Can There Be Peace?

Why can’t we all just get along? Why can’t we just live together peacefully? Why can’t we respect others religions? Why can’t we respect those who claim to have no religion (atheists)? Is there a possibility of having peace in the world? The answer is a definitive “no”! It is impossible to have peace in a world that has been tainted by sin.

God’s creation was perfect without any disorder or chaos. Man (Adam) caused disorder and chaos to enter this world and mankind. Since Adam’s act of unrighteousness, mankind and this planet have progressively become more disorderly and chaotic.

Mankind realizes this in his “Law of Entropy”. Anytime purity is tainted, it will continue to become more disorderly and chaotic over time until it becomes total chaos. This has happened to mankind and his world.

The only solution is destruction of the present creation and recreation of a new heaven and earth for the redeemed of mankind. God through his Son, Jesus, has made this possible through the eventual destruction of this heaven and earth and eventual recreation.

Peace on earth is not possible until Jesus sets everything back to perfection. The return of Jesus appears to be soon for this purpose.

Isaiah 57:19-21 19I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, says the LORD; and I will heal him. 20The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.

The wicked is void of the love of God, has no peace within him, is miserable, and cannot rest. The wicked produces mire, dirt, and continually wars against the righteous. The wicked takes peace from the earth.

Jeremiah 6:14-15 14They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, says the LORD.

Again, the wicked has offered false appeasements by stating they desire peace, when there will never be peace, because their offer of peace is false. The wicked offers peace only until it gains an edge for defeating the righteous.

Revelation 12:16 The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Satan rages because he was cast out of heaven, and God favors those of mankind who will accept his Son as Savior. Satan has a continual war and hatred against mankind and God. Satan will never accept peace because he is doomed for eternity and tries to subvert God’s plan for his destruction. His goal is to kill all of God’s people and subdue the earth for his own kingdom. Satan and his children will never accept peace, but will always war against the righteous.

Psalm 120:5-7 5Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar! 6My soul hath long dwelt with him that hates peace. 7I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

The statement by David is the same today for Israel. They are presently surrounded by their enemy (Islam) who hates Israel and refuses the existence of the Jews. Israel desires peace, but Islam has sworn to annihilate all Jews from Jerusalem and the entire world.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 1Of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2Yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

After the Rapture, the antichrist leader signs a covenant with Israel allowing them to rebuild the Temple and establishes false peace between Islam and Israel. According to the Bible, after the covenant is signed, there will be seven years remaining until the end of time. The wicked living on the earth after the Rapture will not believe that only seven years remain. They will be blinded by their great delusions.

The majority of those remaining on earth after the Rapture will praise the antichrist for bringing peace in the Middle East. However, just as quickly as peace is declared, sudden destruction will come upon the wicked. Jesus will then come again to set up the millennium.

Luke 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division.

Jesus did not come to provide peace on the earth; he knew Satan and his children would never quit warring against the children of God, nor against the Israelites who were selected as God’s chosen nation to bring salvation into the world. Israel was elected to bring Jesus to the world. Even though, Jesus does not bring peace to the world, he does provide peace in the hearts of those who accept him as Savior and Lord.

Daniel 8:24-25 24And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. 25And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

Islam talks peace, but only for the purpose of deceiving their enemies until they gain an advantage and strength to conquer and destroy them. Scripture clearly shows there will be no peace on earth until the return of Jesus after Armageddon.

The information below is from reliable authors and students on the subject of Islam. This information clearly shows that Islam does not desire peace with Israel, Christians, or for that matter, anyone opposing their religion and rule.

Muhammad states, “Fight and slay the pagans (non-Muslims) wherever you find them (Sura (9:5). Jesus stated, “My kingdom is not of this world, if so, my servants would be fighting to subdue it”. These two statements are in opposition. Islam is a religion of terrorism, and hate for their enemies and Muslims are commanded to kill their enemies anywhere they are to be found. Islam is obeying the Qur’an when they produce hate and war.

Christianity is a religion of God’s love toward mankind. Any Christian who commits terrorism is rebelling against God’s Word. However, the Bible teaches that any nation has a right to protect its citizens against attack from other nations.

It is a fact that Islam attacked and declared war on the United States, because we are an ally of Israel and considered as a Christian nation. The PLO (Islam) teaches the Palestinian conflict with Israel, and America, are only two branches of their global war against the West and other nations. This quest has been taught for years in their elementary schools and history textbooks.

The religion of Islam is the common denominator for all terrorist groups we now face in the Mideast wars. The final crisis will center on Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock which is built on the site of the future Jewish Temple.

Islam has declared a special jihad against Israel because they occupy parts of Palestine and the city of Jerusalem. Islam has also declared jihad against the U. S. because we are allies of Israel. Islam is at war with us, Israel, and all other non-Islam countries. Their goal is absolute control of the world and the world’s religion. Islam accepts nothing less than world domination.

Islam hates the U. S. for two reasons: we are a superpower in their path of world domination and an ally to Israel. America has always been a refuge for the Jews who wish to escape persecution from other nations.

Since the 1993 Oslo peace treaty, in which Israel ceded many concessions to Islam for peace, Islam has launched hundreds of suicide attacks against Israel, attacked over 6000 Israeli military facilities, Jewish communities, public places, and private vehicles. Islam signs false treaties and make false promises while continuing their aggression to gain an advantage over their opposition.

Why do Islamics and atheists claim the Bible is a myth? The answer is simple. Islam has frantically tried to destroy documents and historical records validating the historical presence of Israel in Palestine and Jerusalem. Islam cannot destroy the Bible which gives written proof that this land belongs to Israel, and Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. Jerusalem is the city of David. Since the Bible cannot be destroyed, atheists and Islam claims the Bible is a myth and not a valid document.

God claimed Jerusalem as his city. Babylon (twin city of Baghdad) has always been the city of Satan. Psalms 48 states that Jerusalem (Mount Zion) is the holy place and beauty of the earth. Islam cannot accept Jerusalem as the most holy city on earth, unless they can claim it as the holy city of Allah. This is the reason Islam conquered Israel and built their “Dome of the Rock” on the site of the Temple of Solomon before the Temple was destroyed.

In 1948, Israel once again became a nation. The Jews have always had a presence in Palestine, but have also been scattered throughout the world by foreign conquerors. Israel ceased to be a nation in Palestine in the past. The Jews escaped to countries where they were not persecuted. America has been a place of safety for the Jews. We honor their same God, even though Israel does not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

God had promised that Israel would become a nation again in this area (during the latter days of time) and return to Jerusalem. As scripture predicted, the Jews from around the world felt compelled to return to their homeland. They became a nation again in 1948 fulfilling prophecy leading up to end time events. In the 1967 six-day-war, Israel regained the city of Jerusalem, and the Bible states it will forever remain in their hands.

Islam is insulted as they consider Allah greater than the God of the Israelites and Christians. Islam wants control of Jerusalem. Bible prophecy states the Temple will be rebuilt on the same site from which it was destroyed.

Islam placed the Dome of the Rock on this site to show that Allah is greater than the God of Israel. Even though the Bible states the Temple will be rebuilt on this site, Islam will use its entire resources from the whole earth to keep this from happening. Their goal is to annihilate all Jews and take back control of Jerusalem. Inscribed in the Dome are polemical verses from the Qur’an stating, “God had no son” and “Allah is the one God”.

Islam claims Jerusalem as their city because of their tale of a winged horse with a human head bringing Muhammad at night to Jerusalem where he was transported to heaven. Islam then built the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock on the Temple site in order to establish Muhammad and Allah as superior to the God of the Bible.

Islam captured Jerusalem in AD638 from the Byzantines. Islam wanted to prove it was the military conqueror of Christianity and that Muhammad was a greater prophet than Jesus. The Al-Aqsa Mosque was built over the Byzantine basilica of St Mary on the site of Solomon’s Porch where the early church was born on the Day of Pentecost.

The Dome of the Rock was built over the site of the Holy of Holies that had once been within the Jewish Temple. The Jews face Jerusalem when praying to God. Islam faces Mecca to pray to their Allah (Satan).

The last war will be fought in Jerusalem from the North side of Jerusalem. The armies of Islam and their allies will band together in an attempt to annihilate all of the Jews. Jesus will come to their rescue and completely destroy all of the Islamic armies and their allies. Make no mistake about this fact, the focus from now until the coming again of Christ and the subsequent millennium will be Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock, and plans to rebuild the Temple on the same site as promised in the Bible.

Islam has been trying to rewrite history and destroy all documents to disprove that Israel was in Palestine prior to the Muslims. Muhammad captured the Land of Palestine in AD 638, but never seriously occupied it, as the land was mostly scrubby and arid. Palestine is not mentioned in the Qur’an.

The earliest known sparsely scattered inhabitants of Palestine are believed to be the Philistine Giants. The only other early inhabitants appear to be the Israelites, who eventually took over this area of the Middle East. The Philistines appear to have died out and the Israelites began to multiply in the area. All the older writings ascribe the Palestinian land to the Israelite settlers who came from Egypt with Moses.

The land has been ruled by various conquerors from many different wars. However, the area of Palestine has never flourished until Jews started moving back into the area. The Jews began to buy up the properties of Palestine then irrigated, cultivated, built cities, and created a bustling economy.

After the Jews improved the area, Muslims began moving into Palestine from their poor areas of the Mideast to get jobs from the growing economy furnished by Israel. The Muslims have since been occupying the land increasingly by encouraging other Arab Muslims to move into Palestine and help push the Jews out of Palestine.

A major effort by Islam to occupy Palestine began immediately after the 1967 six-day war when Israel recaptured the Palestinian area. The Muslims began to vigorously flood into Palestine in an effort to outnumber Israel and take over the area by force and attrition.

The PLO states that the Jews of today did not establish their independence in Palestine until the 20th century. That is true, but they were scattered as a nation all over the world to escape persecution. The Jews can document an unbroken presence in the land for the last 2000 years.

Only in modern times have any Arabs established Nations in this area, and as part of the Arab League: Saudi Arabia (1913), Lebanon (1920), Iraq (1932), Syria (1941), Jordan (1946, and Kuwait (1961). None of these nations can make a “historical” claim to the area. The Jews are the only ones with a historical claim to the area.

Does the land of Palestine, and the city of Jerusalem, belong to Israel? The Bible makes it clear in scripture that God has given this land to Israel and the city of Jerusalem in particular. Jerusalem is the only city on earth with written confirmation from God’s Word that it is the chosen city of God, and the Jews are the elect people of God. The following passages from the Bible confirm this is the city of the Jews and God.

Zechariah 8:3 Thus says the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain.

1 Kings 8:48 And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gave unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name.

1 Kings 11:13 I will not rend away the entire kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.

Psalms 132:13-14 13The LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. 14This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

Isaiah 2:2-3 2It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. 3Many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Zechariah 12:9-10 9It shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son.

Zechariah 14:1-3 1Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, the women ravished, half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

Zechariah 14:8-9 8It shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. 9The LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

Zechariah 1:15-17 15I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. 16Therefore thus says the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, says the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. 17 Cry yet, saying, thus says the LORD of hosts; my cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

Jerusalem has never been the capital for any nation except Israel. There have been 20 different conquering nations to capture Israel in its history. Yet, none of these nations have used Jerusalem as its capital. Each conquering nation already had a capital city. Jerusalem truly belongs to Israel. The Bible confirms this from many passages.

The religion and culture of Islam regarding freedom of speech, worship, and the right to pursue one’s own life is totally “non-existent”. Israel is the only country in the entire region recognizing the freedom of individual rights. This is another reason Islam wishes to annihilate the Israel.

Jerusalem was chosen by God for Abraham to offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice. David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. David’s son, Solomon, built the first Temple in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the place where Jesus will return to the earth and reign during the 1000 year millennium. Jerusalem will become the capital of the world where Christ, the Jews saved by faith, and Christians saved by faith will reign for the millennium.

There is no doubt about Islam’s goal of annihilation against Israel. There is no doubt that Islam intends to take over the city of Jerusalem. They will not stop, and nobody can stop them except Jesus when he comes again.

Islam and their entire array of armies will die trying to keep Israel from controlling this site and the city of Jerusalem. The PLO declaration states, “The struggle with the Zionist enemy is not a struggle about Israel’s borders, but about the very existence of Israel. The PLO calls for the complete destruction of Israel. Why must Islam and Allah annihilate Israel and Christianity? The answer is simple! Allah (Satan) must continue to try to usurp God’s plans in his hope to escape the Lake of Fire, but he will not succeed.

One hundred percent of the violence in the Islam Intifada against Israel has been initiated by the PLO and not Israel. Until the United States retaliated against terrorism, Sadam had promised the PLO a 6 million man army from all the surrounding Arab States to be called the “Jerusalem Liberation Army” for the purpose of annihilating Israel.

All Islamic leaders have declared that the city of Jerusalem is not up for negotiation, even though Israel controls Jerusalem which it reclaimed in the 1967 six-day war. Israel is just as resolute, and their leaders declare that Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel, the city of their God, and they will never relinquish it again. The Bible backs Israel up from scripture.

Islam has conquered many countries since Muhammad started his military conquests. Within the Middle East territories, Islam now rules more than 5,000,000 square miles while Israel (including the West Bank) has only about 9,000 square miles. The original covenant between God and Abraham gave Israel around 200,000 square miles.

If any Islamics become homeless in the Palestinian area, there are over 21 Arab countries that can absorb them, but Islam keeps pressing the need for more Islamics to enter Palestine. Islam has all the oil and Israel has none, so Islam wants the Palestinian land only to insure Israel has no place in that area. It is clear to see that this is not a war of economics, or power, but an effort to destroy Judaism (non-Muslim religion).

It is obvious that Islam is not concerned with the land owned by Israel; they do not want Israel to exist anywhere. Islam is both a political and religious rule. There is “no” separation of the religion and its politics as clearly stated in the Qur’an.

The Qur’an compels Islam to subjugate all non-Muslims to accept Islam even if it is by the sword. If Islam ever conquers and takes a land, the religion of Allah dictates that the land can never be lost or returned. It forever belongs to Allah. It is impossible for Islam to negotiate a lasting peace with an enemy. The very existence of Israel or any other enemy (America) is an affront to Allah and the Qur’an.

Since Israel has retaken Jerusalem in the six day war, the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque are under the government rule of Israel, but presently Israel has let the Muslims still use the facilities for their worship.

The whole Muslim world has basically focused their energies against Jerusalem and Israel from the area of Palestine. The Muslims have been trying to take over Palestine by attrition and moving their peoples into the area.

The head of the PLO is an Egyptian born Yasser Arafat. His real name is Abdul Rauf el-Chodbi el-Husseini. He is a member of the Husseini family, who produced the Grand Mufti of Palestine, Hag Amin el-Husseini, who organized the anti-Jewish riots of 1921-22, 1929, 1936, and 1938, befriended Adolf Hitler and worked with the Nazis to plan a “final solution” for the “Jewish Problem” in Palestine of 1943-45. Arafat was not only related, but one of the Mufti’s students.

Jihad is essential to Islam. According to many Muslims, it is the sixth pillar of the religion. The first duty of a Muslim Ruler is to prosecute jihad to bring about the victory of Islam. The Bahr states that the Ruler would be better dead than alive if he neglected this duty, as he would be corrupting the world by letting it remain under the Jewish or Christian religion.

The beginning of the Islam calendar did not start with Muhammad’s birth, revelations, or other influences. Islam only began when Muhammad declared jihad against Medina and took the city by the sword. Jihad was the beginning of Islam. There is no greater praise or reward to a Muslim than to fight to annihilate all non-Muslims or to make them slaves to Islam. The biggest bonus of all to a Muslim is to die to annihilate the enemy (non-Muslim).

The word Islam does not mean “peace”. In Arabic, it means submission or surrender. If any person does not submit to Islam, he will lose his head. Islam “commands” Muslims to lie for the cause of jihad and the goals of Islam. A Muslim can lie and deny his faith if it means gaining an advantage over his enemy. It is no accident when you have seen the images on TV of Muslims chanting and carrying signs saying, “Death to America and Israel.

Baby sons are given unloaded guns in the cribs to get them acquainted with weapons. A Jordanian-manual for first grade teaches, “It is necessary to implant in the soul of the pupil the rule of Islam, that if the enemies occupy even one inch of Islamic lands, jihad becomes the imperative for every Muslim.

The teachings of the Qur’an and Hadith are absolute and authoritative and showcase the concept of jihad. To claim that the religion of Islamic terrorists is not that of Islam is a lie. Many Islamics state it is a religion of peace, but its manuals state the exact opposite and are considered to be the absolute authority of Islam and jihad.

Everywhere Islam goes to conquer and capture land; the areas become very poor and backwards. India is an example of a land that has become destitute since conquered by Islam. There have been over 200 attempted terrorist attacks against the United States by Islam that have been intercepted or thwarted by U.S. Intelligence operations that have not been reported to the public.

In the Hadith, Muhammad stated, “I have been ordered to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah”. In Sura 2.193, “Fight them on until there is no more tumult and religion becomes that of Allah”. There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim. They “will” fight and kill you at the request of their leaders. This is the will of Allah, Muhammad, the Qur’an and the Hadith.

If Islam is given the Palestinian Land, why will this not bring peace? The only way Islam can have the Palestinian Land is to annihilate Israel for that is the nation of Israel with Jerusalem as its capital.

Yasser Arafat talks about peace with Israel to the English news media and the Western world. However, the organizations that monitor all the Arab broadcasts and publications have yet to find a single Arab leader who speaks of peace with Israel to his own people. In both the Arab press and the Muslim mosques, Palestinian leaders continually call for Israel’s destruction.

Hate continues to flow over Arab radio and television, in the Arab press, and in fiery sermons delivered in mosques each Friday across the Arab world-sermons that stress and call for the destruction of Israel and America. As long as the Arab world (Islam) calls for the destruction of the Jews, and the Jews wish to survive, there will continue to be wars and then the final war.

You can take a movie camera and film a football game. During the game choices are made continuously by both coaches and players of both teams. At the end of the game, you have the final results which cannot be changed. Life is the same. God knows the end from the beginning. It is like the film of the football game; he can tell us the results, but he leaves most of the choices up to mankind.

There can never be any peace in the world until Jesus returns to restore order and set every thing back in place. There is only one reasonable answer and it is already recorded in the Bible. There will have to be another war to end all wars. It cannot be avoided. Judaism and Christianity offers peace, but Satan and his religion does not want peace. It is a fact that Satan will not give up and does not desire peace. His goal is to annihilate all Jews, all Christians, and to rule the world. Islam “will not” stop their jihad against Judaism and Christianity until they have annihilated both from the planet.

God knows the outcome although he left the choices to us. He has not shown each of us our individual choices in the Bible, but he has shown the results of humanities choices in the Bible. The Bible has already told us how it will end. We know an allied army of Middle Eastern nations and Russia will attack the Jews in Jerusalem from the North. Jesus will return to the earth, destroy the enemy armies, and set up the millennial kingdom in Jerusalem. The Battle of Armageddon is drawing near, it cannot be avoided, it has already happened in God’s time, but not yet in our time.

As strange as it may seem to some, the only peace will come from another massive war. Again, after Satan and his armies advance on Jerusalem, Satan and his armies “will” be defeated by the return of Christ, and then peace will come. Until then, the only peace in the world will be the peace that passes all understanding in the hearts of the Christians who have the Word of God living in us.

Father Time

Allah, Baal and Nimrod

Are Allah and the God of the Bible, the Same God?

Allah originated from paganism in Arabia and prior to Muhammad’s Islam.

Islam claims the God of the Bible and Allah are the same God. This is not true. Allah was previously Al-ilah. Al means “the” and “ilah” means “god”. Allah (al-ilah) came from Pagan worship in Arabia and has never been associated with Christianity or Judaism.

All Arabian tribes worshipped different gods. Muhammad was born into the Quraysh Tribe which worshipped Al-ilah? Al-ilah was the chief god of the Quraysh tribe, the city of Mecca, and the Kaaba located in Mecca.

Al-ilah (the god) was chief god among 360 pagan gods of Arabia. Centuries before Muhammad, the Meccan temple (Kaaba) was named Beit Allah (House of God). Collier’s Encyclopedia notes that long before Islam, many Arabs worshipped Al-ilah and the Koran. Muhammad was taught that Meccans believed in this chief god called Al-ilah, plus three minor deities called “The Daughter’s of Al-ilah”.

When Muhammad gained power and began asserting his authority, the Muslim creed’s first article became “La-ilaha illa-Llahu, meaning “there is no god except the one you already know as Al-ilah. So Islam and Al-ilah was derived from heathen Arabian worshippers of idols. Muhammad later prohibited worship of “The Daughter’s of Al-ilah” and any of the other 359 pagan gods of Arabian tribes.

Since Muhammad came from the tribe of Quraysh in Mecca and their god was Al-ilah, he denounced all the other gods. He chose Al-ilah as his own god out of the 360, which was his assertion of his newly gained power.

The most famous of the other gods were Al-Uzza, Allat, and Manat. These three gods were the daughter’s of Al-ilah. When Muhammad asserted that Al-ilah was the chief of the gods, he began to rid Arabia of all other gods and proclaimed Al-ilah as the only true god.

So Al-ilah became Allah, the god of the Quraysh tribe, the Meccans, the Temple of Kaaba and the chief god of all Arabs as dictated by Muhammad. Since Al-ilah was already worshipped by many pagan Arabs centuries prior to Muhammad, the question arises, “Where did this god originate?

History shows a contradiction regarding the chief god of the Kaaba. Al-ilah was the chief god of the tribe of Quraysh by Muhammad, but there was another god with the title of chief god of Mecca, the Kaaba, and the tribe of Quraysh. His name was Hubal. The history of Hubal is intriguing, and his sovereignty as god of the Kaaba has never been challenged by Muhammad.

History claims Hubal as the greatest of all gods of the Quraysh and the Kaaba. Hubal was known as the principal deity in Mecca and as the moon god. Hubal was als0 claimed as the greatest of the 360 gods, the city of Mecca, and the Kaaba. How did claims become mixed between Al-ilah and Hubal?

