Lucifer

BIBLE Basics

Lucifer

Isaiah 14 vs. 12-14: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High”.

POPULAR INTERPRETATION:

It is assumed that Lucifer was once a powerful angel who sinned at the time of Adam and was therefore cast down to earth, where he is making trouble for God’s people.

COMMENTS:-

1. The words “devil”, “satan” and “angel” never occur in this chapter. This is the only place in Scripture where the word “Lucifer” occurs.

2. There is no evidence that Isaiah 14 is describing anything that happened in the garden of Eden; if it is, then why are we left 3,000 years from the time of Genesis before being told what really happened there?

3. Lucifer is described as being covered in worms (v. 11) and mocked by men (v. 16) because he no longer has any power after his casting out of heaven (vs. 5-8); so there is no justification for thinking that Lucifer is now on earth leading believers astray.

4. Why is Lucifer punished for saying, “I will ascend into heaven” (v. 13), if he was already there?

5. Lucifer is to rot in the grave: “Thy pomp is brought down to the grave,…and the worms cover thee” (v. 11). Seeing angels cannot die (Luke 20:35-36), Lucifer therefore cannot be an angel; the language is more suited to a man.

6. Verses 13 and 14 have connections with 2 Thess. 2:3-4, which is about the “man of sin” – thus Lucifer points forward to another man – not an angel.

SUGGESTED EXPLANATIONS:-

1. The N.I.V. and other modern versions have set out the text of Isaiah chapters 13-23 as a series of “burdens” on various nations, e.g. Babylon, Tyre, Egypt. Is. 14:4 sets the context of the verses we are considering: “Thou shalt take up this proverb (parable) against the king of Babylon…”. The prophecy is therefore about the human king of Babylon, who is described as “Lucifer”. On his fall: “they that see thee shall…consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble…?” (v. 16). Thus Lucifer is clearly defined as a man.

2. Because Lucifer was a human king, “All the kings of the nations… shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?” (vs. 9-10). Lucifer was therefore a king like any other king.

3. Verse 20 says that Lucifer’s seed will be destroyed. Verse 22 says that Babylon’s seed will be destroyed, thus equating them.

4. Remember that this is a “proverb (parable) against the king of Babylon” (v. 4). “Lucifer” means “the morning star”, which is the brightest of the stars. In the parable, this star proudly decides to “ascend (higher) into heaven…exalt my throne above the (other) stars of God” (v. 13). Because of this, the star is cast down to the earth. The star represents the king of Babylon. Daniel chapter 4 explains how Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon proudly surveyed the great kingdom he had built up, thinking that he had conquered other nations in his own strength, rather than recognizing that God had given him success. “Thy greatness (pride) is grown, and reacheth unto heaven” (v. 22). Because of this “he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws” (v. 33) This sudden humbling of one of the world’s most powerful men to a deranged lunatic was such a dramatic event as to call for the parable about the falling of the morning star from heaven to earth. Stars are symbolic of powerful people, e.g. Gen. 37:9; Is. 13:10 (concerning the leaders of Babylon); Ez. 32:7 (concerning the leader of Egypt); Dan. 8:10 cp. v 24. Ascending to heaven and falling from heaven are Biblical idioms often used for increasing in pride and being humbled respectively – see Job 20:6; Jer. 51:53 (about Babylon); Lam. 2:1; Matt. 11:23 (about Capernaum).: “Thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell” (the grave).

5. Verse 17 accuses Lucifer of making the “world as a wilderness, (destroying) the cities thereof; that let not loose his prisoners to their home…(that did) fill the face of the world with cities”…”the exactress of gold” (vs. 17,21, R.V.; v.4 A.V. margin). These are all descriptions of Babylonian military policy – razing whole areas to the ground (as they did to Jerusalem), transporting captives to other areas and not letting them return to their homeland (as they did to the Jews), building new cities and taking tribute of gold from nations they oppressed. Thus there is emphasis on the fact that Lucifer was not even going to get the burial these other kings had had (vs. 18-19), implying that he was only a human king like them, seeing his body needed burying.

6. Verse 12 says that Lucifer was to be “cut down to the ground” – implying he was a tree. This provides a further link with Dan. 4:8-16, where Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon are likened to a tree being cut down.

7. Babylon and Assyria are often interchangeable phrases in the prophets; thus, having spoken of the demise of the king of Babylon, v 25 says, “I will break the Assyrian…”. The prophecies about Babylon in Is. 47 are repeated concerning Assyria in Nahum 3:5,4,18 and Zeph. 2:13,15; and 2 Chron. 33:11 says that the king of Assyria took Manasseh captive to Babylon – showing the interchangeability of the terms. Amos 5:27 says that Israel were to go into captivity “beyond Damascus”, i.e. in Assyria, but Stephen quotes this as “beyond Babylon” (Acts 7:43). Ezra 6:1 describes Darius the king of Babylon making a decree concerning the rebuilding of the temple. The Jews praised God for turning “the heart of the king of Assyria” (Ezra 6:22), again showing that they are interchangeable terms. The prophecy of Isaiah ch. 14, along with many others in Isaiah, fits in well to the context of the Assyrian invasion by Sennacherib in Hezekiah’s time, hence v. 25 describes the breaking of the Assyrian.Verse 13 is easier to understand if it is talking about the blasphemous Assyrians besieging Jerusalem, wanting to enter Jerusalem and capture the temple for their gods. Earlier the Assyrian king, Tilgath-Pilneser, had probably wanted to do the same (2 Chron. 28:20,21); Is. 14:13: “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven… (symbolic of the temple and ark – 1 Kings 8:30; 2 Chron. 30:27; Ps. 20: 2,6; 11:4; Heb. 7:26) I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation (mount Zion where the temple was) in the sides of the north” (Jerusalem – Ps. 48:1,2).

Demons

BIBLE Basics

Demons

The previous two sections have explained why we do not believe the devil or satan to be a personal being or a monster. If we accept that there is no such being, then it surely follows that demons, who are held to be the servants of the devil, also do not exist. Many people seem to think that God gives us all the good things of life, and the devil and his demons give us the bad things, and take away the good things which God gives us.

The Bible clearly teaches that God is the source of all power (see Study 6.1), and that He is responsible for both the good things and the bad things in our lives:-

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things”, Isaiah 45:7;

“Evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem”, Micah 1:12;

“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?” Amos 3:6.

Therefore when we get trials, we should accept that they come from God, not blame them on a devil or demons. Job was a man who lost many of the good things which God blessed him with, but he did not say, “These demons have taken away all God gave me”. No; listen to what he said:-

“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord”, Job 1:21;

“Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Job 2:10

Once we understand that all things are from God, when we have problems in life we can pray to God for Him to take them away, and if He does not, we can be assured that He is giving them to us in order to develop our characters and for our good in the long run:-

“My Son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He (not demons!) chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons” (Hebrews 12:5-8).

God: Source Of All Power

God is the source of all power:-

“I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God ( the Hebrew word for ‘god’ really means ‘power’) beside Me” – Isaiah 45:5;

“Is there a God beside Me? yea,there is no God; I know not any”, God says – Isaiah 44:8;

“The Lord He is God; there is none else beside Him” – Deuteronomy 4:35.

Such verses occur time and again throughout the Bible. Because God is the source of all power and the only God, He is therefore a jealous God, as He often reminds us (e.g. Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 4:24).

God gets jealous when His people start believing in other gods, if they say to Him, ‘You are a great God, a powerful God, but actually I believe there are still some other gods beside You, even if they are not as powerful as You’. This is why we cannot believe that there are demons or a devil in existence as well as the true God. This is just the mistake Israel made. Much of the Old Testament is spent showing how Israel displeased God by believing in other gods as well as in Him. We will see from the Bible that the “demons” people believe in today are just like those false gods Israel believed in.

Demons Are Idols

In 1 Corinthians, Paul explains why Christians should have nothing to do with idol worship or believing in such things. In Bible times people believed demons to be little gods who could be worshipped to stop problems coming into their lives. They therefore made models of demons, which were the same as idols, and worshipped them. This explains why Paul uses the words “demon” and “idol” interchangeably in his letter:-

“The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with demons…if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake…” (1 Cor.10:20,28). So idols and demons are effectively the same. Notice how Paul says they sacrificed “to demons (idols) and not to God” – the demons were not God, and as there is only one God, it follows that demons have no real power at all, they are not gods. The point is really driven home in 1 Cor.8:4:-

“As concerning …those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol (equivalent to a demon) is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one“. An idol, or a demon, has no existence at all. There is only one true God, or power, in the world. Paul goes on (vs.5,6):-

“For though there be that are called gods…(as there be gods many and lords many, [just as people believe in many types of demon today - one demon causing you to lose your job, another causing your wife to leave you, etc.]) But to us (the true believers) there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things (both good and bad, as we have seen from the earlier references)”.

Further proof that people in New Testament times believed demons to be idols or ‘gods’ is found in Acts 17:16-18; this describes how Paul preached in Athens, which was a “city wholly given to idolatry”, therefore worshipping many different idols. After hearing Paul preach the Gospel, the people said, “He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange (i.e. new) gods (demons): because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection”. So the people thought that “Jesus” and “the resurrection” were new demons or idols that were being explained to them. If you read the rest of the chapter, you will see how Paul goes on to teach the truth to these people, and in v. 22 he says, “Ye are too superstitious” (literally: devoted to demon worship) and he explains how God is not present in their demons, or idols. Remember that God is the only source of power. If He is not in demons, then demons do not have any power because there is no other source of power in this universe – i.e. they do not exist.

Old Testament ‘Demons’ Were Idols

Going back to the Old Testament, there is more proof that “demons” are the same as idols. Dt. 28:22-28, 59-61 predicted that mental disease would be one of the punishments for worshipping idols/demons. This explains the association of demons with mental illness in the New Testament. But let it be noted that the language of demons is associated with illness, not sin. We do not read of Christ casting out demons of envy, murder etc. It must also be noted that the Bible speaks of people having a demon/disease, rather than saying that demons caused the disease. It is significant that the Greek version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) used the word ‘daimonion’ for “idol” in Dt. 32:17 and Ps. 106:37; this is the word translated “demon” in the New Testament. Psalm 106:36-39 describes the errors of Israel and likens the idols of Canaan to demons:-

“They (Israel) served their idols; which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and daughters unto demons, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan…Thus they were defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions”.

Quite clearly demons are just another name for idols. Their worship of demons is described by God as worshipping their “own works…their own inventions” because their belief in demons was a result of human imagination; the idols they created were their “own works”. So those who believe in demons today are believing in things which have been imagined by men, the creation of men, rather than what God has taught us.

Deuteronomy 32:15-24 describes just how angry God gets when His people believe in demons: Israel “lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they Him to anger. They sacrificed unto demons, not to God; to gods whom they knew not… whom your fathers feared not…And He (God) said, I will hide My face from them…for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked Me to anger with their vanities…I will heap mischiefs upon them”

So God describes demons as the same as idols, abominations, and vanities – things which are vain to believe in, which have no existence. Believing in demons shows a lack of faith in God. It is not easy to have faith that God provides everything, both good and bad, in life. It is easier to think that the bad things come from someone else, because once we say they come from God, then we need to have faith that God will take them away or that they are going to be beneficial to us ultimately.

New Testament Demons

But, you may say, “How about all the passages in the New Testament which clearly speak about demons?”

One thing we must get clear: the Bible cannot contradict itself, it is the Word of Almighty God. If we are clearly told that God brings our problems and that He is the source of all power, then the Bible cannot also tell us that demons – little gods in opposition to God – bring these things on us. It seems significant that the word “demons” only occurs four times in the Old Testament and always describes idol worship, but it occurs many times in the Gospel records. We suggest this is because, at the time the Gospels were written, it was the language of the day to say that any disease that could not be understood was the fault of demons. If demons really do exist and are responsible for our illnesses and problems, then we would read more about them in the Old Testament. But we do not read about them at all in this context there.

Demons In The New Testament

To say that demons were cast out of someone is to say that they were cured of a mental illness, or an illness which was not understood at the time. People living in the first century tended to blame everything which they couldn’t understand on imaginary beings called ‘demons’. Mental illness being hard to understand with their level of medical knowledge, the people spoke of those afflicted as ‘demon possessed’. In Old Testament times, an evil or unclean spirit referred to a troubled mental state (Jud.9:23; 1 Sam.16:14; 18:10). In New Testament times, the language of evil spirit/ demon possession had come to refer to those suffering mental illness. The association between demons and sickness is shown by the following: “They brought unto him(Jesus) many that were possessed with demons: and He cast out the spirits with His word…that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet (in the Old Testament), saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matthew 8:16,17). So human infirmities and sicknesses are the same as being possessed by “demons” and “evil spirits”.

People thought that Jesus was mad and said this must be because He had a demon – “He hath a demon, and is mad” (John 10:20; 7:19,20; 8:52). They therefore believed that demons caused madness.

Healing The Sick

When they were healed, people “possessed with demons” are said to return to their “right mind” – Mark 5:15; Luke 8:35. This implies that being “possessed with demons” was another way of saying someone was mentally unwell – i.e. not in their right mind.

Those “possessed with demons” are said to be “healed” or “cured” – Matthew 4:24;12:22;17:18 – implying that demon possession is another way of describing illness.

In Luke 10:9 Jesus told His 70 apostles to go out and “heal the sick”, which they did. They returned and said, v. 17, “even the demons are subject unto us through Thy name” – again, demons and illness are equated. Sometimes the apostles cured people in the name of Jesus and here we have an example of this (see also Acts 3:6; 9:34).

The Language Of The Day

So we see that in the New Testament it was the language of the day to describe someone as being possessed with demons if they were mentally ill or had a disease which no one understood. The contemporary Roman and Greek cultural belief belief was that demons possessed people, thereby creating mental disease. Those ‘Christians’ who believe in the existence of demons are effectively saying that the contemporary pagan beliefs in this area were perfectly correct. The Bible is written in language which people can understand. Because it uses the language of the day does not mean that It or Jesus believed in demons. In the same way in English we have the word “lunatic” to describe someone who is mentally ill. Literally it means someone who is “moon struck”. Years ago people used to believe that if a person went out walking at night when there was a clear moon, they could get struck by the moon and become mentally ill. We use that word “lunatic” today to describe someone who is mad, but it does not mean that we believe madness is caused by the moon.

If these words were written down and re-read in 2,000 years’ time – if Jesus had not returned – people might think we believed that the moon caused madness, but they would be wrong because we are just using the language of our day, as Jesus did 2,000 years ago. Similarly we describe a certain hereditary disorder as “St. Vitus’s Dance” which is neither caused by “St. Vitus” nor “dancing”, but in using the language of the day we call it “St. Vitus’s Dance”. It is evident that Jesus Christ was not born on December 25th; yet the present writer still uses the term ‘Christmas day’ when speaking of that day, although I do not believe that we should keep that day as a celebration of Christ’s birth. The names of the days of the week are based upon pagan idol worship – e.g. ‘Sunday’ means ‘the day devoted to worshipping the sun’; ‘Saturday’ was the day upon which the planet Saturn was to be worshipped, Monday for the moon, etc. To use these names does not mean that we share the pagan beliefs of those who originally coined our present language. ‘Influenza’ is likewise a term in common use today; it strictly means ‘influenced by demons’. When Daniel was renamed ‘Belteshazzar’, a name reflecting a pagan god, the inspired record in Dan. 4:19 calls him ‘Belteshazzar’ without pointing out that this word reflected false thinking. I speak about ‘the Pope’ as a means of identifying someone, even though I think it wrong to actually believe that he is a ‘pope’ or father (Mt. 23:9).

There was a myth in Ezekiel’s time that the land of Israel was responsible for the misfortunes of those in it. This was not true and yet God reasons with Israel, using the idea that was then popular, “Thus saith the Lord God, Because they say unto you, Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations; therefore thou (the land) shalt devour men no more…saith the Lord God” (Ezekiel 36:13,14). There was a common pagan notion that the sea was a great monster desiring to engulf the earth. Whilst this is evidently untrue, the Bible often uses this figure in order to help its initial readership to grasp the idea being presented: see Job 7:12 ( Moffat’s Translation); Am.9:3 (Moffat); Jer.5:22; Ps.89:9; Hab.3:10; Mt.14:24 (Greek text); Mk.4:30. Assyrian mythology called this rebellious sea monster ‘Rahab’; and this is exactly the name given to the sea monster of Egypt in Is.51:9.

Seeing that the Bible is inspired by God, it is impossible that the Bible is merely reflecting the pagan influences which were current at the time in which it was written. It must be that God is consciously alluding to contemporary beliefs, in order to show that He is the ultimate source of power; He is the one who controls the ‘monster’ of the sea, so that it does His will. God therefore corrected the fundamental error in these people’s beliefs, which was that there were forces at work in the world which were not subject to God’s control, and were therefore evil by implication. However, the Bible does not, in this instance, go out of its way to decry the folly of believing that there is a massive monster lurking in the sea, or that the sea is a monster.

