King James only and Gail Riplinger’s “New Age Bible Versions” has more than once been brought up on this Blog and elsewhere. I find it incredible that a woman with degrees in Interior design, with no formal training on the Bible, a woman that cannot even read Hebrew or Greek can set herself up as some authority over the best trained Bible translators in the world. I find it dumbfounding that Christians and even some “discernment ministries” would actually take what she says seriously without even reading what the experts say about her bazaar claims.

I can only surmise that her distortions of the truth appeal to those with a wooden head that somehow became a treasure chest full of conspiracy theories. They want to believe  conspiracy theories so bad that they grasp at anything at all if it seems to support their conspiracy concepts. Nevermind, that Gail Riplinger’s sad works have divided Christians and churches for no reason and discredited good Bible translations and translators. Nevermind, that she would not be allowed to teach a Sunday school to the men in most of the churches where she is held in highest esteem. However, in their wooden minds her books support their King James Only beliefs, so she gets a free pass from them to twist the truth in front of the whole world. 

I think all that are promoting Gail Riplingers books should take what James White said below very seriously. It is understandable that certain people like Riplinger would write books on topics that they really do not have the qualification to write, but why are some Christians, churches and forums promoting her? Where is is the discernment that many doing this claim to have??

I think James White says it best in this summery from his review and his debates on Riplinger’s book and claims. If you want to know why Gail Riplinger views are deceptive, silly and lack discernment read the full article.

Why Respond to Gail Riplinger? | Bible.org | Home of NET Bible on-line, Bible Study tools, Free Bible

Gail Riplinger’s works have been reviewed, and rejected, by numerous Christian leaders and scholars. For most, it’s a waste of time to even discuss the issue, since it’s so obvious that she is a troubler of the brethren, a woman who is out of control, setting herself up as an expert on topics about which she knows nothing at all. Her inability to function as a scholar is plain to anyone who wishes to see. The impact she has had in disrupting churches, damaging missions work, and in generally causing trouble, is hers to answer for.

In closing, though, we should actually be more troubled about what Gail Riplinger’s work says about the church as a whole. Where has discernment gone? Why didn’t someone sit her down a long time ago and try to straighten her out? And what is worse, why are men to this day letting her go on her merry way, spreading falsehoods, and even encouraging her in such activities? I have been informed (but have not taken the time to verify) that Mrs. Riplinger was recently granted an honorary doctorate by Jack Hyles for her work, New Age Bible Versions. Can someone explain how a person who doesn’t even have the first bit of undergraduate training in any of the fields relating to Bible translation can be given an honorary doctorate for having produced the most error-filled volume on the topic ever to grace the planet? Is “acrostic algebra” the stuff of doctorates? One may well forgive Gail, for she is obviously deceived; but what of the many others who encourage her to continue on in her path of disturbing the work of the Church? Might not they be even more liable? It would seem so.

Full article

Halloween is coming do you want to see some real scary stuff???

This first article is real scary stuff! It tells us what America’s high school children did not learn while in the tentacles of our scary “teachers” in our real scary public school system.

Alex Jones’ Prison Planet.com » Only 28% Of High School Students Are Familiar With The Constitution
The questions, posed by national research firm, Strategic Vision, are taken from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services exam, the test that all candidates to become U.S. citizens must take.

As noted by the OCPA in their write up of the survey results, while around 92% of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first attempt, only 2.8% of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.

The results of the survey are displayed below, for further breakdown see the write up:

Question Answer  % of Students Who Answered Correctly

What is the supreme law of the land? ……………..The Constitution– 28%
What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution? The Bill of Rights– 26%
What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress? The House and the Senate– 27%
How many justices are there on the Supreme Court? Nine– 10%
Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? Thomas Jefferson– 14%
What ocean is on the east coast of the United States? Atlantic– 61%
What are the two major political parities in the United States? Democratic and Republican– 43%
We elect a U.S. senator for how many years? Six– 11%
Who was the first President of the United States? George Washington– 23%
Who is in charge of the executive branch? The President– 29%

Out of 1000 students surveyed, only 6 of them got more than 7 questions correct, and only 108 got more than half of the questions correct.
Full article

Keep in mind that over 90 percent of those wanting to becoming citizens of this country passed the test but only about 3 percent of our high school kids passed. If that does not scare you, you might be a product of the public school system. But, now knowing that our kids do not know anything about American stuff, what kind of scary system of government would you expect to evolve out of the Department of “Education” Beast running the public schools of America? Or should I really say Department of Indoctrination Beast?

But Heck, ignorance about our nation did not just start in 2009 or we would not already have real scary big government socialist control freaks called “Czars” running the nation. Anyone want to be a Obama Czar for Halloween?? They are very scary people! They will kill the checks and balances of our Constitution for sure but the brain dead zombies coming out of our public indoctrination system know nothing about the law of our land.

People in Europe and America have let real scary socialist big government control freaks czars take control so these real scary control freaks are developing a real scary computerized system that will monitor and control everyone and everything on the planet. You can read about the development of such real scary stuff in this second article.

EU Plans Massive Surveillance Panopticon That Would Monitor “Abnormal Behavior”

The European Union is developing a 21st century panopticon, a beast surveillance system that critics describe as “Orwellian,” “sinister,” and “positively chilling,” that would collate data from numerous sources, including surveillance cameras and personal computers, in order to detect “abnormal behavior” across the entire continent.

The surveillance system, known as Project Indect, promises to collect information by way of “continuous monitoring” of “web sites, discussion forums, usenet groups, file servers, p2p networks [and] individual computer systems”. It will also use CCTV feeds and other surveillance methods to develop models of “suspicious behavior” by analyzing the pitch of people’s voices (suggesting that private conversations will be recorded) as well as “the way their bodies move”.

Its main objective will be the “automatic detection of threats and abnormal behavior or violence”.

According to Danish Institute for Human Rights researcher Peter Scharff, the Panopticon was intended to promote “self-regulation that was to be provoked by the constant surveillance”. The concept was eventually incorporated into many prisons that continue today as “podular” designs, which also maximizes the amount of people that can be controlled by one person. The fact that authorities are building societal prisons around us all today using the same basic methods of control is enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine and remind us once again that freedom is a myth.

This has nothing to do with catching criminals – as recent figures in the UK have proven, CCTV cameras have virtually no impact on crime whatsoever. This is all about letting the slaves know who their bosses are, it’s a psychological mind game set up to distinguish and reinforce the master-servant relationship between the state and the individual.

The endgame is to convince the individual that to express their freedom in public, to engage in any kind of protest or merely to question the power structure that surrounds them, is a “suspicious” act detrimental to society and that negative consequences will follow for any slave who dares to step outside of this invisible yet oppressive jail cell.

Full Article

Now, after reading that you might want to know the real scary stuff on how the Czars will eventually hook everyone up to the Beast? I think this next article will give you the general scary idea. They plan to have direct neural links from your brain to the web and all other inventory on earth will also be linked to the web as well (yes, people will just become another part of the inventory of this Beast). That concept should really scare you because this is the 666 Beast buy sell system of Revelation.

Beware, a day is coming when you will not be able to buy or sell unless you take the neural chip that connects you to the world wide web and the top Czar Beast that is controlling everyone through his system. It is not fully developed yet but the real scary stuff is that it is now under development and it will become a real scary reality in just a decade or two probably just in time for celebration of some future Halloween. Meanwhile, all the Czars  are moving all the brain dead zombies coming out of the state indoctrination systems toward that real scary dead end.