When scholars researched historic and archeological records, they found Al-ilah and Hubal as the same god. Funk and Wagnall’s Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, under Allah, states, “Pre-Mohammedan Arabic god Hubal is titled Allahu, meaning “the god”….As the patron of the Kaaba at Mecca, already supreme, he was maintained by Mohammedan theology as the one god”.

Muslims do not admit they are the same, but archaeology demonstrates Allah was a pagan Arab deity and the very same god as Hubal. Hubal’s idol and place of worship was next to the black stone. Muslim’s continue to kiss this stone today. A historian, Wellhausen, thinks that, originally, Hubal was the black stone.

The black stone is housed in the temple of Kaaba. Each idol (god) had their own temple or building, and no two gods occupied the same building or temple. The black stone was Hubal and enshrined in the Kaaba Temple at Mecca. It is a certain Allah and Hubal are the same god.

The God of Islam (Allah) is called the “Lord of the Kaaba” and “Lord of the Territory of Mecca”. Muhammad railed against the worship of the gods Al-Uzza, Allat, and Manat, but never attacked the worship of Hubal. Since “all” Arabians claimed Hubal was the greatest of all deities, Muhammad would have denounced this, yet he never did. This is evidence that the two were the same.

Since both are the same and Hubal was the most worshipped prior to being called Al-ilah (the god), it is odd the Qur’an does not mention Hubal, even though he is the god of the Kaaba. Muhammad has stated he was commanded to worship the “Lord of the House” of the Kaaba, which was Hubal, so it is certain he was referring to Hubal.

Why did Muhammad use the name Allah and not Hubal? Since it was well known that Hubal was the god of the moon and actually the black stone, Satan and Muhammad wanted everyone to think that Allah was another name for the God of the Bible. It would not go well with the world if it were known that their god was a black stone in the Kaaba named Hubal.

There are many stories of pagan Meccans praying to Al-ilah while standing beside the image of Hubal. Muhammad attempted to erase any memories of Hubal, so Allah would appear like the God of the Bible.

However, the title Allah (al-ilah) is the moon god, Hubal. Al-ilah was one of the 360 pagan gods worshipped by the Arabians and he was worshipped at the Kaaba in front of the idol Hubal. The statue of Hubal, the moon god, is on top of the Kaaba. The Kaaba is the “House of the moon god”. It is obvious the title Allah has replaced the title Hubal, who is the moon god.

Hubal is actually the black stone known as the god of the moon. The black stone supposedly fell from the sky and the Arabians thought it came from the moon.

The Kaaba is a cube-like structure built for Allah, where Muslims go to kiss the black stone, and pray to Allah. It is the central shrine for all Muslims. Muslims believe the shrine was built by Abraham and Ishmael, and the instructions were given to them by God. It is certain; Abraham never visited the city or area of Mecca.

There is no epigraphic, archaeological, or documentary evidence to substantiate Abraham or Ishmael had any association with the Kaaba shrine. This story was invented by Muhammad to maintain an Arabic following while bringing Abraham and Ishmael into the picture to associate Allah as the same God of Abraham.

Prior to Muhammad, the Arabians believed the stone had fallen from the moon and was sacred to the moon god Hubal. The stone was enclosed in a small square temple named Kabah. This Kabah was built as a shrine to the moon god Allah (Hubal). During the time of Muhammad, the Kaaba was officially dedicated to the god Hubal.

Muhammad was a worshipper of the moon god Hubal who was (al-ilah) of the Kaaba. The religion of Muhammad’s grandfather (Abd al-Muttalib) was Hubal worship. Abd al-Muttalib was the keeper of the Kaaba and performed rituals at the Kaaba at Muhammad’s birth.

Muhammad’s mother sent word to Abd al-Muttalib she had given birth to Muhammad. The grandfather then took Muhammad before the idol, Hubal, in the middle of the Kaaba and prayed to Al-ilah (Allah) thanking him for his grandson. There are many stories in the Sira of pagan Meccans praying to Allah while standing beside the idol of Hubal. Abd al-Muttalib was also called Abdullah which means the servant of Al-ilah. Praying to Allah is the same as praying to Hubal. Ha-Baal or Hu-baal means “the Lord”.

Muhammad lived with his grandfather two years. His grandfather (Abd al-Muttalib) taught him all ceremonies for worship of the moon god, Hubal. He told Muhammad all the legends surrounding the Kaaba and Hubal. Some legends taught to Muhammad are included below.

The Koran states the Christian king of Abyssinia wanted to control the Kaaba and make it Christian. In the Koran, Muhammad stated, “Have you not considered how Allah dealt with the army of elephants? Did he not confound their stratagem and send them flocks of birds which pelted them with clay stones….(Surah 105). This event took place in the birth year of Muhammad and was witnessed by his grandfather. It was still fresh in the mind of the Meccans and Muhammad knew this story would endear the Arabs to this event.

This story is from the History of Islam, page 7: Abn al-Muttalib offered a prayer to the moon god (Hubal) to preserve the Kaaba…The Meccans expected the Abyssinians to advance, but Hubal heard their prayers, overnight, and an epidemic, perhaps an aggravated form of small pox, swept through the army…No one could doubt the power of the moon god who kept the army of the elephants at bay.

The Meccans never rebuked Muhammad for claiming Allah saved them, because they knew Allah was Hubal. There have been no disputes regarding Allah and Hubal since they are the same god. Muhammad was instructed in all ceremonies pertaining to Hubal by his grandfather.

During the hottest time of the year, the new moon, after the summer solstice, the ancient pilgrims worshipped the moon god, Hubal, reverently kissed the black stone, and then walked around the Kaaba seven times.

The symbol for Allah (Hubal) is a crescent moon, which Muhammad carried over into the Islam Cult. This symbol is seen on mosques, minarets, shrines and Arabic flags. It is evident Muhammad used much of his grandfather’s tales and rituals in the Islam Cult.

Al-Bukhari records a famous statement made by Umar… which demonstrates the confusion of the Muslims. Bukhari says: When Umar ibn al-Khattab reached the black stone, he kissed it and said, “I know you are neither stone that does not hurt nor benefit. If I had not seen the prophet kiss you, I would not have kissed you”… All scholars confirm this statement”.

The above record came from the authors of “Behind the Veil”. These authors would not give their names for fear of their lives, but this book can be found on line at http://answeringislam.org/BehindVeil/index.html

Muhammad also kissed the sacred Hubal stone. He would not have done this if he thought the two gods were different. This would have been blasphemy according to the Koran of joining worship of other gods with Allah. There can be no doubt that Allah and Hubal are the same gods.

Prior to Muhammad’s influence a ritual existed where Arabs walked seven times around the Kaaba in the nude. This pilgrimage to the Holy Stone was retained by Muhammad, but now clothes must be worn. The rituals of visiting the Kaaba, ceremony of Hajj, visits of Safa & Marwa, and throwing stones against the stone pillar, were all pre-Islamic and derived from pagan worship in Arabia.

The population of ancient Arabia bowed and prayed towards Mecca during certain times of the day, before Muhammad’s birth or Islam was established. All Arabians made a pilgrimage to Mecca and worshipped at the Kaaba at least once in their lifetime in pre-Islamic Arabia. Each would run around the Kaaba seven times and kiss the black stone. Muhammad’s family was raised in this tradition prior to his birth.

“A comprehensive Commentary on the Quran” shows the worship of Hubal (Baal) involved worship of heavenly bodies, moon, stars, and sun. The worship of Hubal and Baal Cults are identical. There is evidence the seven walks around the Kaaba represent the revolution of the planetary bodies. There were also superstitions of the Jinns (genies) and tales of the Ad and Thamud taken from records of ancient Arabia prior to Muhammad.

An author suggested the seven circuits around the Kaaba (3-rapidly & 4-slowly) were an imitation of the inner and outer planets. It is a historical fact Arabians worshipped the sun and heavenly bodies. Muhammad did not say Allah was great, just that he was greatest among other gods. The cult of Muhammad and Islam is the same cult of the ancient tribe of Quraysh and the god Hubal.

Since Allah had to compete with the God of the Bible, Muhammad used Allah to indicate he was the supreme creator of all to match the God of the Bible. If Allah was only a chief god among 360 tribal gods, Satan and Muhammad could not identify Allah with the God of the Bible. Judaism and Christianity had its effect on Muhammad’s quest to make Hubal into the creator God as shown in the Bible. Had he not accomplished this, his god would have paled in comparison to the God of the Bible.

When Muhammad took over Mecca, he destroyed the idol of Hubal. He knew the God of the Bible had declared, “Thou shall have no other gods before me, thou shall not worship any graven images”. At first, he preached only that Allah was the greatest among all the gods (360 of them), but later preached that Allah was the only god so as to make people think he was worshipping the same God as the God of the Bible.

When reading the Qur’an and other writings of Islam, it is evident the god of Islam and the God of the Bible have opposite characteristics. Islam has tried to compare the black stone at the Kaaba to Jacob’s pillar stone in the Bible. However, Jacob, never worshipped the stone, nor kissed it. It has been proven beyond doubt that the practice of worshipping the black stone, and kissing it, came from ancient pagan Arabia long before Muhammad and Islam.

Muhammad never defined Allah in the Koran. He knew the Arabians were already aware Allah was Hubal, the moon god, and greatest of all the 360 tribal gods.

What are the origins of Hubal and where did this god originate?

“It has been suggested by Pock**** that the word Hubal could be from Hubaal or Hobaal in Hebrew meaning ‘the Lord’… God destroyed the Israelites for involving themselves in the worship of this god (Numbers 25:1–3)” (Moshey, Who Is This Allah? p. 136.

Another source writes: “Hubal was associated with the Semitic god Ba’l [Baal] and with Adonis or Tammuz” (Fabled Cities, Prices and Jinn from Arab Myths and Legends, by Khairat Al-Saleh, p. 28. Hubal is Baal, and God condemns the worship of Baal all through the Bible. But Baal’s origins go back even further. The worship of Baal goes back to the Babylonian religion, the religion of Nimrod (see Genesis 10).

In his book, The Two Babylons, Hislop has done a wonderful job of tracing all heathen religions back to Babylon and the Tower of Babel (see Genesis 11). When the world was scattered, the peoples of the world kept their pagan religions that originated in Babylon. This is the reason the Babylonian pagan religion is found all over the world.

“Herodotus, world traveler and historian of antiquity, witnessed the mystery religions and its rites in numerous countries and mentions how Babylon was the primeval source from which all systems of idolatry flowed. Bunsen says: “the religious system of Egypt was derived from Asia and the primitive empire of Babe” (David Todd, The Origins of Easter, p. 11.

Hislop says the Babylonian god Bel and Baal, are the same deity:

“Belus or Bel is Baal or Beltus with the name of the great male divinity of Babylon… Belus was undoubtedly Baal ‘The Lord’… the worship of the ‘Sacred Bel’ the mighty one who died a martyr for idolatry… the regeneration of his heart was the new birth or reincarnation of Nimrod or Bel… we learned that it was under Bel or Belus, that is Baal” (pp. 20, 25, 190–191, 232.

The Encyclopedia of Religion says about Allah, the one whom the Muslims today are worshipping, “Allah is a pre-Islamic name… corresponding to the Babylonian Bel [Baal]” (Thomas O’Brian, 1:117. Hubal or Allah is Baal or Nimrod the first King of Idolatry. The Muslims are worshipping a man, Nimrod.

The Koran gives four different versions of Muhammad’s selection by God. Sura 53:2-18 and Sura 81:19-24 states Allah personally appeared to Muhammad and performed signs in front of him. Sura 16:104 and Sura 26:192-194 says the “holy Spirit” called him. Sura 15:8 says “the angels” came and selected him. Finally, in Sura 2:92, the angel Gabriel told him he was God’s prophet.

Islam hangs their hat on the last account of Gabriel calling Muhammad to be God’s prophet. Not only are there discrepancies in the four accounts, but the one, assumed to be the most valid, presents a problem to Muhammad as a prophet. According to the Bible, only God, not angels, selects a man as a prophet. All of the four versions of his calling as a prophet came directly from Muhammad.

Muhammad had not considered that all prophets must come from the lineage of Isaac and Jacob, so his calling is against the Word of God in the Bible. Sura 29:27 reads, “And we bestowed on him Isaac and Jacob, and we established the prophet hood and scripture among his seed”. A Caliph added “Abraham” into the text to qualify Muhammad, but Abraham is not in the original Arabic text which is claimed to be the perfectly preserved word of Allah in heaven. This means Muhammad cannot be a prophet by the perfectly preserved text of the Koran.

All scriptures are established with Isaac and Jacob. No other people can claim the office of prophet hood. Since Abraham is not in the original text, this means Muhammad was not a prophet, so his writings, which make up the Koran, are not the Word of God. The only one’s who possess the Word of God are the Israelites. The Israelites were chosen by God as his elect people were to carry the Word of God to the world.

Muhammad doubted at times his experiences. He thought he was deceived by the jinns or evil spirits. He believed he was demon possessed. After one of his spells (seizures, possessions), he arose and stated, “What did I see? Did possession of the devil which I feared all along come to pass”? He believed he was possessed by demons, but his wife talked him out of this idea.

In the Koran, Sura 15:6 and Sura 8:23 states “They (the people of Mecca) say: O thou to whom the warning hath been sent down, thou art surely possessed by a jinn (evil spirit). This is a reference to Muhammad as he reacted to his spells, seizures, or trances when receiving the information for this cult.

God warns us to avoid all familiar spirits (evil spirits). Muhammad often talked with the dead and did not deny these actions. He went to cemeteries and used psychic powers to communicate with dead spirits. It has been attributed to him by observers during his time that he possessed awareness of psychic communications that surpassed ordinary men. He claims to have been jostled around by spirits and was often subject to ecstatic seizures.

His seizures and trances were marked with painful sounds, visions while asleep, unintelligible utterances (much like Pentecostals), and, often was physically violent. All actions from his seizures, spells, and trances depicts one possessed by demons. This is why I often state emphatically on the board, that Muhammad’s Allah in the Qur’an is Satan.

He received his revelations from evil spirits and they became part of the Qur’an. Muhammad often foamed at the mouth and writhed on the ground during these spells. The scenes of his demonic activities are likened to the stories of the Bible where men were possessed of evil spirits before the demons were cast out by Jesus and the apostles.

Shamanism is a form of occultism where the Shaman controls the evil spirits. However, the real truth is that the evil spirits control the Shaman. Yes, the person can get the evil spirits to do his bidding at times, but it is for the benefit of the demons and must be in accordance with their purposes of evil and power. It appears Muhammad was in direct contact with the jinns at times.

Is Muhammad mentioned in the Bible?

Islam claims the Bible predicts the coming of Muhammad. They use Deuteronomy18:15 “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” They claim the Koran refers to the Deuteronomy passage when Sura 7:156 mentions an “unlettered prophet”.

Since Islam claims the Koran is free from error, a comparison is be made to see if this is true. The term “from among their brethren” in the Bible means an Israelite. Muhammad is not an Israelite. Israel has never placed anyone but an Israelite brother as a king or ruler over them, never an Ishmaelite member. Deuteronomy 15:12 and if thy brother, a Hebrew man…. (This verse also proves a brother is a Hebrew. Muhammad is not a Hebrew).

Muhammad did not speak face to face as Moses did with God. He did not perform signs, wonders and miracles as Moses. He received his revelations from an evil angel and not from God himself. Sura 28:48 even testifies of this: But (now) when the Truth has come to them from us, they say, “Why are not (signs) sent to him (Muhammad), like those which were sent to Moses?”

Even more amazing than the Quran bearing witness that Muhammad was unlike Moses, is the fact that the earliest Muslim biographer, Ibn Ishaq, in his Sira Rasul-Allah, testifies that Moses wrote of Jesus, not of Muhammad.

There is only one person who fits the prophecy of Deuteronomy according to Moses and that is Jesus. Jesus testified that Moses wrote about him (John5:46); the apostles quote that this passage was fulfilled in Jesus (John 1:45 & Acts 3:17-24); infant deaths were enacted on both Moses and Jesus Ex. 1:15-16, 22 & Mt. 2:13; both Moses and Jesus were rescued by divine intervention (Ex.2:2-10 & Mt. 2:13); and Jesus knew the Father face-to-face as did Moses.

Also, God prepared Moses by his wandering in the wilderness for forty years & Jesus for forty days; Moses shone with God’s glory from the Burning Bush encounter & Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration; Jesus performed greater miracles than Moses (raising the dead); Jesus spoke the words of God alone, not from an angel; Jesus intercedes on behalf of men like Moses; Moses was the mediator of God’s first covenant and Jesus the mediator of the second covenant; Moses liberated his people from physical slavery, Jesus liberated us from sin: and both Moses and Jesus were Israelites from the tribe of Judah.

Deuteronomy 33:2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Islam tries to say the above verse about the Lord is a prophecy of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Islam says Paran is Mecca. Paran was thousands of miles away from Mecca near Southern Palestine. Deuteronomy 1:1 “These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel on this side of Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab”. This is not near Mecca.

The prophecy also speaks of Yahweh coming, not Muhammad. And he comes with ten thousand of his saints, not soldiers as Muhammad in Mecca. This passage has no reference to Muhammad’s invasion of Mecca. This prophecy was made as a blessing for Israel, not for the Arabs (Muhammad). Other Biblical refutations are found at www.answering-islam.org.

Is the Quran the Word of God or words of Muhammad, possessed by evil beings?

Islam claims the Qur’an is the complete word of God (Sura 18:1, there is a copy of it in heaven preserved) and it is errorless (Sura 85:21-22). The Qur’an claims: the revelation of this book is from God, the exalted in power, full of wisdom. It is we who have revealed the book to thee in truth (Sura 39:1-2).

Muhammad’s statements in the Qur’an in Sura 4:84 “Can they not consider the Koran”? Were if from any other God, they would surely have found in it many contradictions”. If there are contradictions in the Qur’an, then it cannot be the Word of God. However, the Qur’an is replete with contradictions.

It states a day is 1,000 years and 50,000 years (Sura 32:4 & Sura 70:4). During the Judgment Day, infidels attempt to conceal things from God (Sura 6:22-23), but in Sura 4:45 it states infidels do not try to conceal anything. Sura 56 states that those who follow Muhammad will be “a crowd of the former, and a few of the latter generations”, but in verse 39 it states the people of Muhammad will be a crowd of the latter generations.

Sura 22:40-41 tells those who believe in God they can arm and protect themselves if they are persecuted, but in Sura 66:9 Islam tells its people to make war against those who are unbelievers.

The Koran states that Christianity and Judaism are false because they were divided into sects (Sura 30:30-32 & Sura 42:11-15). Islam itself is divided into many warring sects. Sura 11:45 claims Noah’s son drowned in the flood, but Sura 21:76 says that all his kinsmen were saved from the flood.

The Qur’an commands the Muslims to forgive any Christians and Jews who try to convert you to their belief in Sura 2:59, 103, but then tells Muslims to slay all unbelievers in Sura 5:55, 9:29-30, and 66:9. There are direct quotes from God in the Qur’an that appear more than once, but contradict each other in different verses.

The Koran contradicts itself about the creation story and contradicts the Bible account. In Sura 41:8-11 it says creation took 8 days, and Sura 7:52, 10:3 & 32:3-4 say it took 6 days for creation. The 8 days contradicts the 6 days of creation from the Bible. In Sura 2:32, God told angels to worship Adam, yet Sura 2:77 claims only God should be worshipped. The Bible claims only God should be worshipped.

The Qur’an repeatedly claims God is alone, the only one, he has not begotten Jesus, yet it is also full of quotes where God says “we” in his commands and creation such as Sura 78:8, 11 where God says, “Have we not made the earth a couch? And the mountains tent stakes? And, built above you seven solid heavens? Sura 50:7 says, “And as to the earth, we have spread it out…” Also, Sura 44:39 says, “we have not created the heavens and the earth in sport: we have not created them but for a serious end”.

The Quran claims there is no Trinity, why does the Qur’an say “we” when God is talking? Was Muhammad claiming to be equal to God and co-creator?

Sura 16:67, 2:219 & 4:43 says it is all right to drink wine, but it is forbidden in Sura 5:92. Sura 19:33 & 3:55 indicates Jesus died, but Sura 4:157-158 indicates he did not die. Sura 42:51-52 claims no man can talk directly with God, but must have a mediator, but Sura 7:143 & 4:164 says Moses talked directly with God.

Sura 3:67 & 6:62 claims Abraham never committed idolatry, but in Sura 6:75-78 the Qur’an claims Abraham committed idolatry. Sura 2:6-7 tells Muhammad not to attempt to convert unbelievers, because their fate was sealed, but in Sura 24:54, Muhammad was told to attempt their conversion by peaceful means.

Muhammad claimed in Sura 2:109 that it makes no difference in the direction to which you pray, for God is everywhere. Later, he claimed that Muslims should pray toward Jerusalem, but then later claimed all who prayed should face Mecca. These latter two claims were made in the same chapter of Sura 2:119-121 & 138-144.

The Qur’an boldly states that it is written in pure Arabic (Sura 12:2, 13:37, 16-105 & 42:44). These claims have proven to be incorrect. Words from the Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, Ethiopian, Persian, Akkadian, and Egyptian languages are present in the Qur’an. This would be insignificant if not for the fact, the Qur’an is claimed to be the exact perfect words from God and from its own scriptures.

The Koran declares that it and the Bible agree with one another. They use Sura 2:130 & 3:78 “We believe in God and that which has been sent down to us, and sent down on Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob, and the Israelite tribes, and in that which was given to Moses [the law] and Jesus [the Gospel], and the prophets of their Lord; we make no division between any of them …”

We have already shown some of the contradictions in the last post while illuminating some of the Qur’an’s own contradictions against its own scriptures, such as creation taking 8 days and Noah’s son drowning in the flood. Sura 11:4-6 states the ark landed on Mount Judi. We are well aware that it landed on Mount Ararat east of the land of Shinar.