Another example is in the description of lightning and storm clouds as a “crooked serpent” (Job 26:13; Isaiah 17:1). This was evidently alluding to the contemporary pagan belief that lightning and frightening cloud formations were actually visions of a massive snake. These passages do not expose the folly of such an idea, or attempt scientific explanation. Instead they make the point that God controls these things. The attitude of Christ to the prevailing belief in demons is identical in this regard; his miracles clearly demonstrated that the power of God was absolute and complete, unbounded by the superstitions of men concerning so-called ‘demons’. Those who believe that the New Testament records of ‘demons’ prove that such beings do actually exist are duty bound to accept that the sea is really a monster, and that lightning is actually a huge serpent. This is surely a powerful point; there must be a recognition that the Bible uses the language of the day in which it is written, without necessarily supporting the beliefs which form the basis of that language. We have shown our own use of language to be similar. The Bible does this in order to confirm the kind of basic truths which we considered in Studies 6.1 and 6.2 – that God is all powerful; He is responsible for our trials; sin comes from within us – all these things can be made sense of by appreciating the greatness of God’s power to save. The so-called ‘higher critics’ are constantly unearthing links between the language of Scripture and the beliefs and conceptions of the surrounding cultures in which the Bible was inspired and recorded. These are understandable, once it is understood that the Bible uses language which may allude to local beliefs, but does so in order to make the point that Yahweh, the only true God, is far greater than the petty beliefs of men which would have been known to those who first read the inspired words, fresh from the prophet’s mouth.

With this in mind, it is surprising how many examples can be found in the New Testament of the language of the day being used without that language being corrected. Here are some examples:-

- The Pharisees accused Jesus of doing miracles by the power of a false god called Beelzebub. Jesus said, “If I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out?” (Matthew 12:27). 2 Kings 1:2. clearly tells us that Beelzebub was a false god of the Philistines. Jesus did not say, ‘Now look, 2 Kings 1:2 says Beelzebub was a false god, so your accusation cannot be true’. No, he spoke as if Beelzebub existed, because he was interested in getting his message through to the people to whom he preached. So in the same way Jesus talked about casting out demons – he did not keep saying, ‘actually, they do not exist’, he just preached the Gospel in the language of the day.

- Acts 16:16-18 are the words of Luke, under inspiration: “a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of Python met us”. As explained in the footnote in the Diaglott version, Python was the name of a false god believed in during the first century, possibly the same as the god Apollo. So Python definitely did not exist, but Luke does not say the girl was ‘possessed with a spirit of Python, who, by the way, is a false god who does not really exist…’. In the same way the Gospels do not say that Jesus ‘cast out demons which, by the way, do not really exist, it is just the language of the day for illnesses’.

- Lk. 5:32 records Jesus saying to the wicked Jews: “I came not to call the righteous…”. He was inferring, ‘I came not to call those who believe they are righteous’. But Jesus spoke to them on their own terms, even though, technically, he was using language which was untrue. Lk. 19:20-23 shows Jesus using the untrue words of the one-talent man in the parable to reason with him, but he does not correct the wrong words the man used.

- The Bible often speaks of the sun ‘rising’ and ‘going down’; this is a human way of putting it, but it is not scientifically correct. Likewise illness is spoken of in the technically ‘incorrect’ language of ‘demons’. Acts 5:3 speaks of how Ananias deceived the Holy Spirit. This, actually, is an impossibility, yet what Ananias thought he was doing is spoken of as fact, even though it was not.

- There are many Biblical examples of language being used which was comprehensible at the time it was written, but is now unfamiliar to us, for example, “skin for skin” (Job 2:4) alluded to the ancient practice of trading skins of equivalent value; a male prostitute is called a “dog” in Deut. 23:18. The language of demons is another example.

- The Jews of Christ’s day thought that they were righteous because they were the descendants of Abraham. Jesus therefore addressed them as “the righteous” (Mt.9:12,13), and said “I know that ye are Abraham’s seed” (Jn.8:37). But he did not believe that they were righteous, as he so often made clear; and he plainly showed by his reasoning in Jn.8:39-44 that they were not Abraham’s seed. So Jesus took people’s beliefs at face value, without immediately contradicting them, but demonstrated the truth instead. We have shown that this was God’s approach in dealing with the pagan beliefs which were common in Old Testament times. Christ’s attitude to demons in New Testament times was the same; his God-provided miracles made it abundantly plain that illnesses were caused by God, not any other force, seeing that it was God who had the mighty power to heal them.

- Paul quoted from Greek poets, famous for the amount of unBiblical nonsense they churned out, in order to confound those who believed what the poets taught (Tit.1:12; Acts 17:28). What we are suggesting is epitomized by Paul’s response to finding an altar dedicated to the worship of “The Unknown God”, i.e. any pagan deity which might exist, but which the people of Athens had overlooked. Instead of rebuking them for their folly in believing in this, Paul took them from where they were to understand the one true God, who they did not know (Acts 17:22,23).

- Eph.2:2 speaks of “the prince of the power of the air”. This clearly alludes to the mythological concepts of Zoroaster – the kind of thing which Paul’s readers once believed. Paul says that they once lived under “the prince of the power of the air”. In the same verse, Paul defines this as “the spirit (attitude of mind) that…worketh” in the natural man. Previously they had believed in the pagan concept of a heavenly spirit-prince; now Paul makes the point that actually the power which they were formally subject to was that of their own evil mind. Thus the pagan idea is alluded to and spoken of, without specifically rebuking it, whilst showing the truth concerning sin.

- Acts 28:3-6 describes how a lethal snake attacked Paul, fastening onto his arm. The surrounding people decided Paul was a murderer, whom “vengeance suffereth not to live”. Their reading of the situation was totally wrong. But Paul did not explain this to them in detail; instead, he did a miracle – he shook the snake off without it biting him.

The miracles of Jesus exposed the error of local views, e.g. of demons, without correcting them in so many words. Thus in Lk. 5:21 the Jews made two false statements: that Jesus was a blasphemer, and that God alone could forgive sins. Jesus did not verbally correct them; instead he did a miracle which proved the falsity of those statements.

- It was clearly the belief of Jesus that actions speak louder than words. He rarely denounced false ideas directly, thus he did not denounce the Mosaic law as being unable to offer salvation, but he showed by his actions, e.g. healing on the Sabbath, what the Truth was. When he was wrongly accused of being a Samaritan, Jesus did not deny it (Jn. 8:48,49 cp. 4:7-9) even though his Jewishness, as the seed of Abraham, was vital for God’s plan of salvation (Jn. 4:22).

Even when the Jews drew the wrong conclusion (wilfully!) that Jesus was “making himself equal with God” (Jn. 5:18), Jesus did not explicitly deny it; instead he powerfully argued that his miracles showed him to be a man acting on God’s behalf, and therefore he was NOT equal with God. The miracles of Jesus likewise showed the error of believing in demons. Christ’s miracle of healing the lame man at the pool was to show the folly of the Jewish myth that at Passover time an angel touched the water of the Bethesda pool, imparting healing properties to it. This myth is recorded without direct denial of its truth; the record of Christ’s miracle is the exposure of its falsehood (Jn. 5:4).

- 2 Pet.2:4 talks of wicked people going to Tartarus (translated “hell” in many versions). Tartarus was a mythical place in the underworld; yet Peter does not correct that notion, but rather uses it as a symbol of complete destruction and punishment for sin. Christ’s use of the word Gehenna was similar (see Study 4.9).

Do Demons Really Cause Illnesses?

Everyone who believes demons exist has to ask themselves the question: “When I am ill, is it caused by demons?” If you think the New Testament references to demons are about little gods going round doing evil, then you have to say “yes”. In that case, how can you explain the fact that many diseases blamed on demons can now be cured or controlled by drugs? Malaria is the classic example. Most people in Africa believed until recently that malaria was caused by demons, but we know that malaria can be cured by quinine and other drugs. Are you then saying that as the demons see the little yellow tablets going down your throat they become frightened and fly away? Some of the diseases which Jesus cured, which are described as being the result of demon possession, have been identified as tetanus or epilepsy – both of which can be relieved by drugs.

A friend of mine comes from a village just outside Kampala in Uganda. He told us that people used to believe malaria was caused by demons, but once they saw how the drugs controlled it so easily, they stopped blaming the demons. However, when someone had cerebral malaria (causing serious mental illness) they still blamed the demons. A doctor came from the nearby town and offered them strong anti-mal drugs as a cure, but they refused because they said they needed something to fight demons, not malaria. The doctor returned later and said, “I have a drug which will chase away the demons”; the sick person eagerly took the drug, and became better. The second tablets were just the same as the first ones. The doctor did not believe in demons, but he used the language of the day to get through to the person – just like the “Great Physician”, the Lord Jesus, of 2,000 years ago.

The Devil and Satan

BIBLE Basics

The Devil and Satan

Sometimes the original words of the Bible text are left untranslated (“Mammon”, in Mt. 6:24, is an Aramaic example of this). As a word, ‘satan’ is an untranslated Hebrew word which means ‘adversary’, while ‘devil’ is a translation of the Greek word ‘diabolos’, meaning a liar, an enemy or false accuser. If we are to believe that Satan and the Devil are some being outside of us which is responsible for sin, then whenever we come across these words in the Bible, we have to make them refer to this evil person. The Biblical usage of these words shows that they can be used as ordinary adjectives, describing ordinary people. This fact makes it impossible to reason that the words devil and satan as used in the Bible do in themselves refer to a great wicked person or being outside of us.

The Word ‘Satan’ In The Bible

1 Kings 11:14 records that “The Lord stirred up an adversary (same Hebrew word elsewhere translated “satan”) unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite”. “And God stirred up another adversary (another satan)…Rezon…he was an adversary (a satan) to Israel” (1 Kings 11:23,25). This does not mean that God stirred up a supernatural person or an Angel to be a satan/adversary to Solomon; He stirred up ordinary men. Matt.16:22,23 provides another example. Peter had been trying to dissuade Jesus from going up to Jerusalem to die on the cross. Jesus turned and said unto Peter“Get thee behind me, Satan…thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men”. Thus Peter was called a satan. The record is crystal clear that Christ was not talking to an Angel or a monster when he spoke those words; he was talking to Peter.

Because the word ‘satan’ just means an adversary, a good person, even God Himself, can be termed a ‘satan’. In essence there is nothing necessarily sinful about the word itself. The sinful connotations which the word ‘satan’ has are partly due to the fact that our own sinful nature is our biggest ‘satan’ or adversary, and also due to the use of the word in the language of the world to refer to something associated with sin. God Himself can be a satan to us by means of bringing trials into our lives, or by standing in the way of a wrong course of action we may be embarking on. But the fact that God can be called a ‘satan’ does not mean that He Himself is sinful.

The books of Samuel and Chronicles are parallel accounts of the same incidents, as the four gospels are records of the same events but using different language. 2 Sam.24:1 records: “The Lord…moved David against Israel” in order to make him take a census of Israel. The parallel account in 1 Chron.21:1 says that “Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David” to take the census. In one passage God does the provoking, in the other Satan does it. The only conclusion is that God acted as a ‘satan’ or adversary to David. He did the same to Job by bringing trials into his life, so that Job said about God: “With thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me” (Job 30:21); ‘You are acting as a satan against me’, was what Job was basically saying.

The Word ‘Devil’ In The Bible

And so it is with the word ‘devil’ too. Jesus said, “Have not I chosen you twelve (disciples), and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot…” who was an ordinary, mortal man. He was not speaking of a personal being with horns, or a so-called ‘spirit being’. The word ‘devil’ here simply refers to a wicked man. 1 Tim.3:11 provides another example. The wives of church elders were not to be “slanderers”; the original Greek word here is ‘diabolos’, which is the same word translated ‘devil’ elsewhere. Thus Paul warns Titus that the aged women in the ecclesia should not be “false accusers” or ‘devils’ (Tit.2:3). And likewise he told Timothy (2 Tim.3:1,3) that “In the last days…men shall be…false accusers (devils)”. This does not mean that human beings will turn into superhuman beings, but that they will be increasingly wicked. It ought to be quite clear from all this that the words ‘devil’ and ‘satan’ do not refer to a fallen Angel or a sinful being outside of us.

Sin, Satan And The Devil

The words ‘satan’ and ‘devil’ are used figuratively to describe the natural sinful tendencies within us which we spoke of in Study 6.1. These are our main ‘satan’ or adversary. They are also personified, and as such they can be spoken of as ‘the devil’- our enemy, a slanderer of the truth. This is what our natural ‘man’ is like – the very devil. The connection between the devil and our evil desires – sin within us – is made explicit in several passages: “As the children (ourselves) are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Jesus) also himself likewise took part of the same; that through (his) death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb.2:14). The devil is here described as being responsible for death. But “the wages of sin is death” (Rom.6:23). Therefore sin and the devil must be parallel. Similarly James 1:14 says that our evil desires tempt us, leading us to sin and therefore to death; but Hebrews 2:14 says that the devil brings death. The same verse says that Jesus had our nature in order to destroy the devil. Contrast this with Rom.8:3: “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (that is, in our human nature) condemned sin in the flesh”. This shows that the devil and the sinful tendencies that are naturally within human nature are effectively the same. It is vitally important to understand that Jesus was tempted just like us. Misunderstanding the doctrine of the devil means that we cannot correctly appreciate the nature and work of Jesus. It was only because Jesus had our human nature – the ‘devil’ within him – that we can have the hope of salvation (Heb.2:14-18; 4:15). By overcoming the desires of his own nature, the Biblical devil, Jesus was able to destroy the devil on the cross (Heb.2:14). If the devil is a personal being, then he should no longer exist. Heb.9:26 says that Christ was manifested “to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself”. Heb.2:14 matches this with the statement that through his death Christ destroyed the devil in himself. By His death Jesus in prospect destroyed “the body of sin” (Rom.6:6), i.e. human nature, sin revealed in (the form of) our very bodies.

“He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 Jn.3:8), because sin is the result of giving way to our own natural, evil desires (James 1:14,15), which the Bible calls ‘the devil’. “For this purpose the son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn.3:8). If we are correct in saying that the devil is our evil desires, then the works of our evil desires, i.e. what they result in, are our sins. This is confirmed by 1 Jn.3:5: “He (Jesus) was manifested to take away our sins”. This confirms that “our sins” and “the works of the devil” are the same. Acts 5:3 provides another example of this connection between the devil and our sins. Peter says to Ananias: “Why hath Satan filled thine heart?” Then in verse 4 Peter says “Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?” Conceiving something bad within our heart is the same as Satan filling our heart. If we ourselves conceive something, e.g. a sinful plan, then it begins inside us. If a woman conceives a child, it doesn’t exist outside of her; it begins inside her. James 1:14,15 use the same figure in describing how our lusts conceive and bring forth sin, which brings forth death. Ps.109:6 parallels a sinful person with a ‘satan’: “Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand”, i.e. in power over him (cp. Ps.110:1).

Personification

However, you may reasonably reply: ‘But it does talk as if the devil is a person!’ That is quite correct; Heb.2:14 speaks of “him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil”. Even a small amount of Bible reading shows that it often uses personification – speaking of an abstract idea as if it is a person. Thus Prov. 9:1 speaks of a woman called ‘Wisdom’ building a house, and Rom.6:23 likens sin to a paymaster giving wages of death. This feature is further discussed in Digression 5. Our devil, the ‘diabolos’, often represents our evil desires. Yet you cannot have abstract diabolism; the evil desires that are in a man’s heart cannot exist separately from a man; therefore ‘the devil’ is personified. Sin is often personified as a master (e.g. Rom.5:21; 6:6,17; 7:3). It is understandable, therefore, that the ‘devil’ is also personified, seeing that ‘the devil’ also refers to sin. In the same way, Paul speaks of us having two beings, as it were, within our flesh (Rom.7:15-21): the man of the flesh, ‘the devil’, fights with the man of the Spirit. Yet it is evident that there are not two literal, personal beings fighting within us. This sinful part of our nature is personified as “the evil one” (Mt.6:13 R.V.) – the Biblical devil. The same Greek phrase translated “evil one” here is translated as “wicked person” in 1 Cor.5:13, showing that when a person gives way to sin, his “evil one” – he himself – becomes an “evil one”, or a ‘devil’.

‘Devil’ And ‘Satan’ In A Political Context

These words ‘devil’ and ‘satan’ are also used to describe the wicked, sinful world order in which we live. The social, political and pseudo-religious hierarchies of mankind can be spoken of in terms of ‘the devil’. The devil and satan in the New Testament often refer to the political and social power of the Jewish or Roman systems. Thus we read of the devil casting believers into prison (Rev.2:10), referring to the Roman authorities imprisoning believers. In this same context we read of the church in Pergamos being situated where Satan’s seat, or throne, was – i.e. the place of governorship for a Roman colony in Pergamos, where there was also a group of believers. We cannot say that Satan himself, if he exists, personally had a throne in Pergamos.

Individual sin is defined as a transgression against God’s law (1 Jn.3:4). But sin expressed collectively as a political and social force opposed to God is a force more powerful than individuals; it is this collective power which is sometimes personified as a powerful being called the devil. In this sense Iran and other Islamic powers have called the United States, “the great Satan” – i.e. the great adversary to their cause, in political and religious terms. This is how the words ‘devil’ and ‘satan’ are often used in the Bible.

In conclusion, it is probably true to say that in this subject more than any other, it is vital to base our understanding upon a balanced view of the whole Bible, rather than building massive doctrines on a few verses containing catch-phrases which appear to refer to the common beliefs concerning the devil. Study 6.1 and this section will repay careful, prayerful re-reading. It is submitted that the doctrinal position outlined there is the only way of being able to have a reasonable understanding of all the passages which refer to the devil and satan. Those words can be used as ordinary adjectives, or in some places they refer to the sin which is found within our own human nature. Some of the most widely misunderstood passages which are quoted in support of the popular ideas are considered in the Digressions which accompany this study.

Those who have problems in accepting our conclusions need to ask themselves: (1) Is sin personified? Clearly it is. (2) Is it true that ‘satan’ can be used just as an adjective? Yes, it is. What real problem, therefore, can there be in accepting that sin is personified as our enemy/satan? The world is often personified in John’s letters and Gospel (see R.V.); what better title for this personification than ‘satan’ or ‘the devil’?

