and today the Vatican has regained its power. It will play an important role to introduce the mark of the beast to all the world.
--- Verse 3: All the world wondered after the beast: Today we see that this prophecy is about to be fulfilled.
- Today the Vatican has erected diplomatic connections with about all countries in the world.
It is no power in the world that has so much wealth as the Vatican. The book: Vaticans billions, written by Auro Manhattan, tells about this. They own much of the industry, oil companies and business in the world.
It is the Vatican that stands behind the ecumenical movement we see today, where Protestants and Catholics make one agreement after another. We can only mention the agreement, ”Joint Declaration” and ”Charta Oecumenica”. The Protestants has given after for Rom, and become fallen protestants.
But this Antichrist power will receive even more power as time is going on, it will help the second beast in Revelation chapter 11, verse 11 to introduce their mark of authority, the mark of the beast. (We will talk about this second beast later on).
--- Verse 5 and 6: ”And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies” … and verse 6: ”And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven”.
How does the Bible define blasphemy? John 10: 33 … tells us that if a man make himself God, this is blasphemy.
Here you have some quotes from Lucius Ferraries Catholic Dictionary, vol. VI, page 438, 442 what the Catholic Church is saying about the pope:
”The pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not mere a man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God.”
Hence the pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven, and of earth, and of the lower regions.”
”Moreover the superiority and the power of the Roman pontiff by no means pertain only to heavenly things, to earthly things, and to things under the earth, but are even over angels, than whom he is greater.”
”For he is so great dignity and power that he forms one and the same tribunal with Christ.”
”The pope is called most holy because he is rightfully presumed to be such.”
----- Today they call the pope, ”Holy Father”, even though Jesus forbade this form of address towards any man. Jesus says in Matt. 23: 9: ”And call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” In John 17: 11 we find that the title ”Holy Father”, exclusively is reserved for the Father in Heaven.
Another type of blasphemy we find in Luke 5: 21: ”Who is he that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?
The pope says that he can forgive sins. Pope John Paul II told Roman Catholics to seek forgiveness though the church and not directly from God.
In a major document on the need for confession of sin, the pontiff laid down guidelines for the world’s nearly 800 million Roman Catholics on the purposes of confessing sins to priests…
The requirement for confessing sin through priests is one of the fundamental principles of Roman Catholicism.”
( The associated Press, December 11, 1984)
But the Bible says in Matthew 6: 12: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. …. So we must go to the person we have done something wrong against, tell him our transgression and ask for forgiveness.
In Luke 17: 3-4 we find these words: Take heed to yourself: If thy brother trespass against you, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to you, saying, I repent; you shall forgive him.”
So we shall go to the person himself, that we have done wrong against, and not to another person, a priest or a pope.
At least we shall go to Christ and receive the full forgiveness there. The apostle Paul says: ”For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” It is Christ we must go to with our sins. We must repent and confess our sins, and he will forgive us. This is not the work of the priests or the pope. They are not the Mediator.
The pope and the catholic priests have tried to take the place of Christ. But only Christ is the mediator between God and us. It is He that we can go to and receive forgiveness. We again read in 1.John. 1:9: ”If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleans us from all unrighteousness.” Let us cling to this promise.
-- Verse 7: ”And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them:
This is referring to the great persecution of the Christians. No reader of history will deny that this statement, too, found its fulfillment in the papacy. The dreadful persecution of the Dark Ages (the stake, the burning of heretics, the crusades) is well known and has indeed blackened the pages of history.
Verse 7: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations:
The papacy has always worked for world dominion. This power reigned over the nations in the Dark Ages, and will regain power in the last days. We see this through the New World Order. We will come back to this.
--- Verse 4: They worshipped the Dragon that gave power unto the beast.
When the papal bull reached Martin Luther he said: ”I despise and attack it, as false… It is Christ himself who is condemned therein… I rejoice in having to bear such ills for the best of causes. Already I feel greater liberty in my heart; for at last I know that the pope is Antichrist, and that his throne is that of Satan himself.”
This statement is in harmony with the Bible text that says that the Dragon/Satan gave power unto the beast/papacy.
In the book of Concordance – The Confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, page 327 it says: ”It is plain that the mark of the Antichrist coincide with those of the pope’s kingdom and his followers.”
This is the same as the conclusion we have taken here: All the signs of the Biblical Antichrist power fit the papacy.