Sura 6:74 says Abraham’s father was Azar, but Genesis 11:27 say his father was Terah. Sura 14:38 claims Abraham lived and worshipped in Mecca, but the Bible claims Abraham lived and worshipped around Bethel. Sura 37:100-110 claims Abraham was going to sacrifice Ishmael, but Genesis 22 makes it clear that it was Isaac that Abraham took as the sacrifice offering.

In fact, God said Isaac was Abraham’s only recognized son in Genesis 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thy only son Isaac, whom you love, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. Sura claims 2:121-122 states Abraham built the Kaaba in Mecca. This is not found in the Bible and history proves Abraham never visited Mecca.

Sura 21:60-69 claims Abraham was thrown in the fire by Nimrod (Baal). Nimrod had been dead for centuries before Abraham. Sura 28:7-8 stated Pharaoh’s wife adopted Moses, but it was Pharaoh’s daughter as shown in Exodus 2:5. Sura 2:248, 7:130-132 & cf. 7:57 ff says the flood took place in Moses life, but it is well known Moses was not born at that time.

Sura 28:5-7, 38, 29:38, 40:24-25 & 38-39 says Haman lived in Egypt during the time of Pharaoh and at a time when Moses was building the Tower of Babel. Haman actually lived in Persia 1000 years later according to the book of Esther, and Moses had nothing to do with the building of the Tower of Babel. Crucifixion was not used in either Pharoah or Moses time as stated in Sura 7:121, but was invented by the Carthaginians and the Romans copied them.

According to Sura 66:12, Mary’s (mother of Jesus) father was Imram. Another verse in the Qur’an, Sura 3:30-43 claims that a “woman” of Imram gave birth to Mary, and that Imram said a prayer when Mary was born, and that Zachariah took care of Mary when she was born. In Sura 19:29, Mary is called the sister of Aaron (Moses brother). However, Mary and Aaron lived 1000 years apart from one another. Muhammad had confused Mary with Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. Sura 19:20-23 also claimed Mary gave birth to Jesus under a palm tree, but Luke 2:1-20 clearly shows she gave birth to Jesus in a stable.

Muhammad often misquoted from the Bible using words as Muslim and Islam which were not part of their language at that time. Some of his examples can be found in Sura 2:122-126, 3:45-52, 60 and 7:120-126. Sura 2:250 tells how soldiers drank water from streams during the days of David and Goliath. However, this happened years earlier with Gideon in Judges &:1-8.

The Qur’an, in Sura 20:87-88 & 96, says the Israelites made a golden calf at the suggestion of a Samaritan. Samaria was founded by the Israelites under King Omri. When Assyria took them captive in 721 B.C, the Assyrians placed another race of people in Samaria years after Moses wanderings in the wilderness. His verses contradict both Biblical and secular history.

The Encyclopedia Britannica says: “The deviations [in the Quran] from the Biblical narratives are very marked, and can in most cases be traced back to the legendary anecdotes of the Jewish Haggada and the Apocryphal Gospel. There is no evidence that he was able to read, and dependence on oral communication may explain some of his errors. The Qur’an calls him an “Unlettered Prophet” (7:156).

The Koran is full of historical mistakes which should not be there, if it is the Word of God.

Sura 105 says that birds dropped stones of baked clay upon the army of the elephant defeating the army as it attacked Mecca. History records Arbah’s army ceased its attack on Mecca due to an outbreak of small pox in the army.

The Kaaba was built for the moon god, Hubal, by pagans and not by Abraham as stated in the Koran. It was built by pagan Arabians to house the black stone.

Sura 18:82-98 made the most absurd statement “that Alexander the Great (Two Horned One) was a Muslim, worshipped Allah, and lived to be very old”. History proves Alexander the Great was a pagan sodomite and died at a young age. Daniel 8 in the Bible has correctly described Alexander the Great. The statement from Sura 18:82-98 matches the myth written in the “Romance of Alexander”. Muhammad did not know this was a myth and stated it as fact.

Alexander the Great was a Macedonian, not a Muslim, was not a contemporary of Abraham, and died young. The Encyclopedia Britannica states the record in the Koran regarding Alexander the Great is false. Sura 4:157-158 denies the crucifixion of Jesus. The crucifixion of Jesus is an absolute historical fact found in many non-Christian, Roman, Christian, and Jewish sources.

The Qur’an is full of writings borrowed from other sources. It is certain Muhammad did not get “all” his information from Allah. Much of it came from pagan myths and rituals in Arabia, the Talmud, Apocrypha, and many other books of myths. Much of his information came from pagan Arabia, Talmud, Apocrypha, Bible, Zoroaster Buddhism, Hinduism, and many books of fables and myths. Muhammad stated in the Qur’an that all material came directly from God and that a copy of it is in heaven.

Many, well known scholars, have studied the origins of the materials in the Koran and have stated, unequivocally, that parts of the Koran are borrowed from other materials. W. St. Clair-Tisdall is an expert on the sources of the information contained in the Koran. His websites, www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Sources/Tisdall and www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Sources/Tisdall/WW/ provide excellent information regarding this issue.

Some examples of verses and sources follow: Sura 19:22-34, birth of Christ, came from “The History of the Nativity of Mary and the Savior’s Infancy”. Alexander the Great reference came from “Romance of Alexander”. “Indo-Iranian from Hindu and Zoroastrian scriptures” provided the material for the Seven Heavens in Sura 17:46, 23:88, 41:11 & 65:12. In Sura 11:9 “we find God’s throne above the waters’ which originates in the Jewish Rashi.

The wall of Aaraf in Sura 7:44 came from the Jewish Midrash. Sura 15:17, 37:87 & 67:5 speak of Satan secretly listening and driven away with stones which is in the Jewish writings about Genii listening from behind a curtain to gain knowledge of the future. Sura 1:29 tells of hell being full, but this is found in the Rabbinic book Othioth Derabbi Akiba 8:1. The misunderstood stories of Mount Café are passages from Hagigah.

The Jewish Talmud (Cheiga 16 & Taanith 11) is also in Sura 24:24. Adam’s creation of Sura 2:28-33 comes from many different historical documents including the Bible. The false verse of Sura 7:10-26, 18:48, 20:115, & 37:71-86 of God’s commanding of the angels to worship Adam is a former account from the Midrash of Rabbi Moses. The Quran’s tales of Noah while building the Ark came from the Sandhedrin 108. The conversations of Cain and Abel are from Jerusalem’s Targum and the tale of Cain and Abel in Sura 5:35 is from the Mishna Sandhedrin 4:5.

All the stories about Abraham in the Quran came from the Jewish Midrash Rabbah. Many of the names and phrases attributed to God in the Quran were used prior to Muhammad by the pagan Arabs and found in some of their inscriptions. The story of the seven sleepers in Sura 18:8-26 came from a Syrian Bishop, James Sarug, and was a legend spread all over Europe and Asia prior to Muhammad.

All of these entries in the Quran are not bad of themselves, but Muhammad swore that they were direct words from God to him that had not previously been revealed to man. These are words from Allah to be placed in the book of which there is a copy in heaven.

Father Time

Unveiling Islam

Muhammad is the founder of Islam, and Caliphs succeeded Muhammad. During the time of wars and imperial expansion of Islam, both Muhammad and the caliphs were always, simultaneously, Head of Government & Religious Leader. There has never been a separation of Church and State in Muslim countries.

Qur’an: “slay pagans wherever you find them” is a way of life by devout Muslims. This statement is a typical picture of most devout Muslims: Amir Maawia Siddiqi, the Pakistani son of a small businessman stated, “I, Amir Maawia Siddiqi, son of Abdul Rahman Siddiqi, in the presence of Allah, I will slaughter infidels the rest of my life”. May Allah give me strength in fulfilling this oath.

A recent history of Muslim intentions toward America and Israel:

1. At the Munich Olympics of 1972, Muslim terrorists murdered the Israeli athletes.
2. In 1979, Muslims stormed the U.S. Embassy in Iran and took 52 hostages.
3. A Muslim suicide bomber blew up a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 killing 241 Americans.
4. Muslim terrorists threw an elderly wheelchair bound Leon Klinghofer to his death off the hijacked cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985.
5. Bombed World Trade Center in America in 1993.
6. Muslims killed 19 American soldiers in the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996.
7. Bombed the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
8. Bombed the U.S. Cole in 2000, and
9. Bombed the twin towers and Pentagon trying to destroy the President and his cabinet in the 911 bombing.

The Qur’an states, “If you see an infidel, you are to kill him”. Islam has one central authority; the Qur’an, provided by Muhammad. It is the supreme authority over all matters in Islam.

A Christian martyr is killed by his enemies for not denying his faith. An Islamic martyr kills innocent people in suicidal attacks. A prominent Saudi Sheikh stated, “The 911 incident was jihad and Americans who died were not innocent.

Muslims look to muftis and imams for guidance. The Qur’an commands Muslims to kill non-Muslims, “Prophet, make war on the unbelievers, hypocrites, and deal vigorously with them. Hell shall be their home, an evil fate. Islam declares perpetual war against unbelievers. True believers fight for the cause of Allah, but infidels fight for the devil. Fight against the friends of Satan” (Sura 4:76).

Islam has declared Christians and Jews as their two main enemies. They have sworn to annihilate both groups of infidels. Both groups are also “SATAN’S” biggest enemies.

“When the sacred months are over, slay the idolaters wherever you find them” (Sura 9:5). The phrase for idolaters in Islam is “people of the book”. Idolaters are anyone worshipping created beings (Jesus) considered equal to deity.

Muslims are expected to kill all infidels as shown by Sura 9.81. “Those that stayed at home were glad that they were left behind by God’s Apostle, for they had no wish to fight for the cause of Allah with their wealth and with their persons. They said to each other, “do not go to war, the heat is fierce”. Say to them, “Fiercer is the heat of hell-fire (Sura 9:81)”. “Muhammad is God’s Apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers, but merciful to one another” (Sura 48:29).

The five pillars of Islam are confession of faith, daily prayer, almsgiving, fasting during Ramadan, and the pilgrimage to Mecca. If you abide by these five pillars, you are considered a fundamentalist Muslim. Newscasters and Muslims confirm that terrorists are the fundamentalists of Islam.

Fundamental Christians hold to a strict interpretation of the basic doctrines of the Bible. Two of the most important are the virgin birth of Jesus, and the bodily resurrection of Christ.

Progressive revelation is absent in Islam. All Qur’an commands are valid for all time. Christians believe God withholds the meanings of some scripture until the appropriate time in history. Many verses in the Bible come to life as time unfolds.

Christendom regards the Old Testament mostly as history of the Jewish Nation, its traditions, and a record of God’s plan of salvation to the world, and prophecy of future events. The New Testament centers on the Son of God and his personal message to the world.

Some Jewish laws in the OT seem out of place with the teachings of Jesus. They may have been pertinent at one time because of prevailing conditions, possible Jewish traditions, and possible misinterpretations by some living during that time.

There are 100 prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the first coming of Messiah (Jesus) to earth. All 100 prophesies were fulfilled by Jesus. He did not come to do away with the law, but to fulfill the law. Since Jesus fulfilled all laws of God and all 100 prophesies, it remains a valid point to look at things he did not do.

Jesus did not kill anyone nor command his followers to kill. He offered love and peace to all, his message was of mercy and not sacrifice, he had compassion on all, he taught to love our enemies, and be good to them that despitefully use us.

Since there were some controversial Jewish laws and traditions in the OT not fulfilled by Jesus, they should be viewed as part of the history and traditions of the Jews rather than commandments of God.

There were direct commands from God to the Jews in the OT to be obeyed by the Jews, but not necessarily for us today. Each passage of the Bible should be taken in context. Not so, for the Qur’an, all of its contents are valid forever.

Muhammad stated the Qur’an was God’s final law to mankind, given by an angel, and is a complete work true for all time. All commands are to be obeyed and are Allah’s law to all Muslims. Every verse in the Qur’an is to be strictly obeyed without exception.

The Muslim believes he will be given great rewards by Allah, if he sacrifices his life in the killing of Allah’s enemies. It makes little difference if any innocents are killed in the process. He that leaves his dwelling to fight for Allah and his Apostle and is overtaken by death shall be rewarded by Allah.

(Sura 4:100) The blessed shall recline on jeweled couches face to face, and there shall wait on them immortal youths with bowls and ewers and a cup of purest wine, with fruits of their own choice, and flesh of fowls that they relish. And theirs shall be the dark-eyed houris, chaste as hidden pearls: a guerdon for their deeds. (Sura 56:15-24)

Jack Kelley of USA Today witnessed the following at a Hamas school. A boy of 11 gave this report to his class: I will make my body a bomb that will blast the flesh of the Zionists, the sons of pigs and monkeys….I will tear their bodies into little pieces and will cause them more pain than they will ever know. His classmates shouted in response, “Allah Akhbar (God is great)”. And his teacher shouted, “May the virgins give you pleasure”.

The righteous shall recline on couches lined with thick brocade….Therein are bashful virgins whom neither man nor jinnee (spirit beings) will have touched before….Virgins as fair as coral and rubies (Sura 55:54,56,58). No mention is made in the Qur’an of what heaven will be like for women.

Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini summed up Islamic goals: Islam makes it incumbent on all able bodied adult males to prepare themselves for conquest of other countries, so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world. Those studying Islamic Holy Wars understand why Islam wants to conquer the entire world.

(Khomeini)Those who know nothing of Islam pretend Islam counsels against war. Islam says, “Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all”. Does this mean Islam should sit back until they are devoured by the unbelievers? Islam says, “Kill the non-Muslims, put them to the sword and scatter their armies.

(Khomeini)Does this mean sitting back until non-Muslims overcome us? Islam says, “Kill in the service of Allah those who may want to kill you. Does this mean we should surrender to the enemy”? Islam says, “Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword”. “People cannot be made obedient except with the sword”.

(Khomeini)The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy Warriors. There are hundreds of other Qur’an Psalms and Hadiths urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does this mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? “I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim”, says Khomeini.

Muhammad is Islam’s supreme model of behavior. Jesus is the supreme model of behavior for Christians. Muhammad said, in his last sermon,” I leave behind me two things, the Qur’an and my example, the Sunnah (traditions about the words and deeds of Muhammad). If you follow these, you will never go astray”. Muhammad was a man of war; the leader of armies, who ordered his enemies slaughtered.

[These are my thoughts. It must be remembered, no person saw an angel deliver the words of the Qur’an to Muhammad. Every time Muhammad needed a verse to support his lifestyle and whims, he would suddenly appear with some new material given to him by an angel. For all who believe the Qur’an, I have just found a new market for the sale of the Brooklyn Bridge.]

At a point in Muhammad’s life when he already had nine wives and numerous concubines, Allah gave him special permission to collect as many women as he wished. Gabriel always gave Muhammad the new verses he needed to justify his sins.

Prophet, we have made lawful to you whom you have granted dowries and the slave-girls whom God has given to you as a booty; the daughters of your paternal and maternal uncles and of your paternal and maternal aunts who fled with you; and any believing woman who gives herself to the Prophet and whom the Prophet wishes to take in marriage. This privilege is yours alone, being granted to no other believer (Sura 33:50).

Muhammad had an adopted son, Zayd, Zayd’s wife was Zaynab. Muhammad knocked on the door, looking for Zayd. He was not at home; but Zaynab met Muhammad in a state of undress and asked him in. After all, he was as father and mother to her. Muhammad declined, but the wind lifted the curtain while she was hurriedly dressing. He fled in some confusion, muttering something. All she heard was: “Praise be to Allah the most High! Praise be to Allah who changes men’s hearts”.

That was not the end of the matter. Soon Allah himself, ever attentive to the needs of his Prophet, intervened: You (Muhammad) said to the man (Zayd) whom God and you have favored: “Keep your wife and have fear of God”.

You sought to hide in your heart what Allah was to reveal (your attraction to Zaynab). You were afraid of man, although it would have been more proper to fear Allah.

And when Zayd divorced his wife, we gave her to you in marriage, so that it should become legitimate for true believers to wed the wives of their adopted sons if they divorced them. God’s will, must be done (Sura 33:37).

And so Muhammad married Zaynab. To forestall, or answer, any criticism from the community, the Qur’an then enjoins: “No blame shall be attached to the Prophet for doing what is sanctioned for him by Allah (Sura 33:38).

One of Muhammad’s wives, Hafsa, found him in bed with yet another woman. Hafsa and Aisha, another of Muhammad’s wives, confronted Muhammad. Of course, Muhammad comes up with another addition to the Qur’an from the angel.

Prophet, why do you prohibit that which God has made lawful to you, in seeking to please your wives? God is forgiving and merciful. God has given you absolution from such oaths….If you two (Hafsa and Aisha) turn to God in repentance you shall be pardoned; but if you conspire against him, know that God is his protector, and Gabriel, and the righteous among the faithful.

The angels too are his helpers. It may well be that, if he divorce you, his Lord will give him in your place better wives than yourselves, submissive to God and full of faith, devout, penitent, obedient, and given to fasting; both formerly-wedded and virgins (Sura 66:1-5).

Aisha was betrothed to Muhammad when she was six years old, and he consummated the marriage when she was nine. Muhammad was a little over 50 at the time.

Many Muslims take child brides. Ayatollah Khomeini married a girl of 10, when he was 28. Khomeini called marriage to a girl before her first menstrual period a “divine blessing”, and he advised the faithful: Do your best to insure your daughters do not see their first blood in your house. This practice continues today despite the severe injuries girls often incur from early intercourse and childbirth.

In early 2002, researchers in refugee camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan found half the girls married by 13. In an Afghan refugee camp, more than two out of three second-grade girls were either married or betrothed. One ten year old was married to a man of 60. In Iran, the legal age for marriage for girls is nine. This law is exploited by pedophiles, which marry poor young girls and then abandon them.

Prostitution is legal from the Qur’an. Of course, an angel gave Muhammad another covenant to hide a multitude of sins. To women whom you choose in temporary and conditional (Mut’a) marriage, give them dowry, as a duty (Sura 4:24). [The word Mut’a means temporary marriage for a limited amount of time. The word also means simply “pleasure”]. Muhammad brought to life the idea that high school boys and other men should have pleasure without it being fornication to them, so another addition to the Qur’an appeared from the angel that is now Sura 4:24.

How do you separate Sura 4:24 from the practice of prostitution? In Iran the Muta’s can be as short as an hour. Temporary wives congregate in seminary towns which are full of restless theological students away from their wives for extended periods. Most of these temporary wives are young widows who use the opportunity for making a meager living.

Rape is also condoned by the Qur’an by giving men rights of intercourse with their slave girls without their permission. There is no clear definition of the crime of rape in the Sharia. Rape can be proven only by the testimony of four male eye-witnesses to the act itself.

Muhammad was a murderer pure and simple. It cannot be proven he committed any of the murders himself, but he gave the orders many times for his followers to murder someone.

When the Muslims defeated the Jewish tribe of Bani Qurayzah, he ordered that trenches be dug in what had been the marketplace of their town. The men of the tribe, seven hundred in all, were made to sit alongside the trenches, where the Muslims beheaded them. The women and the children were enslaved.

There are many Christians who have read very little of the Bible, thus know very little of the faith they proclaim. It is the same with some of the Muslims, however they are urged more vigorously to read and memorize as many verses as possible in the Qur’an.

There are some good people in the Muslim religion that have no idea of the ultimate goals of their leaders. They are being duped by a false religion instigated by Satan to kill all Christians and the Jewish people.

God’s plan was to use the Israelites to bring salvation to the world by the birth and death of Jesus. Jesus is God incarnate and is the ultimate example of God’s mercy and love to the world. All that will accept his message and place themselves in subjection to the good works of the Father (God) will inherit eternal life.

It is Satan’s intention to destroy God’s chosen people and Christians in his attempt to escape his destination of hell. He cannot overcome nor defeat God, but he must try. If he can just overcome the Jews and the Christians, he believes he will escape hell.

Satan tries to copy the Bible, develop a religion similar to it, and fool many into believing it. It is evident the ideals behind the Qur’an and the Bible are total opposites. It is also obvious; the character traits of the God-man, Jesus, and the man Muhammad are totally opposite.

The god (Allah) of the Qur’an is not the same God of the Bible. The teachings of each are totally opposite. The Qur’an, Muhammad, and its leaders are anti-Christ. They teach that any persons recognizing Jesus as the Son of God are infidels and should be ultimately killed by Muslims.

The God of the Bible and his only begotten Son teaches love to all men, not hate. The Bible teaches us to take the message of God to the entire world in an effort to save the world. There is no doubt Muhammad was a bloody man and one who was obsessed with sexual pleasures. The difference between Jesus and Muhammad is as day is from night.

I am not trying to condemn the innocent Muslims being duped by the religion, but am trying to allow them to see how their leaders are falsely enslaving them into an eternal separation from the one true God of the Bible.

There is the definite threat from the Islamic jihad. It is not a matter of “if the Islamic Nations attack America again”, but when. Islamic Nations have declared war on the United States. We are definitely in World War III, although it is a different kind of war. As the nine events at the start of this post indicate, the jihad has escalated since 1972 toward Christian America.

This war is being brought to America and will be fought here unless the enemy can be crippled in his own land. We either retaliate and take out their weapons of destruction or sit here with our helmets on in our bunkers waiting for the Islamic Nations to attack again. It will be worse the next time around if America does nothing.

Islamic Nations are preparing to hit us again as hard as they can. It makes little difference to them if some of their followers in America are destroyed along with Christians.

There are 900 million Muslims in the world and many are here in America. There are supposedly only 150 million militant terrorist. It is conceded the remaining 750 million are loyal to Islam and will fight with the terrorists when asked to do so.

I know how the story ends. I am not afraid of the possibilities for myself, but realize there will be a lot of people that will suffer when the time comes. Since Islam is anti-Christ, and their goal is world domination, it appears the anti-Christ will come from Islam.

It is easy to see many of the members of the United Nations are pro Arab, anti-Israel, and anti-America. A one-world government appears to be tailor-made for Islam and Satan. The Qur’an commands Islam to kill all infidels until Islam controls the whole world. It is obvious who is seeking a one-world kingdom.

Muhammad was often seen rolling on the ground, in contortions, foaming at the mouth, and making unnatural guttural utterances while receiving revelations from the angel Gabriel. This is the reaction of a man under strong demonic possession.