Angels Cannot Sin

BIBLE Basics

The Angels

All that we have considered so far in this Study is brought together by a consideration of the Angels:

• physical, personal beings
• carrying God’s Name
• channels through which God’s Spirit works to
• execute His will
• in accordance with His character and purpose
• and thereby manifesting Him.

We mentioned in the last study that one of the most common Hebrew words translated ‘God’ is ‘Elohim’, which really means ‘mighty ones’; these ‘mighty ones’ who carry God’s Name can effectively be called ‘God’ because of their close association with Him. These beings are the Angels.

The record of the creation of the world in Genesis 1 tells us that God spoke certain commands concerning creation, “and it was done”. It was the Angels who carried out these commands:

“Angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word” (Ps.103:20).

It is therefore reasonable to assume that when we read of ‘God’ creating the world, this work was actually performed by the Angels. Job 38:4-7 hints this way too. Now is a good time to summarize the events of the creation as recorded in Gen.1:

Day 1 “God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (v.3)

Day 2 “God said, Let there be a firmament (sky, expanse) in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters (on the earth) from the waters (in the clouds)…and it was so” (v.6,7)

Day 3 “God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together (forming seas and oceans)…and let the dry land appear; and it was so” (v.9)

Day 4 “God said, Let there be lights…in heaven…and it was so” (v.14,15)

Day 5 “God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature…and fowl that may fly…and God created every living creature” (v.20,21) – i.e. “it was so”

Day 6 “God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature…cattle, and creeping thing…and it was so” (v.24).

Man was created on that same sixth day. “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen.1:26). We commented on this verse in Study 1.2. For the present, we want to note that “God” here is not just referring to God Himself in person – “Let us make man” shows that ‘God’ is referring to more than one person. The Hebrew word translated ‘God’ here is ‘Elohim’, meaning ‘Mighty Ones’, with reference to the Angels. The fact that the Angels created us in their image means that they have the same bodily appearance as we have. They are therefore very real, tangible, corporeal beings, sharing the same nature as God.

‘Nature’ in this sense refers to what someone is fundamentally like by reason of their physical structure. In the Bible there are two ‘natures’; by the very meaning of the word it is not possible to have both these natures simultaneously.

God’s Nature (‘Divine nature’)

Cannot sin (perfect) (Rom.9:14; 6:23 cp. Ps.90:2; Mt.5:48; James 1:13)

Cannot die, i.e. immortal (1 Tim.6:16)

Full of power and energy (Is.40:28).

This is the nature of God and the Angels, and which was given to Jesus after his resurrection (Acts 13:34; Rev.1:18; Heb.1:3). This is the nature which we are promised (Lk.20:35,36; 2 Pet.1:4; Is.40:28 cp.v 31).

Human nature

Tempted to sin (James 1:13-15) by a corrupt natural mind (Jer.17:9; Mk.7:21-23)

Doomed to death, i.e. mortal (Rom.5:12,17; 1 Cor.15:22)

Of very limited strength, both physically (Is.40:30) and mentally (Jer.10:23).

This is the nature which all men, good and bad, now possess. The end of that nature is death (Rom.6:23). It was the nature which Jesus had during his mortal life (Heb.2:14-18; Rom.8:3; Jn.2:25; Mk.10:18).

It is unfortunate that the English word ‘nature’ is rather vague: we can use it in a sentence like ‘John is of a generous nature – it just isn’t in his nature to be mean; but he can be rather proud of his car, which is just human nature, I suppose’. This is not how we will be using the word ‘nature’ in these studies.

Angelic Appearances

The Angels being of God’s nature, they must be sinless and therefore unable to die – seeing that sin brings death (Rom.6:23). They must have a literal, physical form of existence. It is for this reason that when Angels have appeared on earth they have looked like ordinary men:

- Angels came to Abraham to speak God’s words to him; they are described as “three men”, whom Abraham initially treated as human beings, since that was their appearance: “Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree” (Gen.18:4)

- Two of those Angels then went to Lot in the city of Sodom. Again, they were recognized only as men by both Lot and the people of Sodom. “There came two Angels to Sodom”, whom Lot invited to spend the night with him. But the men of Sodom came to his house, asking in a threatening way “Where are the men which came in to thee this night?”. Lot pleaded, “Unto these men do nothing”. The inspired record also calls them “men”: “The men (Angels) put forth their hand” and rescued Lot; “And the men said unto Lot…The Lord hath sent us to destroy” Sodom (Gen.19:1,5,8, 10,12, 13).

- The New Testament comment on these incidents confirms that Angels are in the form of men: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for some (e.g. Abraham and Lot) have entertained Angels unawares” (Heb.13:2).

- Jacob wrestled all night with a strange man (Gen.32:24), which we are later told was an Angel (Hos.12:4).

- Two men in shining white clothes were present at the resurrection (Lk.24:4) and ascension (Acts 1:10) of Jesus. These were clearly Angels.

- Consider the implications of “the measure of a man, that is, of the Angel” (Rev.21:17).

Angels Do Not Sin

The Angels being of God’s nature, they cannot die. Seeing that sin brings death, it follows therefore that they cannot sin. The original Greek and Hebrew words translated ‘Angel’ mean ‘messenger’; the Angels are the messengers or servants of God, obedient to Him, therefore it is impossible to think of them as being sinful. Thus the Greek word ‘aggelos’ which is translated ‘Angels’ is also translated ‘messengers’ when speaking of human beings – e.g. John the baptist (Mt.11:10) and his messengers (Lk.7:24); the messengers of Jesus (Lk.9:52) and the men who spied out Jericho (James 2:25). It is, of course, possible that ‘angels’ in the sense of human messengers can sin.

The following passages clearly show that all the Angels (not just some of them!) are by nature obedient to God, and therefore cannot sin:

“The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all ( i.e. there can be no rebellion against God in Heaven). Bless the Lord, ye His Angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye His hosts; ye ministers of His, that do his pleasure” (Ps.103:19-21).

“Praise him, all his Angels…his hosts” (Ps.148:2)

“The angels…are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them (the believers) who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Heb.1:13,14).

The repetition of the word “all” shows that the Angels are not divided into two groups, one good and the other sinful. The importance of clearly understanding the nature of the Angels is that the reward of the faithful is to share their nature: “They which shall be accounted worthy…neither marry…neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the Angels” (Lk.20:35,36). This is a vital point to grasp. Angels cannot die: “Death…does not lay hold of Angels” (Heb 2:16 Diaglott margin) If Angels could sin, then those who are found worthy of reward at Christ’s return will also still be able to sin. And seeing that sin brings death (Rom.6:23), they will therefore not have eternal life; if we have a possibility of sinning, we have the capability of dying. Thus to say Angels can sin makes God’s promise of eternal life meaningless, seeing that our reward is to share the nature of the Angels. The reference to “the Angels” (Luke 20:35,36) shows that there is no categorization of Angels as good or sinful; there is only one category of Angels.

If Angels could sin, then God is left impotent to righteously act in our lives and the affairs of the world, seeing that He has declared that He works through His Angels (Ps.103:19-21). They are ‘made Spirit’ by God in the sense that He achieves all things by His spirit/power, acting through the Angels (Ps. 104:4). That they should be disobedient to Him is therefore an impossibility. The Christian should daily pray for God’s Kingdom to come on earth, that His will should be done here as it is now done in heaven Mt. 6:10). If God’s Angels had to compete with sinful Angels inheaven, then His will could not be fully executed there, and therefore the same situation would obtain in God’s future Kingdom. To spend eternity in a world which would be a perpetual battlefield between sin and obedience is hardly an encouraging prospect, but that, of course, is not the case.

Angels And Believers

There is good reason to believe that each true believer has Angels – perhaps one special one – helping them in their lives:-

• “The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them” (Ps. 34:7).
• “…these little ones which believe in me (i.e. weak disciples – Zech. 13:7 cp. Mt. 26:31)…in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father” (Mt. 18:6,10).
• The early Christians clearly believed that Peter had a guardian Angel (Acts 12:14,15).
• The people of Israel went through the Red Sea, and were led by an Angel through the wilderness towards the promised land. Going through the Red Sea represents our baptism in water (1 Cor. 10:1), and so it isn’t unreasonable to assume that afterwards we, too, are led and helped by an Angel as we journey through the wilderness of life towards the promised land of God’s Kingdom.

If the Angels can be evil in the sense of being sinful, then such promises of Angelic control and influence in our lives become a curse instead of a blessing.

We have seen, then, that Angels are beings…

• with God’s eternal nature and bodily appearance
• who cannot sin
• who always do God’s commands
• and who are the channels through which God’s spirit-power speaks and works (Ps. 104:4).

But…?

Many “Christian” churches have the idea that Angels can sin, and that sinful Angels now exist who are responsible for sin and problems on the earth. We will discuss this misconception more fully in Study 6. For the present we will make the following points:-

- It is possible that there was a creation previous to our own, i.e. that recorded in Genesis 1. It is also conceivable that the present Angels came to have an awareness of “good and evil” (Gen. 3:5) through having been in a similar situation to what we are in this life. That some of the beings who lived in that age did sin is not to be ruled out; but all this is speculation which the minds of men love to indulge in. The Bible tells us what we need to know about the present situation, which is that there are no sinful Angels; all Angels are totally obedient to God.

- There can be no sinful beings in Heaven, seeing that God is “of purer eyes than to behold evil” (Hab.1:13). In similar vein, Ps.5:4,5 explains: “Neither shall evil dwell with Thee. The foolish shall not stand” in God’s Heavenly dwelling place. The idea of there being rebellion against God in Heaven by sinful Angels quite contradicts the impression given by these passages.

- The Greek word translated “Angel” means “messenger” and can refer to human beings, as we have shown. Such human “messengers” can, of course, sin.

- That there are evil, sinful beings upon whom all the negative aspects of life can be blamed is one of the most commonly held beliefs in paganism. In the same way that pagan ideas concerning Christmas have entered what passes for ‘Christianity’, so, too, have those pagan notions.

- There is only a handful of Biblical passages which can be misunderstood to support this idea of sinful Angels now being in existence. These are considered in “In Search of Satan”, available from the publishers. Such passages cannot be allowed to contradict the wealth of Bible teaching to the contrary which has been presented.

YHWH and Evil

BIBLE Basics

God and Evil

Many sects of Christendom, along with many other religions, believe that there is a being or monster called the Devil or Satan who is the originator of the problems which are in the world and in our own lives, and who is responsible for the sin which we commit. The Bible clearly teaches that God is all-powerful. We have seen in Study 1.4 that the Angels cannot sin. If we truly believe these things, then it is impossible that there is any supernatural being at work in this universe that is opposed to Almighty God. If we believe that such a being does exist, then surely we are questioning the supremacy of God Almighty. This issue is so important that the correct understanding of the devil and satan must be considered a vital doctrine. We are told in Heb.2:14 that Jesus destroyed the devil by his death; therefore unless we have a correct understanding of the devil, we cannot understand the work or nature of Jesus.

In the world generally, especially in the so-called ‘Christian’ world, there is the idea that the good things in life come from God and the bad things from the Devil or Satan. This is not a new idea; it is not even an idea only limited to apostate Christianity. The Babylonians, for example, believed there were two gods, a god of good and light, and a god of evil and darkness, and that those two were locked in mortal combat. Cyrus, the great King of Persia, believed just this. Therefore God told him, “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me…I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil (N.I.V. “disaster”): I the Lord do all these things” (Is.45:5-7,22). God creates peace and He creates evil, or disaster. God is the author, the creator of “evil” in this sense. In this sense there is a difference between “evil” and sin, which is man’s fault; it entered the world as a result of man, not God (Rom.5:12).

God tells Cyrus and the people of Babylon that “there is no (other) God beside me”. The Hebrew word ‘el‘ translated “God” fundamentally means ‘strength, or source of power’. God is saying that there is no source of power in existence apart from Him. This is the reason why a true believer in God cannot accept the idea of a supernatural devil or demons.

God: The Creator Of Disaster

The Bible abounds with examples of God bringing “evil” into people’s lives and into this world. Am.3:6 says that if there is evil in a city, God has done it. If, for example, there is an earthquake in a city, it is often felt that ‘the devil’ had designs on that city, and had brought about the calamity. But the true believer must understand that it is God who is responsible for this. Thus Mic.1:12 says that “evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem”. In the book of Job we read how Job, a righteous man, lost the things which he had in this life. The book teaches that the experience of ‘evil’ in a person’s life is not directly proportional to their obedience or disobedience to God. Job recognized that “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away” (Job 1:21). He does not say ‘The Lord gave and Satan took away’.He commented to his wife: “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not (also) receive evil?” (Job 2:10). At the end of the book, Job’s friends comforted him over “all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11 cp. 19:21; 8:4). Thus God is the source of “evil” in the sense of being the ultimate permitter of the problems that we have in our lives.

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth…If ye endure chastening…afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Heb.12:6-11), this shows that the trials which God gives us lead eventually to our spiritual growth. It is setting the word of God against itself to say that the devil is a being which forces us to sin and be unrighteous, whilst at the same time he supposedly brings problems into our lives which lead to our developing “the peaceable fruit of righteousness”. The orthodox idea of the devil runs into serious problems here. Especially serious for it are passages which speak of delivering a man to satan “that the spirit may be saved”, or “that he may learn not to blaspheme” (1 Cor.5:5; 1 Tim.1:20). If Satan is really a being bent on causing men to sin and having a negative spiritual effect upon people, why do these passages speak of ‘Satan’ in a positive light? The answer lies in the fact that an adversary, a “Satan” or difficulty in life, can often result in positive spiritual effects in a believer’s life.

If we accept that evil comes from God, then we can pray to God to do something about the problems which we have, e.g. to take them away. If He doesn’t, then we know that they are sent from God for our spiritual good. Now if we believe that there is some evil being called the devil or satan causing our problems, then there is no way of coming to terms with them. Disability, illness, sudden death or calamity have to be taken as just bad luck. If the devil is some powerful, sinful Angel, then he will be much more powerful than us, and we will have no choice but to suffer at his hand. By contrast, we are comforted that under God’s control, “all things (in life) work together for good” to the believers (Rom.8:28). There is therefore no such thing as ‘luck’ in the life of a believer.

The Origin Of Sin

It must be stressed that sin comes from inside us. It is our fault that we sin. Of course, it would be nice to believe that it was not our fault that we sin. We could freely sin and then excuse ourselves with the thought that it was really the devil’s fault, and that the blame for our sin should be completely laid upon him. It is not uncommon that in cases of grossly wicked behaviour, the guilty person has begged for mercy because he says that he was possessed by the devil at the time and was therefore not responsible for himself. But, quite rightly, such feeble excuses are judged to hold no water at all, and the person has sentence passed upon him.

We need to remember that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom.6:23); sin leads to death. If it is not our fault that we sin, but that of the devil, then a just God ought to punish the devil rather than us. But the fact that we are judged for our own sins shows that we are responsible for our sins. The idea of the devil being a specific person outside of us rather than the principle of sin within us is an attempt to move the responsibility for our sins away from ourselves. This is yet another example of men refusing to come to terms with what the Bible teaches about man’s nature: that it is fundamentally sinful.

“There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him…For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders…pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within and defile the man” (Mk.7:15-23).

The idea that there is something sinful outside of us which enters us and causes us to sin is incompatible with the plain teaching of Jesus here. From within, out of the heart of man, come all these evil things. This is why, at the time of the flood, God considered that “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen.8:21). James 1:14 tells us how we are tempted: “Every man (it is the same process for each human being) is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust (“of his own evil desire”, N.I.V.) and enticed”. We are tempted by our own lusts, our own evil desires; not by anything outside of us. “From whence come wars and fightings among you?”, James asks; “Come they not hence, even of your lusts?” (James 4:1). Each of us has specific, personal temptations. They therefore have to be generated by our own evil desires, because they are personal to us. It has been truly said that we are our own worst enemy.

The book of Romans is largely concerned with sin, its origin, and how to overcome it. It is highly significant that there is scarcely a mention of the Devil and Satan in the book; in the context of speaking about the origin of sin, Paul does not mention the Devil or Satan. In the same way, “the devil” is a New Testament concept. If there is an external being who makes us sin, surely he would have been mentioned extensively in the Old Testament? But there is a very profound and significant silence about this. The record of the Judges period, or Israel in the wilderness, show that at those times Israel were sinning a great deal. But God did not warn them about some powerful supernatural being or force which could enter them and make them sin. Instead, He encouraged them to apply themselves to His word, so that they would not fall away to the ways of their own flesh (e.g. Dt.27:9,10; Josh.22:5).

Paul laments: “In me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing…for the good that I would I do not…if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me” (Rom.7:18-21). Now he does not blame his sinning on an external being called the devil. He located his own evil nature as the real source of sin: “It is not I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law (within me), that, when I would do good, evil is present with (i.e. within) me”. So he says that the opposition to being spiritual comes from something that he calls “sin dwelling in me”. Every thoughtful, spiritually minded person will come to the same kind of self-knowledge. It should be noted that even a supreme Christian like Paul did not experience a change of nature after conversion, nor was he placed in a position whereby he did not and could not sin. The modern ‘evangelical’ movement claims that they are in such a position, and thereby place Paul well within the ranks of the ‘unsaved’ because of his statement here in Rom.7:15-21. These verses have proved a major difficulty for their claims. David, another undoubtedly righteous man,likewise commented upon the constant sinfulness of his very nature: “I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps.51:5).