666 is only one of all the signs of the Antichrist power, but also this fits the papacy. The Bible says that 666 is a number of a man (Rev. 13. 18). One of the titles of the pope – in Latin - is VICARIUS FILII DEI, which is translated, ”REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SON OF GOD”. Since the Latin letters have numerical values, we only need to add them up. V=5; C=100; A+R+S+F+E=0; I=1; L= 50; D= 500. Together this is 666.
-- We will end with the first point: The Bible says that the Antichrist power is the power that denies that Christ came in flesh.
The Catholic Church says that Christ came in holy flesh, but the Bible says in Romans 8.: 3, that God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Heb. 2: 14 says: ”Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. So Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh. It was only in that way he could save us. Because where Adam had fallen, there Christ won victory. Therefore he can save us.
But we must also point out that even though Christ came as a man, he was God, but he clothed his divinity in humanity. The Bible says it in this way in
Philippians 2: 5-11: ”Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
So Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh, not in holy flesh.
The last scripture we find in Hebrews 2: 17-18. … In all things he (Christ) was made like unto us. Because he won victory in all points, he can help us when we are being tempted.
The power he received, in order to gain the victory, we also can receive, in gaining the victory over Satan’s temptations. May God help us to cling to Him!
CHRISTMAS 2000 YEARS BEFORE CHRIST!
MESSAGE
TO THE READER
Regardless of your denominational affiliation
or theological beliefs, please understand that the content of this document is
not against you personally. This information is here to help you and encourage
you to “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith” (II Cor. 13:5), “the
faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12), “the Saviour of the world” (John 4:42), “Looking
unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). “But after that
the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on
us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his
grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus
3:4-7). “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might
be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Gal. 2:16). “But the
scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to them that believe.... For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:22,26). “For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works,
lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:8,9). Please read the following with an
open mind and let “the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” speak to your
heart (Eph. 3:19); “and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able
to save your souls” (James 1:21). “Come now, and let us reason together, saith
the LORD:” (Isa. 1:18)
CHRISTMAS
2000 YEARS BEFORE CHRIST
How
did customs, celebrated long before the birth of Jesus, come to be called
"Christmas"?
IT was
that festive season again. The little children were filled with anticipation
and excitement. The whole family was busily involved in putting up decorations.
Boughs of holly and ever-green were assembled and placed about the house. The
mistletoe was hung. A tree was chosen and decorated with trinkets and
ornaments.
It was
a season of giving and receiving presents, a time to sing songs, admire all the
pretty lights and burn the yule log. There were to be parades with special
floats, sumptuous meals and merry-making.
A modern Christmas celebration?
Not at all!
At the end of December and the beginning of
January all these festive celebrations were taking place in various nations of
Europe centuries before Jesus was born!
An "Old-Fashioned" Christmas. Where
Christmas customs came from is really no secret. You can read the origins of
Christmas customs in encyclopedias and ready-reference works. The Encyclopedia
Britannica, for example, draws the reader's attention to these facts:
"Christmas customs are an evolution from times that long antedate the
Christian period--a descent from seasonal, pagan, religious and national
practices, hedged about with legend and tradition" (15th edition, article
"Christmas").
In ancient times, many of the earth's
inhabitants, realizing their dependence upon the sun for light, heat and the
growing of crops, watched the sun's yearly course through the heavens with deep
interest. At different seasons, feasts and celebrations were held to help, it
was thought, the solar orb on its way.
The end of December was an especially
significant time in the northern hemisphere. The days were short. The sun was
at its lowest point. Special festivals of thanksgiving and encouragement to the
sun were held. When, at the winter solstice, the days began to lengthen, there
was great celebration lasting into the first part of January. The sun--the light
of the world--had been (re)born!
Such
festivities, once meant to honor the sun and its god, were freely adopted by
the spreading and increasingly popular "Christian" religion. Why not,
in the same way, honor Jesus--the real light of the world (even though He was
not actually born in December!)?
Through the centuries different combinations
of customs developed in different nations. But the fundamental origin of the
celebrations go back at least 4,000 years.
Trees and Candles. The modern Christmas tree
is supposed to have originated in German lands in the Middle Ages. But long
before that, their ancestors customarily decorated their homes with lights and
greenery at the winter festival.