Since the Qur’an is based on Muhammad’s instructions from an angel, his personal editing of original scriptures in the Bible, and his lustful, warlike characteristics, it is clear he was an evil person.

Muhammad’s God, Allah, is none other than Satan. No other person heard the angel’s words to Muhammad, and no other person saw Muhammad speaking with an angel. His made up god, Allah, is completely opposite of the God of the Bible. Muhammad was a sinful man with no credentials. Muhammad is dead and in hell.

There were 100 prophesies regarding the first coming of Jesus. Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit of God and a virgin woman. The angels attested to his virgin birth. Twice, people heard God from heaven declare Jesus was his begotten Son. His birth and ministry were preceded by an ambassador, John the Baptist, who was full of the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb.

Jesus fulfilled all 100 prophecies regarding his first coming. Jesus produced miracles over all laws and the physics of the universe; he forgave sins; he was perfect in nature; he could have called legions of angels to keep himself from dying on the cross, but willingly gave his life to redeem man; he was crucified; rose from the dead in three days as prophesied, and his resurrection was announced by an angel; and Jesus ascended into heaven as men watched his ascension.

Jesus is the God of the universe, is still alive, and there are 300 prophecies regarding his second coming.

Time started on earth with Adam. When Jesus came, original time ended and started over with a new dispensation of time as The Word of God was born incarnate in the person of Jesus. Time is now divided by the birth of Jesus into BC (before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini-Birth of Christ). It is now the year 2007 AD.

All must make a decision regarding their eternal destination. It should be clear as to the correct choice. Only those who wish to follow the antichrist (clearly defined as Satan in the Bible), will reject the God of the Bible and His Son, Jesus.

Some of the information for this series is from the book “Islam Unveiled” by Robert Spencer. It is a book well worth reading. He has studied Islam for over 20 years and is a board member of the Christian-Islamic Forum.

Father Time

Homosexuality

All sins are equal in the sight of God as far as the lost or wicked is concerned. It takes only one sin to separate a man from God and that is rejection of Jesus as Savior and God. As long as a man is lost, his sins are all equal regarding separation of himself from God. Unless a man is saved, his final destination is the Lake of Fire; every other act is irrelevant to his eternal destination.

In society, there are degrees of sins; most of these have different penalties under the law. From God’s view of society, some sins are grievous and abominable in contrast to others. Homosexuality is one of the abominable sins and the primary reason for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The Lord and two angels told Abraham their plans to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if the cries of it were true. The angels verified the accusations against the cities. Homosexual men of the city tried to rape the two angels sent from God. The angels removed Lot and his family and then destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. This story is partially told in the passages below.

Genesis 13:13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. (Sins exceeded ordinary sins of man.)

Genesis 18:20-22 20And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 22And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. (Sins were great and grievous.)

Genesis 19:1 and there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. (Lot invited the angels, in the form of men, to stay overnight at his home to isolate them from the evil men of the city.)

Genesis 19:4-5 4But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 5And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, where are the men who came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may “know” them. (The word “know” in verse 5 means “to have sex”.)

Genesis 19:6-8 6And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, 7And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. 8Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

There is no doubt about the word “know” in the passage. If they just wanted an introduction, Lot would not have pleaded with them to do no wickedness with the men. Lot also offered his daughters to the wicked men for sex instead of the angels. It is very clear in these scriptures that the men wanted to perform homosexual acts with the angels, as they perceived the angels to be men.

Genesis 19:12-13, 24 12And the men (angels) said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: 13For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. 24Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.

In Genesis 13:13 God said the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were exceedingly wicked. In Genesis 18:20-22, the Lord stated their grievous wickedness had caused him to take action against them. Finally, we observe in Genesis 19, the men proved their grievous wickedness of homosexuality, and God destroyed them with fire and brimstone.

Everyone is aware in today’s society that sex between men is known as Sodomy which is derived from the city of Sodom. Homosexuals are described as Sodomites in the Bible and in society.

Leviticus 18:22 Thou shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. (The word “abomination” used here means a “disgusting thing, an outrage, a disgrace, and something detestable to God.”)

Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lies with mankind, as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. (Homosexuality is a disgusting thing in the eyes of God and was worthy of death under the Levitical Laws.)

Deuteronomy 22:5 the woman shall not wear that which pertains unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God. Deuteronomy 23:17 there shall be no ***** of the daughters of Israel, or a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

The inference in verse 5 is that a man should not try to play the role of a woman, nor should a woman try to play the role of a man. This is a sexual inference and is a disgusting thing in God’s sight. We see the word sodomite used in verse 17 to describe a homosexual.

Homosexuality is against the laws of America and God’s laws. Sin is never right; it is a rebellion against God and established laws that protect mankind. Homosexuals in America are trying to change the laws of our society and make it legal to practice this sin against God and society. They will never be able to make it a right in God’s eyes, because his law will never change.

Romans 1:24-32 24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: 25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.

28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

V24-25 claims these same-sex unions are decadent (unclean), and participants dishonor their bodies by the lusts of their hearts. Homosexuals and Lesbians change God’s truth into a lie, by claiming their sexual acts are natural. They are more interested in the lust of their sexual desires toward the creature (their own gender) than obeying truth from the creator.

V26 claims God gave them up to disgraceful (vile) affections against God and nature. Men also lusted after one another and produced shameful and naked (unseemly) deeds between themselves. The remainder of V27 states that lustful homosexuals receive a reward befitting their vile (decadent) actions. In the OT, the penalty was death by stoning.

V28 declares same-sex partners do not have God in their minds, and God has given them over to a reprobate (castaway, rejected, non-approved, and unfit) mind. Same-sex offenders fall into one of two categories. A hardened homosexual has no guilt about his actions, is not saved, and is headed to the Lake of Fire. Those saved, fallen into this sin, and feel guilt over their actions, will probably face an early death, but to the saving of the soul. Many of these deaths may be by suicide.

In the latter case, many of these individuals commit suicide at an early age as they cannot bear the guilt of Christ in their minds with the decadent actions of their flesh. The unsaved do not have this guilt.

V31 states they have un-natural affections (against nature), are unrighteous, and worthy of death. The last few verses states same-sex partners are aware they are wicked and under God’s judgment, but do not care. They are unwilling to give up this pleasure between themselves to follow the will of God.
Isaiah 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! (Woe means “alas” you have crossed the line. These offenders will receive the wrath of God.)

Many people side with those committing homosexual and Lesbian acts against God’s Word declaring it a genetic problem and not one of sin, calling evil good or natural.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 9The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionists, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

An unrighteous person is one who has not repented of his sins, nor accepted Jesus as his Savior and God. A person making this commitment by faith has obeyed the first commandment which is “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. A born again person has received righteousness from Christ due to the new birth.

Obeying the 1st commandment means a person dies to his own lust and is allows Christ to live through him. A practicing homosexual does not love Christ above his own lust. Most homosexuals choose this lifestyle, make no attempt to leave it, and continue in this lifestyle in open rebellion against God’s Word.

The passage above mentions many different issues which separate a lost or wicked person from Christ, and the effeminate man (homosexual) in verse 9 is included in this list.

Ephesians 5:22-23 22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church.

Marriage is a union between man and woman. There is a good reason homosexuality is abominable in the sight of God. It is shown in the verse above where the husband and wife are pictured as Christ and the Church.

Jesus is the Bride Groom, and the Church is the Bride of Christ. Just as woman (Eve) was taken out of man (Adam) and given back to him as his Bride, the Church is taken out of Christ and given back to him as his Bride. Adam and Eve are one, because Eve is part of Adam. The Church and Christ are one because the Church was taken out of Jesus and given back to him by the Father.

The Word of God incarnate in Jesus is the power that enters a born again believer by faith and God’s grace. This Word of God incarnate in Jesus is taken from him and formed into a spiritual new creature by this power (Word of God/Holy Ghost). Thus we are made into a new creature spiritually by the Word of God and made one with Christ. When we are born again, the Bible says we become one with Christ.

Homosexuality tries to destroy this picture of Christ and the Church by destroying the union which makes a man and his wife one through their marriage. There is nothing in the Bible authorizing same-sex unions.

2 Peter Chapter 2:4, 6, 9-10 4For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness….6And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly….9The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: 10But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness.

This chapter mentions many acts of the wicked, including the homosexuality of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were destroyed by God and included in the Bible as an example to all who follow after this lifestyle. The same verse is used here as in other scripture regarding those that lust after uncleanness in the flesh, which is homosexuality.

Jude 4, 7, 18 4For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ….7Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering vengeance of eternal fire….18How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

This Chapter refers to many wicked acts including the sodomites who went after strange flesh (homosexuality). God warns of the eternal fire awaiting those who give themselves over to this lifestyle. Again, there may be the occasional saved person who falls into Satan’s trap, but still suffers in the flesh, and most likely will live a short life.

God has clearly warned mankind of same-sex abominations, ungodly lusts, and the mockery of God in these latter days. The word “lasciviousness” in verse 4 means filthy, unbridled lust, outrageousness, and shamelessness (includes homosexuality).

The Bible gives no sanction to homosexuality. God has never approved, endorsed or smiled at homosexuality. When God created man, he made them male and female and told them to populate the earth. It is a given fact that men with men and women with women cannot populate the earth.

As mentioned earlier, the reason for homosexuality is to destroy the natural family authorized by God. Satan’s aim is to de-emphasize the picture of Christ and the Church. All venues are used by this same-sex agenda to desensitize America and the world through the media, schools, and apostate churches.

Satan will not stop at homosexuality and Lesbianism, because he is the influence of all decadence, and sin becomes worse over time. If same-sex marriage is made legal, the next step will be for many men to be married and live together or many women to marry and live together in sexual groups. This also opens the door for sex between man and animals. A man could marry a sheep; a woman could marry her dog. There would be no restriction if marriage and sex is not contained between a woman and a man.

How far has America fallen into this abominable sin? The following are just a handful of examples of the falling away of America from their honor of God’s values. This does not mean the Christians are abandoning God, but it does mean the nation is abandoning God, just as the Israelite’s have done many times in its past. Each time Israel abandoned God’s Word, God removed his protection, they were taken over by warring nations, and suffered greatly each time.

We have seen many incidents of terrorism since 1979 against America, along with the recent incident of declared war against America in the Twin Tower and Pentagon disasters. With the increase of same-sex activity and legalization of abominable acts, we can expect the protection of America by God to lessen as America’s dishonor of God increases.

The University of Michigan offers a course, “How to be Gay”. New York City has established a high school for gays, bisexuals, and transgender students. The Massachusetts’ Cambridge Friend School celebrates Gay and Lesbian Day with all children participating down to 5 and 6 six year olds.

Massachusetts has legalized homosexual marriages. Vermont and Connecticut have legalized civil unions.

Six denominations in America openly ordain homosexuals and Lesbians for the ministry: Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian USA, Episcopal, American Baptist, United Church of Christ, and Unitarian Universalism.

The New York Times has started placing announcements for same-sex marriages in their Sunday edition. These announcements are now placed in the country’s top 25 media markets. Same-sex groups did not like the term “sexual preference”, so they have changed the wording to “sexual orientation”.

The American Humanist Association supports the legalization of same-sex marriages in all 50 States. The estimate of the total number of children nationwide living with at least one homosexual or Lesbian is between 6 and 14 million.

Eighty percent of Evangelical Protestants oppose homosexual and Lesbian marriages. Quite surprising, only 55% of Catholics oppose these marriages.

Is there any wonder Christian churches are urging parents to take their children out of public schools?

Each Christian has a responsibility to preach the gospel of Christ to the lost of the world. Within this responsibility is presentation of both warnings against this abominable act and our desire to see these people turn from their wicked ways, thus avoiding the Lake of Fire and eternal separation from God.

Homosexuality is not genetic. It is strictly a choice by individuals giving in to the lusts of this lifestyle. There is no evidence that the behavior “homosexuality” is itself directly inherited.

William Byne, a psychiatrist with a doctorate in biology, and Bruce Parsons (1993) carefully analyzed all the major biological studies of homosexuality. They found none that definitively supported a biological theory of causation.

God has no part in any man becoming a homosexual, or any woman becoming a Lesbian. God created only one man, and his name was Adam. God did not create Eve, but made and formed Eve from Adam. Any imperfection in man comes directly through a sinful Adam and his descendants. God is not responsible for a person becoming same-sex oriented.

Studies in this area indicate a person develops these tendencies in early years according to the attention or non-attention of parents, and the environment in which they grow and mature. Most information tends to place the blame squarely on the father, and somewhat on the mother.

In most cases, the father of a homosexual boy was overbearing and never gave his son the love and confidence he desired from his father. When the son began to seek male companionship to balance this absence of love from his male father, he became easy prey to the mature homosexual who preyed on his emotions.

Although he was “defensively detached” from his father, the young boy still carries silently within him a terrible longing for the warmth, love, and encircling arms of the father he never had, nor could have.

The more he gave in to this lifestyle and felt the comfort of the mature male; he became more entrapped into this lifestyle. With the love of God and Christian counseling, some of these people can be reached. However, as is the norm in most sins, the person becomes more hardened to God’s calling and becomes permanently ingrained in this lifestyle and eventually loses all the light he had from God.

The ones who do not lose this light of God are those who have been saved. If a person has truly been saved and turns to this lifestyle, he will have great guilt. He constantly battles the guilt against the lifestyle and in many cases becomes one of those who commits suicide, or is suddenly taken out of this life by other means.

Homosexuals, who say they are saved, but have no guilt, have never been born again. They are brute beasts of the homosexual act.

Sometimes, fathers are responsible for the lesbianism of a female child. The father abused the mother. The young daughter sees a weak mother because she will not leave or fight back. The daughter takes on the attitude that she will not be treated the same. Many times the young daughter will seek a weak female and become the dominant one of the union.

It is realized we cannot always blame this on parents, but surveys tend to indicate these factors. It is each person’s responsibility to seek the good life and not the evil life.

Sometimes a woman may be married to a very abusive male. Many times this woman will begin to hate males and seek female companionship. Due to a woman’s monthly cycles to fertilize eggs, she may have strong desires for sex and in the right circumstances fall into the trap of sex with a female companion.

Mature Lesbians often prey on this type of circumstance. They keep an eye out for abused women, become friends, and provide the false comfort and love the abused individual has been seeking. It becomes a way of life as the young woman appears to have her needs satisfied.

The best way for a young woman to get out of this lifestyle is to place her soul in the perfect man, Jesus, and seek counseling from those who deal with these problems.

Some claim homosexuality is prenatal in an effort to avoid the responsibility for their actions. Biological evidence indicates it is a disorder; homosexuality represents a tendency to want to use body parts for some purpose other than that for which they were designed. The penis and vagina are certainly constructed for male-female intercourse. Their complimentary shapes, the location of highly sensitive nerve endings show, without a doubt, the Divine intent.

Regardless of reasons leading up to homosexuality and Lesbianism, it is still a choice of the individual, and God will hold each person responsible for their choice. A man is a murderer because he wants to murder, a thief because he wants to steal, a liar because he wants to lie, an adulterer because he wants to be, etc. All acts of life are choices, and no person makes the homosexual perform the act.

Does a person have the right to a homosexual lifestyle? Yes, to a point, but not absolute. There are laws of cities, counties, States, and Nations that must be obeyed by its citizens. Laws are instituted in most sane locales to protect citizens. When enacted, the citizens must obey those laws or suffer the consequences.

Homosexuals have the right to attempt to change these laws, but the minority should not control the majority. If laws are changed in America to make this nation into a homosexual nation, then God will judge this nation and remove his protection from it.

It has been proven s homosexual lifestyle affects the person’s health, mentality, and causes a nation to deteriorate internally. Also, those who have no guilt in this style of life are most likely doomed to an eternal Lake of Fire.

A person can change if he accepts Christ as Savior, repents of these evil deeds, seeks the proper help, counseling, and allows God to take control of his thoughts and lead him out of this entrapment.

How does homosexuality affect our nation? It causes diseases such as AIDS to invade society, it leads to other more gross perversions of sex in society, it influences children to consider this destructive lifestyle, and eventually, it causes God to remove his protection from countries and regimes controlled by Satan and these lifestyles.

Father Time

Why Sin?

This series is provided in hopes of presenting an idea of the origin of sin and why sin exists. I make some non-provable assumptions. Please read this only from a view of my attempt to pose a possible answer to those who ask the question, “why does sin exist?”

The Bible speaks of good and evil. All men understand the general concept of good and evil. God is the almighty omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient total power and authority. He is the only God, and beside him, there is no other. All things were created by him. God is righteous, and there is “no” unrighteousness in or part of God.

God is the creator of everything. Nothing exists that does not come from God. He can, at any time, withdraw creation and it would cease to exist. Therefore, everything is effectively God. Man is God’s crowning creation. Man is created by God to share his creation, be loved by God, and to love God. God has relinquished some of his authority to man. Man is created eternally and has been given the ability to make choices to love or hate his creator.

It sounds like a contradiction to say God is all, but did not create sin and hates all unrighteousness. God’s original creation consisted of complete righteousness, with not an iota of sin or iniquity in it. God created man in his image and ceded to man some of God’s own sovereignty.

When God ceded some of his sovereignty to mankind, he placed God’s perfect creation at the jeopardy of man’s deeds and actions. God and his creation were in complete righteousness and had not one iota of unrighteousness within it. Man was created perfect, but given the freewill to remain in righteousness (love and trust God as his creator), or reject God as creator and try to be his own god.

Man does not have the power of God and cannot control God’s creation or him-self; he must depend on the creator to sustain life and God’s creation. Man was given freewill because this was the only way he could choose to accept God as his creator, share his creation, and love God. If man did not have freewill, he would be like a robot and could not choose to love God, but only obey his every command. This would not be love, or the ability to share.

Since God, and his creation, was perfect and righteous, the opposite of God was unrighteousness. Man was created righteous, but had the choice to remain righteous by maintaining faith in God and his promises, or to reject God and his promises. If man removed his faith from God’s promises and tried to be his own god, he would step out of a state of righteousness and create a state of unrighteousness.

God did not create unrighteousness; it was brought into existence by Adam. God’s entire creation consisted of Holiness and righteousness. This righteousness was in Adam when God breathed the breath of life into him, and Adam became a living soul. God forewarned Adam that he would lose this righteousness, if he chose to reject it, and give it up for his own selfish desire to be his own god.

Under the influence of Satan, Adam chose to be his own god and gave up his righteousness in God. This left him in a state of unrighteousness, or with the opposite attributes of God. He immediately stepped out of the light of God into darkness and separation from God.

We can use a couple of examples from rules of the universe about unrighteousness. There is no such thing as “cold”. Cold is the absence of heat. The less heat in an object, there is the sensation of coldness. The more heat that is removed, the colder the object appears.

The same is true of darkness. There is no darkness, just the absence of light. When you dim the light, darkness seems to appear. When you remove all light, total darkness is the appearance. Hell is outer darkness with zero light. God is light and when he is not present, there is no way to see things. In Revelation, during the Tribulation, God removes the light for a time period and men were so terrified and in such pain because there was no light available, they gnawed their tongues in pain.

Prior to the creation of man and his freewill, there was no sin or iniquity. The iniquity found in Lucifer may well have been the freewill choice by men and Lucifer assumed this role of unrighteousness to compete with God.

God placed a tree in the Garden of Eden and called it the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. To give Adam freewill to choose to love God and share his creation, God had to place before Adam the choice of God’s essence or the absence of God’s essence.

This tree and Adam’s choice of trusting or not trusting God represented Adam’s freewill toward God. If Adam ate of the tree, he would die a spiritual death (lose his righteousness). He would have passed from righteousness (possessing an essence of God) into unrighteousness (losing the essence of God). Adam would immediately step out of the light of God into darkness and separation from God.

Adam disobeyed God and brought unrighteousness into creation. Where did unrighteousness originate? It originated with Adam. The same principle would have applied if God had drawn a line on the ground and told Adam not to step over the line as a test of his free will and trust in God.

As long as Adam used his sovereignty and trusted God, he knew nothing about unrighteousness. Adam was in the image of God in that he knew no unrighteousness. Adam communed with God and was happy until he decided to use his sovereignty to disobey and distrust God’s promise to him.

With Adam’s misuse of his sovereignty he not only brought unrighteousness into God’s creation, he passed this curse on to his descendents to know the difference between righteousness (good) and unrighteousness (evil) without the ability of a Godly essence to protect him. Man was doomed for an eternal life in an unrighteous condition.

Since man lost his spiritual soul from God, he no longer had any righteousness, but resided in opposition to God in unrighteousness. God prepared a way of escape from the eternal torment of darkness and terror outside of God’s goodness. Man is created in God’s image as an eternal being and will spend the remainder of eternity in outer darkness unless God prepared a way of escape for him.

God prepared atonement from his own righteousness giving man the opportunity to once again regain righteousness and escape an eternal torment separated from God. Man lost his breath of righteousness from God by his distrust in God and his subsequent reliance on his own abilities.

Man must regain this righteousness from God in the reverse order in which it was lost. He must use the sovereignty given to him by God to make a new confession of faith in God through God’s only begotten son, Jesus.

Man must exercise his sovereign freewill choice to accept Christ as his Savior and God by faith. This faith is in the promise of Christ that he will baptize (quicken) a man with the Holy Ghost (a new breath of righteousness from Jesus). This breath of life from Christ will indwell the person who believes the promises of Jesus by faith.

A person is commits himself back under God’s will by faith as opposed to faith in his own abilities. Man hears the gospel of Christ and chooses to love the attributes of God in Christ rather than his own lustful desire to be his own god. The born again experience is a matter of a person loving the attributes of God and accepting him as creator God. He accepts the free gift of eternal life through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost.

Man is a sovereign being and has this freewill choice to accept salvation from Christ and dwell in eternity with him. Man may choose to reject the love of Christ, be his own god, and follow Satan into the eternal Lake of Fire.

Man, in his sovereign freewill state, has the innate ability to know right from wrong in order to make his choice of love or hate for the creator. If he chooses to love the creator, he does it by faith and receives the free gift of eternal life in heaven. If he chooses to reject this free gift, he has chosen self condemnation to an eternal Lake of Fire located in outer darkness. There is not one iota of light from God in this quarantined Lake of Fire for the unrighteous.