The Bible is quite explicit about the fundamentally wicked nature of man. If this is appreciated, there is no need to invent an imaginary person outside our human natures who is responsible for our sins. Jer.17:9 says that the heart of man is so desperately wicked and deceitful that we cannot actually appreciate the gross extent of its sinfulness. Jesus also branded human nature as fundamentally evil in Mt.7:11. Ecc.9:3 (Hebrew text) could not be plainer: “The heart of the sons of men is full of evil”. Eph.4:18 gives the reason for man’s natural alienation from God as being “through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart“. It is because of our spiritually blind and ignorant hearts, our way of thinking that is within us, that we are distanced from God. In line with this, Gal.5:19 speaks of our sins as “the works of the flesh“; it is our own flesh, our very being and nature, which causes us to commit sin. None of these passages explain the origin of sin within us as being because the devil put it there; sinful tendencies are something which we all naturally have from birth; it is a fundamental part of the human make-up.

If Satan Were an Angel…

Angels do not sin…..

Seeing that sin brings death, it follows therefore that they cannot sin. Angels were made higher than man who we know are all sinners worthy of death. The word angel comes from the Greek word “aggelos” which means messenger and is not exclusive to just celestial beings as many times angel is referring to humans.

Angels according to scriptures, (all of them) are by nature obedient to YHWH and therefore cannot sin.

Psa 103:19 The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
Psa 103:20 Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
Psa 103:21 Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.

Psa 148:2 Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.

Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

The word all shows that the angels are not divided into two groups, good and evil.

Luk 20:35 But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:
Luk 20:36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

Heb 2:16 For verily he (Messiah) took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

The nature of angels would mean that the Messiah couldn’t die and He had to. Therefore he took on the seed of Abraham. Luke 20 above shows there is only one group of angels not two.

If angels could sin, then YHWH is left impotent in our lives and the affairs of the world, seeing that HE has declared that He works through His angels in Psalms 103:19-21.

Psa 104:4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:

YHWH achieves all things by His Spirit power working through His angels. It is impossible that they can be disobedient to Him. We should be praying daily for His kingdom to come to us here on earth and that His will be done here as it is already done in heaven.

Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Many churches have the ideology that angels can sin and that these or this sinful angel is responsible for all sins and problems on earth. How can there be sinful angels in heaven when YHWH eyes behold no evil nor can evil dwell with HIm?

Hab 1:13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

Psa 5:4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.
Psa 5:5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

In light of this information, how can there be a fallen angel archenemy of YHWH?

Mar 7:15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
Mar 7:16 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
Mar 7:17 And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.
Mar 7:18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
Mar 7:19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
Mar 7:20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
Mar 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Mar 7:22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
Mar 7:23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

It is the heart of man that is evil and sinful. The bible is quite clear on the wicked nature of man. There isn’t a need to invent a superhuman to blame our sins on.

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

It is a very foolish thing to call evil good and good evil but by believing as many do today on fallen angels that they do not even understand, that is exactly what is happening.

Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isa 5:21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

This is why we are told to be quick to listen and slow to speak because we are ignorant to what we speak of if we do not have the full understanding of the matter.

Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Jas 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

Now here is something to think about before you say there is a satan archenemy fallen angel god,

2Pe 2:10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
2Pe 2:11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Jud 1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
Jud 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
Jud 1:10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
Jud 1:11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.
Jud 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Jud 1:13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

If you believe in satan as an angel of celestial nature WOE UNTO YOU!

Free Will:Masquerade of the World

Sermon Notes by Pastor Mark Downey

Kinsman Redeemer Website

The free will of Adamkind has not been free since the first decree that God gave them. “Thou shalt not…” restricted Adam and Eve as to what they could or could not do in the Garden. The significance of the ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’ was known only to God, so the temptation presented itself to know what God knew. The original sin was believing that they would be as gods and not believing they would die (or lose their immortality) for the trespass. Having trespassed the decree, they realized they were naked as jaybirds for what they did and thus helplessly exposed for their crime. Genesis 3:7 reports that they put fig leaves together as a cover-up or apron. This expression is as figurative as the language in I Peter 1:13, “Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind.” In other words, we are being told to gird up or bind, as with a belt (and thus securing) our full mental capacity. This girding is in context to a soldier putting on protective armor. So we can see that from the get-go of our race, that mortal man must equip his mind with the proper protection. However, this symbolic apron does not protect mankind from the judgment of God any more than the aprons of Freemasonry or Mormonism. It is a cover-up or mask that tells us that the action was of our own free will. Thus begins the history of mankind wearing a self righteousness mask of protection. Of course, this is just the opposite of putting on “the whole armor of God” that we read about in Ephesians chapter 6.

The masquerade has been the sovereign free will of man in contradistinction to the sovereign will of God. This inevitable conflict begs the question as to who is in charge. God or man? This reverts back to the sin in the Garden. The masquerade of man’s free will does not say you will be equal to God, it says you shall be above God, because it is a clash of sovereignties or wills. A self-evident truth is that the Creator is always greater than his creation. Free will puts forth the notion that there is no power outside of ourselves (including God) causing us to choose a course of action. It says that God does not determine a person’s choice. The Big Question is: What is it that causes man to make his choices? That is the fundamental issue in understanding free will. It’s not whether or not man wills, but rather whether God determines that will. It’s whether or not man or God was the ultimate cause of that choice.

If God created Adamkind with a sovereign free will, then He has created something greater than Himself. God would then be without control over His own creation. Do you think free will had anything to do with the race you were born into? Hardly! Do you think your ancestry has any effect on the choices you make? Most assuredly! If free will had anything to do with our own birth, then our ancestry would be meaningless. However, there is a meaning to life in God’s Plan for the Ages.

The Word of God can be viewed as a book of cause and effect. The first of the Ten Commandments states, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” And yet we can see from the very beginning of Adamkind, man superimposed his will over God’s will and assumed the masquerade of sovereignty. Obviously, we cannot make God null and void as a factor affecting our being born into the world, although many pretend that that is the case. Our wills are constantly being influenced from cradle to grave. The question is: do we acknowledge the influence of God to do His will or do we believe we can be as God with our own will? One can pick and choose Bible verses which would imply man has a free will to act upon a decision. Probably one of the best known passages is Joshua 24:15, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve”; but we shouldn’t forget the last phrase, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” In other words, our choice corresponds to the will of God not our own.

But what happens when one chooses something above the will of God? Is God still in control? If we balance scripture implying the free will of man with scripture promulgating God’s will on earth, then the answer is certainly yes. God is always in control. We are told that the God of Creation declares, “The end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done” Isaiah 46:10. This not only suggests the Word of prophecy, but establishes predestination. All prophecy proves the divine destiny of God’s will and control of His Plan for the Ages. We can then make the logical conclusion that free will and predestination are mutually exclusive precepts. One must be right and the other wrong.

If God foreknows all things then how can anyone deny that He also predestines all things? The truth of the matter is that we do not deny man making choices or having a will. The truth is found in what causes man to make the choices he does. If there was no tree in the Garden, there would have been no choice for Adam to make. It’s not whether we choose to do something or not, but whether God determines that choice. Is man or God the ultimate cause of that choice?

Let me pose an example. You are now reading this message. Why are you spending time on it? Why aren’t you watching TV or out fishing? Why are you on this page while other people are not? You might respond that you wanted to be here or it was your desire or that you chose to be here of your own free will. And I’d say, “Sure, but who or what caused your will to decide to be here right now?” We can find a precise answer to this question in Philipians 2:12, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” There you have it: God determines our will and actions.

When Billy Graham beckons his followers to his “altar calls” and tells his audience not to pray for those coming forward, because they have to accept Christ of their own free will and at that point in their lives not even God could help them, then Graham is contradicting the cause of one becoming a Christian. He is telling them to put on the mask of free will and to forget John 15:16, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” The will and desire to follow Christ emanates from the independent mind of man being prompted by the Masonic tempter Graham, rather than the auspices of God.

How can any of us in our carnal minds initiate the will to subject ourselves to God? “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can be” Romans 8:7. You see, sin entered the world and God’s Plan for the Ages was for man to acknowledge his fall from grace (immortality) and his need to be free from the illusion of self will. This means surrendering our will to the will of God. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world, not the will power of self. When we think we make the initial decision to know God, we, in essence, trespass against God to be as God, because we have meritoriously taken grace upon ourselves without sanction. People try to face God with a vicarious mask of piety, which is nothing more than a shallow attempt at self righteousness. Perhaps, we can see more clearly why the Israelites would not face God at Sinai after their naked shame of building a golden calf. We can only face God with the mask off and humbly repentant.

Jesus clarified the order in which man is saved and it doesn’t begin with our will. “All things are delivered unto Me of My Father; and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him” Mt. 11:27. In other words, it is Christ that reveals God to us, not our own artificial penchants for personal discovery. “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him” John 6:44. How can any man be right about anything if it doesn’t correspond to the righteousness of the Lord? Repentance then corresponds to what God has decreed right or wrong. We don’t change from carnality to holiness through free will, but rather through the agency of divine righteousness. “Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?“ Romans 2:4. Again, Paul tells us, “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” II Timothy 2:25.

These scriptures prove that salvation does not come by our free will, but rather God’s grace (unmerited favor). The only thing we can do about salvation is a response to God’s gift of grace, which initiates the desire within and causes us to repent and have faith. This process works through the Holy Spirit, which is to say God’s separation of man’s motivations from His own motives. The motivation from God will cause you to do what is right. Self motivation will cause you to err.

We must always come back to the question of who is in control, who has the power and real authority? Are we to believe Billy Graham, who thinks your free will can overrule God? This is the gall of pride waxing the mystery of iniquity to a shine. Man may claim free will, but their ignorance of history reflects the invisible stream of Providence according to God’s Plan for the Ages. And what pray tell is that Plan to the man who places free will on the throne of our hearts and minds instead of God? “What? Know ye not that your body [heart and mind] is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” I Cor. 6:20. Who sits on your throne in your temple? If you think you have free will, then you do and you’ve just dethroned God.

Apostasy is part of God’s Plan. “Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed… who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God… so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” II Thes. 2:3-4. Don’t be deceived into thinking that the “man of sin” is not a plurality of mankind that violates the first commandment and is just a singular individual. And don’t think that God can’t deceive or incorporate “strong delusion” (II Thes. 2:11) for those who reject the truth and believe a lie, because it is within God’s power to do so. The incredible irony is that the masquerade of free will is necessary for the Plan of God to be revealed. You may be wondering why God would keep people in ignorance of His Divine Plan. It’s so they can fulfill their predestined roles, thinking they have free will while carrying out their part of the Plan.

The illusion of man’s government was a mystery until it was revealed in the Word. Had certain men known that they really didn’t have free will, they then would have ruined God’s Plan of salvation. “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained [predestined] before the world unto our glory. Which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord in glory” I Cor. 2:7-8.

This message may be incomprehensible to the usual suspects as, “The natural [carnal] man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” I Cor. 2:14. And here’s the kicker, “God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” I Cor. 2:10. Some people won’t have a clue about this message: some people just don’t get it. As a matter of biblical fact, the spiritually immature (even neophyte Christians) will struggle to understand the illusion of free will. It may come as a surprise to some, but God foreordains our thoughts and our choices. “The preparations [plans] of the heart of man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord” Prov. 16:1. That means that the aprons of fig leaves and the whole armor of God are both under His control.

If God is unable to foreknow what course of action men may take, then God must be without knowledge of the future. He would be limited to knowledge incrementally as it happened… so you can forget about His “omniscience”. Fortunately, that is not the case, because the “testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10) i.e. the motive of predestination. Jesus was our example to pray and witness to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (the White/Adamic race of Creation). We are an instrument of God’s methodology, as no other people, to bring forth the fruits of His Kingdom. We are being used in a mighty way to accomplish His Plan and purposes upon the earth.

But, we must learn the difference between God’s will and free will or self will in order to advance His Kingdom. The motive behind free will is the impediment which we must overcome and conquer. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” Eph. 2:10.

Now that God has put salvation out of my control through self will and put it rightly under the control of His, I can rest in His Spirit before His throne all the days of my life. And the Lord’s Prayer will not be spoken in vain: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Who WAS Lucifer?

The word “Lucifer” is found only one time and that Is in the KJV bible in Isaiah 14. Many today believe that Lucifer is  the name of a fallen archangel, the arch enemy of YHWH and mankind. What they fail to do is take the entire context and find out what Isaiah 14 is actually talking about or whom is referred to as Lucifer.

Lucifer was never the name of a person. It was translated from the Hebrew word “hêylêl” and according to Brown-Driver-Briggs Concordance is means

Lucifer = “light-bearer”
1) shining one, morning star, Lucifer
1a) of the king of Babylon and Satan (figuratively)
2) (TWOT) ‘Helel’ describing the king of Babylon

Notice satan is figuratively not literally.  Lucifer should not have been put in the context at all. It would be more correct to have it read shining one or morning star. So who is Lucifer in Isaiah 14? Let’s take a look and see.

Isa 14:1  For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
Isa 14:2  And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
Isa 14:3  And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,

Isa 14:4  That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

Here we see it is the king of Babylon that is talked about in this chapter. YHWH told  the house of Jacob in other words the tribes of Israel to take up what will be written next as a proverb against the king of Babylon.

Isa 14:5  The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers.
Isa 14:6  He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
Isa 14:7  The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.
Isa 14:8  Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.
Isa 14:9  Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
Isa 14:10  All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
Isa 14:11  Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

King Nebuchadnezzar came against the nations of Jacob/Israel and took them captive. He tried to kill the three Hebrew men in fire for not bowing down to him.
Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

These words do not fit the character of a supposed Devil power. Here was a Dictator, a King, one who had conquered Israel with a great slaughter by Yahweh’s will. He had taken them to Babylon…he had conquered Syria, Egypt, Moab, Ammon, and Arabia and many other lands. His pride and arrogance knew no bounds, and one day, in the Palace of Babylon, he made the boastful speech…..“Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the Kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” (Dan 4:30) Even as the last words were upon his lips, a voice from heaven passed judgment upon him and he was driven from his throne…(Daniel 4:31). Do you not see in this impious speech, the same outline as Isaiah speaks of ….“I WILL ascend above the heights of the clouds [heaven]; I WILL be like the most high [in authority].” (Isaiah 14:14).
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

The word hell comes from the Hebrew word she’ôl
According Brown-Divers-Diggs it means

1) sheol, underworld, grave, hell, pit
1a) the underworld
1b) Sheol – the OT designation for the abode of the dead
1b1) place of no return
1b2) without praise of God
1b3) wicked sent there for punishment
1b4) righteous not abandoned to it
1b5) of the place of exile (figuratively)
1b6) of extreme degradation in sin

When ever you see sheol in other areas it means the grave or place of death. Man goes to the grave, not archangels.
Isa 14:16  They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

Nebuchadnezzar made the nations of Israel quake. He was a conquering king that thought he was a god.
Isa 14:17  That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

He destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC and looted the temple built by Solomon and destroyed it.

Those reading Daniel’s wonderful interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2:37) will see what a proud position this King had held, for God had given him the greatest of all empires (up to that time). He had been used as a scourge against Israel, for their sin before Yahweh, but retribution was now to come, for this great King was driven from his throne by seven years of madness. This was an enormous “come-down” for a great King who had caused all the nations “to tremble.” His fear was upon all nations, one after another they fell before him.
Isa 14:18  All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
Isa 14:19  But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet.
Isa 14:20  Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

Do angels need to be buried?
Isa 14:21  Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
Isa 14:22  For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.

Do angels have sons and nephews? Nebuchadnezzar did.
Isa 14:23  I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.
Isa 14:24  The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
Isa 14:25  That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.
Isa 14:26  This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
Isa 14:27  For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
Isa 14:28  In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.
Isa 14:29  Rejoice not thou, whole Philistia, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
Isa 14:30  And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.
Isa 14:31  Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Philistia, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.
Isa 14:32  What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

Clearly the one being addressed here is a man and not a celestial being. After all, angels do not disobey YHWH. Man was made with the evil heart and man is the one identified by scriptures as being evil and against YHWH. One thing for sure, lucifer is not a name of anyone but rather a mistranslation of a word that was in reference to the king of Babylon that took Judah captive (as prophesied)  and then was destroyed by YHWH ( as prophesied).

Insanity and Double Mindedness

This article was found on the internet and is very informative on the Double Minded Man. To view the web site it came from, just click on the heading and you will be transfered to their page. I have quoted on one statement and my words are in [] and are written in a different color.

The Double Minded Man

Revelations 3:13

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

I was going to call this article “Idols of the Heart”, because that is what it is really about. The things that cause us to be double minded and take our focus from the very Person of Jesus Christ. These idols, sacred cows or Golden calves can be a person, organization, activity (the sports god?), position, job, money, possessions, religious belief system, heritage/genealogy, culture, self-focus/self-importance, hobbies, perceived ‘rights’, politics, land or country, and quite simply, minding earthly things.

Philippians 3:20 “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:”

Unfortunately, while many are not deliberately trying to turn from their focus of God, others deliberately are double minded. Many are immature or in sin issues that they have not dealt with, thereby not being obedient to Scriptures. Many hang on to their sacred cows, believing they should not take the test of the Word of God. Others appear to make choices to be double minded.

Many are familiar with the Scriptures in James 1: 6

“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

And James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

” A double minded man is unstable in all his ways….”

To be double minded and unstable needs to be understood…

From Strong’s Concordance >

Double minded > 1374. diqucov dipsuchos, dip’-soo-khos
from 1364 and 5590; two-spirited, i.e. vacillating (in opinion or purpose):–double minded.