Google ‘evangelist’ sees web, brain implant link | Stuff.co.nz

Vint Cerf, vice-president and “chief internet evangelist” of tech giant Google, foresees the introduction of internet capability to existing neural interface technology such as cochlear implants, allowing, as an example, web radio played direct from computer to brain.

He is also involved in work to send internet infrastructure into space to create “a communications backbone between space-faring nations”.

Cerf predicts the falling cost and rising sophistication of programmable devices will allow the internet to be widely embedded in inanimate objects, leading to revolutions in automated shipping and inventory control.

Full article

Think the 2012 date setters are not having a negative effect on many in the Church? Obviously this speculation based mostly on Mayan ages and a Mahdi coming out of well is attracting many followers. Some such as the “Gospel Tract Society” now take the position that we are already in the tribulation. H E L L O… what tribulation? I will say it as gently as I can, those who think we are already in the tribulation have lost their marbles.

I do not see a good end result coming from all this date setting nonsense. By 2013 Bible prophecy teachers will be mocked. It is as if there is a Satanic deception (there is) to destroy the message of the soon coming of Jesus through the promotion of those crying wolf based on pagan crap – not the Bible. This 2012 date setting speculation is not coming from God.

I think I understand why people promote their crap and pet theories in books, it is profitable for them. But, why do Christians buy it and suck it up like it was profound biblical truth. Some of us warned that the 88 reason why Jesus would come in 1988 was unfounded but people bought the books anyway and Bible prophecy teaching in the Church took a huge hit because of that. Now we have to endure the 2012 end of the world books and movies based on pagan fantasy and those who only know enough about Bible eschatology to twist it to fit their theories.

The world is not going to end in 2012 and we are not in the tribulation. Like Nathan Jones said in this article “take a chill pill”

The Christ in Prophecy Journal: Gospel Tract Society Abandons Pre-Trib Heritage

The Gospel Tract Society has changed their longstanding view in the last month. Lamb & Lion Ministries was first alerted to the change when the ministry’s successor, Tom Buttram, asked founder Dr. David Reagan to change the wording in his tract “Living for Christ in the End Times” (based on the article) from “Rapture” to “Second Coming.” The second alert came when a friend of Lamb & Lion Ministries contacted the Gospel Tract Society for copies of that tract, only to be told the remaining 6,000 in inventory were going to be destroyed.

Upon inquiry as to why the Gospel Tract Society would desire to change the wording and destroy the existing inventory, Tom Buttram responded with a very startling revelation. “As though someone reprinted my Bible overnight,” Tom Buttram now believes humanity has already entered into the Tribulation and the Church will not be raptured until the Seventh Trumpet Judgment has sounded mid-way through the Tribulation.

after over 80 years of the Gospel Tract Society proclaiming the imminent return of Jesus Christ, they will now refocus their attention on printing materials “needed for all to escape delusion and attack” by the Man of Lawlessness (the Antichrist) and a Mid-Tribulation rescue by Jesus.

the esteemed Gospel Tract Society after 80 years of preaching the Rapture of believers before world judgment has just declared that they got it all wrong, that we are actually living in the Tribulation, and that we will all be attacked (means “massacred,” folks) by the coming world leader — and that is supposed to be a source of calm!?! Just how much “calm” are they now going to spread with their newest batch of tracts?

Secular movies like “Knowing” and “2012″ and books and commentaries and pundits (and the list goes on) are very interested in End Time speculation. Only the overall Church seems to be sleeping on this subject. But, for those believers who are anticipating Christ’s return, a certain hysteria has begun to set in. The people are getting very antsy and have begun chasing after every new theory and speculation that rises to the scene.

Secondly, as Dr. Ron Rhodes once said, we are filtering God’s Word through our human antennae and our fallen nature is putting static in our reception.

Every person believes God is giving them a particular revelation or insight into the Bible that is different than what they once believed — but they all conflict! I get hundreds of emails a week from people all over the world, and many writers purport to have discovered some special insight from God. For example, could the Pope, Javier Solana, Prince Hassan, Tony Blair, Barack Obama, the Mahdi and the entire United States of America all be the Antichrist at the same time? Saved believers in Christ each have a candidate God has “revealed” to them in Scripture. Or, could the Tribulation be seven years long, World War II, the Papal years, only for Israel, for the entire world, and it’s just the conflict in our hearts all at same time? Saved believers each have a position. But, only one answer can possibly be correct.

To use an 80’s term, we all need to “take a chill pill.

Full article

I think one of the reasons why people get way off on Bible prophecy is that they do not understand the nature of the Bride of Christ. The Church is the betrothed Bride of Jesus Christ. Even those who do seem to understand that concept often completely miss how God showed us the future of His blood bought Church in the process of obtaining a wife in the culture of the ancient past. I think Jack Kelly explains this as good as anyone I know in this article. I hope it will help you understand that God has a unique role for the Church apart from Israel and that the bride of a soon coming King would rule with the King but would not replace the King’s Kingdom. Apart from ancient customs there are also stories and “types” in the Bible that convey similar concepts. Kelly points out such a “type” in the details surrounding the obtaining of a bride for Abraham’s son, Isaac.

Keep in mind that after the price was agreed on and the Bride agrees to become the wife she does not know when the Groom will come for her. She also cannot disown the groom and the groom cannot disown her except if there is clear proof of adultery. We do have eternal security if we remain faithful to Jesus.

The Bride | GraceThruFaith

by Jack Kelley

This is an update of an article originally published in March 2004. While it’s based on the Bible, it also includes Jewish wedding traditions from Biblical times. Some of these traditions go all the way back to Abraham’s time and are described in Genesis 24.

the young woman was to watch and wait at her parents’ home. She and her bridesmaids had to maintain a constant state of preparedness, since the wedding date would not be revealed to her until the bridegroom actually appeared at her door to take her to their new home.
Surprise, Surprise

For his part, the groom would try to show up unexpectedly to surprise her, carrying her off suddenly “like a thief in the night” when no one would see them. The only advance warning she would get was the sound of his voice shouting her name and the blast of a ram’s horn.

Full article

If you are one of those pastors who willfully allow yourself to be used as an agent by some hypothetical tyrannical government to enable an illegal government to carry out their tyranny against the American people you will be guilty of treason. If you take part in the subversion of the rights guaranteed to Americans under the second Amendment to our Constitution or any of the other rights guaranteed by our Constitution given to us for the protection of “We the People” of the United States of America from such tyranny, you might rightfully be tried for treason during or after the second American Revolution.

That might seem like a harsh statement to those who think Romans 13 tells us to obey government without question. Tell that to the Christian leaders in Germany who told Germans to submit to the Nazis or the Christian leaders in Russia and China who obeyed the Communists.

Romans 13 does not tell us to obey unlawful orders of government and if the orders are against the law of our land (the Constitution) they are unlawful. The whole Bible tells us to obey God first. After we do that we obey lawful orders of God given government. We do not obey unlawful orders of tyrants any more than we would obey the orders of murders and thieves and enable them to continue their murders and thief’s on others.

Dr. David Berman explains what Romans 13 really means to Christians in this article. But I warn you, if you read the full article you can no longer use ignorance as an excuse. If you take part in a government clergy response team you better be on the right side of the Constitution.