Separation from a righteous God is unrighteousness. Man cannot abide in the presence of a righteous God unless he is also righteous. The only righteousness available is from God. Apart from God, there is no righteousness. The very best that man can do on his own is as filthy rags in the sight of God. Man is evil outside of God’s righteousness and must accept God’s righteousness to avoid the Lake of Fire.

For man to obtain righteousness, he must love its attributes. Those who love God have chosen to love the attributes of a righteous God as opposed to the attributes of unrighteousness. Those who love themselves in lieu of loving God would never be happy in heaven and will not go there. In fact, unrighteousness cannot exist in the presence of a righteous God.

Those, who choose to love Christ, will accept him as their God and Savior by faith and will be born again into purity. This spirit of Christ dwelling with the born again individual is the only righteousness that is attainable by lost mankind. Why is it called being lost? Mankind, through Adam, lost the breath of God and now mankind is lost in darkness and can only attain light from God through the new spiritual birth.

Why did God create man with a freewill choice of righteousness or unrighteousness? God made Adam first before he made Eve. Adam was lonely because he had all of the things God had provided in his creation, but Adam had no one to share them. God said, “It is not good that man should be alone”. Adam had God for communion, but no one of his own kind to share his life.

Was God stating his own thoughts about himself? God had his creation, but no one to love him and share his thoughts and creation. True, God had angels, but they are similar to robots. They are created beings to do his commands and “must” do exactly as God directs in all matters. If I create a robot and program it to love me, I really love myself as the robot is only reacting to a preset program I have placed in its memory.

The robot did not choose to love me, it only responded as programmed. God created man and ceded sovereignty to man to love God or reject God. Those who choose to love God are born again with a new spirit from God. However, this time, man has chosen this free gift of righteousness by his own sovereign choice. Man becomes a new creature in Christ and God now has some of his own kind to share his creation and life.

God made man’s companion from man himself. He took the rib from man and made his companion, Eve. The Bible says, “A woman is to man as man is to God”.

The incarnate Word of the Gospel comes from God into the heart of man to pierce his heart and causes him to be born again of the Spirit of God. The man becomes part of the church or the Bride of Christ. So, as Eve came from Adam, also the Church comes from Christ. Adam and Eve appear to be a picture of Jesus and the Church. As Adam now had someone to love him and share his life, God will also have a people through his Church to truly love him and share his life.

God did not want Adam to sin and bring destruction to God’s creation, but could not help but know the end from the beginning as he is God. God had already taken the failure of Adam (mankind) and determined a better way to resolve the problem of love and companionship, although God would have to lose some of his creation in the process.

We go back to Adam and Eve’s status. They were made perfect, talked and communed with God, initially had faith in his promise, but they did not know the opposite of God, which was unrighteousness. Adam and Eve lived in total innocence. They knew God, but had no comparison of his attributes with other attributes that were not of God. They could choose to obey God and be his companions, but probably could not understand his true love nor could they experience true love to God.

Maybe, they were like those under the law, who only knew to obey or disobey the law, but did not understand the love of God. Christians are saved by grace through faith and are not under the law. We often disobey God in the flesh, but with our minds we still love God for who he is and his total essence. The era of grace is better than the era of the law, because we choose to love God and know he loves us. We do not have to worry about keeping a bunch of rituals to be his child, feel his love, and love him in return.

In some respects, those who become God’s children through love have it better than those who were children of God in the Garden of Eden through obedience. However, the downside is all who willfully choose eternal punishment with Satan as opposed to choosing a loving God.

Satan appealed to Adam, causing him to doubt God in order to become is own god. Satan told Adam, “You will not die”. When you eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, you will become as God”. Adam changed his faith from God to follow his own wisdom and become his own god. Adam immediately lost his righteous soul and fell into darkness and unrighteousness.

Today, men walk in darkness not knowing the goodness and loving care of God. Man is spiritually dead (separated) from God. Man will remain dead to God forever unless he attains a new spiritual soul. How does man attain this spiritual soul, or become clothed with the proper garment for the wedding? Eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil provided Adam with the ability to know the difference from good and evil. God is good and man’s best is as filthy rags (evil). Man must attain righteousness from God to be able to live in God’s presence and commune with him.

Man witnesses the goodness of God daily, and God’s creation and power is evident everywhere. God provided a way for man to regain another spiritual soul (breath of life). Man is now free from the penalty of the Adamic sin, but each man has a choice to remain in his present sinful state, or accept righteousness from Christ. He must accept the free gift of salvation from Jesus which equips him with another spiritual soul from God.

Man has the innate knowledge between good and evil, but must make his choice. Man’s free will choice to accept Christ or reject him determines his fate.

God has given definite examples of the plight of those who choose their way and want to be their own god. Satan was cast out of heaven, Adam was cast out of the Garden of Eden, and Cain was cast out of the presence of God into the land of Nod. Since God is completely righteous and no evil dwells within him, he cannot let evil abide in his presence. Once time is no more, all evil must be purged from the universe and quarantined from the presence of righteousness.

God has no beginning and no end and is present at every point in time of man’s past, present, and future. God did not want Adam to sin (fall), but knew the end result of Adam’s decision. God had already made a way of escape from the eternal spiritual death of man. From the foundation of the earth God had predestined he would unite with his creation and incarnate his essence in the form of his only begotten Son, Jesus.

For man to have a freewill choice to love or reject Christ, God ceded some of his authority and gave man his choice of heaven or hell. Evil must eventually be quarantined from God and his righteousness. Man is made in the image of God, eternal, and with the ability to choose between good and evil. God has no control over a man’s decision to accept or reject salvation through his Son.

Many ask the question, why does God allow evil? First, Adam brought evil into God’s perfect creation, but God is omnipotent and can even use this to his advantage and our advantage. With evil in the world man now has a contrast with God’s righteousness and can choose to love God and be an eternal companion of God. The downside of this is that man has the freewill to reject God.

From this freewill choice by man, God can have a people who truly love him. No longer will God be alone, but will have others to share his creation. We are not robots, but truly have freewill, and the God given right to choose and love as we please. God first loved us, and we have chosen to love him.

God never forces any person to accept him or reject him. It is up to each individual as to their choice and final eternal destination. Why are there only two choices? Man was not created for himself, he was created for God. Man will glorify God by accepting him or rejecting him. If he rejects God, he is saying, “I do not love you or your ways and do not want to live with you”. Instead, man says, “I will choose my own way of life and live it the way I please”. God allows each man that right, but man is forewarned of the end result of his choice.

God wants every man to love him; he is not willing that any should perish. He begot a son of a human by a spiritual miracle and then slew him on the cross as the Lamb of God to take a way the penalty of the original sin caused by Adam. The price has already been paid for a man to receive a new spirit. It grieves God that many will not take the offer and will totally reject him and his Son. However, God has relinquished that right of choice to each man.

God’s plan to create man and give him freewill has a cost. It has cost God dearly as many humans choose to hate the creator and reject him as God. It grieves God to see all the evil deeds in his creation. It cost God a perfect creation which is now full of sin and in a degrading chaotic state. God has to watch as he sees all the murders, rapes, homosexual activity, lies, wars, thefts, and the many innocent people that have to suffer or die because of this evil. However, God had to allow this to give man free will choice to love or hate God.

Through the redemptive atonement of Christ, Adam, Eve, and all their descendants are free from the penalty of Adam’s sin. Like the Israelites, brought out of bondage by Moses into the wilderness, man is now in his own wilderness to either accept the resurrection power of Christ by faith to enter the Promised Land, or reject this resurrection power and die in the wilderness.

Mankind is the soil in Matthew, chapter 13, where Satan and God would plant their seed and man would have to make a choice as to whom he would serve. Man receives the wooing of Satan and God, both the good and bad seed in his mind. The choice of righteousness and unrighteousness is before each man, and he must make one choice or the other.

In Matthew, chapter 13, man considers both seeds. He begins to love the one and hate the other, or hate the one and love the other. Eventually, a choice will be made between the two by all men. If a person chooses God, he has decided he loves God and wants God to be the master of his life. The seed of God germinates into the plant of wheat (born again believer), and man receives the spirit of God into his being. He is born again receiving a new spiritual soul from God.

The man, who rejects God, chooses the broad path to destruction and follows the wicked angels and Satan into the Lake of Fire. These unrighteous never receive a new spirit from God because they rejected it. They have effectively blasphemed the Holy Ghost. These are the ones in the wilderness who choose not to enter the Promised Land by faith.

God now has a people who have accepted his essence by faith, and love his ways. We Christians love God with all of our hearts. We love all there is about God and his Son, Jesus. We have made the choice to be with God. God also loves us and has promised that we will immediately be in his presence when we die the physical death, or are changed into an immortal body at the Rapture.

Since we have already made the choice, and truly love God, we will shed this physical body and receive a new glorified body. After every person that will accept God has done so, Jesus will end time on this earth and time will be no more. There will only be eternity. Christians will spend eternity in heaven. Since evil must be purged from God’s creation, God prepared a place for it so that it would be forever separated from his righteousness and righteous creation.

All wickedness will be eternally quarantined in a special place, Lake of Fire (outer darkness). In heaven, there will never be another iota of unrighteousness, nor ever any choice between good and evil. Evil will have been quarantined to never affect righteousness again. This is the reason the Bible stated there was a great gulf between the abode of the Rich man who was in hell and Lazarus who was in Abraham’s bosom. The rich man was told that neither of them could ever cross the gulf to the other side.

God will separate himself and us from both the fallen angels and unrighteous man. Since man is a created eternal being, the unrighteous will be banished from God into outer darkness where there will be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Those people will still be gnashing their teeth and cursing God as they enter hell, and all they had to do to avoid this was to choose to love God rather than to hate God.

Father Time

Born Again

The term “born again” must be placed in its proper perspective or false doctrines will arise from it. It is so simple that a child can understand, but Satan tries to confuse everyone. The action taken to birth someone into God’s family is performed by Christ with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It is a spiritual action by Christ and must be attained through man’s faith in God’s Word.

Being born again spiritually is the result of a marriage of the Bridegroom and the Bride. The Bridegroom says I love you, “will you marry me and become one with me”? The Bride says, “Yes, I love you too and cannot live the rest of my life without you. Yes, I will become one with you, and let you be my husband”. The Bride gives herself to the Bridegroom without any reservation. The Bridegroom promises to keep, protect, and love his wife forever. The Bride is the church (born again individuals) and the Bridegroom is Christ.

In a perfect environment (born of the spirit of God), this union can never be broken. What God has put together, let not man put asunder. In the carnal world with physical bodies, this union is often broken. With Christ the spiritual union of being born again can never be broken by either the Bride or the Bridegroom. No one, not even the Bride, can break this seal of eternal security as Christ has sealed this union. Christ is the only one that could break the seal, and he promises this will never happen.

The love is there in a marriage and both feel the intense love between the Bride and Bridegroom, but you cannot see love. You can only see the fruits of love by observing the couple’s union with each other. There is wooing and a call by the Bridegroom to the Bride. There is an acceptance by the Bride; she has complete faith in her love and the love of the Bridegroom. She has complete faith that he will keep her forever. The Bridegroom has given his promise and seals it with a ceremony and an everlasting ring of promise and ownership that the Bride belongs to him. The Bride also knows the ring means she belongs forever with him and him with her.

Being born again starts with two things, the faith of the believer and the grace of God. God has established grace that seals the deal and makes it official after the Bride accepts. Jesus, through his Holy Ghost, woos “all” of mankind to love him and join him in a union. God loved us first. A person is attracted to Jesus through hearing the preaching of the gospel of his love.

In the wooing of a woman by a man, the woman does not accept the wooing of all men. She might reject one who pursues her and accept another who pursues her. The same is true in the spiritual realm where Christ, through the Holy Ghost, woos all of mankind to accept Christ as Lord and Savior to become part of the church and the Bride of Christ. Satan also woos mankind and most choose Satan.

When a person accepts the love of Christ and loves him in return and accepts his promise of eternal life in Christ, the person is born again of the spirit of Christ and becomes one with Christ for eternity.

A person accepts this wooing and free gift of love from God and in return submits their entire being to Christ. Jesus knows the heart of everyone. He sees this person truly loves his Word (essence), and he accepts this love. In exchange, Jesus seals this love with the ring of ownership and his promise that he will never forsake this person. Jesus baptizes this person with his own spirit of love (Holy Ghost) and this person is forever sealed as his own. This person is now one with God and experiences the love of God in his heart.

The married couple has complete confidence in their love and devotion to each other, so do the born again in Jesus. Both feel the love and it is indeed real. Both communicate with each other in an aura of love and know each other intimately. The union consists of God’s action of wooing the lost to him, their acceptance by faith and love, and his free gift of salvation sealing the deal and making it eternal. It is both an act of promise by Jesus and an actual changing of the heart of the individual by Christ through the spirit.

We now go to scripture to confirm the act of being born again. First, we must remember that God extends his love and the invitation to us, and then we must confirm our love for him by our acceptance of that invitation by faith. The free gift of eternal life by Jesus is salvation and we have no part in it, other than accepting it by faith. Christ then performs the act of birthing us into the kingdom and sealing the deal for eternity.

It must be emphasized there is only one way to eternal life and that is through Jesus. He has provided the grace (act of redemption) by his death for our sins and the promise and power of resurrection of our souls from death unto eternal life through his own resurrection. We know God has provided everything, but our faith, so we access God’s grace through our act of faith.

John 14:6 Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Ephesians 2:8-9 8By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast.

There is none of man’s works involved in salvation as shown in the Ephesians passage. The phrase “it is the gift of God” does not refer back to the word “faith” in Ephesians, but to the plan of salvation. So, faith is the characteristic of man and not God. God needs no faith as he is always sure. He speaks and it happens.

Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.

All, who will be born again, must submit themselves to God’s grace by faith. Those who are trying to find God some other way will fail and spend eternity in hell. “The Just shall live by faith”. “Without faith, it is impossible to please God”. “Anything that is not of faith is sin”. Even those saved in Old Testament days were saved by faith.

Luke 12:8 I say unto you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the son of man also confess before the angels of God. (A person confesses Jesus as Lord and Savior by their faith and Christ secures them for eternity)

Luke 10:25, 27 25Behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 27He answering said, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with thy entire mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.

Just as the Bride must love her husband with all of her heart and submit herself completely to him, a person must submit themselves completely to God in love. The love of God must be all consuming to their soul.

We now turn our attention to the phrase “born again”. The passage below is the key to this discussion.

John 3:3, 5-8 3Jesus said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 5Jesus answered, Verily, verily; I say unto thee, except a man is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. 8The wind blows where it lists, and you hear the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it comes, and whither it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

It is emphasized by Jesus that a person must be born again. Jesus stressed the word “verily” twice (truly, truly or surely, surely) in verse 3. Adam lost his spiritual soul when he lost his faith in God. All of Adam’s descendants were then born without spiritual souls. For man to escape hell and be reunited with God, he must have a new spiritual soul.

Man is born of water in the physical body. We are surrounded in a physical sac of fluids when born. We are made of 90% water. Water birth gives us physical life, but not spiritual life. Jesus restates physical birth through water another way, “that which is born of flesh is flesh”. We must also be born of the spirit of God to inherit eternal life in Christ.

We feel the wind blowing, hear it, and see its results, but cannot see the wind. A Christian born of the spirit of God feels the presence of the Holy Ghost, we hear him spiritually speak to us, but we do not actually see the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost of Jesus is with us but not Jesus himself. We know for sure we have his presence with us, but cannot show him to you in a physical sense, other than the results of this spirit of Christ in our lives.

You see leaves move on the trees, and you see trees uprooted when the wind is strong. We observe actions of the Holy Ghost in the lives of Christians more strongly and less strongly at times, depending on our willingness for Christ to lead us, or our resistance to him due to our own egos.

We normally feel the Holy Ghost more strongly in the presence of other Christians. It is similar to loose, hot coals brought together in a pile in a stove. When the coals are close together, the fire is hotter. If you stir them, you see the fire and sparks from the coals. In a worship service where we are leaving our egos behind, we are more in his will and more pliable to the working of the Holy Ghost who is always present in us.

The spirit of Christ in each Christian is similar to the hot coals brought together to make the fire hotter. The Holy Ghost is stronger in the midst of many Christians than it is in an individual Christian in most instances. However, this is not always true. Some individuals have given themselves over to God in such devotion to his work that their own egos are almost non-existent and the power of Christ’s Spirit in them is extremely powerful.

Christians should study the Word of God and talk with God all through the day via the Holy Ghost in us. Christians live by faith through the Holy Spirit within us. We do not try to make contact with spiritual beings. The earth is filled with demonic spiritual beings wanting to contact and possess those who would be fooled by them. Christianity bypasses these demonic beings. We talk directly to God through the Holy Ghost dwelling in us by faith. We do not need to see or talk physically with any demonic beings.

John 3:14-16 14As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Those who look upon the Savior on the cross and accept his atonement for their sins and accept the resurrected Savior, as God incarnate in Jesus, has everlasting (eternal) life in Christ and will never perish.

John 3:18-21 18He that believeth on him is not condemned; he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone that does evil hates the light; neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21He that does truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Verses 18-21 describe the attributes of God’s children. The lost shuns the Word of God. They cannot bear to hear about God, his Son, nor warnings to them of their wicked ways. He that is born again of God, loves to come to the light of the scriptures, loves the teachings of the Holy Ghost, loves to talk about God and his Son, and loves to worship God with their brothers in Christ.

1 Peter 1:18-19, 22-25 18Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 22Seeing 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, fervent heart.

23we are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever. 24For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower thereof falls away: 25But the word of the Lord endures for ever. This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. We are then born again through our faith and his grace (free gift of eternal life). We are born of the incorruptible Word of God which is eternal. Those who have accepted the preaching of the gospel (Word of God) have this spirit engrafted into their souls. This Word of God lives forever. We are born again by the act of Jesus giving us the free gift of a new spiritual soul that is eternal.

John 1:11-13 11He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Note, verse 13 states we are born of God. We become a child of God through this new birth. Also, it is stated that man cannot attain salvation through his own efforts or his own will. Anyone trying to attain perfection or salvation through his own works will wind up in the Lake of Fire.

John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. We ingest this Word of God into our very essence and it births us into a new spiritual life. We then pass from the death of the soul, which was caused by Adam, into a new creature with a new spiritual soul of eternal life.

Ephesians 1:13-14 13In 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, 14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

We hear the Word of God (truth), we trust it (believe it), and it becomes our salvation as Jesus seals us with the Holy Spirit unto life eternal. We have passed from death unto eternal life through the new birth.

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man loves me, he will keep my words: my Father will love him; we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Jesus first loved us, we hear the gospel of his grace and commit ourselves to his love and love him in return. We become a union with God and his Son, Jesus. We are born again of God.

I John 4:15 whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God. (We become one with God. We are in him and he is in us. We now belong to him eternally.)

Luke 17:20-21 20And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

The kingdom of God is within every person who is born again of the Holy Spirit of God. We are already present with God. When this body dies, it decays, but we remain with God due to the new birth.

John 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (A simple verse affirming that a believer “has” eternal life.)

Romans 5:1-2 1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2By whom also we have access by faith unto this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Born again believers have the peace of God in our lives. Our faith and love in Jesus, and his saving grace makes us to rejoice constantly. We possess the hope of God’s glory wherewith he has promised us eternal life in heaven with him.

I John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loves him that begat loves him also that is begotten of him.

I John 5:10-13 10He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11This is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

This passage confirms all other verses which say, “We know we have eternal life”. Jesus has shown his love to us, we have accepted that love and his free gift of salvation by faith, and our love in submitting ourselves to him. This passage confirms eternal life for Christians and confirms it cannot be lost.

I John 5:4-5 4Whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. 5Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.

All, born again of God’s love and Spirit, are eternally secure. The born again “will” overcome the world. Our faith and God’s salvation in Jesus made us one in Christ.

Galatians 2:20-21 20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness comes by the law, and then Christ is dead in vain.

As Jesus died for our sins, we die to ourselves (ego). We crucify daily our desires and place our desires in God’s care and let his will live through us. The more we crucify our own fleshly desires, the more Jesus can live through us and produce righteous fruits in us. This is the content of a happy Christian.

When a Christian fails to let the Holy Ghost lead him and live through him, God will attempt to rear the Christian in ways to allow enrichment of his life in Christ. If a Christian becomes rebellious to the Holy Ghost dwelling in him, God will chastise the Christian to help him become obedient to Christ. If he continues in his rebellion, God may remove his protection and let the person live a life of suffering in the world and/or die an early shameful death in the flesh. However, a Christian is still a child of God and will be in heaven at the end of time.

John 4:23-24 The hour cometh, and is now present, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; the Father seeks such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Since we are born again of the Spirit of God, we must worship God in spirit, and try to daily bring the flesh into submission to the spirit. A Christian’s works amounts to zero for attaining salvation. We have already been secured for eternity. Our works are the results of our faith and Jesus producing fruit through our lives.

Father Time

The Apostate

Most of the following was copied from the Believer’s Bible Commentary. It is mostly raw data from this reference.

Apostates are those who hear the gospel, make a profession of being Christian, and become identified with a Christian church. Later they abandon their profession of faith, decisively repudiate Christ, desert the Christian fellowship, and take their place with enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. Apostasy is an act which can be committed only by unbelievers, not by those who are merely deceived, but by those who knowingly, willfully, and maliciously turn against the Lord.

Apostasy should not be confused with the acts of the average unbeliever who hear the gospel but does nothing about it. For instance, a man may fail to respond to Christ after repeated invitations from the Holy Spirit. But he is not an apostate. He can still be saved if he will commit himself to the Savior. Of course, if he dies in unbelief, he is lost forever, but he is not hopeless as long as he is capable of exercising faith in the Lord.

Apostasy should not be confused with backsliding. A true believer may wander far from Christ. Through rebellion, his fellowship with God is strained even though he is a child of God. He may reach the point where he is no longer recognized in his daily life as being a “reliable” Christian; however, he is still a “child of God”. He can be restored to fellowship when he confesses and forsakes his backslidden ways.