Unstable > 182. akatastatov akatastatos, ak-at-as’-tat-os
from 1 (as a negative particle) and a derivative of 2525; inconstant:–unstable.

Some dictionaries define double minded using the terms, “Having different minds at different times”, “unsettled,” “undetermined”.

It is impossible for someone to say they fully love and serve God and be double minded. Why? Because Jesus said so.

Many are familiar with the Scriptures where Jesus speaks about singleness and light of the eye. If one is not single of eye or purpose–they are more evil than one who claims to be fully against God.

Matthew 6:19 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

There are many people who make the claim to belong to Jesus Christ or Yeshua, as many Messianics call Him, [This is an incorrect statement on the true name Yeshua. One does not have to be Messianic to prefer the actual name of the Messiah in which we all should use regardless of what religion we call ourselves or choose not to call ourselves. I prefer Yeshua and I am not a Messianic!] and yet serve the flesh and idols of the heart. Many mind earthly things, having their “sacred cows”. The Scriptures are clear about that too.

Philippians 3:17 “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:”

Romans 6:12 “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”

Part of this double minded spirituality, besides serving the flesh and instead of having a heart focus for Christ alone, is the idea that a person can have the ‘best’ of both ‘worlds.’

Can one? Or is God very clear about these issues?

Zephaniah 1:5 “I will cut off them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham.”

James 3:12 “Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”

In essence, a double-minded person so lacks conviction in their beliefs that they are found to often change loyalties or ideas, depending who they are with, desiring to influence or wanting to show allegiance to or have association with.

The double minded man is actually dishonest with themselves and others, and appears to use truth and lies in whatever situation to benefit themselves in some way. The person is filled with hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy

Strong’s Concordance>

5272. upokrisiv hupokrisis, hoop-ok’-ree-sis
from 5271; acting under a feigned part, i.e. (figuratively) deceit (“hypocrisy”):–condemnation, dissimulation, hypocrisy.

5271. upokrinomai hupokrinomai, hoop-ok-rin’-om-ahee
middle voice from 5259 and 2919; to decide (speak or act) under a false part, i.e. (figuratively) dissemble (pretend):–feign.

WordNet Dictionary> Hypocrisy

Definition: 1. Insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have2. an expression of agreement that is not supported by real conviction

Synonyms: lip service

See Also: dissembling, falseness, feigning, fulsomeness, insincerity, oiliness, pretense, sanctimoniousness, sanctimony, smarminess, unction, unctuousness.http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/hypocrisy.

Webster’s 1913 Dictionary

Hypocrisy

Definition: “…outward show…to play a part, the act or practice of a hypocrite, a feigning to be what one is not, or to feel what one does not feel, a dissimulation, or a concealment of one’s real character, disposition, or motives; especially the assuming of false appearance of virtue or religion; a simulation of goodness…”

Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villainy….

Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue….

http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/hypocrisy.

People who are double minded and mind earthly things, regardless of what it is, desire to serve the flesh and God. They are playing a spiritual game of fence straddling, thinking they can take from God as well as falsehood and false prophets and false teachers. To put it in Scriptural terms, they want to worship Almighty God while at the same time bowing to Baal.

Of all the things that God hates, duplicity of mind and hypocrisy are named many times in the Scriptures. The end result is destruction.

As was stated in the introduction verses of this article, “15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

The concept of this hypocrisy and duality of mind and purpose seems to make the person believe that God abides the confession to and vain worship of Himself from someone who on the other side of his face loves the things that are against God.

Isaiah 32:6 “For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.”

Almighty God has been very specific about those who have gone after false gods while His people allowed it or took from them.

Leviticus 20:1 “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.
4 And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not:
Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.
6 And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.” See also Numbers 25, etc.

While hypocrisy and being double minded can be found time and time again in the lives of non-Believers, it is something that hits the highest level of deplorable for those who claim to love Jesus Christ. There can be nothing worse than someone who professes Christ, while also serving or advocating for the enemy of our souls.

Some go so far as to stand in defense of the Gospel, while promoting false prophets, or they are partaking of the “religious” teachings proffered by those who clearly reject Jesus Christ. Some attempt to make a pretense of defending the Word of God while never appearing to actually apply it. They have the appearance of a form of godliness.

2 Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

How can someone who claims to love Jesus Christ simultaneously live for or further the cause of satan?

How can one claim to live for Jesus Christ, and indeed may have at some point agreed with the truth of Christ, at least in their mind, yet return to serving the things that have been crucified with Christ?

Do these people really believe that Almighty God will ignore this? They misuse the grace of God, and while claiming to have repented or turned from these things, rather continue partaking of the things that God hates. That person allows those things to take precedent and have dominion in his heart. The Apostle Peter warned:

2 Peter 2: 17 “These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”

Jesus wants our total focus and loyalty. And well He should. To say we belong to to Him, needs to be shown by our hearts focus being on Him. See: Carrying My Cross.

We cannot have one half of our mind on Him, and the other half welcoming falsehood, false prophets, the occult, desires or lust of the flesh, and so on, because the God given promise of that type of commitment, is the total destruction of that soul. For eternity.

A heart that is not sold out to Jesus Christ is a heart that He will spew out. If God is not first place in a person’s heart, do you really think He is willing to take a backseat to satan or the world?

If Christ truly reigns in a persons heart, as many double minded people claim, is there room for a false god or idol in that heart?

Each must ask themselves, Do I rest on Jesus Christ crucified? Do I live for Him alone? Is my purpose focused on obedience to Him? Or is my heart so filled with the things of this world, desiring acceptance or position, friendship from the world, seeking after signs, following after the things of the flesh, showing partiality and so much more, that the Name of Jesus or Yeshua, is merely there for religious purposes and appearance?

Do I have a sacred cow that I feel is more important than Biblical obedience or value it so highly that I will not allow the Scriptures to show me what it really is about?

James 4:4 “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Rather, isn’t our call in Christ, to not be the servant of sin, but rather righteousness in Christ?

Romans 6: 11 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”

Romans 7:25 “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”

8:6 “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

8:9 “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

We are told to “mortify” the deeds of the flesh:

Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

Colossians 3:5 “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”

To “mortify” means:

From Strong’s Concordance:

3499. nekrow nekroo, nek-ro’-o
from 3498; to deaden, i.e. (figuratively) to subdue:–be dead, mortify.

Mortify in Romans 8:13

2289. yanatow thanatoo, than-at-o’-o
from 2288 to kill (literally or figuratively):–become dead, (cause to be) put to death, kill, mortify.

Greek 2288 (thanatos)

2288. yanatov thanatos, than’-at-os
from 2348; (properly, an adjective used as a noun) death (literally or figuratively):–X deadly, (be…) death.

Greek 2348 (thnesko), ynhskw thnesko, thnay’-sko
a strengthened form of a simpler primary thano than’-o (which is used for it only in certain tenses); to die (literally or figuratively):–be dead, die.

The online Merriam Webster Dictionary states:

Main Entry: mor·ti·fy
Pronunciation: 'mor-t&-"fI
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): -fied; -fy·ing
Etymology: Middle English mortifien, from Middle French mortifier, from Late Latin mortificare, from Latin mort-, mors
Date: 14th century
transitive senses
1 obsolete : to destroy the strength, vitality, or functioning of
2 : to subdue or deaden (as the body or bodily appetites) especially by abstinence or self-inflicted pain or discomfort
3 : to subject to severe and vexing embarrassment : SHAME
intransitive senses
1 : to practice mortification
2 : to become necrotic or gangrenous

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=mortify

One entry found for mortification.Main Entry: mor·ti·fi·ca·tion
Pronunciation: "mor-t&-f&-'kA-sh&n
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : the subjection and denial of bodily passions and appetites by abstinence or self-inflicted pain or discomfort
…3 a : a sense of humiliation and shame caused by something that wounds one’s pride or self-respect b : the cause of such humiliation or shame

The Cambridge online Dictionary states this:

Definition> mortify … to cause someone to feel extremely ashamed:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=51978&dict=CALD

Encarta Dictionary online adds these thoughts:

“…1. transitive verb shame somebody: to make somebody feel ashamed and humiliated

2. transitive verb religion impose hardship on: to use self-imposed discipline, hardship, abstinence from pleasure, and especially self-inflicted pain in an attempt to control or put an end to desires and passions, especially for religious purposes…”

encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/

If we, as Believer’s in the grace and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, have sacred cows and idols of the heart and things we hang on to that make us double minded, if we live according to the flesh instead of according to Biblical obedience, we should feel ashamed.

Those who love Jesus Christ are called to a higher calling. That is, to total focus and obedience to Him, without duplicity or hypocrisy.

2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
7 Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.

Titus 2:10 “Not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.” [THE END!]

Now to speak on insanity…  it is quite simple. A mind without God is an insane mind!

If you are not wanting truth and able to lay down your idols to get it then you have chosen your sinful state over God and you are insane and an insane person is always found to be double minded or as some call it two faced!

What’s That You Are Eating?

Should we be following the food laws?
CLEAN AND UNCLEAN FOOD.

By Arnold Kennedy
Below is an excerpt on this subject, from a Bible Commentary, which excerpt is typical of most other
commentaries. It embodies the traditional doctrine that most churches teach about the Commandments of God as being now set aside. . A typical commentary comment is, “In the NT, however, such provisions for identifying ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ animals were understood to have been set aside with the coming of Jesus (Mark 7:19; see also Acts 10:10-16)”. At least they are honest enough to say, “were understood” which shows they are not sure. If the argument was sure as is taught, it contains basic flaws, even if at first glance it appears to be reasonable, or even appears to be right.
FROM THE BIBLE KNOWLEDGE COMMENTARY.
“The precise meaning of these laws has been a source of debate since pre-Christian times. Perhaps
the most popular modern explanation of the laws is that certain animals were prohibited for hygienic
reasons. Commentators point out that pork may be a source of trichinosis and that the hare is a
carrier of tularemia. However, several lines of evidence make this explanation improbable: (1) Jesus
declared that all foods should be considered clean (Mark 7:14-23). This was reconfirmed in a
heavenly vision granted to Peter (Acts 10:9-23) since the disciples seemed to have missed the point
of Jesus’ earlier declaration. It is difficult to believe that God was concerned about the health of His
people in the Old Testament, but abandoned that concern in the New Testament. (2) Eating some of
the “clean” animals may represent a greater danger to health than some of the “unclean” ones. (3)
No hygienic reasons are given as motives for observing the law of the clean and the unclean. And
the Old Testament does not state that the Israelites considered the unclean animals dangerous to
their health.
A second popular interpretation of the prohibition of unclean animals for food is that they were used
in pagan cultic rites. Evidence for this is that the unclean animals are said to be ”detestable“ (Deut.
14:3). The same Hebrew word is used elsewhere in Deuteronomy of idolatry and other pagan
practices (7:25; 12:31). Also some unclean animals (e.g., pigs) were widely used in pagan rituals.
However, this explanation clarifies so little of the data that it is not too useful. And one may adduce
counter examples. For instance, the bull, a common symbol in the religions of the ancient Near East,
was permitted as food for the Israelites.
A third explanation is that the clean and unclean animals were symbolic of good and evil in the
human realm. This explanation became extremely subjective and even fanciful by earlier interpreters
of the Old Testament. For instance, some held that chewing of the cud (14:6-8) represented the
faithful believer who meditated on the Law. Others taught that the sheep (v. 4) was clean because it
served as a reminder that the Lord is His people’s Shepherd. This symbolic interpretation should be
rejected since it is divorced from the controls of grammatical historical exegesis, and therefore is
impossible to validate. However, a symbolic interpretation may be essentially correct if it is applied
comprehensively under strict exegetical controls to all the ceremonially clean and unclean animals
here”.
To gain right understanding, we firstly must examine the two passages of Scripture given in the commentary passage.
THE FIRST BIBLE PASSAGE USED TO SUPPORT TRADITION.
Mark 7:14-23 And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me
every one of you, and understand:
15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which
come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
16 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
17 And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the
parable.
18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that
whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging
all meats?
20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness:
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
In looking at this passage quoted, we should note that the commentaries have not gone back to the place
where the context is established. Here this context is established earlier in the chapter where Jesus is
contrasting the “commandments of men” with the “commandments of God”. In general, churches do not
seem to note the difference!
Mark 7:7-9. “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of
men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as
the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said
unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your
own tradition”
In no way does Jesus discount or eliminate the “commandments of God”. It is the “commandments
of men” Jesus attacks. Jesus does not commend or sanction the eating of unclean foods, or of breaking the “commandments of God” in these passages. Jesus is insisting that it was the “commandments of God” that were being rejected and thus were being broken by these Judean leaders. They had substituted their
interpretations for the “commandments of God”. The “commandments of men” Jesus talks about are the “washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do”. What the Judean leaders were keeping, or trying to keep, were the “commandments of men”. For the commentaries to insist, or even to infer, that these two sets of commandments are the same is not only a lie, it is total error. The commentators need to be able to explain how “the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do” has anything to do with eating pork or unclean foods. Jesus nowhere mentions pork or unclean meat in these passages, and in no way links the two differing sets of commandments.
When Jesus gave His explanation, to His disciples, saying, “Are ye so without understanding also?
Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?”, the context concerns only those things relating to the “commandments of men”. It is these things of man and mans’ religion that “goeth out into the draught, purging all meats”. The fact that pork, for instance, likewise “goes out into the draught” does not mean it is no longer an unclean food, even if commentators say it is so. Not eating swine’s flesh is part of the “commandments of God”, and this is not mentioned in this passage as being part of the “commandments of men”.
THE SECOND BIBLE PASSAGE USED TO SUPPORT TRADITION.
Acts 10:9-30 On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went
up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: 10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, 11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: 12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. 14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. 15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

16 This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven. 17 Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate, 18 And called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. 19 While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. 20 Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them. 21 Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come? 22 And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. 23 Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. 24 And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. 25 And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. 26 But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man. 27 And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together. 28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. 29 Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me? 30 And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,

Peter states simply what God had showed him in the vision, i.e. “God hath shewed me that I
should not call any man common or unclean”. To say that God showed Peter anything different such as,
“It is now acceptable to eat unclean meats”, is to call both Peter and the Word of God both liars.
The commentator says regarding the first passage in Mark chapter seven, “This was reconfirmed in a
heavenly vision granted to Peter (Acts 10:9-23) since the disciples seemed to have missed the point of
Jesus’ earlier declaration”. But did they really? Peter did not agree with the commentator that the symbols
in his vision had anything to with being able to eat unclean foods. The commentators refuse to believe what Peter says. This is because the commentators have to ignore the context, in order to support their traditional wrong doctrine. The context includes a connection about Peter being able to tell Cornelius what he should do. Verse 5. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do This has nothing at all to do with eating or not eating pork, or any other animals God has declared to be unclean as food. When we read, “Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean”, the “one of another nation” is allophulos which means “one of a kindred tribe”. In his explanation, Peter said something limiting the churches refuse to accept, “The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ”. As the Judeans thought of the 10 tribes of House of Israel as being unclean like pigs and other unclean animals, then we can start to understand the vision. But, in no way has it anything to do with eating or not eating swine’s flesh. It is about the Word of God being sent to, and received by, the “gentilised” House of Israel.
As always, the symbols in a vision have to be interpreted! The commentators do not do this in this
passage. Imagine how ridiculous it would be if all the symbols in Biblical visions were taken literally as the commentators have done here. Where we read in the vision of Peter saying, ‘Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean’ and ‘the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common’, this is part of the vision; it is not part of the interpretation. Thus churches are not teaching what Peter says God showed him. It is not unusual to find such wrong teachings in commentaries and Bible footnotes. And it is pointed out; the difference between clean and unclean animals predates Moses, since Noah knew the difference when he took the animals into the ark! The difference is eternal!
SOME RELATIVE NOTES FROM THE SAME COMMENTARY.
In Isaiah 66 we find this statement, which in context, is concerned with God’s people.
Isaiah 66:17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree
in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be
consumed together, saith the LORD.
Being consumed by God for eating swine’s flesh is a heavy statement! The abomination is shequets = “an
unclean thing, an abomination”. Yes, it is heavy for Isaiah to say that God will consume eaters of pork,
rodents and other things. But the same commentary (as quoted earlier in this paper) contradicts itself as it
agrees that eating unclean animals as being unlawful, stands until Judgment Day, saying:
When God restores His people to Jerusalem (vv. 10-13) in the Millennium, they will rejoice and
prosper, but on His and her enemies He will swoop down in judgment like a fire (cf. 2 Thes. 1:7-9)
and a whirlwind to slay them. This judgment will be fair because of their abominations: worshiping in
idolatrous gardens (cf. Isa. 1:29; 65:3) and eating ceremonially unclean animals such as pigs (cf.
65:4; 66:3; Lev. 11:7) and rats (cf. Lev. 11:29).
Where did they get the word “ceremonially”? It is from tradition. God’s commandment not to eat unclean
food has nothing to do with any ceremony. It has nothing to do with food offered to idols either. The word “enemies” refers to those of God’s people who are eating pigs and mice, etc. Here this commentary is contradicting what they say in their quotation found in the first page of this paper. They confirm this
concerning the verse below, which again is about eating swine’s flesh: Is 65:2-7 Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day. Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom, Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

The commentary says, as follows:
Isaiah 65:1-7. Constantly reaching out to Israel, God revealed Himself to those who did not even ask
for that revelation. Only because of His grace did He do so, even calling out to them, Here am I. Yet
they did not respond. He was always ready to help them (holding out His hands; Paul quotes vv. 1-2
in Rom. 10:20-21), but they continued to be stubborn, independent, and evil. They provoked God by
(a) worshiping in pagan gardens (cf. Isa. 1:29; 66:17); (b) being involved in necromancy (supposedly
consulting the dead, while sitting among the graves, 65:4; cf. 8:19); (c) disregarding His dietary laws
(65:4b; cf. 66:3, 17; Lev. 11:7); and (d) being religiously arrogant till they became as repulsive and
irritating to Him as smoke in a person’s nose. Because of their sins, the LORD would judge them. The
Assyrian threat (Isa. 1-37) and the Babylonian Exile (chaps. 38-66) were two of the ways the Lord
disciplined His people. The consequences of sin had to be faced; God would pay them back in
judgment for their idolatrous worship in high places (cf. 57:7).
Here the commentary again declares this reference to eating swine’s flesh concerns God’s people, thus
showing inconsistency. Is there any wonder why church members are all so confused?