Can A Christian Righteously Rebel against Government? (Romans 13)

Dr. David M. Berman www.wakeupandsmellthetruth.com

Let me start by saying that you must read this entire article to understand my position on this question. The following passage has been used by many to teach that Christians must submit to all government. In fact during the Katrina disaster many Pastors worked with FEMA in what they call “Clergy Response Teams.” If Marshall law is declared, this team is to be used by government to keep the people from rebellion (Source K.S.L.A news). It is interesting how the government decries Christian involvement in public policy while at the same time they want to use pastors to facilitate tyranny. I would take time to write about these pastors who would cooperate with government tyranny but that is for another article.

The question is; “Can a Christian righteously rebel?” The answer is no! It is never acceptable for a Christian to rebel. First Samuel chapter fifteen says “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.”Having said that, in order to really answer this question we must first define rebellion. What is Rebellion? Is it simply disobedience of an authority? The answer is this; Rebellion is the disobedience of a lawful order and a lawful authority. That is what rebellion is. Two examples would be:

1) Refusing to stop when a police car is behind you with lights on.

2) Refusing to answer a question when testifying in court (not including 5th amendment).

What is rebellion not? Rebellion is not disobedience of an unlawful authority or an unlawful order. No government has the right to give unlawful or ungodly orders. Those who believe that Romans 13 somehow gives a right to government to give ungodly and unlawful orders to its citizens are terribly mistaken. Pastors that help the government disarm the citizenry, are acting against the Constitution and the natural law of self defense. Government is not given a right to tyrannical despotic rule.

It is impossible to be in rebellion against an unlawful or ungodly order. If the order is ungodly we are obligated to disobey it. We are only in rebellion if the order is lawful and comes from proper authority. God does not contradict himself. He did not command us to obey him and at the same time command us to obey things that men tell us to do which oppose his moral law. For example we are given the right and responsibility to raise our own children in the Lord. We have every right to disobey any action of government that seeks to indoctrinate our children with ungodly teachings!

Our founders realized the people have rights and that government can’t use Romans 13 as an excuse for despotism. Christians must:

1) Resist tyranny

2) Not allow the government to indoctrinate our children.

3) Stand against any attempt to infringe of the second amendment.

4) Work to establish a government of the people for the people by the people.

5) Disobey any law that is ungodly.

6) Preach the gospel and all Biblical truth no matter what the law says.

7) Uphold the covenant of the Constitution above all attempts to make it relative to modern liberal/socialist/statist thinking.

Never put personal money gain above the principles of Constitutional government.

9) Be willing to speak out in the face of persecution.

10) Be able to articulate the Christian world view.

11) Protect babies from the slaughter of abortion.

12) Stand for what marriage is; a man and a woman.

Remember this; The Constitution is a covenant. The states were set up under this covenant. The rules of the covenant are what we agreed to. When the federal government violates the covenant, they have no right to expect to be obeyed and we must not obey them. There is no difference between the federal government violating the lawful contract (Constitution) and a common thief who commits fraud and breach of contract.

I have said this before and now I will say it again:

“One must never put his trust in the government for his own safety, nor the safety of his family. It is not in the nature of government to regard its citizens as more important that itself. Government when limited by the original Constitution of the United States of American can be a blessing. However, without the principled citizenry taking responsibility for itself all government leads to tyranny!”

What Obama, the Democrats, and the willing weak Republicans are doing is the same as many of the things the King of England was doing. They are enemies of the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A final word – Resistance against tyranny is not rebellion. It is righteous!

Full article

This is another good teaching by Jack Kelley on the seven dispensations and why mankind fails in all of them. Dispensationalism is sometimes misunderstood. Dispensationalism is not different ways to find salvation; it is different rules for living in each dispensation for those who can be saved on the basis of their faith in God. Man is saved by God’s grace through man’s faith in all seven dispensations.

These seven different ways of God dealing with man on earth are probably demonstrations to man, angels and all creation about the sin nature of man and Satan. No matter how God deals with man on earth Satanic deception comes and most of mankind rejects God. However, in each dispensation God has His own elect on earth who overcome Satan and the world through their belief and trust in God.

Yes, even the dispensation of Grace (The Church age) is also a failure for mankind. The promise of a free gift of salvation for those who confess Jesus as God’s sacrifice for man’s sins will be rejected by the overwhelming majority on earth. Even the seventh dispensation, the Kingdom Age, will end in mankind’s failure because Satan will deceive those living in this restored paradise on earth and lead them to rebel against God’s elect. In all dispensations man will prove that in his fallen sinful flesh he cannot fellowship with God. The only way to eternal salvation is through a spiritual rebirth from God’s Son. There is no other name given in which man must be saved (Act 4:12).

I will add this, The dispensations all end in failure for those unbelievers following Satan but all seven dispensations successfully reach those who believe God.

Read the full article to get a complete picture of what Jack Kelley is teaching and to get a description of the seven different dispensations on earth.

Life On Earth In The Millennium | GraceThruFaith

by Jack Kelley

Hal Lindsey once speculated that at his judgment Satan hurled two accusations at God. “You’re not just and You have no love.” In our last study we saw how God demonstrated His perfect justice with Israel and His perfect love with the Church. Israel lived under an absolutely just system of law. It was clear and concise, made no exceptions, and showed no favoritism. There was blessing for obedience and punishment for disobedience in an obvious cause and effect relationship. What they did determined what they got. God said to them, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6)

The Church was shown the incomparable riches of God’s grace. We’re the most blessed of any group of humanity and the only thing asked of us is that we accept by faith the free gift of salvation, purchased in advance for us with God’s own life. Yes, God is pleased if we live our lives in a manner that expresses our gratitude to Him, but the only thing He requires is that we believe in the one He has sent. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

In the Kingdom Age believers will be saved by faith, like the Church, but will be required to keep the Law as evidence of their belief, like Israel. Perfect justice, perfect love. This will be God’s final answer to Satan and His final attempt to dwell among His people in peace. Will it work, or like Israel and the Church before it, will the Kingdom Age end in failure?

We’ve only talked about Law and Grace but there were actually four other attempts at peaceful coexistence between God and man leading up to them. For a complete understanding of man’s history with his Creator, we’ll need to review these others as well. They’re called dispensations, or administrations, and all together there are seven of them.

The 7 Dispensations

Throughout history God has dealt with His people in different ways as part of the process of revealing His character. Each of these dispensations has has begun with an agreement between God and man that man subsequently violated, ending the relationship in failure and requiring a judgment from God.

Innocence:
Conscience:
Human Government:
Promise:
Law:
Grace:
Kingdom:

Some in the Church might question the view that the Age of Grace has been a failure, but that’s because we’re among the few who have accepted the Lord’s free gift of pardon and will therefore enjoy its benefits. Remember, God’s desire is to reconcile us to Himself (Colossians 1:19-20). He doesn’t want for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). And yet over the last 2,000 years most people have turned down His gift and gone their own way. After doing everything He could, short of violating man’s free will and forcing him to accept the pardon He offered, most of mankind will have rejected Him. Can you blame Him for being so angry as to unleash the full fury of His wrath against them?

Even in the Church the response to God’s gift of eternal Life has been more apathy than adoration. When less than 10% of people who claim to be born again have adopted a Christian world view, it’s clear that there’s been a serious disconnect between His gift and our gratitude. When compared to the desired goal the Age of Grace has been a failure.