The backslider is somewhat like the prodigal son. Even though he has lost fellowship with the family, he is still a member and still a son of the father. As in the story of the prodigal son, the father was glad to see his son come to his senses and restore the fellowship with his family. The father killed the fatted calf and had a feast, because his son had overcome his rebelliousness. He “never” ceased to be his father’s son.

John was writing about people who had professed to be believers and had participated in the activities of local churches. They then imbibed the false teaching of the Gnostics and spitefully left the Christian fellowship. Their deliberate departure indicates they had never been born again, by openly denying that Jesus is the Christ (1 John 2:22 who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist that denies the Father and the Son), they proved they did not have the love of Christ (Holy Ghost) dwelling in them.

1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

Some earnest Christians are troubled when they read Hebrews 6 and similar passages. Satan uses these verses to unsettle believers who are having physical, mental, or emotional difficulties. These fear they have fallen away from Christ and there is no hope for restoration. They worry that they have drifted beyond redemption’s point. The fact they are even concerned about it is conclusive evidence they are not apostates! An apostate would not have any such fears; he would brazenly repudiate Christ.

If the sin of apostasy does not apply to believers, to whom then does it apply in our day? It might apply, for instance, to a young person who makes a profession of faith in Christ and seems to go on brightly for a while, but then something happens in his/her life. Perhaps he/she experiences bitter persecution, falls into gross immorality, or shaken by the anti-Christian arguments of atheistic people. With full knowledge of the truth, the apostate deliberately turns away from it, completely renounces Christ, and viciously tramples on every sacred fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith.

The Bible says it is impossible to restore such a one to repentance, and experience corroborates the Bible. We have known many who apostate from Christ, but never one who has returned to him. As we approach the end, expect a rising tide of apostasy. The warning against falling away becomes more relevant every day that passes. Those that do not fall away, but continue seeking the love of Christ eventually accept Christ and are sealed with the Holy Ghost.

6:7 The writer then turns to the world of nature to find a counterpart to the true believer (v7) and to the apostate (v8). In both cases the person is likened to the land. Privileges listed in verses 4 and 5 are compared to the invigorating rain. The crop of vegetation speaks of the ultimate response of the person to the privileges received. This determines whether the land is blessed or cursed. The true believer is like the land which drinks in the rain, brings forth useful vegetation, and is blessed by God.

6:8 The apostate is like land that is well watered but bears only thorns and briers, the fruit of sin. It receives but never produces useful plants. Such land is worthless. It is condemned, the hot sun continually bakes the land, and it lies desolate. The apostate receives the same preaching, outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the entire congregation, and fellowship of Christians, but he is still empty inside. They have never really accepted Christ as their Savior and God. He eventually turns from the Christian concept and denies Christ as God and Savior.

6:9 There are two strong indications in verses 9 and 10 that the apostates, described in the preceding verses, are unbelievers. First, there is the abrupt change in pronouns. In discussing apostates, the writer refers to them as “they.” Now in addressing true believers, he uses the pronouns you and your. The second indication is even clearer. Speaking to believers, he says, “But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation.” The inference is that the things he had described in verses 4–6 and 8 do not accompany salvation.

6:10 Two things that accompany salvation were manifest in the lives of the saints—their work and their labor of love. Their faith manifested itself in a life of good works, and they had the hallmark of true Christianity—active love for the household of faith. They continued to serve the Lord’s people for his sake. This is a case for the verse “faith without works is dead”. The apostates have no faith. They enjoy and join in the physical fellowship of individuals, but never show the joy and peace of the Christian who has the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in his life. They really have no faith, so the end result is the apostate finally rejects Christ. Since there were no righteous works of peace and joy in their lives, it was evident they had no faith.

6:11 The next two verses seem to be written to a different class of people; namely, to those of whom the writer was not sure. These were the ones who seemed to be in danger of drifting back into Judaism. First, he desires that they will show the same earnestness as the true believers have shown in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end. He wants them to go on steadfastly for Christ until the final hope of a Christian is realized in their life. This is a proof of reality.

6:12 They should not become sluggish, allowing their feet to drag and their spirits to lag. They should press on, imitating all true believers who through faith and patience inherit the promises. If they press on toward achieving a faith in God, they will eventually accept Christ as Savior and God. If they never completely give themselves to God’s love, they become apostate. Matthew, chapter 13, the first parable shows the example of the apostate in the “seed” that gets choked by the pleasures of the world. The seed was planted, but never became wheat.

6:13 The closing section of chapter 6 is linked with the exhortation in verse 12 to press on with confidence and patience. The example of Abraham is given as a stimulus and the certainty of the believer’s hope is affirmed. In one sense, the Christian may seem to be at a disadvantage. He has given up all for Christ, and has nothing material to show for it. Everything is in the future. How then can he be sure that his hope is not in vain? The answer is found in God’s promise to Abraham, a promise that included in germ form “all” that he would later bestow in the Person of Christ. When God made that promise, he swore by himself since he could swear by no one greater.

6:14 The promise is found in Genesis 22:16, 17: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD … blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants. . . .” God pledged himself to carry out this promise, and therefore its fulfillment was assured.

6:15 Abraham believed in God; he patiently endured; and he received the fulfillment. Actually Abraham was not taking a chance in believing God. No risk was involved. The word of God is the surest thing in the universe. Any promise of God is as certain of fulfillment as if it had already taken place. Abraham was not saved by his act of willingness to sacrifice his son. He was saved by his faith in God that his son would live to be the Father of spiritual Israel. His act of sacrifice only proved he already had faith.

6:16 In human affairs, men swear by someone greater than themselves. In courts of law, for example, they promise to tell the truth and then add, “So help me, God.” They appeal to God for confirmation that what they are going to say is true. When men take an oath to confirm a promise, it normally ends all disputes. It is understood that the promise will be kept.

6:17 God wanted his believing people to be absolutely assured that what he promised would come to pass. Actually his bare promise would have been enough, but he wanted to show it to a greater extent than even by a promise. So he added an oath to the promise. The heirs of promise are all those who by faith are children of faithful Abraham. The heirs referred to is the promise of eternal salvation to all who believe on him. When God made a promise of a seed to Abraham, the promise found its full and ultimate fulfillment in Christ, and all the blessings that flow from union with Christ were therefore included in the promise.

6:18 The believer now has two unchangeable things on which to rely—God’s word and his oath. It is impossible to imagine anything more secure or certain. God promises to save all who believe on Christ; then he confirms it with an oath. The conclusion is inevitable: the believer is eternally secure.

In the remainder of chapter 6, the writer employs four figures to drive home the utter reliability of the Christian hope: (1) a city of refuge, (2) an anchor, (3) a forerunner, and (4) a High Priest. First, those who are true believers are pictured as fleeing from this doomed world to the heavenly city of refuge. To encourage them in their flight, God has given them an unfailing hope based upon his word and his oath.

6:19 In the storms and trials of life this hope serves as an anchor of the soul. The knowledge that our glorification is as certain as if it had already happened keeps us from drifting on the wild waves of doubt and despair. The anchor is not cast in the shifting sands of this world but takes hold in the heavenly sanctuary. Since our hope is the anchor, the meaning is that our hope is secured in God’s very presence behind the veil. Just as sure as the anchor is there, we shall be there also.

6:20 Jesus has gone into the inner shrine also as our forerunner. His presence there insures the ultimate entrance of all who belong to him. It is no exaggeration to say that the simplest believer on earth is as certain of heaven as the saints who are already there.

D. Anderson-Berry writes: The word translated “forerunner” is found nowhere else in the New Testament. This expresses an idea never contemplated in the Levitical economy, for the high priest entered the holiest only as a representative. He entered where none could follow. But our forerunner is a pledge that where he is, we also shall be. As forerunner he (1) announced our future arrival there; (2) took possession of heaven’s glories on our behalf; and (3) has gone to be able to bid his people welcome when they come, and to present them before the Majesty of heaven.

The fourth figure is that of High Priest. Our Lord has become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. His eternal priesthood guarantees our eternal preservation. Just as surely as we have been reconciled to God by his death, so surely are we saved by his life as our Priest at God’s right hand (Rom. 5:10).

This mention of Jesus as High Priest in the order of Melchizedek reminds us that this subject was interrupted at verse 5:10 when the author digressed on the extended warning against apostasy. Now he is ready to resume his theme that Christ’s high priesthood is superior to Aaron’s. He has skillfully returned to the main flow of argument.

7:1 Melchizedek was an enigmatic figure who appeared briefly on the stage of human history (Gen. 14:18–20), then disappeared. Centuries later his name was mentioned by David (Ps. 110:4). Then, after a lapse of additional centuries, it reappears in the book of Hebrews. One thing is apparent: God arranged the details of his life so that he would be an excellent type of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In these first three verses of chapter 7 we have some historical facts concerning him. We are reminded that he combined the offices of king and priest in his person. He was king of Salem (later called Jerusalem), and priest of the Most High God. He was the political and spiritual leader of his people. That is, of course, God’s ideal—that there should be no separation between the secular and the sacred. When sinful man is reigning it is necessary to separate church and state. Only when Christ reigns in righteousness will it be possible to unite the two (Isaiah. 32:1, 17).

Melchizedek encountered Abraham when the latter was returning from a military victory and blessed him. The significance of this act is reserved for verse 7. If we had only the OT Scriptures, we would never realize the deep significance of these seemingly irrelevant details.

7:2 Abraham gave a tenth part of the spoils of war to this mysterious king-priest. Again we must wait till verses 4, 6, 8–10 to learn the hidden meaning of Abraham’s tithe. In the Scriptures, a man’s name stands for what he is. We learn about Melchizedek’s name and his title: his name means “king of righteousness” and his title (king of Salem) means “king of peace.” It is not without meaning that righteousness is mentioned first, then peace. There cannot be peace unless first there is righteousness. We see this clearly in the work of Christ. At the cross, “Mercy and truth … met together; righteousness and peace … kissed” (Ps. 85:10). Because the Savior met all the righteous demands of God against our sins, we can have peace with God.

7:3 The puzzle concerning Melchizedek deepens when we read that he had no father nor mother, genealogy, birth, nor death. If we divorce these statements from their context, we would have to conclude that he was a visitor from heaven or from another planet, or that he was a special creation of God.

But the key to understanding lies in taking these statements in their context. The subject is priesthood. The writer is distinguishing between the Melchizedekan priesthood and the Aaronic. In order to qualify for the Aaronic priesthood a man had to be born of the tribe of Levi and of the family of Aaron. Genealogy was all-important. Also, his qualification began at birth and ended at death.

Melchizedek’s priesthood was quite different. He did not inherit the priesthood by being born into a priestly family. God simply picked him out and designated him as a priest. As far as his priesthood was concerned, there is no record of his father or mother or genealogy. In his case, this was of no importance, and as far as the record is concerned, no mention is made of his birth or death; therefore his priesthood continues.

We should not conclude that Melchizedek had no parents, that he was never born, and that he never died. That is not the point. The thought is that as far as his priesthood was concerned, there is no record of these vital statistics because his ministry as priest was not dependent on them.

He was not the Son of God, as some have mistakenly thought, but was made like the Son of God in this respect, that his priesthood continued without interruption. Now the author is going to demonstrate that Melchizedek’s priesthood is superior to Aaron’s. There are three arguments in the proof: the argument concerning the tithes and blessing; the argument concerning a change that has taken place, replacing the Aaronic priesthood; and the argument concerning the perpetuity of the Melchizedekan priesthood.

Father Time

Body Sleeps, Soul Lives

Some ground rules: physical death is nothing more than the death of the body our souls presently inhabit. God made man in his image, with an eternal soul that will never die. God also made man a body for the soul to inhabit. Adam was made with a soul and body that were to live together as an entity for eternity.

Adam broke the rules of God. God had promised Adam that in the very day he quit trusting in God and trusted in his own judgment, he would surely die that same day. Since God made man in his image, with an eternal soul, death of the soul merely meant separation from the life of righteousness in God. The soul that sins will surely die (be separated from the righteousness of God), but it would remain a living soul for eternity. The soul of a righteous man is never separated from God, but the soul of a condemned man is separated from God for eternity.

There are three deaths for mankind. Adam instituted the first death. God had breathed his breath of life and righteousness into Adam and he became a living soul with God. He was one with God in that he had the breath of God in him. As soon as Adam removed his faith from God, he immediately was separated from God. Adam’s spiritual soul, breath from God died, and he was immediately separated from God.

Adam was still an entity and had a soul of his own, but it was no longer in union with the life of God. The life of God in Adam died, he was separated from God, and all of his descendents would be born without this spiritual connection (soul, breath of life from God). All men born since Adam are separated from God, and can only become part of God again through Christ and the Holy Ghost.

Since righteousness was separated from man (Adam), his body would begin to take on the effects of the tainted world and evil of mankind caused by man’s own actions. Man’s bodies would begin to decay and die, but the soul that inhabits it is eternal and will never cease to exist. The bodies we inhabit are tainted by the sin and must eventually die, to be replaced with an eventual resurrected body which will be inhabited with the eternal soul of man.

When a man is born again, it is due to his faith in the promise of God and the application of grace by Christ in the form of the Holy Ghost. This new birth of the Christian is the indwelling of the perfect Holy Ghost (Spirit of Christ) in the regenerated new creature. The separated man has now become one with God again through the Holy Ghost.

The born again creature in Christ now has a new heart and is in union with God for eternity. This soul of the once separated man is now united with the soul of Christ for eternity. Our soul becomes one with Christ, and we always be wherever Christ will be. Since death of the soul is nothing more than separation from God, the new born again person’s soul will never be separated from Christ and will not experience the second death of man’s soul.

The third death, the second death of the soul, is the final judgment of the wicked (those without Christ). Those, who never accepted the free gift of salvation from Christ through faith, remain separated from God in their physical bodies until it decays and dies. Then their eternal soul, still separated from God, will be temporarily confined to hell until the judgment day.

At the judgment day, the bodies of these wicked will be resurrected into an immortal body that can live forever along with the soul that will inhabit this newly resurrected body, but both will be cast into the Lake of Fire that burns for eternity. This is the second death of the soul that has never accepted the free gift of salvation.

The gist of the descriptions is that all souls will live for eternity. The souls that reject the only salvation available will live eternally separated from God in the Lake of Fire. The soul of the born again believer, those who accepts the free salvation offered by God, will also live eternally, but will live eternally with Christ in heaven in a blissful place that is so much greater than this life that it cannot be explained to mortals.

The remainder of this topical study will deal with scriptures verifying the fact a man who is born again of Christ will never see death or separation of his soul from Christ. All born again Christians are already alive in Christ (united with him in spirit) and will continue to be with Christ in heaven at the immediate cessation of this physical body. I will not attempt to show the scriptures proving the unsaved souls will go directly to hell in this study. I have two other studies that prove that fact indisputably.

Be careful about taking scripture out of context: for instance, when Jesus said, Moses is dead, he meant his physical body. We know his spiritual soul was with God, because Moses and Elias appeared on the Mount of transfiguration with Jesus.

Job 12:10 In whose hand (God’s) is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. (The soul of the righteous is always in the hand of Christ.)

Psalms 23:4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. (Christ is with our souls during death)

Psalms 49:15 God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. (David said he would be received into heaven at his physical death.)

Psalms 56:12-13 12Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee. 13Thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that “I may walk before God in the light of the living”? (Christ delivers the soul from death; it is separated from the physical to be with Christ)

Psalms 66:9 God holds our soul in life, and suffers not our feet to be moved. (Christ holds/keeps our soul in life; he is constantly united with our soul through the Holy Ghost.)

Proverbs 10:2-3 2Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivers from death. 3The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casts away the substance of the wicked. (The righteousness of the Holy Ghost delivers our soul from the power of death to the body and Christ will not allow the soul to famish in hell when it leaves the body; it will remain united with Christ.)

Ecclesiastes 7:1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. (The person who has a good name, united with Christ has a better life in Christ at the death of his body than he has from the time he is born until the time his body dies.)

Matthew 10:28 Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (It is clear here that the body can be dead, but the spirit is either alive in Christ or alive and being ruined in hell. Note the passage did not say the soul was killed in hell, but it is destroyed, ruined, in hell.)

Matthew 18:8-9 8If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9If thine eye offends thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. (A person may live maimed in this life, but it is better than to die physically and the soul be cast into hell fire at death. If those without Christ still have a soul in hell, then those with Christ have their soul in heaven.)

Matthew 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. (Jesus states in the above that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive as he speaks. Jesus also assures all that he is God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (The soul continues to live after the body dies.)

Matthew 27:52-53 52The graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. (These saints bodies were asleep, were resurrected, reunited with their souls and are now in heaven with Christ)

Mark 12:25-27 25When they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. 26As touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. (Again, God states that the souls live on after death. He is not the God of the dead bodies, but the God of righteous souls which are alive in Christ.)

Luke 16:22-26 22It came to pass, the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man died, and was buried; 23in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24He cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime received thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26Beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. (It is clear that both of these men’s bodies had died, but one’s soul was in hell and the other in Paradise with Jesus.)

Luke 17:20-21 20When he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (The kingdom of God is within the born again creature. It is the new spirit from Christ who makes us alive in him for eternity.)

Luke 20:37-38 37Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.

Luke 23:42-43, 46 42He said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou come into thy kingdom. 43Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shall thou be with me in Paradise. 46When Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. (Jesus told the thief his soul would be with Jesus immediately after his physical death)

John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him. (Those who are born again already have eternal life and shall never see spiritual death or sleep. They are alive and one with Christ.)
John 4:14 Whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (The Holy Ghost dwelling in the born again person will ensure that his soul is always alive with Christ.)

John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (Again, the believer has passed from spiritual death unto eternal spiritual life and shall always be alive in Christ.)

John 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (The believer has eternal life in Christ and will never see spiritual death nor be asleep, but will be alive. This is always stated in the present tense in the Bible)

John 8:52 The Jews said unto Jesus, now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou say, if a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. (Those who are born again shall never taste of spiritual death or limbo. Their bodies will die, but their spirits remain alive in Christ.)

John 11:11-14, 25-26 11These things said he: and after that he said unto them, our friend Lazarus sleeps; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. 12Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleeps, he shall do well. 13Howbeit Jesus spoke of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 14Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 25Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he was dead, yet shall he live. 26Whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Believe thou this? (Jesus told them that he was the resurrection. All, who die the physical death, still are in Christ and he is the life. The body sleeps, but the soul is with Christ. He did not tell the soul to awake in Lazarus, he told the soul to come forth back into the body of Lazarus. Jesus made it clear that the soul of the believer never dies)

John 12:25 He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. (Those who accept Christ, Holy Ghost, into their lives will receive life eternal from that point onward. The soul will not be affected by physical death.)

Acts 7:59-60 59They stoned Stephen while he was calling upon God. He said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord; lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Stephen’s spirit was received by Christ, but his body fell asleep.)

Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (When we accept the free gift, we have eternal life in Christ from that time forward and the spirit will never die.)

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 6We are always confident, knowing that, while we are home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7(For we walk by faith, not by sight) 8We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (Lest anyone get this mixed up, the born again always has the Holy Ghost of Christ dwelling in him, but he is not in the presence of the Christ in heaven. The minute we die the physical death, the Holy Ghost whisks us away to heaven and we are immediately in the presence of the Christ.)

Ephesians 2:5-6 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved): 6and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Even though we are not in the presence of Christ in heaven, we are with Christ and one with Christ through the power of the Holy Ghost in us. At our death, we are loosed from the physical and our spirit returns to the presence of Christ.)

Philippians 1:21-23 21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22If I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I want not. 23I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (Another verse telling us we yearn to be in the very presence of Christ in heaven, and will be when we shed this sinful body.)

Colossians 1:12-13 12Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (Through the power of the Holy Ghost, our souls have been translated into eternal life in Christ.)

2 Timothy 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: (The receiving of the gospel translates us from death into eternal life and we are alive spiritually for ever.)

2 Timothy 2:11 It is a faithful saying: for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: (We mortify our flesh by allowing Christ to live through us by the power of the Holy Ghost in us. The more we mortify our flesh, the more we allow Christ to live through us. At death of the flesh, the last obstacle has been removed, and we are immediately in the presence of Christ in heaven in our spirit.)

Hebrews 4:9-10 9There remains therefore a rest to the people of God. 10He that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (When we are born again of the spirit of Christ, we are no longer under the law of works, but we are made alive in Christ and rest in him in the spirit. Since we are in him in the spirit, our flesh will sleep until we receive a new immortal body, but our souls, spirit, are still with Christ in heaven.)

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death. (The born again have passed from spiritual death unto eternal spiritual life and shall always be alive in Christ.)

1 John 5:11-13 11This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (He that hath the Christ dwelling in him through the power of the Holy Ghost has the same life as Christ, an eternal, never ending spiritual life.)

Revelations 2:10 Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (This is for those who die as martyrs during the Tribulation. They will immediately be given a crown of life which is a reward for the martyrs of the Tribulation. Of course, this includes immediate spiritual life with Christ.)

Revelations 4:4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of Gold. (This scene describes some of those who have died the physical death, already received rewards, and are in the spiritual presence of Christ in heaven.)

Revelations 5:3, 5, 8-11 3No man in heaven, or in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. 5One of the elders said unto me, weep not: Behold, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loosen the seven seals thereof. 8When he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. 9They sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. 11I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; (In verse 3, the term “no man in heaven” proves the souls of men are not sleeping, but are in heaven with Christ. Verse eight affirms 24 elders whose spirits are before the throne. Verse 9 affirms men’s souls singing a new song and lists the souls from all kindred, languages, peoples, and nations. In verse 11, John states the number of souls present were about 100 million souls in heaven.)

Revelations 6:9-11 9When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11White robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. (This passage also lists many souls in heaven, yet their bodies are still asleep. You can read the details in the passage.)