A THIRD BIBLE PASSAGE USED TO SUPPORT TRADITION.
Rom. 14:14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself:
but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy
brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably.
This is another passage that is used to promote the teaching that the eating of unclean foods was
set aside by Jesus. Here again, tradition, which promotes that idea, has not considered the context. The
context is established in the first verse of the chapter where the issue is about being a vegetarian or not.
Rom. 14:1 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
The context certainly is not about eating, or not eating, unclean meats. It is about being a vegetarian
or not. So, as usual and according to good Greek word usage, “all” refers to the “all” of the context only, and thus does not include anything outside of the particular context. Likewise when we come down to the verse “All things indeed are pure” and “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost”, there has been no change in the context within this chapter, and thus there is no application outside of the limited context.

A FOURTH BIBLE PASSAGE USED TO SUPPORT TRADITION.
1 Cor.8.8 But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better;
neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.
Again, to suggest that this means that God’s people can now eat unclean foods once again means
that no notice has been taken of the passage context, which is confined to eating foods offered to idols.

FINAL COMMENT.
No wonder church members are confused over this issue and every issue relating to “the
Commandments of God”, a phrase found often enough within the New Testament, even if churches ignore
the phrase. Church trumpets, such as commentaries and teachers, are making uncertain sounds by
contradicting themselves, in the way as was pointed out above! Commentaries say that on one hand Jesus
has set aside the eating of unclean animals, and on the other hand that God’s people will be judged for
eating swine’s flesh on judgement day, (if not before). What they have set aside are the “commandments of God”.
The footnotes of the “Life Application Bible” actually say, “He did not downgrade the Law, but He
paved the way for the change made clear in Acts 10, 7-22 when He removed the cultural restrictions
regarding food”. Amazing! Does this concept not in fact downgrade the Law of God? And where does
‘culture’ come into it? Do we not say our culture allows us to eat pig but not rat, so that is now our standard? On this basis we could say nothing of the “commandments of God” has any relevance in today’s “culture”. This is what we are seeing today in society and most churches, go along with this idea, even in the holier than thou, so-called “holy ghost works”. There may be some partial acknowledgement of the “commandments of God”-(Mal.2:9)- but God says, “Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law”. This partiality causes society to view the churches as they do. It is God that has brought this view of churches by society to pass. The blessing and the glory have departed from the churches. Again, why?
Rev. 22:14 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.
And, as Jesus says,

John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he
that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest
myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt
manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto
him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we
will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth
not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which
sent me.
Jesus has not therefore changed the Father’s word, or the Father’s commandments. In
making obedience a matter of the heart, Jesus did not over-ride the “commandments of God”. He
said,
Matthew 5:17-18 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
But, commentaries and Bible footnotes, in general, gyrate in contradictory comments to try to
establish the idea that heaven and earth has already passed away, thus giving the impression that the
“Commandments of God” have been set aside. At least 90% of churches follow the conclusions of these
commentators. Thus churchgoers have been taught to think that unclean foods are now clean.
Ezekiel 22:26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have
put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean…..
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? GOD
FORBID:
Galatians 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? GOD FORBID:
Paul did not agree with the commentators and neither should any of us.
Those who have been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, outside of any works of the Law, then
come into a new relationship where the principle, “Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God,
and keep it” applies.

Anybody for rat pie?

The Fallacy of Millennialism

Many churches teach and  many people believe that the false accuser (devil) will be thrown into the bottomless pit for a 1000 years after the resurrection and judgment. Much of this comes from the order in which things happen in Revelations but what many do not realize is that Revelations repeats time frames and should not be taken as a continuous timeline. By thinking that the devil will be bound for a 1000 years after judgment would assume when Yeshua comes back on Judgment day, it will not be to destroy evil but simply to bind evil. That has caused me many questions growing up that there were no answers for. Question came because the belief is incorrect.

Here is a good article on this subject that you should read and study to help understand better. I must note however that I do not agree totally with the author on a few subjects. I do not agree totally with his views on the Catholic church although I agree they are a false religion and the serpent seedline and the identity of satan as I do not believe in fallen angels out of YHWH’s control and I do not believe in a serpent seedline but the information on this subject is really good and educating. It clears up questions and supplies much needed answers.

By Pastor Eli James

One of the most persistent, yet false interpretations of Scripture is the belief that the Book of Revelation teaches that Satan will be cast into the “bottomless pit” for a thousand years AFTER the Tribulation and Judgment. This teaching assumes that Jesus Christ will return at the Judgment Day, not to destroy Satan, but merely to bind him, thus postponing his inevitable destruction for a thousand years.  (For a good introductory explanation of the various millennialist positions, please refer to this article: http://www.ukapologetics.net/realized.html )

Unlike many of the modern apostasies, this mistake is actually understandable. It is due to the fact that the verses dealing with the bottomless pit occur right after the verse discussing the Judgment Day. It is quite natural to assume that the events depicted at the end of Chapter 19 will be followed by the events depicted in the beginning of Chapter 20. However, as I will show, this is an ASSUMPTION, because the Millennialists ignore the critical fact that the battle between True Israel versus Gog and Magog (Verses 7-10) occurs in the verses right after Satan was let loose. Ezekiel 38:8 is very clear in stating that the invasion of Gog and Magog will occur “in the latter years.” This can only mean during a time leading up to the Judgment Day.

There are other logical problems with this belief, as will be discussed below.

For one, orthodox Judeo-Christianity is very much mystified about the ENTIRE APOCALYPSE, not just this particular episode. Since they falsely identify the Jews with/as Israel, they are incapable of understanding a single word of the Revelation concerning True Israel and the impostor Jews!!!! (Such as Rev. 2:9 and 3:9.) Although they understand that the Dragon is Satan, they do not understand that Judaism is the religion of Satan masquerading as the religion of Moses. Nor do they understand that the Eighth Beast is also the international Jewish mercantile Beast (the Empire of Merchants, Cha. 17-19)!!! Failing to understand such important concepts is a guarantee that they will misinterpret just about all of the Apocalypse. In short, Judeo-Christianity, operating under the delusion that the Jews are Israel, cannot possibly understand the Bible, let alone the book of Revelation.

The passage under discussion is in Chapter 19, continuing into Chapter 20, where the Beast and the False Prophet are cast into the “lake of fire,” but first we have to identify this pair of beings, the Beast and the False Prophet.

We confront these two entities earlier in Rev., Chapter 16:

12And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

13And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

14For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

15Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

16And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

In my thorough study of all of the prophecies in the Book of Revelation {http://www.anglo-saxonisrael.com/newsletter/2006_2_23.php }, I have identified Chapter 16 as a FLASHFORWARD to the End Times. Chapter 16 refers to events, which occur prior to and up to the Judgment Day. The Apocalyptic succession of beasts (a major plot of Revelation) is

1.) Egypt,

2.) Assyria,

3.) Babylon,

4.) Medo-Persia,

5.) Greece,

6.) Rome (Imperial Rome received the “deadly wound,” paving the way for Papal Rome to take its place),

7.) Napoleon, and, finally,

8.) The House of Rothschild, the “Empire of Merchants.” Only a handful of Bible scholars have ever even broached the subject of the 8^th Beast; and woefully few of these are Judeo-Christian theologians. Only Identity theologians, such as Howard B. Rand and Bertrand Comparet, have successfully identified the Eighth Beast (Rev. 17:11). This is quite amazing, since John the Revelator devotes practically all of Chapters 18 & 19 to colorful descriptions of this last Beast, which is the reincarnation of the ancient Babylonian debt-usury system, of which the Federal Reserve System is a major component. These two chapters go into great detail, describing the “Empire of Merchants,” the United Nations, which is under the control of the Eighth Beast, the House of Rothschild.

While the Apocalyptic Succession of beasts follow each other in chronological order through the pages of history and Bible Prophecy, only one of these beasts exists during the period of the End Times. That is the Eighth Beast, the house of Rothschild, which is the reigning “beast” of these End Times. This Beast also symbolizes the Babylonian Debt-Usury System, which has re-emerged upon the historical scene, although few Bible interpreters make this connection, since they do everything possible to avoid implicating the Jews as one of the “beasts.”

The False Prophet is easily identified. It is a specific reference to false religions, especially as personified in Judaism and Judeo-Christianity. Both of these religious ideologies prophesy falsely about the meaning of Scripture in the End Times (eschatology). The Catholic Church is a major part of the False Prophet entity. I include Universalism and Ecumenism as being part of the False Prophet, as these latter two heretical doctrines are shared by numerous misguided denominations. The False Prophet is False Religion issuing False Statements about Scriptural Prophecy.

Now, with an understanding of who the Beast and the False Prophet are, let us now reconsider Rev. 19:

17And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

18That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

19And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse [Jesus Christ], and against his army.

20And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

21And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

So, the international banking empire of the House of Rothschild and the twin sets of false religion (Judaism and Judeo-Christianity) are to be cast into the lake of fire. Now, ordinarily, being cast into the lake of fire should be considered the FINAL END of these two beings/entities, as this implies total destruction. The problem of interpretation occurs in Chapter 20, which Judeo-Christian scholars falsely believe is a reference to the beast of Rev. 19:20, which has already been cast into the lake of fire. This false association leads many to believe that this same beast will be resurrected after one thousand years.

Let’s read:

1And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

2And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

3And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Now, since these verses follow on the heels of the prose of Chapter 19, everyone assumes that Chapter 20:1-3 is about the “beast” of Rev. 19:20. But few Judeo-Christian interpreters have read the Apocalypse carefully enough to understand that this Book is composed of several ongoing plots and sub-plots. The Seven Church Ages announce the first major plot. The Seven Beasts and the Eighth Beast, listed above, combine to make another major plot; and this plot is revisited several times in different chapters of the Revelation. The Beast and the False Prophet also combine to make a sub-plot, which occurs three of four times in various chapters. You have to read each Chapter carefully to see if one of these plots or sub-plots is being revisited. Generally speaking, the Apocalypse is a prophetic chronograph of history, but this chronograph is repeatedly interrupted by these other themes. So, it is important to keep these themes separated from one another and not to mix them up.

Nor do most Bible scholars understand that the Book of Revelation contains FLASHFORWARDS AND FLASHBACKS. I explain this concept and thoroughly document it in “Revelation Unfolded.” [ http://www.anglo-saxonisrael.com/newsletter/2006_2_23.php ] Understanding this, you will see that the entire content of Chapter Sixteen is a flashforward to the End Times.

Chapters 15 and 16 deal with the Seven Last Plagues, announcing them ahead of time, and then describing in detail what it will be like when the plagues arrive. Chapter 15 announces the seven bowls (which pour out the plagues) and then digresses into a description of Yahweh’s heavenly throne. Then Chapter 16 gives us the details of the Seven Last Plagues as a flashforward. For example, Verse 2 describes the skin lesions of those who accept the Mark of the Beast. If this a prophecy concerning the current fad of having RFID chips implanted under our skin, then it is compelling, because it has already been demonstrated that these chips can cause cancerous lesions!!!!! Verse 3 describes people having “dead blood,” which I believe is a reference to vaccinations, which actually destroy our immune systems!! Verse 4 says the “rivers and springs will turn to blood.” This could easily mean pre and post-natal diseases, including diseases caused by vaccinating infants. Autism, degenerative diseases, and childhood asthma would fall into this category, as these diseases are related to both toxicity and invasive medical “treatment,” such as vaccination. Verse 8 describes a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), a gigantic solar flare from the sun, which will scorch the earth with fire. (For the rest of the interpretation, see Revelation Unfolded.)

The first three plagues are things that we are going through right now, while the solar flare is due, according to some sun observers, in 2012.

Chapter 16 gives us the details of the Last Plagues in a flashforward. Chapter 17 then goes into a description of the Great Whore, Babylon the Great, the international banking and mercantile empire of the New World Order. All of the Seven Last Plagues and the Judgment of the Great Whore will probably happen simultaneously in the very near future. We are presently seeing food riots (famine) and economic collapse as we speak!

Sorting Out the Language

Note, first, that the subject of the first three verses of Chapter 20 is the DRAGON, which is identified as “the Devil and Satan.” This is not the same as the Beast or the False Prophet. The Dragon is a spiritual entity which lives continuously throughout the entire Book of Revelation, while the Beast and False Prophet are earthly institutions that develop during the latter days. While it is certainly true that Satan has his earthly representatives, it must be remembered that Satan is a spiritual entity, not a banking syndicate or a collection of religious denominations.

Let’s continue with Rev. 16:

4And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the [sixth] beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The Sixth Beast was Rome, which had placed the mark of excommunication upon those who refused to do business with this beast; and Papal Rome was the reigning beast during the Reformation. Verse 4 is describing the Sixth beast and the Reformation. So the Protestant Reformers (saints) lived during this long period, even though many of them were beheaded for their beliefs. It was these Reformers who had the true Christian Faith. Everyone else was spiritually “dead.”

5But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

6Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The saints and martyrs of the Protestant Reformation, the “first resurrection,” are already in “heaven,” i.e., qualified for eternal life. They are, like us, waiting for the Judgment Day to come about to bring in the Era of Eternal Life.

So, while the Catholic Church reigned as the Sixth Beast, the Dragon was imprisoned in the underworld for a Thousand Years. This is a historical event. The Dragon is the Spirit of Judaism and its Babylonian Debt-Usury system. During the era of the Holy Roman Empire, the Jewish Debt-Usury System was held in check, unable to prey upon Christians, as both Church and Monarchy strictly forbade the practice of usury, which had always been the exclusive province of the Jews. These same Jews had also been confined to ghettoes during this period and were unable to exploit the Christian world with their usury, vice and thievery. It was also during this era that the Jews were being evicted from one nation after another, because of these usurious exploitations.

It was not until after the Napoleonic Wars that Christian Europe collectively dropped its guard against Jewish usury. War-weary Europe, now heavily in debt to the Rothschilds and other Jewish bankers, was forced to do business with the devil. Thus, it was the Holy Roman Empire which had held this Dragon in check, and it lasted from 800 AD until about 1804 AD, or, just a little over 1000 years.

7And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

What happened in the year 1804?

It was during the Napoleonic Wars that Napoleon issued orders that the Jews living in their various countries should be liberated from the ghettoes. Furthermore, they were to receive equal citizenship with Christians. This was a very unpopular move by Napoleon, but it earned him some much-needed capital, to continue funding the war. Many anxious Jewish communities readily paid bribes to Napoleon’s army to acquire this highly coveted liberty. Realizing the Arm’s need for these provisional funds, Napoleon quipped, “An army travels on its stomach.” This was a quid pro quo between the Jews and Napoleon. Few history books mention this exchange of funds for liberty, because for the Jewish community, it was most certainly a policy of bribery. The Jews were willing to pay, and Napoleon needed the money.

Near the conclusion of the first stage of the Napoleonic Wars, and at the height of his imperial power, it came time for Napoleon to be crowned as the new Holy Roman Emperor. Since Charlemagne was first crowned on Christmas Day in 800 AD by Pope Leo III, all of the succeeding Emperors had been crowned by the contemporary reigning Pope. The scene was set in Paris, France, 1804. The reigning Pope was Pius VII. As the ceremony to crown Napoleon proceeded, Pope Pius VII lifted the crown, intending to place it upon Napoleon’s head, but, in one of history’s most bizarre moments, the assembled audience stood aghast as Napoleon snatched the crown out of the Pope’s hands! He then crowned himself with his own two hands. This act symbolized two very important facts:

1.) The Pope no longer had the power to crown monarchs and

2.) Napoleon was declaring his independence from the Holy Roman Empire.

The handwriting was on the wall: The HRE was at an end.

By releasing the Jews from their ghettoes, Napoleon had opened up the bottomless pit, which contained all of the evils of the Babylonian, Jewish debt-usury system. It is this monetary beast which today controls the economy of the whole world, utilizing their hereditary control of international banking as a means of world conquest. This same beast created the United Nations Organization, which speaks in the name of “peace,” but which makes war for profit. It is this beast which is currently deceiving the whole world (Rev. 12:9). It was Napoleon who opened the door for the House of Rothschild and their Jewish banker friends to take over Europe with their nefarious banking and war-mongering practices.

This is what the thousand years in the bottomless pit is all about. It has already happened. It is NOT an event that takes place after the Judgment Day!

The reign of the Eighth Beast is the “little season” of verse 3, from the establishment of the 5 Rothschild banks in Europe until the Judgment Day. All of these things were fulfilled during the reign of Napoleon. Now, having loosed the chained beast, this beast…

8… shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

This is the Battle of Armageddon. If the Millennialists are correct, there must also be a second Battle of Armageddon, a thousand years after the first one! Gog is the SynaGOG of Satan, the Jewish religion and its world Empire of Debt-Usury. Here, the Eighth Beast is directly connected to Gog and Magog. If the Millennialists are correct in their interpretation, then Gog and Magog would have to be resurrected after a thousand years as well; but we know that Gog and Magog represent Jewish Supremacism and the New World Order, headquartered in the United Nations.