Since evergreens were green throughout the
dead of winter, the ancient Germans looked upon them as especially imbued with
life. It was in honor of the tree spirit or the spirit of growth and fertility
that greenery was a prominent part of ancient pagan winter celebrations.
The Romans trimmed trees with trinkets and
toys at that time of the year. The Druids tied gilded apples to tree branches.
It is difficult to trace back exactly where the legend first gained popularity,
but to certain peoples an evergreen decorated with orbs and other fruit-like
objects symbolized the tree of life in the garden in Eden.
Branches of holly and mistletoe were likewise
revered. Not only did these plants remain green through the winter months, but
they actually bore fruit at that time, once again honoring the
"spirits'" of fertility. Still today, catching someone under a branch
of mistletoe can serve as a convenient springboard for romantic activity. Few
people stop to wonder what in the world such strange customs have to do with
the birth of Jesus!
The ancients lit festive fires in the last
part of December to encourage the sun just as Christmas bonfires, candles and
other lights burn today at the same time of the year. Use of the "yule
log," part of the "yuletide" season, hearkens back to the ritual
burning of a carefully chosen log by the Druids. The word yule comes from the
old Anglo-Saxon word hweol, meaning wheel, a round wheel being an appropriate
symbol for the sun.
Holiday Cheer? You thought the Christmas
shopping spree was a 20th century phenomenon?
Listen to how 4th century writer Libanius
described end-of-the-year gift-giving and partying in the ancient non-Christian
Roman Empire: "Everywhere may be seen ... well-laden tables ... The
impulse to spend seizes everyone. He who through the whole year has taken
pleasure in saving ... becomes suddenly extravagant ... A stream of presents
pours itself out on all sides" (as quoted in Christmas in Ritual and
Tradition).
Of all times in the year, it was indeed the
season to be jolly. Then, as now, in a constant round of partying, it was
common--yes, expected--to seek the "spirit" of the season in whatever
intoxicating drink was at hand. Drunkenness was widespread. Fortunately,
however, the modes of transportation in those days did not lend themselves to
the high rate of drunken-driver-induced traffic fatalities that are part of the
Christmas season in many nations today.
And Santa Claus? An important part of the
pagan harvest festivities--beginning in October-November with what has become
Halloween--involved good and bad spirits. In many lands, mythical
visitors--usually bringers of good or evil--became the center of attention in
the winter season. Through blending pagan legends with traditions about saints,
certain figures emerged, with similar personalities. We recognize them today in
different nations as Santa Claus, Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, St. Martin,
the Weihnachtsmann, Pere Noel. Whatever name is used, all these winter visitors
fulfill a similar role.
These fictional
persons--"Christianizations" of the pagan Germanic deities--clearly
perpetuate certain folk-ritual themes wherein varying degrees of rewards and
punishments were dealt out to the celebrants. Through the centuries these
customs came to be centered around children.
It is not hard to see a connection between
Santa using the chimney, the shoes and stockings hung by the fireplace and the
ancient superstitions about hearth spirits. The fireplace served as the natural
entrance and exit of the gods of fire and solar gods when they visited homes.
For thousands of years, especially among the Chinese, it was customary to sweep
and scour the house in preparation for the visit of the hearth spirit.
Each year, dressed in a pointed fiery red cap
and red jacket, this fire-god traveled from the distant heavens to visit homes
and distribute favors or punishments. Today he is welcomed in the Western World
each Christmas season.
Popular Christmas customs as we can see,
plainly reflect non-Christian legends and practices. Since Jesus was not even
born in December to begin with, the logical question to ask is: What is there
that is Christian about Christmas? Did you know, for example, that some of the
very Christmas customs observed today were once banned by the Catholic Council
of Rome, the English Parliament, and the Puritans of New England?
More important, what does the Bible say about
Christmas? Should a Christian have anything to do with such holidays?
Jer.
10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed
at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the
forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with
hammers, that it move not.
Deut.
12:30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them ... and
that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve
their gods? even so will I do likewise.
31
Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God.
The following information is from The History
of The Reformation of Religion in Scotland by John Knox.