Revelations 7:9-10 9I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindred’s, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10and cried with a loud voice, saying, salvation to our God which sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. (Another passage stating the quantity of souls in heaven which was such an enormous amount, no man could number them. It has to be remembered, these are all awaiting the end of the end of time on earth and before Christ sets up the 1000 year reign on the earth and their bodies lie asleep in the earth)

Revelations 14:13 I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, says the Spirit that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them. (Their spirits and their works precede their resurrected bodies into heaven. The spirits are immediately transported to heaven)

Matthew 5:21 As sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Sin has control of the soul unto the death of the body of the unbeliever. Eternal life reigns over the soul of the born again one and continues on into heaven.)

Matthew 9:24 He said unto them, give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleeps. They laughed him to scorn. (The body was sleeping, but not the soul. Jesus called the soul back into the body.)

Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls (The soul, of the born again, finds rest in Christ, but is not asleep like the body)

John 2:17 The world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abides for ever. (The Born-again are alive forever more in Christ even when the body is asleep awaiting its resurrection.)

John 3:5-6 5Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. (Those who are born again of the spirit of Christ are alive in Christ and part of the kingdom of God.)

John 3:16, 36 16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 36He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him. (The believers “have” everlasting life, not will obtain it.)

John 5:26 As the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. (Those born again of Christ are alive in Christ through the Holy Ghost)

John 6:40, 47, 63 40This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which sees the Son, and believed on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. 47Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. 63It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (Raise him up at the last day means his body will be resurrected into a new immortal body and reunited with his everlasting spirit which dwells with Christ. Jesus makes it clear by verifying it twice (verily, verily) the Christian “has” eternal life with Christ.)

John 8:12 Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (The light of life, Christ, has quickened made alive the soul of the born again child of God.)

John 10:28 I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (All born again are eternally alive and secure in Christ.)

John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he was dead, yet shall he live. (Even though his body sleeps, his soul lives in Christ.)

John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be. (The born again servant is “always” with Christ, never apart from him.)

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (Christ lives in each Christian, thus he is always alive.)

Romans 5:18, 21 18Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Salvation of God reigns eternally in the soul of the believer; he will always be alive in Christ.)

Romans 6:4, 11 4Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 11Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Our bodies will die because of sin, but our new souls are alive eternally.)

Romans 8:1-2, 10-11, 14, 38-39 1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 10If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If 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 dwells in you. 14As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (A born again child of God cannot be separated from Christ at death, nor for any other reason.)

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 16Don’t you know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are (Even though a born again Christian cannot lose his soul, he can have his flesh destroyed if he continues to defile it, because it is the temple of the Holy Ghost)

1 Corinthians 15:16-18, 22, 44-45 16If the dead rise not, and then is not Christ raised: 17and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 22As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45So it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. [Those (bodies), who have fallen asleep, but their souls are in Christ though the quickening of the Holy Ghost, are living souls alive in Christ and shall never perish.)

2 Corinthians 2:15-16 15We are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16To the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. (We are alive eternally in Christ and represent a sweet presence to other Christians, but represent eternal damnation to the wicked, that is why they hate Christians.)

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 16For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (We see spiritually and know our souls are eternal because we are in Christ and he is eternal.)

Galatians 2:19-20 19I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Christ actually lives in me through the power of the Holy Ghost; I am eternally alive in the spirit of Christ.)

Ephesians 2:19-22 19Therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21in whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22in whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Again, the Holy Ghost is life in all Christians for eternity. Our souls are one with Christ in eternal life.)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 13I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which also sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

1 Timothy 1:16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. (Believing brings eternal life into one’s soul.)

Hebrews 7:16 Jesus is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. (We are one with Jesus and have an unending spiritual life starting at the new birth.)

Hebrews 11:4-5 4Abel, through faith, offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet spoke. 5By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Abel was counted as righteous. In death he spoke to God as his spirit lived.)

1 Peter 1:23-25 23Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever. 24All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower thereof falls away: 25The word of the Lord endures for ever. This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (The soul does not wither away; it remains alive in Christ; the body withers away.)

1 Peter 3:18 Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (The spirit of Christ never died; it left the body at the cross. The spirit re-entered and resurrected his body into an immortal one. Christian’s bodies die; the souls are alive and go to be with Christ. At the Rapture, we come from heaven with Jesus; he resurrects our bodies and reunites them with our new immortal bodies.

Genesis 2:7 The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (All born again receive new breath from Christ in the form of the Holy Ghost and are alive forevermore.)

Genesis 35:18 As her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. (Her soul departed from a dead body)

Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. (The fate of all souls is in God’s hands. Those who place their souls in Christ will be united with him through the Holy Ghost and will live forever in Christ.)

Job 33:28 He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. (The soul of man goes to one of two places when he dies the physical death.)

Psalms 23:3 He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. (Restores my soul equals the new birth.)

Psalms 24:3-4 3Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. (The righteous soul ascends to God at physical death.)

Psalms 30:3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. (The soul of man either goes to hell or to heaven at physical death.)

Psalms 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. (The grave has no power over the soul of the born again child of God.)

Psalms 56:13 Thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living? (The born again lives forever in the light of Christ.)

Psalms 97:10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserves the souls of his saints. (The souls of the saved shall always be alive and with Christ.)

Psalms 116:8 Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. (Same promise of eternal life at physical death.)

Proverbs 10:3 The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casts away the substance of the wicked. (The soul of the righteous will never suffer the least bit of famish or separation from Christ. The born again soul continues steadfastly in Christ.)

Proverbs 19:16 He that keeps the commandment keeps his own soul; but he that despises his ways shall die. (Love the lord thy God with your heart, mind, soul, and strength. The born again child of God keeps his soul intact in Christ.)

Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the Father, so also the soul of the son is mine: The soul that sins, it shall die. [Saved souls never die (separation from God), but unsaved souls remain separated from God. They experience the final separation (2nd death) for eternity at the judgment.]

Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Again, rest for the soul, not sleep as the body sleeps in death)

Mark 12:30 Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with thy entire mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. (This is the basis for salvation applied to the believer from Christ in the new birth.)

Luke 12:20-21 20God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. (The rich toward God, saved, will always be united with Christ and never separated from him.)

1 Corinthians 15:45 It is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (Jesus is a quickening spirit and has the power to quicken our souls with the Holy Ghost and birth us into the kingdom providing us with eternal life at the new birth.)

James 1:21 Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. (The Holy Ghost has the power to save our souls when it is received as the free gift. He saves us when we receive the Holy Ghost by faith. He unites with our soul, we become one with Christ, and we receive eternal life at this time.)

Father Time

Mormonism

WHAT IS A MORMON?

Mormon religion starts with Joseph Smith and is similar to Islam and Muhammad. Both claim their visions and instructions were from angels. Muhammad’s material is the basis for the Koran. Joseph Smith’s material is the basis for the Book of Mormon.

Smith claims he was visited by God the Father and Jesus at a grove near his family’s farm. The 14 year old Smith claims he was told all Christian Churches were wrong, their creeds were an abomination, and their leaders’ were all corrupt.

In 1823, Smith claimed an angel, Moroni, told him of a buried set of gold plates, on which was inscribed a record of the ancient American people. Smith was chosen by God to receive the plates. Supposedly, Moroni was a great warrior who lived among the ancient Nephites before he died.

In 1827, Joseph Smith began translating the “Reformed Egyptian” characters from the plates into English using two transparent magical stones. He claimed to be endowed with the gift and power of God to translate the plates. He was joined by a cousin, Oliver Cowdery, who became Smith’s scribe.

Both Cowdery and Smith said John the Baptist visited them in 1829 and bestowed the Aaronic Priesthood on them. Later, the two were ordained into the Melchizedek Priesthood by Peter, James, and John. Joseph Smith knew nothing about hieroglyphics, which led some LDS scholars to speculate he translated the manuscripts by divine inspiration.

He would place his head in a hat with the plates at the bottom; look through the seer stones at the Egyptian markings, and the English translation underneath. He would read it out to Oliver Cowdery who scribed for him. The hat must have been a Texas ten-gallon or the plates were mighty small.

Early Mormons used wine for the sacrament. Smith had a revelation from God that water should be substituted for the wine, as Mormons should not purchase strong drink from their enemies. Three years later, Smith said wine should be used, but it should be made only by Mormons. In 1835 Smith ran a tavern from his home.

Smith became a Mason on March 15, 1842. In the Mormon Temples there is a striking resemblance between the Temple and Freemasonry. Freemasonry, evident in the Temple, is the outside structure of the all-seeing eye, inverted five-pointed Eastern Star, and the clasped hands.

Markings in priesthood garments bear resemblance to the compass, square, and level of Freemasonry. Signs, grips, oaths, and tokens used in Temple ceremonies are similar to those of the Masons.

He claims revelation that plural marriages are a requirement of Mormon males. He had sole authority for binding or unbinding marriages on earth, choosing whomever he desired for a wife, or discharging a wife at any time.

Smith participated in seer stone divinations, used divining rods, talismans, and other elements of ritual magic. His Father and other family members participated in divining and ritual mysticism.

Some attributes of Joseph Smith are:
01. He had forty polygamous marriages,
02. He was against the Masonic Order, but later became a master Mason,
03. He was a temperance leader and a social drinker,
04. A city planner, pacifist, commander-in-chief of military personnel, bank president, and jail escapee,
05. Healer, land speculator, mayor, judge, fugitive from justice, preacher and street wrestler,
06. Declared bankruptcy, trustee of church finances, and a political horse-trader,
07. U.S. Presidential candidate, abolitionist, inciter of riots, and an unwilling martyr.

MORMONISM “GOD THE FATHER”

LDS Apostle Orson Hyde: God, our heavenly Father, was perhaps once a child, and mortal like we ourselves, and rose step by step in the scale of progress, and in the school of advancement; has moved forward and overcome, until he has arrived at the point where he is now.

LDS Apostle Orson Pratt: we were begotten by our Father in heaven; the person of Father in heaven was begotten on a previous heavenly world by his Father; and again, he was begotten by a still more ancient Father; and so on, from generation to generation.

Brigham Young: the Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming Gods like himself; when we have been proven in our present capacity. We are created for the express purpose of growing up from the low estate of manhood, to become Gods like unto our Father in heaven. Our intelligence will increase until we are capable of creating worlds upon worlds and becoming Gods.

President Spencer Kimball: to this end God created man to live in mortality and endowed him with the potential to perpetuate the race, to subdue the earth, to become perfect and to become as God, omniscient and omnipotent.

President Joseph Fielding McConkie: not only is there a long procession of Gods, but he also insisted that these Gods could number in the millions. We are informed there are many earths which have been created, and were created by the Son for the Father. His Father passed through a period of mortality even as he passed through mortality, and as we all are doing. Each Father had a Father, until we come to a stop where we cannot go further, because of our limited capacity to understand.

LDS Apostle John Widtsoe: God and man are of the same race, differing only in their degree of advancement. LDS Apostle Parley P. Pratt: Gods, angels, and men are all of one species, one race, and one great family. LDS Apostle Orson Whitney: the difference between the human and the divine was just the mere matter of “education and development”.

President Joseph Fielding McConkie: there is a God in heaven who is infinite and eternal; who has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s, and who is in fact a resurrected, glorified, perfected, and exalted man; who has all power, all might, and all dominion, and who knows all things; and who in the ultimate and full sense is the Creator, Upholder, and Preserver of all things, both this earth and all worlds, the sidereal heavens, and all things that in them are.

LDS Apostle Orson Hyde: there are Lords many, and Gods many, for they are all called Gods to whom the word of God comes, and the word of God comes to all these kings and priests. But to our branch of the kingdom there is but one God, to whom we owe the most perfect submission and loyalty; yet our God is just as subject to still higher intelligences, as we should be to him.

LDS writer W. Cleon Skousen: through modern revelation, we learn the universe is filled with vast numbers of intelligences, and we further learn that Elohim is God simply because all these intelligences honor and sustain him as such. If he ever does anything to violate the confidence of these intelligences, they would promptly withdraw their support, and the “power” of God would disintegrate. He would cease to be God.

LDS Apostle John Widtsoe: God, the supreme power, cannot conceivably originate matter; he can only organize matter. Neither can he destroy matter; he can only disorganize it…. The doctrine that God made the earth or man from nothing becomes therefore, an absurdity.

Brigham Young: the God of Mormonism cannot be personally present everywhere because he dwells in a finite body. Some would have us believe that God is present everywhere. It is not so.

THE JESUS OF MORMONISM

LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie: virtually millions of the apostate Christendom has abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ. A Mormon Seventy, Bernard P. Brockbank: it is true many of the Christian churches worship a different Jesus than is worshiped by the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).

LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie: Jesus attained the status of a god in the preexistence. Jesus is the Firstborn of the Father. By obedience and devotion to the truth, he attained the pinnacle of intelligence which ranked him as a God, as the Lord Omnipotent, while as yet in his preexistent state—-Inasmuch, however, as Christ attained Godhood while yet in preexistence, he too stood as a God to the other spirits.

Many LDS leaders: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that Jesus Christ is the son of God in the most literal sense. The body in which he performed his mission in the flesh was sired by that same Holy Being we worship as God, our Eternal Father.

Many LDS leaders continued: The birth of the savior was as natural as the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood-was begotten of his father in the flesh, and there was nothing unnatural about it. How are children begotten? I answer just as Jesus Christ was begotten of his father….Jesus is the only person who had our heavenly Father as the father of his body.

The official doctrine of the Mormon Church is that Jesus is the literal offspring of God. He has 46 chromosomes: 23 came from Mary, 23 came from God, the eternal Father. They believe Jesus was sired by their god, who is a glorified man, and he had sex with Mary the same as a human has sex.

Spencer W. Campbell: Jesus is the spirit-brother of Lucifer. Long before you were born, a program was developed by your creators….The principal personalities in this great drama were a Father, Elohim, perfect in wisdom, judgment, and person, and two sons, Lucifer and Jehovah.

One of the Mormon Seventy, Milton R. Hunter: It was decided that Jesus, not Lucifer would become the savior of the earth. Mormon educator Jess L. Christensen: Both Jesus and Lucifer were strong leaders, but Jesus was Lucifer’s older brother.

Brigham Young: The Jesus of Mormonism is only one of many saviors. Every earth has its redeemer and every earth has its tempter; and every earth, and the people thereof, in their turn and time, receive all that we receive, and pass through all the ordeals that we are passing through.

Brigham Young: How many Gods there are, I do not know. There was never a time when there were not Gods and worlds, and when men were not passing through the same ordeals that we are passing through. That course has been from all eternity, and it is and will be to all eternity.

Many of the early LDS leaders: Jesus was a polygamist and father. The scripture says that He, the Lord, came walking in the Temple, with his train; I do not know who they were, unless his wives and children.

Early LDS leaders continued: It will be borne in mind that once on a time, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and on careful reading of that transaction, it will be discovered that no less a person than Jesus Christ was married on that occasion. If he was never married, his intimacy with Mary and Martha, and the other Mary whom Jesus also loved, must have been highly unbecoming and improper to say the best of it.

Early LDS leaders continued: The grand reason of the burst of public sentiment in anathemas upon Christ and his disciples, causing his crucifixion, was evidently based upon polygamy, according to the testimony of the philosophers who rose in that age. A belief in the doctrine of a plurality of wives caused the persecution of Jesus and his followers. We might almost think they were Mormons.

To achieve exaltation and become a God, a Mormon has to be married for eternity and continue to produce children in the preexistence. It would be difficult for a Mormon to believe that Jesus was not married.

PRE-EXISTENCE AND THE SECOND ESTATE

Mormon leaders: Heavenly Father became the God of this earth as a result of his worthiness demonstrated on another planet. As far as the creation of this earth, Jesus was aided by many of the noble and Great Spirit children of the Father. These include Michael (the pre-incarnate Adam), Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Peter, James, John, and even Joseph Smith. Mormon leaders: Humans are the literal offspring of Elohim, also known as Heavenly Father, and one of his heavenly wives.

Seventy, Gary J. Coleman: During our pre-mortal existence, Satan attempted to alter the plan which Heavenly Father presented in the great council in heaven. His attempt to do so was rejected by the Father and the majority of the host of heaven. Satan was cast out of Heavenly Father’s presence. Satan and his followers are out to ensnare the hearts of man that he might bring them under subjection to him.

LDS Gospel Principles: Because our Heavenly Father chose Jesus Christ to be our savior, Satan became angry and rebelled. Satan and his followers fought against Jesus and his followers. In this great rebellion, Satan, and all the spirits who followed him, were sent away from the presence of God and cast down from heaven.

LDS Gospel Principles continued: One-third of the spirits in heaven were punished for following Satan: they were denied the right to receive mortal bodies. Because we are here on earth and have mortal bodies, we know that we chose to follow Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father….In our pre-mortal life, we chose the right.

LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie: The pre-existent life was thus a period….undoubtedly an infinitely long one….of probation, progression, and schooling. The spirit hosts were taught and given experiences in various administrative capacities. Some so exercised their agency and so conformed to law as to become “noble and great”; these were foreordained before their mortal births to perform great missions for the Lord in this life.

LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie: Our heavenly parents provided us with a celestial home more glorious and beautiful than any place on earth. We were happy there. Yet they knew we could not progress beyond a certain point unless we left them for a time. They wanted us to develop the God-like qualities that they have. To experience, we needed to choose good over evil.

LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie continued: Our spirits needed to be clothed with physical bodies. We would need to leave our physical bodies at death and reunite with them in the resurrection. Then we would receive immortal bodies like those of our heavenly parents. If we passed our test, we would receive the fullness of joy that our heavenly parents have received.

LDS Apostle George Q. Cannon: We were true in keeping our first estate. The people that are here today stood loyally by God and Jesus, and they did not flinch. If you had flinched, you would not be here with the priesthood upon you. The evidence that you were loyal, true, and did not waver is found demonstrated by the fact that you have received the Gospel and the everlasting priesthood.

Encyclopedia of Mormonism: It is Latter-Day Saint doctrine that living things existed as individual spirit beings and possessed varying degrees of intelligence in an active, conscious spirit state before mortal birth and that the spirit continues to live and function in the mortal body. The revelations teach that pre-mortal spirit bodies have general resemblance to their physical counterparts.

Brigham Young: There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles; our duty is to prepare tabernacles for them; to take a course that will not drive those spirits into the families of the wicked, where they will be trained in the wickedness, and debauchery of crime. It is the duty of every righteous man and woman to prepare tabernacles for all the spirits they can.

LDS President Joseph Fielding Smith (not Joseph Smith): Called birth control wickedness. When a man and woman agree to limit their offspring to two or three, and practice devices to accomplish this purpose, they are guilty of iniquity which must be punished. Those who willfully and maliciously break this commandment will be damned.

THE DARK SKINNED MORMON

The Book of Mormon opens with a Jewish man, Lehi, who came to America in 587 BC from Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian invasion. He had a wife, Sariah, and four sons Laman, Lemuel, Nephi, and Sam. They crossed the ocean to the Western Hemisphere. Laman and Lemuel were wicked. God punished them and marked them with a skin of blackness.

II Nephi 5:21-23 of the Book of Mormons: God caused the cursing to come upon them, because of their iniquity. Wherefore as they were white, and exceeding fair and delightsome, they might not be enticing unto my people, the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them. God said, “I will cause them to be loathsome unto thy people, save they shall repent of their iniquities. And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixes with their seed. And the Lord spoke it, and it was done.

Brigham Young preached Cain’s mark was the flat nose and black skin. Brigham Young: Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so. Brigham Young declared in 1857: I feel to bless this people….you can see men and women who are sixty or seventy years of age looking young and handsome; but let them apostatize, and they will become gray-haired, wrinkled, and black, just like the devil.

LDS President John Taylor: And after the flood, we are told the curse that had been pronounced on Cain was continued through Ham’s wife, as he had married a wife of that seed. And why did it pass through the flood? It was necessary that the devil should have a representative upon the earth as well as God.

LDS Joseph Fielding Smith (not Joseph Smith): There is a reason one man is born black and with other disadvantages, while another is born white with great advantages. The reason is we once had an estate before we came here, and were obedient, more or less, to the laws that were given us there. Those who were faithful in all things there received the greater blessings here, and those who were not faithful received less.

The Book of Mormon predicted the curse could and would be lifted. Original edition of II Nephi 30:6 in 1830: Their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a white and delightsome people.

In an 1840 edition, the word “white” was “pure”. Later additions of the Book of Mormon went back to using the word white. In 1981, the LDS Church made several revisions to the Book of Mormon. They changed the word white in II Nephi 30:6 from white to pure.

III Nephi 2:15 states that the Lamanites skin color would change after conversion, saying, “And the Lamanites curse was taken from them, and their skin became white like unto the Nephites. Joseph Fielding Smith taught “the less valiant spirits who did not perform adequately in the preexistence would be known by their black skin.

LDS Elder George F. Richards: The Negro is an unfortunate man. He has been given a black skin. But that is as nothing compared with that greater handicap that he is not permitted to receive the Priesthood and the ordinances of the temple, necessary to prepare men and women to enter into and enjoy a fullness of glory in the celestial kingdom.

LDS Apostle Mark E. Peterson gave a speech at BYU in 1954, he stated: If that Negro is faithful in all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get a celestial resurrection. In later years, LDS President Kimball said he received a revelation that took away the restrictions barring those of black heritage from Priesthood blessings.

LDS President Kimball made this statement on June 8, 1978: Aware of the promises made by the prophets and presidents of the Church who have preceded us that at some time, in God’s eternal plan, all of our brethren who are worthy may receive the priesthood—-He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood. In the same year, October of 1978, the Mormons opened a new temple in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

FAITH OR WORKS

LDS President Spencer Kimball: One of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the Grace of God, that belief in Jesus Christ alone is all that is needed for salvation.

According to LDS, salvation by grace is synonymous with mere resurrection from the dead, which is given to the entire human race on this earth and other planets. This gift is not affected by anything we do here. Everyone from the most righteous to the most wretched will be resurrected and live forever in the next life. Conditional or Individual Salvation goes far beyond a mere resurrection from the dead. It is known as exaltation or godhood.

LDS Bruce McConkie: Salvation in its true and full meaning is synonymous with exaltation or eternal life and consists in gaining an inheritance in the highest of the three heavens within the celestial kingdom….Salvation in the celestial kingdom of God, however, is not by grace alone. Rather, it is salvation by grace coupled with obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.