None of this is any more of a surprise to God than the outcome of His previous attempts. He doesn’t do things so He can see how we’ll respond. He already knows that. He does things so we can see how we’ll respond. Paul said every thing that was written in the past was written to teach us. (Romans 15:4) So far the lesson has been that no matter what God has done to draw us near, man is untrustworthy and rebellious, pushing God away and bringing judgment upon himself.
Now For The Kingdom

OK, so what about the Kingdom Age, will it be a failure too?

In an event that was later modeled in the Biblical adoption ceremony (Galatians 4:4-7), the Father formally named His Son heir of His estate and bequeathed His inheritance to Him. All the nations are His, and He has the authority to rule them as He pleases. Man’s choice will be to obey or suffer the consequences. Obedience will be rewarded with blessing, but rebellion will bring swift destruction.

We’re neither told how many will be saved during the Millennium, nor what their destiny will be. What we are told is at the end of the 1000 year Kingdom Age Satan will be freed and will have no trouble recruiting a large army for one last attempt to regain his lost empire. He’ll find a ready audience for his deception and his army will soon be as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore. From all over the world they’ll come to surround God’s people and His Holy City. But in one sudden burst of flame from Heaven they’ll be devoured and Satan will be cast into the Lake of Fire for eternity. (Rev. 20:7-10) Once again, man rebels, God judges and another Age ends in failure.

God’s response to Satan’s accusations will be complete. Satan’s judgment will be final. Heaven and Earth will be purified. Eternity will begin. And God will reign supreme. Hallelujah! 05-30-09

Full article

This is an astute article by Jack Kelly on Pentecost and rapture of the Church. Like Kelly, I also believe that the parables of Matthew 13 describe the Church on earth and would also say each parable is linked to what Jesus also said to the seven different Church types in Revelation.

*Chuck Missler gives us a small taste of this design and correlation in his teaching on Revelation:

The Seven Kingdom parables:

The Sower ……………   Ephesus: The apostolic Church

The Tares …………….   Smyrna: The persecuted Church

Mustard Seed…………..Pergamos: Marriage to the World

Women/Leaven ……….Thyatira: The Papacy in the Medieval World

The Field………………. Sardis: Denominational/Dead Orthodoxy

The Pearl ………………Philadelphia: The rebirth of the Missionary

The Dragnet …………..Laodicea: The apostate Church

* The Book of Revelation , supplemental notes page 60, Koinonia House Inc., 1995

I believe that it is very possible that the Church will be taken alive to Heaven on Pentecost on the very same feast day when the Bride of Christ was born. The Church like Enoch was born on Pentecost and tradition tells us Enoch was taken on Pentecost. Enoch was taken because he walked with God before the judgment of the flood. The bride of Christ will also not reap the coming judgment of God because she is the Bride of Christ. Only after Jesus takes his rightful role as King of Israel and takes a Gentile bride can Israel’s promised restoration come.

I know many want to believe the Rapture is on the Feast of Trumpets but remember the Feast of Trumpets will be another fulfillment through Jesus for Israel. The Feast of Trumpets starts the last week for Israel foretold by Daniel and it ends it seven years later with the second coming of Christ. Some like to think the Rapture will occur on the same date that God deals with Israel again. However, scripture really gives no indication that the Rapture has to occur precisely seven years before the second coming of Christ. The Rapture could occur months or even a few years before the final seven years for the Jews.

One thing is certain in my mind. The 70th week and the lifting of the blindness of Israel cannot even take place until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in (Ro 11:25). In this passage Paul was speaking of the grafting in of a Gentile Bride into the Commonwealth of Israel. This Bride born from above is born of the Spirit she is not born of any flesh, be it Jew or Gentile. However, anyone not Jewish by natural birth (she is spiritual) is typed as a Gentile by definition. Therefore, the Bride is not Jewish even though there are people who were natural Jews within the Bride. This Bride gives no sin offering of her own as required by the law. Her sins are covered by the blood of God’s Jewish sacrificial Lamb. That is the reason why Pentecost is celebrated with leavened bread (leaven represents sin), the Church is full of sinners covered by the blood of Christ.

Anyway, this article by Jack Kelly is well worth the read and it is timely, being right before the Feast of Pentecost.

Pentecost and the Rapture of the Church | GraceThruFaith

Pentecost and the Rapture of the Church

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

Pentecost comes in the early summer (May-June). This year it’s May 31. It’s the only Holy Day between the 3 Spring Feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits) and the 3 in the fall (Rosh Hashanna, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles). Its Hebrew name is Shavuot. Pentecost is a Greek word and translates “50 days” since it comes 50 days after the Feast of First Fruits, the day we should know as Resurrection Morning . The Feast of First Fruits is celebrated on the day following the first Sabbath after Passover and Pentecost on the day after the Sabbath seven weeks later, (Lev. 23:15-16) giving rise to its nickname “Feast of Weeks.” Since the Jewish Sabbath is Saturday, both these Holy days are Sundays.
What’s a Pentecost?

Jews celebrate Pentecost (I’ll just use its Greek name to avoid any more confusion than necessary) as the day Moses received the Law on Mt. Sinai in the wilderness and the nation Israel was born. (Exodus 19-20) Christians celebrate it as the day the Holy Spirit fell on the Disciples in Jerusalem and the Church was born (Acts 2). If you agree with my view that the parables of Matthew 13 describe the church on Earth and that the parable of the yeast predicts there will be sin in the church, you’ll be interested in the fact that unlike all the other Jewish Feasts that call for unleavened bread, Pentecost requires bread baked with yeast (Lev. 23:17). Pentecost also began the annual wheat harvest, perhaps pointing to another of Matthew’s Kingdom parables, the Wheat and the Tares.

By tradition Enoch, one of the patriarchs from Genesis 5, was born on the day later to be known as Pentecost. Enoch’s name means “teaching”, a primary function of the Church. For this reason many scholars see him as a “type” of the church as well. Genesis 5:21-23 indicates that Enoch was very close to God and was actually taken live (raptured) into Heaven before the Great Flood. Pre-Trib scholars see this event as hinting of a yet future disappearance of the Church before the Great Tribulation. These same traditions also hold that Enoch disappeared from Earth on his birthday. So here’s a model in Genesis 5 of a man identified with the church being born and raptured on the day that would become Pentecost, the day the church was born.

Full article.

I quote below some snippets of what Marsha West had to say about what you will find in protestant Christian bookstores. You really need to read the full article to get the true drift into apostasy. Christian bookstores are a good reflection of Christianity in America today. So obviously we can see by what is selling that Christianity in America is becoming increasingly apostate. Is it any wonder then that our nation is also in great decline both morally and economically?

The Christian bookstores and airwaves are full of deception and the people of this nation cannot discern truth because they have become biblically illiterate. It is really getting hard to find churches that have not bought into one of the latest heresies. These are not minor secondary issues either because they address the very fundamentals of the Christian faith. If “Christians” do not believe the fundamental teaching of Christianity how can they even claim that they are Christians? They certainly have a different gospel and a different Jesus then the one found in the Bible.

Another point I think this article makes clear is that many of the books now found in “Christian” bookstores contain heresy. So do not just pick up any book and believe that because it came from a “Christian” bookstore that it is teaching Christian doctrine or concepts. Christians have to be very discerning about who they learn from because we live in very deceptive times.