“The establishment by St Columba of a
seminary in Iona was highly favourable to the cause of literature both in
Scotland and England. How far it tended to promote evangelical religion, does
not clearly appear. The form of sound words, and the image of Christian
worship, are often long retained after the living spirit of the gospel is gone;
and nothing proves more clearly the fact of its departure than an overweening
attachment to superstitious practices, and an observance of rites and seasons
which God has not ordained. When the apostle Paul found the churches in Galatia
observing days, and months, and times, and years, he expressed his fear that he
had laboured among them in vain. These things were an evidence of their
declining in their spiritual state, and departing from the faith. Long before
this period of our history, we find our Christian ancestors stickling about the
proper time of keeping Easter, when they ought to have rejected it altogether
as an observance which God had not required. In the time of St Columba, the
controversy was revived, and after a keen contest the eloquence of those who
favoured the church of Rome prevailed. St Columba yielded, whether from
conviction, or from some other cause, we are not told; "and the Pope found
in the Abbot of Iona himself, a sedulous and devoted convert to the new lunar
cycle." Russel's Prelim. Diss. to Keith's Scottish Bishops, p. lxxv.
“About the same time the feast of Christmas
was introduced to our ancestors. "The vulgar persuasion is," says
Buchanan, "that these festivities celebrated the birth of Christ, when, in
truth, they refer, as is sufficiently evident, to the lascivious rites of the Bacchanalia,
and not to the memory of our Saviour's nativity." It is probable that this
was originally the Gothic pagan feast of Yule, or Zul, so called in Scotland to
this day; see Dr Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary on the word, Yule. We
know the Popes instructed their missionaries not to abolish, but rather adopt
the heathen rites of the people among whom they introduced Christianity, and
adapt them to Christian worship. This was the source of innumerable
corruptions; and with regard to this festival, it not only opened a door for
all manner of licentiousness, but also bound the churches to the acknowledgment
of a thing as true which never has been proved,—that Christ was born on the
25th of December, which rests on no credible authority. Our neighbours in the
south condemn our reformers for rejecting this holiday. With much more reason
we wonder at their retaining it.” (The History of The Reformation of Religion
in Scotland, John Knox, 1841, Introduction pp. 13, 14) (see also Acts of The
General Assembly of The Church of Scotland, 1638-1842, p. 19)
We know from the Bible that the apostles of Jesus Christ did not
celebrate his birthday. And we know from other historical accounts that the
early Christian church did not celebrate the birth of Christ. “In regard to the
day or month in which the Saviour was born, a subject to which the devotion of
a large proportion of the Christian world has attached much importance, we have
no means of accurate knowledge.”(Encyclopedia Britannica, 7th Ed., 1830-1842).
If God had wanted us to celebrate Jesus Christ's birthday, one would
think that at least one Bible verse would mention it. There are no Bible
examples of the apostles or the disciples keeping December 25th (or any
appropriate corresponding day of the year) as a “holy day”. When the Roman
Emporor, Constantine “The Great” (A.D. (285)306-337), used the corrupt
manuscripts of Eusebius (A.D. 260-340) and Origin (A.D. 184-254) to merge
Paganism with Christianity in the fourth century, the Roman church quite
naturally incorporated pagan customs and rituals into her many unscriptural
doctrines (praying to saints, use of images in worship, purgatory, Mary
worship, Sunday sacredness, celibacy of the clergy, etc.). And, unlike the
disciples in the New Testament who suffered rejection and persecution for the
word of God and their faithfulness to the scriptures (1 Peter 4:3,4), many
apostate Christians simply accepted these false doctrines and teachings and
chose to observe anti-biblical pagan holy days (holidays), thus limiting or
avoiding persecution altogether. There is not a single Bible verse indicating
that the apostles or disciples practiced any of the heathen customs mentioned
in the above article. There are, however, a number of scriptures in the Bible
instructing us not to borrow the customs of the heathen or pagans to worship
the true God: “Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen... For the
customs of the people are vain:”(Jer. 10:2,3). “Take heed to thyself that thou
be not snared by following them... and that thou enquire not after their gods,
saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God:”(Deut. 12:30,31). “that ye commit
not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and
that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.”(Lev. 18:30).