Unlike resurrection from the dead, exaltation requires a concerted effort on the part of the individual to live according to all the commandments as instructed by the Mormon Church for a person’s entire life. LDS Apostle Francis Lyman: To attain all that is obtained in the celestial kingdom, the full and perfect law of the Father must be observed. LDS Apostle Orson Whitney: It is the fullness of obedience: it is living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Brigham Young: Will everybody be damned except the Latter-Day Saints? “Yes”, said Joseph, “and many of them, unless they take a different course from what they are now taking”. Who will be saved in the celestial kingdom, and go into the presence of the Father and Son? Those only who observe the whole law, who keep the commandments of God.

LDS President John Taylor: It is only those who can abide a celestial glory and obey a celestial law that will be prepared to enter a celestial kingdom. (Some Latter-Day Saints feel moral lapses in obedience may be overcome in the next life.)

LDS Joseph Fielding Smith claimed this life determines a person’s destiny for the next life. LDS Joseph Fielding Smith: Those who refuse to comply with the laws and ordinances which were provided for their salvation, it would deny them the great gift and they would be assigned, after the resurrection, to some inferior sphere according to their works. This life is the most vital period in our eternal existence.

LDS Spencer Kimball: Progress toward eternal life is a matter of achieving perfection. He quoted Matthew 5:48, be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Perfection, therefore, is an achievable goal.

My comments: This doctrine of the Mormons, plus the next segment defines the reason most of the general populace of the Mormons is trying to be perfect. Within the confines of Mormon teachings, they have to keep it in high gear in order to enter into the exalted section of the celestial kingdom.

HEAVEN AND HELL

LDS Apostle James E. Talmage: From a revelation received in 1832, we learned these three kingdoms or degrees of glory are established and known as the Celestial, the Terrestrial, and the Telestial. Far below the last and least of these, is the state of eternal punishment prepared for the sons of perdition.

The Mormon’s teach that a person is destined to one of the places below after death, which are:

1. Outer Darkness: located outside of the three “kingdoms”. This place of torment is reserved for those not given mortal bodies (fallen angels) and the extremely wicked, including apostate Mormons.
2. Telestial Kingdom: The lowest level of the three heavens, where the wicked of the world will spend eternity.
3. Terrestrial Kingdom: The second level, this is where honorable people will be, including lukewarm Mormons.
4. Celestial Kingdom: This kingdom actually consists of three separate levels, with the top level being where the Mormon hopes to be exalted.

LDS President Spencer W. Kimball: After a person has been assigned to his place in the kingdom, either in the telestial, terrestrial, or celestial, or to his exaltation, he will never advance from his assigned glory to another glory. That is eternal! That is why we must make our decisions early in life and why it is imperative that such decisions be right.

Outer Darkness: Those, other than Satan and his angels, in Outer Darkness will have one more chance after the millennium. According to their offense, they will remain until they have been punished and sorry for their sins. Those who have not committed murder or apostasy against the Mormon Church will be visited by a servant of God who will unlock their cells and preach the Gospel one last time. If they refuse to repent, they remain in Outer Darkness for eternity. Those repenting will be allowed to enter the Telestial Kingdom.

Telestial Kingdom: It is referred to as hell. Many of the wicked of the world will eventually come from Outer Darkness and enter this lowest kingdom.

LDS Seventy, B.H. Roberts: But even the least of the three grand divisions, the telestial kingdom, it is said that it “surpasses all understanding”; and that even its inhabitants, the last to be redeemed, and even then deprived of the personal presence of God and the Christ, shall nevertheless receive the ministration of angels and the Holy Ghost, for they are to be counted “heirs of salvation”. How infinitely more glorious, then, must be the higher kingdoms of God and the Christ.

Terrestrial Kingdom (Encyclopedia of Mormonism): The inhabitants of this kingdom are the honorable people of the earth who received a testimony of Jesus, but were not sufficiently valiant in that testimony to obey all the principles and ordinances of the Gospel. Also, those of “the heathen nations” who died without law, who are honorable but do not accept the fullness of the gospel in the post earthly spirit world, are candidates for terrestrial glory.

Terrestrial Kingdom (Ency. of Mor. cont.): In the hereafter, they receive the presence of the son, but not the fullness of the Father. The glory of the Terrestrial differs from the Celestial as the light we see from the moon differs from that of the sun in glory. There is no mention of different degrees of levels in the Terrestrial Kingdom, but it is reasonable that there, as in the celestial and telestial kingdoms, individuals will differ from one another in glory.

LDS Spencer Kimball: Luke-warm saints get the terestrial glory. It will not be enjoyed by the very wicked. Neither will the valiant abide there.

Celestial Kingdom: It is the goal of every sincere Latter Day Saint to enter the Celestial Kingdom. A person who lives a righteous life in mortality, and who has entered into an eternal marriage may look forward to an association in the post mortal world with a worthy spouse, and with those who were earthly children, fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. This is where God the Father dwells.

LDS Bruce McConkie: The celestial has three heavens or degrees. The highest of these is for those who gain eternal life. All others are damned in the sense their progress is limited. There are restrictions placed upon them; they have reached the end of their kingdom; they cannot have an increase.

The highest level is known as the “Church of the Firstborn”. It is here where a person can truly experience eternal life known as exaltation or godhood. There are many members of LDS who will never achieve this status.

Brigham Young: Angels will not reach exaltation. Angels are previous persons who have lived on earth, passed through the same ordeals as we, but did not magnify the Priesthood to a high degree enough to become gods. Human beings that pertain to this world, which are not capable of magnifying their calling in the Priesthood and receive crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives, will also, when they receive their bodies, become angels and will receive a glory.

Eternal Increase: Like their Heavenly Father before them, worthy Mormons are taught to hope for a celestial exaltation and the reward of godhood. Like the millions of gods who have preceded them, the Mormon couple will then commence with their eternal quest of populating their kingdoms through what is known as “eternal increase”.

LDS Apostle James Talmage: The revealed Gospel of Jesus Christ provides yet more transcendent blessings in the plan for Exaltation, whereby resurrected man may advance from one stage of relative perfection to another, with powers of eternal increase and never ending progression.

Eternal increase includes the ability to procreate throughout eternity. Just as the Mormon God continually populates his earth, so it is taught that Mormon males and their goddess wives will have the ability to populate the worlds they will inherit. Because procreation plays such a large part in the LDS concept of salvation, it is imperative that marriage relationships formed here on earth be carried on into eternity.

LDS Apostle Orson Pratt: As soon as each God has begotten millions of male and female spirits, and his heavenly inheritance becomes too small, to comfortably accommodate his great family, he, in connection with his sons, organizes a new world, after a similar order to the one which we now inhabit, where he sends both the male and female spirits to inherit tabernacles of flesh and bones.

LDS Apostle Orson Pratt: If we should take a million of worlds like this and number their particles, we should find that there are more Gods than there are particles of matter in those worlds….One world has a personal God or Father, and the inhabitants thereof worship the attributes of that God, another world has another, and they worship his attributes, and besides him there is no other.

My comments: If you read the last post and this one, then there is no doubt the general Mormon public or followers are good moral people. They need to put it in overdrive and go wide open if they hope to reach exaltation. Of course, not one iota of this effort will do them any good as far as attaining salvation in Christ.

THE BOOK OF MORMON

LDS President Joseph Smith: Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none. (As shown in a previous topic, the Book of Mormon is the translation of the gold plates supposedly given to Joseph Smith by the angel Moroni. Smith supposedly translated the gold plates with the seer stones.)

In 1987, LDS President, Ezra Taft Benson urged his followers to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is said to contain the story of two groups of people who came to the Americas.

The first group was the Jaredites: Smith claims they left the Tower of Babel at the confusion of tongues. Their prophet-leaders constructed eight peculiar barges and were driven by winds across the ocean to America. Supposedly, the Jaredites became a large and powerful nation. After many centuries, wickedness and wars led to a final war of annihilation of the Jaredites. During the final war, Smith claims Ether (a prophet of god) wrote their history and spiritual experiences on 24 golden plates.

The second group arrived in America 600 hundred years before the birth of Christ. Smith claimed Lehi was a Jewish prophet from Jerusalem. He supposedly fled with his wife Sariah and four sons, Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. Also joining Lehi were Zoram, Ishmael, and Ishmael’s family. They sailed across the ocean and built cities and large civilizations in the Western Hemisphere. After Lehi’s death, some accepted Nephi as leader and some accepted Laman as leader.

The Nehphites and Lamanites hated each other and warred. The book of Mormon says Jesus appeared to these civilizations after he was resurrected from the dead in Palestine. By the fifth century AD, the Lamanites had completely annihilated the Nephites at the battle of Hill Cumorah, where the plates were allegedly found by Joseph Smith. According to Mormon belief, the descendents of the Lamanites are the American Indians. Moroni, who was the son of Mormon, was the last living Nephite. Moroni buried the golden plates at the Hill Cumorah.

LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie: Almost all doctrines of the gospel are taught in the Book of Mormon with much greater clarity and perfection than those same doctrines revealed in the Bible. Anyone who will place in parallel columns the teachings of these two great books on such subjects as atonement, plan of salvation, gathering of Israel, baptism, gifts of the Spirit, miracles, revelation, faith, charity will find conclusive proof of the superiority of the Book of Mormon teachings.

An introductory page in every copy of the Book of Mormon lists two combined testimonies made by eleven men who belonged to five families, Cowdery, Whitmer, Harris, Page, and Smith. Some of these witnesses were close friends of Joseph Smith. Eight men signed a short statement called “The Testimony of the Eight Witnesses”. Four belonged to the Whitmer family and three to Joseph Smith’s family (his father and two brothers). The eighth person was Hiram Page, who was married to a Whitmer.

Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris were three of Smith’s most trusted men who signed “The Testimony of the Three Witnesses”. Former LDS historian, D. Michael Quinn, wrote that folk magic and seer stone divination were quite popular among the Mormon witnesses.

In 1838, Oliver Cowdery was excommunicated from the Mormon Church after he accused Joseph Smith of adultery, lying, and teaching false doctrines. Cowdery later joined a Methodist Church (supposedly condemned by God). It is said; he later returned to the LDS Church in 1848 and died two years later at the age of 43.

David Whitmer believed Joseph Smith was a fallen Prophet when Whitmer wrote: Many of the LDS believe it was impossible for Brother Joseph to have fallen. I will give you some evidence upon this matter which I suppose you will certainly accept, showing that Brother Joseph belonged to the class of men who could fall into error and blindness.

David Whitmer continued: From the following you will see that Brother Joseph belonged to the weakest class, the class that was very liable to fall….All of you who believe the revelations of Joseph Smith as if they were from the mouth of God. You should have acknowledged belief in the errors of Joseph Smith, and not tried to hide them, when there is so much evidence that he did go into error and blindness.

David Whitmer continued: I am doing God’s will in bringing the truth to light concerning the errors of Brother Joseph. They will see that it is necessary, as he is the man who introduced many doctrines of error into the Church of Christ; and his errors must be made manifest and the truth brought to light, in order that all LDS shall cease to put their trust in this man, believing his doctrines as if they were from the mouth of God.

Whitmer, whom Smith called a “Dumb ***” and “mean man”, believed Joseph Smith intentionally changed the revelations that God had supposedly given him. Believing God had told him to leave the Mormon faith; Whitmer walked away and never returned.

David Whitmer: If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon; If you believe God spoke to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spoke to me again by his own voice from the heavens, and told me to “separate myself from the Latter Day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, so should it be done unto them. (Toward the end of his life, Whitmer joined an offshoot of the Mormon Church called the Church of Christ, a group that accepts the Book of Mormon.)

The third signer, Martin Harris, upset the Mormon founder when he declared that “Joseph Smith drank too much liquor when he was translating the Book of Mormon”. Harris left the Mormon movement and joined several other groups, among them the Shakers and the Strangites. While Harris eventually returned to the Mormon Church, he apparently never found peace. He told one early Mormon writer that he “never believed the Brighamite branch of the Mormon Church, nor the Josephite Church, was right, because in his opinion, God had rejected them.

John Gilbert, who ***isted E.B. Grandin in printing the Book of Mormon, asked Martin Harris, “Did you see the plates?” Martin Harris looked down for a minute, then raised his eyes and said, “No, I saw them with a spiritual eye”.

Marvin S. Hill, an instructor at BYU, wrote: There is a possibility the witnesses saw the plates in vision only. There is testimony from several independent interviewers, all non-Mormon, that Martin Harris and David Whitmer said they saw the plates with their spiritual eyes only. Z. H. Gurley asked Whitmer, “Did you touch the plates”? His answer was, “we did not touch nor handle the plates”. Stephen Burnette quotes Martin Harris that “the eight witnesses” never saw the plates.

No artifacts can be found to verify any such people as the Jaredites, Nephites, nor Lamanites. Dr. Michael Coe, a non-Mormon professor emeritus of anthropology at Yale University, is an expert in the early history of Mesoamerica. In 1973 he wrote: The bare facts of the matter are that nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever shown up in any New World excavation which would suggest to a disp***ionate observer that the Book of Mormon, as claimed by Joseph Smith, is a historical document relating to the history of the early migrants to our hemisphere.

THE TEMPLE

Unlike chapels where Mormons regularly meet to conduct worship services, LDS temples are places where worthy Mormons (known as patrons) attend to perform “sacred” works for both themselves and those who have already died, including deceased relatives. Mormons believe that God presides over the ceremonies in each of these temples scattered throughout the world. It is only by participating in the temple rituals that a faithful Latter Day Saint hopes to achieve exaltation and godhood.

Only worthy members with a “temple recommend” are allowed in the temple. The “temple recommend” is an identification card, which is renewed annually by the individual’s bishop. Qualifying criteria include full payment of tithes, regular attendance to Ward meetings, wearing temple garments under regular clothing, and an agreement to obey the Word of Wisdom.

LDS President Joseph Fielding Smith: if you would become a son or daughter of God and an heir of the kingdom, you must go to the house of the Lord and receive blessings which there can be obtained and cannot be obtained elsewhere; you must keep those commandments and those covenants to the end. [First-time Temple participants (patrons) go through and ordinance called "washing and anointing".]

A Temple worker puts a Temple garment on the patron. Sewn into this garment of the holy priesthood is a backward L over the right breast, a capital V over the left breast, and a button-hole mark over the abdomen and the knee. The patron is given a new name which can not be revealed, except at a certain time later in the ceremony. All men entering the Temple on the same day are given the same name; the same is true for women.

The husband has the ability to call his wife from the grave by her new name on resurrection day. A husband who has been through the Temple is told his wife’s new name. She is not permitted to know his name. LDS Apostle Erastus Snow: No woman will get into the celestial kingdom, except her husband receives her, if she is worthy to have a husband; and if not, somebody may receive her as a servant.

During presentation of the endowment, patrons are told to wear their garments at all times under their clothing. By wearing these Temple garments at all times, depending on their faithfulness, the patron is protected physically and spiritually against the power of the destroyer. If the garment must be removed, it must be restored as soon as possible.

Temple endowments are for consecration of the patron. They learn special handshakes, called “tokens” and secret “signs” and “words” needed in the next life. Brigham Young: These ordinances enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the sentinels (angels), being able to give key words, signs and tokens, permitting to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell.

The most often practiced ordinance in the Temple is vicarious baptism for the dead. LDS President Joseph Fielding Smith: The greatest responsibility is to become saviors, in our lesser degree assigned for us, for the dead without knowledge of the Gospel. Joseph Smith said, “The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us, is to seek after our dead”….Those saints who neglect this responsibility, in behalf of their deceased relatives, are in peril of their own salvation.

“Celestial marriages” of LDS couples “for time and eternity” take place in the Temple. Marriages performed outside of the temple are binding only “until death”.

Joseph Smith, May 16, 1843: Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be married for eternity, while in this probation, by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood, they will cease to increase when they die; they will not have any children after the resurrection. Those married by the power and authority of the priesthood in this life, and continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost, will continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory.

Children born to a couple married in the Temple are automatically “sealed” for eternity to their parents. Couples not married in the Temple lose the right to be together after death, and have no claim upon their children, for they have not been born under the covenant of eternal marriage.

Much of the information for this series is from a book titled “Mormonism 101″ by Bill McKeever & Eric Johnson. This book is excellent, and a thorough reading of the book is recommended.

Father Time

Institute of Divine Metaphysical Research

The Institute of Divine Metaphysical Research (IDMR) is a cult. Christianity accepts the Word of God which teaches that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God and the only man in whom God has appeared incarnate. Religions denying this doctrine are classified as cults.

The IDMR believes Jesus is one of many incarnations of God in man. They deny Jesus was resurrected from the dead in a body, but in spirit, only. Jesus proved he arose from the grave in a body as he told the apostles to touch the prints of the nails in his hands.

Jesus arose from death in the same body placed in the tomb, but it was changed at resurrection into a glorified body which was immortal with no limitations regarding time and eternity. When Jesus arose from the dead, he arose in a new immortal body of flesh and bones. Of course, no person knows the exact atomic structure of the new immortal body, except Christ.

Jesus is presently in heaven in his glorified body and God abides in Jesus, eternally. Jesus is the Temple of God forever. Jesus stated, “Destroy this Temple, and in three days, I will raise it again”. He was referring to his body prior his crucifixion and death.

There have been many false prophets and gurus claiming to be God’s only channel to mankind, and claim to have been personally appointed by God. Henry C. Kinley is one of many false prophets making this claim. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, God incarnate.

All other men are tainted with sin. Man produces the blood for his offspring. The blood of Christ was generated by God and was untainted by sin. All other men have been born of man’s seed and born in sin. The IDMR cult denies that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God and the only incarnation of God in man.

The IDMR fails the crucial test of a legitimate Christian Church. They fail in many areas, but the denial of Jesus as the only incarnation of God in the flesh is the most crucial test.

Henry C. Kinley, the originator of IDMR is dead and in hell. At one time, Kinley was a preacher in the Church of God. He became disenchanted with Christian life and wanted more than was present in his life. He was not allowing Christ to live through his life, or he would have experienced the joy and peace of God’s love.

Kinley searched for a more fulfilling experience, because the promises of God were not good enough for him. This lack of faith proves he was not saved and did not have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Satan appeared to Kinley as an angel of light and convinced Kinley that he was the only channel of God to mankind. This is a normal result when one is dissatisfied with their life because they do not have the spirit of Christ dwelling in them.

Satan uses this void and easily fools a person who is devoid of faith in Christ. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you”, but seek some glorious feeling and Satan will find a substitute to make you feel important and feel good. It was obvious Kinley was more open to the feel-good approach from Satan rather than faith in the promises of God. Once Satan possesses a person, he blinds them to the truths of the Bible.

Suddenly, during his metaphysical studies, Kinley was blindsided by a vision. Kinley claims he was ushered into the third heaven, shown a map of the universe, and shown how the universe was structured. Maybe so or maybe not, but Satan and his spirits are aware of the layout of the universe.

Satan was the highest archangel in heaven and had privy to the entire universe. Angels oversee the works of the universe under the direction of God. They are his ministering spirits.

Henry C. Kinley said he met face-to-face with God, and God had a face like ours. Kinley actually met Satan face-to-face. Satan appears in almost any form he desires. Kinley declared that God incarnated himself into Kinley’s flesh, in the same manner as he incarnated himself in Jesus and others throughout history. We know God incarnated himself only one time and that was through his “only” begotten Son, Jesus. Henry C. Kinley was taken over (possessed) by Satan.

Satan possessed Kinley in the same manner he possesses others. Kinley said God would be incarnate in Kinley on the earth, and Kinley would have the only truth available for mankind. Sound familiar?

He not only stated he was God incarnate, but was also a prophet, and an apostle. Gee, he became everything all wrapped in one!

Muhammad claimed he talked with the angel, Gabriel. Muhammad declared he was a prophet and greater than the prophet, Jesus. Muhammad’s visions, received from Satan, became the writings of the Qur’an (Koran). Allah, the god of Islam, is actually Satan and the old pagan god, Baal.

The same happened with Joseph Smith of the Mormons (Latter Day Saints). He claims an angel, Moroni, gave him golden plates with updated information for the latter days. Joseph Smith claims to have met with John the Baptist and other Old Testament characters. Joseph Smith claimed to be the prophet for the latter days and a greater prophet than Jesus.

Mormons claim the “Book of Mormon” is a greater and more complete book than the Bible. No person saw the golden plates except Joseph Smith. The plates were suddenly taken back to heaven by the angel, Moroni. Under vigorous questioning, all who originally claimed to have seen the plates, eventually admitted they saw the plates only in a vision.

Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, claimed he, alone, had the sole authority to interpret scriptures.

Mary Eddy Baker of the Christian Science cult makes the same claim. She was their prophet, and she, only, had the ability to interpret scriptures correctly for them.

Buddha, a self proclaimed guru, became the major spokesman for the false cult of reincarnation and other mystic Eastern beliefs. Satan has been busy in the Eastern world. They have many gurus laying claim for the title of “chief guru” of reincarnation.

Herbert W. Armstrong was the author of the cult of the United Churches of God (many various branches). He claims he was Elijah reincarnated, a prophet, an apostle, and the only valid interpreter of scripture for the latter days.

The woods are full of false prophets who are blinded by Satan. Satan takes possession of their mind, and they become false prophets using God vainly. It is no wonder, Jesus said, “Many will come in my name, but believe them not”.

There are branches of the Pentecostals who state that a person is not saved unless he babbles, has been dunked in the creek, and has hands laid on him by little apostles.

We now understand why Paul wrote, “when perfection comes (all the books of the New Testament are complete), then all knowledge, prophecy, and tongues will cease.

Since the written Word of God was complete, there would be no more “knowledge” added to the Bible and no more “prophecy” added to the Bible.

This passage was placed in the Bible by the Holy Ghost, because he knew false cults would spring up from Satan claiming additional knowledge and prophecy.

There are many blinded by Satan, and will remain blinded until they cry out to Christ in forgiveness for their refusal to accept him as the only way to salvation.

Father Time