Do you really think that Jesus Christ and the citizens of the Kingdom would be fooled again by this system?

The Dragon that was banished for a thousand years is the same entity that assembles the armies of Gog and Magog against True Israel in the Final Conflict of Armageddon. The Book of Ezekiel clearly states that this battle will occur “in the latter years.” (Ezek. 38:8.) This means that it will occur BEFORE the Day of Judgment.

THERE IS NO WAY THAT ALL OF THIS HISTORY IS GOING TO REPEAT ITSELF A THOUSAND YEARS AFTER IT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. The Millennialists have misidentified the timing of this episode. Chapter 20 starts out with a flashback to the days of Napoleon, when Satan was let out of the bottomless pit after a one thousand year imprisonment. The balance of Chapter 20 (verses 9-15) deals with the tribulation leading up to the Judgment Day itself. So, within Chapter 20, the “millennium” clearly occurs BEFORE the Day of Judgment, not AFTER. Nor is there any hint that there will be a repeat of any of these cataclysmic events after the Judgment Day.

Once the Beast and the False Prophet are cast into the Lake of Fire, it’s over. There is no coming back out of the Lake of Fire. For further proof, I cite II Esdras. Here is what the angel Uriel tells Ezra in this End-Time vision:

“The Day of Judgment is decisive and sets its seal on the truth for all to see…the day of judgment will be the end of the present world and the beginning of the eternal world to come, a world in which corruption will have disappeared.” - Verses 104-114.

If corruption has disappeared, how can Satan be let loose again to “deceive the nations”? (Rev. 20:3.)

Rest assured, Children of Israel, there will be NO emergence of the Dragon from the bottomless pit after the Day of Judgment. The Day of Judgment is the final act for evil. Evil will be vanquished, never to show its ugly face again. It means the abolition of all evil, including the destruction of the seed of Edom (Book of Obadiah). “For the violence done to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever.” - Ob. 10.

The orthodox interpreters of Scripture do not seem to understand that the Judgment Day will be a final end for evil.

Here is more verification of this point from the KJV: God’s Judgment is final & the Lake of Fire is eternal. Those condemned to it do not come back: Revelation 20:10; Mt 25:46; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Hebrews 6:2; Jude 7

Rev. 20:9And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

10And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

After the Beast and False Prophet have been cast into the Fire, Satan Himself will be destroyed. NO, they will NOT be released to torment us yet again after another period of one thousand years!!!!!

11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

These last verses confirm the passages from II Esdras. This judgment is final. Nothing comes back from the second death!

There will be no post-tribulation millennium. This is a false belief promoted by those who believe that the Jews are “God’s chosen People.” These are the same people who believe that the “law has been abolished,” “Jesus loves everybody” (even Jews), “No one really goes to hell,” etc., and who otherwise demonstrate very little comprehension of the historicity and symbolism of the Book of Revelation. Nor are they familiar with the various flashforwards and flashbacks that occur therein. Given these factors, I declare that the Millennium is an event that has ALREADY OCCURRED, as explained above, and Satan, after his soon-to-be judgment, will never be let loose again.

There is no coming back from the Lake of Fire.

It’s over, baby.

THE END.

Appendix: Explanatory Notes

For clarity’s sake, I will try to set forth the relevant fulfillment of prophecies discussed herein, complete with plots and subplots, beginning with Chapter 17 of the Apocalypse.

Rev. 17:1-2. These two verses announce the Judgment Day, with emphasis on the Great Whore. As such, they are a flashforward to that day, since the verses immediately following focus on describing the nature of the Great Whore. Also, Chapters 18-20 describe the various entities and events that will take place before and leading up to the Judgment Day, so these two verses can only make sense as an announcement/flashforward of that event.

Rev. 17: 3-7. Since the Great Whore sits upon the various beasts of the 7 Heads (the Babylonian succession of beasts) and Ten Horns, John is describing her historical crimes and blasphemies. Essentially, this “harlot” is the religious and economic system that ruled ancient Babylon: fractional reserve banking coupled with pagan harlotry. Although the ancient Kingdom of Babylon was destroyed, its merchant/banker/sex-worship priesthood never died. They migrated to other countries and set up shop, waiting behind the scenes for future opportunities to control kingdoms. Throughout history, Babylonian Judaism has managed to place its representatives in “advisory” positions to kings and nations. This is what Benjamin Franklin called the Jewish “state within a state.” By “advising” kings and lending them money to make war, Mystery Babylon has flourished behind the scenes. Thus, the Great Whore is none other than Babylonian Judaism operating behind the scenes as the Sate-Within-A-State. This is exactly how the Zionist Neo-Kahns control America today!!!!

Rev. 17:8. This verse presages Rev. 20:1-3, where this religio-economic beast is let loose from the “bottomless pit,” as described in the text above. Since Rev. 17:8 and 20:3 are virtually identical statements of the beast being let loose, they tell the same story. This release is pre-tribulation or during the tribulation, NOT after.

Since this beast “was, is not and yet is,” we understand that this beast will be revived as a full-blown Empire in the latter days. As explained above, the Babylonian merchant/whore religion (Babylonian Judaism) was let loose during the Napoleonic Wars.

Rev. 17:9-18. This is the major plot of the Seven Heads and Ten Horns, the Babylonian Succession of Empires. The Ten Horns are the nation-states of the Holy Roman Empire, which, in the latter days (probably during the Gog and Magog episode), will rebel against the Whore (verse 16). With the current collapse of the Great Whore’s international monetary system, we are seeing signs of this rebellion right now.

Rev. 18 is all about Mystery Babylon, the world Empire of Merchants that was begun by the House of Rothschild in 1815. That year saw the Rothschilds attempt to co-opt the Congress of Vienna, which was an attempt by the Emperor of Austria to unify Europe’s governments in terms of a non-aggression pact. The Rothschilds seized this opportunity to talk the various nations into starting an organization, which would institutionalize an international, central bank. Of course, the Rothschilds would be the owner-operators of this central bank. Since the Congress of Vienna failed to unify the nations, the Rothschild plan also failed; but Meyer Amschel Rothschild’s dream was ultimately achieved by his descendants in 1947, with the creation of the United Nations, with its World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Bank of International Settlements, etc. Verse 2 is the famous prediction that “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” meaning that Babylon will have to fall twice. Its first fall was in ancient Babylon, when it fell to the Medes and Persians. Its second fall will be at the Judgment Day.

Verse 21 could easily be a prophecy of a giant meteor or asteroid striking the planet, destroying the Empire of Merchants and much of civilization.

Chapter 19 is a flashforward to the day of celebration, which takes place after the judgment of the Great Whore. This is the announcement of the coming Kingdom of God here on earth.

Chapter 20:1-3: These three verses are a flashback to Rev. 17:8, which had previously announced that Satan would be let loose from the bottomless pit. As discussed in the text above, Verses 4-7 are about the Reformers who gave their lives fighting against the abuses of the Holy Roman Empire, which is the beast that reigned while Mystery Babylon was in the bottomless pit.

Verse 8 is the international Rothschild debt usury system, established during the Napoleonic Wars, and which is flourishing yet today. Gog and Magog are those nations that the Rothschilds have allied to themselves through the United Nations, the international Empire of Merchants that deceives the whole world with its treacheries. Very few non-Identity interpreters have been able to connect Mystery Babylon with the Rothschilds and the United Nations. Since most of them are in bed with the Zionists, they dare not criticize their master.

Verses 9-15 describe various aspects of the Judgment Day. There is NO indication from these verses that Satan will receive a 1,000-year reprieve after the Judgment.

Rev. 21 is a description of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is not out in space or in “heaven.” The New Jerusalem is planet earth restored to its intended Edenic condition. Verse 27 describes the finality of this judgment: “And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither worketh abomination, or maketeh a lie…”

Again, the idea that Satan will be bound for a thousand years AFTER the Tribulation and Judgment is refuted by Scripture. Satan will be destroyed forever and the Kingdom will permit nothing to enter it, which can possibly defile it.

Rev. 22 is a description of the Kingdom and its inhabitants.

Conclusion

Millennialism is an idea that has come out of mainstream Judeo-Christian misinterpretation of Scripture. The vast majority of these commentators know nothing about the Eighth Beast, Mystery Babylon. They don’t even suspect that their various denominations are part of the False Prophet. Neither do they suspect Judaism’s role in creating the Eighth Beast and the False Prophet.

In addition, there is very little understanding among these Christian scholars of the many plots and subplots that weave their way in and out of the various chapters of the Revelation. As mentioned earlier, another major flaw in their interpretations is their false equation of the Jews with Israel. True Israel is the Caucasian people: White Christendom. If you don’t know this, prophecy cannot be correctly interpreted.

Given these major errors in their Biblical knowledge, it would be sheer accident if they got any of these prophecies right. The best they can do is speak in vague generalities, whereas Christian Identity scholarship has shown that the Apocalypse speaks of very specific, easily identifiable institutions. Their placement of the devil’s thousand-year confinement after the Judgment Day is just one of their many mistakes.

Without a clear picture of the various characters in John’s Apocalypse, and what they represent, Judeo-Christian scholarship is lost in a universal fog of guesswork. Millennialism is part of that fog.

The Judgment Day is the Last Act for Satan and evil itself. There will be no curtain call.

False Worship, Mysticism and Taking the Mark

Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man WORSHIP THE BEAST and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who WORSHIP THE BEAST and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Rev 16:2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which WORSHIPPED his image.

Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that WORSHIPPED his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not WORSHIPPED THE BEAST, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Notice how many times worship is mentioned in connection with the mark of the beast.

It is quite clear that worship is important. What we worship is even more relevant. Those that had not God and worshiped the beast or his image or likeness are the ones destroyed. What is this beast with two horns. Although I cannot share who I believe is the two horns I can tell you what I believe they represent. Judean-Christianity. Judaism supporting Christians. Those that claim to love Jesus and the Jew. The Messiah and a religion that hates Yeshua Messiah and speaks abominations which John refers to as the Antichrist. I believe it represents the churches that practice mysticism within, jumping around naming and claiming whatever they feel, having a holy ghost party, tongue speaking and never even opening the book to learn anything but only knowing how to be lead around by their church and elders like a dumb sheep going to slaughter. Believing in every wave of doctrine and having itchy ears needing to be scratched. Fearing satan (not understanding the enemy is within their beliefs) more than having Fear of YHWH. They do worship a beast named Lucifer openly but the worship the first beast unawares.

False worship is serious folks. We need to gird ourselves in truth! Build up our knowledge in truth that no man can take from us. Where moth cannot eat or destroy.  Truth can be hard to handle but what would you prefer, a delusion that will bring you death?

Got Truth? If not GET IT!

What is the Anti-Christ?

Everywhere people are waiting on this one man that copy cats YHWH and brings peace to the world then sudden destruction. Who is he and where will he come from? Will we be able to know it is him?

First what is an Antichrist according to scriptures?

1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

2Jn 1:7  For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

According to John, the antichrist is anyone that do not believe Yeshua was flesh and came into the world.

Also according to John, the Antichrist was already in the world at the time he wrote this letter. A deceiver that teaches Yeshua is not the Messiah is an Antichrist. Where do people get that it will be one man?

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Dan 9:26  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Dan 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

These are the scriptures most used so lets look at them…

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and [that] man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

The word [that] should not be there. It is an added word. Man refers to human beings. Revealed means to have a cover removed. Son is kinsman, child, son, foal and perdition means destruction or waste.

I do not believe this is speaking of one man. This is speaking of man in general. A certain kind of man. Anyone that says Yeshua is not the Messiah according to John. Any religion that teaches Yeshua is not the Messiah is an Antichrist religion. When you take the word [that] out as it should not be there man of sin must be uncovered who is the children of destruction that believe not on Yeshua.

Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number [of a] man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

The words [of a] is not necessary here either. It was added to the word man. Once again man in general and not one man. So this type of man also has a numeric value to his names. There is only one language I know of that serves as numbers and letters. the numbers 666 signify man not fallen angels.

(My words in blue)

Dan 9:26  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, (half way through his ministry he was crucified) but not for himself: and the people of the prince (Messiah) that shall come(foretelling of this week and Messiah’s first coming) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.  ( and with his death and resurrection, the people still sinned and turned not to YHWH through Yeshua and in 70 AD this was fulfilled)
Dan 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week( He, the Messiah, walked among His people and His apostles through the week or period of time of His ministry) : and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, (In the middle of the week He was sacrificed and the obligation to kill and sacrifice animals stopped) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (He destroyed the city and temple because they continued their sacrifice and did not turn to YHWH through Yeshua)

How anyone can teach these in Daniel are referring to any Antichrist is beyond me. It is clear that Daniel was telling of the first coming of Yeshua.

The Antichrist is not one man just as the seventy weeks of Daniel that Christians believe is about an evil one is a delusion. There are people today that believe and tell others through their beliefs and their religion’s belief that Yeshua is not the Messiah and one of them has numbers in his language, in his very name and they are flesh and blood men that seek to destroy all that are not like them.

If you are waiting on one man to rise to power and be THE ANTICHRIST you will be deceived. If you believe that the the religion that numbers their name and rejects Yeshua is God’s Chosen People then you are supporting the very one you are waiting for. If you practice rejecting Yeshua then YOU are an Antichrist.

Wolves in Sheeps clothing…Pastors fleecing the Sheep

Today’s Christian Pastors… What is up with them? They are suppose to guide people and set an example for their congregation by living a life close to YHWH and in truth. Many of our so called leaders are in terrible need of a leader. We are told not to call anyone rabbi, teacher except YHWH. Maybe that is where they go wrong. Pastors today preach what people want to hear in fear of the old bag in the front row that scowls him every time he stirs off the wide road or the fear of an elderly man that is only about hell and brimstone and fails to understand the love of the truth because it wasn’t taught to him. Maybe its fear that if he doesn’t preach what people want to hear, they won’t give him money. Families struggling today to feed their families and getting to work is a struggle with gas prices so high but they give to the preacher first and while they struggle, their pastor is living high off the hog (probably eating it too) and continues giving them what they want to hear. Or just maybe they refuse to go with what the bible says and instead believes in their church that is full of false doctrines and all about a god they made for themselves. One that makes them comfortable. One thing for sure is if your pastor is one of these people, you are in trouble!

Mat 7:13  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Mat 7:15  Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16  Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Mat 10:16  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Luk 10:3  Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
We were warned that one day false prophets, preachers, shepherds, @ men would come and lead us down the wide path that will not lead us to the narrow way.

This says it all

Eze 22:26  Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
Eze 22:27  Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
Eze 22:28  And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.

• Does your preacher tell you that because of Yeshua (Jesus) dying on the cross that we are no longer bound to the law that we are now only under grace?
• Does he teach you about the feasts of YHWH and what they are for and what they mean in regards to Yeshua?
• Does he teach you the differences between food that are good for you and those that YHWH told HIs children not to touch?
• Does he teach that YHWH has total control and cannot be surprised or does he tell you that there are two gods, YHWH and Lucifer?
• Does he teach that the Sabbath is to be a sign between YHWH and HIs children forever or that everyday is the sabbath?

If he teaches any of these, BEWARE!

Greed is one of the biggest reasons why pastors have failed us. It is defiantly a profession that makes good money, works part time and all they have to do is tell you what you want and you pay well. (forget all about the fact that your children need shoes or the car is empty and you need to go to work tomorrow and you are now broke. This sounds like burdens..heavy burdens and the yoke of trouble put on us by these pastors is so much more than man can bare. Well, if we would stop going to these evil men and start going to YHWH, we wouldn’t have to worry.

Mat 11:30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

We should not have the burdens and yoke that makes us worry. We should seek YHWH and His Kingdom that is to come to us here on earth.

A beautiful promise that YHWH will find His children and help us…

Eze 34:12  As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

WE should stop believing lies of pastors that fail to teach truth. (not all pastors are liars but good ones are few and hard to find) Stop supporting the enemies of YHWH and start trusting YHWH to teach us.

Joh 14:17  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

1Jn 4:6  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.

If you are YHWH’s you have His spirit to teach you and guide you to truth and you will know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Are Modern Jews today the Chosen Israel?

No they are not and if you will continue reading I hope to give you enough facts for you to do your own research and make up your own opinion.

If anyone today says anything against the Jew they are rendered anti-semitic. However, most of the Jews have no blood of Shem, the son of Noah, in them therefore they are not semitic at all. However their Arab neighbors are from Shem and the very ones they claim are anti are of the true bloodline of Shem.

SO who are they? They are made up of two peoples. Non-Shem peoples are from Noah’s son Japeth. The rest are from Esau just as Herod was and the Pharisees and Sadducee’s of Yeshua’s day. These are the enemies of Jacob from his twin brother Esau. Two nations were in the womb of Rebekah and two manner of people shall be separated and the older shall serve the younger. Esau was the oldest and Jacob the youngest. Esau mixed into Jewry when taken captive to Babylon.

Now the non-semitic Jews are the biblical Gog from the land of Magog that is also know as Khazaria. It is located in Russia and they migrated to Europe and the the land known today as Israel after WWII. Folks Gog has already invaded from the North.