Marsha West — Be Careful What You Buy in Christian Bookstores

False teachers and charlatans persist solely because Christian’s have become biblically illiterate. Many believers think studying the Bible is so dull and boring that they can’t be bothered anymore. So they’re ripe for the picking. And this is not the exception but the rule!

If it’s true that the Bible is God’s Word, shouldn’t what He says matter to those who believe in Him? Evidently not because many people who say they “love the Lord” have no clue what’s in the Bible – and clearly they don’t care to find out!

Let’s say the Gospels were made up, as the unbeliever claims, how, then, will the person who has given his or her life to Christ know anything at all about Him? Moreover, if the Bible is merely a book of fables, when Jesus was tested by the devil, why did He quote from Deuteronomy 6:6, 6:13, 8:3 and 10:20?

counterfeit Christians are relentless in their plan to deconstruct historical, orthodox Christianity. They want to mold Christianity into a one size fits all religion that appeals to everyone. To be successful they must refashion the Jesus of the Bible into a tolerant, all-inclusive Savior who condemns no one. Sound familiar?

Books that put a positive spin on the cults, the occult, New Age spirituality, Eastern mysticism, homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals transgenders, and what not are available through online Christian outlets as well as in walk-in stores. Here’s a point to ponder: So-called Christian publishing houses are the largest suppliers of outright heresy. Oddly, Christian publishers and outlets are responsible (or should I say irresponsible) for much of the apostasy because they give false teachers a platform for what simply equates to heresy!

It is amazing to see how these once faithful publishers of evangelical orthodoxy are now consistently and deliberately launching a massive but subtle attack against the “Fundamentals” for which Evangelicalism stood courageously against liberalism in the past.”

Visit just about any Christian bookstore (CB) and you’ll see display cases and shelves stocked with spiritual merchandise, including jewelry, figurines, framed pictures, greeting cards, calendars, posters, music – you name it they stock it. But what’s disconcerting about these stores is that they also stock books that not only attack the fundamentals of the faith, some of the books contain out and out heresy! Christian publishers and storeowners have a responsibility to examine the material they sell!

One of the most popular prosperity preachers is Joel Osteen. If you’re a fan of Joel’s, please don‘t stop reading — just hear me out. I realize that it’s hard to believe that Rev. Osteen would steer you wrong. But don’t be fooled by his humble demeanor, his neatly coiffed hair and dazzling smile. Listen to what he says about faith in his best-selling book, “Your Best Life Now”:

“You have to begin speaking words of faith over your life. Your words have enormous creative power. The moment you speak something out, you give birth to it. This is a spiritual principle, and it works whether what you’re saying is good or bad, positive or negative.” [1]

This so-called spiritual principle is “the law of attraction.” New Age guru, Rhonda Byrnes, author of “The Secret” believes “you create your life through your thoughts.” Joel believes the same thing! Those who choose to read his books, attend or watch his church service on TV are sitting under a false teacher!

Joel Osteen is not alone. The Rev. T. D. Jakes is a spiritual advisor to President Obama. He has been labeled a “black Billy Graham.” Yet Rev. Jakes teaches something Billy never taught:

“Jesus was a rich man. He had to have been, in order to have supported his disciples and their families during his ministry.”[2]

In her book “The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make” Joyce Meyer writes this heresy:

“During that time He [Jesus] entered hell, where you and I deserved to go (legally) because of our sin. He paid the price there. …no plan was too extreme. … Jesus said on the cross and in hell.” she continues…. God rose up from His throne and said to demon powers tormenting the sinless Son of God, ‘Let Him go.’ Then the resurrection power of Almighty God went through hell and filled Jesus. …He was resurrected from the dead – the first born-again man. [5]

Admittedly some of Joyce’s teaching is biblical, however her teaching on the Atonement, which is a central doctrine of the faith, is heretical. Why would Jesus Christ, who is God, need to be born again in hell?

Here is a partial list of other word-faith apostates:

Kenneth Hagin, Charles Capps, Oral Roberts, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Paul and Jan Crouch, John Hagee, Rod Parsley, Todd Bentley, Paula White, Fred Price, Jerry Savelle, Robert Tilton, Marilyn Hickey, Morris Cerullo, Miles Munroe, Jesse Duplantis, Steve Munsey, Ken Clement and Ed Young

I would be remiss if I failed to mention William P. Young’s mega-selling book “The Shack.” Like ACIM, some church groups use it as a “Bible” study. But is “The Shack” based on sound biblical principles? I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but the answer is a resounding No!

Now, if the anti-Shack folks are right in their assessment of the book’s contents, wouldn’t it be prudent for CBs that choose to sell the controversial book to at least post a disclaimer?

A disclaimer should also be posted next to books by Emerging/Emergent Church (ECM) proponents as these men and women have been roundly criticized for their unorthodox views.

ECM does not hold to the authority of Scripture, hence they are careless in their handling of it. They’re all about political liberalism with a social gospel, pluralism, and universalism. As I pointed out in my article, “Emergent Church Spreading Spiritual Cancer”

Here’s a partial list of prominent voices in ECM:

N.T. Wright, John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, Ryan Bolger, Wilbert Shenk, Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, Erwin McManus, Dan Kimball, Scot McKnight, Elizabeth O’Connor, Nancey Murphy, Leonard Sweet, Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Donald Miller and Phyllis Tickle.

What I’ve covered here is only the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more to be said about all the garbage sold by so-called Christian publishing companies and bookstores. My desire is not to condemn them; only to bring to light some disturbing trends and to expose a few apostates.

Full article

Dr. David Reagan has been receiving attacks on the Internet for his article in Lamplighter that debunked the concept of a Muslim Antichrist. One of the misconceptions of Muslim Antichrist proponents is that Islam is looking for a Mahdi that all Muslims will unite behind. They believe this Mahdi will be the Antichrist and will lead Muslims to fight against Israel and the “Christian” West. Never mind that there really is no Christian West there is only a pseudo Christian West. There are more true Christians in Communist China than there are in today’s humanistic Europe.

I frankly do not know why Christians believe Muslim eschatology as if the lies of Islam can give Christians prophetic truth?  Perhaps they do so for two reasons.

One reason is because one of the main proponents of this Muslim Antichrist theory recently converted from Islam and instead of properly learning Christian eschatology used his shoehorn to ram Shiite eschatology and Christian eschatology into the same shoe. Yet, only ten percent of Islam even believes the eschatology that this man claims all Muslims will follow.

The other reason is because they want to make biblical eschatology fit the main threat that they see in the world today because they think Jesus has to come within a decade. Sorry guys, but the Lord is coming on God’s time schedule not yours. They fall in the same trap so many others did in history, i.e. the Pope, Hitler. Today the observable threat is Islam so the Antichrist has to come from Islam.

Nevertheless, I keep telling everyone that the Antichrist will be lawless. That does not fit Islam at all because Islam is all about trying to keep the moral law. When the real Antichrist arrives people will believe that He is God and if there is any religion in the world other than the worship of him it will be more like new age and alien concepts.

These Muslim Antichrist proponents have a strawman Antichrist. When the real Antichrist figure comes people will want to follow him like he was their God. The world does not throw a party when the Antichrist arrives on the scene and kills the two witnesses because he is now imposing Islamic law on them. They are rejoicing because He just killed the two prophets of God and set them free from moral law. Are these Muslim Antichrist proponents serious telling me that the whole world will follow some Islamic Mahdi with Islamic moral laws all the way to Armageddon? Give me a break! The concept is beyond ridiculous.