The Encyclopedia Britannica informs us that “the festival of the
nativity was not observed in the primitive church”(Encyclopedia Britannica, 7th
Ed., 1830-1842). Neither the apostles nor the early church celebrated His
birth, at all. In 245 A.D., it was declared to be a sin even to think of
keeping His birthday. The Reformation Protestants did not, Puritans and
Pilgrims even outlawed it in the 1600's, and as late as 1855 Presbyterians,
Baptists and Methodists refused to recognize it as a holiday. Public schools in
Boston were still open for classes on December 25th as late as 1870. In fact,
Webster's Dictionary tells us that as late as 1913 many States did not even
recognize it as a legal holiday (Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
Ed., p. 253). Christmas did not begin to be a legal holiday anywhere in the
United States of America until the 19th century when Alabama became the first state
to succumb to its spellbinding influence in 1836. The modern Christmas tree was
not introduced to this country by Germans until the 19th century. The annual
tradition of erecting a Christmas tree at the White House did not begin until
1889, some 113 years after the birth of the united States and 282 years after
the first permanent English settlement in America (est. 1607, Jamestown,
Virginia, named after King James I of England, a devout Christian). (Because of
its heathen roots, Easter too was dismissed as a pagan holiday by the nation's
founding Puritans and did not begin to be widely observed until after the Civil
War era coinciding with the spread of Roman Catholicism). For a period of three
hundred years, from the first permanent English settlement in America in 1607,
the majority of Bible believing Christians did not celebrate Christmas in
America. But with the influx of Roman Catholics since the mid to late 1800's
the practice spread and gained acceptance by all but the "remnant".
Just why do so many professing “Christians” celebrate
un-biblical/anti-biblical pagan holidays? Compromising the commandments of God
with the comfort of the world is almost as old as man himself. It is almost
always easier to go with the flow of the world than it is to go against the
current of popular tradition. With the exception of a small remnant of faithful
Bible believing Christians, practically the whole world (Hindu, Muslim, Mormon,
Jewish, Pagan, even atheist) celebrates Christmas (and Easter (in some instances
the names may have been changed, but the customs are unmistakably pagan in
origin). The apostle John said, “They are of the world: therefore speak they of
the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God
heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth, and the spirit of error.”(I John 4:5,6). The questions now presented to
the professing Christian: (1) Is your final authority the Holy Bible which is
“the word of God”? Or is your final authority “your tradition” and the desire
of your “own heart”? (2) Will you be among the remnant of “all that will live
godly in Christ Jesus” who “shall suffer persecution” “for the word of God”? Or
will you be among the many compromisers and “seducers” who “shall wax worse and
worse, deceiving, and being deceived”? (Prov. 28:26; Matt. 15:3-9; Mark 7:6-16;
II Tim. 3:12,13; I Pet. 1:25; Rev. 1:9; 6:9; 20:4)
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the
LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your
fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the
Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the
LORD.” (Joshua 24:15).
Christians are repeatedly warned in the Holy
Bible not to borrow pagan customs to worship the Lord Jesus Christ!
Hebrews 13:8,9 Jesus Christ the same
yesterday, and today, and forever. Be not carried about with divers and strange
doctrines.
Exodus 34:12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou
make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be
for a snare in the midst of thee:
13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break
their images, and cut down their groves:
14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for
the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
15 Lest thou make a covenant with the
inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do
sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy
sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a
whoring after their gods.
Matt. 15:7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias
prophesy of you, saying,
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their
mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching
for doctrines the commandments of men.
Luke 7:9 Full well ye reject the commandment
of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Jer. 44:4 Howbeit I sent unto you all my
servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this
abominable thing that I hate.
Jer. 22:21 I spake unto thee in thy
prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from
thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.
Jer. 11:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD,
Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape;
and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
Is. 66:4 I also will choose their delusions,
and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer;
when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose
that in which I delighted not.
Ezk. 23:30 I will do these things unto thee,
because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art
polluted with their idols.
Rev. 17:1 And there came one of the seven
angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come
hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon
many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have
committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk
with the wine of her fornication.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which
thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations,
and tongues.
Rev. 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the
wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed
fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the
abundance of her delicacies.
4 And I heard another voice from heaven,
saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and
that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev. 2:21 And I gave her space to repent of
her fornication; and she repented not.
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and
them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent
of their deeds.
1Pet. 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for
he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
2 That he no longer should live the rest of
his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
3 For the time past of our life may suffice
us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness,
lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run
not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:
5 Who shall give account to him that is ready
to judge the quick and the dead.
1John 4:5 They are of the world: therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world
would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
2Cor. 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God
with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will
dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my
people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be
ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will
receive you.
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
2Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new.
2Pet. 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye
know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of
the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
Did you
enjoy the content of this article and need more articles like this?
Please
call: 07038962260
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)