Today Jew is not a bloodline or even a location of birth. It is strictly a religion just like Christianity or Scientology. You do not have to be a bloodline just a belief. Yeshua was from Judah and was a Judean but never practiced Judaism. The laws of YHWH and keeping them is not Judaism. Judaism is the practice of belief from the Talmud that was brought back from Babylon as is an abomination. One does not have to research far to know that the Talmud is a horrible doctrine. It is the Talmud that says all non-Jews are worthy of death, even the best of them. The Talmud also says Jesus is burning in hell in hot human semen, Priest can have sex with and marry girls as young as 3 years old, sex with boys is not considered intercourse…and so on. Many Christians and Messianic believe these are God’s chosen people and support them in ignorance for fear of the Jew. Israel(Jacob) of the bible is God’s chosen people. They are not in that nation today.

Khazars and Edomites are what we call Isra-HELL today. Israel means to rule with EL and that is not the nation today. They rejected God and Yeshua (YHWH in the flesh). The world now worry more for them then their own people. Talking about enemy with in. These people say God didn’t come in the flesh…What does that make them? According to John…anti-Christ!

Study for yourself.. Make up your own mind.

Having a Feel Good Moment in Church

I hear all the time from people I know going to today’s modern churches, ” The Holy Spirit was all over me and I got a blessing!” or like a lady told me that someone at her church received divine healing after the Holy Ghost was upon her then the person that supposedly was healed was hurting so bad that they were in the bed for a couple of days. That doesn’t sound like they were healed to me. Is this the way we are suppose to be? God forbid. Church has become a place to go to have a good feeling. Serving YHWH should do that in day to day life. However if you know truth, even just a little bit of it, it is a miserable feeling at the same time to see others rejecting truth. You tell someone at church what you have learned through study of the word and they dismiss it be cause it either doesn’t go with their beliefs, the church doctrine, or a vision or dream of another. He it doesn’t matter what we believe, what a church doctrine says or what people claim to dream, the word of YHWH is truth and cannot be erased by “dreamers”. These people that are in the church believing in name it and claim it do not have the love of the truth in them. They are trying to satisfy their flesh. Speaking in tongues of man to have a moment. Relying on evidence that one can speak in tongues as proof of their salvation. Tongues were for the UNBELIEVER not the believers. These doing such do not know YHWH. They do not have salvation. It is so obvious by their actions which reflect their knowledge.

Serving YHWH in your day to day life and truly growing in truth doesn’t always give you a feel good feeling. The Holy Spirit is only given to those God has chosen to come to Yeshua for repentance and is a down payment to those redeemed that they shall be with YHWH. These feel good services are services of man and not God. Oh but what a blessing to know that YHWH has chosen you to know His truth. Words cannot describe the aww one has in the respect of knowing.

10 side-effects of receiving “UNADULTERATED TRUTH” of Yahweh

1. First there is excitement and joy unspeakable. You are bursting with excitement to share what you have learned and quickly go tell someone that something you always believed in was incorrect and now you know truth.

2. Upon sharing (if you are interrupted by phones, and other people speaking rudely interrupting) you see the light in the eyes of the one you are sharing go out or you hear in their voice over the phone that they have turned you off completely unable to understand the revelation of truth you have received.

3. Those that do listen in the beginning call you names and say you are nuts. “Why can’t you be normal like everyone else?”  They talk behind your back and  keep their distance.

4. Then people avoid you all together. No one calls you, no one comes around.

5. Depression sets in as one by one you lose friends and family members and your church (you are going into the wilderness my friend)

6. Loneliness sets in. Reality that no one wants you around and you can’t help but want more truth. The very thing getting you into this mess so you press forward. The desire to know more of YHWH has become more powerful  and you can’t help yourself from wanting more.

7. Finally through learning truth you realize you are not alone. You just simply need to stop trusting in ALL mankind and turn back to Yahweh.

8. Truth now brings joy and you are led to share with truly hungry people as well as those that will still listen. You seek for more and even though you are still scoffed at, it is easier to take.

9. Still at times feeling overwhelmed and rejected you realize that Yeshua knows all about it because He was rejected for the same thing as you. “TRUTH”. You sometimes become frustrated by unlearned people because of your love for  the truth and they do not have it and act as if they already know everything.

10. In time you press forward at all cost, trusting in and relying on Yahweh to see through all battles and continue teaching you in truth. You have freedom, liberty and true justice that only truth can bring. In all things true you stand on faith in Yeshua, the one that set you free and truly gave you joy and peace unspeakable.

John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (KJV)

What others think, what they believe, what they dream cannot change the truth. If we cannot put away childish things and grow up in truth, then we are dead.  Its not about a feeling in our flesh. It is about knowledge of YHWH and the love of the truth.

“I Create Evil”, says YHWH

by Arnold Kennedy.
In the aftermath of the World Trade Center demolition, there are many questions that people
are asking. The most common question is, “Why did God allow it”? Very few are acknowledging
any possibility that God did it, because if they did, they would be going against the popular flow.
We will make some examination into the verse below that literally says, “God did it”.
Isaiah 45:7 “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the
LORD do all these”.
In this short verse, there are several different verbs translated as, “form”, “create”, “make”
and “do”. These are all in what language experts call the “participle active mood”. A definition of
this mood is as follows, “The participle represents an action or condition in its unbroken continuity,
and corresponds to the English verb, “to be” with the present participle. It may be used of present,
past or future time”. From the use of these verbs, together with the associated nouns, we can see
that these facts never change. What God does in a given situation never changes.
In the Hebrew, we have:
“form” = yatsar” (Strongs 3335),
“create” = bara’ (Strongs 1254),
“make” and “do” = asah (Strongs 6 213).
These verbs “cover the field” in regard to activities such as:
[a] What a potter does, in terms of human activity, including conception, and divine activity,
[b] What a creator does, in terms of choice, choosing a people for Himself,
[c] What an organiser does, in terms of fashioning, transforming, and shaping, changing
circumstances, and also cutting down.
[d] What an accomplisher does, in terms of attending, working, making, celebrating,
ordaining, preparing, dealing with, and offering.
Going a stage further, we can see these activities include opposites which are translated as:
[a] “light” and “darkness”.
[b] “peace” and “evil”.
“Light” is ‘owr (Strongs 16) which is inclusive of all forms of light, life, prosperity, instruction
and of Jehovah as being Israel’s light.
“Darkness” is choshek (Strongs 2822) usually translated as “darkness”.
“Peace” is shalowm (Strongs 7965) that conveys the idea of completeness, soundness, health and
prosperity, contentment, and good relationships.
“Evil” is ‘ra (Strongs 7451), which conveys everything opposite to what “shalowm” means.
When we study verses like Isaiah 45:7, there is absolutely no suggestion, that when evil
occurs, it is just a case of “God allowed it”, as we hear so often said in religious circles. All the
different verbs , together with the opposites immediately above, declare to us that there is no field
of activity in heaven and earth that God is not the prime mover of. As the “Almighty” there is no
other authority or originator of anything. Paul indicated that not everyone has this knowledge,
saying in this 1 Cor. 8:4 passage, “There is none other God but one”, and continues on to say, “But
to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him”. “One” in Greek is a numerical term, so there is no
other being in competition with Him.

If we agree with this, then how could we say that God was not the originator of the WTC
disaster? There is no shortage of passages in the Bible such as those below. These show God’s hand
as being the creator of evil against Israel, when Israel was sinning against God.
Judges 2:14-15 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered
them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the
hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand
before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD
was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had
sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.
Judges 3:7-8 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the
LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves. Therefore the anger of
the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of
Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served
Chushanrishathaim eight years.
2 Kings 19:3 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he delivered
them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad
the son of Hazael, all their days.
Who did these things (as emphasized) to God’s people? God did! And always there is a similar
reason given, and the reasons are not commonly accepted. Churches say it is not be the nature of
God to do those things.
In the New Testament pages we are told that all these Old Testament happenings are
examples to us to show that God’s method of dealing with His sinning people has not changed.
1 Cor. 10: 6-10 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust
after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of
them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to
play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell
in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of
them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as
some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all
these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
These verses determine that God’s method of operation and reasons have not changed through the
New Testament, even up to our day. Churches should note it is still the nature of God to do this!
Even a little of the fear of God would work wonders in the congregations.
Although we read about, “All those innocent people being killed” at the World Trade Center,
we can hardly accept that the U.S.A. was a godly-living country, living in the fear of God, when
this happened. All these people referred to may have been innocent of committing deliberate
offence to Islam, but were they all innocent of sin against God? Is not the rest of the population,
including the US Government, likewise ungodly? Concerning “towers” falling, we read in Luke
13:2-5 “And Jesus answering said unto them …. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam
fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell
you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. So the USA has had a stark warning of
what will come unless the “except you repent” is heeded!
The selection below from a message presented at Times Square Church, shortly after the
WTO event, confirms this view and “says it all”:
“The Bible makes it crystal clear: God used enemy nations to chasten his people. The Lord
wielded these enemies as an instrument of warning to Israel, calling the nation to repent.
“O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will
send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the
streets” (10:5-6).
God charged this coalition of Israel’s enemies to chasten his chosen people. The Lord was
trying to warn Israel, “You’ve lifted yourself up with pride. Now I’m about to bring you
down. I’m going to allow you to be disciplined by your enemies.”
The enemy coalition launched their massive attack. And, suddenly, the Israelites watched in
horror as their buildings began to collapse. Fires raged throughout the cities, burning down
stately structures. In a short time, Israel was in flames. And God’s people began to wail,
“The bricks are fallen down…the sycamores are cut down” (9:10).
After witnessing the recent disasters in New York and Washington, we can begin to imagine
the emotions of the ancient Israelites. Yet, did Israel repent after this horrifying attack? Was
there a nationwide acknowledgment that God was sending them a warning? Did the rulers
hear God speaking through the awful calamity? No. Israel’s reaction was just the opposite.
The people’s initial fear quickly gave way to a flood tide of national pride. “All the
people…say in the pride and stoutness of heart” (9:9).
The Hebrew word for stoutness in this verse signifies a sense of greatness. In other words,
once the attack died down, the Israelites regained their confidence. They declared, “The
bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but
we will change them into cedars” (9:10). They were saying, in other words, “These
calamities aren’t from our Lord. They’re simple fate, unfortunate disasters that can’t be
explained.
“We’re a great and mighty nation. We’re made up of a proud, unbending people. And we’re
going to let the world know we’re coming back. We’ll build everything back bigger and
better. Where we used bricks before, we’ll use stone. And where we once built with cheap
construction, we’ll use better materials. We’re a God-blessed nation. And we’re going to
come through this disaster stronger than ever.”
Doesn’t this all sound very familiar? The Lord himself used an evil enemy to send a warning
of chastisement to his people. He wanted to wake them up to their compromise, bring them
back to himself, pour out his blessings on them, and surround them with his protection. Yet,
throughout their days of grief and horror, God’s people never once acknowledged his hand
in it all. No one asked, “What is the Lord saying through all this? Is he trying to speak to
us?” No one thought for a moment that such a proud, great nation could be humbled and
chastised. On the contrary, the people used the occasion to defy any such thought. They
refused to hear God’s warning to them.
.
Yet, even so, we risk missing God’s message to us. Think about it: when our public
assemblies call for a moment of silence, we think it’s true repentance. When we see
politicians singing “God Bless America,” we think our nation has turned back to God.
When we see sporting events observe a silent minute at halftime, we think it’s a spiritual
experience.
But is this all that’s going to come out of our recent disaster? Will people in sports stadiums
stand in silence for a minute, then go back to painting their bodies in wild colour chug beer
after beer, and scream maniacally for their favorite team?
Like most Americans, I wept as I saw Senators and Congressional leaders standing on the
steps of the Capitol, singing, “God bless America…stand beside us, and guide us…” Yet, as
I was crying, the Lord reminded me, “Many of the leaders you see singing have worked to
rule me out of American society. They are even determined to remove my name from
American history books. And they’ve allowed the murder of millions of babies through
abortion.”
Suddenly, I was struck by the absolute hypocrisy of it all. We give lip service to God, but we
continue our slide into the mire of immorality. If God wouldn’t spare other nations that have outlawed him, why would he spare America? He’ll judge us even as he judged Sodom,
Rome, Greece and every other culture that has turned its back on him.
Then David Wilkerson went on to say prophetically:
Devouring fires will rise to the heavens. Darkness will cover the land. The economy will be
hit with a staggering blow. And there will be disunity in the nation, in communities, in
neighbourhoods, in families. People will look out only for themselves, in a desperate fight to
survive. And God help you if you come near them. I believe our window of opportunity to
respond to God’s call is brief. We all should pray that our nation repents and turns back to
the Lord. But our most intense prayers should be for our own hearts: “Lord, let me tremble
not at the disasters, but at your Word. I want to hear your voice in all of this. Cause me to
turn wholly to you.”
So, in all this, did God send a warning to the U.S.A.? Did God “do it”, referring to WTC?
Is God raising up Moslem extremists in order to chasten the U.S.A.? Let us go ahead a little further
in chapter 47 of Isaiah where we started. In verse 9 we read, “Woe to him that striveth with his
maker”. This is about arguing against God’s righteous judgements. What is President George W.
Bush doing? Does he think he can strive against God where God has “created evil”? He says the
USA is going to destroy evil, where “evil” to him is anything that operates against the welfare of
the U.S.A. We hear nothing from him, or church leadership, about either the evil of the internal
sins of his nation, or of the external sins his country commits against other countries. Some people
consider the control of other nations by the USA, through the applying of economic sanctions and
financial manipulation, to be a form of terrorism. So far there has been no trumpet sounded to call
for national repentance to that morally corrupt nation. We can read in many places in Scripture
where God hears the genuine national call for mercy, and then God turns and judges those He used
to chasten His people. In this God says, “I have created the waster to destroy” –(Isaiah 54;15), this
time destroying those opposing God’s children, when God’s children are in a repentant state.
So where are the churches in all this? Mostly supporting President Bush, or otherwise
silent! There is wicked multi-faith prayer for “remembrance”, but none for repentance to the God of
Israel. One reason for this is their concept that the whole thing is part of an ongoing war between
God and what they think of as being lesser god they term “Satan”. They do not realise that the
latter term is used for anything that is an “adversary” to God in thought or deed. Scripture records
that the Jehovah became a “satan” to Israel when Israel was sinning. Jesus once called Peter
“satan”. This shows we should not ascribe personality to a particular being (as translators have
done) to whom we can ascribe blame for our misfortunes. In what churches affirm, most are
actually “satans” themselves in believing God is not sovereign. They do not understand the full
meaning and implications of, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I
the LORD do all these”. Can it now be seen how many churches think when they say, “God
allowed it”? That could never be in the way they think! But the Internet pages and television
responses show the prevalence of the ideas most of our churches hold.
Although they may not like to admit it, their thinking leads to wrong conclusions; their
secret thinking goes like this.
[1] A good God would destroy evil.
[2] An all-powerful God could destroy evil.
[3] Evil is not destroyed.
[4] Therefore, there cannot possibly be such a good and powerful God.
Their conclusions effectively are that if God was effectively and totally good, He would destroy
evil. It is not God who creates “evil”, in their view. This follows on to conclude, “If God is unable
to prevent evil, therefore He is impotent”. We may claim otherwise to other people and amongst
ourselves, but most have a secret inner thought that places them where they will have their portion
with the unbelievers. Listen carefully; you will hear this “God allowed it” theme in churches. It comes out too in the much-debated theme, “Why does God permit evil”? If we were to ask instead,
“Why does God create evil”, we would take much care with our God-given freedom of choice. We
would understand the blessings of obedience are set out before God’s people, as are the curses of
disobedience. It is God who “forms”, “creates”, makes” and “does” both! Yes, both!
It would help if we put the following verses from Hebrews 10 behind our pulpits,
“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no
more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which
shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was
sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that
hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord
shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.
Numbers might well dwindle for a start, but so be it. There would then be a “righteous
remnant”. God then could (and would) destroy the evil against His people.

Bible Tongue Speaking and Modern Impostors!

Speaking in Tongues…Is it for today?

I grew up pentecostal. This subject was a tough one for me to grasp at first but ever since I have been on this truth seeking journey to rid my mind and heart of the lies I had been taught, it has started becoming easier to understand and pieces of the puzzle continue to mold together and take shape. All harmonizing with the word  of YHWH.

Is speaking in tongues for today? What is speaking in tongues? Who can do it?

I believe tongues have ceased. I grew up thinking speaking in tongues was the babble I heard at church while adults (unlearned and on milk) jump around the room. Then the room would grow silent and usually the same person speaking babble would interpret for themselves and tell others what they were saying. First off this is so unbiblical and second babbling is not tongues. Speaking in tongues is speaking an understood language.

On the day of Pentecost there was a multitude of people and you could go a few miles and the language would change.  This multitude os people spoke different languages and yet Peter spoke his own language and it was understood by everyone in their own language. That is REMARKABLE!  This type of tongues was needed so that Peter’s words could be understood. This was the work of YHWH. Today we have so much technology that anyone can learn a second or third language. When a non-English person goes to a hospital for care, the hospital gets an interpreter so that the patient can understand. Today tongues are everywhere in a different sense. In church the ones that claim to be speaking in the tongues of the angels are the very ones that call evil, good and good, evil having itchy ears and swayed by every form of doctrine. These are those that are destroyed for their lack of knowledge. We are told to put away our childish things and mature in the love of the truth.

So there is a place for other languages but if you speak to me in Spanish or any other language other than what I speak, remain silent or have an interpreter.  Speak words that can be understood because babbling edifies no one and quite frankly is childish. Grow up and get some meat. God doesn’t want a bride in diapers.

False Worship and Mysticism in the Church