Dr. Reagan in this article points out why the Muslim Antichrist proponents have it all wrong about the teaching of Islam. Ninety percent of Muslims are not looking for a Mahdi and if one came they would not receive him. To think that all Muslims would accept the Mahdi is on par with expecting true Christians to believe that Jesus will gather all Mormons to New Jerusalem in Missouri before the judgment.

Further Thoughts About a Muslim Antichrist

By Dr. David R. Reagan

The January-February 2009 issue of our magazine, the Lamplighter, was devoted to the issue of whether or not the Antichrist could be a Muslim. I argued that there is no possibility.

Several readers questioned one of the points I made in the article, and I would like to respond to the question they raised. In the article I pointed out that those who believe the Antichrist will be a Muslim argue that he will be received by the Muslim world as their long-awaited Mahdi, or Messiah. I took the position that this is misleading to believe “that all the Islamic world is living in breathless anticipation of the appearance of the Mahdi, when the reality is that 90% of all Muslims – the Sunnis – are not looking for a Mahdi. In fact the concept of a Mahdi is not even found in orthodox versions of the Hadith like Sahih al Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.” I further observed that “the Sunni Muslims are looking instead for the appearance of the Antichrist, whom they call the Dajjal. If a person were suddenly to appear on the world scene claiming to be the Mahdi, he would be automatically rejected by the vast majority of Muslims.”

Those who questioned my position on this matter all pointed to two pieces of evidence which they said prove that Sunni Muslims do believe in the concept of a Mahdi. One was a fatwa issued by the Muslim World League, a Sunni organization, in 1976 which proclaimed that belief in a Mahdi is “obligatory.” The other was a long article on the Internet entitled “The Twelfth Imam.” In that article the author points out that there have been Sunni theologians throughout history who have believed in a Mahdi.

On the surface, both of these items seem to prove that the concept of a Mahdi is central to Sunni eschatology. But I would argue that both give support to my position.

Let me explain.

Often people ask how many Americans will be taken when the Rapture occurs. If this biblical wordview survey is any indication of true believers in America it is not as many as most think.

“A biblical worldview, as defined by the Barna study, is believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is completely accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.”

So what does this survey really tell us? It indicates that only one in 200 young people believe in the essentials of the faith. Less than one in ten adults believe in the essentials. Less than one out of five that claim to be born again Christians believe in the essentials of the faith. Even one half of the “born again Christians” think they can earn their way into heaven.

What can we deduct from this? The main thing I can deduct is that most who claim to be “Christians” are Christians in name only, they are not really Christians at all. The survey also makes it clear that America and Christians have totally lost the next generation thanks to public school and media indoctrination and parents and churches not teaching their children in the way they should go.

I also find it ironic that most Americans consider themselves to be Christian and say they know the contents of the Bible but the survey claims that less than one out of ten Americans demonstrate such knowledge through their actions. I would go even further and say most of those who claim they know the Bible are liars. They do not know the Bible. Anyone who knows the Bible and attends church Bible studies knows that most who consider themselves Christians haven’t a clue about the contents of the Bible. But most “Christians” do not even attend Bible studies and in more and more churches any meaningful teaching is not taught from the pulpits either. Christianity in general is biblically illiterate and that is why they do not have a Christian worldview. Therefore, not understanding the fundamental truths of Christian belief they also cannot be true Christians.

Survey: Less Than 1 Percent of Young Adults Hold Biblical Worldview| Christianpost.com

Less than one percent of the youngest adult generation in America has a biblical worldview, found a new study examining the changes in worldview among Christians and the overall U.S. population.

The Mosaic generation, those between the ages of 18 and 23, “rarely” have a biblical worldview as defined by The Barna Group. The research data found that less than one-half of one percent of Mosaics have a biblical worldview.

A biblical worldview, as defined by the Barna study, is believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is completely accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.

The research shows that only nine percent of all American adults have a biblical worldview, which although significantly higher than that of the Mosaic generation is still a small proportion of the total population.

Among “born again Christians,” the study found that they are twice as likely as the average adult to have a biblical worldview. However, that still amounted to no more than about one out of five (19 percent) born again Christians, a small minority, the study pointed out.

Full article

Dr. David Reagan is presenting a series on the truth about Islam.  This series should do away with the misconceptions and false statements about Islam coming from our political leaders and even many who call themselves Christians. The God of Islam is not the God  of Christianity nor is Allah the God of the Bible. You will find out why in these articles.

The truth about Islam history

The truth about Islam culture

The truth about Islam spiritual

The truth about Islam intolerance

The truth about Islam Jihad

The truth about Islam answers

For example did you know:

The Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran was the modern day Islamic spokesman who revived Muhammad’s vision of world conquest. He taught that the re-establishment of Israel was a Satanic miracle allowed by Allah because of the lukewarmness of the Muslim masses. He called for a renewal of true Islam to accomplish three purposes:⁶

1. To overthrow the “secular” rulers of Islamic countries (like Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt), just as he had done in Iran.
2. To take back the land of Palestine for Allah, exterminating Israel in the process.
3. To conquer the rest of the world for Allah.

the holy book of Islam is riddled with contradictions. Consider, for example, what it says about creation. In one place it asserts that Allah created everything in “the twinkling of an eye” (Sura 54:49-50). Elsewhere it says that the time period of the creation was two days (Sura 41:9, 12); four days (Sura 41:10); six days (Suras 7:54, 10:4, and 32:4); in “a day equaling 1,000 years” (Sura 32:5); and also in “50,000 years” (Sura 70:4). That’s a total of six different time periods!

Muhammad is quoted in the Hadith as saying, “The sword is the key of heaven and hell. A drop of blood in the cause of Allah — a night spent in arms [war] — is of more avail than two months of fasting and prayer. Whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven, and at the day of judgment, his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and cherubim.”¹

After the death of his wife, Muhammad married at least 11 other women (some sources place the total as high as 16). He also took several concubines. He married one girl who was only six years old and had sexual relations with her when she was 9.² According to the Koran, only the prophet could have unlimited wives. All other Muslim men are limited to four (Sura 4:3).

In Islam there is no “secular realm” that is free of religion. Islam regulates every aspect of life to the point that religion, politics, and culture are inseparable. Islam is thus fueled by a subtle form of racism in which 7th Century Arab culture is to be imposed upon all other cultures.

I just added a new blog on my sidebar called “Eschatology Today”. The Blog is written by Sean Osborne who is a military man who studied Bible prophecy for decades. Sean is also Associate Director of the popular Northeast Intelligence Network
http://www.homelandsecurityus.com

I have also been in the military or associated with the military defense establishment for almost two decades. I know most of our career military men are no nonsense straight shooting people and realists. Most love America and hate to see what is now happening to our nation. Many are God fearing true patriots and true American heroes. If civilians had half the integrity of most of our military people the problems in America would be largely solved.

So since Sean Osborne is one of these Christian American patriots who is well educated in world current events and Bible prophecy I am proud to add a link to his blog. However, telling you that is not the reason for this post. I read what was on Sean’s blog and you will simply have to read this post yourself to believe what came out of Walid Shoebat’s mouth.

The post mentions Prophezine and Ray Gano as well. I had a link to Ray Gano’s Prophezine until they started charging for almost all of their information. That really turned me off. It even made me write the following:

“Any Christian website teaching ministry that charges people to get access to most of their information is like a church that charges at the door. It is like a missionary who charges the poor natives for the Gospel. Call it a business but do not call it a ministry! There really are other ways to get needed funding. Christian websites can advertise and sell things and they can ask for donations. Those who require us to pay to view obviously do not care that the vast majority of people in the world cannot afford to pay their price for the information they provide”.

The real reason for this post is because of what I found on the Eschatology Today site about a letter that Shoebat requested Ray Gano email to Sean Osborne. You simply have to read it, also read the follow-up comments.

One of the problems I have had with some of the new “Bible prophecy teachers” that are redefining Christian eschatology is that they are very young or new converts who simply do not have much knowledge and understanding of the Bible and they often lack maturity in the Lord. We see the lack of maturity in the flame throwing and personal attacks that has been posted on Prophezine and on others sites that attack the experts who dispute the Muslim Antichrist and Beast theory.

In the letter sent to Sean Osborne from Walid Shoebat, Walid calls Sean Osborne a pinhead quite a few times. He also gives reference to a greater “pin head” the “pinhead” referred to obviously is the distinguished Dr. David Reagan who dared to critique Shobat’s infallible book.

It that any way to address PhD scholars and Christians who disagree on non essentials of the faith? These attacks also come from others as well on the forums, they claim all the old experts are wrong and the Antichrist has to be a Muslim but their arguments are weak. Therefore, I guess they feel they have to be aggressive to defend a Muslim Antichrist theory or nobody will buy their new books but that is no excuse for these personal attacks.

Anyway, to get the gist of the mean spirited attacks you will simply have to read the letter from Shoebat to Osborne.

It really has to make you wonder if those who want us to believe that the Antichrist is a Muslim is nothing but a Satanic deception. If the world believes the Beast is Islam the world will be set up for a Western conquering hero that will defeat fundamental Islam but actually turn out to be the real Antichrist.

Eschatology Today: Prophezine’s Ray Gano and Alleged Former “Palestinian” (a/k/a Jordanian) Terrorist and Muslim Apostate “Walid Shoebat” Sent Me a Letter

Prophezine’s Ray Gano and Alleged Former “Palestinian” (a/k/a Jordanian) Terrorist and Muslim Apostate “Walid Shoebat” Sent Me a Letter

29 January 2009: Apparently as a direct result of my personal oppostion to the false teaching of the so-called “eastern leg” exegesis regarding the vision of the prophet Daniel, yours truly has earned the laughable and entirely bogus disdain of Ray Gano (Prophezine) and his new best buddy, the alleged former “Palestinian” terrorist known by the pseudonym “Walid Shoebat.” Grab yourself a nice cup of tea, and get comfortable, this is going to be an interesting read.

Full article

Many of the leaders of our churches are teaching people how to live a more sanitized life rather than a more sanctified life. One message appeals to the flesh and the other matures the soul. If your in a church that teaches sanitization rather than sanctification you are probably among the majority. Many people today love the sanitization message because the message appeals to their bodies of flesh.

Just because the message is popular with the world does not mean it gives people the truth they need to overcome this evil world or that it helps Christians to grow. In fact, sanitization teachings often encourage baby Christians and non Christians to feel good about living in their fallen nature of flesh. Do not confuse teaching like the prosperity message, the success message and the better living through postmodern religious chemistry message with biblical teaching given for the sanctification of your soul.

The sanitization message appeals to those who want to perfect a body of flesh that God has already condemned. The sanctification message matures the soul of those who will be given a new body perfected by God.

Bob DeWaay in this article aptly shows those with eyes to see the difference between the popular message of sanitization that is preached in many churches and modern movements, and the Biblical message of Sanctification that is increasingly becoming rarely heard.

Sanitization or Sanctification?

A reader phoned me recently and explained how he has seen churches depart from Bible teaching only to institute various programs for better living. He made an intriguing statement: “These programs do not sanctify, they sanitize.” And he was absolutely right about that. Let me unpack that idea and show from Scripture that this is the case.

It is possible to use human wisdom and good advice programs in order to help people achieve better living. It is possible to get an alcoholic sober, an abusive husband to be considerate and caring, a compulsive gambler to quit, a person driven to make money at the expense of family to change priorities, and to help an unhappy person become happy. All of this can be done without any special work of grace. In fact, it can be done without religion at all.

Dispensing human wisdom can produce many satisfied customers. A local pastor, known for preaching the prosperity gospel, was exposed in the newspaper for his lavish lifestyle and possible misappropriation of church funds. One of his members wrote a letter to the editor defending the pastor. The letter writer cited all of the positive changes that had happened since attending that church: a better family, better finances, freedom from addiction, and so forth. But he did not mention anything distinctive to Christianity. Some people who believe the health and wealth gospel actually are healthy and wealthy. But so are some atheists.

Many churches simply have given up salvation and sanctification and settled for sanitization-clean and happy “Christian” living without regard to holiness in the sight of God.

A church becomes filled with unsaved people when “better living through Jesus” teachings and programs become the norm rather than gospel preaching and Bible teaching. The people are there to find the sort of life the atheist bragged about having. They may get a nice, happy life through human wisdom dispensed in the name of Christianity.

But holiness is what such persons cannot find through human wisdom. Holiness comes from a work of grace, not a decision to change some things for the better. Sinners lacking the gospel but sanitized through a church program may end up in a worse condition than before. If, in the name of Christianity, the drunkenness or marriage problems go away, those who benefited may think they are saved when, in fact, they are lost. False assurance is dangerous and if not remedied will lead to eternal damnation.

The good advice approach assumes that humans possess the motivation and ability they need; that they simply need instruction on how to put what they already have to work. The real situation is that we are sinners without hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12). We do not have an engineering problem; we have a spiritual one. That spiritual problem is remedied by what God does by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8)-not what we do through human wisdom. The Bible tells us to “pursue” sanctification, because without it we will never see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Only sanctification through the blood of Jesus makes us fit to see the Lord. Sanitization through good advice cannot do that.

Full article

The Book of Enoch comes up now and then in Bible prophecy. So you might want to be aware of the arguments presented in and about this book. You have to be very careful here because some people will use the Book of Enoch for actually proving that Aliens exist. Alien Resistance and other Christian websites like them say that these beings will be nothing more than fallen Angels setting us up for great deception.

The theory by those who run the Alien Resistance website is that there will be a great deception in the last days carried out by fallen Angels who will pass themselves off to the world as Aliens from another world or dimension. They say these fallen Angels also produced the Nephilim that we are told about in Genesis in pre-flood days. Alien Resistance also takes the position that the early Catholic Church had a hand in trying to covering up what happened before the flood by making sure the Book of Enoch never saw the light of day.

Ill let you decide what is true. I do not know if there actually was a conspiracy to cover up what was written, or if the Book of Enoch just did not meet the standards or say what anyone wanted to hear. Even today, if you talk about Angels producing offspring with women the majority of Christians will look at you like you have too heads because they see conflict in one misunderstood verse (Mt 22:30). Never mind that a literal reading of Genesis makes what happen quite clear. The popular Sons of Seth Theory that almost everyone in Christianity teaches is really myth.

One thing for certain is that you will not hear about these things in mainstream Christianity. So if there is truth here Satan did a pretty good job of covering it up leaving almost everyone on earth wide open for a staged Alien great deception.

I believe the fallen Angels did create the Nephilim on the earth. Even Josephus and other ancient writings tell about that. But I do not know how much truth is in the manuscripts of the Book of Enoch about pre-flood events.

The Book of Enoch It’s history, fallen angels, UFO connections

Since it’s English translation in the 1800’s from texts found in Ethiopia in 1768, The Book of Enoch (known today as 1st Enoch) has made quite a stir in academic circles. 1 Enoch has been authenticated as existing and in wide use before the church age (most scholars now date it at 200 BC). Multiple copies were discovered in 1948 in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This of course has caused many to wonder why it is not included in modern Bibles…

Particular to this site, parts of The Book of Enoch tell the story of wicked angels who abducted and mated with human women, resulting in the hybrid race known throughout secular and Biblical history as the Nephilim (giants, KJV).

While this account encompasses only the first four verses of Genesis 6 (but see also Genesis 3:15, 2 Peter 2:4-6, Jude 6-7), Enoch 1 relates this story in great detail. It lists the names of 18 “prefect” angels – of 200 – who committed this sin. According to the text, these angels also taught mankind the “making of swords and knives, shields and breastplates (metallurgy); … magical medicine, dividing of roots (medicinal and hallucinogenic use); incantations, astrology, the seeing of the stars, the course of the moon, as well as the deception of man.”

By Noah’s time, “The earth also was corrupt (wasting – KJV notation) before God, and the earth was filled with violence… all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” Gen 6:10-11. Afraid of the consequences, these angels appeal to Enoch to intercede with God on their behalf; God instead uses Enoch to deliver a message of judgment against them. Aside from the “taking of wives,” God states that he would not forgive them for teaching mankind magical arts and warlike ways. As summarized by Pastor Chris Ward:

“According to the Book of Enoch (Not a Canonical Text), God judged the angels for producing the Nephilim. God decreed that the fallen angels (Watchers) were to be cast into Tartarus. The Nephilim were also judged and it was determined that their bodies were to return to the earth in peace but their souls were doomed to wander the earth forever (as) wandering spirits…” (Visit Pastor Chris’s Enoch page which reprints this dialogue between God and Enoch, and The Origin of Demons for more.)

The increasing acceptance and popularization of this important book among theologians helps cast light on the extra-terrestrial hypothesis (ETH) in general. Enoch is an ancient writing which states that angels (not true space aliens, as stated by many UFO cults, and popular modern authors Erich Von Daniken and Zechariah Sitchin) visited ancient Earth and polluted mankind’s DNA. While this case can easily be made solely from the canonized Bible (see Relevant Bible Verses), Enoch is yet another witness against these bad interpretations of Earth’s predelulvian era (i.e., before the flood of Genesis 6). The fact that they also gave mankind technology which supposedly “advanced our race” (but which we actually used to destroy each other, and to incur God’s judgment), lends itself to a more sinister understanding of today’s UFO phenomenon…

The idea that Jesus said that angels cannot have sex is a very common objection to The Book of Enoch and the angelic understanding of Genesis 6 in general. However it is also a very common misinterpretation of what he actually said. Go Here to read what he said (Matt 22:30), and to study this topic. Beyond that misunderstanding, there is no doubt today that The Book of Enoch was one of the most widely accepted and revered books of Jewish culture and doctrine in the century leading up to Jesus’ birth.

It is usually noted first that New Testament author Jude directly quotes from 1 Enoch – “Behold he comes with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment …” (1 Enoch 2, Jude 14-15). Additionally, “the citations of Enoch by the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs… show that at the close of the second century B.C., and during the first century B.C., this book was regarded in certain circles as inspired” (1).

With all of the evidence in, we have to own the fact that 1 Enoch was not merely “rejected for canonization.” It was buried. Flat out suppressed. It was quite intentionally lost to history, with all copies destroyed or left to rot 10 stories deep under the Vatican. Enoch was not merely “left out of the Bible.” It was dropped like a bad habit.

Okay, only for those who have come the distance, now let’s talk dirt…

Point blank, Origen was right. Enoch was suppressed and labeled as heresy specifically to hide the truth of the fallen angels’ past, present and future activity on earth.

Forget Roswell. Forget the X-Files. The most successful, enduring and damaging cover-up of “The Truth” about our planet’s frequent visitors – has come from within The Church.

Full article

Book of Enoch

I am liking the teaching of Nahan Jones. He gives very good answers to those who expect a local Muslim Antichrist. Besides this article he also had a very good article the other day on the Divided States of America.  I wrote on this topic myself and like me, Jones also see the possibility of a break up of the United States because of deep moral divisions.

Having said that, lets go to this new article about the rational for a Global or Local Antichrist.

The Muslim Antichrist proponents see the Beast and its Antichrist fighting a regional war against Israel. They deny that the Antichrist will have power over the whole world. To me the weight of scripture makes a Global Antichrist argument a no brainier. Revelation and many other scriptures clearly indicate that the Antichrist will control the whole world. Nathan Jones has taken the time to put together many of the scriptures that should make it perfectly clear that the Beast/Antichrist will become truly Global. He also gives other good arguments against the reasoning of the critics of a Global Antichrist in his article. I will just add one scripture of my own to prove that the Antichrist is Global.

Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

People can look at the whole council of God and see that the power of the Antichrist will be truly Global or they can cherry pick scriptures to try to support their own wordview of a local limited Islamic Antichrist figure. Nevertheless, there can be only one truth about this Beast/Antichrist and that is what is clearly taught in scripture. Read again the scripture above and the ones Jones quotes in his article and there should be be no confusion.

The main thing I would like to add to the conclusion given by Nathan Jones is that the ten Kings of the ten Kingdoms that give there power to the Beast for one hour may not be ten heads of existing nations. These kings very will could be leaders of ten regional governments. The plans for regional powers have been in the works for a long time and we already have at least five regional governments being formed as I speak. Certainly others will soon soon pop up.

Global Or Local Antichrist?

By Nathan Jones

Will the Antichrist rule over every nation of the earth, or just 10 of those nations? Will he be a global ruler, or a local ruler over a coalition of nations? Will the world tremble under his iron grip, or only the nation of Israel fear his wrath? Global, or local Antichrist?

Where does the local view that the Antichrist will rule just ten nations come from? Revelation 17:12-13 is the answer. It reads, “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast.”

As the text states, in the future ten kings (presidents, dictators, whatnot) will arise to rule kingdoms and will for a short time in history grant their power to “the Beast,” which Bible prophecy students will recognize as the Antichrist. The Antichrist is given rulership over the ten kingdom nations.

The local view stops with this description. All the further acts in Revelation that the Antichrist commits against the Jews is just for the Jews, and as this view holds, has nothing to do with the rest of the world. It’s Israel against a ten-nation empire, and that’s that.

The global view takes Revelation 17:12-13 and puts it into context with other passages that express the scope of God’s wrath during the Tribulation, the time period the Antichrist has such prominence in. The references are as follows: (see full article)

The Bible makes it clear the Antichrist will rule ten nations, but it also makes it clear their boundaries and authority encompass the entire planet. Like the Flood debate, the literal, biblical descriptions concerning the world-wide scope of God’s wrath upon the whole world overwhelmingly support a Global Antichrist.

full article